Photo Blog: Eastcote House and Gardens

Eastcote House and Gardens in Hillingdon has undergone a major transformation since my last visit. Given the recent heavy winds and rains, the volunteers did an excellent job of putting on a such a tidy display of late summer colour and topiary.

Eastcote House Walled Garden looking towards the Dovecote

I savoured the garden from every angle, before making my way towards the wilder parts of the gardens towards Long Meadow and the River Pinn.

River Pinn

There are some magnificent old trees in Long Meadow. I paused under the magnificent, sunlit canopy of the old Oak Tree below.

 

I returned to the house where old cars were on display for the Open House London weekend.

Old car with Eastcote House in the background

One of the vintage cars in Eastcote Gardens

A quiet bench beckoned as I realised that I had missed the next 282 bus home.

 A chance to enjoy the last of the dappled September sunshine under the gardens' trees.

 Eastcote House and Gardens is open daily.

Book Review: The Plant Messiah

Most botanical biographies seem to be about the great plant hunters of the past. The Plant Messiah is the story of Kew’s modern-day botanical horticulturist, Carlos Magdalena. Rather than collecting exotic species, he’s out to save them.

Early Beginnings

A Spanish journalist called Carlos ‘The Plant Messiah’. The name stuck. The seeds were sown in childhood. Carlos learnt how to grow and graft plants at a young age. His propagation skills and sheer determination earned him a place on Kew’s prestigious horticultural diploma. His story opens a window on the extraordinary conservation work taking place at Kew and across the world.

Perseverance

As you turn each page, you will each endangered species to survive. Carlos’s perseverance despite repeated failures is remarkable. My heart sank as he reported a failure. He does not seem to dwell on the failures. Years seem to pass trying different methods to no avail. Thankfully, there are success stories too.

Adventures

This Spanish-born plant messiah travels the world. His adventures are worthy of the historical plant hunters. A human ladder in Mauritius, a crocodile watch in Australia and plant theft are just a few of the anecdotes.

It’s not just about saving plants personally. Wherever he goes, Carlos teaches the local people his propagation skills. This even finds him teaching after midnight in Bolivia.

Water Lily Obsession

The water lily tales stand out. The importance of international cooperation between the world’s botanical gardens is underlined by Carlos’ success with Nymphaea thermarum. An exchange of seeds with Bonn sees him try to grow the species beyond germination into maturity. The Plant Messiah succeeds thanks to a combination of  obsessional persistence and a ‘tortellini moment’. Only after his success does he hear that he had been working with the last five seeds in existence. A rat ate the last plant in Germany.

In the Water Lily House at Kew Gardens

Publisher

The Plant Messiah has Penguin Books as its publisher. It is unusual for a botanical subject to have such a mainstream publisher. I hope that Penguin will be inspired to take on more botanical subjects and authors at this critical time for endangered species. This inspirational book has been well-ghostwritten and edited for an enthralling read.

What Next?

The book ends with The Plant Messiah returning to Kew with ‘a new waterlily species to show the world’. It doesn’t feel like the end of his story. There simply has to be another instalment. The epilogue ends with a prayer, urging everyone to be a plant messiah. You don’t have to travel as far as Carlos to help plant diversity and conservation.

‘We have been given one earth and we are not managing it properly.

We don’t deserve another.

Instead, let’s turn things around and garden our way out of this apocalypse,

green up the world and plant our future.’

Amen.

Magdalena, Carlos:

The Plant Messiah. Adventures in Search of the World's Rarest Species. 

Publisher: Penguin Books (2017)

Happy Fungus Day!

Unless you are a mycologist, you may not appreciate just how amazing and important fungi are. This weekend the British Mycological Society is seeking to raise awareness and interest in the fungal kingdom. I attended a Meet the Expert tour last week with Dr Martyn Ainsworth at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Fascinating fungi:

• Fungi are all around us, largely hidden underground awaiting their opportunity to emerge. They spread out underground far beyond what we see on the surface. You can see evidence on Google Earth of their rings at Copenhagen Airport.
• Fungi have been reclassified. They are neither plants nor animals. They are mobile - albeit not as mobile as animals.
• If you want to identify a fungus, you need to identify the tree that is growing on, in or under. The fungi may be feeding off old roots underground if you can’t find the associated tree.
• Mycologists need to develop their sense of smell. It’s a whole new world of notes like wine – although some smells are decidedly unpleasant. Truffles are irresistible to pigs because they smell of pig pheromones.
• Fungi conduct wars on their competitors. They zap each other.
• It is claimed that Ink Caps supplied the ink for the Magna Carta.

Gardeners asked about the feared Honey Fungus. Dr Ainsworth explained that Honey Fungus is not a problem in natural woodlands. Here, competitors keep it in check. Only the unnatural environment of modern gardens let it spread unchecked.

We also heard how some fungi work in harmony with trees and plants. Given the rate at which man is using up the world’s resources, we could end up relying heavily on fungi as a food source. Researchers still have a lot to learn on how they survive.

Dr Ainsworth is working on gaining greater protection for UK fungi. Only 10 fungi have some protection at present. Some fungi are sensitive to nitrogen. Wax Caps have declined due to grassland loss.

Could the UK could end up offering fungi their last stand? What would the mushroom-loving French would think of that? What effect will Brexit have on European fungal cooperation?

Mushrooms were on the menu in Kew’s Orangery restaurant. Let’s hope that politicians and scientists won’t let Brexit get in the way of joint European efforts on fungal conservation. Timely action is needed to secure this key food source for the future.

