Brexit Redux – Part IV

Our next focus was to re-purchase plants that we had picked up on our 2018 trip, but due to a bureaucratic shipping snafu, the majority of the 2018 shipment was killed during a six-week delay in transit. These pick-up stops included a couple of personal favorite nurseries, Cotswold Garden Flowers and Pan-Global Plants, as we worked our way south. One new stop was in Devon, at a wholesale woody plant propagator, Roundabarrow Farms, whose owner Paul Adcock had visited PDN/JLBG the year prior.

Although Paul had no electricity at his remote nursery location, he was kind enough to allow us to use his open potting shed for our bare-rooting chores. For those who have never shipped plants internationally, the process is at best arduous. First, you must check the extensive USDA list to see which plants are allowed entry into the US. Next, plants must be bare-rooted and scrubbed free of all soil and potential pests. For a shipment of 100+ plants, this operation takes about 8 hours. This was the first time I’d had the pleasure of doing the tasks outdoors in the snow, rain, and gale force winds. Thank goodness darkness coincided with the onset of frostbite.

Plant wrapping was finished that evening and the following morning at our room nearby, which wasn’t dramatically better than Paul’s potting shed, since the bathroom was not attached to the room and the strung out property manager kept turning off the heat to the room.

Our final stop in Southern England was at Tom Hudson’s Tregrehan Gardens in Cornwall. This was my first trip to Cornwall, but after hearing that Tregrehan was the finest woody plant collection in the entire UK from several of the UK’s best plantsmen, it was not to be missed. I will admit that all the talk I’d heard about the mild climate of Tregrehan, I wasn’t expecting the frigid weather we encountered including intermittent sleet and snow.

Tom Hudson, Owner

We had the pleasure of walking the amazing collectors garden with Tom and his dogs. Despite the difficult weather, we had an amazing visit as we walked among many of the towering specimens, many of which were 150 years old.

Boulevard Cypress (Chamaecyparis psifera ‘Squarrosa’ @ 150 years of age. Look ma…it isn’t so dwarf after all.
Fatsia polycarpa ‘Needham’s’ was in full flower
It was great to see the giant leaf selection of Fatsia japonica ‘Hsitou Giant’ as well. Tom had shared one of these for our 2019 Southeastern Plant Symposium auction. Perhaps another will show up for the 2020 auction.
Huodendron is a plant I’ve killed four times, but three of those times, it died before even making it into the ground. What an amazing specimen of this evergreen styrax relative.
Illicium simmonsii was in full flower, as was this still unidentified species.
Tregrehan has a wonderful collection of hardy scheffleras, most of which are sadly ungrowable for us because of our hot summers.
Not bad for a specimen of the US West Coast native Douglas Fir.
Rhododendron were everywhere including some early flowering species
It was hard not to be impressed by 150 year old specimens of Rhododendron arboreum.

The ideal time to visit Tregrahan is during their Rare Plant Fair and Sale, held every year in late May/early June (the plant fair is currently under review, due to the fast moving nature of the Coronavirus). Vendors and the foremost plant collectors come from all over the world to this amazing event.

2 thoughts on “Brexit Redux – Part IV”

  1. Darla Anderson

    Thank you for sharing this amazing garden. It would certainly be preferable to visit when the weather is milder, perhaps late April/early May! We have a trip planned to Wales in April 2021. We had to cancel our trip there this year due to Covid-19.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The maximum upload file size: 20 MB. You can upload: image, video. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop files here

Discover more from Juniper Level Botanic Garden

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

Scroll to Top