Friends’ News – Issue 89 – May 2012

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When the Garden boundary was straightenedup to meet the new machinery barn, thisreunited the Cork Oak (Quercus suber) with itshybrid, the Fulham Oak (Quercus x hispanica‘Fulhamensis’), and brought both back into thepublic domain. Peter Kerley and Paul Aston ofthe Demo & Display team quickly realised thatthe domed semi-evergreen canopies of theOaks would provide the perfect, shelteredclimate to plant up with ferns, tree ferns, andsome early conifers. This would expand thetheme of ‘life before flowers’, the subject of thesmall north-facing shady glasshouse tuckedbehind the main Range .

The two curved benches that edge the pavedarea have been pulled apart to allow a windingpath of bark chips to snake around the CorkOaks and through the new planting. Long-hoarded, salvaged tree rootballs (the biggestbeing the Robinia that blew down in theGilbert Carter area around 2006) have beenscattered into an informal stumpery, therotting niches providing perfect footholds formaidenhair and hart’s tongue ferns.

Once established, the area will have a verydistinct feel – a green, almost aqueous groveof fronds, and notable for a total lack ofcolourful flowers. The plants are all survivors or

descendants of some of the early plantlineages to evolve on land. These include thehorsetails, and although they are the scourgeof tidy-minded gardeners, we have includedseveral Equisetum in the display, theirexpansionist tendencies curtailed by beinggrown in sunken pots.

Ferns are a very ancient group of plants thatappeared 200 million years before floweringplants and are far older than the land animalsand dinosaurs. They are some of the earliestvascular plants with systems for transportingwater and nutrients, but unlike other vascularplants, where the adult plant grows directlyfrom the seed, ferns reproduce from spores ina circuitous process. Spores are released fromthe underside of fern fronds; if a spore findssuitable conditions, it will grow into a tinyheart-shaped intermediate plantlet called aprothallus, in which the male and femalegenetic material is separately held. If there issufficient moisture for the sperm cells to swimto the female eggs, then fertilisation occursand a complete mature fern grows. Inpropagating stock for the display, Paul foundthe recycled microwave take-away foodcontainers created exactly the right conditionsto ensure that this involved process ended upwith mature plants! Although sheltered andshady, we will also install some irrigation togive short bursts of spray in the early morningand late evening from the borehole supply toensure the moist conditions the ferns will needto proliferate.

After the Carboniferous Age, when the greatcoal seams were laid down, few horsetailssurvived and the ferns had severely dwindledin variety. New plants emerged includingwind-pollinated seed plants that producenaked seeds on woody scales gathered into

cone-like structures. We have includedMaidenhair (Ginkgo biloba), Wollemi Pine(Wollemia nobilis) and the Monkey Puzzle(Araucaria augustifolia) in the display toprovide structure but also to tell that nextchapter in the story of plant evolution.

By the end of the Jurassic era, insects andinsect-pollinated flowering plants broughtan explosion of colour, but this newplanting takes us back to when the worldwas only green.

Juliet Day, Peter Kerley and Paul Aston

A green grove

Fern prothallii, an intermediate stage.

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Paul Aston plants out.

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At the eastern end of the Glasshouse Range, a new green grove hasbeen developed that extends the story of plant life before flowers:hardy ferns and cone-bearing coniferous trees predominate,survivors of some of the most ancient plant lineages on earth.

Giving in MemoryThe original fern courtyard at theeastern exit of the Glasshouse Rangewas developed with a generous giftfrom Mrs Jemima Atkinson and herfamily in memory of husband John, forwhom the Garden became a ‘homefrom home’. It was thrilling to have thehelp once again of Mrs Atkinson inplanting out some of the new ferns forthe extended display. To make a gift tothe Garden in memory or in celebration,please contact Juliet Day on 01223762994 or jcd35@cam.ac.uk

Friends’ News – Issue 89 – May 2012

Welcome

Two key members of staff with whom manyFriends will have interacted have left theGarden for new adventures. Dr Karen vanOostrum, Head of Education, has relocatedwith husband Jos and children Jasmine andCharlie. Her achievements are too many to list,

but many, many Friends will have benefitedfrom her expansion of the What’s On offeringof life-long courses and the development ofthe many family activities, festivals and events.We also wish the happiest of retirements toPauline Bryant, head of our customer service

team, who has brought theteam through a challengingperiod of transition, andalways had a smile for visitors,even when hauling childrenout of the tree collection!

Farewell, and thankyou

It was all in amorning’s workto move themillstone thatcommemoratesthe work ofBotanic Gardenstaff past andpresent from itsoriginal position

at the far eastern end of the Garden to a moreprominent, central location close to the newGarden Cafe. Once manoeuvred onto theforklift, the estimated 2 tonne weight wastrundled smoothly along the paths to itsnew home.

