THE FRIENDS OF TREBORTH BOTANIC GARDEN

CYFEILLION GARDD FOTANEG TREBORTH

NEWSLETTER CYLCHLYTHYR

Number / Rhif 69 September/Medi 2020

Fig. 1. Natalie at work in the Conservatory. [p. 5].

Fig. 2. Outside work continues during lockdown. [p. 5].

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COMMITTEE

Sarah Edgar ([email protected]) Chair Angela Thompson ([email protected]) Vice Chair Cath Dixon Treasurer Natalie Chivers ([email protected]) Curator Rosie Kressman ([email protected]) Horticulturist Cherry Bartlett ([email protected] Events Secretary Teri Shaw ([email protected]) Membership Sec Dr John Gorham Committee Member Dr David Shaw Committee Member Tom Cockbill Committee Member Dr Ann Illsley Committee Member Dr James Stroud Committee Member Maisie Biggs STAG Representatives

Newsletter Team

John Gorham (layout, photos) Angela Thompson (commissioning articles, planning, editing) email as above

Cover Photos: Front: Natalie mowing the lawns during lockdown. [p. 5]. Back: Natalie recording plants in the meadow plots. [p. 5].

Unless otherwise stated, all contributions to the newsletter are copyright of the author. For more information about the Friends of Treborth Botanic Garden, please visit our website: www.friendsoftreborthbotanicgarden.org, or write to: The Chair, Friends of Treborth Botanic Garden, Treborth, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2RQ, UK.

NB The Garden now has a different telephone number: 01248 388877. The new number will ring to all the phones, including Rivendell (administrative building). Whoever answers can then transfer the call to another extension as appropriate.

Issue No. 69 September 2020

Contents

Chair’s Introduction, September 2020 3 News in Brief 4 Curator’s Report: May—August 2020 5 Gardening in Lockdown 7 Woodland Management and Glastir 10 Lockdown Experiences 11 Membership Matters 14 Thirty Years of Met Data for Treborth Botanic Garden: Storms, Drought, and a Heatwave in the first half of 2020 15 Stephen Bristow 18 Coronavirus: Wastewater can tell us where the next Outbreak will be. 19 University College of North Wales, Bangor, Expedition to British Guiana (now Guyana), 1963 21 Life in Lockdown—The View from The Garden 29 Le Jardin Botanique de Nice 32 Peat-free Potting at Treborth Botanic Garden 35 Plant Blindness and Wildlife Conservation 39 Phenology 41 Living at Treborth under Lockdown 46

If possible, please access the online version of the Newsletter to save paper and printing costs, and tell Angela Thompson ([email protected]) that you do not require a printed copy.

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Chair’s Introduction, September 2020

Sarah Edgar

It has been a strange and worrying summer with the Covid-19 pandemic hanging over all of us, and it is inevitable that several of the articles in this newsletter reflect how individuals (Angela Thompson, Pat Denne, Val Lane, Nigel Brown and myself) have dealt with the enforced “gardening leave”. In fact, being gardeners, lockdown has brought us unexpected benefits in giving us time to engage better with our gardens and with wildlife. The virus is also the subject of research being carried out in the University; we reproduce an interesting article by Davey Jones on how it can be traced in untreated wastewater which can help measure the increase or decrease of the virus in a population over time.

Natalie Chivers and Rosie Kressman were for many weeks the only people allowed to be on site at Treborth, and in her report, Natalie writes about the challenges this presented. One of the problems was running out of our special mix peat-free compost, because of the difficulties in supply caused by Covid-19. We certainly didn’t want to have to buy peat-based compost, and Rosie explains why in her article on peat-free potting in the Garden. Other aspects of activity at Treborth are covered by Pat Denne, who has been analysing the 30 years’ worth of meteorological data that have been collected at Treborth (not surprisingly, 2020 has given us some exceptional statistics!) and by Gerry Downing, who gives a summary of the benefits received from the five year grant that we have had for woodland work under the Glastir scheme. Adam Cross also mentions his appreciation of the Treborth woodland; he is Natalie’s partner and gives his perspective of life at Treborth under lockdown.

Angela Thompson provides food for thought in her article about plant blindness - I wonder whether the lockdown has helped people to recognise the importance and wonders of the botanical world? Phenology is a fascinating subject that provides many of the indicators of climate change, and the UK has produced many keen practitioners, from Robert Marsham in the 18th century to Nigel Brown at Treborth; read Shaun Russell’s article about this. We also always like to take you away to foreign parts, and Chris Howard writes about her visit to Nice Botanical Garden. Also Jane Cherrett tells us about the Bangor University expedition (including her husband Malcolm Cherrett) to British Guiana in 1963, to study ants, bats and the forest. The second part of the expedition, studying the wildlife of a table-top mountain, very nearly ended in disaster.

Finally, we have a tribute to Stephen Bristow, a good friend of the Garden, who sadly died in May.

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The Friends have continued to work over the summer, with meetings held by video conferencing. We have not produced an events diary again, as there will be only two events this autumn. One is the Garden’s opening under the National Garden Scheme, which will already have happened by the time you get this. The other is the AGM, which we will hold virtually using Zoom, so that you can join us from home; see the enclosed flier for details. We have had to cancel the visit to Portmeirion on 22nd October, unfortunately, as it would be impossible to have the guided walk with John Whitehead and maintain social distancing; but that can be rearranged for another year.

News in Brief

Plant Sales

One day, we hope to hold plant sales again at Treborth! We are always delighted to receive your donated plants, and in pursuit of sustainability, at Treborth we try to use non-plastic pots. If you are thinking of preparing plants at home for us to sell next year, please could you refer to Rosie Kressman’s article in the May 2020 issue on plastic pots and their alternatives, and donate your plants in recyclable/eco- friendly containers as far as possible, and to her article in this issue on the use of peat and peat alternatives – thank you.

Donations since January 2020

Two members recently deceased, George Argent and Steve Bristow (GreenWood Park), have bequeathed substantial sums to the Friends of Treborth and we are very grateful to them. Other donations have come from Ingla Mann, John Good and J and M Cooper – we send our thanks to them.

Angela Thompson

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Curator’s Report: May – August 2020

Natalie Chivers

Firstly, I want to say a big thank you for the work you have been doing for the Garden from your homes. We feel really supported by the Friends and it is reassuring to know that even though you’re not able to be here on site, the Friends’ contribution remains as committed as ever and so many aspects of the Garden are progressing because of that.

The Garden continues to look very impressive during this challenging and difficult time and, with the resumption of mowing, we can ensure it stays looking the best it can (despite the woolly appearance of some of the borders as I am sure you can imagine!). It has shown an amazing level of resilience this spring, with record temperatures (31 ⁰C) and some record downpours (36.5 mm in 24 hours). I think we too have been resilient: we have been working in very unusual circumstances to keep the collections thriving and we have managed to produce our usual (if somewhat smaller) displays which makes people smile, and highlights that the Garden is still being cared for and supported.

We were worried about how we were going to shift all of the plant sale stock at the end of March with the sales being cancelled, but with some creative and entrepreneurial thinking, we have sold almost everything we sowed here at Treborth and I know many of you have been selling from your homes also, so thank you! We hope to have our 2021 plant sales and will keep you updated on dates and sale format – the propagation house is already full of trays of biennial seedlings, so we hope for some bumper events!

We have enjoyed a magnificent display of diversity in our meadow plots this spring and summer. In late July, Jen Towill and Emily Meilleur helped me complete a botanical survey of the meadows and confirmed that they are as diverse as ever, with abundant swathes of our helpful semi-parasitic annuals, eyebright (Euphrasia) and yellow rattle (Rhinanthus minor), that help us keep coarse grasses in check and leave open patches for new seeds to germinate as they die back in the autumn. In early August, the plots were cut by Kehoe Countryside and this year, with advice from Trevor Dines of Plantlife, they have been harrowed to remove some of the mossy thatch that has built up over the years. By removing the thatch, we open even more bare ground for seeds to germinate and reduce the nutrient levels which encourage more invasive and coarse grasses to outcompete other delicate species. Kehoe used a spring tine harrow to rake the plots and baled the hay. The smaller plots by the bamboo collection are hand cut with the brush mower,

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collected, and laid on the new orchard meadow outside of my house to distribute the seeds.

We have continued to collaborate with other departments across the University during lockdown, and in my role as Biodiversity Coordinator I have recently written the University’s Biodiversity Enhancement Plan which sets out a series of opportunities to increase biodiversity across the estate, highlighting our biodiversity hotspots (of which the Garden is one) and demonstrates that the University is a ‘living laboratory’ for students to undertake local, real-life research on campus as part of, or in addition to, their degrees, which not only supports student learning outcomes but allows students to be a part of our effort, and helps strengthen the biodiversity and wellbeing value of the estate. The plan will be available via the University website soon.

We have also been tending to the plant displays that we have developed in the Pontio building. During lockdown, the building has been closed and the plants needed a bit of tender loving care. Our security team has been watering them regularly while access wasn’t permitted which was essential, and we have now given them all a feed and a tidy up ready for when the building reopens.

At the time of writing, we are still unsure when the Garden will open to volunteers. The University must ensure every activity has been risk assessed, and therefore the list of risk assessments piling up for the Health and Safety department is huge. Research is taking precedent, then next in line are students returning to Halls in September and all the work involved in opening buildings and other services. We wait our turn and, in the meantime, we have acres of outside space that we can work safely in, and many horticultural tasks can be carried out independently. The priority activities will focus on critical horticulture tasks: mowing, weeding, propagation and pest control as examples. In preparation for the next steps, we are putting together a Return-to-Volunteering Plan, which will propose a phased rota of volunteering, and likely to be limited to a handful of volunteers in the first instance focusing on the outdoor priorities. Access to anywhere inside remains in lockdown, so until we hear more information, I am not able to invite volunteers indoors for computer, library or glasshouse work. In the meantime, I shall keep everyone updated about our proposed phased rota of volunteering and look forward to welcoming you back to the Garden as soon as possible. Please continue to enjoy the outside Garden, woodland and coast path for a visit.

