The exotic plants of Trebah Garden

NARRATOR: Trebah Garden on the south coast of Cornwall is among the region's most famous botanical wonderlands. As we see here, its chief gardener, Darren, is in his element. The gunnera manicata, commonly known as giant rhubarb, is in full bloom. These subtropical plants often grow to be three meters high. Several of these fast-growing plants virtually sprang up to this size over night and the new ones have to go.

DARREN: "I could just imagine them filming some Indiana Jones film just in here hacking away through it with a machete - pretty much like we do in the winter months when, as we say, we cut them all back. We're in here with machetes just chopping away, chopping all the old, dead leaf stalks off and the old leaves."

NARRATOR: Indeed, Cornwall's climate allows for plants to grow as they would in a greenhouse.

DARREN: "And they actually grow around about - they get to full height in about three and a half, four months. Then she starts, usually in March. Unfortunately we do get a few frosts occasionally which can just knock them back. These were actually cut back this year by the frost."

NARRATOR: Visiting Trebah Garden is like taking a trip to the tropics. Palm trees grow to their full splendor, as does bamboo, as well as the odd orchid or two. There are approximately 50 such public gardens in Cornwall. Most of them were started in the mid-19th century by Britain's nobility and entrepreneurs. These patrons commissioned so-called plant hunters to supply England with exotic plant life from all over the world - like rhododendron seeds from the Himalayas and tree ferns from New Zealand. And Cornwall's mild climate is the reason why all sorts of flora have always done well here.