A Wollemi Pine (Wollemia nobilis) has been planted in Pageant Gardens. This species of tree was found in the Blue Mountains of Australia in 1994 and was previously thought to be extinct, having only been found fossilised.
A few years after the discovery of a glade of the trees, which are in a location that has been kept secret, the Sydney Botanic Gardens propagated a limited number and made them available by auction in 2006. Each of these young trees was a cutting taken from a known and named specimen in the wild.
The trees were put up for a worldwide auction through Sotheby’s in Sydney and a customer of Castle Gardens, Garden Centre wanted one of these first editions and asked if Mike, at Castle Gardens, would bid for one on his behalf.
For Mike this sadly didn’t mean a trip to Australia, but he did join the auction at 4 am by telephone and listened into the bidding. He was able to get his bid accepted on one of the trees and it was subsequently delivered to the garden centre, where it was on display there, before being delivered to the customer who had requested it.
A few years went by and then Mike received a message from the partner of the customer who has bought the tree telling him that, sadly, he had recently died and that she wanted Mike to have the tree and find it a good home.
Mike contacted Sherborne Town Council to see if we might be interested in planting it in one of the town’s gardens. The tree is not the usual type planted there but being such a rare tree and having such a lovely story behind it, we thought Sherborne would be more than happy to let it call Pageant Gardens home.
Mike is currently in the process of getting a plaque with a QR on it so that anyone who sees the tree and is interested in its story, can scan the code and read all about it.