Number / Rhif 18 September / Medi 2003 http://biology.bangor.ac.uk/treborth/
Although we have had one of the best summers for many years, I’m left wondering where it went! A flurry of activity, both in the garden and in the
“wild”, has left me wanting more hours in the day than ever before. Suddenly it’s autumn and AGM time again. Time also to begin planning winter work in the garden and reflecting on what did and didn’t work. Some plants need outing (Lupin “Tuti-fruity” in my case - far too cabbage-like and prone to disease), some need moving (my Meconopsis need more shelter from the prevailing winds) and others need to be increased ( Epilobium glabellum has been wonderful this year). And then there’s the growing collection of hardy orchids…
It’s also been a very busy summer at Treborth, culminating with the Open
Day in August. This was again a tribute to the hard work of the volunteers and Nigel, and the gardens looked stunning once more when the gates opened. Being our main fundraising event, I’m delighted to say that we raised £1042, almost exactly half of which was due to plant sales. The team in charge of these have really got their act together, and are able to generate hundreds of wonderful plants seemingly from thin air. Well done to everyone involved.
The applications for Heritage Lottery Funding (HLF) and Objective 1 Funding have now been submitted. Thank you again to Maurice Lock and the other staff at the University for all their support and hard work in this. We await the

outcome of the application with hope, and we’ll keep you fully informed of progress.
As this is the AGM mailing, I’ll keep this Editorial short. Suffice to say that, alas, this will be my last. I have been editing the Newsletter since the Friends started and I feel it’s time to let someone else have a go. If anyone is interested, please let the Secretary know!
Thank you again to everyone that has contributed to this Newsletter. Articles for the next Newsletter (preferably on disk, please) should reach me by 1 st
December 2003 please, and I’ll pass them on to the new editor. Again, all contributions are extremely welcome.
Trevor Dines (Newsletter Editor)
Rhyd y Fuwch, Bethel, Caernarfon, Gwynedd, LL55 3PS e-mail : trevor.dines@plantlife.org.uk
Is it the tasty free lunch produced by our volunteer caterer, Hazel Cave, or the chance to spend an enjoyable day in delightful surroundings, that entices students to Treborth on work days? Whatever their reasons the hard work of twenty plus student volunteers with guidance from Nigel and a few regular volunteers, was greatly appreciated on each of the two sessions so far this year.
Countless wheelbarrow loads of prunings, brambles, weeds and other unwanted plant material were carted to bonfire sites or compost bins. Other loads of well-rotted compost were transported to various flower beds to encourage better plant growth. Some useful planting of ground covers in the shrub borders and re-organising of plantings in the beds around the pond show big improvements in those areas. Many vegetable seedlings have been pricked out and larger plants potted up in readiness for future plant sales.

students to increase their botanical knowledge and be a useful supplement to their studies.
The small group of regular volunteers has also been active on several occasions in efforts to improve and increase the plantings in some of the shrub borders and also to tidy them up. There is still plenty to be done and additional help at any time is appreciated. However there are jobs needing specialists with equipment that cannot be tackled by the volunteers. To raise funds to remunerate this additional help we are holding four plant sales again this year and will be increasing the range of plants available, especially with young plants of the more uncommon vegetables and herbs that require some protection to give them a good start in the spring. We are always grateful for plants donated by members but request that they either be brought to
Treborth prior to a sale or if this is not convenient to at least give us a list of plants to be donated. This is so that our sales people can find out information about the plants so that they can answer purchasers queries at the sale.
Also sometimes we decide to make use of donated plants at Treborth.
Contacts: Pauline on 01248 362507 or Ann on 01248 490896.
Pauline Perry
Len Beer Memorial Lecture 2003
Friday 21 st March 2003
The 2003 lecture has been arranged by the Alpine Garden Society. The speaker will be Professor David Rankin, with a talk entitled “Through the
Seasons in South West China” .
Early Spring Walk at Treborth
Thursday 17 st April 2003
This, now annual, event is always thoroughly enjoyable, as there is so much to see in the gardens in early spring. We’ll concentrate (weather permitting) on the grounds outside and especially on the woodland, which is a wealth of colour, interest and activity. With so much work and new planting taking place in the garden, there will be a lot to see, and possibly a few surprises too.
