Spring and Summer cactus flowers

Contents of the winter 2009 Northants News

Spring and Summer Seven Roland Tebbenham

As you might expect whenever I visit a garden or a show I seek out the cacti and succulents as well as appreciating other plants and features of that particular place or event. 2009 proved to be particularly noteworthy, especially since the generally fine weather enhanced many trips. Here are highlights of seven and I have included website and postcode details so you can find more information and where they are.

Baobab sculpture at Lullingstone

Lullingstone Castle

I begin with a visit to Lullingstone Castle in Kent [DA4 0JA]

It is the home of explorer and plant-hunter Tom Hart Dyke, who is developing ‘The World Garden of Plants’ showing species grouped by habitats, planted in permanent outdoor beds that are arranged corresponding to the geography of islands and continents. Some species that require specialised conditions not prevalent in West Kent are exhibited in greenhouses termed ‘Cloud Forest’ and ‘Hot & Spikey’. The latter has a large BCSS Information Board with local Branch details. There is a Hot & Spikey mission statement – ‘To display the horticulturally endowed diversity of Cacti, Succulents and Bromeliads from South America, South Africa, Mexico, SW USA and the Canary Islands.‘ There are many columnar plants to give height and impact to the display and some nice succulents are also in evidence. The newer outdoor exhibits will fill out given time, though, despite overhead protection, winter damage was evident in the USA and Mexico beds. Reserve plants are kept in a nursery greenhouse and the maintenance team are kept busy. This project is a great challenge and well worth seeing!

A baobab in an English garden? Actually a sculpture of one and it fits in very well with the succulent theme at Lullingstone.

	RHS Malvern Show Shortly after my Lullingstone trip I visited the RHS Malvern Show [Three Counties Showground - WR13 6NW]. I had offered to help on the BCSS stand, which featured a minimalist format of larger plants, photo-posters, information and cuttings to give away to children. It won an RHS Bronze Lindley Medal: well done to Ian Thwaites and his team. There were five C&S exhibitors in the floral marquee: Heldon, Craig House, Southfields, Plant Lovers at Candlesby and Fernwood, the last specialising in Sempervivum and Jovibarba. Though trade was modest they were all confident of their future. I was fortunate to buy one of the few pots of a new Sempervivum ‘Lion King’ for the patio at home. The RHS Spring Show is not too extensive; the beautiful Malvern Hills form a backdrop and there are many specialist nurserymen with gems for you to seek out. I enjoyed a great day, lovely plants and enjoyable conversations; I cannot recommend it strongly enough to start your show visiting season!
Part of the display by Southfields Nursery at Malvern.		A display plant of Sempervivum ‘Lion King’

Puya at the Chelsea Physic Garden

Beschorneria yuccoides

Chelsea Physic Garden

On the day before the RHS Chelsea Show opened I spent a sunny afternoon just along the road at the Chelsea Physic Garden [SW3 4HS] This is the oldest botanical collection in London, dating from 1673, established as the Apothecaries' Garden, with the purpose of training apprentices to identify plants. The location was chosen beside the river because it created a warmer microclimate allowing the survival of many non-native plants.

There is a small Cactus & Succulent house with interpretation boards emphasising the plants’ economic and medicinal uses. There are botanical order beds and a pharmaceutical garden, all well interpreted with witty information boards including ‘The Botanical Pornographer’, ‘Family Trees’ and ‘War of the Names’. I saw a fine Beschorneria yuccoides (Agavaceae) in flower and some very nice silver bromeliads (Puya) in the garden. It was a very relaxing afternoon before the excitement of the Chelsea Show.

Above: Puya growing in an outside flower bed at the Chelsea Physic garden.

Right and Below: the Agave relative Beschorneria yuccoides.

