Plant collections in safe hands
Seven new National Plant Collections have been unveiled by conservation charity Plant Heritage. They span several important groups of garden plants, including agapanthus, tender-houseplant clivia and Scottish cider apples, as well as honouring amateur and professional plant breeders and plant collectors of the 20th century.
An important collection of agapanthus, sourced and bred by Richard and Lorna Fulcher, has been bought by Ruth Penrose of hosta and fern specialist Bowden Nursery and Gardens, near Okehampton, Devon. Hardier, deciduous agapanthus will be in display beds for visitors to see, while tender evergreen varieties will be displayed in pots when in flower. Devon-based Richard has been breeding and selecting agapanthus for many years and is a key player in helping raise the plants’ recent popularity.
Steven Hickman of Hoyland Plant Centre, near Barnsley, South Yorkshire, has amassed more than 700 plants of South African houseplant clivia and plans to propagate rare and endangered species threatened in the wild, as well as collecting the best colour forms from around the world, with a view to selling them to the public.
Other collections include 300 varieties of Scottish cider apples and Scottish heritage apple and pear varieties at Megginch Castle, in Perthshire, plants bred and raised at Nymans, the National Trust garden in West Sussex, and a collection of 25 dwarf irises, bred by Gloucester breeder John D Taylor, named after Cotswold villages.