Plant Fair at Crûg Farm
Saturday 3rd May 2003
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Once again we will have a stall at this excellent perennial favourite, where a large number of nurseries bring plants for sale and the wonderful gardens at
Crûg Farm are open. Check out the Treborth stall for unusual and interesting species, and get there early to snap up the best plants! Offers of help to man the stall will be greatly appreciated.
Botanical Walk at Aberffraw
Thursday 19th June 2003
The dunes of the north Wales coast are some of the best in Britain, with many rare and unusual species to be found. Those at Aberffraw are exceptional, as they are well managed and easily accessible, with a great diversity of plants within a small area.
Around 30 participants assembled on a fine June evening to walk across the dunes to the beach. These dunes have accumulated over thousands of years as the valley of the Afon Ffraw became gradually infilled with sand blown in from offshore sandbanks. The further inland you are, the older the dunes, so as we walked towards the sea we encountered ever younger habitats, with different types of plants adapted to different types of conditions.
Near the roadside, we started with the common species of calcareous dune grassland, including Dune Pansy ( Viola tricolor ), Bird’s-foot Trefoil ( Lotus corniculatus ), Eyebrights ( Euphrasia species), Lady’s Bedstraw ( Galium verum ) and a whole host of grasses. Here, the grassland is especially rich because the soil has built up a high proportion of organic matter; it is therefore nutirient-rich and does not dry out too severly. Moving inland, we quickly came upon our first orchids, with find displays of Pyramidal Orchid
( Anacamptis pyramidalis ) and Bee Orchid ( Ophrys apifera ). It proved to be a good year for these, with the former being especially abundant. The warm dry spring also seemed to have encouraged other plants. On the top of a small back, a superb patch of Moonwort ( Botrychium lunaria ) was found.
This bizzare fern produces one, deeply-lobed, sterile frond and one branched fertile frond, full of spores. It’s usually very difficult to find Moonwort at
Aberffraw, just one or two small plants usually appear each year, but this patch was huge (30 plants or so) with several enourmous specimens about
15 cm (6 inches) tall. A fine and rare sight.
Not far away, in a damp hollow we found plants of Seaside Centaury
( Centaurium littorale ), distinguishable from the nearby Common Centaury
( Centaurium erythraea ) by its narrow leaves. As is often the case with closely-related plants growing closely toghether, a few individuals were found with intermediate leaves and flowers - hybrids in all probability.
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Continuing seawards, we had a look at the only site at Aberffraw where Dune
Helleborine ( Epipactis leptochila var dunensis ) occurs. It does not always reliably appear at this spot but there were plenty this year, still a few weeks away from flowering. Growing in a hummock of Creeping Willow ( Salix repens ), this very rare orchid shows no sign of spreading here as it has at
Newborough, where it is now abundant in the pine plantations.
We then entered our first dune slack. These are areas of low-lying ground between the dunes that are totally flooded in winter. Remaining permanently wetter during the summer, their vegetation is distinctly different to surrounding dunes and includes some very special species. The first thing you notice is the abundance of Marsh-orchids ( Dactylorhiza species). Three types grow here - the Northern Marsh-orchid ( D. purpurella ) with dark purple flowers, the pale pink Early Marsh-orchid ( D. incarnata ) and a wonderful, small brick-red type. This last is D. incarnata subspecies coccinea - a variety of Early Marsh-orchid that is largely restricted to dune slacks in western
Britain and is often called the “Small Red Marsh-orchid”. A real jem.
Also abundant in this particular slack was Marsh Helleborine ( Epipactis palustris ), our final orchid of the day but unfortunately a few weeks away from flowering. When out, this slack would have looked spectacular, as the flowers are large and beautifully coloured pale pink and white.
At the other end of the spectrum, the slack was also full of interesting nonflowering plants. A small horsetail (Variegated Horsetail, Equisetum variegatum ) was seen with prostrate stems creeping through denser vegetation and producing wonderful black cones. Even smaller was Lesser
Clubmoss ( Selaginella selaginoides ), who’s upright cones bore large yellow sporangia ready to release their spores (the latin name of this plant always stikes me as odd, as it means “the little clubmoss that looks like a clubmoss”).
103.9mm (4.1 inches) of rain in December brought the total for 2002 to 1157 mm (45.55 inches), an average annual amount, in contrast to the extremes of the previous two years - 928.8mm (36.6 inches) in 2001 and 1519mm
(59.8 inches) in 2000.
