On Friday 30th January 2026 at Ashwood Nurseries, Ashwood Lower Lane, Kingswinford, West Midlands, DY6 0AE. John Grimshaw has been fascinated by plants for as long as he can remember. After studying botany at Oxford University, he built a life devoted to growing, studying, and sharing the wonder of plants. His adventures have taken him from the slopes of Africa, where he’s an honorary elder of a Maasai community, to gardens across Europe and beyond. Along the way, he’s written and co-authored several much-loved books, including The Gardener’s Atlas, Snowdrops, and New Trees, all celebrating the diversity and beauty of the plant world. After working with plant breeders in the Netherlands, he became Gardens Manager at Colesbourne Park, Gloucestershire, where he was responsible for developing the historic Elwes snowdrop collection. Subsequently, John became Director of the Yorkshire Arboretum where he helped establish the UK’s first Tree Health Centre and was awarded an MBE in 2024 for his services to plant conservation. John is a member of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Nomenclature and Taxonomy Advisory Group, the RHS Woody Plant and Gardens Expert Groups, and in 2012 led the RHS review of the Award of Garden Merit. He is Editor-in-Chief of the International Dendrology Society’s Trees and Shrubs Online, an encyclopaedic work covering all temperate woody plants. He is Editor-in-Chief of Trees and Shrubs Online and Curtis’s Botanical Magazine for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, while continuing to grow, write, and inspire from his garden in North Yorkshire. This lecture also presents an opportunity to visit John’s Garden, the beautiful 8 acre canal-side garden of nursery owner John Massey VMH.10.00am: Please meet at the Oss Box by the Main Car Park for complimentary coffee and biscuits. A member of the Ashwood team will welcome attendees (your name will be on our guest list). Visit the ‘pop-up’ snowdrop sales area where there will be a good selection of named cultivars for sale, with Ashwood’s Snowdrop production team on hand to help and advise.11.00am prompt Lecture: ‘Snowdrops and the Winter Garden’ presented by John Grimshaw. Following the lecture, there will be another opportunity to re-visit the ‘pop up’ Snowdrop sales area and the team will be on hand. 12.30pm-2.00pm: Gardener’s Lunch: (included in the ticket price). Join John Grimshaw and John Massey, along with his gardening team for lunch. The tea room’s catering team will serve homemade seasonal vegetable soup, a freshly-filled roll (cheese, cheese and onion, ham or ham and tomato) and a drink of your choice. Please advise us at time of booking if you have any dietary requirements or allergies. 2pm: Garden Tour: Enjoy a tour of John’s Garden, the beautiful 8 acre canal-side garden of nursery owner John Massey VMH. Truly spectacular in winter, this inspirational garden boasts a magnificent collection of trees, shrubs and conifers, giving strong structure as well providing the perfect canopy for drifts of hellebores, winter aconites, cyclamen and John’s own snowdrop collection..There will be a Snowdrop and Fern Spectacular in the Specialities Sales House with a large selection of named snowdrops for sale, beautifully displayed with a collection of winter ferns. There’s also a superb range of plants and bulbs for winter interest, including Ashwood Nurseries world-famous hellebores. For more information and to pre-book your place, please click here.