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]. 2 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. 2 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. 3 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 4 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, 5 collected, and laid on the new orchard meadow outside of my house to distribute the seeds.