It was a much swifter operation compared toits first installation in 1990. Pete Kerley ofDemonstration & Display, recalls: ‘Wediscovered the millstone after some elms werefelled due to Dutch Elm disease. It was partlyburied in the ground with a wild cherrygrowing through the square shaft hole and wehad no idea how much the millstone wouldweigh. We cut down the cherry, and as we

dug away the surrounding soil the stone justkept getting bigger! We lifted it with thetripod, block and tackle used for building theRock Garden at the end of the 1950s – noforklift in those days!! The stone was thenlowered onto a trailer and manoeuvred intoplace before being lifted off the trailer usingthe tripod, block and tackle once again andlowered into its final position. I guess it took uswell over a day to move it, whereas with theforklift this time round, the whole operationwas completed in just over an hour!'

It is thought that the millstone must havebeen left behind after local masonry company,Rattee and Kett, vacated their once extensivepremises at the top of Station Road, whichincluded a works yard that became part of theBotanic Garden.

Former Garden Supervisor, Norman Villis hadthe idea of placing the millstone in thelandscape as a tribute to the work of staffformer and present, and former GardenSuperintendent, Peter Orriss, composed afitting plaque.

In its new position, the rough hewn stone isbacked with Bamboo and shrubbyHoneysuckle while in front, a light woodlandplanting of Euphorbia and Aquilegia, givingway to Phlomis russeliana, will provide an airytransparent contrast to the solidity of thestone.

The millstone was rededicated in its newposition at the 60th anniversary meeting ofthe Cambridge University Botanic GardenAssociation for current and former membersof staff in mid May, and a new plaque willshortly be installed to acknowledge all thosewho have contributed to the development ofthe Garden.

Amoving tribute!

The weather is again dominating thegardening season. The relatively mild winterwas punctuated by a very sharp frost on 13February which has left its mark with manyplants badly scorched. The unseasonal hightemperatures prior to this meant many plantshad not hardened successfully leaving themparticularly susceptible to cold damage. Thisappears to be more severe than in either ofthe previous prolonged winters and we canbut hope that the affected plants successfullyregrow – there are hopeful signs on theHoheria in the New Zealand plantings in theTerrace Garden, so our fingers remain crossedfor minimal losses.

Winter rainfall was again below average andinsufficient to recharge the undergroundaquifers on which we rely. Notwithstandingthe April deluges, we garden in one of thedriest climates in the UK, meaning that wateris a particularly valuable resource to be usedsparingly. The Garden has a policy of notwatering established plants, but rather wefocus on new plantings to ensure theirsurvival. Methods of watering are also

important – drip irrigation, leaky hoses andeven a simple watering can are all goodways of ensuring water is concentratedaround the roots of the plant.

Plant choice is also becoming increasinglyimportant. We have been further developingthe Mediterranean plantings around thewestern end of the Glasshouse Range, notonly as a resource for teaching but as anexperiment to find plants that may grow andperform well in a changing climate likely tobe increasingly punctuated by droughts.

This coming year is one of multiplecelebrations. On Saturday 19 May we hostedPlant Power as part of the Europe-wideFascination of Plants initiative that seeks tohighlight just how essential plants are to oureveryday lives – the event also emphasisedjust how vital the eastern region is for plantresearch. In May we also marked the 30thanniversary of the Friends and the 60th ofthe Cambridge University Botanic GardenAssociation, both events celebrating andacknowledging the contribution of people

to the Garden whether as supporters or staffmembers. We also celebrate 250 continuousyears of botanic gardening in Cambridge –our original Botanic Garden was founded in1762. We have invited two keen supportersof the Garden to delve into the origins of aCambridge Botanic Garden and theycontribute this edition’s feature articles.

One final task and challenge for the Garden’steam this spring and into summer will be tofill a number of vacancies, from new poststhrough to the annual recruitment ofhorticultural trainees. This will ensure we arenot only back to full strength, but in animproved situation with new support to theDirector and the Library. It was withparticular sadness we said goodbye to theHead of Education, Karen Van Oostrum inearly February as the family is relocatingaway from Cambridge. She will be greatlymissed but we are pleased to have recentlyrecruited temporary cover and plan to makea permanent appointment in the summer.

Dr Tim Upson, Curator and Acting Director

Pauline Bryant retires

Moving the millstone.

Friends’ News – Issue 89 – May 2012

Many of us date our own interest in plantsfrom the influence of an inspirational teacher.But how can we make sure that a youngergeneration of teachers remain enthusiasticabout plant science? Twenty people who inturn influence those teachers joined theScience and Plants for Schools (SAPS) team inthe wonderful surroundings of the SainsburyLaboratory and the Botanic Garden. They werehere to deepen their understanding of theimportance of plants in the 21st century, toget a sense of the world-class research goingon in the Laboratory, and to betterunderstand the potential for botanicgardens in science teaching.

