There is an excellent article today in the Sunday Times about the best tropical plants for UK gardens. The article was put together with the help of one of my favourite nurseries - Athelas Plants who have recently launched an award winning e-commerce site http://www.athelasplants.co.uk/
Read about my visit to their wonderful nursery in the beautiful Sussex countryside:
“Advice is King at Athelas Plants” explains Matt as we sit in the Sussex sun surrounded by his wonderful display of agaves and yuccas . ” Our main aim is to make sure our customers absolutely buy the right plant for the right spot in their garden – its not about the sale, but more about the advice and information we provide. We offer an individual service, spending time with every customer – either walking around the nursery or discussing their ideas on the phone with mail order customers to ensure they select the correct plant for what they are trying to achieve – but most importantly for the soil and conditions in their garden.”
Some of the plants originate from overseas so Matt and Nigel spent the last few years trialing them in a range of English weather conditions . An example is their specially chosen palms - tested in all types of summer and winter weather in East Sussex which means that they know for certain just exactly how hardy they are. They now have 10 palms that they consider highly suitable for english gardens – one of my favourites is Bismarkia, a silver fan leafed palm that looks spectacular and with a small amount of protection from damper,wetter winters will thrive and grow very quickly.
Matt understands climate change plants as he spent time living near Sydney where drought is a major influence on gardens. He noticed how the Aussies seemed very keen to grow roses and English style herbacous plants but how during intense droughts, it was the native drought-loving species that survived and grew well whilst the English-style gardens just withered and died. Returning to the UK when there was a full blown drought, Matt decided to turn his knowledge and enthusiasm into a business with Nigel, pictured below, who had retired from the RAF and, as a keen gardener, was looking for a second career.
Two years on, this hard-working pair have established an excellent nursery offering very high quality plants at extremely reasonable prices - both by mail order or on-site. Their unique personal service has certainly worked with 50% of customers sending complimentary e-mails – check out some of the glowing comments at http://www.athelasplants.co.uk/testimonials
One of the most important things about Athelas Plants is the passion and commitment that Matt and Nigel have to offer good quality plants that have been field grown rather than propogated in hot houses, often the case in many garden centres stocking plants sourced in Holland. They also propagate as many plants as possible – Matt showed me a number of small Callistemon or bottle brush plants for just £3 each.These were all propagated in the nursery rather than being transported from other countries – perfect for reducing your carbon foot-print.
The success of Athelas Plants demonstrates that climate change plants are now a popular choice for UK gardens as they are low maintenance and offer something different by bringing a taste of overseas shores to your garden.
http://www.athelasplants.co.uk/
NB If you are wondering where the name Athelas comes from – its a mythical, healing plant created by Tolkien for Lord of the Rings – Matt is a huge LOR fan and chose the name to bring success to the nursery- certainly appears to have brought some Middle Earth magic to the place! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Middle-earth_plants
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