Key Terminology

Term	Definition
chitin (n)	Tough, semi-transparent substance that is the main component of the exoskeletons of arthropods, such as the shells of crustaceans and outer body of insects. It is also found in the cell walls of fungi and algae.
fungarium (n)	Collection of preserved specimens of fungus.
lignum (n)	Woody tissue, tissue of a plant.
mycelium (n), (pl. mycelia)	Vegetative part of a fungus, consisting of a thread-like to felt-like mass.
mycologist (n)	Specialist in mycology; person who studies fungi and fungal life.
mycology (n)	Branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their biochemical and genetic properties, taxonomy, use as a food source and for medicinal purposes and toxicity.
spore (n)	General term for the reproductive unit of a fungus.
symbiosis (n)	Non-parasitic relationship between living organisms to mutual benefit.

Early Spring at Wakehurst Place (+video)

Man has had a close relationship with Nature throughout time. The passage from winter into spring has always been a special time. It is commemorated in spring festivals throughout the world. The first rays of spring sunshine and flowers bring smiles to faces even in dense cities. 

I was lucky to spend a bright sunny day at Wakehurst Place recently. Wakehurst Place is home to Kew's Millennium Seed Bank. Its conservation work and scientific research should help to ensure that Man's special connection to Nature continues for centuries to come. (The Vimeo video of my walk appears at the end of this blog).

A huge seed artwork greets you at the entrance to Wakehurst Place. Kew's Millennium Seed Bank is a world leader in plant conservation. It aims to bank 25% of the world's seeds by 2020. 

Displays inside the Millennium Seed Bank

I discovered some interesting videos, displays and figures about this important conservation work inside the building. As of 1st February 2017, the seed bank's staff have banked a total of:

• 2,200,964,170 seeds
• From 81,533 seed collections
• Representing 37,614 different species
• From 189 different countries

A Global Undertaking
Contractors were working on an extension to the vault space underneath the Millennium Seed Bank on the day of my visit. This extension will provide sufficient storage space for collections beyond 2020. There were students from Imperial College London and BSix College, as well as colleagues from Denmark, New Zealand, Belgium and Germany.

Staff and volunteers were working on cleaning seed collections from Azerbaijan during my visit. You could see into the labs through the glass viewing panes. The Millennium Seed Bank is truly an international effort.

Seeds come in all shapes, colours and sizes

Storage Process
I read a lot about how staff ensure optimum storage conditions for the seeds. Seeds are dried to reduce their moisture content and slow biological processes. The technique helps to avoid deterioration in storage at very low temperatures. Some seeds can last for hundreds of years if stored in this way. 

Staff have to be very careful when working in the vaults. They have to work quickly and wear protective suits. -20°C with a wind chill of around -27°C may be good for seed storage, but these are not good temperatures for human survival.

Staff wear protective suits inside the freezing seed vaults

Troublesome Seeds
The Seed Bank's research into how to store recalcitrant seeds is particularly interesting. Some species die if their moisture content drops below 40%. Coffee and avocado are two of the troublesome plants.

Recalcitrant Cocoa (left); a range of orthodox seeds (right)

The Great Green Wall
The Millennium Seed Bank is also sharing its expertise in seed collecting and the best propagation techniques with the world. The Great Green Wall initiatives in the Sahel and Sahara are helping to stabilise grass and tree roots to combat desertification. There are also pilot projects in other parts of Africa. The ambitious plan is to create a great green wall of plants and trees spreading across 13 countries.

Pressed Flowers

Pressed poppies on display

Seeing some pressed poppies brought back memories for me. If I had not taken up languages, life as a botanist would probably have been my alternative career choice. I often pressed flowers between the pages of my heaviest books and hid them under my bed as a child. A botanical version of Gerald Durrell perhaps?

My interest probably started with making daisy chains on my grandmother's lawn. My fascination with plants really took off after a cliff-walking holiday in Guernsey. The wild flowers were glorious there. 

My parents bought me a Collins Guide to Wild Flowers. I identified an amazing range of common and rare species in the local woods, hills and fields. I was lucky to live in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Somerset. I never did discover the rare Cheddar Pink (Dianthus gratianopolitanus). It only grows on the limestone rocks in a few places in the Mendip Hills and Cheddar Gorge.

Woodland Walk
After my tour of the Millennium Seed Bank's displays and different plant beds outside, I set off on a walk around Wakehurst Place's grounds. I followed a trail through Bethlehem Wood with some amazing exposed tree roots.

Walk through Bethlehem Wood

I discovered some black sheep in a field by Horsebridge Wood. I continued onward past some huge 'mushrooms' among Californian Redwoods until I was greeted at Westwood Lake by some noisy ducks.

Hillside full of spring crocuses

My favourite section of the walk was near the pond. You see the brightly-coloured winter stems of dogwoods and box leading to a hillside carpet of snowdrops and crocuses. It was a very tranquil spot with the sound of the running stream and occasional bird song.

I discovered a verse of New England poetry at the top of the hill:

Give fools their gold, and knaves their power;
Let fortune's bubbles rise and fall;
Who sows a field, or trains a flower,
Or plants a tree, is more than all.

From A Song of Harvest 

by John Greenleaf Whittier

The perfect verse for a wonderful spring day. A very fitting poem for Wakehurst Place as it takes great pains to ensure that the world's seeds will be passed on to future generations. 

Below you will find a Vimeo video of my walk through Wakehurst Place:


Spring 2017 Visit to Wakehurst Place from Karen Andrews on Vimeo.

Karen Andrews is a freelance French to English translator, transcreator, content writer and editor. She has a strong background in global marketing.

Email Karen for further information via karenanglicityen@gmail.com in French, German or English.