Landscape Juice

St John’s Wort can affect hormonal contraceptives say Doctors

Doctors have been told to advise women who are using hormonal contraceptives, that herbal products containing St John’s Wort can decrease the effect of contraception. Women taking any form of hormonal contraception for birth control have been told not take herbal products that contain St John’s Wort. St John’s Wort interacts with hormonal contraceptives and reduces the effectiveness and increases the risk of unplanned pregnancy. This applies to all hormonal contraceptives except intrauterine devices, for which there are currently no data St John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum L.) is grown in gardens around the UK but it's also been used historically... Read more →

Time to change our attitudes towards gardeners

There can be few other industries, where the knowledge and skills needed to effectively carry out the job, and the resultant pay, are so disproportionate, writes Stephen Titton. Gardeners are all to often seen as the unskilled odd job men of the outside space; there being few jobs that employers would not, it seems, ask them to do. And yet, not only are they expected to know the names of hundreds of different plants on sight, (how impressed would you be if your gardener looked blankly at the plant you were querying) but also a host of various pests and... Read more →

Loss of trees greatest in over twenty years

New research has revealed that some of the country’s favourite woodland places have seen their biggest loss of trees in a generation as a result of the extreme winter weather. More than 50 National Trust sites have been surveyed with many gardeners, rangers and foresters saying that the losses of trees has been the greatest in more than two decades and in some cases the Great Storm of October 1987. High winds and extreme weather throughout the winter have seen some places lose hundreds of trees, including many valued ancient trees. The National Trust cares for 25,000 hectares (61,776 acres)... Read more →

Landscape industry's lone voice pushes for Vat change

I've just returned from a meeting at the Houses of Parliament, where the Cut the Vat Coalition launched a new report highlighting how a cut in Vat - from 20% down to 5% - for building renovations and repairs on private properties could kick-start the economy, as well as create thousands of new jobs. You can read about my visit and the launch of the report by Experian here. I signed up as a supporter to the Cut the Vat Campaign over a year ago so I was greatly saddened that Landscape Juice was the sole representative of the landscape... Read more →