Cuttings: News From The Gardeners' World

WISLEY, SURREY is the setting for the Royal Horticultural Society's next bonsai weekend (27-28 February). There will be lectures on the history of bonsai and demonstrations on the best way to grow them. Experts such as Colin Lewis and Peter Chan will be among the teachers and Su Chin Ee will be showing watercolours in the Chinese style. Several nurseries will set up displays in the demonstration shed next to the glasshouses and the Surrey Heath Bonsai Society will put on a show. There will be bonsai plants for sale and experts to answer questions. All lectures will be held in the lecture room in the laboratory building. Tickets (pounds 5 for RHS members, pounds 10 for non-members) must be booked in advance. Send a cheque payable to the RHS, with a sae to the Admin Dept, RHS Garden, Wisley, Woking GU23 6QB.

THE UNIQUE St Helena boxwood, thought to be extinct, has recently been rediscovered by Stedson Stroud, a resident of the island. He found just one bush alive among six dead ones on a slope facing the sea, 100 metres above sea level. It had not been seen for 100 years, but Dr Rebecca Cairns- Wicks, St Helena's Conservation Officer, has high hopes that scientists will be able to propagate the plant. The bush itself is infested with mealy bug and moth larvae and is unlikely to survive, but seeds have been collected from it and cuttings taken. More than 40 per cent of the plants on St Helena are in danger of disappearing for ever, giving the island the dubious distinction of having the world's most threatened flora. Mr Stroud's discovery is a welcome reversal.