And just like shiny, purple alarm clocks, the thud of the falling ripe passion fruits next door to me in the Temperate House are reminding me to get back to weeding!

Happy gardening! 6

Fig. 3. Cosmos and geranium flowers at Treborth. [p. 5].

Gardening in Lockdown

Sarah Edgar

At the beginning of lockdown, I started a Covid diary and the first few entries were full of worries about family and friends, statistics about the spread of the disease and musings about how we would all cope and come out safely on the other side. However, as the days wore on, this became much more of a gardening diary as the garden became a solace, a distraction and eventually a joy and a passion. I have never spent so much continuous and concentrated time in the garden than I have in the last few months. And what a revelation it has been! Every day I have had at least one walk around, usually with cup of tea in my hand, just observing, thinking and planning.

My gardening notebook has been filling up with ideas about what to move around in the autumn or ideas for new colour combinations. For example, one evening in May I was walking to the veg garden and noted with pleasure the vibrant colours of the candelabra primulas; this bed had been extended by Gerry in April because we needed to find room to plant out the candelabra primulas that I had propagated from seedlings last year, and which now couldn’t be taken to the May plant sale at Treborth, because of lockdown. I almost didn’t notice the rather shady, damp spot that was being taken over by Symphytum. I’ve been meaning to dig this up to make comfrey fertilizer, but have never got around to it. The sun rarely comes into this area but this particular evening, it suddenly caught the pale flowers on two plants that were almost hidden by the comfrey – an Astrantia “Shaggy” with its delicate green-tipped white bracts, and Maianthemum

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racemosum, known as False Solomon’s seal, which has a plume of fluffy white flowers. With the sun on them, these flowers lit up this corner, and I stopped and realised that more white or pale plants would make it even better. So the next day I was in there with the spade and fork, having a satisfying clear out; the comfrey didn’t get put in a bucket to make fertiliser (sorry, Monty) but at least it was put in the compost bin, and my notebook has cryptic notes such as “Mve wht camass. fr back m/hood shaggy” to remind me what to do later in the year. I know that it will take some years before this little bit of garden looks how I now rather vaguely visualise it – and indeed there will be false starts, moving of plants and several purchases from local nurseries before I discover what will grow happily there. But these are the joys of gardening – trial and error, serendipity, and looking to the future while enjoying the present. And none of this would have happened in a “normal” year; as I went to the vegetable garden my head would have been full of other thoughts, such as what I must do before we went to see our daughter in Monmouth the next day, or what we needed to discuss at next week’s Friends Committee meeting, and so I never would have noticed the sunlight on the Astrantia in that forgotten corner.

Then there have also been many days then I have worked for five or six hours, either tackling one particular job and getting some very satisfactory results, or gently pottering. So, I might leave the house with my gardening tools bag in hand, with a mind to do a particular job but getting endlessly and pleasantly distracted by seeing other things to do. I tackle a bit of weeding, which opens up a space underneath the Rosa rugosa - could that Epimedium that isn’t thriving in another, rather dry, bed be planted there (it’s an Asiatic one so perhaps needs a slightly moister site)? So, I’m moving the Epimedium and notice the delphinium that really needs staking before it gets too big and gets blown over. And in looking for a bit of hazel to stake the delphinium I go down to the veg garden where I know there was some hazel left over from putting up the pea supports, then I see that the rhubarb that was planted last week really needs watering…… well you know how it goes.

Suddenly several hours have gone by and I’m in need of coffee. I have no idea where Gerry is. I last saw him after breakfast armed with loppers and bow-saw heading towards the apple trees, but he has doubtless also got distracted so could be anywhere (we are fortunate to have a big garden so it is easy to lose someone!). I listen out for the radio, which is my usual clue to his whereabouts, but he has been known to leave the radio happily talking to itself while he wanders off, perhaps following a bumble bee to take a photograph of it so that we can identify it later. In fact, one of the many pleasures of these last few months in the garden has been having the time to observe the wildlife. We have made good use of those excellent Field Studies Council ID charts, and often we will have the bees one, or ferns, or dragonflies and damselflies, spread out on the kitchen table. The

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wonderful weather in May brought out so many interesting insects which we have never really noticed before, like the bee-fly Bombylius major, which looks like a hovering bee until one sees the long proboscis probing for nectar. Sadly, one day I found a mallard nest with 14 abandoned eggs in one of the flower beds. A few weeks later, we saw a mallard, on the river Seiont that runs past our garden, with two ducklings; we hope it was the same female who had abandoned her eggs and she had managed to produce another clutch. More successful was a goosander, who swam up river with eight young who were practicing their skills by suddenly all taking off at once – not in flight but a sort of frantic fast paddle and thrashing of wings from one side of the river to the other and back again. The greatest excitement, though, was a sighting of an otter. One day Gerry and I were chatting by the river (it was coffee time again!) when we sensed a quick movement and there was a young otter on the rocks just below the far bank, making its way upstream.

Gerry decided at the beginning of lockdown that we would let part of the lawn go wild. The grandchildren wouldn’t be coming up to stay so there was no need to keep a space for playing on, and it saved on mowing time. It has never been fertilised as far as we are aware – when we moved here 44 years ago here it was just a very overgrown riverine meadow. So, we have been watching with great interest as the grass grew longer, and we were delighted to see self-heal, betony and bird’s-foot trefoil appearing. There was a clump of forget-me-not, different from the biennial that comes up all over the garden, and which I hope may be the perennial water forget-me-not. There has been much poring over ID books, particularly to identify the grasses. This meadow will definitely become a permanent feature; with Natalie’s permission we will harvest some yellow rattle seeds from the Treborth meadows to sow in ours in late summer and hopefully they will parasitise the more vigorous grasses and weaken them. We did have a problem in one end of this new meadow, though, where the adjacent damson and greengage trees were sending up shoots and we realised that, if Ieft uncut, then this area would become a grove of fruit trees in years to come. So, this end of the meadow will be mown again - and the grandchildren will have a space to kick a ball around in (albeit rather smaller than before!).

I am looking forward to getting back to a more familiar way of life, seeing family and friends, going to the theatre and cinema, walking and of course being back at Treborth, but I do not want to lose this deeper connection to the garden that has developed this year. The roots of my plants, and my personal roots, have grown stronger from the care I have given them, and spending so much time in the garden has given me greater understanding of the daily minuscule changes in plant growth, in light, and in wildlife. Gardening brings me into the present moment whilst still giving me hope for the future, which is so important in these uncertain times.

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Woodland Management and Glastir

Gerry Downing

Over the last 5 years the Garden has had a Glastir Management Agreement for the maintenance and improvement of the woodlands. Glastir is a scheme run by the Welsh Senedd with the broad aim to improve the rural landscape in Wales. It does this by channelling funds to landowners, primarily farmers, to undertake specific improvements to the land and management under their control. Amongst the activities funded by the Glastir scheme has been woodland management, and Treborth BG has benefited significantly from the grant funding that the scheme has provided.

The Grant scheme has provided nearly £29 k over the last 5 years which has been used to fund a wide range of woodland improvements. These have included footpath maintenance and improvement, where brambles and Carex species (sedges) have encroached, Rhododendron and laurel control alongside the Menai Strait, grey squirrel control, the purchase of a bench, picnic table and interpretation boards, and the eradication of snowberry and Japanese knotweed.

Thanks to the efforts of many hard-working volunteers, including our marvellous student cohort, in providing free labour, the surplus grant funds, some £19k has been contributed to the Friends’ general funds and used to finance other improvements in the Garden. The benefits of all this work has borne fruit by the gratifying sight of many local people and many visitors from further afield enjoying the improved access and ambience of the woodland. The reward has also been enhanced by the many complimentary comments from our visitors.

Unfortunately, as the cliché has it, all good things must come to an end and the Glastir scheme has dropped ‘Woodland Management’ from its range of supported activities. It’s unclear why this change has come about but rest assured we will be searching for other grant schemes to help us continue the good work of Treborth’s woodland improvement and bolstering our general funds.

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Lockdown Experiences

Compiled by Angela Thompson (August 20)

By the time you read this, we shall probably have been in some level of coronavirus restrictions for about 6 months. For those who have lost loved ones and for those who have suffered illness and are recovering, it has been a harrowing time. It’s been difficult for those who have somehow had to adapt to a new way of isolated living and working practices, and to very reduced social contact and perhaps income, all the time looking over their shoulders trying to avoid infection, keeping their fingers crossed and missing the company of people dear to them, especially in the early days when lockdown was total.

I’ve found myself drifting a bit, being retired, rather untethered by the lack of the usual weekly markers – no days at Treborth, no craft groups, no casual meetings with friends for cuppas, no eagerly-awaited meetings with family, but I’ve learned (after a fashion) to Skype and Zoom! But my overwhelming preoccupation has been with our garden, coupled with the great good fortune of some glorious weather in the spring and some less glorious later. How many people, especially in towns and cities, have had to manage without some open space of their own or a nearby park, contact with nature and the close awareness of the coming of spring and summer, is beyond me. Maybe they have found a small patch of woodland close by for some therapeutic ‘forest bathing’ – a walk in the woods, however sparse the trees, really is helpful!

