Manotick Horticultural Society

Special Presentation in October: Graham Rankin, Director of Operations for Aberglasney House and Gardens in Wales.
by Margot Belanger

The Manotick Horticultural Society is sponsoring a very special presentation by Graham Rankin, Director of Operations for Aberglasney House and Gardens in Wales, at the RA Centre in Ottawa on Sunday, October 4, 2009 at 2:30 p.m.  Tickets are $25.00 for non-Manotick Horticultural Society members.  If you are interested, please contact Kris Schultz at krisandmike@sympatico.ca, or call her at 613-692-8266.

This is an opportunity not to be missed!!!

Aberglasney is an ancient garden in Carmarthenshire, Wales – first mentioned in a poem in the mid-fifteenth century, and developed principally in the late 16^th century by Archbishop Rudd of St. David’s.  In 2009, it will be celebrating its tenth anniversary as a restored garden, after being abandoned for seventy-five years. It is considered the best garden restoration in the UK in many a year, and was recently written up in an issue of Gardens Illustrated. It has operated as a viable and profitable public garden since its reopening. For more information on Aberglasney House and Garden, please check their web site, http://www.aberglasney.org/index.php.

And, check out GRAHAM RANKIN’s credentials!
Graham Rankin, the Director of the Aberglasney Restoration Trust – as well as its chief horticulturist – will be coming to Canada in October, 2009 and will be giving an illustrated talk on Aberglasney at various venues in Ontario and Quebec.

Graham Rankin is one of the top horticulturists in the UK, and has been honored as such. He also has written the Hamlyn Guide on Magnolias. He has given talks at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, as well as the Colony Club, the Hortus Club and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in New York. He gave the Pendleton Miller lecture in Seattle in 2008 to an audience of roughly 1,000 horticultural enthusiasts.

After studying horticulture, Graham acquired his experience working in various prestigious gardens in the UK. His initial 7-years of training included working primarly for the Crown Estate Commission in the gardens of Windsor Great Park. Since then, he has specialized in garden design and restoration.