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| Puya in flower at Exbury Gardens. Click on the image above to see a larger photograph. |
Some of the world’s most exotic plants are in flower at Exbury.
Visitors to the Rock Garden will spot the spectacular blue Puya (Puya berteroana), its blue and orange flowers reaching up to six foot.
The Puya, which has over-wintered successfully at Exbury, comes from the Andes mountains in Chile, where Exbury’s head gardener, John Anderson has seen groups of this wonderful plant growing in the wild.
“There they flower away in quite arid conditions on the sides of slopes and mountains,” he said.
“Here I’m finding them easy to grow given a warm, sheltered well-drained spot that does get too wet.
It’s a prickly beast and although it was attacked by some brave badgers, it didn’t seem to be harmed,” he said. “It’s spiketacular plant!”
The Exbury Puya, a member of the pineapple family, (Bromeliaceae), has been planted close to some other fantastic exotics – the Mexican Beschorneria septentrionalis which throws out shocking pink stalks reaching to four or five feet, bearing tubular hanging red and green flowers.
“People come here in the spring to see our wonderful rhododendrons,” said John. “But they really should come back to see these fantastic exotics, flowering away in the Rock Garden.”
John will be showing off these plants and many others to those booking places on the Hampshire Food Fare Breakfast Walks on the first weekend in July.
The walks, which must be pre-booked, last for ninety minutes and start at 8am on Saturday 5 July and Sunday 6 July.
They are followed by breakfast, made with locally produced ingredients. Please telephone 023 8024 5750 to arrange.
They cost £16.00 per person or £13.00 for season ticket holders. There is free re-admission to the Gardens after breakfast.
Exbury Gardens are open daily until November 9. For details of all events and what is in flower, please visit www.exbury.co.uk or telephone 023 8089 1203. |
