Gardening Talks & Tours

Plant Hunters & Pioneers

The Story of the Veitch Nurseries of Exeter & Chelsea

Caradoc Doy has been researching the story of the Veitch Nurseries of Exeter & Chelsea and is available for bookings to give illustrated talks. This includes the nurseries of John Veitch in Killerton (Established circa 1770's), James Veitch in Exeter (Est. circa 1832), James Veitch & Son in Exeter (Est. 1839), James Veitch & Sons, Chelsea (Est. 1864) and Robert Veitch & Son, Exeter (Est. 1864)

Caradoc is sometimes available at short notice to cover for last minute cancellations.

Caradoc Doy tells the fascinating story of the Veitch Nurseries of Exeter & Chelsea giving an overview of the 'life of the' firm, some of the popular plants they introduced and illustrated with many interesting slides.

The Veitch family probably influenced horticulture in Britain and around the world more than any single family had done before them or is likely to be able to do again. The Nurseries of James Veitch & Sons were responsible for many horticultural firsts. They were the first commercial nursery in Britain to sponsor their own plant collectors to explore foreign lands, returning many hundreds of new exotic plants for British gardens. These arduous and often dangerous journeys brought the raw materials for the Veitch Nurseries to exclusively market their own introductions which laid the foundations of what was to become an institution of immense importance and an influence which has left its mark on the gardening world today.

William Lobb was the first collector to be sent out, travelling to South America (and later North America), returning well-known plants to Britain such as the Monkey Puzzle, fuchsias, escallonias, Ceanothus, Embothrium, Lapageria, Crinodendron and later, many conifers, most famously the Wellingtonia (Sequoiadendron giganteum).

John Dominy, the nurseries' chief hybridizer is credited with raising (1854) and flowering (1856) the world's first official orchid hybrid (Calanthe × Dominii), which lead to the breeding of hundreds of new orchids as well as the establishment of a new branch of horticulture. This was a highly controversial achievement in Victorian Britain as it was regarded as 'tampering with nature.' This was later followed by the world's first Nepenthes hybrid (pitcher plants) which the Victorians held such as fascination for.

Richard Pearce collected many plants including the lovely Azara microphylla, Eucryphia glutinosa, Hippeastrums and the gorgeous Masdevallia veitchiana. Most importantly, was his discovery of the tuberous begonia (Begonia bolivienesis). Five of the seven wild species used for the early hybridisation work were introduced by Veitchian plant collectors. Veitch hybridists produced the first begonia hybrids which lead to the creation of another specialised branch of horticulture.

The Veitch Nurseries sent twenty-three collectors to many countries over a seventy-two year span. Other famous names included Thomas Lobb, John Gould Veitch, Peter C. M. Veitch, Frederick Burbidge, Charles Maries, Charles Curtis, James H. Veitch, Ernest H. Wilson and William Purdom.

We have the Veitch Nurseries to thank for so many of our garden and indoor plants that you would be hard-pressed to find a garden in Britain that either does not contain a 'Veitch' plant or one derived from their nurseries. Many others of their introduction are now rare in the wild. Ironically, in 'taking' these plants, the plant collectors have enabled them to grow safely in Britain, in some cases saving them from complete loss and now enabling some of them to be returned to their native countries.

Caradoc Doy has been researching the plants introduced by the Veitch nurseries and their collectors in the anticipation of creating a Veitch Heritage Collection of plants for study and conservation. This research led him to republish James Veitch & Sons' own seminal work on Veitch plant introductions, Hortus Veitchii, in 2006 to mark the centenary of its original production.

For more details on his rates and availability, please make contact.

Dates of Caradoc's Forthcoming Talks

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