Decorations, donations and debuts: record success at Hampton Court
Description
An RHS Victoria Medal of Honour, an RHS Harlow Carr Medal, a fund-raising cheque for over £36,000 and two new plants named for a staff member have helped the NCCPG* to record new heights of success at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. In addition at the show, NCCPG jointly launched with the RHS the roadmap for future conservation of plants in cultivation, and its National Plant Collection® Holders won between them a total of 30 medals throughout the show: 6 golds; 10 silver gilts, 7 silver and 7 bronze.
Dr Henry Oakeley, National Plant Collection® Holder of three orchid genera, received an RHS Victoria Medal of Honour (VMH) for his service on the RHS Council and Committees. He is President of the Orchid Society of Great Britain and is a highly regarded orchid judge in the UK and abroad. The RHS Harlow Carr Medal, conferred on persons who have made a significant contribution to horticulture in the North of England, was awarded to Phyllida Barker, National Collections Coordinator for the NCCPG’s Yorkshire Group, in recognition of outstanding service to plant heritage in the North of England.
A cheque for over £36,000 was presented to the NCCPG by AVEDA, the plant-based beauty products company, which had chosen NCCPG as its charity for 2006 for a second time, and whose staff had raised the funds through sales of NCCPG-dedicated products during April this year.
In addition to the medals awarded to NCCPG Plant Collection Holders across the show, two new plants were names in honour of Joanna Jones, Fundraising Officer of the NCCPG. Fuchsia ‘Joanna Jones’ was raised by Riverside Fuchsias’ George Puddefoot and launched at Hampton Court, and Echinopsis (Ruffles Hybrid) ‘Jo’ was also launched at the show by Brian Fearn of Abbey Brook Cactus Nursery.
