News

Mona Abboud’s garden in north London, home to many unusual plants from Mediterranean climates and New Zealand and also the National Collection of Corokia, has been enlarged with the purchase of an overgrown derelict patch of land next door. Work started on it a year ago and it will open for visits in May. It retains some mature trees, an oak, a magnolia, a Ginkgo biloba and a fig tree. The house and garden will one day belong to Perennial, the charity which supports horticulturists, so Mona will build a propagation greenhouse. She is creating a raised exotic border and a prairie area. Felled wood has been used to delineate paths. Large amounts have been chipped to go towards compost.

We are grateful for the kind contribution from Peter Watts’ family to MPG to support a full bursary. Melvyn Jope was instrumental in helping in the distribution of Peter’s extensive plant collection and books from his comprehensive library. Peter’s family were supportive of the suggestion that part of the proceeds of sale of books should go to the MPG bursary fund to honour Peter’s memory. Peter was a keen and very knowledgeable horticulturist with a special interest in, among other plants cyclamen and bulbous plants. He was well known as the person that found Crocus wattiorum in its natural environment in Tahtali Dagi Turkey. The picture is a pale yellow form of Sternbergia lutea from his collection.

This Christmas arrangement was created by Lindsay Blyth using plants from all over the world which she grows in her Andalusian garden. Before you read on, how many different plants can you  see are represented here? Well… The pale orange pencil-like sticks of Euphorbia tirucalli towards the bottom of the image combine with the brighter orange Nandina domestica berries and one of Lindsay’s favourites, Kniphofia rooperi, to give a warm festive feeling. Seed heads are from an aloe. There are a couple of bits of grey Echeveria, lots of nasturtium leaves, and a few autumn leaves of persimmons (Diospyros kaki) and flame vine (Pyrostegia venusta).

This Agave parryi var. truncata in a garden in Essex, UK, is a stunner pictured originally in the December issue of the Cactus and Succulent Review. The quarterly magazine, issued in PDF format at the beginning of March, June, September and December, focuses mainly on what the title suggests and also includes information on plants which grow in similar habitats to cacti, growing succulents outdoors in the UK, and exotic gardening. Those interested can find more details on the website https://www.cactusandsucculentreview.org.uk/ where they may subscribe free of charge.

Becky Cross has recently joined the horticultural team at Dunvegan Castle and Gardens on the Isle of Skye, after completing the Horticulture with Plantsmanship BSc course at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Dunvegan has recently been voted Scotland’s RHS Partner Garden Winner 2022. The castle is the oldest continuously inhabited one in Scotland and has been the ancestral home of the Chiefs of clan MacLeod for 800 years. Its five acres of formal gardens have an eclectic mix of flowers, exotic plants, specimen trees and shimmering pools fed by waterfalls and streams. Becky (second from the right) is a former Secretary of MPG, having been on the management committee.

This Agave attenuata is flowering for the first time since it was planted in the arid section of Wisley’s Glasshouse in 2006. The extraordinary and wonderful inflorescence is attracting a lot of attention as it’s very unusual. Originally from Mexico, this agave is now said to be naturalised in Libya and Madeira, and is found throughout the Mediterranean. Members can look forward to a special visit to Wisley on Wednesday 15 March, organised by Melvyn Jope and Lesley Jones.