Exbury Garden
The Exbury Garden is one of the best gardens not only in the UK, but also in the world. In 1918, Baron Lionel Nathan Rothschild chose these beautiful places for his estate. Lionel was a very unusual banker - the banks were just a hobby for him, and he considered gardening to be the business of his whole life.
To fulfill his dream, Lionel bought an estate with an area of 80 hectares located on the Buley River. He spent almost all his wealth on the Exbury Garden, on breeding new plant varieties. He especially liked the azaleas and rhodendrons. The garden was held responsibly and stubbornly, and in 1919 almost 150 diggers dug up the territory here, enriching the land with black earth. It took them 10 years to do this, then they put a water tower with tanks on the estate and built a irrigation system with a pipe length of almost 35 kilometers.
During his travels, Lionel Rothschild looked at beautiful plants for his collection. And soon cedars from Lebanon, rhodendrons, huge sequoias, cherries appeared in the Exbury garden. It was not so easy to bring these plants and trees to the UK, and cost a large amount, but for the Exbury Garden he did not feel sorry for anything. In order for plants to better take root in the cool climate of the foggy Albion, Lionel was engaged in crossing plants, and achieved great success in this, so almost a thousand cold-resistant hybrids were obtained. Today, the collection of plants in the Exbury Garden is estimated at millions of dollars.
The calm of the garden came to an end during World War II, without enduring stress, the baron died in 1942, and the estate was re-weighed for military needs. Lionel’s wife did not leave her husband’s dream and together with 4 gardeners continued to look after the garden until Edmund’s son returned from the war. In the 1950s, the park was opened to the general public. Soon they built a shopping center where you can buy rare plants from the Exbury Garden. Today, a huge garden area can be traveled by a small train through narrow gauge, but it is best to go around the garden on foot and live to enjoy the beauties of plants collected from all over the world: India, Japan, China, Spain, America. Some plants from the garden collection died in their historical homeland.
Many amazing hybrids created in the Axbury greenhouses have achieved universal recognition among gardeners. Such hybrids include the “blue alpine rose”, which resists all attempts by photographers to correctly convey extraordinary combinations of flowers, since pure blue flowers in almost all images look reddish.
Wood-like rhodendrons with flaming reddish flowers are often found in the gardens of South England and Cornwall. Real bouton canvases form arches over guests, harmonious plant compositions are replaced by daring experiments, a new view of the reported reservoirs is always revealed, with flowers reflected in them and snow-white clouds in the blue sky. Camellias also found perfect conditions for growth here and captivate with the outlandish abundance of buds.
The Exbury Garden is open to the public, but is still the property of the Rothschild barons. Walking around the garden is very nice. Almost the whole area is covered with forests. Some trees have been preserved since the 18th century. It’s unrealistic to get lost here - there are information signs around. Among the impenetrable landings, fascinating elements come across every now and then: statues, benches, streams, bridges. It is better to visit the garden in early May, when bells join the flourishing rhodendrons. Over the year, nearly 110,000 thousand guests visit the Exbury Garden.