Plants (and amusing stories of emboldened animals in quiet towns such as Llandudno’s Great Orme goats!) have played a huge part in my own resilience. I’ve spent much more time watching garden nature with greater intensity and wonderment while getting the vegetables going, and noticed more very small things, the minutiae, such as the disturbance of bits of dried leaves from the down-draft of a low-flying bumble bee (itself a seemingly aerodynamic impossibility), and the delicate fringe of hairs on a young beech leaf. William Blake’s seeing “a World in a Grain of Sand and Heaven in a Wild Flower” has never seemed more appropriate. I’ve spotted an ‘anting’ magpie in the apple tree, a pesky young blackbird eating the wild strawberries, large frogs in the greenhouse, and the impressively large pappus (dandelion ‘clock’ seed head) of goat’s beard with its individual seeds each topped by pentangles of parachute hairs. Regardless of what’s happening in the human world, there’s some comfort to be had from the fact that the planet keeps turning, the seasons progress and nature takes advantage of changes resulting from our problems in any way it can. People have worked out their own ways of coping, however, and here are the (mainly) botanical experiences of a few of them. Two other articles in this issue delight with detailed reflections, each expressed in different ways.

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Lockdown Garden Musings by Pat Denne

What a year 2020 has been for flowering plants: a superabundance of blossom from earliest spring cherry-plum, blackthorn, pears, through later spring apples, aquilegias, Welsh poppies, to summer roses, my garden has had fabulous displays this year. Yet, oddly, the several whitebeams in my garden (Sorbus torminalis, S. croceocarpa, and another in the Sorbus aria group) have not produced a single flower this year, nor does this group of whitebeams seem to have flowered at Treborth this year, so is that a north Wales, or a nationwide phenomenon?

Mine is not a tidy garden - I don’t believe in calling plants weeds, as all plants have their fascination (though some need restricting due to their over-enthusiastic growth habits). My garden aquilegias are allowed to rampage as they will; in form they are close to the simple wild type, but in a glorious range of colours, every shade of blue, purple, pink and white. At the beginning of their flowering season this year they were pristine, but were soon attacked by robber bees (probably Bombus pratorum) who tore holes in every petal tube of every flower, and could be seen head down through the hole sucking up the nectar, their tongues being too short to use the “official” route down the petal tube. Yet it does not seem to have affected seed set appreciably.

So far, it’s been a good year for butterflies: orange tips in abundance, and in May and early June my Buddleja alternifolia attracted many more red admirals and tortoiseshells than usual, together with the occasional painted lady and comma. A paper-wasp has built its nest on the light fitting in my bathroom - interesting to see the construction developing, though a relief that it has not grown beyond a sphere about 4cm across.

Lockdown time gave me the opportunity to make a list of native plants established in my garden. So far, I have recorded 95 species of higher plants (the list excludes any that have been deliberately planted). The garden is something under half an acre; originally it had been a very small patch around an old crog-loft cottage, but in 1955 it was extended by purchasing adjacent land from what was then a damp grazed field. Though there is nothing of great rarity, five of the species had not been previously recorded in the BSBI list for the kilometre square SH 5372 (Carex muricata, C. otrubae, Chenopodium album, Festuca ovina, Rosa arvensis). It seems likely that many of these native plants are remnants from the original field. If so, it is interesting that they have persisted for over 50 years, which makes one wonder what else could be found if more gardens adopted a more tolerant attitude to “weeds”.

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Daily Walk by Val Lane

It’s the first week in July and I’ve just picked my first blackberry. It’s not very sweet but very juicy, indicating much rain and little sun recently. Its early ripening is likely due to the extraordinary hot sunny spring. I’m on my daily litter-pick along Siliwen Road (Upper Bangor), down to the boatyard, along the shore then up to the Ashley Fields. On my left, Buddleja and valerian grow on the walls above a wide nettle bed which is dotted with yarrow, thistles and ragwort, the latter supporting yellow-striped caterpillars, possibly the offspring of the cinnabar moth that I caught in my mid-May moth trap. Today there are butterflies: small tortoiseshell, meadow brown and large skipper. Last year these flowers were covered with painted ladies. On the right of the road, pennywort stands erect on the vertical rock-face. Above is unbroken woodrush below angled oaks which continue on the left down to the shore. All is a dark green now but in spring there were bluebells and woodruff. Along the road, I see toadflax and campanula (probably a garden escape) growing on the wall.

In spring, someone on early morning walks was writing ‘Jesus saves – repent’ in blue chalk on the bare top of the wall. They persisted despite attempts to remove it. Finally, people took to adding comments (very amusing to some), eg ‘He’s not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty boy’ from the Monty Python film. Others, more serious, wrote down phone numbers of helplines.

I turn to descend to the boatyard, past a line of jack-by-the-hedge. On the shore, there are many stranded jellyfish. The tide is out, and a lone herring gull is busy turning over seaweeds. A little egret flies passed up the Strait. In spring, there were flocks of oystercatchers and curlew feeding on these mud flats, and for many weeks two pairs of eider duck and grebes spent time on the water.

I skirt around the bath house that has tamarisk trees and seakale, and sea plantain seeming to grow from bare rocks. Trees clinging to the steep banks are white beam, aspen and wild service, as well as oak, sycamore and wild cherry. A song thrush is singing and jays are calling. In spring, these woods were full of bird song and calls: blackbirds, nuthatch, woodpecker, thrush. Many of these birds bring their young to my bird table throughout the following month. If I walk further along the shore, past the large white house, where the steep rocky bank becomes limestone at the Nant Porth nature reserve, the vegetation changes. There is salad burnet and rock rose, and butterwort ‘stars’ in a seepage.

Up onto Ashley Fields now, and the grasses are high. Small oaks at the edges are two-foot-high, indicating that no mowing has taken place for a few years. White bindweed trumpets stand proud of the bramble patches. Meadow brown

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butterflies flit among the grass, and house martins swoop over it. As I approach the tarmac path at the top of the field, the university slopes come into view. In spring they were covered in lady’s smock flowers. I’d pleaded with the estate worker not to strim everywhere for the sake of the orange tip butterflies that breed on them. I was later pleased to see one long strip left standing. I had collected litter too and emptied this into the bin by the roadside.

If you would like to read more on the same theme, the June 2020 issue of the British Wildlife magazine (vol 31, number 5) has an excellent article entitled Lockdown Nature. Let me know if you would like a scanned copy of it (email [email protected]).

Membership Matters

Teri Shaw

This year, I have definitely missed seeing those of you who usually come along to our plant sales. I hope that you're all keeping well and enjoying your own gardens where possible. Mine has been weeded to death, but despite this we've witnessed some amazing wildlife including several types of dragonflies visiting our new pond and more nesting birds than ever before.

Some of you who pay your membership subscription by cheque or cash will have received a renewal form along with this newsletter. Those of you who access the newsletter online may receive a renewal invitation via email from the Friends of Treborth Botanic Garden's email account. I am hoping to send these out at about the same time as the newsletter, with electronic membership and standing order mandates attached.

Most people have membership renewal dates of 31 October but you're welcome to renew before then. Because of the current situation, Friends do not have access to the Treborth lab or office at the moment so we wanted to ask you, where possible, if you could arrange to make an electronic bank payment or complete a standing order form (also enclosed) to make it easier for us to process your subscriptions this year. Just post to, or drop off your completed forms at, Treborth so that I can update our membership database and forward the relevant paperwork to

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your bank. If you do need to pay by cheque or cash then please either post the cheque (payable to The Friends of Treborth Botanic Garden) to Treborth, or put the cash in an envelope and post it through the letterbox at Treborth marked for "Membership Secretary". I will arrange for forms and payments to be collected from there.

The current rates are: Students Free Individual member Full £15 Concessionary £10 Joint members (maximum 2 adults) Full £20 Concessionary £15

By the way, the Committee decided last year that new members will have a renewal date that is the anniversary of their joining date. This is because, with our new membership database, there is now no need to have a standard renewal date for everyone. You will be reminded when your renewal falls due. We appreciate that Covid-19 has created financial difficulties for some people. If you want to discuss this or any other aspect of your membership at all, please contact me on 01286 881291. You may need to leave a message, as it's quite likely I'll be in the garden! I look forward to seeing many of you at our next event, whenever that may be.

Thirty Years of Met Data for Treborth Botanic Garden: Storms, Drought, and a Heatwave in the first half of 2020

Pat Denne

At Treborth, daily records of meteorological data have been kept for 30 years (1991 onwards), including rainfall, wind direction and strength, and maximum and minimum temperatures. The met station is in the rhizotron enclosure, and data is recorded around 9 am every morning, thanks to Rosie, Natalie, student interns, and in the past of course Nigel.

As might be expected in the British Isles, weather conditions such as rainfall, and monthly averages of wind and temperatures fluctuate wildly from year to year. Even so, the met data for the first half of 2020 do appear to be remarkable in many respects. Here are a few of the highlights:

The year began wet and windy, February 2020 having some exceptionally wet days, with the highest February rainfall for 30 years. Then in May there was a prolonged drought, which many people will remember all too well, with only 9 mm of rain for the whole month. As shown in Figure 4, that was way below the 30-year average of 65mm for May. Thankfully, rain returned in abundance in June, when at 104 mm June 2020 rainfall was above the 30 year-average of 78 mm. 15

Wind speed (estimated on the Beaufort scale) reached record highs in January and February (Figure 5). The year continued windy, records for March, May and June being amongst the highest in 30 years, only April having about average windspeed (Figure 6).

The monthly means of daily temperatures were about average from January to March 2020. But then came the heatwave, maximum daily temperature being above average in April, May and June (Figure 7): that for April 2020 was the highest for 30 years, May and June close to the highest. An impressive 31oC was reached on 25th June 2020, not however an all-time daily record, as 34.75oC had been recorded on 19thJuly 2006, and 32.5oC on 19th July 2016. As Nigel Brown reported about the 2006 heatwave, “Wales has rarely been so hot during recordable time…. Was it a freak of nature or a portent of a new age when seasons shift and intensify, and all nature reacts? “(TBG Newsletter number 27, September 2006). Are these met records for the first half of 2020 just another blip, or are they “portents of a new age when seasons shift and intensify”, and what will the second half of 2020 bring us?

Addendum (1 August): It is not likely to come as a surprise to anyone that the Treborth met records show July 2020 to have been by far the wettest month in 30 years. The total July rainfall was 191.6 mm, compared with the 30-year average of 76.7mm. July 2020 was also untypically cold, the mean daily minimum (10.1C) being the lowest, and the mean maximum (18.4C) close to the lowest, for 30 years.

