Speakers Sam Gallivan, of the RHS, Neil Bragg and Paul Alexander of Bulrush Horticulture, chair for the day and collection holder Jim Marshall and Melcourt’s Catherine Dawson. Below, Sam Gallivan demonstrating the RHS use of Melcourt SylvaMix
Around 30 Plant Heritage collection holders attended a Growing Media Workshop at RHS Wisley earlier this week organised by Plant Heritage and collection holder Jim Marshall. Melcourt were delighted to be invited to speak alongside growing media experts Neil Bragg and Paul Alexander.
Subjects covered included the new Responsible Sourcing of Growing Media Scheme, the history of growing media from the 1930s to the present day and Melcourt’s Technical Director Catherine Dawson gave a talk that included the journey involved in taking a professional growing medium to the retail market. RHS Nursery and Propagation Team Leader Sam Gallivan gave an interesting talk and demonstration about their use of peat-free growing media, most of which is Melcourt Sylvamix. It was the RHS’s extensive use of Sylvamix that influenced the licensing department’s decision to endorse Melcourt’s SylvaGrow range of retail growing media. This is a unique accolade which has significantly raised the profile of the product.
Catherine commented, “It isn’t often that you get an entire day devoted to the subject of growing media and it was great to be part of it. The attendees were really engaged and there was plenty of time for lively discussion which was expertly handled by chair Jim Marshall. A big thank you to Plant Heritage for putting on such a good day – and it is always a treat to visit the wonderful garden at Wisley!”
