Spencer ECA

November 2017

Land management specialists Spencer ECA is sponsoring an expedition to Tasmania, where seeds and samples will be collected from a wide range of plants for conservation, research, education and horticulture.

The expedition, led by Stephen Herrington of the National Trust, is an opportunity to research and retrace the footsteps of one of the significant plant collectors of the 20th Century, Harold Comber, who explored Tasmania in 1930 and re-collect species collected by him that have since become lost in horticulture.

Seeds collected will be raised in various Botanic Gardens around the UK, including the National Botanic Garden of Wales near Llanarthney in Carmarthenshire. This will become part of its new Arboretum 2022 Project, which will comprise of six zones, representing different temperate woodland regions from around the world. One of the regions is Australasia, due to the uniqueness and conservation value of its woodland flora.

“We are very grateful that Spencer ECA is sponsoring our expedition to Tasmania, which is helping to protect endangered tree species and increase the diversity of our extensive collection here at the Garden,” says Huw Davies, Head of Operations and Facilities at the National Botanic Garden of Wales.

Spencer ECA is from its inception a proud supporter of the National Botanic Garden of Wales, and supplies circa 500 tons per annum of G50 grade woodchip which fuels the biomass boilers that heat the world’s largest single-span glasshouse.

The National Botanic Garden of Wales continues to be a major Welsh tourist attraction, with a 45% increase in visitor numbers over the last two years and 94,929 visitors in the first eight months of 2017.