• Home
• News
• Gardeners' Question Time At Ness Gardens

Gardeners' Question Time comes to Ness Gardens

Ness Gardens Press Release

BBC Radio 4 Gardeners' Question Time Summer Garden Party 10am - 6pm Saturday, 8^th September 2012

Ness Botanic Gardens is delightedto announce that we will be hosting the BBC Radio 4 Gardeners' Question Time annual Summer Garden Party in September which is a fabulous opportunity for us to showcase the delights of the Gardens.

Ness Gardens will be the first ever BBC Radio 4 Gardeners' Question Time Summer Garden Party hosted in the North West and a wide ranging audience from across the region is expected to attend.

This year's bumper crop of celebrity TV and radio gardener presenters includes: Eric Robson, Peter Gibbs, Bob Flowerdew, Pippa Greenwood, Bunny Guinness, Matthew Wilson, Matthew Biggs, Anne Swithinbank and Christine Walkden.

A selection of these well-known gardeners will be delivering a series of gardening demonstrations and drop-in clinics around the Gardens to the audience at Ness on the day. So if you are one of those keen home gardeners who fancy meeting some of these experts up close, this is your big chance!

Two recording sessions for the popular show will take place where the audience will be able to ask their questions and get some sound gardening solutions and advice from the panel of expert gardeners.  The resulting two programmes will be broadcast on 14^th and 21^st September (repeated Sunday 16^th and Sunday 23^rd September) so the audience may be able to hear themselves on the radio!

Kevin Reid, Director of Ness Gardens comments, 'We are delighted to be able to showcase Ness Gardens in all its glory this September and I would urge garden enthusiasts from across the North West to come along for what will be a very special event. Apart from the splendid turnout of experts, we are planning our own home-grown activities including a variety of interesting Garden tours and demonstrations which will provide a fantastic and memorable show for everyone.'

The request to host the programme was originally put together in recognition of the support of the 200 or so volunteer team who over the years, come rain or shine, are so generous with their time and energy. These volunteers have supplemented the work of Ness staff to help build the Garden into what it is today whether working in horticulture, botany or other support functions. The timing also coincides with the celebrations of the 50^th anniversary of the Friends of Ness Gardens taking place this year and is one of many events this year put on for the public to enjoy.

Tickets priced at£6.50 (no concessions) may be purchased online, by phone and at the Visitor Centre desk at the Gardens from 20^th July so don't delay as there is limited availability! For more details please visit our brand new website at www.nessgardens.org.uk or call 0845 030 4063 (local rate charges apply).

Contact details: Ness Gardens, Ness, Neston, South Wirral CH64 4AY Tel: 0845 0304063 Facebook: Ness  Botanic Gardens Twitter: @Ness_Gardens

Notes to editors

1. Photos of presenters from Gardeners' Question Time are attached with this release

2. Photos of Ness Botanic gardens are available on request from Ness Gardens

About the Gardens

The Gardens were created in 1898 by Arthur Kilpin Bulley, a wealthy cotton broker from Liverpool. Passionate about plants, he funded various plant hunting expeditions to the Far East for hunters such as George Forrest whose huge Pieris formosa 'Forrestii' from China, can still be seen today. Bulley created a garden of the unusual and the rare and shared it freely with his village neighbours. He also established the renowned Bees Seeds company.

The Gardens were donated to the University of Liverpool in 1948 by Bulley's daughter. They now attract 100,000 visitors a year; there are in excess of 7,000 Friends of Ness Gardens who have provided financial support for fifty years and more than 200 volunteers work across the Gardens.

 

 

 

 

23 June 2012