Urban Jungle

Last weekend Mark and I along with our friend Don, paid a visit to Urban Jungle over near Norwich in Norfolk. Although a couple of hours away we tend to visit every summer and usually make an occasion of it. We tied this trip in with an over night stay at the coast and then a trip to Will Giles Exotic Garden in Norwich, but more of the garden visit soon.

Urban Jungle has a great selection of the exotic and tender plants as well as hardy unusual trees, shrubs and perennials. After the poor winter in 2010 we added a number of hardier plants from Urban Jungle to our garden and I suspect many other exotic gardeners also had the same plans.

One of the thoughts that always crosses our mind when we visit is just how clean and tidy everything is at Urban Jungle, not just the plants, but the pathways, beds and display areas. Somebody puts a lot of effort into making sure the nursery is just perfect every time.

In amongst the plants are lots of places to sit, relax or take a cup of coffee (and cake, as they now do the most fabulous cakes!)

  A tranquil place to relax, and not a leaf out of place.

Ficus Carica 'Ice Crystal' - we already have this in out garden but this was too good a plant not to take home.

I did mention the cakes, right? well it would be rude not to enjoy a drink and cake sat in the greenhouse with all the exotics around us.

A great selection of yucca, palms and agaves. I suspect the canna may be an interloper.

Within the large greenhouse is also a koi pond, crystal clear water and healthy looking fish. We spent quite a while just watching the fish.

So what did we buy.... well you may have to wait and see, but the fig above does now have a new home!

Gaz :)

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A Day at Crete Lodge Exotic Garden

On our third and final stopover on our weekend away in Norfolk we spent an entire day at Crete Lodge Exotic Garden. Although intending on seeing another garden on the same day, somehow I had an inkling already in the morning before we even set off that won't be the case.

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An Afternoon at East Ruston Old Vicarage

Our next stop after spending the morning at Urban Jungle was East Ruston Old Vicarage Garden, an iconic garden that is usually heralded as one the finest in the UK. 

For more information about the garden, it's background and history I'll just refer you to their website and wikipedia but chances are you may have heard of this garden before. It is frequently featured in various gardening books and magazines and generally receives ample publicity.

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The Wonderful Urban Jungle

On our post yesterday I mentioned that we had a weekend away in Norfolk in which we managed to visit a nursery and a couple of gardens. We were actually intending to visit a couple more to that didn't managed to as it quickly dawned on us that the time we allocated to see them all was simply not enough, hence only managed to see three places (plus the seaside town where we all stayed overnight).

Of the three places we visited our first stop was Urban Jungle, a nursery specialising in the rare and unusual as well as plants that can help give a garden an exotic feel. If you like exotic (and not so exotic) plants this a nursery that is a must to visit. They have a wide selection of plants available, from the staples to the more unusual ones, lush and leafy to the spiky, backbones to the bedding plants, and more importantly lots of plant options that are winter hardy for most parts of the UK.

Now let's take a look, first from the outside as we walk out from the parking area...

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