Interrupted by a storm

This blog post is hot off the press so to speak. I have just come off a line to New Zealand. There is a 13 hour time difference between us and New Zealand so 7.30am for me is 8.30pm for Luke and Edith. This isn’t the first time we have tried to have this call.

Storm damage in Luke’s garden

Last Sunday morning at 7.30am we began a similar call. As we waited for Edith to join us, Luke warned me that they were having a pretty wild night with 75 mph winds. Edith joined and we started to chat but about 10 minutes into the call, in mid-sentence, Edith suddenly disappeared. Luke and I waited.

Edith messaged to say that the internet was being affected by the storm, so she’d go into her office on Monday morning and we could try again in 13 hours time. However the update in 13 hours time was that Luke’s garden had suffered damage and had lost a couple of trees and Edith had had a pretty scary night and they had a big clean up job to do. Harakeke, the native plant we were talking about had survived with no damage, almost saying ‘call that a storm’!

Thankfully all was well this morning, though Edith said they are still clearing up the storm damage and I’ll look forward to bringing you this plant story in March. Edith is Māori and the way she talked today about their respect for nature and its importance in their lives is so beautiful.

Next Tuesday we have the first Offshoot of this season. I’ll be introducing you to the Plant Heritage Missing Collector Garden that will be built at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May. There’s a theme here which is about deep knowledge, born of studying and growing plants with a recognition that these plants and the knowledge must be handed on, because once lost, it is lost forever. Regular listeners will know that Our Plant Stories has drawn on this knowledge many times across the past three years.

I came across this in a slightly different form this week when I was at the Garden Press event in London. It’s a chance for journalists to meet and talk to members of the horticultural trade - from big garden centre chains to seed companies, and garden related charities and organisations. I was struck by a very new organisation called the Nursery Exhibitors Organisation - NEO. In its press release from just last week it says:

 “In 2006 there were over 800 specialist nurseries listed in the RHS Plant Finder. Worryingly, 20-years later there is less than half this number. Specialist nurseries are essential for advancing the horticultural industry through plant conservation, growing expertise and the cultivation of a diverse range of high-quality plant material.”

So the idea of the NEO is to promote those specialist nurseries and they have a list of them on their new website. There’s a map and an A-Z list. Nurseries specialising in ferns, clematis and climbers, houseplants - they are all there. The NEO are also keen to: ‘encourage and support new nurseries through mentoring and to encourage people of all ages to pursue a career within the specialist nursery sector’. Again there is that theme of deep knowledge that we can all learn from and support and share and protect.

I hope on Tuesday you will enjoy the first Offshoot of this new season, the mini-series will run to May or maybe even June as the Chelsea garden is relocated. And if you want to be part of this - helping to raise the profile of these special people for whom cultivation and conservation along with expertise is at the heart of what they do, you can:

Use specialist nurseries where possible, checking out the NEO website when you are thinking about buying plants and just spreading the word about this new organisation in your own networks.

Take a look at the Plant Heritage website and even if joining right now, isn’t for you, then sharing their work by talking about it or maybe sharing this episode with friends will all help to build awareness.

I am off to edit the recording of Edith and Luke …

Have a lovely weekend

Sally

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