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Tropical Plants - Australia

Subtropical gardens - in Britain !

20 years ago

Hi All,

If you watched 'The Natural History of the British Isles' on the weekend, you may have been as gob-smacked as I was to see a 'subtropical wonderland' on the Isles of Scilly, off the southern coast of England. Whilst many of the plants fall into the 'Meditteranean' (sp ?) hot summers/cold winters basket, it remains a strong contrast to the image many of us have of gardening in Britain.

Cheers,

Artie

Here is a link that might be useful: An Abbey Garden in the Scilly Isles

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Comments (7)

paradisi
20 years ago
have a look at
http://www.treasuresofbritain.org/InvereweGarden.htm

a sub tropical garden at inverewe - it's quite a nice place - some of the sub tropicals are forced and coddled, but it still works

and I remember a TV show in England (when I was living there) about growing pineapples in Devon - coddled under compost and glass

I even had the joy of eating a banana from a tree growing in the botanical gardens in Inverness - in a greenhouse, but still fun to watch the snow and pick bananas
Dutchie
20 years ago
I sold a Vanilla orchid on Ebay to a lady from Sydney, I wrote to her that I did not think it would grow there. She said it was for her mother who was visiting from Britain! She had a covered heated swimming pool and was going to try to grow it there!
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Margie, the island is a great spot. Bob moved to Austin & I think took most of his plants with him, too bad, he had a good selection. You can always come by the house, right now some of the crinums are blooming, the brugs look awful, I haven't cut down the avocado yet, the ragoon creeper has plenty of blooms, gingers are all up, but none are blooming, thunbergia erecta is in bloom, white coral vine blooming, thevetia looks good, some of the bromeliads are blooming, the nepenthes have pitchers right now, a lot of the cacti are blooming, plumeria looking good and blooming... Tally HO!
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jan_uk
20 years ago
Hi Artie,
Yes the Tresco Gardens in the Scilly Isles are fantastic. Having lived for many years in Cornwall it was only a short trip over to tresco. On the extreme western edge of the UK they benefit from the warm "Gulf Stream' water the flows up that side. This raises the air temp and means that there is a very low risk of a frost. Tresco is a haven for tropical plants and many South African plants. The gardens at Inverue in Scotland also have many plants that are seemingly out of place.
Thanks Artie for the advice re the tropical garden on the Sunshine coast.
Cheers Jan
rug13y
20 years ago
Tresco Abbey garden is an Eden of exotics! I used to live in Cornwall and belive me that place is out of this world!

I created a subtropical plants website 5 years ago (sorry never updated it) of Cornwall here http://members.lycos.co.uk/cornishexotics/

Here is a link that might be useful: Kernxotica
tropical_gaz
18 years ago
There are plenty of us in the UK with a subtropical style of gardening as well as many gardens worthy of a visit.

Here is a link that might be useful: UK tropical gardening
rhizophora
18 years ago
Hi,
Here in Plymouth we are able to grow many subtropicals such as Howea (Kentia palm) and strelitzia (bird of paradise) outside all year round!
James
mcsaul_yahoo_com
15 years ago
Some years ago, I visited a subtropical gardel in Plymouth, England, and I would like to visit again this summer with my wife, Kathy. I've forgotten the name of the park, but I was dazzled by the profusion of plants in bloom which seem to grow only in more southern climes. Could you name the park for me and, if possible, send me a brochure. I would be most grateful. Thank you. Barry

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