As a branch we have helped the hard working people at Wythenshawe Park for 4 years since 2007.  They have truly appreciated all the effort we have put into the exhibits on display.  I feel truly sorry for the overstretched team there as the council does not put enough money or resources into any of the displays within the Horticultural Centre.  Ian, the warden, wants to turn the place into an exciting learning resource for schools to use as well as a wonderful place to visit for everybody and has some fantastic ideas but his every effort is being stymied by a Leisure Department that is making a poor effort to make this section a stunning success.  Money, staff and understanding are all missing in large amounts due to the parsimonious efforts from the Leisure Department.  This collection of plants became the property of Manchester City Council in 1903 when it was donated by the family of Charles Darrah who had been a major collector prior to his death in 1903.  He wanted the people of Manchester to have a collection of exotic plants once he passed from this life.  It was one of the foremost collections in Europe because he knew several of the intrepid horticulturists who had ventured into the wilds of the Americas and Africa when these plants were being discovered, collected and studied in the later 1800's.  To give the council of that time their due they built some superb greenhouses in Alexandra Park in South Manchester and they employed staff who were real gardeners who knew their trade backwards.  It was the 1960's when things began to go wrong and eventually the collection, or what still remained viable, moved to Wythenshawe Park but from then onwards resources became scarcer and scarcer with the resultant decline in the collection's condition.

When we took on the role of supporting Ian in 2007, our second such venture as we had resurrected the exhibit in 1997 when John Steedman, the head of the Horticultural Centre and another true plantsman with foresight asked for our assistance, we had a massive problem to overcome.  Neglect had allowed the cactus and succulent garden to become overgrown with a terrible weed called Oxalis. Neglect by the council who had moved nearly all the gardeners out of the centre as they 'modernised' by sub contracting the gardening out to a private concern meant that there was no one to do all the weeding and daily maintenance within the greenhouses.  Their neglect meant that the heating system did not work and had not worked for the previous 3 years in spite of the fact money had been set aside for repairs.  Neglect meant that vandalism had brought about the breakage of many of the panes of glass in all the greenhouses, none of which had been replaced fgor a long time.  Neglect had seen many of the plants inside suffer inane attack by mindless youths who had nothing better to do than to invade the greenhouses, often after they had been locked up for the night but especially during holidays.  Neglect had allowed moss to grow in copious amounts on the glass roofs and in the guttering which meant that every time it rained there were many leaks as the moss acted like a wick allowing the water to enter the greenhouses in large amounts.

All these faults along with many others connected with the gardens had been brought to the notice of the council by the Friends of Wythenshawe Park even before we added our weight to the 'clean up' effort.  We had all asked for a variety of improvements amongst which were the following:
1.  Replacement of all broken glass.
2.  A new heating system for the glass houses.
3.  Gardeners to be ever present in the glass houses to carry out essential gardening maintenance
     every day as well as act as a deterrent to vandals.
4.  A CCTV system, such as they had at Heaton Park, to eradicate the constant vandalism.
5.  Repairs to the perimeter wall, especially at the lake where access in spring and summer was
     easy when the water level dropped, to prevent unauthorised entry to the Centre after closing
     time.
More of this later in this report.

There are many kinds of Oxalis but this one is the worst.  It resembles Clover to a certain extent but has many tiny yellow flowers.  Its roots are carrot like with age and can extend 6 inches into the soil tenaciously holding the plant  in position.  If you pull at the top growth, especially with mature specimens, you remove this green growth but leave the root securely in position.  From this the plant regenerates new growth and flowers very quickly.  However this is not the worst of its armoury allowing it to become a regular resident.  Its seed pods, which mature quickly once formed, are explosive and when touched the seeds are catupulted up to a foot from the plant throughout a complete circle.  One plant can easily produce 100 offspring within 6 weeks and eradication of the situation at Wythenshawe is nigh on impossible.  This pernicious weed is rife throughout all the greenhouses.

