It is so hard for any gardener to narrow their favourite plants down to just three! We may say that we would have different plants in different seasons, but when put on the spot and asked to narrow it down, it is very interesting to compare which three plants our podcast guests chose.

George Anderson accrued over 50 years in the horticulture industry starting as a gardeners’ boy and moving through to the Head of School of Horticulture at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, where he remained for almost 38 years. George has served as President of The Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society, as Board Member of the RHS, as well as joining the team as a new presenter on the ‘Beechgrove Garden’ in 2005. But what are his favourite three plants? When asked as part of our podcast, the Scotland Grows Show, his unwavering love and passion for Scottish horticulture shone through.

“If I was choosing a tree, the one that I would choose would be Cercidiphyllum japonicum. First of all because of the shape of the leaves which are wonderfully spaced along the stems of the plant and the twigs. It has beautifully shaped foliage and a light canopy. It has a brilliant scent when the leaves are coming out, or when the plant gets dry in the summer, it has this scent of candy floss. And then when the leaves start to turn in the autumn, it again has this superb scent of burnt sugar or candy blossom. So that’s a must.

“The other thing that I can think of would have to be apples because of my upbringing. My father was always interested in apples, we had a lot of apples at home. The one apple that I think I would grow, it’s not one that I necessarily love, but it’s one called ‘Beauty of Bath’. That was the school bag apple, that was the apple that was ripe on the day that you went to school in August and you had it in your school bag. It’s not the best apple, but that’s a memory which that has.

“If I was to go for something else, maybe I would go for something like roscoea, spring flowering plants which are relatives of the ginger family.”

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Catch up with the rest of George’s chat in the Scotland Grows Show.