Figure 4. Monthly rainfall totals (mm) for May and June at Treborth [p. 15].

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Figure 5. Mean windspeed estimated on Beaufort scale (January and February) [p, 15]

Figure 6. Mean windspeed estimated on Beaufort scale (March to June) [p. 15].

Figure 7. Mean monthly maximum temperature (degrees Celsius) March to June 2020. [p. 15].

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Stephen Bristow

Sarah Edgar

We were very sad to hear the news of Steve Bristow’s death in May. Steve and his wife Andrea set up GreenWood Forest Park near Bangor in the 1990s, but his connection with the area went back to 1980 when he came to Bangor University to be one of the first undergraduates on the new Agroforestry combined degree course. He was a mature student, having completed the prestigious Kew Horticultural Diploma before coming to Bangor. So, he already had strong horticultural training, and Nigel Brown, one of his lecturers, remembers Steve’s knowledge and enthusiasm, particularly in relation to cycads, which he had studied in South Arica when doing the Kew diploma. Trees were always a passion as well, and after graduating, he and Andrea went out to the Sahel area of Sudan, to work with charities to plant trees in semi arid areas.

After this work they returned to north Wales with the idea of setting up a woodland environmental education centre. They bought 17 acres of grazing land and rather wet woodland a few miles outside Bangor, and invited Nigel Brown to survey the site before any development was done, to ensure that the best parts of the site, in ecological terms, would be left wild. Beginning with the making of a beautiful oak barn to house fascinating exhibits from around the world about forests and the use of wood, the core of GreenWood’s mission was always to educate, and Steve and Andrea welcomed many school groups to the Park. However, they realised that they needed to attract more people to the site and a consultant advised them to have some fun attractions like rides. They wanted to stay true to their principles and so over the year the slides, rides and play areas that were introduced were all built with sustainability in mind, such as the people- powered roller coaster. The success of the venture led to their both being awarded MBEs for services to tourism in 2009.

Steve was very keen to support local communities and gave seasonal employment to many local youngsters (including my own son, who has fond memories of running the longbow shooting there!). He supported the Friends of Treborth by making an annual £300 donation to us that was much appreciated, and he welcomed us to GreenWood for a fungus foray. Above all, Steve was a kind and generous man, with a sharp business brain but also strong beliefs in the importance of the natural world and the promotion of sustainable living for future generations. We offer our sympathies to Andrea and the family.

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Coronavirus: Wastewater can tell us where the next Outbreak will be

Davey Jones

Professor of Soil and Environmental Science, Bangor University (reproduced with permission from The Conversation, 9 June 2020)

Fairly early in the COVID-19 outbreak, scientists discovered that the virus that causes the disease – SARS-CoV-2 – is shed in faeces. But unlike the virus found in mucus and spit, the bits of virus found in faecal matter are no longer infectious, having lost their protective outer layer. They are merely bits of RNA – the virus’s genetic material. But these bits of RNA are very useful because they allow us to track outbreaks through the wastewater system.

For the past three months, we have been using a test called polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to find traces of SARS-CoV-2 in untreated wastewater. We believe this could form a valuable part of disease surveillance. Most UK towns and cities are served by just one or two wastewater treatment works, so a single sample – about a litre of water – can provide information on millions of people.

At the moment (9 June 2020), the official daily figures on new coronavirus cases come from people hospitalised with an infection and from the government testing programme. But these figures are not good indicators of the actual prevalence of the disease because they don’t include people with mild infections and those without symptoms. (A recent review suggests that about 40-45% of those infected with SARS-CoV-2 are asymptomatic.)

As we emerge from lockdown, it’s important that we have a better early warning system to alert us to the next likely outbreak area. This is where wastewater sampling comes into play. It can tell us with quite a high degree of sensitivity where in the country the disease is still active (it can tell you ifone person in 10,000 has the disease). Importantly, it can tell us a week in advance that an outbreak is likely to occur in a particular community.

The virus appears in faeces within three days of infection, which is much sooner than the time taken for people to develop symptoms severe enough for them to be hospitalised. It can take up to two weeks from the time someone is infected to the time they receive a diagnosis. The time from sample collection to getting the results is around 48 hours so we can get an idea if the number of infections is increasing in the community. The rapid turnaround time for these tests could give policymakers a head start so they can initiate a lockdown at the earliest stage to control its spread. It can also tell us when the disease is disappearing so that lockdown measures can be eased. 19

A sample of wastewater can’t tell us the exact number of people with COVID -19, but it gives us a clear picture of whether incidence of the disease is going up or down. And as we’ve been doing this for several months now, we have a solid baseline to work from. Testing wastewater for diseases is not new. Indeed, it has been used to find outbreaks of polio for decades. Our team also uses wastewater to check for norovirus and hepatitis – our team has been doing this for the past six years – but this is the first time we have tracked a coronavirus. For the past three months we have been working with Welsh Water and United Utilities to take samples of water entering the water treatment works and measuring the levels of viral RNA fragments. We are focusing on urban areas with testing taking place in Manchester, Liverpool, Cardiff, Bangor, Wrexham and Birkenhead – where the first cases of the disease were discovered in the UK.

We now hope to extend the project and to work with other water companies to expand the surveillance network to other regions of the UK and to feed this information into the Office for National Statistics and the Wales andUK governments to help protect citizens from COVID-19.

Fig. 8. Structure of a coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). Monochrome version of © SPQR10 Binte altaf / CC BY-SA. [p. 19].

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University College of North Wales, Bangor, Expedition to British Guiana (now Guyana), 1963

Jane Cherrett

Having read the various accounts of Len Beer’s expeditions to Nepal (Newsletters 65 & 67), I write to report on an earlier UCNW Bangor Expedition to Guiana in 1963.

P. W. Richards, Professor of Botany at Bangor, a world authority on tropical forests and himself a member of an Oxford University Expedition to Guiana in 1929, stimulated and encouraged a group of students to visit the same general area in 1961. Assistant Lecturer J. Malcolm Cherrett joined the group in 1962 after the zoologist Arthur Wild dropped out for family reasons. A project on leaf-cutting ants had already been set up. Malcolm agreed to take over the project having no prior knowledge of these ants, a life changing decision. He took over the role of treasurer after another member dropped out. The University gave him a term’s sabbatical leave on full pay from summer 1963 until the start of the Spring Term. He had never been abroad or flown before.

After two years of planning, the expedition consisted of G.B. Evans (leader, botanist, pattern analysis), J.N. Davies (biologist, bats), Dr J.M. Cherrett (zoologist, ants), J. Ogden (botanist, ordination, and leader of UCNW Mountaineering Club) and a photographer to create a record of the Expedition. This could be sold to television to offset some of the expenses, and Colin Leighton, a professional cameraman from the BBC who had worked for Pearl and Dean advertising agency, was appointed. Three Arawak Indians from the Guiana Forestry Department were employed as cook, tree identifiers and general helpers. The Expedition lasted 5 months.

The Expedition had a total income of £4173, major donors being The Percy Sladen Memorial Fund, The Royal Society and the Mount Everest Foundation. The five members of the Expedition put in £100 each. Shell Oil Company provided free return passage for all 5 members. The expedition was supported by the University, with Principal Charles Evans of Everest fame writing the foreword to the final report.

Jim Davies and Malcolm Cherrett were the first to leave the UK in early August on the Shell Dutch oil tanker the Hyala sailing from Ardrossan, Scotland. At one point in the middle of the Sargasso Sea, the large weed rafts were strung out in parallel lines. Trawling revealed it contained hydroids, polyzoa, annelids and crustacea. The ship finally docked in Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela. The two men

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then made for Trinidad (the University of the West Indies Library) for research into leaf-cutting ant literature, Jim leaving quickly for Guiana.

The chosen area was near Bartica, some distance by river steamer from the capital of Georgetown. Dr Kenneth King, an ex-Bangor graduate working for the Guiana Forestry Department, drove Jim the last part of the journey to the nature reserve and the camp site. Some 25 miles from Bartica, with the forest enclosing all around, green and dense, they were in a shady tunnel beneath the canopy. Jim Davies and the Amerindians set up camp in a small clearing half a mile from the road.

Once all members had arrived, a normal working day began at 7am with the sound of a bell! This was, along with a large pressure cooker, on loan from the indomitable Mrs. Bowler of Bangor Pier café!! Then came Jim Davies, returning tired and dirty after his nightly vigil bat catching in the forest. By 8am the botanists were at work in the cool of the forest. Malcolm Cherrett would have departed to count or collect ants. Colin Leighton spent the day ‘on call’ in camp, photographing parts of the scientific work and the variety of wildlife that wandered into the clearing. Botanical work carried on until 2 or 4pm and the rest of the day was spent on camp chores, preserving collected material and drying soil samples. After the evening meal (a lengthy affair), the camp saw Malcolm leave at 9pm (the leaf- cutters here were nocturnal) and Jim departing again for his nocturnal bat work. Some nights, all were out in the forest filming ants or bats by the light of four Tilly lamps, a difficult and trying experience. Every day brought new excitement, whether it was an impending invasion by driver ants, a too-close-for-comfort encounter with a jaguar, or the arrival of the Forestry Department jeep with mail and news of the outside world.

The final report of the expedition contains much detail on the scientific work achieved. Some idea of this is as follows. Jim Davies’s newly designed bat traps and the usual mist nets were used, the aim being to make a species list and assess relative abundance. The traps, made to a design by an American, Arthur Greenhall, were constructed in Bangor by Butterfield (contractors). Their job was to capture bats flying in the forest canopy. They had to be hauled up into position, no easy task. In Bangor, they were tested successfully, using local captured bats, in the former TB sanatorium at Penhesgyn near Menai Bridge. In Guiana, 7.5 weeks were spent in catching, and all-night watches kept at certain points for the last 3.5 weeks, an exhausting business. 105 bats were caught, representing 28 species, one third of which had not previously been recorded in Guiana. One bat belonged to the genus of leaf nosed bat, never previously described. Of the 15 traps used on the ground and in the canopy, 40 bats were caught in a five-week period. 76 bats were killed

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Fig. 9. Natalie excavating a trench for a barrier to the roots of one of the bamboos. [p. 5].

