Publications
The Garden
January 2004
News
Encouraging composting
Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), a Government-supported not-for-profit company, is planning to supply 250,000 compost bins to British households this spring.
The initiative is a pilot scheme and the bins will be available for a modest charge. The aim is to attract more gardeners to home composting, in a bid to double the level of recycling by 2005 - 06. Currently the UK produces more than 100 million tonnes of waste every year, most of which goes into landfill sites.
This scheme is an opportunity to trial the performance of different types of compost bins in a range of locations. Local authorities and community recycling groups will distribute bins and help to monitor the quantity and quality of compost produced. WRAP is hoping to establish a helpline for people who want advice on composting and a team of advisors to provide ‘troubleshooting’ home visits.
Gary Hilder, WRAP Team Leader for Home Composting, said: ‘Not only is home composting a recycling activity which can bring immediate, direct benefits to the householder, but on a national scale, diverting organic waste away from landfill is essential if the UK is to meet Landfill Directive Targets.’
Paul Alexander, the Society’s Soil Scientist, said: ‘The RHS supports WRAP’s decision to supply compost bins to British householders. The current process of dumping substantial amounts of organic waste into landfill is a terrible waste of resources. Regular applications of compost to the soil will benefit garden plants by helping improve soil fertility and soil structure.’
More on WRAP initiatives can be found on www.wrap.org.uk
There is an RHS Conservation and Environment Guideline leaflet on recycling, including composting advice
Water shortages on way?
The Environment Agency has warned that, unless there is above-average rainfall before March, much of England and Wales is likely to face water shortages during the coming year, and hosepipe bans could be implemented in the early summer.
Gardeners have been asked to conserve water wherever possible and to collect rainwater instead of using hosepipes.
The Environment Agency advises using mulches (such as bark or wood chips) which preserve water and prevent evaporation.
Guy Barter, Head of RHS Horticultural Advisory Services, said: ‘Winter rain sustains long-established plants most of the summer, especially if you mulch with organic matter before the soil surface dries in mid-spring. Buy plants as early as possible so they get their roots into moist soil before dryness sets in. Choose drought-resistant container plants such as pelargoniums, and avoid thirsty ones such as impatiens and begonias. Limit hanging baskets to numbers that can be watered without the aid of a hosepipe.’
There is an RHS Conservation and Environment Guideline leaflet on water usage
High hedges
The Anti-Social Behaviour Bill, which includes legislation to control high hedges, has received Royal Assent. There will now follow a period of consultation with local authorities, during which guidelines will be produced. The Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 is likely to be implemented in November 2004.
Getting hotter
The American Horticultural Society has released a draft version of the 2003 edition of the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map. The updated map shows the lowest temperatures that can be expected in the United States and is divided into 15 zones. There are four new zones, which make it possible to assign hardiness codes to subtropical and tropical plants.
For further information visit www.ahs.org/publications
First ‘new’ fern for 50 years
An amateur naturalist has discovered a ‘new’ British fern, the first fern to be found in the UK for more than 50 years.
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Matt Stribley initially thought that the plant he found growing beside the River Camel, in Cornwall, was relatively widespread Cystopteris fragilis (brittle bladder-fern). However, when he showed it to the local botanical recorder, Rosaline Murphy, she decided to send it to the Natural History Museum in London. Botanists there identified it as C. diaphana (diaphanous bladder-fern) (left), a common species in southern Europe, but unknown in the UK.
Image: Matt Stribley |
Fred Rumsey, the Natural History Museum botanist who identified the fern, said: ‘Britain is arguably the best biologically known piece of land in the world, so the discovery of a new native species is an increasingly rare and extremely exciting event.’
Museum scientists believe the plant may have been thriving unnoticed in Cornwall for thousands of years, as the habitat it was found in closely mirrors those of its European range.
The last ‘new’ fern to be discovered in the British Isles was Ophioglossum lusitanicum, which was first found on the Isles of Scilly in 1950.
East Malling will stay open with independent status
Horticulture Research International (HRI) has announced that its East Malling, Kent site is to become an independent research establishment, called East Malling Research.
