RHS seeks help from Cornish gardeners

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has issued a plea to gardeners in Cornwall to help it find an illusive plant.

Botanists at the societys Herbarium explained the Atlanta Kniphofia was first identified at the Atlanta Hotel in Tintagel by Neil Treseder – of Treseders Nursery in Truro – in 1962.

However, the trail of the species has gone cold, explained Herbarium keeper Dr Christopher Whitehouse.

"Although the Atlanta Hotel has been redeveloped and Treseders closed down many years ago, to resolve this conundrum were looking for other plants that may have originated from the Atlanta Hotel," he said.

Gardeners with plants taken from the original are being asked to contact the RHS with information.

Known as the "red hot poker", the species has long, coloured stamens, which protrude beyond the mouth of the flower.

It is believed the Atlanta originally sourced the plant from a Surrey garden.

The RHS recently announced a number of open days at its Garden Wisley site in Surrey.