The science behind the neonicotinoid debate…

There has been much debate on the contribution of neonicotinoid pesticides towards the decline of our bee population. Many MPs as well as the European Commission have advocated a ban on the widespread use of these pesticides. They point to a “growing body of peer-reviewed research” which has suggested neonicotinoids affect the abilities of hives to produce queen bees and damage their brains, leading to disorientation.

Honey bee foraging on sunflower

However, Defra have argued that these studies conducted in laboratories are not reflective of the situation in the field. Their own studies showed that the chemicals in neonicotinoids had no great effect on bee health, although they agree that more conclusive statistical evidence for this is needed. Chief scientist Dr Ian Boyd had the following to say on neonicotinoids and their effects on bees:

“Neonicotinoids will kill bees, let me be absolutely clear about that. It is what numbers do they kill and whether it affects populations – the question is whether banning them in any way would be proportional and at the moment the balance of evidence suggests it wouldn’t be,” he said.*

Foraging on thyme

So what exactly are Neonicotinoids?

Here’s the BBC’s brief guide…*

  • Nicotine is not just lethal to humans in the form of cigarettes, but the chemical is also extremely toxic to insects
  • Neonicotinoid pesticides are new nicotine-like chemicals and act on the nervous systems of insects with a lower threat to mammals and the environment than many older sprays
  • Pesticides made in this way are water soluble which means they can be applied to the soil and taken up by the whole plant – they are called “systemic”, meaning they turn the plant itself into a poison factory with toxins coming from roots, leaves, stems and pollen
  • Neonicotinoids are often applied as seed treatments which means coating the seeds before planting.

 Swarm!

Thoughts from Timber bee books…

Wild species such as honey bees are said by researchers to be responsible for pollinating around one-third of the world’s crop production.

All hymenoptera including bees are ‘particularly susceptible to chemicals because of their small size and high rates of metabolism’. (‘Bees, Ants and Wasps’, Eric Grissell)

The importance of producing queens within a hive cannot be understated: it is crucial for the survival of the colony. To produce the next generation of queens and drones each new queen needs leave the hive, mate sequentially with drones from other hives at a high, open place and then find her way back to the hive to lay all of her eggs, before leaving with a swarm of workers to start a new colony. This is a cycle which needs to continue indefinitely but with reduced bee numbers or disorientated queens and drones, the process could be severely disrupted. (‘Keeping Bees in Towns & Cities’, Luke Dixon)

Foraging on a rose

In ‘Bees, Wasps and Ants’, Eric Grissell cites a precedent for the current decline in bee population back in 2004 in the USA, it was later termed ‘colony collapse disorder’.  According to various sources, colony disappearances have occurred for at least a century and have been called by different names, including ‘spring dwindling’, ‘disappearing disease’ and appropriately enough, ‘Mary Celeste syndrome’.

Beekeepers and their hives

Other reasons for the current bee decline?*

  • Varroa mite - A parasitic mite that sucks the blood from bees. Unless beekeepers control Varroa, their colonies can collapse and die within two or three years
  • Diseases - Other viruses are known to affect bees including deformed wing virus, acute paralysis virus, slow paralysis virus and cloudy wing virus. These weaken honeybee colonies by reducing the longevity of adult honeybees
  • Neglect - Bee keepers need to work harder than ever to keep their colonies alive because of the dangers posed by infections and to ensure they have enough honey in their hives to keep them going until nectar becomes available again in the spring

Foraging on a dandelion

As the EU vote on the 29th of April on the ban of neonicotinoids approaches, the debate over this thorny issue is showing no signs of dying down. Whichever decision emerges from the vote, the need to continue learning more about bees and to increase our understanding of the ways in which we can help secure their future is greater than ever.

In that spirit, we are offering £5.00 off ‘Keeping Bees in Towns and Cities’ and ‘Bees, Wasps and Ants: The Indispensable Role of Hymenoptera in Gardens’ until the end of May 2013 if you enter the code BEES2013 at the checkout of our website. You can also click here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22021104 to learn more about both sides of the neonicotinoids debate.