2003 has begun on a dry note with only 149.6 mm (5.89 inches) recorded in the first 3 months. There have been two cold spells in that period each

celcius. The last three weeks of March have proved particularly fine and dry with only 0.6mm (0.02 inch) of rain recorded.
Mid winter is not usually associated with large numbers of moths but on the night of 21/22 December we recorded 95 appropriately named December
Moths ( Poecilocampa populi ) in a Robinson Light trap. Catches were then very low until late February when the seasonal rush of early spring moths commenced, reaching a peak of 125 individuals of 11 species on 23/24
March.
Fine sunny weather and day time temperatures in excess of 13 degrees probably encouraged the first butterflies of the year in mid March with Small
Tortoiseshell on 14 th , Peacock on 16 th and Comma on 17 th . It also probably helped the Chiffchaff acclimatize, the first individuals singing in the Garden on 14 th (cf. 16 th March in 2002, 15 th in 2001 and 2000, 26 th in 1999) joined by
Blackcap on 27 th (cf. 27 th March in 2002, 9 th in 2001, 28 th in 2000 and 4 th
April in 1999). Temperatures reached a very pleasant 17.25 degrees on 28 th
March, significantly higher than in the previous two early spring periods.
A hedgehog on the 23 rd March was a welcome sight as they seemed so scarce last year but a spate of intense mole activity throughout March was not so pleasing, causing extensive upheaval to the lawns.
Perhaps surprisingly considering all the fine weather plant growth has not been advanced either amongst garden plants or their wild consorts in the
Garden. Wood Anemones ( Anemone nemorosa ) commenced flowering in the third week of March and Lesser Celandines ( Ranunculus ficaria ) are at their best as the month closes.
The late winter/early spring period has provided some memorable star watching nights and the planets Jupiter and Saturn have been prominent throughout, the latter’s rings very favourably angled towards Earth as they will be throughout April. Look out for Mars rising in the early morning sky and close to the moon on 23 rd April – by late summer the Red Planet will be at its closest to the Earth for 70,000 years!
Nigel Brown (Curator)

the largest families of flowering plants. It comprises approximately 30,000 species, and there are estimates in the region of 100,000 hybrids, natural or otherwise! On top of this, orchids are regarded as the top of the list of specialisation, with often complex relationships with their insect pollinators.
One of the recent acquisitions for the Treborth orchid collection is
Angraecum sequipedale . This wonderful species from Madagascar has large white star-shaped flowers with 11 inch (27cm) nectar spurs. From its colour, nectar spur and night scent, Darwin predicted it would be pollinated by a moth with an eleven inch proboscis! Some period later the Sphinx moth was discovered which fitted the bill, but I don’t know if anyone has actually recorded it at work (a nice little night job for somebody with insomnia and camera skills!).
Orchids have always been a feature at Treborth Botanic Garden, and currently, we have a collection of 116 different species, hybrids and cultivars.
The process of identification continues for some. It is great fun doing the detective work. Any visitor would notice that there seems to be at least one variety in flower, any time of the year. The most floriferous period, however, is autumn winter spring with a bit of rest in the summer. Although the collection is not massive, we do have multiple propagations of many.
The Orchidaceae is such a large family, taxonomists have found it necessary to divide it into five sub-families, with numerous tribes and sub-tribes. We have been selecting new acquisitions over the last couple of years to ensure representation of the whole group for teaching purposes. We have to confess, however, the occasional seduction by a colourful, flamboyant, sensuous “Siren”, like Cattleya trianae . If you missed it in flower, your life is yet to be complete!!
Simon Retallick (Committee Member)
Your committee decided some time ago that twinning with a botanic garden in some foreign country could be of interest and value to Treborth Botanic
Ga rden and the “Friends” . Various possibilities were discussed but one in
Lesotho seemed most favourable due to the ties between Wales, and especially Bangor, and that country. Progress was slow to start as information was confused by reports of plans for two gardens. One in the vicinity of the capital Maseru and the other more centrally situated.
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Eventually a communication from Botanical Gardens Conservation
International gave us an address in Pretoria for SABONET (Southern African
Botanical Diversity Network).
SABONET, established in 1990, covers ten countries of Southern Africa and has operated on a grant from United Nations Global Environment Fund. In
1998 the organisation received $4.4 million from this fund that has been used to great advantage for the co-ordination of botanical knowledge in the ten countries. Since contacting Dr. Stefan Siebert (head of SABONET) last year we have received two copies of their informative newsletter and a recently published impressive Southern African Red Data Book. This has given us good information on the situation in Lesotho.
