The Prince of Wales has issued a stark warning about the threat to Britain’s native plants and trees from foreign pests and diseases, saying he fears a “wasteland”.
Speaking on the BBC2 show Gardeners’ World, he called on those buying plants to ask garden centres about their bio-security policy and where their stock was sourced.
And he urged plant nurseries to “react quicker in terms of quarantining” to stop the spread of threats from abroad.
The heir to the throne was interviewed for the show earlier in the year on his Highgrove Estate in Gloucestershire, where he has established a garden.
Charles told one of the show’s presenters, Adam Frost: “I remember Dutch Elm disease all those years ago and that was totally devastating here in Gloucestershire…”
He went on to say: “And now of course we’re faced by a multitude of threats of every kind of disease.”
He added: “The biggest fear is that we end up with a wasteland here. Having seen more and more of these pests, particularly from the Far East coming…”
The prince went on to say: “I don’t think people realise just how dangerous it is, unless you know that where you’re getting your plants from has a proper bio-security policy in place.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here