Fig. 10. Broad-bodied chaser on flower Fig. 11. Broad bodied chaser on leaf of bud of Sarracenia. [p. 14]. Sarracenia. [p. 14].

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Fig. 12. Hedychium flowers in the Fig. 13. Tragopogon pratense Temperate House. [p. 5]. (goatsbeard) seed head. [p. 11].

Fig. 14. The late Stephen Bristow and his wife, Andrea., [p. 18].

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Fig. 15. Digitalis x valinii ‘Firebird’ at Treborth. A recently introduced variety of a cross between D. purpurea and D. (Isoplexis) canriensis. [p. 5].

Fig. 16. Kukenaan Tepui, Guiana. ©Paolo Costa Baldi. Licence GFDK CC-BY-SA 3.0. [p. 21].

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Fig. 17. Map of Nice Botanic Garden showing beds laid out by continent. [p. 32].

Fig. 18. Teucrium fruticans (shrubby germander) in Nice Botanic Garden. [p. 32].

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and returned to the British Museum to form a permanent reference set for future workers. The rest were marked and released.

Leaf cutting ants, a major pest of agriculture throughout their range, were not previously known to work at night. The foraging activity of a single nest was followed for 9 weeks. The position of the attacked trees was mapped, the ants exploiting an extended area at the end of their trails. Information was amassed on size and tenderness of leaf fragments, distance from tree to nest and numbers of ants on the many ant trails. Ants were seen carrying leaf fragments for 120 yds when the same tree species being attacked was growing within 5 yds of the nest entrance.

The botanists measured 7,500 trees, and the variability and the distribution pattern of individual species was noted. Soil samples were taken, seedling density counted and maps of vegetation type, soil type and topography were made. Identifying tree species was entirely due to the vast local knowledge (Indian name with the corresponding Latin name) provided by two Arawak botanists, Charles Sandy and Rufus Boyen, from the Guiana Forest Department. Of the 147 fern specimens, 36 species have been identified including two new species. All were passed onto the British Museum of Natural History for dispersal to various herbaria.

The second aim of the expedition was a biological study of the flora and fauna of the table-top mountain, Kukenaam, on the Brazil-Guiana-Venezuelan border. Kukenaam was previously unclimbed, with sheer cliffs rising some 2000 ft high from its base, and its neighbour, Roraima, presented formidable climbing challenges. The team consisted of Harry Parsons (zoologist, ex-Bangor graduate), Colin Leighton (photographer), Adrian Thompson (botanist, Guiana Government Forestry Service) and leader John Ogden (botanist). Both Thompson and Parsons had climbed Roraima, and Parsons had flown around Kukenaam, crucially getting photographs on which the attempt to climb was made. They left the Indian village, Yuruani, on 22 November with 14 Amerindian porters and set off north across the savanna setting up a base camp at its base. The ascent and the three visits from camp 3 onto the summit are all recorded in detail in the official expedition account. The memorable ending to the climb was that once down and back in the Indian village, the expected light aircraft to pick them up never arrived. With food running short, the group and some porters decided to walk the 100 or so miles to the next mission station on the Kamarang river. All climbing gear and bulky plant collections had to be left behind. Walking from dawn till dusk, they reached Paruima, and then journeyed by canoe down river to Kamarang from whence they flew to Georgetown and civilization.

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Once back in the UK, analysis of data, writing of reports for financial contributors and submitting scientific papers to learned journals all took time. A black and white film ‘The Creeping Jungle’ was shown on TV in the Travellers’ Tales series in August 1965. A second film of the first ascent of Kukenaam was abandoned, when it was discovered that a filter in the camera had caused vignetting (a softening or shading away of the edges of an image). However, film receipts enabled the finances to work out well, and a small donation of £41was given to Bangor Exploration Society to help subsequent expeditions.

I am pleased to report that Dr Shaun Russell has accepted a box of expedition files, slides, photographs and the detailed main report, for safe keeping in the archive kept at Treborth Botanic Garden which is linked to the main University archive.

Fig. 19. Members of the UCNW Bangor Expedition to Guiana in 1963. Malcolm Cherret is in the middle of the back row. [p. 21].

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Life in Lockdown – the View from the Garden

Nigel Brown

I feel very guilty and insensitive to the difficulties and concerns of many whenI admit that Caroline and I have enjoyed lockdown. But there is no denying it nor the reason - our garden. For the last four months it has been our world and only rarely have we sought or wished for more.

March 23rd, the day lockdown was imposed, dawned fine and calm. A light ground frost was soon vanquished by a gentle SSE breeze and equinoctial sun. The air carried the complex scents of spring and softened Snowdonia in a light blue haze. Our grandchildren, who had arrived 48 hours earlier, rushed out into our garden to explore.

What did they find? – the first cowslip in flower amid a crowd of primrose, the first fritillary in bud, the first chiffchaff singing. Terracotta pots brimming with blue, the Anemone appennina face up, the Muscari bowed but equally beautiful, both a pretty skirt for hyacinth which scented the terrace so deliciously. The children enthusiastically helped mark out the meadow plots with string and accepted that there were some parts of the garden which were out of bounds, but not many. Their sense of freedom and fun augmented the underlying prospect of a fine day ahead and all the treats of spring. A new world far from their familiar suburban orbit thrilled and excited them in wonderfully silly, simple ways and we laughed and joined their world and became child-like again.

The theatre for all our fun was our garden which delighted us with ever- changing colour, scent and sound for the following 55 days throughout a spring the likes of which none of us had ever experienced.

Each morning, little Edward insisted on a tour of this new world. For the first few weeks, we carried him or held his hand as he teetered and tottered along the woodland path or climbed the far steps of the upper meadow. But later, in May he walked for the first time and increasingly experienced the garden in independent upright mode learning the hard way how to cope with slopes, slipperiness, thin grass, long grass, terrace and stone.

Finally we come to the moth trap which he eyes with deep curiosity, waiting tensely for me to lift the lid (another lid of surprise in Edward’s estimation) and then with great excitement and remarkable care proceeds to lift out each egg box and scrutinise the contents. He stops to peer and consider the motionless forms of moths enticed into the live-trap overnight – Eyed and Polar Hawk, Puss Moth and Prominent – an assortment of little objects of fancy and intrigue. His little finger is

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extended to probe, and he shows no fear when some oblige and shuffle into position and he holds up a little hand adorned with a big moth. But that’s not all – some of the boxes hold an even greater prize – may bugs/cockchafers – or simply ‘le bug’ according to Edward. These are his favourite and though a little prickly on his smooth soft skin, he hoists them aloft and smiles and looks them closely in the eye, repeating ‘le bug, le bug.’

Meanwhile, his big sister has been putting together a fairy-tale castle on the lawn, and later a pirates’ ship complete with several decks, a mast and sail which under more normal circumstance are a parasol, and cardboard cannons. During the week, the list of creations grows – caravan, palace and fort. No point now in trying to mow the lawn – there are always impediments too precious to move or disassemble. The daisies bloom and the grass increasingly tickles their bare feet.

This is our garden’s new purpose - an outdoor living space for grandchildren, and just as importantly for the adults too. As days of fine weather extend into weeks, we adjust our thoughts and actions to external mode. Every meal is taken on the terrace or on the lawn, ground sheets spread and toys accumulate, hammocks appear between the stoutest hazel wands high enough to swing uninterrupted save for the brush of fern on foot, seats are deployed to enjoy shade or sun according to our needs, hose pipe sprinkles children and plants alike.

Living-space we share with wildlife of course – the sight and sound of which is never far away. Sometimes dramatic – a red kite, angled wings, tail twisting to fit the breeze, almost stalling to avoid a close pass by a determined crow just a hundred feet above the garden - but more often gentle encounters which may have gone unnoticed in the past - a wren’s daily ritual of gleaning unseen mini-beasts from the rosettes of saxifrage, the spike of gyrating midges as the afternoon sun strikes the pond, the smooth glide of pond skaters and giddy antics of their congeners, the whirligig beetles. Every day the meadow plots deepen and thicken, their growth most simply gauged by the brushing of ankle, shin, calf, mid-rib and finally face of an ever more confident, speedy upright toddler enjoying 55 days of adventure.

Lock-down lessons for Isabelle involved numeracy skills with a natural history focus from helping with the annual census of cowslips and primroses (a couple of thousands of each) to counting the morning’s tally of moths. She noted the time of sunset, until it surpassed her bedtime, watched the barometer rise and fall, depicted each day’s weather in colourful cartoons, made a sundial with her daddy, the bamboo shadow line touching daises earmarked at hourly intervals, and learnt the compass from the clouds.

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Nightfall provided further stimulus in the first few weeks as soprano pipistrelles scorched past the terrace and Venus grew in brightness in the north- west. She peered at craters on the Moon with Papa’s ‘scope and watched the Space Station swim into view from the western horizon and glide across the starry sky. All in pyjamas and without her little brother, so all the more special.

We celebrated four birthdays, each blessed with fine weather and a garden party. These and many other moments defined our spring in far deeper measure than any concern for Covid. Our garden defined our world for those 55 days we had the family to stay.

