Garden grasses guru awarded rare RHS medal

Neil Lucas has been at Knoll Gardens for 30 years

The owner of a visitor garden and plant nursery in Dorset has been awarded the Royal Horticultural Society's (RHS) highest honour.

Neil Lucas of Knoll Gardens near Wimborne is one of only 63 people to hold the Victoria Medal of Honour (VMH), receiving it in his 30th anniversary year at the garden.

The medal is awarded to British horticulturalists considered by the RHS as deserving of the lifelong honour.

Other holders include TV gardening experts Monty Don, Carol Klein and Alan Titchmarsh, as well as King Charles.

Established in 1897 in recognition of Queen Victoria’s 63-year reign, only 63 medals may be held at any one time, meaning it is not awarded every year.

The RHS said Mr Lucas was an "exceptional champion of ornamental grasses" who, through Knoll Gardens' charitable foundation, had "increased our understanding of naturalistic planting and garden wildlife".

Neil Lucas (left) received the medal from RHS president Keith Weed

He said: "I have to say, I am highly delighted.

"So many of the people I have looked up to as mentors have achieved that level so to be recognised like this is just purely very, very nice.

"It takes a long time and I'm just very happy to have it.

"I do have an actual medal and a certificate and I have to wear it on Chelsea [Flower Show] Monday."

RHS president Keith Weed said: “There is no higher horticultural award than the Victoria Medal of Honour.

"Those who have received this medal are the very best of the best.

"We at the Royal Horticultural Society are delighted that Neil Lucas VMH has been recognised for all that he has done over so many years.”

Knoll Gardens is a naturalistic garden featuring hundreds of different grasses, alongside perennials, shrubs and trees.

It was bought by Mr Lucas and his family in 1994.