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*All asterisked points and paragraphs have been sourced or paraphrased from the BBC’s article on this subject: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22021104

A new perspective on Piet Oudolf UK gardens!

Time for a bumper blog post in celebration of the publication of our long-awaited book, ‘Planting: A new perspective’ by Piet Oudolf and Noel Kingsbury, which demonstrates how Piet Oudolf achieves his signature naturalistic planting style,  from planting plans to final positioning and aftercare. There are several wonderful UK gardens fully designed by or with design contributions from Piet, many of which are open to the public. Here’s a list of the gardens, alongside some of the planting plans, ideas and techniques behind his designs.

Scampston Hall, Yorkshire

Scampston Hall

Photo by Andrea Jones/ Garden Exposures

A relatively low-growing combination of plants makes the most of a poor soil, in a place which can get cold winters and is on the drier side of England. It is the kind of planting, like Beth Chatto’s in Essex, which fits plants to habitat. Colorful and rich in textures, it makes the best of its lean look. A dramatic use of waves of a Molinia grass variety is another play with a simple modernist-formal feature.

Trentham Gardens, Staffordshire

Trentham Gardens planting plan + blurb

The ‘Floral Labyrinth’ at Trentham, Staffordshire (2004–7)… It has an interesting place in the development of the Oudolf planting style, as it is based overwhelmingly on the equal-sized groups which he used in previous large projects, such as Pensthorpe Nature Reserve in Norfolk (1996) (…)but includes some hints of the levels of added complexity which he started to develop in projects which came later. The overwhelming preponderance of grouped perennials is broken up a little by a few groups being mixtures, such as Lythrum virgatum with Liatris spicata (both deep pink narrow spikes) – shown on this plan section.

Trentham

Photo by Joanna Fawcett

The rivers of grass at Trentham in early June with cultivars of Iris sibirica in flower among Molinia caerulea ‘Heidebraut’ and M. c. subsp. caerulea ‘Edith Dudszus’. Some yellow Trollius europaeus and pale pink Persicaria bistorta are also visible – all are tolerant of the occasional flooding which affects this area.

RHS Garden, Wisley

Wisley

The double border at the RHS Garden, Wisley (2001), where bands of intermingled perennials create interesting combinations at all scales of observation, from near to far. In mid- to late summer Perovskia atriplicifolia dominates (above), counterposed with pink Gaura lindheimeri ‘Siskiyou Pink’ and the seedheads of Phlomis tuberosa ‘Amazone’, while in another band (below) gray-white Eryngium yuccifolium contrasts with scarlet Helenium ‘Rubinzwerg’ and Echinacea purpurea; some seedheads of Allium hollandicum survive from an earlier phase of flower.

Wisley

Pensthorpe Nature Reserve, Norfolk

Perennials self-seeding at Pensthorpe

Perennials self-seeding at Pensthorpe

At Pensthorpe Gardens in Norfolk (below) two species are beginning to blend to form a meadow effect, several years after being planted in separate blocks: Scabiosa japonica var. alpina and deep pink Dianthus carthusianorum both have fine stems which in nature wend their way through grasses; they can also be effective at seeding themselves.

Pensthorpe

Potters Fields, London

Potters Fields 2

At Potters Fields Park, London (2007), drifts of grass and perennial combinations create an orderly but dynamic effect. In the foreground is a mix of Echinacea purpurea and white-flowered, sprawling Calamintha nepeta subsp. nepeta. The grass in the background is Deschampsia cespitosa ‘Goldtau’.

Potters Fields planting plan

A detail from the plan for Potters Fields Park (2007), where jagged drifts are an effective way of creating simple mixed planting combinations.

Potters Fields

A public park, Potters Fields, London

A drift of Sesleria autumnalis in the foreground with red Helenium ‘Moerheim Beauty’ and Deschampsia behind. Other perennials are also included in each drift, but are not visible here. The use of drifts in this park creates a strong sense of movement and maximizes the trade-off between relatively simple, easy-to-maintain planting and visual complexity.

