Snippets
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21.3.2025
New national forest to be created in west of England
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/articles/cnvznj2dn67o
'Twenty million trees will be planted in parts of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Bristol.
It will be the first of three new national forests promised by the government to help meet a target of achieving more woodland cover in England by 2050.
The scheme is the first national forest for thirty years and aims to help boost wildlife, tackle climate change and to bring nature closer to people living in urban areas.
But environmental groups have warned much more needs to be done.'
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6.3.2025
Pollination
BBC Radio 4, In our Time (50 minutes) https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0028jtx
'A discussion of how plants attract insects, and insects find flowers from which they extract nectar and pollen - both food sources - and pollinate the plant in the process.'
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13.02.2025
2025 Spring Plant Fair at RHS Bridgewater
Presented by Plant Heritage (North West Group) and RHS Bridgewater
The 2025 Spring Plant Fair, 5th & 6th April.
14 Exhibitors as listed on the poster:
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12.02.2025
On Demand: Beth Chatto's Plants and Gardens - Past, Present and Future
Available online: Wednesday, February 12, 2025 at 8:00 AM - Wednesday, April 30, 2025 at 8:00 PM (United Kingdom Time)
By Kew Mutual Improvement Society
Åsa Gregers-Warg talks about the story of Beth Chatto OBE, one of the most influential British gardeners of the post-war era.
Tickets £4 from Eventbrite
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03.02.2025
Plant Hunters' Fairs for 2025
The schedule of events is listed at: https://www.planthuntersfairs.co.uk/
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26.01.2025
The Romance of Apples: BBC Radio 4 (On Your Farm)
'Sarah Swadling meets Karim Habibi, a grower who's passionate about propagating apples in his Kent nursery.'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0027cfy (22 minutes)
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19.12.204
A walk round Delia Smith's garden: BBC Radio 4
'Martha Kearney meets much-loved cook and writer Delia Smith to learn about her deep love of nature.'
BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00260sv
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11.11.2024
Awesome in Autumn: BBC Countryfile at Westonbirt Arboretum
John Craven visits Westonbirt, The National Arboretum, in Gloucestershire, to see it in all its autumnal glory. At this time of year, 2,500 different species of trees, from around the world, burst into a mosaic of colour.
John finds out about the history of the arboretum’s autumn colour parties, which were celebrated in the Victorian period, and discovers why leaves change colour at this time of year. He meets the team saving the arboretum's older trees from the winter storms and plants a rare native Sorbus tree to help preserve the species for the future. In celebration of the season, we also delve into the Countryfile archives to revisi6.11.2024t autumn stories from around the UK.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0024z1g/countryfile-westonbirt-at-autumn
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The genius of Plants: BBC 4
Series 1: 1 Super Senses (52 mins)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m0024rtv/the-secret-genius-of-plants
- "The wonderful world of plants and their vital role in our shared planet. See them as never before - and marvel at their remarkable abilities to flourish, adapt and survive."
Series 1: 2 Super strategies (52 mins)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0024vfc/the-secret-genius-of-plants-series-1-2-super-strategies
- "Technical developments are enabling us to see the world of plants in ever greater detail, giving us insights into their remarkable abilities to adapt and survive."
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26.9.2024
Slug Repellants
(BBC, Radio 4, Best thing since Sliced Bread). Can non-lethal slug repellents actually save your plants?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00237z6
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18.7.2024
The Lost Art of the Parterre Garden
An informative English Heritage podcast (41 min) from Wrest Park, Bedfordshire, with EH landscape adviser Emily Parker and head gardener Andrew Luke who explore the eye-catching parterre gardens. Available at: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/episode-276-the-lost-art-of-the-parterre-garden/id1156861002?i=100066259764
Wrest Park website: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/wrest-park/
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10.7.2024
Flower Power Newsletter, July-August 2024
Upcoming plant fairs
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6.6.2024
Music in Bloom
BBC Radio 3, The Essay, 13-17 May 2024. In 5x14 minute episodes, presenter Katie Derham and guests explore some fascinating connections between classical music and gardens:
- Good vibrations: Can music help plants to grow?
- Stylistic similarities: Are there stylistic similarities between classical music and garden design through the ages?
