|
|
Roy
Lancaster is a popular plantsman, broadcaster and
writer from Bolton, Lancashire. |
| Roy's
interest in plant exploration has taken him round
the world to countries such as Georgia, Chile, Iran,
Turkey, New Zealand, Brazil, Ecuador, Japan, North
America, South Africa, Malaya and China. He's been a
member of expeditions to Nepal and Yunnan, China,
and has published accounts of both in his books A
Plantsman in Nepal and Travels in China.
He has lectured around the world and has taken part
in a number of TV programmes, including Gardeners'
World. |
|
As a
schoolboy, Roy Lancaster compiled a checklist of
wildflowers growing within a ten-mile radius of his
home town of Bolton. He's been involved with plants
ever since.
|
|
His
career in horticulture began at Bolton parks
department, followed by two years as a student
gardener at the University Botanic Garden,
Cambridge. In 1962 he joined Messrs Hillier &
Sons of Winchester and rose from catalogue compiler
and horticultural botanist to become the first
curator of The Hillier Arboretum. In his 18 years
with Hilliers, he was involved in many exciting
projects and played a major role in the preparation
of Hillers Manual of Trees and Shrubs, first
published in 1971.
|
|
In
the 1999 New Year's Honours List he was awarded an
OBE for services to horticulture.
|
|
Roy
lives with his wife and children. He has a quarter
of an acre in which he's managed to squeeze in more
than 1,000 different plants.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| More
celebrity gardeners... |
|
|