 

We hope you’ve enjoyed this selection of images and information, all of which has been taken from ‘Planting: A new perspective‘, giving you a taster of what to expect from the book. If this post has whetted your appetite for more of Piet’s planting plans and Noel Kingsbury’s extensive knowledge of naturalistic planting then don’t miss out on getting your own copy- the book is available to buy now from our website:

http://www.timberpress.co.uk/books/planting-a-new-perspective

Planting- A new perspective- medium 2

 

All photos in this blog were taken by Piet Oudolf, unless otherwise stated in the caption below them.

‘Fascination of Plants Day’

The importance of plants and plant science is always something worth celebrating and as of last year there is now a day devoted to doing just that, wherever you are, right across Europe.

On 18th May 2013, botanic gardens, research labs, schools, museums and farmers will open their doors with events for the whole family. Their collective aim is to ‘share our enthusiasm with the wider public and inspire people to think about plant science and conservation in new ways’.

Just some of the institutions that took part last year included: John Innes Centre- Norwich, Cambridge University Botanic Garden, British Society of Plant Pathology, Society of Plant Biology- London and The University of Oxford Harcourt Aboretum.

For further information on how to get involved in this event, click here. 

All images in this blog post are taken from ‘Powerhouse Plants: 510 Top Performers for Multi-Season Beauty’ by Graham Rice, photographs by Judy White. The book is available now on our website: http://www.timberpress.co.uk/books/powerhouse-plants

 

‘Maintaining the Vision’- SGD conference 2013

So we’re sure that many of you will already be aware of the Society of Garden Designers Spring conference, which is coming up in April this year at Imperial College London. However, as two of our expert authors, Jake Hobson and Andrew Wilson are speaking at the event, we thought it was only right that we used the opportunity to share some of our favourite images from their books, whilst letting you know more about the theme of this year’s conference, ‘Maintaining the Vision’.

Photo by Liz Eddison

Why ‘Maintaining the Vision’?

‘How a design is maintained should inform many design decisions. As renowned landscape designer Thomas Church put it “Maintenance influences both design and materials.” But after a garden is installed, just what influence does a designer have over how their vision is maintained? Church specialised in private garden design, so was very aware of the problems of maintaining a good design. He advocated that large areas should be under permanent control, by which he meant covering with paving, lawns or ground covers.’

Photo by Derek Harris

Other important questions for garden designers as they look to the future:

‘Will current trends towards sleek white walls and chic limestone terraces maintain their looks after several years of not so great British weather? Has the traditional lawn become a feature of times past? Will artificial alternatives be truly viable?’

Photo by Jonathan Buckley

Not forgetting the humble plant and its place within garden design:

‘Choosing the right plants is a key part of a good design just as much as spatial layout and selection of materials. It is a core part of our work as landscape and garden designers to select the right plants for the function they will play in the finished design. Getting plant selection right ensures that completed schemes do not become battlegrounds between those who maintain them and the planting.’

Photo by Nicola Stocken Tomkins

The crux of the theme:

‘Just how will a garden be maintained once we have left the site? Is it really possible or desirable to ‘let go’? Maintaining the Vision will address all such thorny issues, and many more besides.’

Photo by Danny Beath

And a final thought on which to end:

‘…clients often saw Church return unannounced to their gardens, secateurs in hand: “Never walk around your garden without your pruning shears.”’

Photo by Jake Hobson

For more information on the event, click here and if you do go to the SGD conference this year, some of our Timber books will be available on sale there, so look out for those and enjoy the event!

Photo by Andrew Lawson

Photos in this blog post taken from ‘Contemporary Colour in the Garden’ by Andrew Wilson (images 1,2,3,4,7) and ‘The Art of Creative Pruning’ by Jake Hobson (images 5 and 6).

Magnolias on tour!

Director of the Royal Horticultural Society, Magnolia expert and Timber author, Jim Gardiner has been working alongside the Magnolia Society on the itinerary for a fantastic Magnolia tour across the UK.

The society are not leaving any Magnolia fans outside of the UK out: ‘Magnolia Society International never believes in developing its spring tours by half measure so the 2013 tour of England will be no exception. Overseas members will fly into Heathrow on March 19, 2013, and stay at a near-by hotel prior to travelling by coach to Cornwall for a feast of flower power!’

