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RHS Journals
The Garden
August 2005
RHS news
RHS debate
A clash of the passions
While most gardeners have been setting about creating their own private paradise, has the image of our nation with gardening at its heart been suffering?
This is the subject of the 2005 RHS Debate Private Passion or National Indifference: Is gardening still core to the British way of life? hosted by The Garden. It is being staged in October in London and RHS members have the chance to be there and add their views to the discussions.
Gardens are facing challenging times. Private gardens are getting smaller and some large gardens are being classed as brown-field sites and designated for housing. Many public parks are so poorly maintained and unsafe they are considered dangerous and avoided by the very people they were designed for, and funding for horticultural research has reached an all time low.
But how does this relate to an industry worth over £5 billion, where sales of gardening books in 2004 alone reached £11.5 million, and where 3.7 million viewers regularly tune into gardening programmes such as the BBC’s Gardeners’ World?
Gardening is reported to be the number one hobby in the UK and yet there is a critical shortage of skilled professionals and shortfall in the numbers of people choosing horticulture for a career.
Opportunity to discuss
Such thoughts, which fuel the passions of many, are guaranteed to make for a lively and spirited debate.
On opposing sides will be Alan Titchmarsh, author, writer and television broadcaster, and James Hitchmough, Associate Professor and reader in Landscape Architecture at University of Sheffield.
They will be joined by an audience of notable people from the gardening world, including RHS members (see below). Moderator for the event will be Jenni Murray, presenter of Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour.
‘This debate is an important opportunity to give gardening a thorough health check and identify how it needs to evolve to continue playing an important role, not only in our personal well being, but in the health of society in general. Human life is changing rapidly and gardening and garden making needs to be relevant and of use to all,’ said Ian Hodgson, Editor of The Garden.
RHS Debate: how to take part
The RHS Debate 2005 will be staged on 4 October at The Ondaatje Theatre, Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, London. The reception begins at 1pm with the debate starting at 2pm and RHS members are invited to join in the debate. Tickets are £7 for RHS members and £9 for non-members and the cost includes a glass of wine. They are available via the RHS ticket line on 020 7821 3408 (open Monday to Friday 9am-5pm) or by sending a cheque made payable to the Royal Horticultural Society and sent to: Events Booking, RHS Membership Dept, PO Box 313, London, SW1P 2PE.
Please include a daytime telephone number, membership number where appropriate and the name of the event (RHS Debate).
RHS awards
Royal presentation of Society accolades at Hampton Court gala
HRH The Earl of Wessex was on hand at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show gala evening to present this year’s RHS awards.
Victoria Medals of Honour were presented to Martin Lane Fox, Edmund de Rothschild, Tom Wood and Tony Lord, while Roy Lancaster and Raymond Evison were appointed Vice Presidents for 2005-2006.
Martin Lane Fox (seated first from left) is a garden designer and was Vice Chairman of RHS Council from 1997–2004. He successfully guided the Society through a number of changes and was the first Chairman of the RHS Horticultural Board.
Edmund de Rothschild (seated first from right) of Exbury Gardens, Hampshire, is a rhododendron enthusiast and has continued the tradition of introducing new rhododendron hybrids that the family began in the early 1900s. In the 1950s and 1960s he served on RHS Council and remains a staunch supporter of RHS plant competitions.
Kew-trained Tom Wood (back row centre) spent the early 1960s managing a tea plantation in Uganda, before becoming Governor at Hadlow College in Kent. He is now Managing Director of Oakover Nurseries in Kent which produces trees and shrubs from seed. He has made significant contributions to the horticultural trade.
Tony Lord (back row fifth from right) is a garden photographer, horticultural consultant and writer. He trained at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and has been gardens adviser for the National Trust. He serves on many RHS committees, edits the RHS Plant Finder and is a regular contributor to The Garden.
More awards are listed at www.rhs.org.uk/news/rhsawards.asp
RHS Garden Rosemoor
Wildlife audit aids biodiversity
The first Ecological Audit at an RHS garden has been completed on the Rosemoor estate. It was undertaken by Devon Wildlife Consultants during 2004 and has revealed that the garden and surrounding woodland are home to seven rare species including otter, bats and three protected moth species.
The audit will be used to help with future management for wildlife and the garden. ‘It has provided us with a benchmark from which to work,’ said Rosemoor’s Director, Malcolm Duncan.
Although much of the work was carried out by the Devon Wildlife Trust, Rosemoor staff and local wildlife groups also became involved and their results have been incorporated into the report. This includes the moth survey, the bat survey and an ongoing dormouse survey.
A study of flora within the surrounding broadleaf woodland leads to the conclusion that it is of ancient origin and, with the right management, could support more diverse woodland ecosystems.
Since the report was completed, a study of lichens has revealed that the garden is home to more than 150 types, and a study of mosses and liverworts is due to finish this autumn.
RHS Garden Harlow Carr
Butterfly feast
Butterflies and moths should soon find RHS Garden Harlow Carr an irresistible draw following the planting of more than 50 Buddleja species and cultivars.
The garden’s Curator Matthew Wilson said the reasons for choosing Buddleja for the border was threefold. ‘I want to show visitors that there is more to Buddleja than cultivars of B. davidii and I also want to demonstrate their relative hardiness,’ he said.
