 Giant Redwood and me sagging!!!!!! But a brilliant day The planting of these trees was done with great care. We checked the pH of the soil - neutral, had cleared the brambles and fallen hedgerow trees - (the HIB Team) then Craig had hand dug a large hole for each tree and filled it with compost donated by Agrovista, covered the surround with more compost and bark mulch after clearing away all grass, drove in 8 foot posts around each tree which had been painted with Barn Paint donated by Ridgeons and stapled on chicken wire as protection against deer and rabbits. The Giant Redwood was sponsored by the Leverett family and the Magnolia by the residents at Magnolia House.
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 Can you work out what they are? Answers soon  Jim Endersby's excellent book which is a fascinating read and much more than a biography and well illustrated Our Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911) was an internationally renowned botanist, a close friend and early supporter of Charles Darwin, and one of the first-and most successful-British men of science to become a full-time professional. He was also, Jim Endersby argues, the perfect embodiment of Victorian science. A vivid picture of the complex interrelationships of scientific work and scientific ideas, Imperial Nature gracefully uses one individual's career to illustrate the changing world of science in the Victorian era. By analysing Hooker's career, Jim Endersby offers vivid insights into the everyday activities of nineteenth-century naturalists, considering matters as diverse as botanical illustration and microscopy, classification, and specimen transportation and storage, to reveal what they actually did, how they earned a living, and what drove their scientific theories. What emerges is a rare glimpse of Victorian scientific practices in action. By focusing on science's material practices and one of its foremost practitioners, Endersby ably links concerns about empire, professionalism, and philosophical practices to the forging of a nineteenth-century scientific identity.  Jim Endersby   At Kew we saw this stunning Berberis Darwinii which we will be planting in the Town Park to commemorate Hooker's championing of Darwin
Berberis Darwinii is a fast growing evergreen shrub or plant ideally suited as hedging, or screening. Masses of scented golden yellow flowers in spring followed by berries in autumn providing all year round colour. Berberis Darwinii is a very special evergreen shrub with stunning yellow flowers. Clusters of small, nodding, orange-yellow flowers appear in mid- and late spring, followed by bluish-purple autumn berries. This upright, evergreen shrub has small, spiny, dark green, holly-like leaves and is useful to fill a difficult spot in the garden, provided it has space to spread out. It also makes a good informal, flowering hedge. Vigorous and easy-to-grow, it often produces a second flush of flowers in autumn. Characteristics Spiny growth will deter unwanted visitors – fantastic vandal proof hedge! Produces masses of golden yellow scented flowers in spring followed by berries in autum and is a great for food provider for wildlife
Can you design a Victorian Plant Hunter To help celebrate the work of Joseph Hooker? Drawing, painting, collage… all welcome! Your work will be professionally framed, and displayed locally - Please ask for more information and a form at the Library as you will need the painting or drawing must be on special paper for framing  Elaine Searle form Chelsea School of Botanical Art  Elaine on L talking to students about her work  This is by Joseph Hooker - pretty good for an amateur!   Exhibition: Joseph Hooker: Putting plants in their place
Alongside Selected British Artists from the Shirley Sherwood Collection 25 March – 17 September 2017 New exhibition to uncover what made Joseph Hooker ‘the king of Kew’ Joseph Hooker: Putting plants in their place To mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of one of Victorian Britain's most important scientists, Joseph Hooker (1817–1911), Kew is holding an exhibition of a selection of his photographs, journals and paintings.
Visitors will move through a series of delicate yet vibrant drawings, paintings and prints from his travels, alongside portraits, photographs, journals and even artefacts belonging to Hooker himself. Along the way they will discover how Hooker collected plants from all over the world, classifying them, discovering the laws that governed their distribution, and creating a place for botany alongside high status sciences, such as physics. With his father, William – the first official Director of Kew, Hooker also helped to transform Kew from a rather run-down royal pleasure garden into the world-class scientific establishment it is today. On 30 September 1839 at 22 years of age, Hooker set off on Her Majesty’s Discovery Ship Erebus as the ships assistant surgeon and expedition’s botanist. This exhibition charts his incredible voyage from England to the Antarctic, and many other remote places around the world, with paintings, engravings and even Hooker’s own belongings on display. On his travels Hooker sketched endlessly, capturing temples, villages, memorials, wildlife, the sprawling landscape beneath Everest, and of course countless different plants he encountered along the way. A number of these captivating works are on display. The importance of botanical illustration, as prevalent today as it was then, is also made abundantly clear in this exhibition, with one of Hooker’s beautifully-preserved, dried Rhododendron thomsonii specimens collected in the Himalayas displayed alongside a coloured field sketch and published plate of the same plant. The illustrations still show the vibrant colour of the species, which has disappeared from the dried specimen, and are able to clearly depict all the key characteristics of the species in a way that the dried specimen, or even a photograph, may not. Maria Devaney, Galleries and Exhibitions Leader at RBG Kew says; “It has been an absolute privilege to delve into the remarkable life of Joseph Hooker, with this exhibition revealing both his tireless quest to transform the perception of botany, and his desire to establish Kew Gardens as a place of world-class science. This exhibition is a true testament to Hooker’s insatiable appetite for collecting, his fierce determination to raise the status of botany, and his deep rooted love of Kew. COME WITH US IN JULY HALESWORTH IN BLOOM VISIT TO KEW AFTER JUDGING! Brought to our attention by a parishioner of St Mary's Church  Visitor looking at the information board but where?   Some interesting spelling and informarion!!!  Darjeeling India where Joseph started on his plant collecting in the Himalayas   Kew Rhododendron Dell at Kew in the 19th Century when Hooker was alive - all rhododendrons he brought over from the region of deep ravines and valleys in the Himalayas  Early poster 20th Century Kew  Hooker Rhododrendrons in Kew Dell. In our Town Park there will be seven Rhododendrons see below which will border our Town Park - these are ordered from Specialist Glendoick Nurseries in Scotland  Rhodoendron thomsonii named by ~Joseph Hooker after his friend Brian Thomson  Kew Rhododendrons  Yellow version of R thomsonii  Fitch plate from Joseph Hooker painting of R argenteum  Rhododendron edgeworthii another found by Joseph and named by him after an admired colleague and friend.  Rhododendron argenteum  Rhododendron hodgsonii Using an instrument like the one below Joseph was able to work out that Mount Donkia was 23,176 feet high and 73 miles away (which he later climbed) from Brian Hodgson's house where Joseph was staying. He also saw and drew Mount Everest and worked out it was over 28,000 feet high - the first person to do this. Joseph Dawson Hooker named a lovely Rhododendron after Brian and this is being planted in our Town Park see below.   |
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