And when they had gone, the garden continued to comfort and sustain us in ways gently different from the family fun of April and May. Now, without the energy and activity of grandchildren, it became easier to hear and feel its fundamental life-beat. General lockdown quietness enhanced the sounds and scents of nature ten-fold and we happily slipped into observer mode with all the time in the world. Never had we taken the time to appreciate our garden so closely nor worked with it more keenly. Each blossoming was remarked upon and viewed from every angle and in every light, aided by the fact that we continued where we had left off when the family was with us and took every opportunity to eat outside and eek out each meal time with ‘look and listen’ time. Amazing how low angled evening light can rev up all the shades of aquilegia and saxifrage, intensify forget- me-not to a deep, dusky blue and later still heighten the yellows of Forsythia and Euryops so that they shine like so many light bulbs illuminating the garden ways. Paeony, so brief and beautiful, occupied our mind every day of its flowering, its brevity only enhancing the visual pleasure we derived and the overall emotion of its being. Blueberry flowers were counted and their fruit eagerly anticipated, Cardinal Richelieu and Poets Wife tended and cherished, each bloom reminding us of family as roses so often do. The meadow plots, now light and airy with the panicles of grasses, bobbed this way and that, their movement emphasised by the elegant ebb and flow of the - ox eye daisy heads hoisted elegantly aloft, nodding in even the gentlest of breezes, animating the scene, viewed from any distance. Relaxing in the hammock among these native treasures with the whisper of air through all those fresh stems, leaves and flowers soothed the mind and refreshed all the senses.

We adapted our daily routine to work and relax in the garden in ways dictated by the weather which we monitored in increasing detail and with greater understanding. The soil we cultivated was assessed with an enhanced feel for its moisture content and organic needs. Each newly planted horticultural specimen received daily examination. All regular daily gardening tasks seemed to adopt a greater meaning, the pleasure of the ‘doing’ enhanced by having that extra time to do it and discern the subject in more detail.

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Come nightfall, there were still opportunities to enjoy the garden, still wonders to behold. The night sky graces every garden and the garden is a fine stage to view it. We found ourselves marking the season’s passing with the phases of the Moon and the movement of the stars and planets. Venus had been our nightly marker in spring but as summer progressed, Jupiter and Saturn had us in awe as they lay at the foot of the Summer Triangle with Snowdonia vaguely discernible below. Finally, the icing on the cake - Comet NEOWISE hung by a silver thread to the north as we star-watched from the woodland path, like Isabelle a few months before, in our pyjamas. As far as we were concerned it was racing away for ever but in reality, passing the Earth by for the millionth time, committed by physics to return in 6,750 years. Who will be watching then? Will they know it and cherish it even more than we do now? Will they have adapted their existence to match the cycles of nature more closely or will they have overcome any interdependence and cast aside nature, including Covid and all its viral congeners? Will they be gardeners?

Le Jardin Botanique de Nice

Chris Howard

There are plenty of green spaces in Nice. The gardens that start near the coast and head off north-east are planned very well to include fountains that change patterns and colours, areas for children of all ages, areas for local and unusual plants and areas for relaxation. There are orange trees all over the city with fallen fruits in February.

We were stunned when we went to Nice for the first time in 2017 – a surprise holiday for my 70th birthday. We came across many plants in the streets and gardens, for instance, cacti growing wild out of the rocks, which I recognised from Treborth’s temperate and tropical houses. Nice airport (the view over the landing strip to the bay beyond is stunning) is to the west of the city and the Botanical Garden is close by it to the north. It is accessible by foot, but there is a bus which takes you about ¾ of the way up the hill, then you continue by foot to the Garden.

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I could at this stage, advise you to pop in to our Treborth temperate and tropical houses to give you a feel of a Mediterranean flora. Being on the Riviera, Nice has one of the warmest Mediterranean climates for its latitude - mild winters with moderate rainfall, and summers that are warm to hot, dry, sunny with very little rain:

Average Average Rainfall Average Sunshine

December/ 9 - 10 70 5

July/August 24 10 - 20 10 - 11

The plan at the beginning of the pathway is attached (Figure 17) and as you can see it covers Africa, America, Asia, Australia, Europe, with classical collections and ethno -botanical areas. At the start of the upward-winding pathway there is a large notice, which describes the raison d’etre of the Garden:

➢ It’s a living museum showing heritage plants ➢ It’s for the acclimatisation, conservation and presentation of plants in their natural space. ➢ Its missions are above all scientific and educational ➢ The Garden has about 3 000 species of Mediterranean plants in 3.5 ha (compare this with Treborth’s 18 ha)

As we made our way upwards, I took photos as I went along, but unfortunately none of them, except for the Teucrium fruticans, have come out very well! We saw no- one working in the gardens. We were there slightly before lunchtime, and the French still seem to enjoy having long lunch breaks. It was all in good order, with labels although not much other information.

Apart from the Botanical Garden, and the large public Jardin Albert with its palm trees and lawns on the sea front, there are plenty of other smaller gardens to visit associated with the Russian Orthodox Church, the Les Jardins de Musée Massénna and Castle Hill.

If conditions are improved for travel and holidays next year, we shall probably go back to Nice in February. By the time we got home at the beginning of March this year, lock-down was looming so we got our holiday in just in time. We’ll be on the lookout for more gardens and interesting flora.

I would like to thank Hilary Miller for suggesting that my visit to Nice could be included in the newsletter as there was probably a botanic garden there… and so it proved.

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Fig. 20. Notice board at the Nice Botanc Garden. [p. 32].

Fig. 21. Livistona chinensis (Chinese Fan Palm) in Nice Botanic Garden. [p. 32 ].

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Peat-free Potting at Treborth Botanic Garden

Rosie Kressman, Horticultural Technician

The use of peat in growing media is baffling to me. Honestly, I just don’t get it. I have never knowingly used it in my own garden, so I don’t understand what the big deal is. There is so much information widely available on the devastating environmental impact of peat extraction for horticulture and for fuel, that it seems to me that there is no excuse for its continued use.

In the interests of going right back to basics and educating myself, I asked our volunteer carnivorous plant collection manager Pam Bower, and long-standing supporter, plant propagator and Director of the Friends of Treborth Botanic Garden, Dr David Shaw, the following questions: • What does compost need to do? (I know that sounds stupid, but it might help to answer the next two points) • What’s so great about peat? • Your ideas for alternatives / thoughts on products that already exist that you would recommend.

Pam’s response to my first question is as follows: “Compost needs to provide a substrate for the roots. It needs to be firm enough to provide a foundation for the roots to hold the plant upright even in windy conditions. It needs to store and release water, nutrients (eg nitrates) and minerals (eg magnesium) for the roots to take up. The pH and clay minerals are important in binding to these. It also has to allow excess water to drain away and leave spaces for air/oxygen for the roots to respire. They are alive and can drown. It has to host beneficial microbes such as mycorrhizal fungi and nitrogen fixing bacteria for legumes.”

David said, “Excuse me for being a bit of a nerd on this, so here goes. Compost* must provide nutrients and water and air to plant roots. It must not attract or harbour weed seeds, pests or diseases. In addition, for plant sales we need a compost that will not dry out rapidly when the plant is planted out in garden. Hence the need for loam in our compost and that is why we got Melcourt to make a special compost with sterilised loam to allow rapid establishment when the plant is planted out.

*(Note that the term ‘compost’ is confusing when it’s used to name the substrate for potting and seed sowing AND compost made in a compost heap where heat destruction of nasties is not guaranteed.)”

When I started working at the Botanic Garden six years ago, we had pallets of ‘John Innes’ formula potting compost products which are formulated for different

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stages in the plant’s lifecycle, from seed or cutting all the way through to mature, potted specimen. These products, which comprise a mix of peat, loam and coarse sand, with added nutrients tailored to purpose, were invariably waterlogged, heavy and cold on opening the bags, but quickly became desiccated, rock-hard and impossible to re-wet when used in modules on the heated mist bench. In these conditions, seeds were slow to germinate, seedlings struggled to establish, and mature plants sulked. I couldn’t say whether the peat in this product is at fault; it’s just as likely that the fine inorganic particles which are present in John Innes products are to blame for clogging the drainage lower in the pots, whilst drying to powder nearer the surface. In any case, it’s not great. Individual peat tablets such as ‘Jiffy pellets’ have been particularly unsuccessful for us: in the period between waterings, they would dry out and become completely impermeable to water, necessitating hovering over them with a hose for weeks, which is not particularly practical when you have thousands of other plants to water each day.

“My experience is that peat became popular because it was freely available and cheap”, Pam said. “It is inert, clean to handle, and starts with no pathogens or weeds, ie no need for expensive sterilisation. The dark colour looks like a rich organic soil. Its fibrous nature, initially at least, means water drains and air pockets are created and the roots have something to "cling" to.”

David had this to say on peat: “It has good physical properties (air and water supply) and chemical properties (it has amazing ion exchange capacity so that it can store nutrients and give them to the plant when needed). Most peats are essentially sterile so contain no weed seeds or pests/pathogens. Also, some peats are sticky and make great blocks/plugs so that plastic containers are not needed.”

The poor performance of these products at TBG is undoubtedly due in part to our shameful habit of leaving them out in the extremes of Welsh weather, followed by exposure to our capricious veteran mist bench, which is inconsistently heated and alternates unpredictably between soaked and parched.

Recently, as part of ongoing modifications to our infrastructure, we have improved storage, so bagged compost now sits under cover in a custom-built wooden shelter - keeping its moisture content similar to when it arrived on the forklift - and the rate at which we get through compost is rapid enough now that bags rarely sit around acting as breeding grounds for sciarid fly (the dreaded fungus gnat!) and other nasties, whose only purpose in life appears to be to make mine difficult.

In addition to improved storage, we’ve stopped buying products containing peat for general use in the Garden. This is thanks entirely to the availability of a viable, high-quality peat-free alternative. We order a couple of different mixes

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(referred to earlier in Dave’s response to my questions) from Melcourt Industries, which are based on composted wood, with not a shred of peat in sight. They have proven to be consistent in grade and quality, with a good balance of particle sizes (read on for more about particles later). Melcourt even produce a peat free ericaceous compost.

