Down leafy Ringland Lane indeepest Old Costessey nearNorwich, is a secret gem of anursery and an absolute must forlovers of the weird and unusual.It is not your typical style of

garden centre. In fact, it’s not a garden centreat all but rather a working plant nursery in thetraditional sense, with no frills, just plants.

Urban Jungle is the name of this exquisitenursery, here, you can easily while away a fewhours while you gorp in wonder at some of theenormous specimens.

The owners Liz and Malcolm Browne startedUrban Jungle in November 2002. I asked Liz thedirections for the nursery from Norwich, andshe jokingly said “it is on the road to nowhere!”In fact, it is on the right-hand side of RinglandLane on the outskirts of Old Costessey.

The idea for the nursery came after manyyears of growing exotics in their garden and aninability to find exotic plants locally. Lizdescribes the nursery as a hobby gone mad!Now it is the largest retailer of exotics in EastAnglia bar none.

Here you can purchase the strange and weirdfrom as little as £1 up to a staggering £1,000!

Craig Knight and Kevin Scales areludicrously knowledgeable and terriblyenthusiastic nurserymen working at UrbanJungle. Both boast much horticulturalexperience and are invariably on hand to giveinformation on cultivation and growingconditions essential for many of the exotics atthe nursery.

Urban Jungle covers approximately two acresin all with several large green houses, Pollytunnels and a shade house, for a largecollection of ferns. In the largest greenhousethere is a good-sized pond containing manyenormous Koi, some up to 15lbs in weight.

As it’s in a rather obscure location, UrbanJungle has a stall on Gentleman’s Walk inNorwich from Thursday to Saturday, topromote the nursery as well as to sell plants.

The daring duo specialise in anything thatlooks a little bit different from the norm.

Liz says she is trying to get away from theword exotic as it conjures up the idea that theirplants are not hardy whereas, in fact, much oftheir stock is borderline to very hardy indeed,with only the softer summer bedding thatneeds over-intering with a little heat or just theprotection of a garage or garden shed to keepthe worst of the winter vagaries at bay.

Liz told me that the nursery is a haven fornesting birds and that they have been foundhappily nesting in the palm trees and bamboos.She took me into the propagation house wherewe quietly crept up on a blackbird nesting in alarge pot of Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’. This is aproper little wild life haven!

It is rare these days for plant retailers to haveshow gardens for visitors to see plants in situ.Urban Jungle certainly does with a new aridgarden that flows into a Mediterranean areathrough to a moist jungle garden.

The sales areas are well-marked andparticularly inviting for the intrepid gardener,but beware your pocket might be lighter onyour way out!

Among the goodies available are 12 differentspecies of Arisaema, including the impressiveAmorphophallus konjac, more affectionatelyor, perhaps not, known as Mr Stinky! Liz saysits name was derived from the fact that it stankout the greenhouse when it was in full bloomearlier this year. Not trying to put you offthough as this is a fabulous aroid.

“It is the easiest to grow,” says Liz. Borderingon hardy, this oddity is probably best over

wintered somewhere frost-free and dry as alarge tuber. The flowering stem comes up first,rising rapidly to about 5ft with a liver-colouredspadix with the over-powering stench of‘rotting fish’, as it is pollinated by flies in thewild.

Luckily, the inflorescence is shortlived andover the next month or so the leaf stalk arises.The foliage is the best part. It comes up afterflowering with a thick mottled stem and a fan ofalmost palm-like foliage at the top in softestchlorophyll.

If that all sounds a little too odd for yourgarden then how about another of my favouritearoids – the Colocasias. Here you will findmany varieties and species including C.esculenta ‘Mammoth with gigantic 2ft leavesand, of course, the ravishingly gorgeous C.Black Magic with its velvety purple-blackleaves that are so stunning in the border withpaler foliage. Many new forms are flown infrom the United States as plug plants, whichare then grown on in the nursery to specimenstatus.

Bananas are an absolute essential for theexotic garden and here you will find fivespecies, with new ones always available, suchas Musa velutina with furry pink fruit. Another

hardy form if well-sited in the garden is Musalasiocarpa, which when in flower has anexquisite ochre-coloured inflorescenceredolent of a globe artichoke head but far moreattractive.

Cannas are another indispensable plant for awell-stocked exotic garden and at the nurseryyou will find at least 15 varieties and none withthe dreaded Canna virus that is found in somany other garden centres!

