Over 250 people attended this year’s Grow Careers Scotland event at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. During the day a small group planted a Franklinia alatamaha tree to commemorate The Chartered Institute of Horticulture’s 40th anniversary.
The planting was overseen by Will Hinchcliff (RBGE Deputy Curator) with the planting party including Sarah Earney and Robyn Macdonald from the Arboriculture team at RBGE and three students from SRUC Elmwood Campus. We also could not miss the opportunity to also let David Richardson demonstrate his tree planting skills.
Franklinia is a monotypic genus that originates from the state of Georgia in the USA and is unfortunately now extinct in the wild being last seen in the wild in 1790. John Bartam and his son William naming the plant after Benjamin Franklin one of the founding fathers of the US, a close family friend with the species name coming from the river it was found close by. All the plants in cultivation descend from plants grown in Bartram’s’ Garden in Philadelphia. This tree is a great example of the work of the RBGE undertakes in conserving endangered plant species. In anticipation of predicted future climate change it should also benefit from the potentially warmer summers. We look forward to seeing it flourish, hopefully producing its attractive fragrant white cup shaped flowers and fine autumn foliage for many years to come.