The Bradstone Plant Hunters Garden

Decorative Aggregates – Derbyshire Rockery.

 

 

Celebrating the RHS Bicentenary and our plant heritage, this garden is based on the adventures of the plant hunters who travelled across the world to bring plants back to the UK. Some were first sent out by the RHS on expeditions across Asia 200 years ago.

 

In partnership with Broomfield Hall (part of Derby College), Bradstone have brought the story of the Plant Hunters alive with a stunning garden incorporating beautiful planting native to Asia with a creative use of rock quarried and aged locally in Derbyshire.

 

The whole garden, created by the students of the college, epitomises the golden age of plant hunting and features a whole array of plants collected by numerous plant hunters such as Robert Fortune, Ernest Wilson, Pierre David, George Forrest and Joseph Hooker.

 

The garden is set in the Orient - the plant hunter has returned back to the retreat having battled with Chinese pirate ships to save the plant collection. In the foreground of the garden is a replica junk boat, in authentic Chinese style. A small stream runs down the centre of the garden edged with colourful Primula and Rodgersia. In the boat are Wardian cases to transport the plants safely. The hut, made of bamboo and local palm leaves, contains an easel to record the colours and create a botanical painting.

 

The garden is a plant hunter’s dream; in the background Wilson’s Handkerchief tree (Davidia involucrata) majestically displays beautiful white bracts. Other noteworthy plants include the Prunus serrula, Cornus kousa, Magnolia sieboldii, Trachycarpus fortunei, Metasequoia glyptostroboides, Ginkgo biloba, species Rhododendrons and Pinus wallichiana.

 

All the plants used in the garden are now available in the UK thanks to the endeavours of the plant hunters.