East Ruston Old Vicarage
The Exotic Garden
We enter the Exotic Garden through a large,
vine-hung pergola and what do we see. Two
raised ponds; one containing fish and flowering
pots of water loving plants, the other a tall
fountain cleverly designed by Giles Raynor to
spurt its contents in on itself rather than outwards
thus reducing the amount of splash on windy
days for such a tall fountain. It is designed to
resemble a waterspout or twister that may
occasionally be seen off our coast. The raised
ponds are edged in dressed lead and make suitable
perching places for visitors, but beware lead
quickly becomes hot in strong sunshine!
The surrounding beds are planted with both
hardy and tender plants to give an exotic and
foreign feel to this area. Plants such as bananas,
tetrapanax, stooled paulonia plus many tenderlings
that are bedded annually, grown by us here each
year from cuttings. This is essential as many of
these plants are not readily available in the
general trade. If you see a plant that you like, do
ask, we may just have a spare one tucked away.
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