LIFE TIB project, LIPU
A new LIFE + project run by LIPU (BirdLife in Italy) aims to raise citizens and authorities awareness on the importance of biodiversity by protecting an important nature area in Italy and communicating around nature. Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth and humanity, fauna and flora all depend on each other in a complex ecosystem to survive. But this system is in deep trouble and man is the main cause: we are damaging our environment at an alarming rate, threatening our own existence.
The LIFE TIB project encourages the development of a culture that acknowledges the intrinsic value of natural capital and recognises that nature provides crucial services to the community. Projects partners also aim, by showing examples, to make people realize that wildlife is interconnected, which means that what happens in surrounding areas also has an impact on us.
Through the project, LIPU staff and their partners, will run conservation activities to mitigate biodiversity loss in an important nature area in the Italian Lombardy region. The area in question is a portion of the main ecological corridor traversing the Po Plain. It is an element of primary importance for the Natura 2000 network, which extends to the Alpine and Continental bioregions.
A large range of communication activities promoting the nature richness of the area and the work done to protect it will be developed, including brochures, posters, panels, a website, school programmes and videos, including an interesting video documentary – watch the trailer.
Also conservation results will serve at demonstrating the importance of nature conservation to an interconnected life on earth.
The project will end in December 2015. Project partners include LIPU, the Province of Varese, the Lombardy Region and Fondazione Cariplo. The two natural parks and the 35 municipalities of the Varese province, which territories are affected by the project, are also participating.
For more information please visit the LIFE TIB project website.
This post was written by:
LIPU – who has written 2 posts on BirdLife Community.
BirdLife comprises more than 100 conservation organisations working together to promote sustainable living as a means to conserve biodiversity. Lega Italiana Protezione Uccelli is the BirdLife Partner in Italy.
TOP 10 TIPS TO GET YOUR GARDEN READY FOR SUMMER ENTERTAINING
We’ve had our first glimpse of warmer weather, so it won’t be long before we’re dining alfresco, holding family BBQs and having outdoor parties. If you’re planning on entertaining in your garden this year, now’s the time to get your gardening gloves on and start making your outdoor space the perfect spot for relaxing with friends. Online garden centre Plant Me Now has put together their top 10 tips to get your garden summer-ready:
Lawn gardens
1. Choose granular feed to slowly feed your lawn over the summer months, but if you have an important event, use a soluble feed a few days before for faster results.
2. Edge your lawn to give a nice, clean line between the lawn and the flowerbed – an easy way to make your garden look much tidier!
3. If moss has been a problem, use a moss killer then simply rake it out. You can then over-seed (or re-seed) to thicken the lawn and fill in any empty patches.
4. Large spaces are perfect for growing a wild flower meadow and various mixes are available to attract different kinds of wildlife (butterflies, ladybirds, bees, etc.) To ensure fresh growth next year, simply mow at the end of the season.
5. Plant perennials in your flowerbeds for beautiful colours that come back year after year; then fill in any gaps with summer bedding plants.
Patio gardens
1. If you don’t have flowerbeds or a big space to work with, fill pots and containers with beautiful summer bedding plants in a variety of colours
2. Give dirty patios a good scrub or blast with a pressure washer to remove moss and dirt, ready for welcoming your alfresco dining guests
3. Make tired wooden garden furniture look as good as new by treating it with teak oil – there’s no need to splash out on a new set of chairs and tables.
4. Place solar lights around your patio for a fantastic, eco-friendly way to light up your outdoor space when the sun goes down.
5. Plant some climbers – they’re perfect for covering unsightly old fence panels or walls.
Plant Me Now is the UK’s leading online gardening centre, specialising in perennial flowers, bedding plants, bulbs, garden accessories and tools for adults and children. A dedicated team of horticultural experts are the backbone of the business, producing nursery bedding plants on site and sending them directly to your garden to cut out the middle man. This method ensures quality and value is maintained, as well as minimising transportation to reduce their carbon footprint.
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For further information please contact:
Alice Reeves on 01273 322 831([email protected]) or Lucy Freeborn on 01273 322849 ([email protected])
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Giant Bee asks garden centre to withdraw pesticides linked to bee decline
A giant bee from Friends of the Earth’s Bee Cause campaign went to Harrow Garden Centre, Middlesex, on Saturday 23 February to ask managers to withdraw products containing neonicotinoid pesticides linked to bee decline. Harrow Garden Centre is part of the UK’s biggest garden centre chain, the Garden Centre Group, which owns Wyevale, Blooms and Country Gardens.
