We were spoilt for choice when it came to plants for our garden
As a plant conservation charity, we're lucky enough to work with lots of passionate plantspeople who were all keen to get involved.
William Murray and Kate Campbell of the Planting Design Collective at New Wood Trees in Devon
Sienna Hosta Nursery Manager Ollie
Most of the plants were grown by How Green in Kent, a family-run nursery committed to sustainability including growing peat-free. They also took care of plants provided by National Collection holders, getting them 'Chelsea ready' (see below).
Many of the trees were sourced from New Wood Trees in Devon. Big Hedge Co. kindly lent us hedges to frame the garden and Sienna Hosta lent us some fantastic hostas, including large and giant leaved varieties that are also in the National Collection held by the King's Foundation at Highgrove.
National Collection holders who took part
Philip Oostenbrink
Julian Reed
Philip Oostenbrink lent us some unusual Aspidistra as well as Boehmeria, a member of the nettle family. He's recently been in Japan researching plants from his National Collections. View a list of plants in Philip's Aspidistra National Collection and Philip's & Bruce's Boehmeria National Collection.
Julian Reed kindly provided plants from two of his Collections of hardy ferns: Polypodium and Polystichum.
Maria Heffer
Sue Martin
Maria Heffer was looking for something different for her flower arrangements when she came across Geum and it led to a National Collection. She's learnt a lot from Sue Martin, who's had her National Collection of Geum for 20 years. They both highly recommend Geum 'Tales of Hex', a key plant in the Missing Collector garden. View a list of plants in Sue's Geum National Collection & Maria's Geum National Collection.
David Simpson
Mandy Bradshaw
Nicholas Guntrip-Hook
Hardy Tradescantia aren't nearly as well know as the houseplant variety. David Simpson wants to change that and provided some beautiful cultivars from his National Collection of Tradescantia Andersoniana Group and Tradescantia virginiana. View a list of plants in David's Tradescantia National Collection.
Thalictrum petaloideum ‘Ghent Ebony’ was another key plant in the garden and a newer cultivar, bred by the Thalictrum expert Sandrine Delabroye, with fern-like deep purple, almost black foliage and contrasting white flowers. It's one of many favourites looked after by Nicholas Guntrip-Hook in his Collection. View a list of plants in Nicholas's Thalictrum National Collection.
Barry Clarke
Jonathan Hogarth
Beth Otway
Botanist Barry Clarke provided some Rubus with interesting foliage for the garden. Rubus is more commonly known as blackberry, raspberry and brambles and there are around 1,000 different species. View a list of plants in Barry's Rubus National Collection.
Jonathan Hogarth of Hogarth Hostas collects small and miniature Hosta and kindly lent us some special cultivars for our garden. His stand in the Great Pavilion of his Hosta won a gold medal, after 7 years of exhibiting, which is fantastic.
Daniel Myhill
Mary Baker
Daniel Myhill cares for his National Collection of Rosa persica in his garden. His passion for roses has turned into a new career in breeding with David Austin. View a list of plants in Daniel's Rosa persica National Collection.
Mary and Terry Baker developed their National Collection of Digitalis (foxgloves) alongside their business, The Botanical Nursery, so who better to ask for advice? Now retired, Mary also did a display in the Plant Heritage zone of the Great Pavilion.
Hugh Povey
Staphylea cochica
Forestry England
The beautiful Cercis canadensis subsp. texensis 'Oklahoma' for our garden was recommended by National Collection holder Hugh Povey and sourced from Collendoorn. View a list of plants in Hugh's Cercis National Collection.
Westonbirt, the National Arboretum, has five National Collections. Curator Dan Crowley recommended some lovely trees and shrubs for our garden, including Staphylea colchica (ivory flowered bladdernut) which we sourced from Birchwood.
And that's not all!
James Bennett is the third generation of his family growing water lilies and they have over 350 varieties in their National Collection, held at Bennetts Water Gardens.
Alec White and the team at Primrose Hall Peonies kindly lent us peonies for the Missing Collector garden from their National Collection of Intersectional (Itoh) hybrids. Kopper Kettle was very popular!
David Carver of Buckland Cottage Gardens already has a National Collection of Hyacinthella and lent us Rhodohypoxis that may well become a new Collection in future.
Several other National Collection holders provided advice. It truly was a team effort.
Find out more about the National Collections
You can search the National Collections here and find out about starting your own National Collection here. If you prefer to look after just one or a few rare plants, why not become a Plant Guardian? And if you prefer to listen, here's a podcast where you can hear our amazing volunteers talking about why they collect plants with our trustee Sally Flatman.
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