Life Skills and Hobbies

The Gardening Course will run over five half-days, and the topics are as follows:

1. Propagation - cuttings, plant division

2. Growing from seed - annuals, perennials, with information on suppliers

3. Pruning - shrubs, roses, vines and clematis

4. The Cutting Garden - growing your own flowers for sale or home

5. Difficult sites: Shade/Sun/Damp/Dry

A printed background reading list will be provided at the time, for students to consolidate the knowledge gained on this course.

All equipment, including aprons for practical work, will be supplied for students on the day.

The only item they should bring will be a notebook and a receptive mind.

Sonia Wright

About Sonia

Sonia Wright has had a long career in horticulture. A gardener all her childhood and a member of the RHS at 15, she was not allowed by her father to study at Kew, but enrolled in a secretarial course. Eventually she taught herself to draw and design, and embarked on a successful career, creating gardens as far as the Highlands of Scotland, via London and the South West.

During this time, she visited China on a plant-hunting trip with Kew, built three award-winning gardens at Chelsea Flower Show for the Sunday Times, and appeared on television on Gardeners World. Deciding that her passion for growing was unsatisfied, she started a small nursery on rented land, and attracted interest from magazines such as House and Garden, Gardens Illustrated and Country Living. Visits and subsequent articles from Anna Pavord, Dan Pearson and Sarah Raven followed, concentrating on her love of Barnhaven Primroses.

Eventually Sonia was able to buy a piece of land for the nursery she ran for 20 years at Ogbourne St. George. During this time, she gave many talks to local gardening clubs and W.I. Groups. Well-known for her twice-weekly stall in Marlborough Market, where she sold plants and bulbs for over twenty years, she had to slow down after an operation. Sonia now gives lectures on various aspects of gardening at the nursery, including a very popular wreath-making session, and sells cut flowers and plants in local shops.