Newslines Summer 2013

Newslines
Summer 2013
NEWSLINES
Welcome to our Summer Newslines. It’s
been a busy year as we celebrate our 35th
anniversary with a series of events and
the launch of a major new Appeal.
Summer 2013
Jim Marshall presents The
Countess of Wessex with a new Malmaison at the opening
of the PH marquee at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.
Major Appeal Launched To Save Threatened Plants
Plant Heritage has launched a major Threatened Plants Appeal to
coincide with our 35th anniversary aimed at raising £100,000 to
help save Britain’s rarest and most endangered plants.
Since the charity set up its Threatened Plants Project four years
ago it has identified that out of 13,000 cultivars assessed, almost
7,000 are threatened. So far 60% of these plants are protected in
National Plants Collections, which reinforces the important work
the collection holders do.
Visitors to Longstock brave the weather
to tour the stunning estate.
Articles:
Page 2 New National Plant
Collections
Page 4 35 Plant Heritage Open
Days
Page 5 Hampton Court Update
Page 5 Threatened Plants
Project Update
Page 6 News articles
Speaking at the launch of the appeal at our exclusive day at
Longstock Water Gardens on the 18th April Plant Heritage
President, Alan Titchmarsh urged people to support the Appeal
saying: “I would be so grateful if you are able to donate anything
you can to the Threatened Plants Appeal. In so doing you will be
instrumental in not only safeguarding it, but also ensuring that
the work carries on.”
Thank you to everyone who came and supported the day, it was a
huge success and made a fantastic £6,800 to kick start the appeal.
Members will receive an Appeal leaflet with further details in
their Autumn mailing. You can donate now in the following ways:
Call 01483 447540 to make a credit card payment. Send a cheque
payable to NCCPG. Follow the links on the website to donate via
the Big Give.
PLANT HERITAGE
12 Home Farm, Loseley Park, Guildford, Surrey GU3 1HS Telephone: 01483 447540
www.plantheritage.com www.facebook.com/OurPlantHeritage
Newslines
Summer 2013
Meconopsis
Allium
Nerine
New National Plant Collections
Eleven new National Plant Collections have joined the scheme since March. Newslines
takes an indepth look into five of them.
Peter Oldfield of Holsworthy,
Devon has two new national
Plant
Collections,
Allium
schoenoprasum and tuberosum.
He has sourced 30 cultivars
since he started developing the
collection two years ago. The
project has not been an easy one
and Peter has encountered many
naming and identity problems
within the species.
Chives are the smallest species of
the edible onion and is a perennial
plant native to Europe, Asia and
North America. Documents record
chives being cultivated in Europe
over 5,000 years ago and were
used extensively by the Romans
who believed that chives could
relieve the pain of sunburn and
sore throats. Romanian gypsies
are known for using the herb in
fortune telling whilst in medieval
times it was thought that hanging
a bunch of chives around a house
would ward off diseases and evil.
2
Peter houses his collection in large
pots sunk into gravel in deep beds
to prevent cross contamination and
houses the plants in greenhouses
during the winter.
Plumpton College, East Sussex, has
been awarded National Collection
status for its historic Collection of
Hebe -which was originally created
by Hebe and Parahebe expert
Douglas Chalk. He himself was a
student at the College in the 1930’s
and the Collection was rescued by
the Hebe Society from Cornwall
in 2009 and moved to Plumpton.
Allium, held by Peter Oldfield
This valuable collection of
plants contains many rare and
endangered plants with 33 of the
63 cultivars being threatened. Of
that, 23 are only in cultivation at
Plumpton College.
Speaking on the new collection
status, collection curator Gary
Jones said the Collection is a
valuable resource for the College,
and has enthused and motivated
many since its arrival. “It’s a great
resource for the students to work
on research and propagation.”
Maintenance work, propagation
and collection documentation is
on-going by both staff and students
and has enabled the College to
undertake new research work,
most notably in assisting with our
Threatened Plants Project.
There is also a new Collection of
Meconopsis, large perennial spp.
and hybrids, based at The Lakeland
Horticultural Society Gardens
at Holehird, Windermere, which
has been organised by volunteer
gardener Pat Murphy, and others.
Holehird
gardens
hosts
a
demonstration bed of the same
plants being trialled at RHS Harlow
Carr which started in 2009.
The colour of the flowers, often
an unusually vibrant blue, is a
constant source of fascination.
Newslines
Holehird does however have a
long association with the genus
Meconopsis
quintuplinervia
probably being introduced to the
gardens as early as 1914.
Meconopsis is a genus of
the flowering plants in the
Papaveraceae family. Native to
the Himalayas, many plants were
brought back by Victorian plant
hunters and have hybridised to
produce new cultivars.