Lesotho is a small country surrounded by three South African provinces –
KwaZuluNatal, Free State and Eastern Cape. It is often referred to as “The
Kingdom in the Sky” as most of the area is covered by high mountains, in fact they can claim the highest peak south of Kilimanjaro. The inhabitants, the Basotho, number a little over two million. Rainfall mostly falls in summer.
Winters are dry with night frost which thaws during the day because the country can boast an average of over eight hours sunshine a day throughout the year.
The Lesotho National Botanic Garden was founded in 1995, and is situated in the central highlands surrounding Katse Dam. It owes its existence to the
Highlands Water Project, a scheme to provide water and electricity to a large tract of Southern Africa. The garden covers 17 hectares and has links with the National University in Roma near Maseru, where there is a small
University Botanic Garden. The country has a total of 1,591 higher plant species, 17 of which are endemics. The best known of these is the protected
Spiral Aloe, Aloe polyphylla, a beautiful plant which unfortunately has proved very difficult in cultivation.
Having now made contact with the Curator of Katse Dam Botanical Garden,
Mr Tau Mahlelebe, we shall continue with the link which it is to be hoped will be of benefit to both Treborth and Lesotho.
Pauline Perry
We are aiming to create a resource of re-cycling and composting excellence in the garden at Treborth. It’s early days, but patience is being rewarded,
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and if any friends would like to offer their advice or practical help we would be delighted.
Back in 2001 Mike Roberts constructed a four-bay run of wooden bins utilising unwanted wood from Pen-y-Ffridd, and old palets. Vast amounts of material soon filled our first bay (its not everyone that has banana leaves and palm fronds!). We added horse manure from Hazel’s ponies and the bedding from the new pigeon house.
Having hired a shredder we were able to use this material too. A rapid temperature rise was created and after turning the material we were able to put this first batch on the pond border by spring the following year. At
Treborth we haven’t sieved the compost, the heavy clay soil in some parts of the garden is teeming with worms, and simply placing the rough but wellrotted material on the surface and lightly forking it in has resulted in an impressive improvement in soil texture.
With help from several gangs of marvellous student volunteers we have now been able to empty three complete bays, and turn the next, so I feel we are now on the way to establishing a routine.
This week saw the completion of the sliding front sections again using offcuts. Paul Hibbert a long standing Friend, has generously agreed to continue this work, and we now have simple bins, (created from palets rescued from a skip) which can be placed at the other end of the gardens.
These bins can be dismantled and moved around if necessary. As the work on the borders continues, we also hope to establish “slow heaps” of woody prunings, which if placed in a square shape simply delineated by uprights, and well tamped down, will in several years create another source of friable material full of plant nutrients. This should also eliminate the need for damaging bonfires. We store the vast quantities of autumn leaves in netting bins, to make an impressive dark leaf mould in due course. This we apply to the ericaceous plants on our large rock garden, and around the base of some of our stunning species Rhododendrons.
In these dark times we owe it to our young people to become a shining example of the sensitive use and re-use of resources, Treborth with its magical acres and teeming wildlife populations is a perfect stage on which to teach by example.
Ann Wood (Secretary)
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Having had such a magical visit to the Beth Chatto Gardens on our 2002 coach trip with the Friends, I was thrilled to be given this addition to my collection.
Mrs Chatto here describes the creation of her woodland garden, on poor sandy soil. This area was formerly Badgers Wood where trees had grown too tall, and fell victim to the 1987 storms. She writes in such a friendly style that you almost forget that she is also giving you the geographical region for each plant, and sensible cultivation techniques. The emphasis is on layers of interest, with hardy shrubs between the trees, underplanted with foliage plants, bulbs and perennials, all creating a colourful but calm environment.
In this book she is helping enormously with those other shady areas where most of us have resorted to Lamiums (Deadnettles) or Vincas (Periwinkles).
With her unerring eye for plant associations, and timely advice on enriching poor dry soils we can all have beautiful north walls and heavenly courtyards.
There is an alphabetical list of shade loving plants, including grasses and ferns in abundance for easy reference, and a most useful section on mechanical equipment for tackling tree work.
The photographs throughout the book by Stephen Wooster are a delight, showing the whole area in different seasons and beautiful plant portraits to inspire you.
Beth Chatto’s Woodland Garden is published by Cassell Illustrated, The
Octopus Publishing Group. 224 pp. ISBN 0 304 36366 9. Price £25.