“Our Melcourt mix provides enough nutrients (usually added sources of NPK and other essential elements) to feed plants for several weeks” explained David. “After that, a liquid feed is usually needed. Our mix has good aeration and good water retention. Melcourt is mainly hot-composted wood waste and provides most of what we need (see above) but some other composts work well especially the wool and wool/bracken composts as produced by Dalefoot and others. Wood provides lots of nutrients over a long period of time so less or no liquid feed needed.”

With particular consideration to the carnivorous collections, Pam said, “I remember my father using garden soil to pot plants, usually the crumbliest soil from the garden but this is very variable. I also remember him mixing his own variation of John Innes (soil/loam + peat + sand). I have tried using coir composts but I am not impressed. I find water and nutrient retention difficult to judge. They do seem to have fallen out of favour but are still available. They might be a useful ingredient in a compost mix. Coir chips are being suggested as a peat alternative for some carnivores. Composted bark does look like a good commercial alternative if carefully prepared. If it is not composted enough it is too open and does not hold water, if composted too far, it becomes soggy like wet clay. Commercial compost from Council compost schemes again needs careful preparation. It is prone to contain all sorts of foreign objects, plastic bits, glass, stones, clay, etc. I also worry about the less visible contaminants. Pernicious weeds like marestail, bindweed, ground elder, should all have been killed by the heat of composting (I hope) but pesticide residues, especially lawn weedkillers such as the chloropyralids, can persist. Leaf mould is beautiful stuff but takes some effort to collect and a long time (two years) to make a small amount. Conifer needles can make a fibrous acidic mix, beech is said to make the most alkaline leaf mould. If it is composted too far it loses its open texture and clogs.

Garden compost from your own bin or heap is very variable and needs a lot of care to make good usable compost. Too often the compost heap is actually a rubbish heap and contains weed seeds, roots of dandelions, volunteer potatoes, oxalis bulbils, woody branches that take a long time to rot, and any number of pathogens such as honey fungus, rusts, mildews, etc. Compost made from selected waste that has been turned during composting and sieved before use can however be very good.”

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Pam mentioned the cheapness and availability of peat. We are fortunate to be able to order our compost in bulk and get delivery straight to the Garden, saving time and money. However, the limited availability of peat free products, along with the ambiguity around labelling, makes it seriously challenging for the home gardener to find alternatives in local retail outlets. I recall, a couple of years ago, nipping into my local garden centre to buy a bag of potting compost for my own garden, and after spending ten frustrating minutes or so dragging bags around and reading small print I gave in and asked for advice. The product that I was pointed to was labelled as ‘organic’ and ‘environmentally sustainable’, but on closer inspection, contained… Peat. This ambiguous labelling, or in some cases, outright concealment of peat in popular branded products, is a huge obstacle if we want to move away from peat consumption. The overwhelming majority of people don’t want to trash the planet, but let’s make it easier for them not to!

Pricing is the other problem, as it doesn’t reflect the environmental damage caused by peat extraction. If an environmental tariff were applied to horticultural products, we would see a massive fall in sales of peat-based products, and a clearer path to market for peat free alternatives.

Finally, my top tip for potting success is this: tailor your compost. One size does not fit all. Even the sainted Melcourt products aren’t perfect for all our needs. Inorganic additives such as (lime free) horticultural sand, horticultural coarse grit* and gravel (which are available at most garden centres) add structure and weight to wood based media which are often light and prone to either washing away, or drying out, shrinking and ‘capping’, causing the water to run off without penetrating the roots. A bit of coarse grit added to your potting mix opens up the compost, letting the air and the water get to the roots (think of it as scaffolding forthe compost, providing structure for the organic components to hang onto).

Always consider the growth stage of your seed or plant, and what its needs are (for example, I use LOTS of coarse grit for striking cuttings, and I’d go up a level to small gravel for a large potted specimen, but give it a load more organic material). Add your choice of fertiliser (this could be another article in itself!) as required, again considering the growth stage and preferences of the plant.

Fundamentally, bear in mind your watering regime. If you have a huge number of plants of different types in different stages of growth, they will have different needs. Adjust your routine or your potting medium to suit.

Now, if I can just get this stroppy mist bench to cooperate….!

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*If I were stuck on a desert island, the two things I’d take with me are horticultural coarse grit and secateurs. Actually, add gaffer tape and WD40 to that and I can survive anything.

Acknowledgements: Thanks to Pam Bower and Dr David Shaw for shedding light on the peat puzzle and clearing up the compost confusion.

Further information: https://www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/about-peatlands/peatland-damage/peat-extraction- horticulture https://www.rhs.org.uk/science/gardening-in-a-changing-world/peat-use-in-gardens/peat-alternatives https://www.rhs.org.uk/Advice/Profile?pid=441 https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=952 https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gardening-blog/2016/mar/15/why-i-changed-my-mind- about-peat https://www.melcourt.co.uk/products/gardener/peat-free-composts/

Plant Blindness and Wildlife Conservation

Angela Thompson

It’s the large charismatic animals such as tigers, pandas and elephants that tend to attract the publicity and catch the eye of the charitable public and governments in the main when wildlife conservation is considered. Smaller, less flambuoyant furry animals often have lower profiles and give rise to less concern, and many invertebrates hardly ever come into the picture. But it would seem that in the eyes of many botanists, plants do worst of all and attract our general attention least. Certainly, various endangered environments are often protected and they include the plants as well as the animals, but in general the plants that ultimately feed us all tend to be globally overlooked, underappreciated and seldom attain the level of wildlife conservation interest they deserve. Many people would probably not regard plants as wildlife but to do so takes us down a slippery path to a dangerous situation. In their own environments, plants can tell us much about the health of an ecosystem and the effects of a changing climate.

This attitude, termed plant blindness, has been discussed for some time now and it is of serious concern to professional organisations such as Kew Gardens that already consider it a major environmental issue, and to those who attempt to shut down the illegal trade in vulnerable plant groups such as orchids. Less funding by conservation bodies is focused on rare plants even though the illegal trade is worth

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far more than animal illegal trade, and plant species are disappearing at a faster rate than animal species.

There is also the influence of modern lifestyles, with a perceived disconnect of people from the natural world through increasing urbanisation and a shift away from nature and the outside to home-base activities. But maybe we can’t completely help this alienation: human evolution is involved. Kew scientist Dr Carly Cowell has highlighted aspects of the way our eyes function that explain how we see green things better than other coloured things and we tend to group green objects together as a kind of background ‘sameness’. Also, as early humans, we were more alert to the dangers of moving animals that were not green and responded quickly to them, and plants were rated as being less important (except for those that were deliberately foraged for food).

The problem is not helped by cultural factors such as a greater focus on animals in formal biological education and the lack of university and other courses to raise the profile of plants: pure plant biology degrees have been unfashionable for years now (although a change of heart is beginning to emerge). Many attempts to address plant blindness have been made in more enlightened school teaching syllabuses but it is persistent. Some smartphone identification apps have not helped: they have proved to be biased but then they may have been programmed by plant-blind humans. A certain earlier general identification app, when asked to ID an image, automatically identified an insect but ignored the plant it was resting on, although the focus of interest was the plant. In 2018, even the Wall Street Journal became worried about plant blindness, as it reported ‘management can’t find enough scientists to deal with invasive plants, wildfire reforestation and basic land-management issues’, presumably from a financial viewpoint.

However, some have taken a rather more direct approach to plant blindness. In May 2020, it was reported in the Guardian that an international force of rebel botanists in Europe had taken to the streets and chalked the names of wild flowers and plants around ‘weeds’ in pavement cracks, walls etc to draw attention to them and highlight their importance. The movement started in the French city of Toulouse and it has changed the outlook of some people to random plants and prompted schools to look afresh at them. In 2017, France banned the use of herbicides in public spaces, resulting in increased awareness of everyday plants. Botanists in other countries have followed suit, and a French botanist in London, Sophie Leguil, obtained permission from Hackney borough to chalk up the streets and create trails to encourage people to take more notice of plant life at street level.

BUT it is officially illegal (but rarely enforced I would imagine!) in the UK to chalk anything on pavements without permission – I bet you didn’t know that when

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you drew hopscotch squares on the street as a child! – even if it’s for educational purposes and sheds some light on plant blindness. Regardless, people do chalk surreptitiously in some parts of London and apparently it’s helped provide a bit of joy to others in the dismal world of lockdown. Our very own Trevor Dines from Plantlife has said that the charity can’t condone the practice but he is delighted at the response to the graffiti and the naming should increase knowledge for all. It may well encourage people to leave weeds in their gardens and help hard-pressed pollinating insects. Winners all round then!

Phenology

Shaun Russell

In the article on “Citizen Science” that appeared in the Friends’ newsletter number 62, May 2018, reference was made to the long tradition that we have in the UK of systematic observations of natural history phenomena. The study of the seasons and cycles of nature is technically known as “phenology”, derived from the Greek word ‘phainein’ meaning ‘appearance’ or ‘to show’. Knowledge of the life cycle stages of plants and animals has of course been crucial to the survival of human hunters and farmers for millennia. But in the modern era, our observations of leafing, flowering and fruiting in plants, and the timing of arrival in the UK of migratory birds and butterflies for example, are also providing valuable scientific evidence for the effects of climate change on natural systems.

The ‘founding father’ of phenology is often cited as Robert Marsham FRS (1708–1797), of Stratton Strawless Hall, near Norwich in Norfolk. Starting in 1736 and for more than half a century, Marsham recorded 27 ‘signs of spring’ including the unfurling of leaves of 13 common species of trees; flowering times of snowdrop, wood anemone, hawthorn and turnip; the arrival of migratory birds such as swallows, cuckoos, nightingales and the ‘churn owl’ (nightjar); and the onset of croaking of frogs and toads. The results were published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in 1789 and helped to stimulate more widespread seasonal observations of nature by professionals and amateurs in the 19th century. The descendants of Robert Marsham continued with their observations at Strawless Hall until the 1940s, and the Marsham timings of leafing, flowering and arrival of animals have since been correlated with temperature and rainfall data in central England over the past 200+ years.

