NCCPG Shropshire Plants

NCCPG Shropshire

National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens

Shropshire Plants

Based on

BOYD, P.D.A. 1999 A register of Shropshire-related cultivated plants NCCPG Newsletter

In 1999, Peter Boyd wrote an article for the Shropshire NCCPG Newsletter entitled 'A register of Shropshire-related cultivated plants' in which he suggested that the Shropshire Branch of the NCCPG could compile a list of cultivated plants 'with a Shropshire connection'. This list, it was suggested, might become a publication on 'Shropshire Plants'.

Now that we have our own website, this might be the time to look at this idea again and gradually build-up a list of Shropshire plants on the website! Therefore, the following reproduces most of the text of Peter Boyd's 1999 article:-

What will we consider to be a ‘Shropshire Plant’? I suggest, as an initial approach, the following which may relate to hardy or tender woody or non-woody plants :-

any cultivar of a native species of plant which was collected from the wild in Shropshire or found growing in a Shropshire garden or nursery - not just any native plant in the Shropshire Flora (e.g. Dovaston’s Yew Taxus baccata ‘Dovastonii’)
any hybrid cultivar which was created or arose naturally in Shropshire (in the wild, in a garden or nursery) e.g. Wem Sweet Peas, David Austin roses
any exotic species which was first introduced into cultivation to this country via a Shropshire nursery or individual (e.g. Charles Darwin)
any cultivar of a British or exotic species which was first introduced into cultivation to this country via a Shropshire nursery or individual
any cultivar with a strong Shropshire connection even though it may not have necessarily arisen in Shropshire e.g. the ‘Shropshire Damson’.
any cultivar named in honour of a Shropshire personality or place (e.g. Charles Darwin, Percy Thrower).

These criteria may be reduced or increased in number in future but they will, hopefully, prompt members to think about plants which they think will fit. This will be team effort and will depend, in part, upon the knowledge of individual members about particular groups of plants but also, in part, because you may have just happened to pick up a snippet of information somewhere! Equally, a knowledge of old fruit, vegetable or flower varieties which may have been Shropshire specialities would be useful to record. At first we may have just a name and then someone else be able to provide a description and someone else know where an example still exists. Information about old Shropshire nurseries and their catalogues may be invaluable. A computer database is ideally suited to accumulating such information.

The following is the start of a cultivar list derived mainly from an initial trawl of the 1998/99 Plant Finder:

Aster novi-belgii 'Percy Thrower'

Berberis darwinii

Calceolaria darwinii

Colchicum 'Darwin'

Hebe darwiniana [synonym H. glaucophylla]

Helleborus x sternii 'Bulmer's Blush Strain'

Hoya darwinii hort. [synonym. H. australis]

Iris sibirica 'Ellesmere'

Lathyrus odoratus 'Dorothy Eckford'

Lathyrus odoratus 'Eckford's Mix'

Lathyrus odoratus 'Henry Eckford'

Lathyrus odoratus ‘Percy Thrower’

Malus domestica 'Shropshire Lady's Fingers'

Malus domestica 'Shropshire Pippin' [synonym ‘King of the Pippins’]

Nymphaea 'Darwin' [synonym ‘Hollandia’]

Prunus insititia 'Shropshire Damson' [synonym P. insititia 'Prune Damson']

Prunus 'Shropshire Prune' [listed separately in Fruit and Veg Finder to ‘Shropshire Damson’]

Rhodohypoxis 'Albrighton'

Rosa 'Ausled' [‘A Shropshire Lad’]

Rosa 'Ausmurr' [‘Hilda Murrell’]

Rosa 'Fryshrewby' [‘Shrewsbury Show’]Rosa 'Percy Thrower'

Rosa 'Shropshire Lass'

Numerous other varieties of David Austin's New English Roses

Siegfriedia darwinoides

Taxus baccata 'Dovastoniana'

Taxus baccata 'Dovastonii Aurea'

Tulipa, Darwin Tulips

Zinnia darwiniana

and from just over the Wales/Shropshire Border:-

Anthemis tinctoria 'Powis White'

Artemesia 'Powis Castle'

Penstemon 'Powis Castle'

Salvia 'Powis Castle'

If you can add anything to these – if only a name but, if possible, with a description and reference to a article, book or catalogue in which it is mentioned - please contact

Peter D. A. Boyd

c/o Shrewsbury Museums Service

Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery,

Barker Street,

Shrewsbury

SY1 1QH

Tel. 01743 361196

e-mail: peterboyd@shrewsbury.gov.uk

The full text of this article can be seen on Peter Boyd's own website at http://www.peterboyd.com

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Revised: December 7th 2004