Just a little over 100 years ago, John Charles Williams of Caerhays Castle in Cornwall, took pollen from single-flowered varieties of the popular, exotic-looking but not fully hardy Camellia japonica.

Matt is Head of Horticulture and Landscape Strategy at The Royal Parks. A keen fruit, vegetable and house-plant grower, Anne was formerly the glasshouse supervisor at RHS Garden Wisley. Caroline Salis

Kay Maynard explains how her first-ever garden has become a wildlife-friendly haven with year-round interest

The latest from Carol's beautiful cottage garden… plus her diary for the week!

I’m bringing my summer stars

Picotee-pink-edged, large flowers that look at you from a tall stem. Followed by marbled evergreen leaves. A sterile cultivar from Rodney Davey, it flowers prolifically as its energy is saved for flow