Funded by the Environment department, a team from the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust led by head of landscaping Caryl Kemp have successfully propagated 19 Jersey pinks (Dianthus gallicus), which were planted last week at Les Mielles near the one remaining plant.
A relative of the carnation, the Jersey pink, which is a native of western mainland Europe, has been growing in the Island since 1892 and is not recorded anywhere else in the British Isles.
In 2006, Mrs Kemp went with senior ecologist Mike Freeman to Les Mielles, where she carefully collected 19 cuttings from the single plant remaining in the wild.
‘The plants were placed in a propagator with the correct heating and humidity and did so well that we planted them out in the grounds at Durrell last summer,’ she said.