Aimed at Initial Teacher Education tutors andothers involved in teacher training, the firstSAPS ‘Train the Trainer’ event welcomedpeople from across England. The venueimpressed from the start, with tutorswelcomed into a light-filled lab, with floor toceiling windows looking out across the olivecourtyard and the Garden’s ecological mound.

SAPS has been known for high-qualitypractical work since its beginning, and thisevent was no exception. The delegates weresoon cloning cauliflowers, looking at pollenunder microscopes and making balls ofphotosynthetic algae. Dr Judy Fox of theGarden’s Education Team led the

group on a tour which contrasted the garden’sorigins in John Stephens Henslow’s researchwith its present day role. New developmentsin plant research were highlighted by afascinating talk from Dr Beverly Glover of theDepartment of Plant Sciences.

Delegates described the event as “totallyinspirational”with “lots and lots of brilliantideas”. The SAPS team hopes that this will bethe start of a long and fruitful collaborationwith tutors across the country, and willencourage a new generation of teachers tolove teaching with plants.

Harriet Truscott, Communications Officer, SAPS

From themolecular to themasterlyTwo new initiatives highlight the breadth of the Garden’s appeal.

No need to book, just drop-in anytimebetween 11am – 3pm on the first Saturdayof every month for plant-inspired fun. £2per child, plus normal Garden admissionfor accompanying adults.

Saturday 2 JuneDoodle bugsTake a look at some minibeasts andcreate a stunning bug suncatcher todecorate your window.

Saturday 7 JulyCress initialsSow some cress in the shape of yourinitials, and enjoy eating it a few dayslater! Find out what seeds need togerminate successfully.

Saturday 1 SeptemberNature TrailPick up a trail map and discover what youmay find in the Garden. Draw what you see,and compete with your family and friends,ticking things off as you spot them!

For the half-term &summer holiday.…Thursday 7 & Friday 8 June 2012,10.30am – 12 noon.DragonflyWorkshopsAfter observing dragonflies in the Gardento learn more about their lifecycles, trymaking your own dragonfly to take home.For ages 3-16 years. Parents/carers to stay.£5 per child, normal Garden admission foraccompanying adults.

Thursday 2, Friday 3 & Saturday 4 August2012, 11am – 3pm.Summer Sweets &TreatsJoin in our summer festival in celebrationof flowers and plants used to make andflavour some of our favourite sweets andtreats. Drop-in, £3 per child, normal Gardenadmission for accompanying adults.

First SaturdayFamily Fun

Train the Trainers event

Plants are nature’s great chemists, producing abewildering range of chemicals that for themajor part deter feeding animals whether theyare insects or grazing mammals. They can befound in all parts of a plant, commonly in theleaves, from the roots in Daucus carota, wildcarrot, to the seeds of Lupinus mutabilis, lupin.

Chemicals from Plants is the subject of a newtrail around the Systematic Beds andGlasshouse Range, developed in partnershipwith the Cambridge Crystallographic DataCentre. It is published in full on the website,and given in summary form on trail maps thatcan be borrowed from the ticket offices andvia brief information signs placed by thehighlighted plants in the landscape. The trailidentifies just a small selection of plants in thecollections from which chemical compoundshave been extracted for a variety of humanuses. Coumarin, for example, synthesised fromsweet woodruff (Galium odoratum) is used inboth rat poison and heart treatments.Melatonin, a chemical compound whichregulates photoperiods (the plant’s responsesto night and day) in Feverfew (Tanacetumparthenium) is used in humans to treatcircadian rhythm sleep disorders.

From each website page, you can click throughto the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD)maintained by the Cambridge CrystallographicData Centre for further information, including

the capacity to rotate the 3D visualisation ofeach chemical compound molecule. This canalso be accessed when out in the Garden byscanning the QR codes on the trail map or oneach individual interpretive panel with asmartphone.

In complementary contrast, we are hoping tobuild up a picture of how the Garden hasinspired artists. Friend of CUBG, Derek Wilson,(whose picture of the Birch Collection isshown above) invited the Botanic Garden toconsider a group show of art inspired bypainting and sketching in the Garden. Sincethere is no suitable exhibition space within theGarden, we are creating an on-line gallery thatplots the pictures on the spots they werepainted to give a very different perspective. Itis still under development, but if you wouldlike to contribute, please submit a high qualitydigital scan of the work, with details ofmedium used, along with a short descriptionof what particularly caught your eye orinspired you. Please send discs in to Juliet Day,Development Officer, Cambridge UniversityBotanic Garden, 1 Brookside, Cambridge, CB21JE. We plan to create two exhibitions fromwork submitted, going live in the spring andthe autumn each year.

