Hebe News – Article 2
DINGLE NURSERIES
In 2005 I wrote about the Dingle nurseries, just north of Welshpool and of the wonderful selection of New Zealand plants that are there. One of the first things to be aware of when arriving down a narrow country lane is a Chionochloa conspicua, a relative of Pampas grass but much more refined, which is in the car park border. This is a fine-looking specimen grass with delicate flower spikes, but unfortunately it is not in the nursery plant list so must have been a one-off planting by the nursery founders, Roy and Barbie Joseph. They were obviously lovers of New Zealand plants as you will discover.
In 2008 I managed to meet up with the head gardener, Emma Maxwell, in the lovely garden which is situated below the nursery. Together we walked round the garden and Emma told me that she was trying to identify and label all the plants in the garden. I’m sure she thought that I was going to be able to do that, but my skills in that department are very limited.
As one enters the garden, having paid the very small fee of £3.00 (free to RHS members), the first part is at the bottom of the private garden attached to the owners’ house. The nursery is still in the hands of the Joseph family. On the left, there is a boggy area with moisture-loving plants, but across the lawn is an extremely mature and good looking bed of grey and purple plants. This has been created with hebes, olearias, brachyglottis and phormiums. All these plants were extremely large and Emma said that she’d had to hard prune many of them, including Hebe albicans, Hebe ‘Red Edge’, Hebe recurva and Hebe ‘Purple King’. This had created a lovely cloud effect. The phormiums needed no protection, but she wrapped astelias in fleece till spring. Several olearias were in flower: Olearia ‘Waikariensis’, Olearia × haastii and Olearia virgata var lineata, which looked like a tamarisk to me. Other olearias we came across were Olearia ‘Scilloniensis’, a garden hybrid, and Olearia ilicifolia, which is borderline hardy here and is known in New Zealand as mountain holly. The pheasant grass, Stipa arundinacea, was everywhere. Pseudowintera colorata ‘Mount Congreve’, a handsome plant, is put under fleece in winter too. More hebes, identified by Emma were Hebe ‘Nicola’s Blush’, Hebe ‘Mrs Winder’, (which does flower in the summer), and Hebe ‘Franciscana Variegata’, which proves to be hardy at the Dingle.
Further down the south-facing slope of the garden there are pittosporums which must have reached their ultimate heights of 3 metres. They are, I think, Pittosporum ‘Garnettii’, Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Warnham’s Gold’ or possibly ‘Abbotsbury Gold’. Both of these are in there somewhere. Everywhere you turn on this bank there are New Zealand plants in profusion.
In June of this year, Gwen Scoble visited me and I couldn’t wait to take her to this marvellous place, see colour insert. She was able to add loads of names to my list and so we saw pseudopanax, Cassinia fulvida, Libertia peregrinans in flower, corokia, leptospermum, Muehlenbeckia complexa, Olearia macrodonta, Coprosma ‘Beatson’s Gold’, Ozothamnus ledifolius. Gwen identified even more hebes as Hebe carnosula, Hebe salicifolia, Hebe ‘Champagne’, and a possible Hebe albicans ‘Snow Cover’.
Last week, because I was writing this article, I visited once again. Looking good in the nursery entrance were pots of Hebe ‘Oratia Beauty’, Hebe ‘Purple Queen’, Hebe ‘Blue Gem’ and Hebe ‘Wiri Mist’, in 1 litre pots, I think for only £3.95. In the shade tunnel where the pittosporums are kept were P. ‘Garnettii’ and tenuifoliums including ‘Silver Queen’, ‘Warnham Gold’, ‘Purpureum’, ‘Tom Thumb’, ‘Irene Patterson’ and a lovely little ‘Tandara Gold’ which I would have loved but it was £15.95. In the main hebe beds Hebe ‘Midsummer Beauty’, Hebe ‘Sapphire’, Hebe ‘Autumn Glory’, Hebe ‘Purple Queen’ and Hebe ‘Blue Gem’ were in flower. Nearby was a stunning hoheria labelled Moonlight.
A walk around the garden was a delight, with autumn colours everywhere. There are plenty of seats to rest and take in the beauty and peace. At this time of the year, at the far side of the Dingle, beyond the pond, it is alive with the more recent plantings of acers, oaks, sorbus and liquidambars. No New Zealand plants here, or are there? As I climbed the gentle steps back to the nursery I couldn’t help but notice a group of Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Tom Thumb’ and a very tall Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Purpureum’, proving that they will grow and colour well in slight shade. I have finally moved my ‘Tom Thumb’ to a shadier part of my garden as I felt it was doing poorly where it was.
On leaving, after a complimentary cup of coffee in the little side room, where there are books for information, I mentioned to the staff about the lovely grass I admired on the car park and they had found seedlings of it this year and so were on sale at £2. I snapped one up straight away. Do please try to visit this lovely place and help Emma to identify what is in the garden. Nearby there is the sister garden centre, called Derwen, but any resemblance to Wyevale etc there is none. It is a charming place with cafe, demonstration gardens and a gift department that is out of this world, but that’s another story!
Sue Bosson
Registered Charity No 801398
