Re: Crinodendron hookerianum

Thank you one and all to those who took the time and trouble to
reply with so much information and (as it turned out) reassurance
as to suitability in the local climate here.
I really appreciate that.

I must tell you an amusing story. Armed with all this advice, I
took a trip this Sun morning to my local garden centre
(incidentally, with a reputation as one of the biggest and most
prestigious in the SW of England) where I enquired whether they
had a specimen or could get one for me. The assistant sucked her
teeth and called over someone further up the hierarchy. I
repeated the question to him and I didn't reckon the blank look
he gave me a good sign. He then consulted a large tome lying on
the desk and, after consideration, informed me that it was a
tropical plant and clearly unsuitable for the conditions
hereabouts; did I want to grow it in a conservatory? No, I didn't
but I thanked him for his advice. Could he get one for me? No, he
said, none of his suppliers would have one.

I returned home and found at least six suppliers on the internet
in a matter of minutes. If this is the sort of expertise and
service that supposedly top grade nurseries come up with, one is
left in a doleful mood.

On consideration, I think the problem is perhaps one of
perception and lack of imagination. We are used to growing a very
limited and restricted range of plants in the UK and, with a few
exceptions, the nurseries and plant trade here follow and connive
in that. The truth is entirely different. Milder, mainly westerly
coastal, parts of the UK have a unique climate that allows very
little frost but adequate rainfall all year. That should give us
the opportunity to grow a vast range of plants that the industry,
and public, hasn't even begun to tap yet.

There has to be more to a gardening life here than buddleja,
weigela and deutzia.

Thank you again for the input and encouragement,

Tristram
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