South West

Jennifer Forward has vague memories of accompanying her parents to her Auntie Mildred's nursery near Alphington in Exeter.

She loves gardening but had no idea that her aunt was from a long line of famous horticulturists.

Now she has made an amazing discovery about her family's roots and found out that gardening is well and truly in her blood

Family roots

The story begins 200 years ago with Jennifer's great, great, great grandfather, Scotsman John Veitch who was a nurseryman at Killerton House near Exeter.

Giant Wellingtonia - exotic tree.

This beautiful, grand old house with extensive lands and gardens, was once the home of the famous Acland family.

John Veitch planted out the gardens at Killerton exactly 200 years ago.

Inside Out took Jennifer to Killerton, now owned by the National Trust, to meet horticultural expert Caradoc Doy.

He showed her how John Veitch and his son James had planted the gardens with many different species of trees imported from overseas including the famous giant Wellingtonia.

John and his son went on to open several nurseries in the Exeter area.

They were specialists in 'exotics' and were among the first to employ specialist plant hunters who travelled the world bringing back rare and unusual species.

Amongst them were the Fitzroya, Japanese Maple, Conifers from the Americas and the giant Wellingtonia.

Chelsea nursery

The next momentous move for the family was when James moved to London and opened a prestigious nursery in Chelsea.

Gardening guru - James Veitch.

He was particularly famous for bringing orchids from the tropics to this country and for their further hybridisation.

Veitch & Sons of Chelsea even published weighty tomes like "A Manual of Orchidaceous Plants" which became plantsmen's bibles.

Jennifer's biggest thrill was discovering that James' son Harry was responsible for the Chelsea Flower Show being held at its present site in the gardens of the Royal Hospital.

Sir Harry was the first horticulturist to be made a knight of the realm.

She had never been to the show so Inside Out decided there was no better place for her to find out about the best plants for her new garden.

So we took her along to the 2008 show.

Ancestors honoured

Once at the Chelsea Flower Show, Jennifer was delighted to find that there were actual Veitch medals commemorating her prestigious ancestors.

Medal winners - the Veitch family.

The Royal Horticultural Society presents these for services to Horticulture.

RHS Librarian Brent Elliott showed Jennifer the one he had personally been awarded.

Whilst at Chelsea Jennifer also met Charles Williams of Caerhays Castle and Burncoose Nurseries in Cornwall, also winners of many Chelsea medals.

The Williams family have their own Veitch story.

Many of the trees and plants on the estate are from original Veitch seeds and they also have two magnificent record Magnolia trees - courtesy of James Veitch of Chelsea.

Jennifer's garden

Jennifer's own garden has presented her with something of a problem.

It is completely open to the elements and nothing in it survives the wind-burn it suffers.

Jennifer seeks ideas for her garden.

Charles Williams suggested a planting scheme which would succeed in Jennifer's garden and invited her to visit him at Burncoose Nurseries, near her Cornish home.

He wanted to help her make a selection of plants to beat the wind blast over her garden.

After taking Charles up on his offer of help, Jennifer has now planted up her garden and is happy that it will flourish in the Veitch tradition, albeit in a small way.

She has always been passionate about gardening and now she understands why.

"I didn't realise the family were so important to Chelsea Flower Show and I shall remember my visit for years to come!"