Anniversary lecture: From Ness to our own gardens
This year we are celebrating a double birthday - 125 years since the gardens were founded, and 75 years as a university botanic garden.
As part of the celebrations, we are hosting a free lecture on Sunday 30 April (2.20-4pm), given by botanist and plantsman Dr Hugh McAllister exploring the rich array of plants that have been introduced through Ness. Free tickets can be booked via our online store
Ness was established 125 years ago by plantsman Arthur Kilpin Bulley to trial and introduce the wealth of plants that were being encountered abroad, eventually sponsoring plant hunting expeditions and setting up the nursery Bees seeds Ltd. One of the many plants that Mr Bulley introduced is pictured above - the wonderful Primula bulleyana. It was collected by George Forrest from Yunnan province, China, in 1906, on a planting hunting expedition sponsored by Mr Bulley.
In 1948, Mr Bulley’s daughter Lois Agnes Bulley bequeathed the gardens to the University of Liverpool following her father's death and this passion for plants and sharing them with wider audiences has been an enduring legacy that has continued through the last 75 years at Ness in its role as a university botanic garden.
Everyone is welcome to discover more about when and how plants were chosen and planted at Ness, concentrating on those which everyone can still grow in their own gardens today.
Dr Hugh McAllister has spent his career at Ness studying groups of plants to understand their evolution and geographical distribution. His research has led to new understanding of several plant groups, the introduction of new plants, and has provided Ness with scientifically important collections of plants. He was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal by the RHS in 2012 for ‘an outstanding contribution to the advancement of the science and practice of horticulture’.