National Trust conducting 'mammoth' plant hunt

Tuesday, May 13 2008 17:44:14 by Emily Jenkins

Emily Jenkins writes: The National Trust has embarked on a three-year project to count all of the plants growing at its historic sites.

At present just five per cent of the plants in Trust gardens are recorded, but various employees and volunteers have begun to catalogue each specimen in 80 of the properties it owns and manages.

It is hoped that by photographing plants, taking cuttings and recording their positions using GPS technology as part of the "mammoth" task, the Trust will uncover some previously unknown species.

Mike Calnan, head of parks and gardens at the trust, said: "This is the biggest and most comprehensive plant survey undertaken in the UK.

"We will be able to map out the thousands of rare species of plant in the care of the National Trust which have been bred by passionate plant collectors or gathered by plant hunters on expeditions during the last 400 years or so. We might even discover plants that we didn't know we had."

The hunt started in Exeter yesterday (May 12th) and will take place in sites all across the UK.

Printer Friendly

Send to a Friend

Related "Gardening News" News

The Ardisam earthquake MS43R 3-in-1 tiller/cultivator has scarifier and edger at (Thursday, July 03 2008 17:44:31)

The Ardisam earthquake MS43R 3-in-1 tiller/cultivator with scarifier and edger attachments is a multi-functional tool that offers users exceptional control, performance and durability. ... [ more ]

Green gardens are fashionable (Thursday, July 03 2008 17:39:22)

The gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show all had one thing in common - a predominance of green plants and shrubbery - and Joe Swift of the Times has recommended gardeners adopt the calming colour themselves. ... [ more ]

Pupils treated to Chelsea medalist masterclass (Wednesday, July 02 2008 14:11:32)

Pupils at a school in Stanhope have been given gardening tips from a master tutor in the form of a Chelsea award-winning designer. ... [ more ]

Chelsea gold medalists for hire (Tuesday, July 01 2008 16:49:36)

Those gardeners that got the chance to visit the Chelsea Flower show no doubt enjoyed walking around the displays and marveling at the innovative designs of the medal winners. ... [ more ]

The Flymo Pac A Shred Quiet Electric Garden Shredder gets rid of waste quickly (Monday, June 30 2008 18:01:23)

Whether its bits of shrub leftover from hedge trimming, or big branches that need chopping, gardening creates a lot of waste which can be dealt with by the Flymo Pac-a-Shred Quiet Electric Shredder. ... [ more ]

Related Searches: "Gardening News"

Search our store for products related to "Gardening News"

RSS Feed

Keep up-to-date with the latest garden machinery news with our new

RSS news feed. If you are not sure what an RSS feed is then click here for a full explanation.

To view the news feed you will need to have a news reader installed or have an account with an online news aggregator. To subscribe to our news feed using one of the sites below click the appropriate icon:

To use another news reader or to publish to all or part of the feed free of charge on your website

click here for the raw feed.

Search News

News Categories

Browse Products

National Trust conducting 'mammoth' plant hunt

RSS Feed

Special Offer

Story Archive

Special Offers