Description

Borde Hill in Sussex is one of a small group of British gardens with a direct link to the great plant hunting expeditions of the early-20th century, where plants grown from seed collected on those expeditions can still be found and where other famous plant names have been bred and nurtured. It is also one of the National Garden Scheme’s venerable founder gardens, that opened in the charity’s first year of 1927 and are still opening. 

Andrewjohn Stephenson Clarke is the great grandson of Colonel Stephenson Robert Clarke who first created the garden and the grandson of Colonel Sir Ralph Stephenson Clarke who first opened for the National Garden Scheme. He will give an introduction after which the distinguished garden writer Vanessa Berridge, whose book on Borde Hill will be published in April, will delve into the garden’s history and rich tapestry of plants, such as perhaps the most popular of all camellias, Camellia ‘Donation’ which was bred by Colonel Stephenson Robert Clarke, and give a virtual tour of the garden as it is today.