Worshipful Company of Gardeners

The Worshipful Company of Gardeners is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. An organisation of Gardeners existed in the middle of the fourteenth century; it received a Royal Charter in 1605. The Company no longer exists as a regulatory authority for the sale of produce in London; instead serving as a charitable institution. The Company also performs a ceremonial role; it formally presents bouquets to the Queen and to Princesses upon their wedding, anniversary, or other similar occasion.

The Gardeners' Company ranks sixty-sixth in the order of precedence for Livery Companies. Its motto is In The Sweat Of Thy Brows Shalt Thow Eate Thy Bread.

The current Master is Paul Rochford, the Upper Warden David Green CB QC and the Renter Warden is Mrs Margie Prior up. The. Immediate Past Master is Bernard Williams and the Spadebearer is Dr Heather Barrett- Mold

The Worshipful Company of Gardeners, first mentioned in City Corporation records in 1345, is a survivor from the medieval craft guilds which exercised control over the practice of their particular crafts and ensured a proper training through the system of apprenticeship.

In 1605, after existing for centuries as a "mystery" or "fellowship", the Guild was incorporated by Royal Charter. The Charter sets out the operations controlled by the Company: "The trade, crafte or misterie of gardening, planting, grafting, setting, sowing, cutting, arboring, rocking, mounting, covering, fencing and removing of plants, herbes, seedes, fruites, trees, stocks, setts, and of contryving the conveyances to the same belonging ... ".

In the 21st century control over the craft is neither feasible nor desirable. Instead, the Company pursues three main objectives to:

1 Promote the art and practice of good gardening throughout the country and especially in the London area. Further, to encourage and support educational establishments which are centres of horticultural excellence.

2 Support charitable activities connected with horticulture or with the City of London. The Company does not benefit from large endowments and has never owned property. The Charitable Fund is therefore limited and largely dependent upon the generosity of its Liverymen and Freemen (i.e. members of the Company) who are expected to contribute to the Fund as a condition of membership.

3 Promote the fellowship of gardening by introducing new members to the Company and to beautify the City of London and elsewhere by encouraging the display of flowers and foliage wherever and whenever possible. There is a wide knowledge of gardening and horticulture within the Company which can be drawn upon as practical support for new projects.

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Wikipedia