The Grounds team have recently donated around 30 large Aloe vera plants to Paignton Zoo for planting into their arid display glasshouse. The gardeners at the zoo have been developing a new planting scheme and rock beds in this glasshouse where the porcupines will live.
The plants have been kept in our nursery for many years gradually getting bigger and reaching flowering size. Due to their size and care requirements, and that we don’t have anywhere we are able to plant them in the university, they were becoming a bit of a challenge in the greenhouses. During a conversation with a gardener who used to work at the zoo, it was suggested that we contact the gardeners to offer the plants to them. Plant exchanges such as this are vital between gardens, as the best way to conserve plants is to share them with other gardens.
We have plants at the university that have been given to us by Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh and, in exchange, we send back seeds from these plants to ensure the long terms conservation of these species. This will become more important as we go through the process of re-accreditation as a botanic garden, extending our network of potential plant exchange partners. The nursery in the Grounds team enables us to accept and make the best of these exchanges.
The Aloes look great in their new home and it will be interesting to see how the porcupines get on with them!