Roy has been a member of the Royal Horticultural Society for
over 40 years and in 2005 was elected a Vice President. In 1972 he
was awarded the Society's Gold Veitch Memorial Medal for Services
to Horticulture. This was followed in 1988 by the Society's most
prestigious award the Victoria Medal of Honour. He is a Vice
Chairman of the Society's Woody Plant Committee and a member of
several other committees.
In 1998 Roy received the OBE for services to horticulture and
this was followed in 2014 with the award of a CBE. In 2002 he
received the Garden Writers' Guild Lifetime Achievement Award and
in 2006 was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Kew Guild followed,
in 2008 by the award of the Kew Guild Medal. Since 1980 he has been
a freelance writer, lecturer, broadcaster, plant explorer and tour
leader. He has 1/3 acre garden in which he grows a large collection
of plants, some of which he has introduced as seed from the wild.
Roy Lancaster is one of the most highly regarded and distinguished
horticulturalists in the country.