Magazine - Featured Articles

BUMPER YEAR FOR HTA AND APL MEMBERS AT RHS CHELSEA CENTENARY
21 hours ago - Featured Articles - Horticultural Trades Association (HTA)
t has been a bumper year at RHS Chelsea Flower Show with many HTA and APL members winning medals in the event’s 100th year celebration. In such a landmark year, medals galore were picked up by members of the Horticultural Trades Association and Association of Professional Landscapers at the prestigious gardening event. In the Show Gardens area, APL members were showcasing their landscaping excellence. Landform Consultants won Gold with the Homebase Garden “Sowing the Seeds of Change”, designed by Adam Frost. Landform also won Gold with the RBC “Blue Water Roof Garden”, designed by Professor Nigel Dunnett and The Landscape Agency.

EDEN IS CRAWLING WITH FREAKY NATURE THIS HALF TERM
2 days ago - Featured Articles - Eden Project
Slimy, scary, enormous and edible bugs are all waiting to be discovered at the Eden Project this half-term, from May 25 until June 2. Freaky Nature with Bugs is a brilliant opportunity to get up close and personal with the behemoths of the bug world as well as Eden’s own insect inhabitants and learn what makes these creepy crawlies quite so freaky. Bug experts will be coming in throughout the week to show off some of their strangest residents, while Eden’s experts will be showing visitors how to examine bugs them under mega-microscopes and leading an ant trail through the Rainforest Biome.

CLUB'S GREENS AND TEES ALWAYS IN PEAK CONDITION THANKS TO DENNIS
3 days ago - Featured Articles - Dennis
Brailsford Golf Club’s Head Greenkeeper Andy Ryder, has battled the most testing of springs, particularly on tees and greens, but his two Dennis professional cylinder mowers have more than helped him cope and kept the club’s steadily expanding 180 membership happy at tee and pin.

EDEN'S GIANT FLOWER BLOOMS AND CAUSES A TITANIC STINK
4 days ago - Featured Articles - Eden Project
A spectacular Titan arum, the world’s biggest, smelliest flower, has bloomed at the Eden Project in Cornwall. The plant – which grows at a rate of around 10cm a day during its flowering phase – reached a final height of 187cm when it bloomed last night. Visitors who want to see and smell the stinky marvel only have until tomorrow before it wilts.

HS2 PHASE 1 ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT "SUPERFICIAL AND INCOMPLETE"
5 days ago - Featured Articles - Woodland Trust
The Environmental Statement on the HS2 route between London and the West Midlands, published by the Department for Transport this morning is "superficial and incomplete" says the Woodland Trust. Sue Holden, Woodland Trust Chief Executive, said: "This is the first time since this controversial project was proposed that the environmental impact of the first phase of HS2 has been scrutinised but the document is incomplete, with crucial ecology surveys and assessments outstanding.

JURASSIC TREE THAT WAS BELIEVED EXTINCT SEEN AT USK BEAUTY SPOT
1 week ago - Featured Articles - Woodland Trust
A species of tree that was believed extinct and known only in the fossil record, the Wollemi Pine, has been planted in the arboretum at Woodland Trust’s Cefn Ila wood, by Lady Diana Hayman Joyce, to commemorate her recent term as the High Sheriff of Gwent and Her Majesty the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. The earliest traces of the Wollemi Pine, or Wollemia nobilis, have been found in fossils from the dawn of the Jurassic period around 200 million years ago. But in 1994 a living specimen was discovered by a field officer of the Wollemi National Park, 150km to the north-west of Sydney, Australia.

LANDSCAPE CONTRACTOR CHOOSES ETESIA FOR ALL GRASS CUTTING OPERATIONS.
1 week ago - Featured Articles - Etesia
Designed to meet the rigours of a wide variety of commercial grass cutting applications, Etesia’s Pro 46 pedestrian rotary mower is specified by contractors who want to profit from grass cutting. Reliability of mowing equipment is essential for this work which is why one Sussex landscape contractor chooses Etesia for all grass cutting operations. Green Grass Services, set up by John Vincent five years ago, specialises in grass cutting and landscape maintenance in the south east of England. In over 30 years of working within the industry John says that there isn’t a pedestrian mower he hasn’t used. The company ensures that there is always an Etesia mower in their fleet of maintenance equipment and has done for over twenty years.

APL MEMBERS SET TO SHINE AT RHS CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW CENTENARY.
1 week ago - Featured Articles - Association of Professional Landscapers
The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is 100 years old in 2013, and members of the Association of Professional Landscapers (APL) will be taking part in the historic celebrations by showcasing the best examples of horticultural excellence, design and landscaping at the landmark event which takes place from May 21 – 25 2013.

RIVERS ARE COOL WITH TREES
2 weeks ago - Featured Articles - Woodland Trust
A County Antrim river has a new natural ally. Over 2,000 native saplings now dot the banks of the Glendun River in the scenic Glens of Antrim, not far from Cushendall. The trees have been strategically planted in order to deliver a multitude of benefits, with improved water quality high on the list.

SOUTERS COMPLETE 'GREEN'PROJECTS FOR UNIVERSITY
2 weeks ago - Featured Articles - Souters Sport
Following a highly competitive tendering process, leading natural sportsturf contractors Souters Sports have recently completed the redevelopment of the natural sports pitches at Sheffield Hallam University. Souters' in house labour and plant combined with their ability to provide a high quality service was certainly a key factor in securing the contract.

