Has anyone else seen the article in the garden which is an interview with
two women who used to work at Sissinghurst? Two things they said struck us
forcibly - they deplored the gimmicky TV programmes about gardening,
especially the treatment of Chelsea with its concentration on gurning
presenters and no plant names given, as most of us here do. It is to be
hoped that the BBC people who make that programme read that article. And
they remarked that there are far too many people doing far too many RHS
courses now. It does seem to have taken over from interior design as the
course some - I do repeat 'some' - people do when they don't know quite what
to do!
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)

Sacha wrote:
Has anyone else seen the article in the garden which is an interview with
two women who used to work at Sissinghurst? Two things they said struck us
forcibly - they deplored the gimmicky TV programmes about gardening,
especially the treatment of Chelsea with its concentration on gurning
presenters and no plant names given, as most of us here do. It is to be
hoped that the BBC people who make that programme read that article. And
they remarked that there are far too many people doing far too many RHS
courses now. It does seem to have taken over from interior design as the
course some - I do repeat 'some' - people do when they don't know quite what
to do!

Can you show us in the article where they actually said that 'far too
many people are taking RHS courses when they don't know quite what to
do', because that surprise me. Qualifications are now essential in
getting a job one wants. An RHS general qualification is now essential
to any job in public environmental work in councils across the UK. My
course alone last year was attended by 5 lads not really wanting to do
the course but had no option. All had been working over 5 years for
Oldham council but this wasn't sufficient.

So perhaps the rise of RHS applicants has risen because it is now
necessary to hold a qualification in horticulture and not just
'knowledge' one aquired through life experience and not because one
'just doesn't know what to do'.

"La Puce" wrote in message
ups.com...

Sacha wrote:
Has anyone else seen the article in the garden which is an interview with
two women who used to work at Sissinghurst? Two things they said struck
us
forcibly - they deplored the gimmicky TV programmes about gardening,
especially the treatment of Chelsea with its concentration on gurning
presenters and no plant names given, as most of us here do. It is to be
hoped that the BBC people who make that programme read that article. And
they remarked that there are far too many people doing far too many RHS
courses now. It does seem to have taken over from interior design as the
course some - I do repeat 'some' - people do when they don't know quite
what
to do!

Can you show us in the article where they actually said that 'far too
many people are taking RHS courses when they don't know quite what to
do', because that surprise me. Qualifications are now essential in
getting a job one wants. An RHS general qualification is now essential
to any job in public environmental work in councils across the UK. My
course alone last year was attended by 5 lads not really wanting to do
the course but had no option. All had been working over 5 years for
Oldham council but this wasn't sufficient.

So perhaps the rise of RHS applicants has risen because it is now
necessary to hold a qualification in horticulture and not just
'knowledge' one aquired through life experience and not because one
'just doesn't know what to do'.


What are your reasons for studying for the RHS general?
You already work in public environmental work without any qualifications.

Rupert wrote:

What are your reasons for studying for the RHS general?

To know more about plants and to give me the qualifications I need to
get more involve with tenants groups and help preserving and setting up
allotments with everyone in the community.

You already work in public environmental work without any qualifications.

No I don't. Why do you say that? I manage an urban regeneration
consultancy. I don't do environmental work. Our landscapers design the
public realm we create but I would like to see more involvement from
the residents of those areas we create or regenerate because I believe
it gives a sense of belonging, of pride, involvment thus reducing the
chances for vandalism, neglect, apathy to the environment etc. I
previously spent many years working in the arts. Now art and nature
meet )

"La Puce" wrote in message
oups.com...

Rupert wrote:

What are your reasons for studying for the RHS general?

To know more about plants and to give me the qualifications I need to
get more involve with tenants groups and help preserving and setting up
allotments with everyone in the community.

You already work in public environmental work without any qualifications.

No I don't. Why do you say that?
Snip

I thought that URBED was strongly associated with environmental issues
because their website says:-

"Through the Sustainable Urban Neighbourhood Initiative, URBED have been
exploring how the principles of environmental sustainability can be made to
work in urban areas"

Rupert wrote:

I thought that URBED was strongly associated with environmental issues
because their website says:-
"Through the Sustainable Urban Neighbourhood Initiative, URBED have been
exploring how the principles of environmental sustainability can be made to
work in urban areas"

I wish you'd stop mentioning my work all the time. It's as if you are
trying to test me as to what and why we do what we do. The SUN
initiative was slowly built when we discovered we (my husband and I)
had amassed tons of articles from around the UK and abroad and we
thought we ought to built a database of these and offer others to
peruse them. We employed a chap to record them. From these we thought
to seek sponsorship to create a quarterly newsletter - we now have over
5K contacts but sadly haven't made one since issue 12 ... 3 years ago.
We're too busy. This newsletter was very new at the time and we were he
first ones to mention 'sustainability'. We invited anyone to write
articles. The principles of sustainability we use are photovotaics, the
use of grey water systems etc. These principles are adopted on 1 or 2
houses but have never been seen on a neighbourhood scale. This is what
we are now trying to achieve, large neighbourhoods built with
sustainable materials. We created a housing cooperative using these
principles, it's called Homes For Change and has 175 flats, communal
gardens, workshops, offices for businesses, art gallery and studios, a
theatre, a recording studio, a creche and communal spaces. It's now
about 10 years old - and you can see the building on The Garden
magasine, November issue I think, along with the article of the Hulme
Community Garden Centre (which my husband and I developed the business
plan and supported it's creation, very strongly).

Any more questions Ruppert or perhaps you can you help me with my
question number 7. which is to list 4 purposes of the betula species
leaf, which is posing me quite a problem atm (