Nigel Wright – rhododendron man
NURSERY TIMES
by Vivienne Lewis
Nigel Wright takes time to study his own catalogue of his rhododendrons on offer
Visiting the gardens at Nigel Wright’s nursery in North Devon in January is tantalising – thousands of rhododendron and azalea buds are ready on the branches, waiting to burst into flower and scent. Go there in April and early May and the colourful display will be magnificent, set among specimen trees, old oaks and beeches, undulating lawns and water features near the graceful Georgian former rectory.
Now 84, but with no signs of slowing down, Nigel Wright is an acknowledged expert on rhododendrons who has spent the last 25 years selling his plants to large estates and to small gardens, supplying National Trust properties such as Knightshayes Court near Tiverton and the RHS gardens, Rosemoor and Wisley.
Yet when he and his wife June settled in Devon 30 years ago he was still pursuing his career in business, and gardening was a hobby. The garden at The Old Glebe, Eggesford, now one of Devon’s top fundraising gardens open for the Yellow Book, was in a bad state and almost completely overgrown, much of it a field where horses grazed.
Island beds were created to display the collection of rhododendrons and azaleas
25 years ago Nigel Wright started selling his rhododendrons to personal customers.
His nursery is also his garden, seven acres of it. Rhododendrons and azaleas grow everywhere, a huge showcase of 750 varieties, many an imposing size by now, and displaying the best aspect for them. Customers can walk the garden, gaining more than a plant (or a few), but also invaluable information from this nurseryman with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the plants he nurtures.
Nigel Wright’s enthusiasm is infectious. He will stop by a particular bush, examining the leaves and demonstrate the differences between shapes and textures. He will tell you much about plant history: that they are ancient plants going back 65 million years that only grow in the Northern Hemisphere, in China, Japan and the Himalayas, Burma, Korea and in parts of the USA, and he will tell you about the plant hunters who discovered many of them in wild places.
When the flowers have finished, he spends ten minutes daily simply dead heading (wherever he can reach) for the rest of the season. He has a gardener to help him for two days a week, but he is out there in all weathers.
The graceful garden at The Old Glebe is the perfect setting for Nigel Wright’s rhododendrons
But a few old rhododendrons had survived. Nigel, who had always wanted to grow rhododendrons but had not lived in an area suitable for growing them, started taking cuttings. He was told about a local expert, Major Reynolds. A friendship began which turned the hobby into a business opportunity, and
18 Country Gardener
Customers make their way to the garden by appointment. “That way I can give people the time needed to select plants, and treat customers individually,” he said.
They are then shown plant lists categorised by height, colour and flowering times, together with photos, and also planting plans to give them more ideas. The young plants are arranged alphabetically in their rows, carefully labelled with names such as R.‘Black Magic’ (a dark red), R.‘Carmen’ (waxy dark red flowers on a
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