Garden news
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| 07:00 UK time, Saturday, 27 August 2011
In the news...
A call to arms this week from conservationists battling a ruthless alien invader: Himalayan balsam, currently choking the Norfolk Broads. A deceptively pretty Victorian introduction, it's now threatening timid little native plants like marsh lousewort (Pedicularis palustris).
The plant was already on the Environment Agency's hit list of the top ten threats to , currently costing us £1.7 billion annually in flood damage, ruined riverbanks and devastated native wildlife. Volunteer foot soldiers can join the '' survey aimed at rooting out the enemy once and for all.
A species rich meadow at Beech Estate, East Sussex
On the side of the natives: the Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst Place in Sussex this week launched its . Over the next four years their store of native wildflower seeds will repopulate the UK's fragmented grasslands, over 98% of which have disappeared since the 1930s. First on the list are the in West Sussex, adding dyer's greenweed (Genista tinctoria), flatweed (Hypochaeris radicata) and autumn hawkbit (Lontodon autumnalis) to a revitalised landscape.
And our worst fears confirmed: dry soil, a legacy of the exceptionally hot spring, has brought an . The RHS reports stressed-out birches and moisture-loving acers at Wisley already turning yellow and red and September apples and pears ripening now. Meanwhile umbrella and welly sales have doubled. Summer? What summer?
Elsewhere on the web...
There's good news for the wonderful Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall, this week voted Britain's Best Garden by readers of 91Èȱ¬ Countryfile magazine. It's quite a 21st birthday present for the garden, fresh from its starring role in last week's 'Secrets of the Lost Gardens' on 91Èȱ¬2.
Carol Klein collects seed
But bad news for 91Èȱ¬ Gardeners' World presenter Carol Klein, her renowned Devon nursery after over 20 years. Carol says she's going to concentrate on her own garden for now, and there's a suggestion the TV cameras may be following the whole saga: watch this space.
Apologies to those whose working day will be entirely derailed by the following, but you've got to have a go Met Office's addictive new . It's helping them make their forecasts better, so that's my excuse: I managed to lose Brad the ice-cream seller over 80 quid on my first attempt. No wonder it's always raining when I've planned a gardening day.
Finally – a feast for the eyes as Pensthorpe Nature Reserve opens its doors again following the revamp of Piet Oudolf's borders (by the master himself). 'A new spirit and a new face', indeed.
Out and about...More wildflower meadows now; the Field of Dreams at Brian and Denise Perrick's place, in South Petherton, Somerset, is a 'living Monet' – a flower meadow carved out of wasteland. It's open to the public until the end of August, and entrance is a donation to charity.
And at in Hertfordshire there's over 20 acres of them: an action-packed family fun day for Bank Holiday Monday keeps the kids distracted with treasure hunts, storytelling, face painting and a Very Hungry Caterpillar colouring competition while you sneak off on one of several guided walks around meadows and gardens.
Other good family holiday outings this Monday: get up close and personal with plants in the at the National Botanic Garden of Wales (microscopes are involved), or decorate plant pots within the elegant Georgian walled garden at William Wordsworth's childhood home in Cumbria. And for the little ones, there's a Gruffalo's Picnic going on at Crathes Castle and Garden near Aberdeen, complete with a Gruffalo Hunt in the woodland garden. Monster fun for everyone.
Sally Nex is a garden writer and blogger and part of the 91Èȱ¬ Gardening team.
Comment number 1.
At 27th Aug 2011, the_enduring_gardener wrote:Wow - Pensthorpe Nature Reserve looks amazing.
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