Plant hunter Tom Hart Dyke became famous for having been kidnapped in 2000 in Columbia during a plant hunting expedition. He was held captive for nine months by FARC guerillas and kept sane by collecting orchids and other jungle plants which later formed part of the design of a world map which he and an army of volunteers look after at Lullingstone Castle in Kent.
After his release, he wrote bestselling book The Cloud Garden and he starred in the Save Lullingstone Castle BBC TV series in 2006/07.
He tells HortWeek editor Matthew Appleby about the challenges of tending and maintaining his World Garden and how his passion for plants remains despite the constraints of the pandemic and limits on international plant-hunting.
Tom discusses how climate change is affecting the garden, his view on the use of peat, his return to Colombia, his cousin TV's Miranda Hart, and his joy at the rise of the houseplant...and reveals his desert island plant.
Podcast presenter: HW editor Matthew Appleby
Producer: HW digital content manager, Christina Taylor
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