A King Protea, the national flower of South Africa, is blooming for the first time outside at the Botanic Garden as part of an experimental exotic planting.

Although King Proteas are sometimes grown outside in the south-west of the UK, it is extremely unusual to find these majestic plants flowering outside this far north and east. It is planted in a south-east facing position, where it will mature to form a focal point in a sub-tropical planting scheme designed to set off the lush rainforest plants in the Glasshouses behind.

The King Protea was not given any protective mulch or cosseting to get it through the winter of 2004/2005, which was rather harsher than in recent years with several prolonged snowfalls and night-time temperatures falling as low as -7 degrees. Trialling supposedly tender plants outside has been a tradition at Cambridge since the UK’s first outdoor bamboo grove was planted at the Botanic Garden in the 1880’s. Staff continue to utilise niche microclimates such as under tree canopies and against south-facing walls to experiment with what can be grown outside in this part of the world.

“We have been thrilled to watch this young plant establish so quickly and produce flower buds in its first year,” said Sally Petitt, who has been nurturing the King Protea. “With the debate over global-warming raging, we thought it would be very interesting to trial unusual shrubs and bulbs from Australia, South Africa and South America here in Cambridge and our new sub-tropical border is certainly beginning to show some spectacular results.”

The Cambridge University Botanic Garden is open daily from 10am. Admission is £3.00 (£2.50 concession) and accompanied children are admitted free of charge.

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