In June, we ran a series of articles about growers pulling out of Chelsea 2027 because of RHS peat restrictions.
A month later, in July, Sunday Times environment writer Ben Spencer, partially replicated the articles.
The BBC covered the story, then the Telegraph, Mail and others copied the Sunday Times piece.
The RHS/PeatFree Partnership reacted by bringing out another letter calling for government action to ban gardening peat use, one of several similar unsuccessful pleas made over recent years.
Finally the Guardian rounded it all up. Their collection of previously published information and various people expressing their views mentioned Hortweek, though not as the reason why they wrote the piece in the first place. It even included a mention of Bowden Hostas' Tim Penrose dressing up as Superman in May to protest about his peat-linked exclusion from Chelsea Flower Show, another story HortWeek broke.
BACKGROUND
In June, HortWeek ran a series of in-depth features including Creepers, How Green, Hortus Loci, Kelways and others expressing their concerns about the future of Chelsea because of question marks over show garden plant supply, plus response from the RHS and growers such as Hardy's.
The BBC spoke to How Green and garden writer Kate Bradbury, who argued for a peat ban, for their piece, which repeated the HortWeek article, while the newspaper also repeated Creepers' comments about pulling out. Bradbury, speaking on behalf of the RHS, said 115 nurseries were already providing peat-free plants. Creepers told HortWeek last month almost all its European suppliers are not peat-free.
How Green's Simon Sutcliffe said: "It's very tricky for us to out source material for designers. The RHS's stance in this timeframe is going to make it very difficult."
The RHS has sent an open letter to the next Prime Minister, also signed by the National Trust, Peat Free Partnership and the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, stating: “Industry tells us it is struggling without clear government guidance and support, and that complex supply chains make it extremely challenging to guarantee every plant is peat-free, particularly where imports are involved.”
