00:00Sefton Park Palm House's Meet the Gardener tour is led by Colin Hughes, who's worked
00:06in the building for 30 years. Though he's camera shy in person, he has a wealth of knowledge
00:11and a passion for plants.
00:12He originally put these plants in over 30 years ago, but he has been gardening or in
00:17horticulture for about 40 years for the council. So he has a wealth of knowledge. He knows
00:23everything about everything within this building. He is the man that you need to talk to if
00:28you want to know anything about any of the plants.
00:30Colin has planted every plant in the Palm House except the 125-year-old palm tree, which
00:36miraculously survived a raging storm even when there were no glass panes in the Palm
00:41House to protect it.
00:42He talks about the plants, some of the history of the building, the outside as well as the
00:47inside because there's a lot going on outside as well as inside, the planting. And yeah,
00:52he does a talk for a couple of hours and you have a nice little drink at the end of it.
00:56But also you do a little Q&A with him as well, which is lovely because he gets to answer
01:00those personal questions that you might have about plants that you've got in your own garden
01:05or what you want to know about some things.
01:07Colin is one of only four skilled botanical gardeners in the city looking after the Liverpool
01:12Botanical Collection. Some of the plants growing here are part of that. One of the oldest in
01:18Britain, it was founded in 1802 by William Roscoe with the aim of furthering scientific
01:23knowledge and discovering plants that could benefit Britain's developing industries and
01:26population.
01:27I think it's magical personally when you come here, especially on these evenings when the
01:31light's gone, the sun has dipped, you might catch some of the sun dipping, which is beautiful
01:36coming through the windows.
01:38First opened to the public in 1896, people who'd never set foot outside of Liverpool
01:43could stroll under its glass domes and marvel at exotic plants from faraway lands.
01:48He's kind of out of sight a lot of the time, but really he's the heartbeat, I think, of
01:52the place and has been for many, many years.
01:55The next event with Colin will be held on the evening of Wednesday 20th November.
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