Back to our involvement; we cleaned up the beds as best we could filling three large wheelbarrows to overflowing on our first visit.  We tidied up the plants, removed dead specimens and added a host of new material that had been donated by our members and the general public over the rest of that summer.  There were two main areas with cacti and succulents, the walkway on first entering the Centre's greenhouses and in the World Greenhouse which is the second on the right off the walkway.  The walkway was mainly cacti with some succulents and the bed in the World House was planted with succulents from South Africa.  After our first season helping Ian the beds looked very presentable and we received many compliments and admiring glances from the visiting public.  As volunteers we were only able to visit on fortnightly occasions and every visit saw us repairing damage caused by vandals and children who had not been properly supervised by parents/grandparents/carers before we could get down to the task of improving the display.  We left the display in Ian's care as we signed off for the winter.  The greenhouses are not open to the general public in the late autumn and winter.

Early next spring we went back to continue our work but many sad sights met our eyes.  There had been many leaks - cacti are supposed to be totally dry over the winter - and rotting plants were many.  The Oxalis had zoomed back into life as was evident everywhere.  The broken glass situation had worsened and the moss problem had not been attacked.  So it was retrace our steps and tidy up once again.  I am pleased to say that Ian had managed to borrow a gardener from another park and he spent all year tackling the problems that really required a minimum of 5 such people to keep on top of the problems inside the glass houses alone.  Pressure by the Friends also brought about some improvements.  Glass was being replaced by poly sheets which would not break so easily but not in all places in the roof (health and safety - oh what a bind it is) and best of all a new heating system would be installed but not in time for next winter though.  No regular gardening teams or CCTV were provided though in spite of promises from the Council.

The new heating system is effective and provides heat throughout the necessary area of the glass houses but you will recall the winter of 2010 was bad through January and February.  That was just when the heating was most needed.  So what did the authorities decide?  Right in the coldest spell it was costing too much so they had it turned off.  The Park also lost the services of the single gardener to ill health and eventual enforced retirement.  So what did they decide to do in the interim?  It was a case of 'we'll see if he is going to come back' and of course the weeds didn't wait to see what was going to happen.  Once again we faced massive weed clearance problems.  By now we had built a new bed in the World Greenhouse with ground kindly donated by Ian and it was given over to plants from Mexico and the south west States of America.  It looked absolutely superb with many mature plants donated by a long serving member of the Society and an erstwhile Manchester member.  Unfortunately this didn't last.  Cold, damp, vandalism, weeds, and other factors meant we had to make various changes over the next twelve months.  Moisture when it should have been dry caused by continuing leaks and unrepaired glass, drought when the plants should have been watered, time having to be spent every visit to remove weeds, lack of supervision in the glass houses permanently all led to continual problems.

Now, of course, the effects of recession and cost cutting following the banking debacle have caused even greater cut backs.  Aging of the willing volunteers has also had its effects.  I am no longer fit enough to go and do all the necessary weeding and other care and nor are the others who came at my call to have a massive tidy up.  Our original plan and the request we had received was to provide assistance and guidance on what the people at the Park should do.  We had never been asked to be unpaid volunteers (not even help with petrol costs was offered by the council) which is what we became considered to be.  We are, as Ian knows very well, still there to provide guidance and knowledge but we will not do the work Manchester Council should be doing.

People of Manchester, these displays and gardens are your heritage which has been entrusted to the care of your council.  They are letting you down.  Up and down the country smaller towns than Manchester have Botanical Collections and Gardens that are properly tended for visitors to enjoy.  Manchester has never linked up with the University to produce and care for such a Botanical Institution.  The University does have its own gardens, now also suffering somewhat as a result of Botany no longer having such an important place on the curriculum there.  You only have to look at Birmingham, Edinburgh and Bristol to name but three to see what can be done.  London is lucky it has the private concern at Kew.  Manchester is the very poor relation and only likely to get poorer, sadly.  We feel very sorry for Ian and those few staff he has at his side because their battle is endless and, to a great extent, futile.