According a quotation attributed to Mark Twain, ‘a banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining and wants it back the minute it begins to rain’. Based on my experience with NatWest Bank, I am inclined to agree wholeheatedly.

For almost forty years, I have been a loyal NatWest customer  even forgiving them for their disgraceful contribution to the Global Financial Crisis and the irresponsibility of the  former RBS Chief Executive, Fred Goodwin aka ‘Fred The Shred’ and formerly, Sir Fred. I gather the poor soul is existing on his £342,000 a year pension from the bank according to a recent newspaper article. I do hope he gets his bus pass soon. I digress.

I have several deposit accounts as well as collective investment accounts as well as using several of their financial products. When I wanted to use my investments to make a property purchase, I asked for a very moderate increase on my overdraft facility for sixty days following the completion of the sale. This was purely a precautionary step in case of unexpected expenses. A mere formality I thought.

Instead of the instant approval I was expecting on account of my ability to keep a healthy balance on my four accounts and not using my overdraft facility in ten years, I was passed onto the ‘Really Helpful Banking Team’ for interrogation. After a series of questions some of very marginal relevance to my circumstances, My application was rejected. the main sticking point is that my income is not steady, I work for myself and receive fees and not a salary. The government and banks do not understand the nature of small businesses and their contribution to the UK economy funding many things including the RBS bailout.

So NatWest, as I do not meet your lending criteria (despite being very prudent). I regret to inform you that a forty year relationship is about to end as you do not meet the service criteria to qualify for my custom.

I am sure that I will upset some garden centre operators but here goes! I was helping a friend establish her garden and one plant I suggested was the cheerful and dependable Lonicera fragrantissima. Now is the time that it is in flower and so picking one up from a garden centre or local nursery should be a doddle. Not so, it was easier to find bird food, cookware, specialist preserves and of courses masses of ‘giftware’, whatever that is.

My quest for this easily produced hardy shrub was unsuccessful despite visiting several branches of two large garden centre groups and about half a dozen retail nurseries. When I asked the staff I received several blank expressions and several suggestions to go and have a look in the climbers. Nobody realised that I was looking for a shrub and not a climber.

The plant sales areas in many centres were almost completely stripped of plants with no suggestion when re-stocking will resume. As a former manager and director of a successful independent garden centre, I am aware of the folly of carrying too much stock in winter and most overwintered stock is unsaleable at the full price in spring. However the process of de-stocking in winter can go too far resulting in lost sales of winter and early spring flowering shrubs and even some perennials. I was unable to see many Sarcoccocca choice plants such as Daphne, Garrya, Chimonanthus and Abeliophyllum. With reduced footfall in winter, sales opportunities will be reduced but surely it is worth having some offering to complement displays of Primula and potted bulbs?

A few years back, I visited Cooling’s excellent retail nursery in Chislehurst, Kent, in early spring. In the coffee shop there were some excellent displays of Helleborus flowers floating in bowls of water and the effect was quite stunning. If the customers won’t go to the plants, try bringing plants to the customers in the coffee shop. Table displays of cut flowering stems of winter flowering plants, especially the fragrant ones such as Chimonanthus, will stimulate sales providing you have the stock.

This is not a cheap shot aimed at garden centres, they operate in a tough market but online retailers are exploiting weaknesses. Having a minimal plant offering in the quieter trading months is handing internet traders an opportunity on a plate.

I recently visited the Warwick Crop Centre with The Chartered Institue of Horticulture and was hugely impressed by the work of Dr. Rosemary Collier and her dedicated team. Whilst having a tour of the facility, I noticed a group of cornflowers growing  in a  field of wheat. Dr. Collier told us that the cornflowers were seedlings from a trial in which strips of native plants were sown in field crops to encourage beneficial insects and pollinators.

Unfortunately, a wide headland of native plants did not work as their  beneficial effect of them is soon lost a short way into the field. What was needed was several strips of native plants at intervals. With modern day field scale operations, the idea of wildflower strips could be dismissed as romantic nonsense rather than a sensible solution to the increasing problem of crop protection. However, GPS technology is coming on in leaps and bounds and this could allow all sorts of exciting possibilities including wildflower strips.

Without research, all this could become nothing more than a pipedream. The changed political landscape means that research facilities are fearful for their futures. Food security should be a major concern for our political masters and this should mean much more than buying our food from as many countries as possible. Ignoring the valuable contribution made by research into ensuring that we have a plentiful food supply would be unforgivable

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I was once asked by a leading grounds maintenance company to provide some pruning courses for their operatives. What had triggered this off was there had been a complaint from their client about the poor quality of pruning. The example quoted was that a Forsythia had been pruned to waist height in September by a hedge trimmer thereby removing all flowering wood and leaving a  badly mutilated plant in its wake. I suspect a member of the public had made a complaint to the council.

