Entertaining talks
Having just visited Chelsea Flower Show and seen some fabulous displays by National Collection Holders, I thought the talks at the Plant Heritage AGM brought together the ethos of Plant Heritage. There were three excellent talks; the first by Chris Clements of Wakehurst Place, where there are 4 National Collections; then a talk by Andrew Gaunt on the control of Pests and Diseases; followed by Roger Parsons talking about his beloved Sweet Peas.

Wakehurst Place National Collections
Wakehurst Place holds National Collections of Nothofagus, Skimmia, Betula and Hypericum sect Androsaemum & Ascyreia. Both the Skimmia Collection and the Betula Collection are scientific collections.

The London School of Pharmacy is doing a scientific research project taking extracts of wood from the Hypericum to see if it contains useful chemicals. So far they believe they may have found an extract that actively attacks MRSA. This is a prime example of how a National Collection can be used for scientific research. We also learnt that Solitary Bees use Hypericum to collect wax to line the inside of their nests to waterproof them, thus protecting their larvae.

The tree collections need considerable space which is available in the gardens, and they have informative signboards produced by Wakehurst for the general public. A natural childrens’ playground is in place by the Betula allowing the youngsters to play while the parents appreciate the National Collection.

Pests and Diseases
Andrew Gaunt holds a National Collection of Hedychium and had a display of photos of the collection. He talked about the prevention of pests and diseases and showed examples of the Spotted Longhorn beetle, the Asian Longhorn beetle, and the Colorado beetle. He explained how important it is to identify pests and diseases, how they are spread, and how some large public gardens are trying to prevent diseases being brought into gardens by the public.

Lathyrus
Roger Parsons' sweet peas are set in a quarter of an acre in Sussex, where he grows his Collection. He has a number of Open days in the middle of June.

He showed the difference between Grandiflora, semi Grandiflora and Spencer flowers, plus striped and flaked flowers. The most popular varieties are the Spencer type flowers, although Roger conserves all varieties including old fashioned ones with good provenance.

Roger also showed pictures of interesting mutations including one that occurred in a winter flowering variety in Japan resulting in a snapdragon type flower.

There is no International Registrar for the naming of the plants, so a sweet pea may be given a name that already exists, which can cause confusion. Roger carefully researches plants and finds old nursery seed catalogues and the National Sweet Pea Society archives very useful for research. Roger has some wonderful photographs of his sweet peas on his website: www.rpsweetpeas.co.uk

Gill Groombridge