A fairly new introduction to the British Islesare the softly-spiky hedgehog-like Dasylirions.Here you will find some really fine specimensof Dasylirion serratifolia and D. Longissimum,both very hardy, easily taking lows of -10C.They are excellent landscaping plants with afine architectural shape and they’re droughttolerant as well.

A tree that particularly caught my eye wasthe ‘Coral tree’ Erythrina crista-galli, anabsolutely gob-smacking plant with applegreen three-lobed leaves and ridiculouslystunning drooping racemes of bright redLobster-claw flowers up to 80cm long.

Liz explained to me how important it is tocarry a large selection of plants which areevergreen and hardy. The ever-popular Olivetree Olea europaea fits into this category with

16 SUNDAY Saturday, June 2, 2007

� GARDENING: Exotic gardener Will Giles begins a new series of occasional articles on our local nurseries with a visit to a

‘It’s a haven for birds...They’vebeen found happily nesting inthe palm trees and bamboos’

WillGILES

It’s a jungle oCANNA DO� Cannas, with their dramatic,exotic flowers create a greatfocal point for the sunny borderor patio where they’re great forpatio containers.� They are easily grown tenderperennials with architecturalfoliage and bright, brash flowersfull of impact – a real touch ofthe sub-tropical! They have big openflowers above large paddle-type leaves onplants up to 1.5m!� Readers can buy one of either Picasso withits bright yellow, red-speckled flowers, the brightred Lucifer or Durban with its distinctive bronze-leaves and orange flowers for £12.95 inc p&p,or save £9 when you buy all three for £29.85.Supplied in 11cm pots within 28 days.� Order on the credit card hotline: 0870 9507914 quoting EDS6004, or by post, withcheques made payable to Eastfields Nursery, toSunday Canna Offer EDS6004, Rookery Farm,Joys Bank, Holbeach St Johns, Spalding, PE128SG.

little piece of paradise planted on the edge of Norwich

Saturday, June 2, 2007 SUNDAY 17

small plants to those that are well over 50years old. Liz reckons these older specimensare hardy down to -10C. Then there are thefruiting lemon trees – essential for thatsummer evening G ’n’ T!

Of course, it wouldn’t be an exotic nurserywithout tree ferns and there are plenty here.Next year they’ll be having a consignment ofthe ludicrously attractive Cyathea medullarisfrom New Zealand with fronds up to 10ft long.The ever popular bamboo can be found inprofusion here, with over 14 different speciesand varieties available from small to tall.Grasses are a close relative of the bamboo andare very useful for more confined areas andgravel gardens.

I spotted a shrub that I have not come acrossbefore in the UK, Adenanthos sericeus. Thisfine-textured upright shrub or small tree isfrom King George Sound on the southerncoast of Western Australia, where it growswithin splashing distance of the ocean.

In cultivation, it grows from 6-10ft tall withwispy stems that are covered with greyneedle-like foliage that’s very soft to thetouch. The small red flowers appear at thebase of the leaves off and on throughout theyear.

Another delight I discovered on mymeanderings around Urban Jungle weresome Metrosideros. These fine shrubs in theMyrtle family are fascinating plants withbluish-grey leaves and a downy underside.The variegated form M. excelsus variegatahas green leaves with yellow edges. It’s alsoknown as the Christmas tree because itflowers in June – New Zealand’s mid-winter.This beauty is only borderline in hardinessthough well worth trying in a shelteredlocation or in a conservatory. Grevilleajohnsonii is another interesting shrub thatlooks like a mad conifer with soft foliage Ihaven’t seen before on sale in this country.

There are far too many goodies to mentionhere, so visit Urban Jungle and spice up yourgarden for the hot summer days to come, I’msure you won’t be disappointed.

Urban Jungle is on Ringland Lane, OldCostessey, near Norwich, NR8 5BG. Tel01603 744997 or visitwww.urbanjungle.uk.com

Will Giles’ Exotic Garden off Thorpe Road inNorwich will open for the summer seasonfrom Sunday, June 17.

ut there

Pictures: SUPPLIED

Jungle on the road to ‘nowhere’: Liz Browne inher Urban Jungle nursery; below, Metrosideros,an exotic slice of Christmas; left, Cycas revoluta,otherwise known as King Sago Palms.

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