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Special Plants Nursery (Chippenham, England)

Our third day was a busy one as we left our first hotel in Bath and traveled to Wells. There were several stops along the way, the first being Special Plants Nursery in Chippenham, England. It was a warm day. The nursery is owned by former Oregonian Derry Watkins, who moved to England decades ago when she married an Englishman. She is a plant collector and has traveled all over the world, her favorite place being South Africa.  That is Derry in the above photos talking to our group. The house and garden are located on a steep hill with idyllic countryside surrounding it. She says the garden was designed by her architect husband and she has filled it with her favorite plants, mostly tender perennials that she has collected from her plant-hunting expeditions. Most of the beds are terraced and many plants are grown in gravel. The garden is also enhanced with some striking ornaments - Lower island beds proceed downhill - A bog garden - At the bottom of the property is a woodland walk....
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One Green World


Due to dental surgery, I was unable to do any garden work this week. Since I felt well on Tuesday morning (the day after the surgery) but was told not to lift anything over 5 pounds, I suggested to Michael that we make another trek to Portland to look for a new sewing machine. This saga has been going on for a long time.  A trip two weeks ago was fruitless but he discovered another sewing machine store that sounded promising and it wasn't too much of a headache to get to. This time proved to be the charm - he found the machine he had been wanting - and happy to find a store that he could trust for the future. Let's hope this is a happy ending!

Since One Green World was just right down the road from the sewing center and the saleswoman needed about 20 minutes to get his order together, we decided to kill time there. I first discovered this nursery a few years ago when I was looking for a loquat. 

I've been contemplating another eucalyptus tree ever since I lost ours last year. And One Green World has a big collection of eucalyptus trees. They are a small nursery but have a wide variety of unique plants, especially fruiting trees, berries, citrus, native plants and a great variety of plants that push the zonal limits.






The Variegated Buckthorne is actually a plant we carry at Yard N' Garden Land from time to time.

Of course, we didn't leave empty-handed. We left with three plants -

New Zealand Trailing Tea Plant (Leptospermum scoparium) is an evergreen groundcover with small leaves and white flowers. It is in the myrtle family. 

 Omeo Gum (Eucalyptus neglecta) has large blue-green
 leaves with a purple cast in cool climates.

Acacia (Red Stemmed Wattle) (Acacia rubida) - a fast-growing tree from SE Australia with red stems and yellow flowers in the winter.

Now to figure out where they are going and if I can keep them alive!

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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Comments

  1. Lisa at GreenbowAugust 25, 2022 at 8:27 AM

    Sounds like a fun day. New plants and New Sewing machine. I bet that new sewing machine can make a stitch similar to that New Zealand trailing tea plant.

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  2. AnonymousAugust 26, 2022 at 7:57 AM

    Glad you are on the mend, and happy for Michael for locating the sewing machine he cavorted, but where are you going to place those trees? Your garden always seem quite full to me :-D
    chavli

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  3. Kris PetersonAugust 26, 2022 at 9:53 AM

    I know of no better use for a little free time than walking a plant nursery. Thanks for your introduction to this one, which when I checked into that trailing Leptospermum I discovered offers mail orders. Shipping to SoCal would be pricey but another source for unusual plants is always welcome ;) I hope you're healing well after surgery.

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