It’s been four months without you, the visitors, students, University staff and members of the Garden; four months maintaining a Garden without volunteers, just each other and wildlife for company. Without doubt we’ve all missed you. Missed when the sun shines and people are walking around, some pointing some ambling with their hands behind their backs (also my own chosen method of garden viewing), some sitting with eyes closed feeling the warmth and listening to the chatter of birds around them. On days like this we feel a sense of Gardening for a purpose, when visitors have had an hour away from their usual existence in the company of plants, or taken away new facts and knowledge about the plant world that they’ll forget until that pub quiz, or time has run away from them and its suddenly four o’clock; these all make our work worthwhile. The Garden was built for people to view and without people here it feels a little eerie. (more…)
Category: glasshouses
Sowing Victoria
By Nicola Temple
For me, one of the highlights at the University of Bristol Botanic Garden is the giant waterlily (Victoria cruziana) that lives in the pond in the tropical glass house. Its enormous leaves, which can reach 2 metres in diameter, are studded with spines on the underside and always provide ample wow factor for visiting children (my own included).
The seeds of Victoria cruziana are kept wet. Photo credit: Andy Winfield |
Replicating the natural environment
Andy scores the seeds with secateurs before sowing. Photo credit: Nicola Rathbone |
Victoria cruziana grows around the edges of water bodies and in wetland areas where there is no forest canopy. In order to replicate the amount of daily sun it would be receiving in the tropics and sub-tropics, grow lights on a 12h on/12h off cycle were hung above the pots. Then the whole contraption was covered in plastic film to reduce evaporation and maintain humidity.
Preparing to plant Victoria out
likely to grow quite quickly. Andy and the rest of the team at the Garden will pot them on several
times, gradually reducing their water temperature. At the same time, Bristol temperatures will be increasing and the tropical glasshouse will start getting warmer, as will the pool. By the time the Victoria plants have a few decent leaves, the temperatures between the tropical pool and the plants will have become similar enough that Victoria can be put into the planters in the pond.
The annual light intensity here in Bristol is considerably less than Victoria cruziana would receive in South America. However, the long summer days here mean that during those months more solar radiation is received here in a single day than in tropical South America. This helps Victoria cruziana flourish in the Botanic Garden tropical pool over the summer and it will be worth a visit to see it in flower. See the series of photos below taken the day the seeds were sown.
Andy prepares the loamy mix for sowing. Photo credit: Nicola Rathbone |
The seeds are sown into a loamy mix. Photo credit: Nicola Rathbone |
The soil is covered with a horticultural grit. Photo credit: Nicola Rathbone |
The seeds are sown and are ready for immersion in a nice warm bath. Photo credit: Andy Winfield |
The pots immersed in the warm bath. Photo credit: Nicola Temple |
Only one week after sowing, the embryonic stem has emerged and is stretching for the surface. Photo credit: Nicola Temple |
Sources:
Victoria amazonica. Annals of Botany 98(6): 1129-35.
Seed sowing at the Botanic Garden
By Helen Roberts
Some seeds need constant warmer temperatures
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Some of the Amaranthus caudatus Helen has grown from seed at home. Photo credit: Helen Roberts. |
Some seed is worth the wait
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Blooms of the Cardiocrinum giganteum var yunnanense – the Giant Yunnan Lily. Photo credit: Col Ford and Natasha de Vere [via Flicr CC licence 2.0] |
need the cosseting of warmth and will happily germinate outside although some seedlings, like borecole (kale), are protected with wire mesh to prevent bird damage particularly from pigeons. Species that have germinated and are growing happily outside at the Garden include the mixed colours of Salvia viridus, more commonly known as the Clary Sage. This produces small spires of lovely flowering bracts loved by pollinators. These are intended for the Mediterranean beds along with the tall spires of Echium italicum, the Pale Bugloss, a beautiful pyramidal plant belonging to the Borage family and Viola arborescens, a pretty violet with large lavender coloured flowers.
Helen Roberts is a trained landscape architect with a background in plant sciences. She is a probationary member of the Garden Media Guild and a regular contributor to the University of Bristol Botanic Garden blog.
Undergraduates get their first glimpse at the garden
By Alida Robey
An introduction to the day
Into the glasshouses for plants that eat and are eaten
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Nick Wray shows the students the largest seed in the world. Photo credit: Nicola Temple |
Hmmm… time to escape back into the fresh air where things were growing at a more manageable pace for me, but Nick continued to show the group other commercially important plants, such as lotus, bananas and cotton. He held up a specimen of the world’s largest seed – that of the sea coconut or coco de mer (Lodoicea maldivica), which can weigh up to 30 kg.
New Zealand garden – survival of the species
Angiosperm phylogeny explained
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A group gathers around the pond to learn about angiosperm phylogeny. Photo credit: Nicola Temple |
I moved on to hear about angiosperm phylogeny; a new term for me, but more exciting and less daunting than it sounds. In the past, plants were classified into family groupings based on their physical characteristics. With the advent of DNA sequencing in the last 20 years, we can use genetic relatedness to help us understand how plants have evolved. James, our demonstrator, pointed out some of the oldest species of flowering plants, including star anise (Illicium verum). This area of the garden is organised into the two major groups of flowering plants monocotyledons (seed has single embryonic leaf) and dicotyledons (seed with two embryonic leaves). The monocots include plants such as orchids and grasses, including agriculturally important species such as rice, wheat, barley and sugar cane. The more familiar garden plants, shrubs and trees, and broad-leafed flowering plants such as magnolias, roses, geraniums, and hollyhocks are dicots.
Learning in the garden beats a textbook any day
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Students use pens to see how flowers are adapted to distribute pollen on the pollinators that visit them. Photo credit: Nicola Temple |
My time ran out before I could get as far as the sessions on pollination and plant evolution! With my head spinning from this intensive and whistle-stop tour of some of the delights and extraordinary features of this garden, I sat on a bench in the autumn sunlight to reflect on the afternoon with fellow blogger, Nicola Temple, who had invited me take part in this day.