What do a Quaker family, the movie Saving Private Ryan and 22 acres of paradise in the south of England have in common?
All are connected to Trebah Garden. It seems fitting to focus this first column of the year on the most beautiful sub-tropical gardens on Earth. In our experience, that is. This was confirmed in October when Mark hosted Ben’s first trip to Mark’s favourite garden.
The Fox family made a lot of money between about 1840 and 1870 as international traders. They were merchant shippers, specializing in the south Pacific and Asia. They were also Quakers with an appreciation for soil and the beautiful things that spring from it, namely exotic plants.
It made sense, then, that when they cleared their property near Falmouth, Cornwall in 1840 that they would replace much of the natural vegetation with exotic imports. In time, rhododendrons from China, Australian Tree Ferns (alsophila australis), giant-rhubarb (gunnera manicata) and Chusan palm trees (trachycarpus fortunei) dominated the landscape of their steeply sloped property.
Today, many of the original rhododendrons stand over 20 meters tall, the tree ferns are so large that a tall person can walk under them standing upright. Looking skyward, your vision is interrupted by mile-long fronds, the sky becomes a filtered green and your world becomes that of a toad or a slug (you choose). Trebah is a place of such fantasy.
Blooming rhododendrons and masses of three-metre-high blue hydrangea are a spectacle. Though, not on the same day, as the former bloom in May and the latter in fall, when we were visiting.
A walk through Trebah is more like a drop and a climb, as the property descends through dense greenery and the masses of hydrangeas, 18 metres down and back up again. A generous smattering of benches along the way provides a much-needed rest and opportunity to sit and absorb the atmosphere. You can almost hear the garden gnomes whispering: “Slow down! Take your time!” you will be glad that you did as the scenery of Falmouth Bay is spectacular from every angle, framed in foliage from most any point of view. Your camera will get a work-out.
The moderate temperatures and generous year-round rainfall of south-west England create a climate for extraordinary plant growth and a rich palette of more than 50 shades of green.
Trebah was not always the paradise that it is today. Indeed, it was a neglected tangle of weeds when retired entrepreneur Major Tony Hibbert acquired it in 1981. The day he moved in to the mansion on the property, his dream was of “sipping gin in the morning and sailing in the afternoon”. So much for that, as the image was soon displaced when he realized the treasure he possessed, shrouded in vines and undergrowth as it was.
Years later, when the heart of this Shangri la was revealed, the Major would reflect in his biography, “This garden gave me life.” A life after retirement which was long and rich in so many ways. He died in 2014 at the age of 96.
Ryan
The garden was also host to another adventure on the evening of June 5th, 1944 when the United States 29th Infantry Division embarked from Falmouth beach at Trebah for the D Day assault on Omaha Beach, Normandy, France. The Private (James Francis) Ryan whom many readers are familiar with, from the movie of the same name, was among those who left on that mission.
If you don’t get a chance to visit Trebah Gardens for yourself, we encourage you to visit the website http://www.trebahgarden.co.uk/. You can agree with Mark that it is the most gorgeous place on earth, or Ben’s take: “pretty amazing, but they forgot to add a veggie garden!” Ha!
However you feel about it, Trebah is bound to change your view of paradise, perhaps even just a little bit. And isn’t that a wonderful way to start the new year.
Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author, broadcaster, tree advocate and Member of the Order of Canada. His son Ben is a fourth-generation urban gardener and graduate of University of Guelph and Dalhousie University in Halifax. Follow them at markcullen.com, @markcullengardening, on Facebook and bi-weekly on Global TV’s National Morning Show.