For more information about the itinerary and details of how to take part in the event, click here.

‘Biodiversity, Wildlife and the Gardener with Noel Kingsbury’

Photo by Piet Oudolf- from 'Planting: A New Perspective'

A brief post to let you know about a great event hosted by Noel Kingsbury coming up at RHS Wisley on February 26th.

Here are some details and a bit more information about what you can expect from the event:

‘Biodiversity, Wildlife and the Gardener with Noel Kingsbury’

26/02/2013, 10:30 – 16:15Demonstration / Talk / Lecture. Intermediate

Native wildflowers bring an unrivalled beauty to the British countryside and their cultivation in gardens is becoming increasingly popular. This one day course run by renowned plantsman Noel Kingsbury delves deeper into the role wildflowers can play (or indeed not play) in gardens and garden biodiversity. Through illustrated lectures, discussion with examples and walks in the garden, you will discover how different wildflower habitats such as meadows, wetland and woodland can be managed for both human and wildlife interest. Don’t miss the chance to take advantage of Noel’s extensive knowledge of flora, fauna and ecology. The day will involve walking outside, so please come prepared for the weather.

Venue Info

RHS Garden Wisley (Clore Learning Centre)

www.rhs.org.uk/whatson/gardens/wisley/index.htm

RHS Garden Wisley
Wisley Lane
WOKING
Surrey
GU23 6QB

More details on prices and other booking information can be found here: http://apps.rhs.org.uk/rhseventfinder/details.aspx?id=9549&r=true 

Another notable Noel Kingsbury ‘event’ which is happening in April is the publication of his new book, ‘Planting: A New Perspective’, written with renowned Dutch garden designer and plantsman, Piet Oudolf. The book explores in detail how Piet achieves his signature naturalistic planting style and so this RHS event with Noel really ties in well, showing the benefits to garden biodiversity brought by wildflower planting and habitats.

Available soon from our website

The veg of the year and speedy tips on how to grow & cook it…

On closer inspection of Toby Buckland’s selection of the best fruit and veg for 2013 for The Telegraph, we noticed that quite a few of the vegetables featured in our upcoming book, ‘The Speedy Vegetable Garden’ by Mark Diacono and Lia Leendertz, made an appearance so we thought that a few growing tips and recipe ideas from the book were in order…

So, in at number 6 on Toby’s list is the humble potato! Below are some instructions for growing early potatoes, as well as a simple but delicious potato recipe.

‘In late winter, place them in trays somewhere light and cool but frost-free and allow them to ‘chit’ or sprout. Once the sprouts are about 5cm (2 inches) tall they can be planted. If you grow them in a container, growth will be quick, as potting soil is far warmer than the soil of the vegetable plot in early spring.’

Baked, sea-salted new potatoes recipe:

‘Though perfect just boiled, new potatoes take on a different character when baked whole with crispy, salty skins.

Ingredients needed- new potatoes, olive oil, sea salt, sprigs of thyme

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celcius, 400 degrees farenheit/ Gas 6. Put the potatoes in a high-sided baking tray and drizzle with olive oil, turning them with your hands until all are coated. Sprinkle on plenty of sea salt and throw on the thyme, then bake for about 45 minutes. The insides should be soft and the skins crispy.’

Next, at number 7 are peas:

Here’s a tip from Mark on growing mange tout and sugar snap peas: “Peas like a deep root. I grow them in root trainers, but if you can’t find those, sow several seeds around the edges of a large pot. The cardboard cores inside toilet rolls can make good pea pots.”

At number 9, cucumbers make an appearance, so here are the speedy recommended varieties, with some of the best names in the business:

‘Burpee Pickler’- A heavy yield of spined pickling cucumbers over a long period.

‘Bush Champion’- Short green cucumbers produced on a bush plant, which takes up much less room than vine types.

‘Crystal Lemon’- Small round tennis ball-sized yellow fruits are borne abundantly. They have deliciously sweet crunchy flesh.

‘La Diva’- Long, slender, dark and spineless green fruits that are sweet and seedless. Grows well out of doors.

