GARDEN expert Noel Kingsbury is coming to Brockweir's Mackenzie Hall on Friday May 11 (7.30pm to give an illustrated talk on ecology and design.

He promotes an ecological and naturalistic approach to planting design and is described as being in the vanguard of the 'New Exoticists' exploring the limits of what may be grown outside and recapturing something of the spirit of adventure of Victorian horticulture.

In his talk he will look at what the gardener can learn from some basic ecology science about garden plants and how they survive, and what this means for the garden. This leads on to looking at how we can create more naturalistic plantings, incidentally reducing maintenance.