GARDENINGTHE Royal Horticultural Society is being assisted by Ventnor Botanic Garden Friends’ with the Jekka McVicar lecture planned for the Riverside Centre.
"Interested in gardening, herbs or cooking, or perhaps all three? Then you must come to Jekka McVicar’s lecture at the Riverside on Friday, March 12, 7 for 7.30pm," says the Friends’ Bill Cotton.
Jekka’s most recent claim to fame, or quaint notoriety, is the garden contra temps at Chelsea last year. Her lucky gnome, Borage, was banned as "too tacky".
She is a herb guru and one of the original gardeners to make the link between growing and cooking, so successfully exploited by a later generation.
Last Chelsea was her swansong, having won 13 of her 61 RHS coveted golds there, and Borage came out from behind the foliage where he had always lurked, unseen by judges.
"To mark my final Chelsea, I wanted Borage to put in an appearance. This year, we had a water feature for the first time, and as a joke we put Borage on to it. One of my staff made him a fishing rod and put a little sign on his back but it all seems to have spun out of control."
No doubt he will feature in her lecture for which tickets can be obtained from Sally Peake on 01983 731403.