Secateurs out for the BBC over ‘disease risk’ olive trees

A GOVERNMENT horticulturalist has criticised BBC gardening shows for encouraging viewers to plant foreign species which risk spreading disease.

Prof Nicola Spence, chief plant health officer at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, described Gardeners’ World as “irresponsible” for its feature on growing olive trees. She said presenters such as Monty Don should not encourage gardeners to grow olives because they risk importing the plant disease Xylella fastidiosa.

At a biosecurity event in Uxbridge, west London, Prof Spence said: “I like to watch Gardeners’ World ... and to listen to Gardeners’ Question Time, but I occasionally have a bit of a rage at them and take to Twitter when I think they’re not providing the best advice, particularly when a listener ... says ‘I’ve just brought back X from my holidays. What should I do with it?’ And I’m screaming ‘Destroy!’ and they get advised to ... plant it in their garden.”

Last year, a Gardeners’ World feature on olive trees said they were ideal for creating a Mediterranean garden, but Prof Spence said the advice was irresponsible. She pointed out that they had been banned from Chelsea Flower Show amid fears Xylella – a disease that has ravaged Italy’s olive groves – could decimate UK trees including the oak, elm and sycamore, with more than 350 types of plant at risk.

The BBC said both shows “feature advice from horticultural experts and have contributed to the public’s awareness of biosecurity”.