Flowers flourish in safety
SOME 13 new National Plant Collections (NPC) have been accredited in the past year, reveals horticultural conservation charity Plant Heritage. The new collections include two that overcame ‘significant obstacles’ posed by the coronavirus pandemic. The 13 new groups bring the charity’s total up to an impressive (albeit ominous) 666 which includes the UK’S only collection of Abutilon.
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic and related restrictions, two collections defied the odds to find themselves new homes during last year’s spring lockdown. The first was a collection of both Guernsey lily (Nerine sarniensis) and hardy nerine, formerly held in Devon. It had to be relocated from the West Country due to unforeseen circumstances concerning its previous owners, but, despite the restrictions, lives on, albeit in two halves.
The selection of Nerine sarniensis,
which consists of some 692 different varieties, is now happy at Cotswold Garden Flowers, Worcestershire, and the hardy-nerine collection of more than 100 different varieties is settling into life at RHS Garden Rosemoor in Devon. As one whole, the collection consisted of more than 2,000 plants, a significant number to prepare and move at short notice, even without a pandemic.
The second collection, of Ruscus, was also re-homed during the spring lockdown—it can now be found in RHS Garden Rosemoor’s Bicentenary Arboretum.
‘We are delighted that, after the challenges of 2020, people across the country still found the energy and enthusiasm to look out for our garden heritage,’ says Vicki Cooke, conservation manager at Plant Heritage. ‘Although it is of course sad that two of our holders have had to give up their collections, we are heartened that, despite the obstacles posed by Covid-19, those collections already have new homes in which they can thrive once again.’