He says the fun part will be observing which plants attract the most butterflies and moths and hopes an informal survey carried out by visiting children could help establish which ones are the best.
Planted in June, the Buddleja border is next to Betty’s restaurant and above the new rose borders. It contains 27 B. davidii cultivars, 25 species and five hybrids. All the plants came from Longstock Park Nursery in Hampshire which holds the National Plant Collection.
RHS Hyde Hall
Painted trees provide a new form of garden art
Art in the garden has taken on a new form at RHS Garden Hyde Hall with two trees being covered with red and blue paint.
The Betula utilis var. jacquemontii and Prunus ‘Ukon’ were identified earlier in the year as needing to be felled, but their days as attractions in the garden were extended after they were pruned and painted by local artist Clive Wakeford.
The paint is soluble and will eventually fade, but it is likely that the trees will have been removed before this happens. According to Hyde Hall Curator Troy Scott Smith, the inspiration for painting the trees came from photographer Andrew Lawson who painted a dead tree in his garden blue.
RHS Garden Hyde Hall Wild Wood Appeal
Official thanks
More than 40,000 trees have now been planted in RHS Garden Hyde Hall’s Wild Wood and donors who have funded more than 125 trees can find their names or requested inscription on a commemorative ‘thank-you’ board located in the garden’s Visitor Centre. The board can be viewed from both inside and outside the centre.
RHS Garden Wisley
Child’s play
Young visitors to RHS Garden Wisley can now take part in an activity programme with the help of characters from an animated children’s TV programme, Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Friends.
This is the first time the RHS has produced an activity programme of this kind, which will run for two years. It has been created in conjunction with Fisher-Price and Nelvana Ltd, which produces and distributes Miss Spider products.
All pre-schoolers visiting the garden will receive a free interactive Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Friends activity kit, which will encourage them to take part in activities such as finding hidden bugs in the garden, tracking down colours and recording the weather.
Show garden
Chinese feature for Wisley lake
The Oriental pavilion forming the centrepiece of The Butterfly Lovers garden at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show has been donated to RHS Garden Wisley.
It will be taken to the garden and sited at the western edge of Seven Acres Lake.
The Butterfly Lovers garden was designed by The School of Architecture at Tianjin University and Mr Ting-Feng Liu and tells a well-known Chinese love story. It received a Silver-Gilt Flora award. The pavilion was donated by the garden’s sponsor Mr Chen Xiang-Qiang from the Hangzhou Blue-Sky Landscape Group.
RHS shows
Wisley Flower Show highlights
The Wisley Flower Show in June was an outstanding success, especially for first-time exhibitor Crawford & Newey which, on behalf of Owls Acre Sweet Peas in Spalding, Lincolnshire (01775 723284), won a Gold Medal for its display of old-fashioned cultivars. Two bouquets comparing the difference in colour intensity between plants of Lathyrus odoratus ‘Fire & Ice’ grown indoors and out created considerable visitor interest.
John Hoyland of Pioneer Nursery in Hertfordshire (01462 675858) showed 34 pelargonium species and primary hybrids from his collection of more than 120. Of note was Pelargonium peltatum, the parent of many ivy-leaf cultivars, and yellow-flowered P. triste, the first pelargonium to come to Europe.
Other interesting plants included new Iris ensata ‘Splish Splash’ on the stand of Kelways Ltd of Somerset (01458 250521) and a new agapanthus with variegated foliage from Hoyland Plant Centre of South Yorkshire (01226 744466).
The August Wisley Flower Show will host an evening of music on behalf of the National Gardens Scheme on Tuesday 23 August. The garden and show marquee will be open from 6-9pm. Contact 0845 260 9000 for information.
Bicentenary Glasshouse
Buried treasure unearthed
Archaeological investigations on the site of the RHS Bicentenary Glasshouse and Learning Centre at Wisley have unearthed artifacts dating from the Bronze Age, Roman and Medieval periods.
The study by the Surrey County Archaeology Unit (SCAU) began at the beginning of the year with a team of archaeologists working on site for about four months. Among the items found were stone tools (a tranchet axe and microlith) which suggest activity by hunter-gatherers, and pottery thought to be Roman.
Most of the land features, which are mainly ditches, date from the late 12th-13th centuries and evidence appears to suggest that the area was occupied to the north or east of the excavation site.
The SCAU is to complete a full assessment of the finds together with a report.
RHS books
Practical guide
Whatever your level of gardening expertise, RHS Gardening Through The Year will act as a guide through a full 12 months of horticultural tasks. Clearly laid out and practical in approach, it has more than 1,000 colour photographs, and includes special projects from making a nesting box to creating a water feature.
RHS Gardening Through The Year, by Ian Spence, Dorling Kindersley, 2005, £19.99, ISBN 1405308923. To order a copy, tel: 01483 211320 or mailto:mailorder@rhs.org.uk.
Lindley Library
Japanese tour
A collection of 121 framed pictures and eight books from the RHS Lindley Library, representing 500 years of botanical art, are being exhibited at three different venues across Japan.
The Treasures from the World of Botanical Art exhibition began in June with six weeks at The University Art Museum at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, before being moved to the Kobe City Koiso Memorial Museum of Art. From September 9-November 20 it will be a feature of The Twenty-Second National Urban Greenery Fukuoka Fair.
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