- Seeds of inspiration: How have composers been inspired by gardens across the centuries?
- Musical gardens: How have gardens shaped musical productions and projects?
- Cultivate wellbeing: Are music and gardens good for your health and wellbeing?
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4.6.2024
William Robinson: The Wild Gardener
'A new exhibition at RHS Garden Wisley (16 May – 25 Aug 2024) explores the legacy of William Robinson – one of the British Isles’ most influential horticulturalists. Immerse yourself in his vision of a ‘wild garden’ through beautiful artwork and photography.'
https://www.rhs.org.uk/education-learning/libraries-at-rhs/articles/william-robinson
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2.6.2024
Garden utopias
Radio 4, Thinking allowed: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001znn4
'Michael Gilson, Associate Fellow of the School of Media, Arts and Humanities, University of Sussex, takes Laurie Taylor behind the privet hedge, to explore the suburban garden and the beautification of Britain. How did millions of British people develop an obsession with their own cherished plot of land? Although stereotyped as symbols of dull, middle class conformity, these gardens were once seen as the vanguard of progressive social change, a dream of a world in which beauty would be central to all of our lives.
Also, JC Niala, anthropologist, allotment historian and writer, discusses 36 months of fieldwork on allotment sites and guerrilla gardened streets across Oxford and suggests these are places where urban gardeners imagine, invent, and produce a hopeful future within their city.'
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2.6.2024
On Your Farm - Generations of Honey.
Radio 4: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001zvmm.
‘In County Armagh’s vast acres of apple orchards, William Haffey and his young grandson Jack Wilson produce honey. The native Irish black honey bee they favour thrives, not just in the hives on their smallholding near Loughgall, but also in the hives they rent out to local apple growers.'
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28.5.2024
National Parks and International Seed Banks
BBC Radio 4 Farming Today included two items:
'Environmentalist Ben Goldsmith blames sheep grazing for turning the UKs National Parks into ‘dead zones’.
Neil Heseltine the chair of National Parks England responds, and explains what role he sees for these institutions.
One of the two scientists who was instrumental in creating a back-up vault of the world’s crop seeds to protect global food security, explain how it works.'
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26.5.2024
Rosy saxifrage reintroduced to the wild in Wales after 62-years
'A beautiful mountain plant that once clung to cliff edges in Eryri (Snowdonia) has been successfully reintroduced in to the wild in Wales after being extinct since 1962.' As reported by the National Trust.
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3.4.2024
Get Gardening - Just one thing with Dr Michael Mosley
In this 15 minute episode 'Michael dons some gardening gloves and gets grubby. It’s no surprise that digging, hoeing and heaving bags of soil around is great for our physical fitness. But Michael learns how gardening can also impact our microbiome from Dr Hannah Holscher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She explores how gardening can boost the gut microbiome, benefitting our health and wellness. Our volunteer Caspar, tests his green fingers by growing some kitchen herbs and visiting a community garden.'
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2.4.2024
Asian Hornet (Vespa velutina)
At our meeting on 18th March 2024 at Samlesbury WMH, Mary Anne alerted us to the threat of this new pest which has arrived in England. Comprehensive information can be found at this portal. She says:
- This is the main website which has all the links to posters, ID sheets etc. There has been a positive sighting of just one 2 weeks ago in Leyland. They have not been able to trap it so the hope is it died in that cold spell and did not have any friends locally.
For further information see:
- BBC News 4th June 2024
- The Killer Hornets BBC 6 September 2024, 16 mins
- https://basc.org.uk/stop-invasive-asian-hornet/ added 28/3/2025
- Resources for beekeepers/Fact/Sheets/Fact 01 Asian Hornet Monitoring.pdf added 28/3/2025
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2.4.2024
Need for Black Poplar Conservation (Populus nigra subsp. betulifolia)
This was featured on 31st March 2024 during an episode of Countryfile in the Trent Valley (starting about 12 minutes in). Populus nigra subsp. betulifolia is a threatened native tree that grows on wet and waterlogged ground such as ditches, river banks and flood plains. As the Countryfile programme explains, these are diminishing habitats. Black birch has separate males and females and, If it is to be conserved, more females need to be planted downwind in the vicinity of males.
See also:
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