QUIZ GREAT GARDEN OBSCURITIES

Horticultural entrepreneur Edward Stewart opened the UK’s first garden centre at Ferndown in Dorset in: (a) 1955

(b) 1965

(c) 1975

Which famous author wrote a satirical pamphlet about the game of croquet?

(a) Oscar Wilde

(b) Jane Austen

(c) Lewis Carroll

The hover mower was invented in 1963 in:

(a) East Germany

(b) Sweden

(c) Wales

Ebenezer Howard invented the concept of the garden city in 1898. His first garden city was at:

(a) Welwyn Garden City (b) Milton Keynes

(c) Letchworth

Floral designer Constance Spry was also a noted cook. She is credited with the invention of:

(a) the banana split

(b) coronation chicken (c) the prawn cocktail

The Victorian manufacturer who patented an artificial rock made of sand and cement, for use in grotto construction, named it after himself. It was:

(a) Pulhamite

(b) Parsonite (c) Perkinite

In what receptacles did rhododendron pioneer Nathaniel Wallich (successfully) pack his young specimens from Nepal for their journey back to England in 1821?

(a) in crates of tea

(b) in tins of brown sugar (c) in hollowed-out coconuts

George Stephenson, inventor of the steam locomotive, was a keen gardener who also came up with a notable garden gadget. It was:

(a) a tree shaker for fruit harvesting

(b) a steam-powered heated greenhouse (c) a device for straightening cucumbers

The influential but now largely forgotten garden writer Lanning Roper was asked to design a royal garden in 1983, but died before work could commence. The garden was:

(a) Windsor Castle

(b) Highgrove

(c) Frogmore

Which garden gadget was the basis for a weapon of war?

(a) lawnmower developed into mine-flail

(b) garden flame-gun developed into flamethrower

(c) pineapple bed developed into tank-trap