Every spring, almost like a tradition we head down to Beeches Nursery to check their beautiful plants on offer. And year in and year out they never disappoint.
This sign of theirs along the pathway towards the entrance made me grin from ear to ear. Any gardener of precious plants would understand!
A glimpse of their display planting by the entrance
On our previous features (2011 and 2012, I didn't manage to blog about our 2013 visit) we have mentioned how pristine and well presented this nursery and I'm glad to say it has remained as such. The plants are grouped together by type and alphabetically arranged for ease of browsing.Podophyllums and Peltoboykinias
Trilliums
Tiarellas, Tricyrtis, and Thalictrums
More Veratrums you can shake a stick at
Asarums galore!
Their stocking levels are high and the variety of plants they sell are impressive. But what impresses us the most, being the plants people that we are is how many rare and unusual plants they actually have. These plants don't scream out as such (nor would they point out to you which ones are), you'll need to have a clue beforehand of what is still obscure. Armed with some knowledge look thoroughly and closely and in and amongst the easily recognisable plants and there they are too, the obscure treasures.Ohh what's this???
New from them this year, Eryngium agavifolium Giant Form. Supposedly grows fifty percent bigger than the usual form. Compare the growth rate between the usual form on the left and giant form on the right, same age. Very promising!
Schefflera rhododendrifolia
Different forms of the hardy Impatiens omeiana
Alstroemeria 'Rhubarb and Custard'
What's this exotic looking spiky thing? A form of English Holly! Ilex aquifolium 'Crassifolia'
Astelia 'Silver Shadow'
The color of this tree is very bright and striking, great for winter interest in the garden. Fought it difficult to capture on camera the intensity of the color though - Tilia cordata 'Winter Orange'
Beschorneria albiflora
Fatsia polycarpa 'Tregye Form' (synonymous with Edward Needham Form and Needham's Lace)
Polygonatum x hybridum 'Welsh Gold'
Trachelospermum jasminoides 'Wilsonii'
We spent a good couple of hours browsing and picking out plants that we like and would want to take home with us. It's one of those nurseries that's easy to get carried and although I have planned already that we won't buy much, at the back of our minds that was very unlikely to happen knowing how many treasures they have for sale at any one point.So we came home with a bootful, with the back of our car looking more like we came back from a week in Cornwall rather than just a couple of hours on the opposite side of it.
Some of our purchases were as follows:
Tetrastigma obtectum
Aristolochia manshuriensis - one of the few hardy Dutchman's Pipe
Eryngium agavifolium Giant Form - I just got to have them! They were joking that we ought to put them back as they were no longer for sale but too late...
Actinidia deliciosa 'Tomura'
Actinidia kolomikta
Paulownia kawakamii - which I personally refer to as the Sticky leaf Foxglove Tree
Asarums, a Thalictrum, a nice spreading fern whose name escapes me, and a Peltoboykinia which I didn't realize Gaz bought until I saw it and had to remind him it now self seeds in our garden (despite that I still can't get enough of them so that's okay!)
Tetradium austrosinense
All along I though we bought too much but as soon as we started planting some of our purchases I was already thinking that we ought to go back there soon again. I could do with picking one of two more of the ones we bought already and I did miss out on leaving behind one or two more.A summer trip is looming!
Mark :-)