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© MATILDA SCHARSACH/PLANTLIFE Grow Wild Gardening for wild plants in Scotland There are 150 square miles of domestic gardens in urban Scotland alone, and perhaps the same again, if not more, in rural areas. Our new leaflet on gardening for wild plants highlights the amazing opportunity we have to use these spaces to complement Scotland’s disappearing habitats. This leaflet is not a how-to manual, but is designed to inspire people to increase the wildlife in their gardens. We’re asking people to use alternatives to peat products, and showing how a more relaxed approach to gardening, without heavy use of mowers, herbicides or pesticides, is an easy way to create great wild plant habitats. We also show how native wild plants in your garden can be a wonderful feast for the senses, from fragrant meadow flowers to stunning woodland plants alongside a hedge. Download your free leaflet and find out more about our Grow Wild initiative at www.plantlife.org.uk/scotland © JULIE REDMAN This flowery back-garden meadow including buttercups and ox-eye daisies is a riot of colour and a great place for children to play, as well as attracting butterflies and other wildlife. A beautiful wildlife garden created by Plantlife member Julie Redman in Fife. Behind the pond bordered with ragged-robin and yellow flag, there is a wild flower border and a hedge of native species including blackthorn and dog rose. 6 Plantlife Scotland News 2013 Plantlife Scotland News 2013 7
Plantlife Scotland helps landowners and land managers with conservation advice. We do this through site visits and organising demonstration days, where we show how to look after plants in key habitats. On the ground Plantlife’s advisory work Advising landowners of vulnerable plants on their land is useful, but it’s even more important to show them how they can look after them. Take Nigel and Glynda Hill, who own 60 hectares of plantation woodland on a hillside near Pitlochry. They have scattered juniper bushes in the woodland but these were in poor condition, mainly due to shade from maturing sitka spruce. The Hills wanted advice about reviving the juniper plants. They were already felling the spruce to open up areas that contained mature Scots pine, downy birch and juniper. This would help the surviving mature juniper plants, but what about regeneration It would be difficult for juniper to regenerate from seed under the thick bracken on the site, and removing the bracken through grazing was difficult due to various site constraints. Plantlife’s Davie Black therefore advised cutting back the bracken in June to weaken it. Meanwhile, he advised taking hardwood cuttings of juniper, growing them on and planting them out to create a new generation of young juniper bushes. As well as advisory site visits like these, Plantlife Scotland runs demonstration days on key habitats and species, to bring together land managers and experts. We’ll be running more demonstration days in 2013 – find out more at www.plantlife.org.uk/scotland. © SMALL FROG – ISTOCK Where the wild things were The state of Scotland’s plants How are our wild flowers faring Not so well, according to our report Our Vanishing Flora, published recently. Plants across Britain are declining, and the most significant declines are in Scotland. The county of Banffshire recorded the highest rate of loss of species over the past 60 years, at a rate of nearly one per year. The Outer Hebrides, North Aberdeenshire and Angus are losing on average one species every three years, while Caithness, Easter Ross and Assynt are losing roughly one species every decade. In total, Scotland lost 97 species – 53 flowering plants, 28 mosses and liverworts and 16 lichens. Read the report at www.plantlife.org.uk and search under “Our Vanishing Flora” If you’ve been helping with our Common Plant Survey, now renamed Wildflowers Count, thank you. You’re already helping us track the changes across Great Britain. We aim to use your data to inform government about the state of plants in Scotland. However, we will need more data from across Scotland to support meaningful analysis. In the meantime we are looking into ways of sharing the data with others, including publishing it online through iRecords, a new Biological Records Centre database. Could you help us show the Government what is happening to our common plants across Scotland by signing up to do the Wildflowers Count survey It’s easy, fun – and sociable too. Why not go out with a group of friends to look for, record and learn about new plants together, and then retire to a local café to write up your results We run Wildflowers Count workshops around Scotland, where you can learn the ropes (see our events calendar, page 14). Or why not take the plunge and go to our website for a pack: www.plantlife.org.uk/wildflowerscount TOP: WILDFLOWERS ON TIREE; © M SCHARSACH/PLANTLIFE MAP COPYRIGHT PLANTLIFE 8 Plantlife Scotland News 2013 Plantlife Scotland News 2013 9
Page 1 and 2: Scotland’s countryside. Save it w
Page 3: Flora Guardians Helping to save Sco
Page 7 and 8: MACHAIR ON TIREE IPA © MATILDA SCH
Page 9 and 10: up their expertise on Scottish wild

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