Ann Wood (Secretary)
TH
This year marks the 50 th anniversary of one of the 20 th Century’s outstanding scientific achievements, namely the discovery of the double helix structure of
D.N.A. The discovery was made by James Watson and Francis Crick in
Cambridge and when they announced their discovery, two supporting papers from King’s College were published giving experimental support for the double helix. One of these was by Maurice Wilkins, Alec Stokes and Herbert
Wilson and the other was by Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling.
In February Raymond Gosling and Herbert Wilson together with their
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wives, were invited guests at a working meeting to celebrate the 50 th anniversary of the double helix discovery at Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory in New York, where James Watson is President. In April, they will be attending similar laboratory meetings in London and Cambridge.
Crick, Watson and Wilkins shared the Nobel prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1962. Rosalind Franklin died at the early age of 37 in 1958 and Alec
Stokes died in February 2003.
Herbert Wilson and his wife Beti were born in Nefyn on the Lleyn peninsula and both are graduates of the University of Wales, Bangor. Following graduation, Herbert carried out research for a PhD under the supervision of
Professor Edwin Owen and in 1952 he moved to King’s College, London under tenure of a University of Wales Fellowship. Following appointments at the universities of St Andrews and Dundee he was appointed Professor of
Physics at the University of Stirling in 1983 where he is now Emeritus
Professor. We are delighted that he will be returning to Bangor to talk to the
Friends next November (see Diary).
Enid Griffiths (Committee Member)
Over the last few years I have been building up a small collection of shrubs that I believe should be much more widely grown. Corylopsis (Winter Hazel) is a genus of about 30 species of deciduous shrubs belonging to the Witch
Hazel family (Hamamelidaceae). The name Corylopsis literally means
“having the appearance of a hazel” and indeed they do, with clusters of upright basal stems giving way to arching branches bearing alternate, softlyhairy ovate leaves. As with the native Hazel, stems of Winter Hazel form graceful tiers of branches, but it is in early spring that the full glory of these shrubs is revealed. Before the leaves emerge, the branches are festooned for several weeks with pendant catkins of soft-yellow flowers. These catkins can be up to 8 cm (3 inches) long, and each large flower is often well scented too. Later, the emerging leaves can be purple-flushed and in some species they colour up yellow in the autumn. Beautiful flowers, scent, autumn colour and an attractive architecture - what more can you ask of a shrub?
Several different species are available for gardens. The most common one,
C. pauciflora (Buttercup Winter-hazel) is smaller than the rest, growing to just
3 metres. It also has smaller leaves and smaller spikes of flowers than
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the others ( see front cover ). While very attractive and charming, it is perhaps not my favourite as it seems to lack the impressive spring impact of its relatives.
C. spicata (Spike Winter-hazel) , C. sinensis and C. glabrescens are the best garden species, producing long, fat catkins in profusion. They differ only slightly in detail of leaf size, shape and flower colour. C. spicata , from Japan, bears bright yellow flowers with contrasting red or brown anthers. It’s a slightly shorter plant than the other two, both of which can reach 5 metres. C. sinensis , from China, produces pale yellow cowslip-scented flowers in dense catkins. It has a beautiful variety, ‘Spring Purple’, who’s young leaves and stems are purple-flushed and give colour throughout the year. C. glabrescens also bears very pale yellow flowers, but this time scented (to my mind at least) of lime. These bear contrasting purple anthers and are extremely attractive.
There are other, rarer species, such as C. himalayana with very large flowers but a slightly less hardy temperament, but these are the ones you are most likely to find. Several local nurseries stock them and it’s worth hunting around for different varieties. In the garden, they are quite hardy, but do appreciate some shelter, especially from cold easterly winds and late frosts which can harm the flowers; they are very good in an open woodland setting. All
Corylopsis prefer well-drained but moisture-retentive acid or neutral soil. The three larger species obviously need space to spread, and squeezing them into a shrubbery does nothing for their graceful architecture. This is what became of several Corylopsis at Treborth, but we have now cleared the shrubs from around them and are giving them space to recover. The most spectacular plants I have seen were at Sir Harold Hillier Arboretum in
Hampshire, where a group of five C. glabrescens were in full flower. The dark stems contrasted the pale yellow flowers superbly, and the lime scent was delicious! Do grow one or two if you can.
Trevor Dines (Editor)
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