No. 35, December 2007

Contents of issue No. 35, December 2007

PlantNetwork publishes a regular newsletter containing news and information from botanic gardens, arboreta and holders of other documented plant collections in Britain and Ireland. This newsletter is only available to members of PlantNetwork. Institutional members receive several copies of the Newsletter for circulation amongst their staff.

• From the Chairman of PlantNetwork
  • New Subscription rates, GSPC and our target 8 project, Recent meetings, Meetings for 2008, Plant Conservation Day
• Upcoming Meetings:
  • Growing and Displaying South African Bulbs
  • Cultivation and Display of Native Species
  • Climate change and Planting for the Future
• Reports of PlantNetwork Meetings
  • Mosses, Ferns and Lichens in Gardens
  • Practical Field Records
  • Tree Planting
• Appointments, Awards, Staff & Training
  • Ian Turner will be leaving Paignton Zoo to take up the post of Curator at Sheffield Botanical Gardens in January 2008.
  • Leon Drake has joined the staff of Cambridge University Botanic Garden as arboricultural assistant.
  • Raoul Curtis-Machin has been appointed as Gardens & Parks Adviser for the National Trust, to cover three NT regions: NE and Yorkshire, East Midlands and the East of England. He is at present Landscape Historian with Historic Scotland.
  • Helene Gammack has been appointed as Gardens & Parks Research Assistant at the National Trust. She has many years’ experience as a practical working gardener and garden designer, and has worked for the well-known Derry Watkins Special Plants Nursery. Helene has an MA in Garden History, from the University of Bristol.
  • Darach Lupton has joined the other newly appointed botanists Noeleen Smyth and Colin Kelleher at the National Botanic Gardens Glasnevin, working with Matthew Jebb on the Irish National Strategy for Plant Conservation. Christina Armstrong is the new Herbarium Assistant. Alex Caccamo is the new Librarian.
  • Grants for GIS Software
  • Grants for Horticulturists.
  • Stanley Smith (UK) Horticultural TrustHorticultural Traineeships 2008/09The Trust offers grants for up to three horticultural traineeships for the year August 2008 to August 2009. Worth £10 000 each, these grants are awarded to gardens to cover the basic salary costs of a trainee, and will be paid directly to the chosen gardens in August 2008.Gardens and other suitable organisations are invited to apply for these traineeship grants. The grants will be awarded on the basis of the breadth of the training offered by the applying gardens. Applications should be sent to the Director by March 2008. There is no application form as such; applications should contain details of the training to be offered. The Director will advise on the content of applications, if necessary. The Trust also offers grants for worthwhile projects of all kinds in amenity horticulture and related subjects. Please write to the Director for further information. Director: Dr J Cullen Stanley Smith (UK) Horticultural Trust Cory Lodge, PO Box 365, Cambridge CB2 1HR(Tel 01223 336299, mornings only)
  • Kew Diploma Course. We are currently inviting applications for the Kew Diploma Course 46, which will commence on 15 September 2008. Completed application forms need to be sent to the School of Horticulture at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew by 31 January 2008.
  • The Historic and Botanic Garden Bursary Scheme (HBGBS), funds Exchanges, Secondments and Master Classes.
• NEWS
  • New Address for NCCPG: The National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens moved in August 2007 from the car park at the RHS Garden Wisley to: NCCPG, 12 Home Farm, Loseley Park, near Guildford, GU3 1HS. Tel 01483 447 540.
  • European Strategy for Plant Conservation 2008 – 2014
  • Conservation Botanists at Glasnevin: Botanists at the National Botanic Gardens have recently be joined by yet another recruit – Darach Lupton. Darach began his horticulture career at the gardens some 12 years ago, and has recently completed his Ph.D. on the conservation of Spiranthes romanzoffiana in Ireland. He is compiling conservation protocols and methodologies to support the work of the Gardens in achieving the National Plant Conservation Strategy for Ireland. Noeleen Smyth, who left the Gardens 8 years ago, rejoined the staff in July having likewise completed her Ph.D. on the Conservation and Restoration of the flora and vegetation of Pitcairn Island. She will be concentrating on bryophytes and ferns as well as vascular plants to develop conservation programmes for a number of threatened species in Ireland. Colin Kelleher also joined the gardens staff in July following an earlier career in genomics, pulling together the Poplar genome project and investigating the genetic history of Oaks in Ireland. Colin will be developing conservation projects on woody plant taxa at Kilmacurragh, as well as threatened Artic-Alpine plants and floating river vegetation. Last but not least, we have been joined by Cristina Armstrong who has been conducting research on the control of the highly invasive Gunnera tinctoria in the west of Ireland. Cristina is our new Herbarium Assistant, and will be playing an active role in helping us achieve Target 10 – the control of invasive aliens under Ireland’s National Plant Conservation Strategy. The Strategy provides an excellent work plan for our activities at the gardens, and our targets for 2010 have recently been joined with a further target, with the recent announcement that the Gardens is to play host to the 4th Global Botanic Gardens Congress (BGCI) in June of that year.
  • Zoos and Plant Conservation Day
  • Gardening with Wildlife in mind
  • Growing Schools
  • Campaign for School Gardening
  • New Alpine Display House at Wisley
  • Clore Rainforest Outlook
  • New Rainforest Glasshouse Seeks Partners
  • Funding for Benmore Fernery
  • Home sought for greenhouse plants
  • Garden Work at Wakehurst
  • Savill Garden Visitor Centre
  • Master Plan for RHS Gardens
  • A pan-European Seed List
  • Treetop Walkway at Kew
  • Edible Eastside – Gardener in the City
  • Market Drayton – a walk in the company of a horticulturalist
  • Growing Heritage Action Plan
  • NCCPG News
  • Variation in Schizostylis coccinea
  • International Association for Cultivated Plant Taxonomy
  • Iris – Botanical Garden A management system for living plant collections
  • Trees for a Changing Climate
  • Masterplans for RHS Gardens
  • New Website for RBGE
  • Edinburgh Bell is 400 years old
  • Sibbaldia 5
• EXHIBITIONS & CONFERENCES
  • Henry Moore at Kew
  • Flights of Fancy
  • Ehret – The Suburban Landscape:
  • Home and Garden: Part 4
  • Talks by the London Parks & Gardens Trust
  • BA Festival of Science 2008 – University of Liverpool
  • EuroGard V