News

Keep checking back to this page, as news items will periodically change.

Reports suggest that 70 per cent of the palms were burnt. An emergency meeting was called in Rethymnon last week, but, so far, we have received no feedback from this.

Key questions are:
What are the prospects for the palms to re-generate?
Will this affect their resistance to damage from the red palm weevil (more on the weevil here)?

Toby Spanner of Rare Palm Seeds www.rarepalmseeds.com has told Flowers of Crete:

“I have been advised that P. theophrasti is likely to be resistant to fire damage and should recover quite well, with only the very old and very young palms suffering major damage.

“As far as the weevil is concerned, experience in Italy has shown that P. dactylifera is more resistant than P. canariensis.  It is likely then, that P. theophrasti will be more resistant, but this has yet to be proved. If this should prove to be the case, it may eradicate the hybridization problem."

In an email to Flowers of Crete, Mr Spanner also commented on the biggest grove of Cretan palm at Vai.

“Another threat to Vai is demonstrated by the fact that most palms in the grove have been observed with smallish heads with yellowish leaves, especially towards the centre of the grove. This may possibly be as a result of too much water being taken from the water table to supply local agriculture and tourist needs. This would cause salt water to leak into the grove from the beach.

“Garden centres and other suppliers should be encouraged to start raising P. theophrasti for sale to the public, instead of always offering the canary palm.”

Flowers of Crete is arranging to collect ripe seed from various sources on Crete and will be offering these, together with propagation instructions, in exchange for a small donation.  In this way, it is hoped that we can ensure that the Cretan palm can be found in private gardens all over the island. (29 August 2010)

Progress towards charitable status for Flowers of Crete The Committee of Flowers of Crete is pleased to announce (on 31st August 2010) that, after many delays, the Zylogos papers – for a not-for-profit organisation – have been submitted to the Greek court. The hearing regarding charitable status will be held on 1st December, 2010. If you would like to add your voice to our work, please get in touch. Sponsorship is now coming in and we would like to thank those who have donated. Contributions are always needed for this vital work. If you would like to help in any way please let us know. Downloads: ΚΑΤΑΣΤΑΤΙΚΟ (Charter) » English Translation of Charter »

The Flowers of Crete web site is part way through an overhaul, with the help of Honeyguide Wildlife Holidays. Honeyguide's Chris Durdin is helping with the web update, and Honeyguide has sponsored the web hosting cost for the next year. By coincidence, this is in the first year since 1996 with no Honeyguide group on Crete: the fully-booked holiday in April, as always based at Plakias, was called off at the time when so many flights were cancelled due to volcano ash. They'll be back next year, says Chris. (22 June 2010)

Flowers of Crete - achievements 2009 Read here - or click on the PDF symbol on the left - about what Flowers of Crete was able to achieve during 2009 (added 21 June 2010)

Pezoulia Nature Reserve Every Monday, Dr Rosemary John and Julia Jones are visiting the new Pezoulia Nature Reserve to make a comprehensive species list.  This list will be updated each month, as definite identifications are made.  It is hoped that, in due course, we will produce a complete record with scientific notes and images, to enable visitors to the site to understand the plants that they will observe from month to month. (added 16 Mar 09)

Julia has created a blogspot for Flowers of Crete, so that everyone can keep up to date with the news of what we are doing from day to day.  Please check out www.flowersofcrete.blogspot.com and register as a follower. (added 06 Mar 09)

In January,2009, Julia Jones was voted a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London http://www.linnean.org/   ‘At the Linnean Society of London we are driven by a single purpose as outlined in our first charter, 200 years ago: "The cultivation of the Science of Natural History in all its branches". Today more than ever the Society is an important contemporary organisation encouraging debate, research, publications, meetings, as well as maintaining internationally important historical collections in the biological sciences.’ Please visit the Linnean Society website and take a look at the important work they are doing. (added 21 Jan 09)

Walks around Vrahassi We are delighted to include Jane Sharp’s excellent and informative walks around Vrahassi in our programme for 2009.  Jane has a fund of local information and will take visitors on a superb trip around this stunning and remote area.  The walk will take in a visit to the new proposed Flowers of Crete nature reserve, where there are many native orchids and other endemic wild flowers. Click here to visit the Trips page for more details » (added 21 Jan 09)

For our news archive of news from 2008 and before, click here