Nick started his garden design column in Bath Life this year with his highlights of the horticultural diary for 2020 in and around Bath.
The article features a range of talks, workshops, open gardens and plant fairs throughout the year. A highlight of the year is a talk by Midori Shintani, head gardener at Tokachi Millennium Forest.
Now into its sixth decade, the University of Bath’s Gardening Club’s programme of monthly talks sees a wealth of inspiring speakers from all corners of the globe. Amongst these in 2020 is Midori Shintani, head gardener at Tokachi Millennium Forest. This bold conservation project is set in the foothills of the Hidaka mountain range on Hokkaido, the most northern of Japan’s islands. The park was originally conceived by entrepreneur Mitsushige Hayashi to offset the carbon footprint of his newspaper empire and to reverse the reduction of natural habitats on the island. Midori has held the role of head gardener there since 2008, seamlessly merging the New Japanese Horticulture movement with the landscape’s wilder nature. In the talk, Midori will discuss this unique garden movement and how her team tends to both the native and the more cultivated spaces at Tokachi.
Gardening in The Millennium Forest
9th March, University of Bath Gardening Club
