Intrepid explorer and botanist Tom Hart Dyke has a passionate love for plants; so much so it saw him kidnapped in South America for 9 months while on a quest for orchids. While he was in captivity, he had a plan in his mind to create a garden at his ancestral home and on his return he put these plans in place to create the famous World Garden, which contains a magnificent array of plants from across the globe. Martin Sayers chats to Tom about how he created the garden and some of the plants contained in it.
T
o say that Tom Hart Dyke’s story is an extraordinary one is an understatement. Over the past eight years he has built the World Garden, an extraordinary botanical feast for the senses at Lullingstone Castle in Kent. Yet the inspiration for this incredible achievement came from the point of a gun, as Tom remembers, “Back in 2000 a friend and I were trekking through a very remote place on the Panamanian/Colombian border that is one of the most botanically rich areas on the planet. It was also extremely dangerous and whilst trekking one day we were captured by guerrillas and held captive for the next nine months. At one point we were told we had just five hours left to live. Obviously I was terrified, but I was also suddenly overcome with a desire to make those last hours
MAIN PIC: Sunflower ‘Helianthus’ (one of many on show for the Sunflower Weekend); RIGHT: Tom Hart Dyke in the hot & spikey cactus house; The Miniature World Alpine Garden
matter – to do something life affirming and worthwhile. I took out my diary and started to feverishly scribble down notes about a garden that I would plant at Lullingstone – a garden that would include plants and flowers from across the world, all laid out in their continent of origin to show the huge breadth of botanical biodiversity that exists on this planet. It literally was something I had not thought about until that point – somehow that terrible moment served as the inspiration for what would become my life’s work.” In December 2000, Tom and Paul were released into the jungle and eventually found their way back to civilisation. When he got back to the UK he was determined to put his plan for what
The World Garden in facts And figures Number of plants contained in each continent section:
Asia: 1300 Europe: 1200 N. America: 1200 Australasia: 800 Africa: 700 S. America: 700 Number of annual visitors to the World Garden
10,000 Rarest plant:
The Queen of the Andes (South American section) Collected by Tom during a trip to Peru in 2010, it is believed that the World Garden specimen is the only example in the UK.
Biggest plant:
Spinning Gum (National Collection of Eucalypts) This big and beautiful Eucalyptus tree has silver leaves that spin around the stems.
Smallest plant:
Mossy Scabweed (Australasian section) This tiny moss-like plant is actually, despite its appearance, a close relative of the carnation.
Oldest variety of plant:
Wollemi Pine (Australasian section) Also known as the Dinosaur Tree, this ancient variety is millions of years old but living specimens were only first discovered in 1994 in Australia’s Blue Mountains.
www.csrf.org.uk AUTUMN 2012
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