The future of the world-renowned research station has been in doubt since the publication of the Quinquennial Review of HRI in September 2002 (see News, Jan 2003, p4). The East Malling Trust for Horticultural Research, which owns the site, has submitted a five-year business plan to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
The transfer of the business from HRI will result in the loss of more than 40 jobs at the East Malling and Wye sites. The organisation says that this is necessary to ensure that the new company will be stable and financially viable.
Mike Solomon, East Malling’s Head of Site, said: ‘Historically, East Malling specialised in top fruit, soft fruit and hops, but our interests now include a much broader range of perennial crops including ornamentals and nursery stock, hardwood trees and plants as a source of fibre and useful proteins.
‘Although most of this work will be aimed primarily at commercial-scale horticulture and land use, much of our research will be relevant to the interests of gardeners - such as the development of rootstocks and the recent release of new cultivars of elder and hop. We will be seeking opportunities to extend our research into other areas, including landscape and the environmental impacts of horticulture.’
East Malling has an enviable reputation for scientific research and was responsible for the introduction of several clonally propagated dwarfing rootstocks that revolutionised fruit growing.
The East Malling site of HRI will become an independent establishment
Potato ring rot
Ring rot, the potentially serious disease of potatoes that was detected for the first time in the UK in November 2003, was introduced via imported seed potatoes. By mid-December it had only been found in a new cultivar called ‘Provento’, which is not readily available to home gardeners. Richard Massey, of SE Marshall, said, ‘All seed potatoes are strictly controlled by DEFRA and they have been especially diligent. There have been no cases of the pathogen being found in any of the cultivars that have been destined for gardeners.’
Further details can be found on the defra website www.defra.gov.uk/planth/pestnote/rot.htm
Plant species face extinction
The World Conservation Union (IUCN) has released the latest IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The list, which includes new data from Ecuador, the Galapagos and Hawaiian islands, shows that more than 12,000 species of plants and animals are considered to be threatened in the wild and that 762 have become extinct since 1994.
All known species of cycad have been assessed and155 species (more than 50 percent of the total) are threatened. The great majority of conifers have now been assessed and the most recently discovered species, Xanthocyparis vietnamensis (see News, Feb 2002, p81) is endangered. Thuja sutchuenensis, which was rediscovered in 1999, survives in a single location and is critically endangered.
Island populations of plants and animals appear to be particularly prone to the invasion of alien species. More than 125 endemic plant species from Hawaii have been added to the list, including the critically endangered shrub Hesperomannia arbuscula, which is having to compete with alien plants and suffers from trampling by humans.
For the first time seaweeds and lichens have been included in the Red List. Perforate reindeer lichen (Cladonia perforata), from Florida, has the dubious privilege of being added because it has suffered from habitat loss, hurricanes and fire, while boreal felt lichen (Erioderma pedicellatum) has suffered a major decline and is thought to be extinct in Norway and Sweden.
The Red List is no longer published on paper. A searchable version can be found at www.redlist.org
A CD-ROM version of the 2003 Red List is available from: IUCN/SSC UK Office, 219c Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 0DL. Tel: 01223 277966. mailto:redlist@ssc-uk.org
Peat-free compost withdrawn
The National Trust has decided to withdraw its range of peat-free composts, after disappointing sales.
The composts were only available from a few of the Trust’s plant centres and a small number of independent garden centres. National Trust Enterprises, the commercial arm of the trust, is planning a new series of trials this spring and hopes to have a new compost range available towards the end of the year.
New weevil killer launched
An improved version of PBI’s successful Provado Vine Weevil Killer is now available to home gardeners.
Provado Vine Weevil Killer 2 is a systemic insecticide that contains thiacloprid, a new active ingredient. It is said to remain effective against greenfly, blackfly and whitefly for as long as six weeks. The makers say it will control vine weevil for up four months. It is supplied in concentrated form and watered onto compost.
For further details tel: 01992 784200, or visit www.pbi.co.uk/products.asp
Conifers under threat
Illegal loggers are using a loophole in their country’s legislation to fell Fitzroya cupressoides, (Patagonian cypress), one of the world’s most threatened trees.
