Exotic plant blooms for first time in world garden

An exotic plant from Mexico has flowered for the first time in more than 15 years after being donated to a Kent tourist attraction.

The Nolina hibernica was collected from a mountainous region by plant hunter Paul Spracklin and given to The World Garden at Lullingstone Castle in Kent in 2009.

The 3.6m-tall (11.8ft) plant started flowering in late May.

Botanist Tom Hart Dyke, who created the garden in 2005, said the plant has had "the perfect conditions to flourish and flower due to the spring sunshine and current hot conditions".

He added: "This plant is rarely seen flowering anywhere other than in Mexico.

"It's a really tough plant to grow. It has survived several really cold winters.

"This large flower spike is polycarpic so will flower again."

Nolina hibernica originates from high altitudes between 2400m (7,874ft) and 3200m (10,498ft) in the Pena Nevada mountain range in Mexico.

It grows up to 6m (19.6ft) in its native range, often towering over much of the other vegetation, and has a "fountain-like quality to its foliage".

Mr Spracklin, who brought the plant to the UK in 2004, said it was now "the finest example of the species I have seen outside of Mexico".

Mr Hart Dyke added: "At the end of each leaf it seems to die back.

"But when you look at it closely it really is ornate.

"It needed to be mature to flower and have the right weather conditions."

During nine months in captivity in South America in 2000 Tom Hart Dyke planned a garden which would contain plants "laid out in the shape of a world map according to their continent of origin".

Five years later his vision became a reality at his family home near Eynsford.

The World Garden, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2025, continues to grow, with many rare and important botanical plants added to its collection.

It currently contains 8,000 species.

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