These plants add an element of Mediterranean flair to your garden.
Royal Horticultural Society has decided to ban the potted olive plant. This is in order to keep them from spreading a deadly disease that kills plants.
The bacterial disease Xylella rapididiosa, which has ravaged Italian olive groves and threatened trees like cherry and oak, is an epidemic.
This bug can lead to leaf scorch, wilt or dieback and has yet not been detected in the UK.
The discovery of it would lead to strict actions to stop its spread.
The olive trees bring a Mediterranean touch to the gardens. However, potted olive trees are being banned by the Royal Horticultural Society to prevent them from bringing plant-killing diseases into the UK.
RHS events, such as the Chelsea Flower Show and Chelsea Flower Show have also banned coffee, Spanish Broom, polygala, polygala, or oleander. All five of the commonly imported plants could be infected.
Alistair Griffiths of the RHS said: ‘RHS shows are intended as a celebration of our gardens but we also have a responsibility to promote good stewardship of them through detecting, identifying and managing plant pest and diseases.
‘When it comes to showcasing these five high risk Xylella host plants the risk far outweighs the benefits and we have taken the difficult decision to put a hold on their display until we are comfortable that the risks of them carrying the bacterium is low.’
RHS’s move goes beyond the approval of the government for imports of olives or other plants susceptible to Xylella. However, the RHS insists that these rules must be followed in order to prevent the spread of the disease from areas they exhibit.
RHS shows will no longer be hosting the listed plants. The Chelsea Flower Show, which will take place in May 2013, is most well-known and most popular. It was moved to autumn because of the pandemic.
These listed plants won’t be displayed at RHS shows next years. The most well-known is Chelsea Flower Show, pictured in September. It returns to the traditional slot next May.
RHS declared that the RHS will not allow the plants to be grown until they are considered low-risk by RHS’s plant health specialists.
There have been Xylella cases in France, Spain Portugal, Germany and Italy.
In the event of a Xylella epidemic in the UK all host plants located within a 100 meter range would be destroyed. There would also be a ban for plants moving within a range of 5 km, even private gardens.