Jim Jermyn gave an illustrated talk entitled New Zealand’s Alpine Wonderland to members of Barony Gardening Club on December 5.
Jim is known to many of the members through their shared interest in alpine plants. He has also talked to the BGC on a previous occasion. And so, in spite of the chilly darkness of the night, a good audience of 30 visitors and members came to hear him once again.
He spoke about his encounters with the alpine plants on his recent speaking tour of South Island, New Zealand. This was a seven-week adventure which, he emphasised, was completed in perfect weather.
Jim had driven over from the Borders for the talk and noted that the rain began just as he entered Dumfries and Galloway. And that can be a problem, for alpine plants must have good drainage. Apart from that he said that all the plants growing in the Southern Alps of New Zealand would do well in Scottish gardens.
He had many great specimen photographs of these alpines. And many are quite extraordinary. One such is the Raoulia eximia which is commonly known in New Zealand as the Vegetable Sheep. It grows only on boulders; and, from a distance, looks like a sheep. One rare buttercup grows on scree and has foliage indistinguishable from the stones on which it grows. Its yellow flowers will make its presence visible. Another buttercup, Ranunculus lyalii, is the largest of all buttercups and indigenous to New Zealand. It has a large white flower with a yellow centre. It is also known as the Mount Cook lily, and grows in sphagnum moss.
A common characteristic among all these alpines is their white flowers, which have evolved to attract pollinating insects with their scent without the trouble of developing ranges of colours. Many are pollinated at night.
Jim found that some alpines were growing down to the shore line. Gentianella (with white-purple flowers) even grows in the spray zone on the west coast.
In his travels he was able to visit the Fiordland of the southern tip and the 33-hectare Dunedin Botanic Garden on the east coast. He was able to provide us with glimpses of the uniqueness of the New Zealand flora. And this is something the government there is keen to preserve, with its strict bio-security measures. It is now common practice, world-wide, that no plant material should be removed from its native habitat without an appropriate licence. Nor should foreign plant material be introduced. The immigration authorities in New Zealand will not normally allow visitors to bring in their own foods. Jim admitted that he had to curb his nursery-man’s urge to take cuttings.
So the most that botanists and plant hunters can do is to look and perhaps to photograph. And a journey to the opposite side of the Earth to do this may seem unusual, even extravagant. But Jim encountered another British enthusiast, wandering in the alpine scenery, who was intrigued by Jim’s botanical interests. It emerged, however, that his own interest was to view the unique alpine wren.
At the completion of his South Island tour he was able to visit some of the gardens and sub-tropical regions of the North Island, including the 64-hectare Auckland Botanic Garden and Hawkes Bay. He and his wife, Alison, enjoyed their stay with their friends Joe and Ann Cartman, whose alpine garden, he felt, was very special.
Few of the members at the BGC would have a scree slope in which to grow alpine plants, and never mind our wet conditions. But Jim advised that a crevice garden can be created quite successfully in a tub or on a garden slope. And there are many groups (such as the Alpine Garden Society) happy to give advice.
There were a lot of questions from the audience before Jim was able to make his way home. Some of the members had visited New Zealand, or were about to do so, and revealed a great enthusiasm for the country and its exceptional flora.
The next meeting will be on Thursday, January 9 at 7.15pm in Kirkmichael Hall, Parkgate. Sharon Bradley, a botanical artist will speak about Drawing on the Garden.
Further information from www.bgc.chessck.co.uk or telephone 01576 202591.