And finally, last but not least, is spinach. Here’s some more information about spinach cultivation:

‘Sow direct into the ground once a month from mid-spring until early autumn, covering early and late crops with a cloche. Sow fairly densely across a wide seed drill or, for slightly larger leaves for cooking, sow along a line and thin out to about 20cm (8 inches) apart. Spinach plants can often bolt (run to seed) in the heat of the summer, after which the leaves take on a bitter taste; growing in light shade and keeping up with watering during dry spells will help.’

We hope these cultivation tips, recipes and recommended varieties are of some help to you throughout 2013 and beyond. We’ll leave the final word to Mark and Lia: ‘This is the quick, easy and tasty end of growing your own. There is no suffering here’.

Source article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardeningpicturegalleries/9781153/Toby-Bucklands-best-fruit-and-veg-for-2013.html?frame=2443192 (© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2013)

(All photographs in this post by Mark Diacono)

2012 Reviews round-up!

 

2012 has been another great year for us at Timber Press UK and as it draws to a close, we are excited to share with you the following highlights from some of this year’s reviews of our books, just in case you haven’t seen them yet!

Selected reviews of ‘The Roots of My Obsession‘ edited by Thomas C. Cooper:

Rachel de Thame for The Sunday Times:

The Roots of My Obsession, edited by Thomas C Cooper, invites 30 great gardeners, including Penelope Hobhouse, Roy Lancaster and Anna Pavord, to reveal why they garden. It is a fascinating read, and I was relieved to see that some of the contributors freely admit to being stumped by the question. It is one that all gardeners contemplate from time to time, generally while grappling with a particularly unwieldy and thorny climbing rose…’

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/style/homes_and_gardens/gardening/article1164116.ece

Constance Craig Smith for The Daily Mail:

In The Roots Of My Obsession, 30 gardeners explain why they’re so passionate about plants and gardens. With contributions from well-known British names – including Roy Lancaster, Anna Pavord and Penelope Hobhouse – and some lesser-known US ones, this is a very entertaining read.’ 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/gardening/article-2240833/Read-From-plant-visit–best-gardening-books-year.html

 

Beth Chatto for Gardens Illustrated magazine on The Explorer’s Garden- Rare and Unusual Perennials by Daniel J. Hinckley:

‘(Dan Hinckley’s) ability to convey his excitement and joy at the discovery of such plants with the possibility of introducing some of them into temperate gardens around the world is vividly expressed in his book. Beautiful photographs by Lynne Harrison complement the writing.’

 

 

Selected reviews for ‘The Timber Press Encyclopedia of Flowering Shrubs‘ by Jim Gardiner: 

 

The Guardian: 

From “The top five gardening books of spring 2012″:- ‘This book is bound to become a handy reference work for any gardener: with more than 1700 plants organised alphabetically and photographed beautifully, there is plenty to inspire’

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gardening-blog/competition/2012/may/10/top-five-gardening-books-2012

Val Bourne in Gardens Illustrated magazine:

Featured in “Gardens Illustrated 10 favourite books of 2012“- ‘Destined to become a reference for years to come.’ .

The Evening Standard:

‘Lastly, a new reference book no serious gardener will want to be without: The Timber Press Encyclopedia of Flowering Shrubs by Jim Gardiner, the director of horticulture at the RHS: 2,000 pictures, brief but authoritative cultivation data, organised alphabetically by botanical name: the business, in short.’

http://www.standard.co.uk/arts/book/gardens-to-stir-the-imagination-8052862.html

Roy Lancaster in The Horticulturalist:

‘This is a book on shrubs to admire and enjoy … a feast for the eye with its 2000 illustrations of over 1700 flowering shrubs suitable for gardens of the temperate regions. Entries are arranged alphabetically beginning with Abelia and ending with Zenobia and their quality is generally excellent, sometimes outstanding …. the author expresses a hope that his book will take its readers on a “journey of discovery” and that is exactly what it delivers.’

Jane Owen in The Financial Times: 

‘Gardiner is the Royal Horticultural Society’s director of horticulture and certainly knows his plants. The key at the back of the book is a handy reference for colour, growing zone, flowering time, size etc. and there are thumbnail descriptions with every photograph.’

