A Weekend in Devon

As regular readers will recall we sometimes visit fellow Exotic Gardeners Lucien and Laura in the delightful Devon town of Exmouth. Since we last visited the garden won the Exmouth in Bloom competition for 2011, so this weekend not only were we visiting our friends but also an award winning garden! (Photos from last summer)
The drive down to Devon from Bedfordshire takes about three hours, so we decided to break up our journey by calling in at a nursery. There are several we could have called into that would not have been too much of a detour, but as we have never been to Desert to Jungle before it was a good time to make our first visit.
Ideally for us the Nursery is just 5 minutes away from the M5 Motorway, so it was not much of a detour, although we did end up staying about an hour longer than expected! With it being early March the new stocks have not yet arrived, but the plants that had spent the winter here still provided us with a great choice.

A fine selection of agaves, we spent quite a long time looking though the selection.

Succulents, Echeveria's and cacti

More succulents, with impressive Yucca rostrata in the background - if only the car was bigger!

Early March is never the best time to see a nursery, however the selection still kept us occupied for a couple of hours!

Every nursery should have a cat! (and most seem to have several)

The tree ferns (Dicksonia antartica) were very chunky, as the owners personally select larger plants
rather than the slim line versions often seen elsewhere.

On the Saturday we called in at a large retail mega-store - Trago. This store only exists in the South West and stocks everything you can think of, from shoes, clothing and paint, to pet care, toys and plants. The garden center is vast, and whilst many of the plants are, as you would expect, typical garden center plants, we did pick up a rather unusual Cordyline 'Karo Kiro'. Which is reportedly hardy to about -7C. I dont think we will be testing this just yet, so it will more likely be a potted specimen that can go into a greenhouse for winter.

Trago have several Peacocks wandering the grounds.

One section of the garden centre, there is a similar sized area of show gardens and garden buildings behind us!

Not Exotic, but the trays of primrose made an attractive display.

Our plants in the back of Laura's car. Notice the Cordyline 'Karo Kiri' on the right hand side.

The weekend wasn't all plants, and we spent Saturday afternoon visiting Dawlish, a quaint coastal town.

Traditional Devon Pasties and Cake, the perfect lunch!

Despite being early March the sun made us feel like were were on our holidays!

The center of Dawlish is landscaped along side the river Dawlish Water.

The scene would have been complete with some bowls players.

Trachycarpus Fortunei, well establish plants in the town gardens.

The town may be quaint but the ducks and geese were vicious, snatching the food away from Luciens hand!

All too soon the weekend was over, but it won't be long before we return!
Gaz
P.S. For the observant amongst you, who spotted the giraffe?