Last Tuesday I was giving a series of lectures for the ‘English Gardening School’ at the venerable Chelsea Physic Garden in London. Looking through their brochure of forthcoming events and courses, I noticed that – world renowned plantsman and explorer Dan Hinkley, is giving a lecture on Friday 27th from 2- 3.15pm about his fabulous garden ‘Windcliff’ on Bainbridge Island overlooking Puget Sound in Washington State USA. http://www.englishgardeningschool.co.uk A lecture not to miss.

There will also be a Dan Hinkley day at Crûg Farm plants in Wales from 10am to 3.30pm on Saturday 18th April. Tickets for this event can be purchased from the Crûg Farm website http://www.crug-farm.co.uk/events-5.aspx

I was lucky enough to see his remarkable garden on a lecture tour I was doing myself through the US Pacific coast States last year. This was at the invitation of The Pacific Northwest Branch of the Mediterranean Garden Society. One of the delights of such tours is meeting gardeners and their gardens and Dan’s was no exception.

For those who don’t know him, especially on this side of the Atlantic – Daniel Hinkley is an American plantsman, garden writer, horticulturalist, nurseryman, raconteur and general nice guy. He is best known for establishing Heronswood, in Kington Washington, and for collecting, propagating, and naming varieties of plants new to the North American nursery trade on his many plant hunting trips to the far flung regions of the world. He also likes playing the piano!

Over the last year I have looked, countless times at Crûg Farm plants website, lusting after a plant rare to cultivation – Schefflera macrophylla was one that particularly stood out. Originally identified as S. Petelotii, this is a spectacular species which Bleddyn and Sue Wynn-Jones discovered in the Fan Xi Pan area of northern Vietnam, where this most architectural of the species can reach 7 meters tall with large paddle-shaped leaflets combining to form one meter wide leaves on slender purple petioles (leaf stem). On emerging the entire new growth is smothered in a ginger indumentum. This stunning plant has taken -11C unprotected at Crûg Farm.

Well – with a description like that, I surcame to the power of the plant, and bought one from their website on Thursday afternoon. On Friday morning a huge box was knocking on my door, containing a beautiful Schefflera macrophylla (Picture above) – Warning -This is a plant that you will not, find at your local garden centre!

I wrote the above before, seeing Dan Hinkley, Bleddyn and Sue Wynn-Jones, on Carol Klein’s Friday night gardening program – I must have been having one of those Deja vous moments!

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