Royal visitor receives gardening advice

Princess Anne received a few horticultural hints at the opening of a garden centre recently.

An article in the online pages of a Lancashire Evening Post notes that the Princess Royal asked for some advice on how to deal with climbing plants at the opening of the Barton Grange Garden Centre at Brock earlier this week.

Trevor Connah, general manager of the Garden Centre Plants nursery, explains: "She was particularly interested in the clematis – a climbing plant – that we grow and was explaining that she didnt have a lot of luck growing them."

"We were giving her a little bit of advice on the right variety, the different types to grow and how to prune them."

He adds that the princess seemed keen to take up the advice.

According to the BBCs gardening pages, clematis may well be the most popular variety of climbing plant in the UK.