You can find both trails on the Garden’swebsite at www.botanic.cam.ac.uk byfollowingThe Garden/Trails

Friends’ News – Issue 89 – May 2012

The land purchased and donated to theUniversity by Richard Walker for a publicBotanic Garden occupied that roughrectangle of land between Free SchoolLane, Downing Street, what is now CornExchange Street and Wheeler Street,behind the Guildhall. Subsequently thiswhole area became the focus for naturalscience buildings as ‘the New MuseumsSite’, which now includes the Departmentof Zoology and the old CavendishLaboratory.

The Garden was conceived as a ‘physicgarden’, providing herbal plants for theteaching and practice of medicine.

Medicine, as a discipline, had been taughtin Cambridge from as early as 1549. Plantsthen provided the majority of potions,balms, infusions and medications for therewere no synthetic drugs. That it took over200 years to found a Cambridge garden issurprising. Richard Bradley, the very firstProfessor of Botany in 1724, keenly wanteda garden where ‘the young gentlemen whostudy Physic in the University will haveopportunity of knowing the plants andeven the drugs they are to use’. But it seemsthat Bradley, who was an outstandingpioneer of experimental and practical planthusbandry, lacked the political influence tosecure a site. Eventual success in this had to

wait for the next Professor of Botany, JohnMartyn, who was both a keen botanist andphysician. His own son, Thomas, becameProfessor of Botany at the age of 28 in thesame year the Garden was founded.Charles Miller, a young practical ‘plantsman’from the Chelsea Physic Garden, founded acentury earlier in 1673, and ThomasMartyn, a keen ‘herborising’ field botanist,were the Garden’s originators.

The Walkerian Botanic Garden, as it wasoften known, has left very few archivalrecords of exactly what was grown, but itwas certainly an admixture of local plantsand imported exotics as well as plants of

Marking 250 years of the OldBotanic Garden, founded 1762This summer we celebrate 250 years of continuous botanic gardening at CambridgeUniversity. We have asked two keen supporters of the Botanic Garden for comment:Stephen Tomkins gives us an overview of the approach to botany in the original BotanicGarden, while Judy Cheney chronicles the entrances and exits of this dynamicallychanging site from her birds-eye office view over the former Garden.

It was in 1762 that Richard Walker, the Vice-Master of Trinity College, gave to the University the Trst Tve acres ofland, right in the middle of town, that became the earliest Garden. This was superseded by Henslow's ten-foldlarger Garden on our present site, less than a hundred years later. How many Friends, as they wander roundCambridge City today, know exactly where this Trst Botanic Garden was located? One might ask for what originalpurpose its plants were grown, and what sorts of beds of herbs or shrubs and trees were in this Trst collection?

Rudolph Ackermann published this aquatint of the Old Botanic Garden by W Westall in hisA History of the University of Cambridge, Its Colleges, Halls, and Public Buildings.

Richard Walker (1679-1764), Vice-Master ofTrinity College and Horticulturist, painted byJohn Theodore Heins Senior. CopyrightTrinity College.

Plants and Purpose: a review by Stephen PTomkins, Friend and Garden Guide

Friends’ News – Issue 89 – May 2012

My office for PlantNetwork is on the fifthfloor of the Austin Building, built in 1939on the footprint of an earlier building forBotany in the New Museums Site. From mywindow, I can see King’s College Chapeland the towers of St Benet’s Church andGreat St Mary’s, as in the Westall aquatint,left. I’ve been trying to work out where thefeatures of the old Garden were on the siteas it is today. I’ve looked at a range ofmaps and drawings from 1574 onwardsand associated information, but there ismore I need to look at before compiling afuller account with dates and references.I’ve been thrilled to find that my office ison the site of the old Botanic Garden,probably where the stove house was orjust in front of it. Here I report briefly onpart of what I’ve found out aboutentrances and exits to the old and newBotanic Gardens in Cambridge.

There were several entrances to the OldBotanic Garden. The site given to theUniversity by Richard Walker in 1762included the ‘Great House’ facing FreeSchool Lane and the ground in front of it.This was part of the former AugustinianFriary, and it was here that Thomas Martynbegan his course of Lectures in Botany inApril 1763. But by 1783, the building was ina ruinous state and was sold to JohnMortlock (his bank in Bene’t Streeteventually became Barclays Bank), with theground in front of it, all except for a houseoccupied by John Salton, ‘the Gardener ofthe Botanic Garden’, and a passage 16-feetwide leading from Free School Lane to theBotanic Garden. The entrance to thepassage was through a small ‘Renaissance’archway in Free School Lane, opposite thegate in the railings around St Benet’schurchyard (a little further north than the

present archway into the New MuseumsSite). What was later referred to as theCurator’s House was on the right of thispassage at the east end, where I think thepath then turned right into the Garden. In1874, the Cavendish Laboratory was builtover the site of this passage and house,and the stone archway was moved andincorporated into the new building, but ina different orientation (facingapproximately north), where it still is today.

