Derry Watkins will be the final speaker of the academic year to finish off what has been yet another successful lecture series. She will present to audiences at Writtle College on Tuesday 27 March.
Derry, who is a plant specialist supplier, will be selling a range of unusual plants during the evening. Her talk is titled ‘Pushing the Boundaries - borderline hardy and tender plants you can’t live without’ and it promises to be a real eye opener for horticultural experts.
The annual series of horticultural and garden design lectures has become more popularly known as the James Hearsum lecture series – now in its sixth year. The series has been named after the student who started the talks - James Hearsum. James, who graduated from Writtle in 2010 with a first class Honours degree in Horticulture, is currently in the USA on his second year of study at Delaware University on the Longwood Graduate Masters programme.
Senior Horticultural Lecturer Greg Allen, who now organises the series with the support of Writtle College degree students, commented: “On behalf of James, I thank everyone for the support and positive feedback for previous talks held at the College. The series, which runs over six months, continues because it is an idea that is too good to let go of. It has a very positive impact on our students and a numbers of students are involved in putting it together. Last year, its success resulted in a series of five travel bursaries for our students.”
Once again this year, proceeds from the series will go towards student travel bursaries. Last year a total of £2,500 was awarded to five students as part of a Travel Awards scheme run through the Centre for the Arts and Design in the Environment (CADE) website. Will Stanger, a BSc (Hons) Horticulture student received a bursary which he used towards traveling around England and France. Will said: “I tried to visit a real variety of gardens to look at different design styles and get inspiration for planting ideas. I’ve taken over 1,000 photographs and am currently compiling a presentation on the whole experience. I will also be using some of the pictures in my dissertation on historic gardens.”
The final lectures will be held in Writtle College’s Northumberland Lecture Theatre, and tickets can either be brought on the night or email greg.allen@writtle.ac.uk for further information. The lecture theatre will open at 7pm on Tuesday 27 March.