The plant has a reputation as
being difficult to grow from seed
although Pat says that when
germinating new plants using
fresh seed helps.
Collections of Monarda and
Nepeta, held by Fi Reddaway
near Okehampton, Devon have
joined the scheme. She has used
the development of the Collections
to help her rehabilitate from ME
diagnosed in 2004.
Fi has always had an interest
in growing herbs, loving their
fragrance and usefulness but
hadn’t highlighted Monarda and
Nepeta as being of particular
interest until her husband started
keeping bees, one of Monarda’s
common names being ‘bee balm’
and bergamot.
The Monarda Collection currently
includes 87 cultivars, and Fi is
currently looking for six cultivars:
M. ‘Amethyst’, ‘Blaukranz’, ‘Mrs
Perry’, ‘Night Rider’, ‘Petite
Wonder’ and ‘Velvet Queen’.
Attracted to Nepeta, commonly
known as catmint or catnip (N.
cataria), for its all round beauty
and elegance as well as great
garden value; Fi describes the
plants as having stunning lacy,
billowing, aromatic foliage, long
flowering season and a large
number of blooms per plant. “They
are the perfect mounded shape
for edging and softening borders,
both delicate and elegant in all
stages of growth,” she says.
Already a collector Fi started
taking the search for new plants
more seriously in 2009 and
embarked on what she described
as an exciting, long and possibly
never ending search across
Britain and Europe. With 85
different cultivars at present Fi
is particularly searching for the
following species and cultivars:
N.
amethystina,
bucharica,
Nepeta “from China”, kubanica,
‘Lilac Cloud’, N. nepetella (syn.
lanceolata), nuda ‘Grandiflora’,
x faassenii ‘Limelight’, ‘Veluwse
Wakel’.
Monarda
Nepeta
Summer 2013
Finally, there is a new Collection of
Nerine sarniensis cvs., which has
been established by Exeter based
Steve Eyre. He houses the plants
in a series of heated greenhouses
and polytunnels in his back
garden, which lies within the 8
acre grounds of Bickham House,
where Steve is head gardener.
Steve has grown his Collection over
the years through bulb exchanges
within the Nerine & Amaryllid
Society and by purchasing plants
from Exbury, where some of the
cultivars were bred in the 1930’s
by the de Rothschild family. When
Ken Hall retired Steve purchased a
quarter of Ken’s Collection and has
now grown his Collection to over
3,500 pots.
Although the plants are susceptible
to frost and need to be kept above
4oc Steve says the plants are not
labour intensive. His advice to
people thinking of growing them
is not to over water. “Better under
water than over water,” said Steve.
“If you’re in doubt as to whether to
water or not, don’t,” he added.
Rose Foyle’s garden
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Newslines
Summer 2013
Painshill
Vicky Fox with her Heuchera
Myrtles
35 Plant Heritage Open Days
The
Plant
anniversary
been taking
the country
months and
JULY
AUGUST
SEPT.
Heritage
35th
Open Days have
place throughout
over the past few
Collection Holders
Brian Ellis
4
details are on the website at:
www.nccpg.com/info.events
Please see a list below of the
remaining Open days from August
to October.
Sanguisorba
Warwickshire
Peasmarsh Place
Lord Devonport
Castanea, Tilia
East Sussex
Special Perennials
Martin & Janet Blow
Helenium cultivars
& Centaurea
(perennial)
Cheshire
Gary Firth
Myrtle, Gongora
(Orchid)
Sussex
Derby City Council
Hydrangea
Derby
Tynings Nursery
Jane Lindsay & Tony
O’Connor
Passiflora,
Jasminum
Somerset
Andrew Gaunt
Hedychium (Ginger
Lily)
West Sussex
Painshill Park
OCTOBER
have been throwing themselves
into welcoming visitors and
providing afternoon tea. Please
do take an opportunity to
visit these Open Days. Full
Surrey
Brian Ellis
John Bartram
Heritage Collection
Aster NovaeAngliae
Warwickshire
Margaret Stone
Aster
Worcestershire
Plantagogo
Heuchera
Cheshire
Sun 28th July
10.30-16.30
Sat 3rd August
13.00-17.00
Wed 14th August
14.00-17.00
Sat 17th August
13.00-17.00
Sun 18th August
10.00-16.00
Sun 18th August
10.00-16.00
Sun 1st September
9.00-17.00
Fri 13th Sept.
10.00-18.00
Sun 15th Sept.
10.30-16.30
Sun 22nd Sept.
14.00-17.00
Sun 6th October
10.00-16.00
Newslines
Summer 2013
Ella Fielding and Selina Botham
Visitors admire the Central Feature
Simon Charlesworth
Hampton Court Update
Huge thanks to everyone who
helped at Hampton Court Palace
Flower Show, and braved the
hottest temperatures of the year,
to help us raise approximately
£12,000.
