After a lot of hard work by the team at GBG the infected Rhododendrons at the Main Entrance have been removed or destroyed on-site. After the plants directly within the quarantined area and associated leaf litter were destroyed, approximately one month ago, the plants outwith the quarantined zone have had the top growth removed and burned. The rootballs of these plants will be removed and disposed of off-site as quickly as possible.

The beds were quite overgrown, some plants were leggy and had been damaged over the years but the Rhododendrons still provided early seasonal colour. Speaking to some of the frequent visitors to GBG these plants will be greatly missed.

In October the scene looked like this;

The squad are just finishing with stage 2 of the clearance today, 30th of November;

We will be working with partners in the Plant Health Unit of the Scottish Government to continue to monitor and review the situation with regards to Phytophthora at GBG.

We are restricted for 4 years in our planting choice for these beds but we shall publish our new plans soon.

GBG