The Bee Cause has revealed that numerous garden centres and DIY stores, including B&Q, Homebase, Wickes, Notcutts, Hillier, Squires and Blue Diamond, with a total of approximately 1,000 outlets between them, are taking action to remove neonicotinoid products from their shelves.
The Garden Centre Group has told Friends of the Earth that it stocks one product containing the neonicotinoid Imidacloprid, saying “we only stock it in very small volumes. However when used according to the instructions it poses no risk to bees.”
Concern about the impact of neonicotinoid pesticides on bee populations has risen sharply in recent months. Last month the European Commission proposed restictions on three neonicotinoid chemicals, including for use by amateur gardeners, after the European Food Safety Authority found a ‘high acute risk’ to bees exposed to neonicotinoids.
Friends of the Earth’s Head of Campaigns Andrew Pendleton said:
“It’s great to see garden centres across the UK heeding the warning from European safety experts and pulling pesticide products linked to bee decline from their shelves.
“The approach of leading retailers stands in stark contrast to the Government’s reluctance to back European efforts to safeguard bees from pesticides.
“With bee numbers plummeting Environment Secretary Owen Paterson must take urgent action to safeguard these crucial pollinators by backing a ban and introducing a Bee Action Plan to tackle all the threats they face including pesticides.”
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Notes to editors:
1. Letter to garden centre managers: http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/letters/letter_bees_pesticides.pdf
2. What other garden centres told Friends of the Earth:
· Hillier said: “Hillier will withdraw any (in our case 2) products containing imidacloprid, chlothianidin, thiamethoxam. They will be off our shelves by tomorrow [6 February 2013] at the latest.”
· Notcutts said: “There are many different neonicotinoids and we have removed the products with the three that were highlighted by the European Food Safety Authority whilst we look into this in more detail.”
· Blue Diamond said it will: “…drop the lawn grub killer with immediate effect. We are reviewing our other products and intend to finalise our policy before Easter when sales of these products begin.
· Squires said: “We are very concerned and have withdrawn any products that contain the pesticides; clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam, as a precaution.”
3. Last month Friends of the Earth revealed that B&Q, Homebase and Wickes had removed – or were removing – neonicotinoids linked to bee decline. The three stores operate approximately 900 stores between them.
4. In written evidence to MPs, Defra stated that “Since 1990, the UK has lost 20 species of bee… A further 35 bee species are considered to be under threat of extinction. There has been a severe decline in the diversity of wild bees in the countryside.”
5. Friends of the Earth’s The Bee Cause campaign is supporting individuals to make change in their gardens and communities to help bees, and asking the Prime Minister to commit to a National Bee Action Plan. To support the call to David Cameron and find out what else you can do to help bees, visit The Bee Cause webpage www.foe.co.uk/bees
To view PDF files you will need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Visually impaired users can get extra help with these documents from access.adobe.com.
If you’re a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.
Garden centres act on pesticides linked to bee decline
15 February 2013
Garden centres are the latest retailers to remove household products containing insecticides linked to bee decline from their shelves, Friends of the Earth revealed today (Friday, 15 February 2013).
The action by Notcutts, Hillier, Squires and Blue Diamond, which between them operate 60 garden centres across the UK, follows similar moves – revealed last month by Friends of the Earth – by DIY superstores B&Q, Homebase and Wickes.
Concern about the impact of neonicotinoid pesticides on bee populations has risen sharply in recent months. Last month the European Commission proposed restictions on three neonicotinoid chemicals following a report by the European Food Safety Authority.
Friends of the Earth is urging people to contact their local garden centres to ask them to remove products containing neonicotinoid pesticides.
Friends of the Earth’s Head of Campaigns Andrew Pendleton said:
“It’s great to see garden centres across the UK heeding the warning from European safety experts and pulling pesticide products linked to bee decline from their shelves.
“The approach of leading retailers stands in stark contrast to the Government’s reluctance to back European efforts to safeguard bees from pesticides.
