Kindness Through Ginkgos

Just a few days after the fire in our garden, imagine my astonishment when one of the builders summoned me from upstairs telling me that there is a delivery of plants waiting for me downstairs. 

A delivery of plants? But I've never ordered any plants from anywhere recently, nor have I pre ordered anything that could possibly arrive at any random time. And besides, with the fire happening so soon and with mess still everywhere then, the last thing I was in the mood for was to buy more plants. There must be a mistake somewhere there. Perhaps the delivery was meant for one of our neighbours and the delivery guy was just mistakenly pointed to go to ours (on the assumption that if it's a plant delivery it must be ours as we're quite well known in our neighbourhood as a plant mad duo!).

Or perhaps it's just a small item or plant, a cutting or seedling sent to us randomly by one of our gardening friends? But no it wasn't...

As I went downstairs what greeted me was a large white delivery van parked in front of the house and the delivery guy immediately read out my name and said there were five large boxes of plants for me to accept and sign for.

Five large boxes?? But I haven't bought any plants from anywhere, let alone have five large boxes of plants arrive on our doorstep!

The boxes were all tall and sealed, what could be inside and where did they come from? The identity of the sender was nowhere to be found on the consignment which added to the mystery of it all but the sender had arranged the delivery with Big Plant Nursery in Sussex from which all of the plants came from.

To say I was speechless then and pleasantly shocked would have been an understatement...

But whoever sent these plants had a wonderful sense of humour that made me grin from ear to ear for the rest of that day (and whenever I remember it!).

As I opened the boxes it became apparent I was sent a large collection of Ginkgo biloba, with nearly every variety/cultivar that Big Plant Nursery carries represented in the box. And apparently some of them are not even listed as available yet on their website but they were happy enough to include them as the delivery was arranged.

The person who sent these lovely and stunning plants twigged that we like our Ginkgo bilobas based on previous and regular features about it on our blog, and thought that by sending us a collection of them would give us some extra cheer. And besides we do need some more plants to replace the ones that perished in the fire.

And cheer did they certainly bring! They're all gorgeous and we've found ourselves having an instant Ginkgo biloba collection!

G. biloba 'Horizontalis'

G. biloba 'Horizontalis'

G. biloba 'Tremonia'

G. biloba 'Mayfield'

G. biloba 'Jade Butterflies'

G. biloba 'Saratoga'

G. biloba 'Beijing Gold' (variegated Ginkgos exhibit different degrees of variegation from one season to another)

G. biloba 'Gruga'

G. biloba 'Pixie'

G. biloba 'Pixie'

G. biloba 'Weeping Wonder'

G. biloba 'Weeping Wonder'

G. biloba 'Tubifolia'

G. biloba 'Tubifolia'

G. biloba 'Fastigiata'

G. biloba 'Fastigiata'

G. biloba 'Pendula'

G. biloba 'Variegata'

G. biloba 'Chi Chi'

A beautiful lot aren't they? Such a fabulous group of plants and with this instant collection that arrived on our doorstep I am even more inspired to continue collecting them. It is true that in time, lots of time that is, they can grow into gigantic trees but most of them are very slow growing which will work in favour for me. We have found permanent homes in the ground for several of them already including prominent spots in areas that will be receiving a makeover.

The power of blogging and the kindness of friends never ceases to amaze us. You know who you are...

Thank you for such a wonderful, heart warming gesture!

Mark :-)

Posted in: exotic garden , gingko , Tropical Plants