In 1884, the scientific journal Nature published a review of the book “Beiträge zur Phänologie” by the German Professors Egon Ihne and Hermann Hoffman. This

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was an early attempt to bring together phenological observations from across Europe, including the UK.

Lionel Bennett (1887-1965) was the son of a vicar from Gloucestershire. His maternal great, great, great grandfather was Erasmus Darwin, the grandfather of Charles Darwin. This may go some way towards explaining Lionel’s interest in natural history, and why he spent his life from when he was nine years old, recording signs of spring mainly at his home in the village of Lustleigh in Devon. I spotted Lionel’s hand- written nature diary for sale in a community bookshop in Totnes, Devon, in 2014. Closer inspection showed that its observations help to fill the gap between the Marsham records and the resurgence of interest in phenological recording that took place in Britain during the 1970s, associated with growing concerns about climate change. Like the Marsham archive, Lionel Bennett’s phenology records show wide fluctuations but a consistent correlation with temperature and clear signs of the earlier arrival of spring over the years (1897-1965).

Treborth Botanic Garden is lucky to have had its own long-term resident naturalist in the person of former Curator Nigel Brown. Nigel has observed ‘signs of spring’ for half a century and he noted many changes at Treborth such as the earlier blooming of the magnolia trees and appearance of frogspawn in the pond. Nigel and Charles Aron have also led the programme of nightly moth observations at Treborth, which dates back to the 1980s. These records show some species increasing over the years, while others have declined. Moths such as the dingy footman, august thorn, and yellow tail were rarely seen at Treborth before the year 2000 but are now seen in large numbers. The moth records have formed the basis of at least 18 BSc and MSc projects over the years, but a full comparison with our long-term climatic observations at the Treborth site still awaits the attentions of a keen researcher willing to delve deeply into the laboriously collected data. Butterflies too have stories to tell at Treborth as the holly blue, comma, and small skipper for example, have only been recorded for the first time at Treborth in recent years. These observations were discussed by Nigel and Charles when BBC Radio Wales came to record their “Science Café” programme at the Garden in March 2019. This followed the hottest February on record in the UK, when Nigel had already noted the arrival of sand martins, sandpipers and painted lady butterflies at much earlier times than usual.

There are many variables that influence the signs of spring, but recent studies that make allowance for confounding factors point consistently to warming temperatures as a major driver of early vernal responses in the biological world. The UK Government’s Department of Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) refers to a “Spring Index” which is calculated from annual mean observation dates of first flowering of hawthorn and horse chestnut, the first recorded flights of the orange-tip butterfly and the first sighting of swallows in the UK. The Government website states

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that: “Since 1999, the annual mean observation dates have been around 6 days in advance of the average dates in the first part of the 20th century.”

A 2015 review by the Woodland Trust concluded that during the 1990s, spring was arriving 11 days earlier compared with 100 years previously in the 1890s. The study also found that the march of the arrival of spring across Britain from south west to north east, was travelling at 1.9mph in the 1990s, compared to 1.2mph in the previous century.

Jean Combes OBE of Ashstead in Surrey has kept nature notes since 1949 that include the dates when individual trees have come into leaf over the past 70 years. Her records show that a particular oak tree near her home is now bursting its buds about three weeks earlier than it did in the 1960s1.

Many of us may agree that we are now having to mow our lawns earlier (and later) in the year than before. The Royal Horticultural Society’s 2017 report on “Gardening in a Changing Climate” highlighted potential opportunities for planting different species and varieties in our gardens in the future. But it also flagged problems that may arise from increased frequency of challenging weather conditions and greater prevalence of garden pests. It also noted signs of “phenological mismatch” in the wider environment, where earlier flowering can become out of synchrony with the emergence of pollinators for example. The BBC featured coverage of the RHS report in 20172.

This year’s “State of the UK Climate” report, published on 30 July 2020, refers to the spring appearance and autumn drop of leaves of elder, hawthorn, oak and silver birch. These species stayed in leaf for about 11 days longer in 2019, than they did on average during the previous 20 years. The very warm early months of 2019 probably accounted for this phenological effect, which may however become less of an “anomaly” and more of the norm in future.

At Treborth we can do our bit by continuing with long-term observations, taking part in recording schemes such as the ‘Big Butterfly Count’ and contributing records to the UK phenology network via the ‘Natures Calendar’ scheme, which is managed by the Woodland Trust and the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology3.

References (accessed 3 August 2020)

1. https://www.open.edu/openlearn/nature-environment/the-environment/environmental- studies/budding-expert 2. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-39710313 3. https://naturescalendar.woodlandtrust.org.uk/

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Fig. 22. Phenology Diary of Lionel Bennett (1887-1965). [p. 41].

Fig. 23. Pages from the phenology diary of Lionel Bennett (1887-1965). [p. 41].

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Fig. 24. Oak budburst dates recorded by Jean Coombes OBE. [p 41].

Fig. 25. Moth trap used at Treborth. [p. 41].

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Living at Treborth under Lockdown

Adam Cross

When I first thought about writing this article it was late March and I hadjust returned from the Natural Resources Wales office in Bangor where I had been working every day for nearly three years as a Protected Species Licencing Officer. I had unpacked my car of the laptop, computer screens, mouse, keyboard, an extensive amount of wires and a box of items I kept on my desk. In usual circumstances it would look like I had just been given my p45 and I had robbed the office on my way out! But this was the first part of what has now been over five months of working from home in my new role as Woodland Programme Officer. The national lockdown was about to begin. However, my lockdown experience was to be quite different to many because my office was now at Treborth.

For those of you who don’t know me, I was one of the many fortunate students who got to be a part of the fascinating lectures, seminars, tutorials and field work from Nigel Brown while I studied at Bangor. I was also one of the many lucky students who found their partners whilst attending those lectures, seminars, tutorials and field work! Nigel didn’t just teach botany; he was also very successful (albeit indirectly) at coupling up many students who came through Treborth’s doors. I met Natalie while completing our herbarium project and I now have the privileged experience of living at Treborth.

Not long after I unpacked the car of my items which would keep me connected to colleagues across Wales, I decided that my at-home desk would need to be positioned near a window. The leaves were yet to open and to manage this unusual experience, I wanted to be able to feel the warmth of the sun through the window, have fresh air and the opportunity to daydream by watching the first signs of spring appear. Within the first few days I was rewarded with birdsong and visits to the window from robins, blue tits, great tits, chaffinches, bullfinches and a pair of blackcaps which perhaps was the first sign of the warm weather which continued for many weeks throughout April. I hope many of you have had those similar experiences.

We kept ourselves busy throughout April as we did some improvements to our own vegetable garden. This year we invested in a fantastic cloche from Northern Polytunnels (the same brand as the big tunnel in the car park). It turned out to be a brilliant investment and has produced some bumper crops of lettuces and salads. You may have seen some videos of Natalie using the tunnel on the gardens social media pages where she has used the opportunity to encourage followers to start sowing. It has helped keep the crops safe during periods of high winds, rains and chilly nights, and we do get a few of those!

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At the start of the lockdown I tried to visit the flower borders in the botanic garden every day. It has been lovely to watch the garden change day-by-day and the early display from the Magnolia campbellii was stunning, more floriferous than I have seen it for many years. A backdrop of moody dark skies and evening sunsets were beautiful sights. It’s a real gem of the garden and lets everyone know that winter is over. Natalie and Rosie have also created beautiful flower displays at the front of the building and I’m sure it has brightened everyone’s day as they walk through the garden.

One of the symbols of lockdown has been the bamboo border where two of the more ground grabbing bamboos were being fitted with a black membrane. This was an effort to control their spread and prevent them from invading the wildflower meadows. Work half finished, black plastic still visible, stakes inthe ground and a well warn hazard tape are remembrances of when work stopped and just how long ago that was. I’m debating with myself to encourage Natalie and Rosie to leave it permanently and call it something like “the lockdown border”. Very artistic, but not a Chelsea winner! I feel I might but on to a loss there!

After the prime minister made the announcement on March 23rd, the gates on the Garden’s driveway were closed to discourage cars and maintain the “stay at home” message. But in that time local people were encouraged to explore the outdoor areas of the garden and in that time the importance of this free, local, outdoor space really came into its own. As I wandered through the garden with our dog Gin, I noticed new faces start to appear. People were using the lawned areas for a variety of activities including early morning yoga sessions, quiet moments of reflection and families would walk and talk their way around. There was also an influx of new cyclists, joggers and walkers to the coast path. I believe every visitor, in whatever capacity they visited, have taken in the sights and sounds of the garden and used it to create important head space and build strength for the day ahead. It was comforting to see the garden being used by so many in such a positive manner. It’s a real credit to everyone involved with the garden that we can offer such a remarkable area for so many to use. I’m certain that many people who have visited the garden will have left feeling refreshed and we should never underestimate the value of Treborth for helping people in such a way.

The woodland at Treborth has always been one of my favourite parts of the garden. There are a wide variety of woodland types and whilst working at home I think I’ve been in awe of the mature Quercus robur specimens that we have growing along the top of the informal path which leads to the lower sports pitches. Its quite easy to walk past these but standing and taking the time to appreciate the magnificence is one of my favourite dog walking pastimes. I believe there are plans

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to improve the path networks in this area and I can’t wait to do some volunteering to help clear the undergrowth and show off these specimens.

I hope that by the time this newsletter reaches you, Natalie and Rosie will be able to welcome back the Friends of Treborth to volunteer once again. It will be lovely to see you all soon.

Take care.

Fig. 26. Oak (Quercus robur) in the Woodland. [p. 46].

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Fig. 27. Stanhopea flowering in the Orchid House. [p. 5].

Fig. 28. Adam Cross in the new cloche. [p. 46].

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