News
Alpines supplier closing down
The Perthshire family firm Pitcairn Alpines has been rearing bulbs, some rare, since opening in 1985 as a wholesaler but is closing in preparation for the retirement of the owners. Last online orders from their web shop will be 1 August 2022. Crocus chrysanthus ‘Herald’, shown here, is already out of stock but bargains remain. Buyers can expect to wait a few years for small bulbs to mature and flower. Click here for website.
New president of Cyclamen Society announced
We were pleased to learn that our member Melvyn Jope has been appointed president of the Cyclamen Society. His interest in cyclamen is well known and some members will have met Melvyn when he took part in MPG visits to Jordan, Armenia, Crete and the Peloponnese, and many others enjoyed his talk about wild plants in Greece which can be watched again here. This photo shows Melvyn on his recent trip to Gramos, Greece.
Early entry RHS Chelsea tickets
Tickets for members who have booked for early entry to RHS Chelsea will be sent out by email on Monday 9 or Tuesday 10 May. The image – which you can enlarge by clicking on it – shows a display by Jacques Amand, our sponsors for this special opportunity. Thank you to Jacques Amand for their support and to John Fielding for the image.
International events restart
MPG’s first international expedition after Covid lockdowns starts today, Monday 2 May, with our member Goffredo Filibeck leading a botanising and walking trip in southern Tuscany. Planned more than six months before, the number of participants was limited to 16 due to lack of certainty about what regulations of local transport and restaurant seating would be. The most recent exotic event before this was in Israel in February and March 2020. In 2021 there were two residential garden tours in the UK, the first in Yorkshire followed by one in south-west Wales.
Private garden in western Sicily
This Sicilian villa is at the heart of a productive olive estate. MPG member Alison Richards has recently restored garden areas, shown here looking gorgeous with a mass of Salvia officinalis in the foreground, a flavour of the reinvigorated Mediterranean plantings throughout. The Oxford Botanic Garden and the villa will have a mutually useful involvement as the development of the garden continues. This is a stunning area of Sicily with old windmills and salt flats beside the sea below.
Mediterranean flowers, islands and France
Guest speaker Michael Myers this week gave an illustrated talk on Zoom about Mediterranean wild flowers. He talked mainly about Crete, his favourite island, and also about Corfu, Cyprus and the lower slopes of the mountains of the Alpes Maritimes behind Nice in the south of France. The image shows Ophrys lutea growing amongst Ranunculus asiatica. The audience included members in Greece, Italy, New York, southern California, France, Belgium and the UK. The recording and video of the talk may now be viewed by clicking on this link.