I first met Lee McKie of Urban & Rural Plants at the Devon County Show in May this year. His show display consisted of many dozens of spectacular ‘Mediterranean’ style plants, each of which had been selected by Lee on one of his plant buying trips to wholesale nurseries in Spain. The centerpiece of his stand was a magnificent Olive tree, Olea europaea, which is reckoned to be in the region of five hundred years old.

 

On investigation Lee informed me that the tree was soon to be planted as a focal point in the front garden of a landscaping project near the Devon coast. Lee’s team was recently commissioned to carry out the landscape and planting for this project. We arranged to meet up again at the Urban & Rural Plants nursery in Exeter to carry on our discussion about plants and all things horticulture.

 

 

Next time we will be traveling south to see this ancient olive tree being positioned in the client’s garden. This will of course be subject to any more adverse weather upsetting the plans!