SMALLEST SHOW GARDEN EVER FOR BBC GARDENERS WORLD LIVE
2 weeks ago - Featured Articles - John Cavill
From the largest show garden ever built in 2006 (1000m2) award winning garden designer John Cavill, high quality landscaper Dean Brown and cottage nursery owner Karen Prince have got together to make the smallest show garden ever in the form of a border (named Birmingham Borders) this year at BBC Gardeners World Live.

DAWN CHORUS WALK
2 weeks ago - Featured Articles - Forestry Commission
Are you someone who’d like to be up with the lark but can’t summon up the will to get out of bed that early? Well why not come along to the Bennachie Centre next week (Sunday 12 May), experience the magic of a dawn chorus walk and transform yourself into an early bird! Led by a Forestry Commission Scotland ranger and an Aberdeenshire Council ranger, the walk will set off from the centre at 5am and last about 3½ hours. As well as experiencing the magnificent freshness and tranquillity of the early morning you’ll get to enjoy the forest at first light – and learn how to identify some of the birdsong you hear. Commission ranger, Emily Holmes said:

HAT-TRICK OF AWARDS FOR EDEN FLORILEGIUM SOCIETY MEMBERS
2 weeks ago - Featured Articles - Eden Project
Three painters with the Eden Project Florilegium Society are celebrating after receiving awards at the prestigious Royal Horticultural Society London Orchid and Botanical Art Show. The awards recognise the very best botanically accurate art exhibits in the world, as well as the most impressive orchid specimens. This year saw the biggest collection of art that the show has ever staged.

SISIS BRUSH-PRO CHOSEN BY LEICESTER CITY FC FOR REGULAR MAINTENANCE
3 weeks ago - Featured Articles - SISIS
Leicester City Football Club has purchased a SISIS Brush-Pro ride-on brushing system for all regular synthetic surface maintenance at the club’s Belvoir Drive training ground. The machine which has been specifically designed for the maintenance of synthetic surfaces is used on the full size 3G pitch as well as the 80m x 60m indoor pitch. Synthetic sports surfaces require a good maintenance programme in place from day one. Failure to regularly remove dirt, leaf debris and other detritus from the surface leads to contamination of the infill, which in turn prevents rainwater from draining freely through the carpet.

COLOUR SPLASHES
3 weeks ago - Featured Articles - Paul Robinson
No matter where you work in the Amenity industry, there are always areas around the grounds that are a pain to maintain. It may be a slope , or awkward to get to grass area that access to with mowing equipment is difficult, or anywhere you would like a splash of colour quickly during the Summer.

BLOOM - IRELAND'S TOP FLORAL, FOOD & FAMILY FESTIVAL RETURNS! BORD BIA LAUNCHES BLOOM 2013.
3 weeks ago - Featured Articles - BORD BIA
Bord Bia – the Irish Food Board – is delighted to announce the return of Bloom, its hugely successful gardening, food and family festival, which will take place in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland May 30th. The popular event, which is now in its seventh year, continues to blossom and grow each year and is expected to attract more than 80,000 visitors over five days.

VOLKSWAGEN COMMERCIAL VEHICLES UK. CADDY VAN
3 weeks ago - Featured Articles - John Cavill
Our Caddy Competition winner John Cavill started his independent garden and landscape design business back in 2006. Since then he (along with his trusty Caddy) has gone on to win several awards including two Royal Horticultural Society Silver Medals and one Gardeners' World Award for Best Show Garden.

RUGBY CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE SELECT CWC FOR TOTAL WEED CONTROL
3 weeks ago - Featured Articles - Complete Weed Control Ltd
The £4 million WRU National Centre of Excellence, which provides training facilities for the Welsh rugby team, Cardiff Blues, Cardiff City FC and the Welsh FA at the Vale Resort near Cardiff, South Wales has selected Complete Weed Control (South Wales) for its selective weed control maintenance programme ensuring the resort and two golf courses are always in pristine condition. The state-of-the-art resort provides the best available pitches and training facilities on both natural and artificial surfaces for specialist and personal training at the highest level.

WOODLAND CARDON CODE PASSES MILESTONE AS FIRST GROUP SCHEME IS VALIDATED
4 weeks ago - Featured Articles - Forestry Commission
An important milestone in efforts to promote woodland planting to combat climate change has been reached with the first award of Woodland Carbon Code group scheme validation. The Woodland Carbon Code is a voluntary United Kingdom standard which helps to ensure that ‘carbon forestry’ projects really do deliver the carbon benefits which their promoters claim. And the first award of validation to a number of woodland projects brought together as a group means that potentially significant cost savings will become possible for those who want to plant trees to compensate for their greenhouse gas emissions. Until now, validation has been open only to single new woodlands, but following the success of the group scheme pilot, group validation will shortly be made available to all applicants. Dr Vicky West, a climate change analyst with the Forestry Commission, which administers the carbon code, explained,

PERENNIAL TRAINING INITIATIVES HELP HORTICULTURE CAREERS GROW
4 weeks ago - Featured Articles - Perennial
Lack of financial support for training can be one of the biggest barriers to entering a career in horticulture, according to national horticulture charity Perennial. With horticultural careers being promoted as one of the main themes of this year’s National Gardening Week (15 – 21 April), Perennial highlights the range of training initiatives it offers to help young people pursuing a career in horticulture. Through the Lironi Training Fund, Perennial has created various opportunities specifically for students, and in some cases people already working in horticulture, who are in need of financial support for training.