What makes plants grow is an easy enough question. The right formula ends up being just about the most complicated and fascinating stories in science and took over 300 years to unravel.
Timothy Walker, director of Oxford University Botanic Garden, reveals the way the breakthroughs of Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, Chelsea gardener Phillip Miller and English naturalist John Ray came up with the science of botany. Bewteen barefoot and shoes these quirky, temperamental characters unlocked the mysteries in the plant kingdom and in addition they began to glimpse your global where bigger, better and stronger plants could be created. Nurseryman Thomas Fairchild came up with the world’s first artificial hybrid flower - a very new plant that didn’t appear in nature.
Today, botanists continue the quest for new flowers, better crops and improved medicines to deal with life-threatening diseases.