The courses were well received by the staff and we applied some basic principles of shrub pruning to a range of plants in a public park. I can remember being appalled by the poor quality of pruning tools made available to staff and I was told that many of the secateurs had been purchased in a pound shop.

The mutilated Forsythia is just one of many instances of badly maintained plants. Near to where I live, council contractors make a regular habit of pruning specimens of Cornus alba to waist height in October. The plants seldom show any winter interest and regular hedge trimmer pruning has left them with a congested mass of dead growth in the centre. The plants have very little ornamental merit so why bother growing them? In the same planting, rootstocks of grafted Elaeagnus have now taken over and compete with elder, sycamore and goat willow. All get the same hedge trimmer pruning.

Now I am acutely aware of the financial pressures faced by local authorities and contractors charged with the maintenance of public areas but can’t we just stop and think? Why are some shrubs ‘pruned’ annually when there is no need? Obviously paths must be kept clear and windows unobstructed but is an annual hack back really necessary? Could some plants be properly pruned every two or three years and show the ornamental value that the designer had intended? I suspect that part of the problem lies with ill-conceived maintenance plans that assume all plants are merely blocks of vegetation that must be treated all the same.

This will require investment in training operatives in plant identification and pruning techniques but it will improve the appearance and longevity of public plantings.  Better maintenance planning and more efficient scheduling could bring about some reduction in costs that could help to pay for  better quality maintenance.

 

 

 

 

As they say in parliament, I will declare my interest. For several years (six I believe) I have been a tutor for the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)  Master of Horticulture Award. This has given me a lot of pride and satisfaction being part of a dedicated team of tutors and working with some inspiring students. I joined the team shortly after the RHS made the brave decision to invest in the qualification in terms of marketing and recruitment. The student experience was greatly improved by the introduction of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) that facilitates online  contact between students and the course tutors.

The course has international appeal with students coming from North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. There are several core modules and students are able to follow optional units that reflect their own interest.

One of the key advantages of this three-year course is it enables participants to gain a degree level qualification whilst holding down a job or in some cases running their own businesses. Combining work, family life and study can be challenging at times and you will need to be sufficiently organised and disciplined to balance these. If you are prepared for the challenge, the rewards for successful completion are immense. The status of the Master of Horticulture qualification has never been higher and the opportunities for advancement are excellent.

if you are interested in this course, please click the link below.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/education-learning/qualifications-and-training/master-of-horticulture

 

 

Nobody in professional horticulture can be unaware of the issue of Glyphosate. The EU is reviewing its licence and it is going right to the wire. rather like the Brexit debate, the rhetoric is being cranked up and both sides are quoting  lots of  data to further their cause. There is also a lot of nonsense and quite frankly, dodgy science being quoted and this is not serving any purpose.

The debate should be settled on scientific data, some pressure groups are using it as a means of giving Monsanto a good kicking just where it hurts- in the profits. Monsanto are certainly no choir boys when it comes to corporate ethics but if they need holding to account, this is not the best way to do it.

What is not being given enough consideration is the fact that weeds are becoming increasingly resistant to Glyphosate. Willowherb, perennial nettle and I am told, dandelion  can sometimes need a second application of the chemical for total control. I can remember reading an article in Horticulture Week about 20 years ago in which the author spelled out the dangers of over-reliance on Glyphosate in that it would lead  to the development of resistant strains of weed. This has certainly happened. There has also been some concern about plant damage caused by Glyphosate, a former curator of the RHS garden at Wisley  told me that he had noticed damage to Sorbus and Viburnum following Glyphosate application even though no foliage had been touched. I have noticed healthy specimens of Viburnum opulus killed outright following Glyphosate use.

Nature cannot be influenced by lobbyists nor pressure groups, like many pesticides Glyphosate use may be limited by resistance as much as legislation. I regretted the withdrawal of Ammonium sulphamate due to high registration costs, this was a useful chemical and I am not aware of any environmental or safety issues surrounding its use as a herbicide. I stand to be corrected.

In amenity horticulture, the Glyphosate issue has stimulated the development of various alternative control measures such as hot water, hot foam and acetic acid. Only time will tell if these alternatives can do the job of replacing Glyphosate  for specialist application such as Japanese Knotweed control but they are welcome developments. For too long, we have had all our eggs in one basket and that is not good.

 

 

The Gardening Times is edited by my good friend and RHS Colleague, Chris Allen  Here is an article on apples that I sent a few months back

http://www.thegardeningtimes.com/article.asp?AR01=1290