Download Some botanical highlights in the Gardens June 2016

Some botanical highlights in the Gardens
June 2016
The numbers refer to the gardens as shown on your map.
There are two flagship plants that are at their very best in the Garden this month, the giant
Echiums and the Madeira Cranesbill, both endemic plants from Macronesia, the groups of islands in
the north Atlantic off the coast of Europe and North Africa.
Giant Echiums (Echium pinnianum and others) are the impressive towering blue spires of
flowers you can find all around the Garden. They come from the Canary Islands where they grow
in the native laurel forests and are endangered by habitat loss.
There are many species of Echium in Europe but those on the
Canaries have evolved to grow tree-like, dominating the vegetation.
However, although they look like woody plants, they die after
flowering. There are several species. Echium candicans, a more
branched, spreading plant with beautiful deep blue flowers, grows in
laurel forests on the island of Madeira, where it called The Pride of
Madeira. Echium wildpretii is spectacular with narrow silvery leaves and
pink flowers and it grows higher up mountains on the Canaries in the
alpine zone. You can see these and several other species of Echium in
the Garden but they tend to cross with one and other, giving rise to
hybrids. This explains why, if you look closely, you will see a range of
flower colour and growth form in the plants.
Another star plant is the Madeira Cranesbill, Geranium maderense. You will find it growing en
masse along the roadside bordering the Garden
and in sheltered spots within the Garden. This
magnificent, tender perennial is the largest and
most spectacular of the Geranium species. It is
a native of Madeira where it is an understorey
plant of the native laurel forests, which at one
time covered most of the island. What remains
today is protected but, despite this, the
Madeira Cranesbill is rarely seen in the wild. As
the plants age, the older leaves begin to die and
bend downwards. These fleshy leaf stalks
return their water to the growing portion of
the plant and they serve to prop up the rather
top-heavy plants. Sadly, the plants will die once
they have flowered.
The South African Terrace (3) is now a riot of colour. There are Pelargoniums,
Osteospermums, Euryops (yellow daisy bushes) and Anisodonteas (pink African mallows) each
represented by different species and cultivars.
If you walk to the commemorative seating area, you will find an unusual shrub in flower at the far
end, bearing yellow pom-pom flowers. This one is not a South African plant but a native of Chile. It
is known there as Mitique, Podanthes ovatifolius. It is a shrubby member of the daisy family. It
has traditional medicinal uses amongst which, apparently, it was used for the treatment of
gonorrhoea and urinary tract infections. This plant is very rarely grown in this country but a good
plant of it can be seen in Chelsea Physic Garden in London.
Look out for the large golden yellow spikes of Blood root Wachendorfia thyrsifolia in the South
African garden.
The English name refers to the red colour of the
roots. It grows in marshy places in South Africa. The
flowers produce abundant nectar which most
insects, including honey bees, can get to easily
without going anywhere near the pollen or stigmas.
This is no help to the plant, which needs to use
insects to pollinate the flowers. The insect which
effectively pollinates the flower must be large so
that it comes into contact with the pollen and
stigmas but to date the insect pollinator is unknown.
Another interesting feature of the flowers is that
some plants produce left-handed flowers, with the
stigma bent sharply to the left, and other plants
produce right-handed flowers. The hard black seeds are light and given that the plant grows by
watersides in the wild, this is probably an adaptation for water dispersal.
In the Australian Garden (4) on the left side of the path you will notice an evergreen bush of
white flowered Alpine Mint Bush Prostanthera cuneata. This is one of some 90 species of
Prostanthera, all of them native to Australia. The name mint bush refers to the highly aromatic leaves
and they are cultivated for their essential oils. This one is native to alpine heathlands of South East
Australia.
As you walk around the Australian Garden you will see several species of white-flowered Daisy
Bushes (Olearia), natives of Australia and New Zealand ranging from a tall, large leaved Olearia
megalophylla to the small shrubby Olearia cheesemanii, a native of New Zealand. You will also see
many bushes of different Tea Trees (Leptospermum) bearing masses of attractive flowers in
white, pink and red. Their name derives from the practice of early Australian settlers who soaked
the leaves in boiling water to make a herbal tea rich in ascorbic acid (Vitamin C). Nectar from the
flowers is harvested by bees and the Leptospermum honey produced is highly sought after.
As you enter the New Zealand Garden (6), you will see another white-flowered Daisy Bush in
full bloom. This one is the Twiggy Tree Daisy Olearia virgata, a native of open scrubland in
New Zealand. An interesting plant to look for is Myoporum laetum, the Mousehole Tree. It is
a tall bush with shiny evergreen leaves, situated behind the bench. The New Zealand name of
Mousehole Tree refers to the translucent dots (oil glands) on the leaves which you can see if you
hold a leaf up to the light. It bears clusters of pretty little flowers which are white with purple
spots. This plant is widely planted as an evergreen species and for hedging in warmer parts of the
world but, like so many plants in the Garden, it is not hardy.