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/88bdb3c0-37cf-11e2-a97e-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2GHsugcNi

 

Selected reviews for ‘Keeping Bees in Towns & Cities‘ by Luke Dixon:

Emma Townshend for The Independent:

‘From Hong Kong to Harvard, Kyoto to Los Angeles, Dixon has found beehives and bees, often with a distinct regional twist. A traditional Japanese beehive, for example, has an unmistakable flavour of the temple pagoda about it; one in Tucson, Arizona, a touch of Donald Judd. But all have one thread in common: the sheer delight of keeping bees.’

http://www.independent.co.uk/property/gardening/the-buzz-around-town-how-one-man-made-urban-living-a-real-honey-trap-for-bees-8340994.html

Constance Craig Smith for The Daily Mail:

‘Luke Dixon’s Keeping Bees In Towns And Cities is full of practical advice, with case histories of urban beekeepers, including a primary school in south London and a garden by Liverpool Airport.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/gardening/article-2240833/Read-From-plant-visit–best-gardening-books-year.html

Mary Montaut for An Beachaire- The Irish Beekeeper:

‘The presentation is excellent, with abundant and beautiful photographs throughout, illustrating the text. It is written in a clear and easy style, giving personal experiences as well as straightforward instructions, so that it is really a book which one can read with pleasure. I think it would be an ideal Christmas present for a beginner, as it provides encouragement and makes the whole subject quite enticing.’

And there you have it, a brief selection of the best reviews of our books from 2012!

Of course there have been many more great reviews this year from other newspaper reviewers, bloggers and specialist publications writers, all of which can be found on our website at the bottom of each of our books’ relevant pages under ‘Media Reviews’. Hopefully these reviews will help you to find which of our books is right for you, before you buy!

Have a happy new year from all of us here at Timber Press UK and see you in 2013!

An unregulated threat to the bee population?

Luke Dixon’s ‘Keeping Bees in Towns and Cities‘ shows aspiring bee-keepers how to start keeping bees and look after a colony in the most urban and perhaps unexpected of areas. However, back in the countryside, a number of scientific studies have shown that the use of one of the world’s most popular neonicotinoid pesticides is contributing to a worrying decline in bee and other pollinator populations.

Photograph: © Peter Barritt/ Alamy

A recent article in The Guardian looked at criticism by MPs in the Environmental Audit Committee of European regulators’ collective ‘blind eye’ to the links between systemic pesticides and the decline in bee numbers, as well as examining the dangerous half-life of insecticides which build up in the soil and cause bees to become disorientated, eventually leading to a failure to produce enough queens.

© Jason Bathe (photo taken from 'Keeping Bees in Towns & Cities')

Whether the increasing evidence of high ‘concentrations (of pesticides) very likely to cause mass mortality in most soil-dwelling animal life’ will bring about a change in EU pesticides regulation, remains to be seen.

© Richard Twilton (photo taken from 'Keeping Bees in Towns and Cities')

Source article copyright: © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.

 

Wanted: dead or alive… making the most of rot and ruin!

In a recent Guardian article, both Helen Babbs, author of My Garden, the City and Me and writer of the piece, and Piet Oudolf  have a great deal of useful advice about changing your approach to deadheading, finding the charm in decay and how to balance the colour palettes of life and death.

© 2005-2011 Craig M Rath - All rights reserved

Other designers agree that garden life must go on for decaying plants: ’”Every garden should include some plants that die beautifully.” This odd-sounding assertion comes from landscape designer Tom Stuart-Smith. While most gardeners expect a growing space to feel alive, he believes mortality should be designed in – the dead and the dying, he says, have a lot to offer, aesthetically and practically.

“It’s about a shift in perception of what is and isn’t valuable and beautiful ,” says wildlife garden designer Elaine Hughes. Thinking about death is a way of broaching wider questions about the point of gardens. Far from macabre, for her the vegetal dieback is life-affirming and certainly doesn’t have to be ugly.’

And if you’re not yet persuaded when looking out onto the wintery horizon at your decaying plants that death becomes them, here’s a link to the article in full.

© 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.