New £3 million Centre to help grow healthy gardens - Animal & Plant Health Agency

A new National Centre for Environmental Horticulture and Plant Health will help to protect the UK’s 23 million gardens

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) will join forces on a new £3 million National Centre for Environmental Horticulture and Plant Health that will research and help mitigate existing and emerging threats to our green spaces.

Funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), it will see the two organisations work together in collaboration with industry and others to help protect the UK’s 23 million gardens and burgeoning horticultural trade, which contributes £38 billion to UK GDP and supports 722,000 jobs.

The Centre, operated virtually by staff based at APHA and RHS sites across the country, will engage with industry to identify areas of focus according to potential impact before researching solutions and management practices and sharing findings.

Example threats include Bemisia tabaci, an insect which is a vector for a range of highly damaging plant diseases; Phytophthora spp., part of a group of impactful water moulds that rates as the RHS’ second most reported plant health problem annually; and Rose Rosette virus, an often fatal pathogen of roses.