The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) is the UK's largest gardening charity, dedicated to advancing horticulture and promoting good gardening. Its charitable work includes providing expert advice and information, training the next generation of gardeners and promoting the ecological, aesthetic and psychological benefits of gardening in an urban environment.
James Armitage is the Principal Botanist with the Royal Horticultural Society, where he has worked since 2002. Based in the Herbarium at RHS Garden Wisley, his work is focused on research into the identity and origins of garden plants. He is an acknowledged expert on the taxonomy and nomenclature of cultivated plants, and worked on several books, notably RHS Plant Finder and the most recent edition of The Hillier Manual of Trees and Shrubs. His general writing has been published widely in the gardening press, and in 2012 he was named the Garden Media Guild's Trade Journalist of the Year.