It is worth making a detour along a narrow path which runs below the Plantation Room Café. It is
just above the number 7 on the map in your Visitor Guide.
Here you will find a bush with stunning
magenta tubular flowers, Inca bells or
Cantua buxifolia. It was introduced to
this country by a Cornish plant hunter,
William Lobb and first flowered in May
1848, but, it is grown invariably a
conservatory plant as it is very susceptible
to the slightest frost. It is a native of Peru
and Bolivia and is the national flower of
Peru. It is also known as the Sacred
Flower of the Incas because there is
legend that it symbolised the Inca people’s
unity when two ruling kings were mortally
injured.
From this vantage point, you can look
across to the Palm Garden (7). You
will see that many of the Chusan palm
trees, Trachycarpus fortunei, are now
bearing flowers. Some of these trees are
amongst the oldest in this country having
been collected by plant hunter Robert
Fortune and donated to Queen Victoria.
Each year, these palms produce lots of
fertile seeds which germinate freely in the
flower beds around the Palm Garden. In
the Palm Garden (7) you will notice
white flowered wands of the New
Zealand Satin Flower, Libertia
grandiflora. The plant has characteristic
strap shaped leaves and tall flower stems with white, there petalled flowers, indicating that it is a
member of the Iris family. They will flower for many months and, in you will find plants in many
parts of the Garden as it spreads quite vigorously with us. This is a native of New Zealand, found
along streamside and within forests, principally in the North Island.
There is a fascinating plant growing in the Long Border
(13) to look for this month, the Dragon Arum,
Dranunculus vulgaris. It produces upright clumps of
foliage with leaf stems blotched with purple and very
distinctive leaves. From them emerges a rather sinister
flower comprising a large purple spathe wrapped around
an upright purple spadix. When the flower is ready for
pollination, it emits an unpleasant smell, reminiscent of
rotting meat, to attract flies. Any flies that land on the
flower, slip down into it and are only released when
flower withers. This is the most spectacular of the
European arums. It is a native of the eastern
Mediterranean where it can be found in olive groves and
on waste land. In Greece, this plant is known as
drakondia, the long spadix being viewed as a small dragon
hiding in its spathe. You can also find this plant growing in
the Mediterranean Garden (11).
The Mediterranean Garden (11) is full of colour at the moment. The Giant Echiums are
particularly spectacular here, but there are also bushes of various species of pink and white
flowered Sun Roses (Cistus) and Jerusalem Sage (Phlomis fruticosa) with grey leaves and
upright stems bearing clusters of yellow tubular flowers. Several species of Phlomis are grown in
the Mediterranean Garden.
In the Arid Garden (16) look for the distinctive Mexican Lily, Beschorneria septentrionalis
with its long red flowering stems. This is the most northerly occurring of the seven species, native
to dry woodland in the mountains of north-east Mexico where it is attractive to hummingbirds.
Elsewhere in the Garden, you will find the related and more commonly grown Beschorneria
yuccoides which has grey green Yucca like leaves and long flowering stems held at a jaunty angle.
Another plant to look for is the Spiral Aloe (Aloe polyphylla) which is currently producing
stems bearing orange tubular flowers.
The succulent leaves grow in a
distinctive spiral arrangement following
the mathematical principle of the
Fibonacci sequence, either clockwise
or anticlockwise. It is an endemic of
the Drakensburg Mountains at high
altitude in the kingdom of Lesotho
where it is endangered in the wild due
to excessive collection. The flowers
are pollinated by a single bird species
which is itself in decline.
Finally, do look for the most unusual plant growing just outside of the VBG Studio (21). It is
Johnson’s Grevillea (Grevillea johnsonii) from New South Wales, Australia. The finely
dissected, dark green foliage gives the impression of a weeping conifer but the flowers are unusual
and extremely showy spidery coral-pink clusters. Johnson was a former director of the Botanic
Garden in Sydney. It is rarely grown outside in this country. Unfortunately for us, it requires an acid
soil, something which is in short supply at Ventnor. The plants have been grown in a deep bed of
acid soil but their roots are now penetrating the soil beneath and the plants are4 suffering as a
result.
We hope you have enjoyed looking at some of the special plants
which make Ventnor Botanic Garden unique.
There is always something new to see here throughout the year
and every visit will bring new botanical surprises.