Beschorneria yuccoides

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is an annual fixture for me: it is always inspiring and really does go from strength-to-strength. Both the C&S exhibitors there won Gold Medals; Brian & Linda Goodey of Southfields, their twentieth and Stan Griffin & Vicki Newman of Craig House Cacti, at their first attempt – very well done! They were excellent advertisements for our hobby and their displays showed great artistry and a wide range of species. Amongst other stands showing succulent plants were Durban, Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and the Cayman Islands ‘Reef’ exhibit featuring the clever use of plants to simulate a subsurface habitat. There were fewer succulents in the outdoor exhibits than in the two previous years, but these things follow fashion and who knows what determines that? Many other exhibits were interesting; especially those in the ‘Lifelong Learning’ section, this year focussed on climate-change effects on habitats and horticulture. I like to stop and appreciate the carnivorous plants and the colourful tropical flowers and fruit from Barbados and Jamaica. There is so much to see inside the floral pavilion as well as all the gardens, stands and shops outside. But be sure to wear strong footwear if you plan a visit!
	Succulents simulate corals in the Cayman Island’s Reef display	Part of the Kirstenbosch display with many Proteas.

	Kew I look forward to visiting the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew [TW9 3AB]. Kew got me hooked on plants (not just C&S) through regular visits in the 1950s and ‘60s. This year my wife and I spent two days there. The C&S collections looked good in the Princess of Wales Conservatory, commemorating Princess Augusta who appointed Sir William Aiton to manage and expand the garden in 1759. The C&S are complemented by an outdoor exhibit nearby and a fine planting on the roundabout near the main gate. I checked on the small exhibit of ‘Ant Plants’, and they had grown on well in the past two years. The Great Palm House features Kew’s oldest pot plant - a Cycad Encephalartos altensteinii, which was collected (when already mature) in 1770 and brought back by Francis Masson in 1775. It produced a cone only once in 1819, when Joseph Banks visited to see it and the plant is still growing at 4.2m tall!
Above: An ant plant at Kew. Species of the genus Myrmecodia have a symbiotic relationship with ants who live in cavities in the plant. Are they succulent? Probably... but not eligible for BCSS Shows (at the moment). Right: A stylised Lotus fruit woven in cane at Kew.		We both enjoyed two new features, the Rhizotron (an exhibit on roots) and the Xstrata Walkway 18m (around 60ft) up in the tree canopy. There were also willow seed sculptures and some delightful pictures in the new Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art. I reckon you need a week to see all the different elements of Kew; and then you must visit at different seasons to appreciate the full variety and impact of the collections. It deserves its World Heritage status.

BCSS Birmingham

At the end of our Kew visit week we could not miss the Birmingham Branch Show held at the Birmingham Botanic Gardens at Edgbaston [B15 3TR]. The Branch Show featured some nice plants including a rare blue Epiphyllum (Ho Ho!), but there were some poorly supported classes this year. The Botanic Garden’s Cycad collection is always worth seeing and their arid house has a modest planting of C&S, unfortunately subject to some vandalism. There is a nice outdoor bed of Agaves on the terrace, which overlooks the main lawn and bandstand. The trees and alpine stream gardens too were looking well in the glorious sunshine.

This large rosette of Aeonium canariense was an exhibit at the BCSS Birmingham Show

Rare blue epiphyllum hybrid (A JOKE!!!!)

Left: A blue Epiphyllum hybrid seen at the BCSS Birmingham Show. (Ed: Please note that this is a virtual reality hybrid - blue does not exist in any cactus flower colour (so far). When we ran a spoof feature on a black flowered hybrid someone rang from America at 2am to buy one!)

There is a second Botanic Garden in Birmingham not far from the first one. It is the University Garden at Winterbourne [B15 2RT]. This has been developed extensively in recent times and new alpine and arid houses have been added in the last few years, together with a mixed outdoor planting of C&S. Another interesting area in the gardens is the swamp; with wonderful plantings of water-loving and marginal plants, shrubs and trees. We also saw a Tacca, commonly called the Bat plant, in flower in the small tropical house, truly an arresting sight! The Birmingham Branch has supported the arid collection and many of Roger Moreton’s plants have been moved there to conserve them. This raises an important point concerning our own collections, especially where we grow documented plants. What are we all going to do to support this vital means of ex-situ conservation when we can no longer care for them effectively, for whatever reason? It is worth more than a passing thought.		Views at the University Garden at Winterbourne Above: The Arid Lands greenhouses with many succulents. Below: A trough planted with Sempervivums.

I think you will agree that I enjoyed a busy spring and early summer of visits. I hope that this piece has encouraged you to make some trips to see interesting collections, gardens and shows. Maybe you will make a trip in 2010?

Roland