#writtlecampus

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day Sunday 16 September 2018 Covered in honey-scented flowers Colletia hystrix (bristly colletia, crucifixion thorn) is providing some late season nectar for the pollinators. This slow growing, upright, deciduous shrub or small tree from Chili and Argentina has very small leaves and photosynthesis happens mainly in the grey-green stems bearing many sharp, broad spines up to 4cm long. Jill Raggett

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Thursday 17 May 2018

Flowering on the campus of Writtle University College has been the spectacular Davidia involucrata (handkerchief tree, dove tree). This medium-sized deciduous tree was discovered in China by Père David in 1869 and introduced to the UK in 1904. The flowers are very small, in a rounded head 2cm in width, held within a pair of creamy-white, ovate bracts up to 20cm in length. It is easily grown in a sheltered position in sun or partial shade, but young specimens may not flower.

Congratulations to all the Writtle University College students who helped to make the End of Year Show such a wonderful event.

Jill Raggett

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day 

Sunday 10 June 2018 

In the meadows of the Green Campus at Writtle University College, Essex, the native Ophrys apifera (bee orchid) is flowering. The flower mimics a female long-horned mining bee (Eucera longicornis) in appearance, velvety texture and by emitting the female bee scent, as the male bee lands on the lip of the flower pollen is transferred to them to cross pollinate another flower. Unfortunately the bee species is rare in the U.K. so here this orchid has to self-pollinated. This plant species is normally found on dry, chalk and limestone grasslands with plants taking between 5 to 8 years from seed to flowering. 

Jill Raggett

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Friday 30 September 2016

Fascicularia bicolor is a rosette-forming, terrestrial bromeliad with slender, spiny-toothed, rigid, evergreen leaves up to 50cm long. In summer each mature rosette produces a dense central cluster of pale sky-blue flowers while the innermost leaves turn scarlet red. Here it is growing in a sheltered sunny location at Writtle University College campus, Essex, U.K. near the landscape and garden design studio. This plant needs a free-draining, gritty, humus-rich soil, in a sheltered, ideally frost-free location with protection from winter wet.

Jill Raggett