A botanical treasure hunt at Ebben nursery (Netherlands)

Ebben, a plant nursery in the Netherlands, with open fields of towering trees that go on until the horizon, is a highly renowned partner for buyers who need to plant “en masse”. They come to mark entire rows of trees and bushes that will one day line city streets or public parks. For these types of projects, each specimen needs to be identical in order to create an impressive visual effect.

But what becomes of the “rejected” plants, those with an unruly branch, a too ample trunk or a different shape than its peers? While large-scale buyers turn up their noses, we are delighted to discover these little gems. They add to the uniqueness of our clients’ gardens and the are the reason it is so important to visit plant nurseries rather than ordering from a catalogue.

During these visits, you can often find rare specimens. These are often bets made by the nursery, who planted seemingly obscure seeds in the hopes that they would one day find popularity. This time at Ebben, we had a quite serendipitous encounter with one such rarity: a rhododendron ‘windbeam’, which is a hybrid plant originating in the United States. We first spotted this cultivar, with its stunning clusters of translucent pink flowers and olive-green foliage, during a visit to Chanticleer Garden in Pennsylvania, nestled under a forest of pine trees. A lovely surprise discovery that was exactly the treasure we were hunting for on behalf of one of our clients.