John and Fay 
Both John and Fay have a history steeped in horticulture and have amassed an impressive store of knowledge and plants over the years. Both have been gardening for over 30 years, when landscaping courses were in their infancy in this country.  It is this gardening passion that binds them and that has shaped their home into what it is today. It also shapes their holidays with annual tours to the Wild Flowers in Namaqualand and for the past 6 years annual trips to the UK, keenly planned around famous and not so famous gardens, nurseries and flower shows. 

Fay
Fay worked for some years at the well known and fondly remembered Carter’s Nursery (now Dunrobin) in Pietermaritzburg, during the era of the Plant Inspectors, which resulted in very accurate and correct identification of plants including many varieties which are now very rare in cultivation in South Africa. 

Fay completed a landscaping course in 1990 that was run by the University of Natal. 

Over the years she has served on Garden Committees and currently Chairs the Hilton Garden Club. In recent years Fay has helped with the Hilton Garden Club’s exhibits at the Sunday Tribune Garden and Leisure Show, using mostly home grown plants, many from the nursery. The Hilton Garden Club has achieved two silver medals, and extremely favourable comment from the judges on the variety and condition of the plant material used over the years. 

Fay is a full member of the Royal Horticultural Society(RHS). It is through the RHS that she has registered a plant she bred and sold to Thompson & Morgan. She has an extensive knowledge of the famous UK and French gardens. Her many visits to the UK (including the past 6 years) have covered both garden shows and world famous gardens including: Royal Chelsea, Gardeners World Live at Birmingham (which incidentally she rates as the must see above all other garden shows), Hampton Court Palace Flower show, Wisley, Sissinghurst, Great Dixter, Goodnestone Park, Mottisfont, Pashley Manor, Nymans, Hever Castle, Hidcote, Kiftsgate, Sudeley, The Åbbey House, The Garden House, The Eden Project, The Lost Gardens of Heligan, Burton Ågnes to name but a few. In France she has visited Monet’s garden, the Roseraie de la Hay in the parc Val  Marne, and the famous Bagatelle rose garden in the Bois de Boulogne.  Fay has successfully hosted a 2 week garden tour to the UK in association with Scott’s Travels. The 2007 tour is well into the planning stages so if you are interested please do call as this is an annual tour. 

The annual Natal Witness Open Gardens is certainly the annual highlight of the gardening world in KwaZulu Natal and is often referred to as “The Chelsea of South Africa”. Fay has of course opened her garden to Open Gardens for the past 5 years. ( see doc) 

Fay is also well known as the Old (heritage) Rose expert and has delivered a number of speeches around Natal to many gardening clubs and their enthusiastic members. (Her personal collection exceeds 300 Roses in her garden alone, mostly Heritage and English roses, but also many modern roses) Why not get her to your garden club for talk that will inspire interest in the roses of yester years?

John 

John has a diploma in Forestry Research from Edinburgh University. He has worked in the Forestry industry specialising in the development and registration of chemicals for their use in Forestry. A key focus of this research work was ensuring nothing harmful was done to nature and the environment when registering chemicals for use.

John has always had a passion for gardening and has provided Fay with the infrastructure to create her lovely garden and with his keen personal  interest in the trees and roses of the garden has combined his talents with hers to form a successful partnership in the management of the garden and propagation of the many plants which are produced for the nursery.

John’s passion for photography has also helped document the many tours to gardens both foreign and local, as well as the ever changing pictures the garden presents over the seasons.

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