In 1763, the Botanic Garden site was stillopen on the south side, but a few yearslater (probably about 1765) handsomewrought-iron gates were erected in what isnow Pembroke Street/Downing Street. Thegates were set between stone piers with ahigh semicircular brick wall on either side –forming a forecourt on the outside, where,perhaps, carriages might have drawn in.

medicinal value. The collection included agood alpine collection and there were‘stoves’ for two glasshouses on the northwall of the Garden. The Garden wasunshaded and open to the south. A branchof Hobson’s Conduit entered the Gardenfeeding a ‘frog pond’ and a large doublepond at the Garden’s centre. The long bedsof herbs ran ‘in the Dutch style’ parallel tothe main central path. There were fewshrubs and trees.

In 1763, with a new found enthusiasm forthe Linnaean system, Thomas Martynpublished the Plantae Cantabrigiensis inwhich all the known county flora waslisted. He used John Ray’s early names andcommon names but introduced the newLinnaean names for the first time. LaterJames Donn, the second Garden Curator,published a full Garden plant list, theHortus Cantabrigiensis. A contemporaryreviewer describes it as a ‘little catalogue...intended for the use of those students inbotany who shall be disposed to inspectthe productions of the Walkerian Garden.From it they may immediately learn whatplants they may have an opportunity offinding there, and what is yet required torender the collection more worthy of theirnotice’. This list of plants was laid out withreference to whether each was ‘medicinal,annual, biennial or perennial’. There was aclear intention to use the whole Garden forbroadening the student’s knowledge andindeed the appreciation of plants by othersin the University and their visitors.The aquatint by W Westall published byAckermann in 1815 gives us a snapshot ofthis Garden’s appearance. It undoubtedlyserved also as a small park in the town

centre, even after the Botanic Gardenmoved to today’s site. On one noteworthyoccasion in 1861, 2,300 visitors came towatch the celebrated tightrope walker,Charles Blondin perform. With the ropeattached 45 feet up at one end to a hugeJapanese acacia tree, he did several tricksincluding carrying a man across, walkingacross unsighted and pushing awheelbarrow.

John Henslow, who in 1825 had succeededThomas Martyn to the Chair of Botany,negotiated to move the Garden from itssoot-polluted location to a larger ruralsetting. Before his pupil Charles Darwinhad finished his Cambridge studies,Henslow had secured the present BotanicGarden site. From 1833 University teachingbuildings (the ‘Museums’ of anatomy,physic, botany, chemistry and applied

mechanics) were gradually put up in theold Garden. The plant collection was addedto greatly during the 1840s and bit by bittransferred to the new Botanic Garden,which finally opened on ‘the London Roadsite’ in 1846.

Much natural science has been born in thebuildings where the first CambridgeGarden came to its short-lived end. TheWalkerian Garden site has thus doublycontributed to the heritage of plantevolution that we hold today. Next timeyou take a short cut down Free School Laneponder this serendipitous fact: DNArevealed its structure to science in 1953 inRoom 103 of the Austin Wing of theCavendish Laboratories, on the same spotwhere over a century earlier Darwin andHenslow would have walked and talkedabout plants in our first Garden.

Tanacetum parthenium, Feverfew, would have been cultivated in the Old Botanic Gardenas a medecinal plant.

Garden Gates: comings and goings, a birds-eye view from Judy Cheney,PlantNetwork Administrator

Friends’ News – Issue 88 – January 2012

From this entrance, a broad gravel walk lednorth across the Garden, over a long narrowpond, to the centre of a range ofgreenhouses built against the north wall.The gates remained there for over 140 years– they were slightly to the west of thecurrent entrance to the New Museums Site,formed when the Chemical Laboratory wasextended in 1909.

However, in the nineteenth century, theseornamental iron gates were usually keptclosed. The more frequented entrance wasthrough a small doorway at the southwestcorner, to the east of the six PerseAlmshouses (rebuilt in Newnham Road in1890) formerly facing the King’s Ditch,which crossed the site of the BotanicGarden. There was also a small entrance onDowning Street at the southeast corner ofthe Garden.

Over the years there must have been atleast ten entrances to the present BotanicGarden. Under ‘University Intelligence’, TheCambridge Chronicle for 7 November 1846reported ’We are rejoiced to find the NewBotanic Garden fairly commenced. OnMonday, the 2nd instant, the Vice-Chancellor, in the presence of the othertrustees, planted the first tree [a CommonLime], on the west side, near the spotintended for the entrance from theTrumpington Road... We are lookinganxiously forward to the speedy completionof a work calculated to add greatly to thereputation of the University, and ornamentof the town’. The site for the new Garden, asfor the original, was then on the outskirts ofthe town. In 1846, there would have been asimple footbridge over Hobson's Conduit.The cast-iron footbridge, posts and gatesthere date from 1851.