“With bee numbers plummeting Environment Secretary Owen Paterson must take urgent action to safeguard these crucial pollinators by backing a ban and introducing a bee action plan to tackle all the threats they face.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
1. The UK’s biggest garden centre chain, the Garden Centre Group, which owns Wyevale, Blooms and Country Gardens, has told Friends of the Earth that it stocks one product containing the neonicotinoid Imidacloprid, saying “we only stock it in very small volumes. However when used according to the instructions it poses no risk to bees.”
2. What the retailers told Friends of the Earth:
- Hillier said: “Hillier will withdraw any (in our case 2) products containing imidacloprid, chlothianidin, thiamethoxam. They will be off our shelves by tomorrow [6 February 2013] at the latest.”
- Notcutts said: “There are many different neonicotinoids and we have removed the products with the three that were highlighted by the European Food Safety Authority whilst we look into this in more detail.”
- Blue Diamond said it will: “…drop the lawn grub killer with immediate effect. We are reviewing our other products and intend to finalise our policy before Easter when sales of these products begin.”
- Squires said: “We are very concerned and have withdrawn any products that contain the pesticides; clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam, as a precaution.”
3. Last month Friends of the Earth revealed that B&Q, Homebase and Wickes had removed – or were removing – neonicotinoids linked to bee decline. The three stores operate approximately 900 stores between them: http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/now_homebase_acts_on_pesticides_and_bees_30012013.html
4. Friends of the Earth’s The Bee Cause campaign is supporting individuals to make change in their gardens and communities to help bees, and asking the Prime Minister to commit to a National Bee Action Plan. To support the call to David Cameron and find out what else you can do to help bees, visit The Bee Cause webpage www.foe.co.uk/bees
If you’re a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.
Published by Friends of the Earth Trust
€288,552.00 funding approved under the Rural Development Programme for the development of a Community Playground, an Outdoor Gymnasium, multi-use games area and a Sensory Garden at Dunlavin, Co Wicklow
€288,552.00 funding approved under the Rural Development Programme for the development of a Community Playground, an Outdoor Gymnasium, multi-use games area and a Sensory Garden at Dunlavin, Co Wicklow
04/02/13
Phil Hogan, T.D., Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government announced today (4th Feb 2013) that he has given sanction for County Wicklow Community Partnership to approve funding of €288,552.00 to Dunlavin District Forum for the development of a Community Playground, an Outdoor Gymnasium, multi-use games area and a Sensory Garden at Dunlavin, Co Wicklow, under the Village Renewal and Development measure of the Rural Development Programme 2007-2013.
Announcing the funding Minister Hogan said:
“This project will be of immense benefit to County Wicklow with its total project costs of €384,737.00. I know it will improve the quality of life and will strengthen the social and economic fabric for all the areas inhabitants.”
The LEADER elements of the Programme offer many challenges and opportunities in terms of addressing the needs of improving the quality of life in rural areas and providing greater opportunities for farm diversification. It is focused on the development of micro-enterprises, rural services, rural recreation and rural tourism. It is hoped that, by focusing on these services, the Programme will lead to sustainable development, which in turn will ensure prosperity for the rural areas.
The Minister added “the project will now go back to the Board of County Wicklow Community Partnership for the final approval on the project. This is in line with the EU’s “bottom-up” approach to rural development.”
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Press Office
Tel: (01) 888 2638 (direct)
(01) 888 2000
E-Mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.environ.ie
London College of Garden Design launches new website with strong demand for courses
The London College of Garden Design has launched a new website to join all its venues and courses together into one place.
Director Andrew Fisher Tomlin said “we were conscious that our previous website whilst ideal for when we first launched five years ago needed to be improved to bring together the different strands of courses, venues and people into one place.”
He added “we also wanted to better display the talents and achievements of our students and graduates and our new website allows them to have direct control of personal pages that they can use to generate commissions once they graduate.”
The College’s graduates have chalked up a series of awards over the past two years including sweeping up the majority of student awards made by the Society of Garden Designers, the UK’s professional body for garden design, and winning medals awarded by the Royal Horticultural Society for gardens.
Fisher Tomlin said “this is a great time to be studying for a career in garden and landscape design and the London College of Garden Design has fast become the preferred place to study for those looking for a serious career in the profession.” The message is certainly spreading with a third of enquiries for the one year Garden Design Diploma coming from overseas, making competition for places strong and the College one of Europe’s leading specialist design colleges.
