The logo for Friends of Glen Goyle features the Chilean Lantern Tree:
And one of the first plantings by the FOGG has been a Crinodendron hookerianum, or Chilean Lantern Tree. Donated in February 2021 by Ed Dolphin, he says:
I thought it would be perfect for the Goyle for three reasons, its beautiful flowers are great for bees, it is suited to the setting, and it is a Veitch original courtesy of William Lobb, see extract from Hortus Veitchii below.
“This much-named plant (six different Latin names are listed from various Victorian dates) is a beautiful greenhouse shrub with evergreen leaves and drooping urn-shaped flowers of a brilliant scarlet colour. A native of Chili in the Province of Valdivia, and of the island of Chiloe, introduced through William Lobb in 1848, and successively re-introduced by Downton and Pearce. Though rarely met with, an attractive plant, not difficult to cultivate if planted in a peaty soil in a cool greenhouse or in the open in the favoured counties of Devon and Cornwall.”
Full text of “Hortus Veitchii : a history of the rise and progress of the nurseries of Messrs. James Veitch and sons, together with an account of the botanical collectors and hybridists employed by them and a list of the most remarkable of their introductions”
Much of the South West is peppered with the findings of Victorian plant hunters, from gardens of world renown to secret little glens. The climate on the peninsular is ideal for the exotic specimens brought back from all corners of the globe – and the micro-climate of Glen Goyle seems particularly suited to some wonderful plantings.
Here’s an index to those pages on Plant Hunting:
The Veitch Nurseries – Friends of Glen Goyle
- Veitch plants in Glen Goyle – Friends of Glen Goyle
- Veitch elsewhere in Sidmouth – Friends of Glen Goyle
- Veitch in the media and in the arts – Friends of Glen Goyle