In 1907, the wrought-iron gates were takendown from their position in PembrokeStreet and stored on ‘unused ground’ bythe Botany School, built in 1904. Throughthe autumn of 1907, the Botanic GardenSyndicate discussed whether the gatesshould take the place of the woodenentrance gates, deemed a woefullyinadequate focal point to the striking, longvista down Panton Street and into theGarden. However, on 29 April 1909, theminutes of the New Botanic GardenSyndicate report that the gates from theOld Botanic Garden were being erected atthe Trumpington Road entrance, setbetween stone piers with railings set into alow brick wall. Beds in the quadrantsoutside the gates were planted with yellowCalceolaria amplexicaulis edged with bluelobelia. Narrow borders against the wallcontained red fuchsias edged with whiteCerastium tomentosum. This planting wasproposed because it would grow tolerablywell in the shade of that first, now maturinglime tree. It was considered to meet ‘thegeneral taste for colour, which may be

perfectly artistic, without being liable tothe charge of “bedding out”, or theadoption of obsolete style... A geometricaldesign would be entirely out of characterwith the Garden and would be like amisleading title-page to a book’.

In his book Hammer and Hand: an essay onthe ironwork of Cambridge (1969), RaymondLister writes that the gates are thought tohave been made in about 1765, perhaps bya follower of John Warren – the naturalisticsprays of leaves and berries in theoverthrow point to his influence. The lightand graceful curve of the semicircularoverthrow is unusual in having nohorizontal transom bar. The semicircularforecourt on the west side of the gatesreflects not only the overthrow of the gatesbut also the original entrance inPembroke/Downing Street, so clearlyshown on maps for many years – though atTrumpington Road it would be impossiblefor carriages to draw in to it! As in the OldBotanic Garden, there are steps down fromthe gates into the present Botanic Garden,with a vista down the Main Walk. As at theOld Botanic Garden, the gates are nowusually kept closed, but their elevatedposition on Trumpington Road ensures aclear view of the gates and an enticingglimpse into the Garden beyond.

Blue Plaque forthe old GardenThe 250th anniversary of the foundingof the Old Botanic Garden will behonoured with a blue plaque, underthe City’s scheme for commemoratingpeople and events that have made asignificant impact on life in the city,the country or the world. Plaques areassociated with a specific building orlocation within the city boundary, andours will be installed on the wallsenclosing the commemorativetriangular garden adjacent to FreeSchool Lane, where we still grow aselection of plants known to havebeen cultivated in the original Garden.A new working arrangement is inplace for the plot’s maintenance: theUniversity’s Estate Management andBuilding Service will be taking care ofthe fine railings and gates andkeeping the site clean and clear – thismay include contracting professionalabseilers to take the runaway jasminein hand! The Botanic Gardenhorticulturalists will then be taking afresh look at the planting.

This photo from the Garden’s archive shows thegates in the original setting on Pembroke Street.

The gates today are positioned as the westernfocal point to the Main Walk.

This 19th century engraving by John Le Keuxof ladies stepping down into the old BotanicGarden reminds us that the Garden wasintended to be, in part, a public garden fromthe outset.

This drawing of the original gates by RichardBawden appears in Lister’s Hammer and Hand:an essay on the ironwork of Cambridge, andwas for some years the emblem used on thefront cover of the Friends’newsletter.

Friends’ News – Issue 88 – January 2012

Could I do this jobwithout yoga? Years ofcontorting and holdingbizarre postures hasindeed proved useful instretching and bendingin the Rock Garden,carefully positioningeach footfall so as not tocrush plants or breakbrittle labels. I do not

have the ideal proportions of a rock gardener –tiny feet, immensely strong hands at the endsof orangutan arms – so I thank yoga for the lastfive years’of meeting the physical challenge.Also the mental one: without gardeners, therocks would be brimful of alpine weeds,colourful scilla, allium, geranium and oxalis in asea of horsetails, the fragile alpine submergedunder mats of thyme and helianthemum.

Patiently and methodically we regulate thebalance of the colonisers and the besieged.

My three sons have also prepared me for theresponse of energetic and curious children torock formations, water, thickets and trees ofclimbing potential. Perhaps I can divert theplant-insensitive youth with curious, slimyleeches and grass snake hunts?

The garden of my own childhood was myparents’passion, and I grew closely acquaintedwith a wealth of hardy plants long before Iknew their names. I particularly recall the well-defended rugosa roses and gorse (where Iplayed ball!) but also the excitement of thefirst blue Meconopsis.

