A young oak sapling with a special history will be going under the hammer at a popular annual charity plant fair in a North Shropshire village on May Day Bank Holiday Monday, May 2.
The sapling has been propagated from an acorn off a tree that was originally planted in the grounds at Combermere Abbey by the Duke of Wellington in 1820, when he visited to stand as godfather to Baron Combermere’s son.
Combermere Abbey’s head gardener Phil Tatler has now grown the seedling to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Wellington’s victory at The Battle of Waterloo, in 1815.
“The successful bidder will be able to enjoy watching this healthy young specimen grow into a fine heritage tree, then leave a historic legacy for posterity,” said Gill Eleftheriou, co-ordinator of Welshampton Plant Fair. “The woodlands surrounding the walled gardens at Combermere Abbey, sweeping down to the Mere, are especially beautiful at bluebell time, but well worth a visit on any opening day.”
The Wellington oak sapling is lot three in Welshampton Plant Fair’s auction of ‘Special Plants’ at 1.15pm, which will be conducted by Andrew Beeston, senior fine art auctioneer and valuer at Halls in Shrewsbury, one of the plant fair’s main sponsors.
The event, held at Welshampton Parish Hall, opens at noon with thousands of quality plants on offer in the Grand Plant Sales together with home-made cakes, preserves and delicious refreshments. Proceeds will be divided between Shropshire Macmillan Cancer Support and St Michael and All Angels Church, Welshampton.
For the first time this year a ‘Special Plants’ auction catalogue, with details and photos of the lots, is available for visitors to view ahead on the event. The catalogue, which has been produced by the fine art team at Halls, is accessible via a link on the fair’s Facebook page: https://issuu.com/welshamptonplantfair/docs/welshampton_catalogue_2016-final_ve/1
Also included in the ‘Special Plants’ is Malmaison carnation ‘Duchess of Westminster’ (lot 13), which has been specially propagated for the auction by Eaton Hall Gardens and donated by the Duchess of Westminster. Lot 19 is Styrax obassia, which has been donated from the outstanding gardens at Hodnet Hall, where it was home-grown by head gardener Ross Underwood.
As a tribute to plantswoman Lady Cholmondeley, a generous supporter of the plant fair since its inception who died last November, head gardener at Cholmondeley, Barry Grain, has donated three plants.
They are Lonicera ‘Golden Trumpet’, a beautifully trained honeysuckle which featured in Cholmondeley Gardens’ display at Tatton Park last summer, Wisteria floribunda ‘Lavender Lace’, which adorns the castle walls and rose ‘Wild Rover’, a long-flowering bush rose with scented semi-double vibrant red-purple flowers representing Lady Cholmondeley’s rose garden.
Lot 30 comprises male and female Schisandra grandiflora ‘Lahlu’ and ‘Janu’ from Crûg Farm Nursery, near Caernarfon, lots 37 and 38 are unusual Salvias from Wollerton Old Hall, Wollerton, Market Drayton, lot 46 is an American Pecan tree from the private gardens of noted plantsman Lord Kenyon of Gredington and three rare Hyrdangeas have been donated by plantsmen Joe and Wendy Sime of Penley.
Mrs Eleftheriou has also managed to track down a rare Iris ‘Ellesmere’ (siberian), which has been donated by Alun and Jill Whitehead at Aulden Farm Nursery, near Leominster and is lot 40 in the auction.
Last year’s 10th anniversary plant fair raised a record £10,024, taking the figure raised for charity by the big-hearted villagers to £50,000. More details about the event are available online at www.welshamptonplantgair.co.uk