The killer cuttings you really don’t want to take on the plane
Climate change means homegrown plants are more vulnerable to imported diseases. Agnes Stevenson reminds holidaymakers not to give in to temptation
Ilove the long walk to my village pub.The route takes me down a steep bank through a wood. But there are rewards. Fox cubs tumble out of the undergrowth, hawks circle overhead, calling loudly if they think you are getting too close to their nest, and clouds of tiny micromoths rise out of the long grass. The second half of the route is along a disused railway line.The plant life here divides neatly into two categories – wild things such as brambles and rosebay willowherb which threaten to scale the fences and overwhelm domestic gardens, and cultivated plants including buddleia and Rosa rugosa which have made the leap in the other direction and have broken out. Plants have an uncanny ability to travel – and not just on the soles of shoes. Their bright colours and enticing smells have been designed to be attractive to humans, persuading us to pick them and plant them in new places. There’s something particularly enticing about the vivid flowers we find when we visit hot places, such as the Mediterranean, and it is tempting to bring back a couple of sprigs of rosemary from a hotel garden or to pop a few cuttings of jasmine into your suitcase and attempt to root them at home. However, the Royal Horticultural
Society is advising against bringing back plants as holiday souvenirs. Changing weather patterns have made the UK more vulnerable to diseases that once would have failed to find a toehold because the climate was too cold. Their top concern at the moment is Xylella fastidiosa, a bacterial disease that has devastated olive groves and almond orchards in Spain, Italy and Portugal.The bacteria lives quite happily on a huge list of plants, including lavender and hebe. Once here places such as my local railway footpath could become super-highways for Xylella, spreading rapidly from one garden to another. Something as simple as my stroll to the pub could add to the problem and then lots of the plants that we rely on for structure, scent and colour would have to be destroyed. At Arduaine Garden in Argyll, the National Trust for Scotland is in the midst of a four-year campaign to fell almost 900 larch trees after a fungal condition called Phytophthera ramorum broke out in the woodland. This US invader is believed to have arrived in the UK on imported plants.While nurseries carry out stringent checks, gardeners have to do their bit, too, and bring back nothing from their holidays except photographs and a suntan.