From every garden I’ve worked in over the lastthirtyish years, all in the Cambridgeshire and

Suffolk area, from the roundabouts tended bythe City Council, through the private gardensto country estates and the university colleges,I’ve learnt something which helps me tendand develop this wonderfully diverse corner ofthe Botanic Garden.

I also owe my informal horticultural educationto colleagues past and present, students,clients, garden-owners, fellow volunteerbotanic guides and members of theProfessional Gardeners’Guild and the AlpineGarden Society. My first supervisor alwayswrote on every job sheet “leave the site tidy”,and a recent trainee gardener showed me thefinishing touch of sweeping the rocks with ahandbrush. It takes so many different inputs togrow a gardener, that most holistic of jobs.And the process continues.

� The millstone commemorating the work ofstaff & students past & present has been re-positioned at the junction of the MiddleWalk & the North Walk. A new plaque will beadded at a later date.

� The Alpine Yard has been completely fittedout with new raised benches to createtraditional sand plunges for the reservealpine collections, which include several ofour national collections and much newmaterial arising out of our collaboration ofthe Balkan Botanic Garden. Being able togrow the plants at waist height will greatlyalleviate working conditions, and weanticipate seeing improved flowering as thegrowing conditions in the sand plunge willbe much more stable. This majorinfrastructural investment has been madepossible through the gift of Antigoni Iatrou,a noted botanical artist and champion ofthe Greek Island flora.

� Along the Hills Road boundary, the Trees &Shrub team have replaced the HorseChestnuts, felled by canker, with a new,fresh and elegant planting of eight silverlime, Tilia tomentosa. With enormous thanksto Karen and Jos van Oostrum for their

generous support, we have been able tosource and plant semi-mature examples tocreate early impact. The silver limes areinterspersed with chevrons of yew, andyounger specimen limes.

� On the Systematic Beds, the team aretackling a knotty problem! The JapaneseKnotweeds have become so entangled thatthis bed is now undergoing a combinationof scorched earth policy and blackout toeradicate the current inhabitants. Oncesuccessful, it will be replanted and a closeeye kept on the rapid, opportunistic growth.Elsewhere the Cannabaceae and Urticaceaehave been split out into separate beds. Onthe Malvaceae beds, we will be trying againto introduce Okra or Lady’s Fingers(Abelmoschus esculentus) after last year’sfailure to successfully transplant. Anothermid-May successful transplant will be theSystematics Assistant, Simon Wallis, who ismoving to Alpine & Woodland!

� Behind the scenes at time of press, AlLangley, Pete Michna and Simon Wallis areworking hard to bring an enormousnumber of plants to peak condition for theRHS Chelsea Flower Show in a display forthe Royal College of Pathologists. Thenumber of people with allergies is rising,but the reasons are not fully understood.

The display will featureplants that are goodfor a low-allergengarden, such asGeranium phaeum,right, and those thatshould be avoided.

� We are experimenting this summer withdifferent wildflower meadows in a numberof plots. To mark the Olympics, a field ofgold meadow flowers will shine up atStation Road with some additionalsunflowers self-sown from last year’s display.Along the new curving path through theresearch plots we have broadcast sown apatriotic mix of red white and blue to fly theflag in flowers for the Diamond Jubilee! Themix features Red Flax, Shirley Poppy, RedOrache, Bishops Flower, Baby’s Breath andCosmos with Cornflower, Larkspur andPurple Tansy. The elegant curve in front ofCory Lodge has been sown with a mixcarefully balanced for colour and successionof display. This will be a useful trial as wefinalise plans for a perennial meadow here.Please do feel free to bring a picnic and usethe tables and chairs here – it should be alovely spot throughout the summer.

Clippings and cuttings

HorticultureWho’sWho in the Garden: Helen Seal, Alpine andWoodland Supervisor

AaronW

oods

Another warm, early spring meant that weenjoyed a surge in Friends’ membershipapplications during March and April. Whilegrateful for the extra support, it has unfortunatelymeant an increase in the processing time formembership renewals to four weeks. If yourmembership card is due to expire soon, werecommend renewing your membership at oneof the ticket offices where you will be issued witha temporary entry ticket to use while yourapplication is processed.

The Friends early summer outings to Hidcote& Kiftsgate and Cottesbrooke Hall Gardens &Plant Finders Fair have proved very popular andare fully booked. This Friends’ News containsdetails of two additional summer outingsarranged by Elizabeth Rushden and JennyLeggatt, the visit co-ordinators, in response totheir overwhelming popularity. As usual, placesare limited so do book early.

Other recent events include the Friendsresidential holiday to Holland in April which was agreat success. Thank you to co-ordinator MargaretGoddin who has written a report below

accompanied by some lovely photographs. TheFriends 30th Anniversary celebration took placeon the Main Lawn and Glasshouses on 24 Maywith music, food and drink; a lovely evening,thank you to everyone who supported theoccasion.

