I hope you have been enjoying my website, and I hope you'll keep me on your 'Favorites' menu and visit often. I find it easy to write about plants, but when I have to write about myself I'm never quite sure what to write!

I suppose I got interested in plants when I was 14/15 year old. I clearly remember a visit to Crug Farm nursery in North Wales on a cold, dull day with my parents, and it was here that I encountered Arisarum proboscideum (Mouse Plant). I took it home and it performed well for about a month, and then disappeared. I wasn't particularly encouraged at that point, but when it appeared as a bigger clump next spring I was really happy, and to be honest I've never looked back!

Now, at age 25, I work full time in the horticultural industry for a large grower/retailer, and my passion for the rare and unusual plants keeps me busy visiting gardens and nurseries in search of something special. I have a particular interest in the plants of the Arum family (Aroids), but I love to grow pretty much anything! I've recently diversified into rare bulbs which I grow in plunged pots in my 6x4ft greenhouse. Outside I squeeze as much into my garden as I can, and propagate as much as I can in my five domestic size cold frames, obtaining seed from Alpine Garden Society and RHS distributions, as well as from other gardens and collections. I think it's fair to say that plants have taken over my life, and that's really why I wanted to produce this website- in order to provide a resource for people who share my passion for rare and unusual plants.

Here I am, with Ilex perado ssp. platyphylla and the trunk of Picea orientalis at Abbotsbury Sub Tropical Gardens, Dorset. I don't always look this stern- I just prefer to be behind the camera instead of in front!

Please feel free to contact me via the 'Contact Me' page, and I will try and reply as soon as possible. Ben.