Latest news with #headgardener
BBC News
3 days ago
- Climate
- BBC News
National Trust Saltram's tallest tree in garden to be felled
The tallest tree at a National Trust garden in Devon, believed to be about 150 years old, will be felled amid safety National Trust said the large Monterey pine tree at the 500-acre (about 200-hectare) Saltram estate near Plympton cannot be saved. The tree, which is about 30m (98ft) high, has two large vertical cracks, and has developed a fungus, which the trust said could indicate potential decay to its root system. In a statement to staff and volunteers, head gardener Martin Stott said the tree had been monitored regularly with detailed safety inspections however it presented "too much of a safety risk". Work to dismantle it will begin on Monday and will likely take all week. Mr Stott said the felling was a reluctant and difficult decision. "Every avenue to try to find a workable way to keep the tree was explored at length." He explained the one of the cracks was growing vertically and had been measured to penetrate over 1.5m (5ft) into the heart of the stem. He said: "The crack can clearly be seen to be opening and closing during windy weather and although the tree is visibly putting on response growth to try and mitigate this structural defect, it will not be able to compensate for the weakness to the stem that the crack is causing."He added that a second crack was discovered last year as well as the growth of the cauliflower fungus.
Wall Street Journal
5 days ago
- General
- Wall Street Journal
The Last Living Monet
Every winter, the head gardener at Claude Monet's garden in the tiny French village of Giverny sits down to a stack of seed catalogs—and braces for disappointment. Jean-Marie Avisard knows he must grow at least 520,000 plants to re-create these historic grounds, but each year at least 10 seed varieties he selected the previous season will have disappeared.
