East Ruston Old Vicarage Gardens

Today we had a drive over to East Ruston Old Vicarage Garden.  An amazing garden which was started in 1972 when the two gentlemen owners bought the house at auction.  Over the intervening years they have developed a truly beautiful garden in which you could easily spend a whole day.  We have visited once before but it was during the pandemic so it was good to see it again on a warm May day.

My main shot is of an 'Agave Montana' in their Desert Garden.  A pretty impressive plant and for those interested, I've added some details about it below taken from a notice nearby.  I've also added a few extras showing a few of the different 'rooms' around the garden.  Definitely a good place to spend a day if you are in the area and like gardens.

As we were walking round we were wondering what would happen to it in the future as the two gentlemen owners are now becoming fairly elderly; we then got talking to someone who told us it is currently being sold to an organisation that will look after it and maintain it after they are gone.  I'm not sure who; apparently not National Trust or the RHS but hopefully it will be preserved for future generations to enjoy.

This agave is one of the most awesome agaves, which sent up two flower shoots last autumn. It is relatively new in cultivation - and was only botanically described in 1996 and discovered in mountains in Mexico. This plant has been cultivated at East Ruston for about eighteen years.

Its inflorescence borders on the truly ridiculous.  The stout shoots after their winter break will this spring and early summer continue to grow forming a swollen club-like apex ten feet high and then branching with beautiful bright yellow flowers and deep magenta bracts.

It first flowered in cultivation in 2019 in California and is only the second one to flower in the UK. After flowering the plant will die, but what a way to go!