Finally, I would like to remind all Friends that avalid membership card must be shown at theticket offices when visiting the Garden to gainfree admission. You will be charged for entry ifyou do not have a card with you or will be askedto leave your details. Joint members must eachpresent their membership card.

If you have any questions regarding your Friendsmembership please contact the Outreach Officeon 01223 336271 or emailfriends@botanic.cam.ac.uk. Thank you for yourvalued support.

Emma Daintrey – Outreach Administrator01223 336271friends@botanic.cam.ac.uk

Friends’Events

Friends’ News – Issue 89 – May 2012

Dear Friend

We certainly tookthe pretty way toHolland when after asmooth Eurostarservice toAmsterdam, weboarded our cruiseboat MV Princess

Julianna and set sail. There were many highlights:outstanding meals, impeccable service andmemorable sidetrips including an enchantingcruise through the narrow canals of Amsterdamand, the next day, a visit to the Arnhem Bridge,scene of one of the most difficult engagements forthe British Army in WWII.

First stop was the Floriade, an event which onlytakes place every 10 years. The vast site is traversedby a cable car from which there were fascinatingviews over the five zones. There was Education,Environment and World Show Stage, while Relaxand Heal showed how horticulture makes our liveshealthier by promoting our physical and mentalwellbeing and Green Engine focused on greenenergy. Some of the group would have like moreplant interest in the exhibition, but others found itan interesting experience.

Having disembarked from our cruise boat, wecontinued on the next day by coach to the Gardensof Appeltern. Here we explored the 200 plus (andstill growing) individual model gardens and sunnycafes set in a delightful 52 acre site along the banksof the river. We then travelled on to the UtrechtUniversity’s Botanic Garden, established in 1633 as amedicinal garden, which has, like ours, evolved intoa botanical garden of around 10,000 species for theuse of the university and visitors. It has a particularlyinteresting and large rock garden built on the

remains of former military defences, and a stunningglasshouse plant collection with a wealth ofsubtropical plants.

From here it was a short hop to the very peacefulGolden Tulip Hotel Amersfoort, surrounded byforest. The spacious rooms were greatly appreciatedafter the small cabins on board, and the lounge anddining areas were very good too, just the place tosit and enjoy pre dinner drinks.

The following morning we set off for Keukenhof,mesmerised along the way by field upon field ofcolourful tulips and hyacinths. Stopping to takephotographs, we were captivated by the fragrance.Keukenhof is planted out each year with 7 milliontulip, daffodil and hyacinth bulbs in thousands ofvarieties to create an utterly breathtaking sight,enjoyed on foot, from the windmill viewingplatform or by boat!

After saying goodbye to our brilliant driver andthanking Sara, our Brightwater rep, for all her helpduring the holiday, we were homeward bound. Atthis point I wistfully recalled the ‘thought for today’printed on the daily programme and left in ourcabins by the crew of the Julianna on our last nightaboard, which said, ‘All good things must come toan end’! The 2013 trip will be to Cornwall, currentlyin planning. I do hope to see you again then.

Margaret Goddin

A booking form with fulldescriptions, details, timesand prices is enclosed.

July Late night openingsThe Garden will open late til 8pmevery Wednesday in July whenwe hope to again offer cushionconcerts on the Main Lawnstarting at 6.15pm courtesythe Cambridge Summer MusicFestival, and with invaluablesupport from Mills & Reeve.Please check the website,www.botanic.cam.ac.ukfor details.Wednesday 4, 11, 18 & 25 July 2012

Day trip to KelmarshHall & CotonManorBuilt in the Palladian style,Kelmarsh Hall is the formerhome of soc iety decorator,Nancy Lancaster, with a terraceand avenues laid out by GeoffreyJellicoe while garden designerNorah Lindsay extendsLancaster’s shabby chic charmto the plantings. The afternoonis spent at Coton Manor.Landscaped on different levels,it comprises a series ofdistinctive smaller gardens,enhanced by flowing streams,fountains and ponds and acolourful wildflower meadow.Wednesday 11 July 2012

Day trip to Marks HallGardens & BethChatto GardensMarks Hall Gardens comprisesan arboretum, lake and parklandas well as a walled garden,redesigned by Brita vonSchoenaich, part of the teamthat has recently reworkedCory Lawn. Beth Chatto isworld-famous for her ground-breaking water-wise approachto gardening in the GravelGarden. In contrast, there is abeautiful water garden createdaround four large, natural ponds.There is also an excellentnursery where plants areclassified according to theirgrowing conditions.Wednesday 1 August 2012

Tiptoeing through the Tulips, with the Friends