Village Gardeners
At our January meeting we welcomed Mr Richard Gant, Head Gardener at Madingley
Hall, who gave us a most interesting talk on Plant Heritage (formerly the
National council for the conservation of Plants and Gardens) and the role of
the National Plant Collections. We were informed that many garden plants are in
danger of disappearing (or have already done so) from commercial outlets -they
may have become unfashionable, be difficult to propagate, be very tender, prone
to pests or disease or be overtaken by new introductions. It is therefore vital
to save species that may be otherwise lost. There are now over 650 National
Plant Collections held by private gardens, nurseries, arboreta, local
authorities, horticultural colleges, specialist societies, the National Trust
and, of course, Botanic Gardens. Our own Botanic Garden in Cambridge holds nine
National Collections including those of Alchemilla, Bergenia, Lonicera and
European Saxifraga. The National Collection of Yuccas is held by Mr Colin Smith
in Burwell and that of Hyacinths by Mr Alan Shipp of Waterbeach. This latter
collection is open for the public to see on 26 and 27 March 11am -5 pm at
Bottisham Lock, Waterbeach and when in full bloom must be quite a sight.
There are many plant species not yet covered by the safety of the National Plant Collections, notably Hollyhocks, Cercis, Cosmos, Gladiolus and Lobelia. Interestingly, because of global warming, some collections, such as beech and saxifrage, are having to be relocated further north -a sign of the times. Further afield, 30,000 known plants have become extinct in the wild because of forest clearing in various parts of the world. When plant species are lost so also may be the insects that live on those plants -it is therefore so very important to preserve as many types of plants as possible worldwide. For instance, the monkey puzzle tree, endangered in its natural habitat of Chile because of logging and deforestation, has been protected by the Edinburgh Botanic Garden which is now replacing young trees in Chile.
The aims for conserving plants are to identify and record, propagate and distribute, raise public awareness, to use for education and research and as historical living records.
This was a fascinating talk by Richard Gant, and I suspect that we all came away having learnt a great deal.
Our next meeting is on Tuesday 15 February at 8pm in the Village Hall when Mr Richard Ayres, retired Head Gardener of Anglesey Abbey, will be talking to us about 'Snowdrops and Winter Interest Plants'. Visitors and new members are always welcome.