Collecting our horticultural heritage

Some people collect plants in the dedicated manner that others collect art, coins or wine.

RBGV succulents

Some people collect plants in the dedicated manner that others collect art, coins or wine. Often these living collections are of a particular group or genus of plants, and while there can be a measure of the “collect the whole set” mentality to this passion, the collections often have significant heritage value because they preserve plants that might otherwise die out or disappear. But what happens to these precious plants when the collector ages or passes away?

“Collections have probably disappeared time and time again and we have no idea they even existed,” says noted plantsman Stephen Ryan.

Plant Trust has been set up to protect diversity

He is the president of Plant Trust, an organisation set up to protect diversity by supporting the identification and registration of plant collections in Australia, whether in private gardens, historic estates, parks or nurseries. He holds four national collections himself, of the genera Cornus, Acanthus, Sambucus and Osmanthus, but the many others registered include salvias, small eucalypts, begonias, cyclamen and lavenders. The majority are of exotic species that are most at risk of going out of cultivation due to becoming unfashionable, being hard to grow, or simply being rare. Plant Trust advises collectors about handing on their collections when the time comes by gifting or re-housing them. “If they can go to botanic gardens or public spaces, there’s more chance of longevity,” Ryan says.

RBGV succulents

A prime example is an important collection of cacti and succulents gifted to the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria by Robert Field. His father Ralph started collecting in 1908 when, aged 12, he visited the Melbourne botanic gardens and was given some cuttings. In 1927 he moved his ever-expanding collection to the 283ha sheep property he bought at Tennyson, between Bendigo and Echuca, where the dry-loving plants thrived. So keen was he on succulents that he bought, at great expense, the only Australian share in the 1936-38 Harry Blossfield Expedition to South America, an investment that guaranteed him more than 1000 wild-collected plants.

The RBGV succulents nursery

By the time Field’s son joined the business in 1960, the collection covered several acres and attracted busloads of tourists to Field’s Cactus and Succulent Garden. “It’s been a labour of love for me for over 60 years,” Robert says.

When vandals destroyed much of the Melbourne botanic gardens’ cacti and succulents collection in 2013, Robert offered to replace plants but soon donated his whole collection. It took 19 truckloads over three months to transport 3000 mostly spiky plants to Melbourne. Some weighed more than 300kg and the tallest were tied to ladders to prevent damage.

The Field Collection now forms the basis of the just-completed Arid Garden, designed as a modern parterre by landscape architect Andrew Laidlaw. “The opportunity to design a project using plant material as remarkable as this, with their array of different forms, colours and textures, is a dream come true,” Laidlaw says.

“I enjoyed passing it on,” says Robert Field. “It’s better than selling it off to collectors who’d pick the eyes out of it, and maybe just sell them on. I know the gardens will look after the collection even better than I can and share the historical significance of it with millions of people into the future.”

Good to know

You can support or join Plant Trust even if you don’t hold a collection. Go to planttrust.org.au The Arid Garden at Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens is due for completion in early October. Check when the gardens reopen after lockdown restrictions ease. To watch a YouTube video on the history of Field’s Cactus and Succulent Garden, digital subscribers can go to this article online at theaustralian.com.au/magazine

Q&A

Help! Borers are ringbarking our tree. We’ve been spraying but nothing seems to work. Siobhan Foley, by email

Some borers chew around the outside of branches, ringbarking them. They cover their trail with telltale frass (chewed wood, faeces and webbing); remove this to uncover the grubs or stick a wire down any holes to pierce them. Fully ringbarked branches will die. The main borer treatment is to improve the tree’s health so it can use its natural defences; try Seasol, deep watering and a mulch of compost. However, it could be rats eating the bark; this is common on citrus in winter.

My Japanese lemon tree produces sick fruit. I was recommended Confidor – where can I buy it? And what is my tree? Walt Bagley, Hill End, NSW

Confidor is a systemic insecticide that must never be used on food plants. It is also toxic to bees, which is why it is now hard to buy. Eco-Oil or PestOil will treat most citrus pests except fruit fly. For this, use Nature’s Way Fruit Fly Control or exclusion netting. Your tree might be a yuzu, a thorny citrus valued for its aromatic rind.

I’ve started my summer vegies (tomatoes, chillies, eggplant and basil) in seed-raising trays but am moving in November. Should I keep growing them in pots or can I transplant them? Ed Yabsley, Coonabarabran, NSW

Vegetables are difficult to transplant successfully, so definitely keep them in pots, starting small and potting into larger vessels as needed. Basil and chillies can stay in pots quite happily. Hold back a bit on fertilising the tomatoes and eggplants so the plants stay smaller for longer; once in the ground you can feed them up.

Black Marvel Tomato and Vegetable Food

Send your questions to: [e-mail] or Helen Young, PO Box 3098, Willoughby North, NSW 2068. Website: helenyoung.com.au. The best question for September wins a $120 hamper from Richgro, including Black Marvel Tomato and Vegetable Food, natural insect repellent and Grow Bag.