Fitzroya is endemic to the wet temperate forests of Argentina and Chile. Individuals can live more than 1,000 years but are extremely slow growing, making their timber hard, durable and highly sought after.
In 1976 the Chilean Government issued a decree declaring the species a national monument, which should have protected the tree. Unfortunately the legislation only protects living trees so illegal loggers set fire to areas of forest, then fell the trees as the dead wood is not covered. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, more than 2,500 trees were felled during 2003 alone.
Trading restrictions
In a further development, Argentina’s populations of Araucaria araucana (monkey puzzle tree) have been transferred to Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) from Appendix II. Appendix-I species are considered so endangered trading in them is allowed ‘only in exceptional circumstances’, whereas for Appendix-II species trade is much less controlled.
This removes the dichotomy of Argentinian monkey puzzles having less protection than the Chilean populations, which have been on Appendix I since the 1970s. A large number of monkey puzzles were destroyed in a recent fire in Chile (see, News, October, p741). To be listed in cites does not guarantee protection however; Fitzroya has been on Appendix I since 1975.
More information is in the latest bulletin (Vol 19, No.3) of the traffic network, which monitors trade in the species listed under CITES. This can be found at www.traffic.org
Protecting island flora
The Millennium Seed Bank, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew project based at Wakehurst Place estate, has received funding from the UK Government to allow it to collect seed abroad from plants on four of Britain’s Dependent Territories.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has provided funding for the training of staff and the provision of local seed storage facilities on Ascension Island, the British Virgin Islands, the Falklands and St Helena. These islands have many endemic plants, some of which are threatened.
For further information about the Millennium Seed Bank visit www.kew.org/msbp
Resistance to Dutch elm disease
An elm tree that has shown good Dutch elm disease resistance in the USA is now available in the UK.
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Ulmus americana ‘Princeton’ (left) was originally selected in 1920 for its ornamental qualities, but was later found to be resistant to Dutch elm disease. The cultivar was planted in Princeton, New Jersey in 1932 and 95 percent of the trees have survived in good health.
In 1992 scientists from the United States National Arboretum began injecting young U. americana trees with spores of the fungus that causes Dutch elm disease. After seven years, U. americana ‘Princeton’ and ‘Valley Forge’ had the best survival rate (96 percent). ‘Princeton’ is favoured as it is the more ornamental; for more information visit www.elmpost.org/report2.htm
Image: Riveredges Farms |
American elm is vigorous and will eventually form a large, vase-shaped, deciduous tree. ‘Princeton’ elms are available from Knoll Gardens of Wimborne in Dorset. 1.8m (6ft) high containerised trees cost £65 each, plus p&p. Tel: 01202 873931 or visit www.knollgardens.co.uk
Ulmus glabra ‘Clusius’, a form of native Wych elm, is also showing resistance to Dutch elm disease. Tel: 01925 755204 for details.
Living fossils as house plants
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Following its discovery in 1994, a rare conifer, thought to be extinct for at least two million years, is being propagated for sale in 2005 - 6. Wollemia nobilis (Wollemi pine) (left), a member of the monkey puzzle family (Araucariaceae) was found growing in an inaccessible canyon in the Blue Mountains, near Sydney, Australia, by park ranger David Noble (Dinosaurs on the doorstep, The Garden, March 1998, p148).
Image: J Plaza |
Seed collection is difficult as the cones are located at the tops of trees, which can be 40m (130ft) high, but researchers at Mount Annan Botanic Garden, New South Wales, have had success in growing plants from cuttings.
In acid soil, W. nobilis can grow 50cm (20in) per year in cultivated conditions. Like their close relative the Norfolk Island pine, young Wollemi pines make fine house plants, as they tolerate low light levels and air conditioning, and are hardy to -5°C (23°F).
Plants will be available in a range of sizes from selected retail outlets. To register your interest in buying a tree, visit The Wollemi Pine Conservation Club website www.wollemipine.com
Further information about W. nobilis can be obtained from the Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens website www.rbgsyd.gov.au/information _about_ plants/wollemi_pine
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