We constantly seek to expand the plant collections throughout Rosemoor. A large proportion of what we plant comes from in-house propagation in our nursery, but there is always new material carefully chosen to ensure that there is something different to be seen by our visitors. Stock is also obtained from a wide range of sources, principally by purchasing from nurseries, but also by growing seed donated from botanic gardens around the world, and by the old-fashioned method of scrounging and swapping with other gardens and gardeners.
The Exotic Garden at Lady Anne's
Visits to nurseries to see the range of plants available are essential. Plants can be hand picked for shape and quality, and if the plant is one of a batch of seed grown stock, individuals can be selected for variation. With many specialist nurseries selling seed-raised plants, the chances of getting a new form with a different flowering time, colour, size or hardiness seem to be on the increase.
Our new acquisitions soon find a home in the garden, where we are currently renewing the plantings in several areas. Lady Anne’s Garden in particular has always been something of a test-bed for new plants, in particular the more sheltered areas such as the Exotic Garden, an area of which has recently been cleared to enable spring planting with a range of hardy and half hardy subjects. It’s exciting to watch new introductions settle in and demonstrate their potential: in future blogs we’ll give you more information on our new plantings and the delights in store for visitors to the garden.