In the 1950s and 1960s Dr Jimmy Smart started to create and plant what is now Marwood Hill Gardens. Situated in a valley in North Devon only four miles from Ilfracombe the original 8acre garden has a stream running through it which in the 1960s was dammed to make two lakes. In 1979 Dr. Smart retired from being an Anaesthetist and fortunately the next field down the valley was for sale, which he bought making the 20 acres of the present garden.
Even in the 1960s he was planting Eucalyptus which are quite big now. With the acquisition of the new area and visits to Australia to see his nephew ( who is now the owner of the gardens after the death of Dr. Smart in 2002) many Eucalyptus were planted. Most of these were grown from seed he got in Australia, and which are big specimens now.
Our biggest tree in the garden is Eucalyptus nitens or ‘Big Top’. A huge tree, champion of England, not Britain however as there is a tree in a forest in Argyle in Scotland which is 6 inches taller. I think by now ours will have overtaken that one in height as the growth in our secluded valley and with the amount of rainfall we get in Devon will have greatly overtaken the Scottish tree. It is quite a stately tree towering over other Eucalyptus in that area. Sheaths of spent bark peel off its trunk each year and hang like Christmas streamers from its mighty trunk. Amazing also that for such a big tree it has tiny seeds.
The most impressive Eucalypt is Eucalyptus cordata. Its silvery blue foliage lights up this part of the garden. Situated high up on the far hillside it can be seen everywhere in the garden. Unlike most Eucalyptus this one flowers in the winter, a real boon if you have bees like us, as its pollen is devoured by the bees and provides much needed energy for them. The foliage looks very juvenile but it is adult foliage as it is covered in flower.
The Snow Gums of the Snowy Mountains around Mt. Kosiusco are spectacular and are some of the hardiest for the U.K. Eucalyptus pauciflora itself has large leaves and trunks and are impressive in the lower reaches of the Snowy Mountains. As you progress higher other subspecies of pauciflora are revealed. The popular niphophila has one of the most beautiful trunks, glistening white with pencil markings are a feature of it. We have several, one in particular is the tallest in England. Eucalyptus gregsoniana is another with fine bark and is floriferous in flower and pauciflora subsp.debouzevillei has possibly the whitest stem of all. Ours unfortunately lost part of one side when a ferocious gale in February 2022 brought down another Eucalypt and crashed into it. Wins are a major factor in the life of a Eucalypt in this country as they grow so big and fast and put on so much growth that the rootball often can’t cope with the extreme pressures on the trunk and are very vulnerable to strong gusts of wind.
One of the loveliest is Eucalyptus mitchelliana with pure white bark as it gets older. Eucalypts go through several phases of growth as it takes a few years for the juvenile phase to pass into the adult phase when the tree starts to flower and the bark peels to reveal its hidden charm.
Perhaps the most unusual Snow Gum is Eucalyptus lacrimans. It used to go under the name of Eucalyptus pauciflora pendula until it was realised that all plants from seed were pendulous so it got a new name. Dr. Smart brought seed back of it from Adaminaby in the Snowy Mountains on the way to Threadbo village. On one of my trips to Australia I also saw it there. A group of them were growing on a corner of a grassy verge. Now if they ever widen that corner they would get wiped out and so a dramatic sight would be lost.
Over the years we have grown perhaps over 70 species mostly ones from Tasmania and New South Wales and Victoria. We are now left with glorious large trees that include Eucalypts viminalis, rubida, nova-anglica, cinerea, risdonii, ovata, and the spinning gum Eucalyptus perriniana to name a few. Eucalyptus perriniana has unusual foliage as the stem goes through the centre of the circular leaves while the bark peels to reveal a patchwork of colours.
All the Eucalypts have white flowers, the red flowered forms from Western Australia are not hardy over here although we did once grow Eucalyptus sideroxylon rosea which has pale pink flowers and lasted a few years until it succumbed to a hard frost. I’m sure if Dr. Smart came back now he would be very pleased with how his seedlings have thrived and be amazed at the size of them.
If you haven’t visited Marwood Hill in the past I’m sure you will be surprised at the range of plants we grow including many Australasian subjects. We are open 5 days a week (closed Mondays and Tuesdays) from February to the end of October and have a great range of plants for sale, most propagated here, as well as a very popular Tea room.