We are very grateful to Lyndsey
Pink, National Collection Holder of
Salvia, who donated a new cultivar
to the show for naming which
raised a massive £580!
Taking the theme of our 35th
anniversary, Selina Botham of
Designs for all Seasons, produced
a stunning central feature titled
‘The Jewels in the Crown’ which
depicted the richness and variety
of the National Collections. The
design which resembled a crown,
was carved by chainsaw sculptor
Ella Fielding, and encircled and
protected the ‘Jewels’ which were
a selection of plants from various
National Collections. The design
was awarded a Silver Gilt Flora.
The Seed Shop, run by Janet Wright
and June James, and sponsored
by Proctors Fertilisers, broke all
records making an astonishing
£5,700.
Congratulations
to
everyone in the marquee for their
superb medal results. Mickfield
Hostas and Jim Marshall’s
Malmaison Edwardian Flower
Shop were both awarded Gold
Medals and Jim won Best In
Marquee.
For all 34 medal results please
visit the website: http://www.
nccpg.com/News/Top-Awards-toCollection-Holders-at-HamptonCourt-.aspx
Janet Wright & June James
Threatened Plants Project Update
You may have read articles in the
press highlighting that urgent action is needed to safeguard the
plight of heathers which, due to
its loss of favour from gardeners
in recent years, are now at serious
risk of being reduced to a handful
of cultivars.
Plant Heritage launched a campaign after recent results from
the Threatened Plants Project
highlighted that many cultivars
of heather have disappeared altogether over the past decade, and
60% of the remaining 1441 heathers listed in the RHS online Plant
Finder are officially threatened.
These plants were popular in the
past for the length of their flowering, with many varieties blooming for around four months of the
year, as well as their low maintenance and hardiness. A fabulous
flower for attracting bees, gardeners should be able to find a plant to
flower for every month of the year.
However, loss of popularity for
this old favourite has led to many
once much loved varieties disappearing altogether from nurseries and gardens, for example Erica
carnea ‘Mr Reeves’ which has not
been found since 1969, and Erica
cinerea ‘Lilian Martin’ which has
not been cultivated since 1978.
Erica x darleyensis ‘Lucie’
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Newslines
NEWS
Summer 2013
JOHNSONS SEEDS
PARTNERSHIP
We are delighted to announce a
new link up with Johnsons Seeds
and its range of World Botanics
Seeds.
Rosa The Lady Gardener
NEW ROSE
LAUNCHED
In celebration of the charity’s
35th anniversary year, David
Austin Roses has launched a
beautiful new rose to say ‘Happy
Birthday Plant Heritage’. Aptly
named Rosa ‘The Lady Gardener’,
the rose was launched at Chelsea
Flower Show by three female
Collection Holders who represent
so many of the outstanding ‘Lady
Gardeners’ within the charity.
Shropshire rose breeder David
Austin Roses has a long relationship with the charity, holding
a National Collection of Rosa
(English roses bred by David
Austin) at its world famous rose
gardens. You can purchase the
rose at: http://www.davidaustinroses.com/english/Showrose.
asp?Showr=6228
The venture will see sales of
World Botanics Lathyrus ‘Pink
Pearl’ seeds give a 25p donation
in support of Plant Heritage. All
donations will go towards the
Threatened Plants Appeal. The
complete range of World Botanics seeds will be in stores from
August.
The World Botanics seed range is
a selection of premium and often
unusual flowers from around the
globe which bring an extra interest for keen gardeners. Johnsons
has also increased the number
of varieties on offer within the
range to 66 varieties, giving gardeners a broader choice.
PLANT HERITAGE
CHELSEA CLOAKROOM CHAMPIONS
A massive thanks to the huge
number of you who helped in
the Chelsea Cloakroom this year
– you showed enormous enthusiasm once again. Volunteers
braved freezing weather to look
after thousands of items to raise
almost £4,800. Well done everyone!
SILVERWOOD
CHALLENGE
Connections between plants and
people are fascinating. Gillian
Spencer wrote about the story of
Geranium nodosum ‘Silverwood’
and visit to the National Collection Holder to see the original
plant in her blog last year. She is
now hoping to raise money for
the Threatened Plants Appeal
and the Motor Neurone Disease
Assc. by cycling from London to
Amsterdam, 300 miles in three
days - in September. She will pay
her expenses, so all money raised
will go to the two charities.
Follow her blog (below) to see
more. To make a donation please
visit:
https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/gillianspencer1
https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/gillianspencer2
http://plantheritage.wordpress.
com/2013/08/02/silverwoodchallenge/
12 Home Farm, Loseley Park, Guildford, Surrey GU3 1HS Telephone: 01483 447540
www.plantheritage.com www.facebook.com/OurPlantHeritage