This talk and all our lectures are FREE for Friends of the Botanical Gardens to attend. Members of the public are also welcome to join us on payment of £5 at the door on the day. Live talks are held in the Education Centre in the grounds of the Botanical Gardens - easily accessed via the Thompson Road Entrance.

With the subtitle: ‘Thugs reappraised - how big perennials can create spectacular, low maintenance landscapes’ Jacob Davies will reconsider the view that vigorous perennials are often described as thugs, unsuitable for the home garden and will suggest that the competitive nature of these plants means that like many bulbs, they can persist in 'natural' vegetation - allowing the creation of spectacular, low maintenance plantings.

Jacob will look at the history of this practice, its current use and future potential, alongside ongoing trials into the best species and techniques for home gardens and public landscapes.

Jacob Davies is a horticulturist and landscape designer; he has worked for Green Estate and Pictorial Meadows in Sheffield since 2017 planning, delivering and managing planting and meadows projects in public space and private gardens around the country.

He has worked on the Grey to Green scheme in Sheffield and his driving interest is in the creation of sustainable public landscapes.

Jacob’s Instagram