Pine rarity is star of garden open day

Mary Rudd There is a host of interesting features in a garden which will be open on Sunday, May 25, for the St John Eye Hospital in Jerusalem.

Mary Rudd

There is a host of interesting features in a garden which will be open on Sunday, May 25, for the St John Eye Hospital in Jerusalem.

Blofield House is an early Georgian home, and it makes a fine backdrop to gardens containing rose, herbaceous and shrub borders surrounded by meadows and woodland walks.

It also has Wollemi Pines which are one of the world's oldest and rarest plants, dating back to the time of the dinosaurs. With less than 100 adult trees known to exist in the wild, the Wollemi Pine is now the focus of extensive research to safeguard its survival.

Today you can actually buy your own tree although this is not a low-cost purchase as the smallest one in a three litre pot will cost you £85.

But it will come with its certificate of authenticity to show that you have purchased your own piece of Jurassic history.

So if you are a frequent flyer and you want to offset your carbon footprint then planting trees has to be one of the easiest ways to carry this out. You can find details on www.wollemipine.co.uk.

Blofield House is on Woodbast-wick Road, Blofield, and the gardens will be open from 2pm to 5.30pm. It is a wheelchair friendly garden and admission is £3.50.

The St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital is the main provider of eye care in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. Last year it treated more than 83,000 patients, up from 70,077 in 2006. As a renowned teaching hospital, a key priority of St John is to train the next locally-based generation of nurses and doctors. Research and development are also aspects of the charity's work. The Eye Hospital is working to eliminate the main causes of avoidable blindness and implement affordable eye care programmes.