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About the London College of Garden Design
The London College of Garden Design aims to offer the best professional garden design courses available in the UK. The College is one of Europe’s leading specialist design colleges and offers professional level courses including the one year Garden Design Diploma which is taught from the Orangery Conference facilities at the world famous Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew and Regents College in central London. The college also has a partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society offering short courses at RHS Garden Wisley.
The London College of Garden Design’s short course programme is available at a number of locations. Click here for more information about the LCGD.
Or For further information please contact Andrew Fisher Tomlin at [email protected] or Tel: 01276 855977 or 07957 855457
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MyGardenSchool launches Global Garden Photography Competition
MyGardenSchool, the world’s first virtual gardening school – where every course is taught by a world leading gardening expert – today launches its global garden photography competition. MyGardenSchool’s garden photography competition features 5 categories: Landscape And Nature, Garden Photography, Flower Photography, Macro Photography and People In The Garden. The competition runs monthly and is open to garden photographers, amateurs or pro, all over the world.
The MyGardenSchool monthly garden photography competition is completely free to enter and is an exciting opportunity for members to showcase their work to a global audience. Winning entries will not only be exhibited on the MyGardenSchool homepage for a month – before being archived in the MyGardenSchool online gallery – but also will be actively promoted by MyGardenSchool via a monthly press release, which we will distribute to over 70 global news sites. The winning entry to each category will receive a 50% OFF (MGS) coupon code and be entered into the People’s Choice Award for the best photo of the year and a chance to win a DSLR camera at the end of the year.
Awards will include the following; first place, second place, third place, fourth place and fifth place and five honourable mention awards selected from all of the entries. Depending on the amount and the quality of the entries there may also be Special Recognition awards posted as well. There is no limit to the number of images that a photographer can submit provided they only enter one photo per day.
For more information about the MyGardenSchool monthly photo competition, including rules, judging criteria, how to submit entries and the Five Golden Rules for entering the competition please go to The MyGardenSchool Competition Page
Becoming a member of MyGardenSchool is a very simple process. Registration takes less than two minutes and entitles members to a host of other benefits including a free newsletter.
MyGardenSchool members can enter one photo per category, per day. Every month there is first place, second place, third place, fourth place and fifth place awards given in each category. Five ‘honourable mention’ awards will also be chosen from all of the entries, and Special Recognition awards are also available.
MyGardenSchool is the world’s first gardening school that offers a wide variety of gardening courses, for every level of expertise and experience, from the novice to the hobbyist to the aspiring professional. Students get 1-to-1 feedback with the best gardeners in the world, and build camaraderie with fellow students in the MyGardenSchool online classrooms.
Elspeth Briscoe, Managing Director, MyGardenSchool says ‘The online gardening school aims to provide the best authors and designers in the gardening industry with a global stage on which to share their knowledge – and gardening enthusiasts, wherever they live, with a place to go to get first class teaching in their homes. We are the facilitators, fulfilling a hunger for high quality gardening expertise online in the global market. Our garden photography competition garden photography competition adds a new fun dimension to our site – and we believe MyGardenSchool’s new competition will establish MyGardenSchool as the main destination on the web for enthusiastic garden photographers to share their work.”
All MyGardenSchool courses cost from £120, last four weeks and begin on the first Saturday of every month. The beauty of the course being online is that students learn at their own pace, and in the comfort of their own home. Each course includes step by step video tutorials, downloadable course notes, and the facility to chat with tutors and fellow classmates online, in a ‘virtual classroom’. The classroom may be ‘virtual’ but the camaraderie is real, and the technology is very intuitive and easy to use.
About MyGardenSchool
MyGardenSchool is the world’s first online gardening school where students can learn from gardening experts about how to do absolutely everything in the garden from keeping bees or hens, landscaping, design, growing vegetables and herbs, building treehouses or growing the perfect roses. And everything in between. All of our tutors are outstanding in their field (and gardens), being accomplished gardeners and acclaimed gardening writers. Gardening courses are four weeks long, and video tutorials are delivered weekly, together with course notes and assignments assessed by your tutor. You also get to chat to your tutor online, as well as your classmates, in the ‘virtual classroom’. MyGardenSchool will teach you everything about gardening – virtually. But don’t take our word for it – check out our course pages here: http://www.my-garden-school.com/courses/
Contact For Further Information: Elspeth Briscoe [email protected] 07884267306
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Fisher Tomlin and Bowyer celebrate Garden Designer of the Year title
Leading Surrey-based garden designers Fisher Tomlin & Bowyer are celebrating after being named Garden Designers of the Year 2012 at this year’s New Homes Gardens Awards. Not only were they awarded this prestigious title but they also won 4 Gold Awards for garden designs in Wimbledon, the Caribbean and Cyprus winning both the Best Urban Garden and Best International categories.
