Gardening
Gardening
The Prince is well known for his love of gardening and this is best demonstrated in the garden at Highgrove, Their Royal Highnesses’ family home in Gloucestershire.
When The Duchy of Cornwall bought Highgrove in 1980, there was no garden at the house at all.
After consulting friends and expert gardeners such as the Marchioness of Salisbury, Miriam Rothschild and Rosemary Verey, the garden began to take shape.
A strong advocate of the organic movement, The Prince has put this belief into practice at Highgrove. No pesticides or chemicals are used anywhere in the garden.
The Prince is very hands on in the running of his garden at Highgrove. In the foreword to The Garden at Highgrove book (first published in 1993) His Royal Highness wrote of the “enormous satisfaction” he gains from gardening:
“Ever since I began the garden I have planted a very large proportion of the trees and plants myself, which means that you at once develop a proprietary interest in all of them, and they become remarkably like children whom you watch growing up year by year."
The Prince often receives plants and stone sculptures as gifts and many of these find a home in the garden.
The Prince is keen to protect rare plants and seed groups and holds a National Collection of hostas, a wide leafed plant, at Highgrove. His Royal Highness also has part of the National Collection of beeches.
The garden at Clarence House, Their Royal Highnesses's official residence in London, is also run on an organic basis.