News Letter – Part 1 |
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Autumn 2003 |
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The Arboretum has had a good season, with an increase in both visitor numbers and membership, by the end of October our visitor numbers achieved 7,000. There has been a pleasing and continuing increase each year since our opening in 1999 when we were only open on 4 weekends and had 313 visitors. Through the generosity of our enthusiastic volunteers, who give their time to man the ticket office, we were able to open on a 6 days per week basis from 1st June 2003. |
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AUTUMN BLISS Despite one of the
most extended dry periods experienced in the Arboretum, the autumn colour has
been delightful and shows the promise of things to come in future years as
the trees mature. While the maples around the lake are only hinting at their
future potential, the birch, beech and ash collections have been magnificent,
and the North American red maples (Acer rubrum ‘October Glory’) glow
like flames around the Arboretum. The Chinese tupelos on Bracken Hill burned
fully red, whilst earlier the uncommon bushy Korean pear (Pyrus calleryana
fauriei) in the Pear Glade looked to be on fire. Towards Sata Wood the
American pin oaks took on an unusual plum shade, while the young hybrid Quercus
x ludoviciana turned red. The native species that will form the
Tercentenary Wood were also noticeable; particularly the spindles (Euonymus)
and the Guelder rose that dripped red with fruit. The canopy thinning that
has been undertaken in recent years in Ray wood has greatly benefited the
growth of the collections beneath. This is also now rewarding in the dreamy
autumn colours that float through its sunlit glades. Soft yellows of every
hue on witch hazel and exotic maple leading to startling reds of disanthus. |
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RETIREMENT - MAVIS JARVIS Volunteers and staff held a barbecue in September to make a presentation to Mavis Jarvis. Mavis left us at the end of the season after nearly 25 years. Mavis became James Russell’s secretary when James first established the Arboretum and, when he retired, continued with the Trust to log all his notes on collecting, recording and cultivation which James had amassed over a lifetime as a plantsman and garden designer. The resulting database of plant records is what distinguishes our collection of some 7,000 taxa, making it available and invaluable to RBG Kew and used extensively for research and study Left: J B E Simmons, Curator, with Mavis Jarvis |
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THE BIRD OBSERVATORY The Bird Observatory (made
possible through the generous donation of a local Member) was completed early
in the season and is already a popular feature of the Arboretum. Visitors are
fascinated to be able to see at close quarters, the huge variety of bird life
attracted to the feeding tables. The structure is environmentally compatible
with the aims of the Arboretum in that it is built of straw bales, coated
with lime mortar around a framework of wood, and roofed with wooden shingles
of sweet chestnut. Cranswick plc of Driffield, the animal food suppliers,
kindly donated one year’s supply of wild bird food.
Above: The completed Bird Observatory with its first residents. |
THE ROOTERY
Planted in 2002, the
rootery had a magnificent show of nearly 600 meconopsis and ostrich ferns in June.
Originally this was just a hollow with some abandoned root stumps, but the
Curator thought it attractive and when our Patron, the Prince of Wales,
visited, he mentioned the idea of copying a feature that the Prince of Wales
had developed at Highgrove. The Prince was enthusiastic about our use of aged
root stumps and ferns, since when this eye-catching feature has materialised
through the fine effort of the Arboretum team. |
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STAFF CHANGES
In March,
Alison Brisby left us to commit full time to the Estate. Alison had significantly advanced our records and we worried how
to replace her. We were thus both lucky
and delighted to welcome Joyce Kingman, who has a background in science and
education, as our Plant Records Officer. Joyce and her husband Harry moved to the
area in 1998 and were two of the first members of the
Arboretum. Harry is also now
involved. He has kindly updated and
now manages our website www.kewatch.co.uk.
Harry is also a keen photographer and he has added many more
photographs to the site, which we would encourage you to view. |
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ARBORETUM
TRUST LECTURE 2003 The guest speaker at
our Benefactors and Sponsors Day on 9th June was Professor Peter
Crane FRS, Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Professor Crane’s
lecture “Lasting Connections: Native Plants of Japan and the Gardens of
Europe” was enthusiastically received by all those present. This ‘tour de
force’ covered the history of botanical introductions from Japan to Western
Europe. Starting with the Surgeon Kaempher, who collected for the Dutch East
India Company, we were introduced to many whose names now appear familiarly
on the Japanese plants in our gardens. The Uppsala trained Peter Thunberg for
example, who introduced Aucuba and Nandina domestica in the
eighteenth century. The German, von Siebold, who was expelled in 1829,
returned some 12,000 herbarium specimens. Later in the nineteenth century Kew
sent Wilford and Oldham, the RHS sent Fortune in 1861, and the nursery firm
of Veitch followed on with their collectors. One direct
connection we can see today is in the attractive young Monarch Birch on
Bracken Hill. Sheathed with gold in October this, the largest leafed of all
birches, came to us as a young plant from Kew having been collected in Japan
as seed. Its Latin name Betula maximowicziana commemorates K J
Maximowicz who collected in Japan in 1860. |
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