Founding Director Andrew Fisher Tomlin said “We are particularly pleased to have been recognised for our work overseas which can present its own challenges, not least working in regions where obtaining plants and materials can often be difficult. We’ve recently been commissioned to design projects in the Urals and New Zealand and these awards help us develop this part of our design programme alongside our more traditional London and Surrey garden design business.”
This is the third time that the garden design company has been named Garden Designer of the Year and has previously won 14 awards for new homes gardens as well as recognition from other organisations both in the UK and from overseas. Fisher Tomlin added “ The future for gardens is very bright. Developers and private individuals are all recognizing the power of great garden design as part of the overall design of new homes in enhancing their lives and providing great value for money.”
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Further Information
Fisher Tomlin create gardens from their offices in Wimbledon, London and Chobham in Surrey. The company provides design and horticulture services for residential gardens and parks across Europe and beyond for which they have received a number of international awards.
For further information please contact Andrew Fisher Tomlin on
Email – [email protected]
Telephone - +44(0) 1276 855900 or +44 (0) 7957 855457
Website address - www.andrewfisherfishertomlin.com
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cgd landscape design continue to produce the magic of meadows in garden design
cgd landscape design install meadows starting with pure native wild flower mixtures ranging from John Chambers from the early experimental days to pictorial meadow mixes created by Professor Nigel Dunnett and the landscape department at Sheffield University.
Careful preparation of the ground and following the seed suppliers’ instructions to the letter has helped create some truly wonderful results. Perennial seeds take about three years to come into their own, so clients must be warned not to expect those romantic meadows within a year. If they can’t wait then the annual mixes produce spectacular results within a few short weeks.
What we have learnt is that you need not be “purist” in creating a meadow and you do not necessarily have to use “natives” to give you a colourful, nectar-rich, insect buzzing field. By adding plants from other countries and sources including hybrids can enhance the richness of colour and lengthen the flowering season as well as attract as many invertebrates and other wildlife as the native seedings. So it is a win-win situation. We all benefit from the joyfulness of a “meadow”, you only need to remember all those visitors to the Olympic Park who stood and gazed at those incredible gardens and the millions of photographs taken.
The relative ease of preparing a site for sowing annuals and the rich rewards in such a short period provides gratification but there is an argument that we should persevere with the perennial mixes to create a sustainable meadow with longevity. These are now readily available through many suppliers albeit that the seed viability can be a bit hit or miss if sourced from a non reputable source. Again the Olympic team of Professors James Hitchmough and Nigel Dunnett and the Chelsea award winning designer Sarah Price established wonderful gardens using flowering perennials and grasses to create a long-lasting breath-taking visual delight.
We too have been using perennial mixes in our gardens to give us that illusion of a “wild flower” meadow to great effect. Our clients are extremely happy with the results and are amazed at the influx of wildlife, which is an essential ingredient to all our work. We are continuing with our “experiments” trying various mixes, with and without grass, seeds and/or plugs and bulbs and monitoring the results carefully so that in future we will be able to provide our clients with their own nature reserve.
cgd landscape design
A new landscape architecture and design practice brings together the creativity, expertise and experience of two of the UK’s top garden designers, Helen Billetop and Sally Court, based in London, England
The practice specialises in providing a comprehensive and personalised landscape design service for private individuals and corporate clients in the UK and overseas.
With expertise in planting design across all climate zones and working with locally sourced materials and quality contractors, they are currently commissioned on several prestigious projects in the UK, Moscow, Russia and in New York State, USA.
Our philosophy combines the functional with the artistic to create inspired and sustainable gardens and landscapes. We embrace local characteristics and conditions to develop landscape design solutions which are sympathetic and can be surprising in their simplicity.
Contact Helen or Sally for more information:
020 8892 0118
[email protected]
www.cgd-landscape-design.com/
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