苗圃概况
异国情调地球植物苗圃 Exotic Earth Plants 在德文郡的 Diptford，是一家只做邮购、不对公众开放的苗圃，主打木曼陀罗 Brugmansia 和其他亚热带植物。按园主的说法，这批植物最早是 2012 年他在自家园子里养的半耐寒亚热带收集，2018 年才正式立起苗圃来卖。
促成这件事的是他几次去锡利群岛以及英国西南部不少园子的经历。他要的植物有个明确标准：在英国只要稍加御寒就能活下来的亚热带种类。多数来自南美，也有来自别处的。苗圃位于南德文气候比较温和的地带。
木曼陀罗国家收藏
2024 年 6 月，这批木曼陀罗收藏正式成为英国植物保护组织 Plant Heritage 的国家收藏，园主自己形容这批收藏养了十年以上。木曼陀罗属一共七个种，按 IUCN 红色名录全部列为野外灭绝，分成耐寒的冷生型和喜温的暖生型两组。
这七个种分别是：B. arborea、B. sanguinea、B. vulcanicola 为冷生型；B. aurea、B. insignis、B. suaveolens 与 B. versicolor 为暖生型。苗圃在收集全部七个原生种，多数在卖的植株则是杂交品种。这批收藏一年到头都能在网店和植物市集上见到。
在售品类
网站的商品目录里有一百八十件在售，其中木曼陀罗及其杂交种占了大约一百二十件，剩下的六十来件是别的亚热带植物，分大类看有 iochroma 与 trozelia、茄属、特殊倒挂金钟、大叶植物、稀有植物和异乎寻常的植物几档。
这部分杂类里能看出苗圃的取向：迷迭香属以外的兰花类 Dracula 与 Masdevallia 有多款，还有 ensete ventricosum、芭蕉、魔芋、色彩浓烈的 tetrapanax rex 和 salvia macrophylla，以及 fuchsia boliviana 这类细长花型的倒挂金钟。
购买与包装
苗圃不设门市，全部走邮购。植株统一用 13 厘米盆（一升）出货，每盆单独装盒、套袋再裹气泡膜，固定牢靠后才封箱；一次买多株时，各个小盒再固定成一箱。英国境内、海峡群岛和马恩岛走皇家邮政一等快递追踪服务，英国本土一般一到三个工作日送达，偏远群岛三到五天。
收到货有问题要尽快联系，苗圃可能会要求拍照核实，确认属实后七天内可以退换或退款，退款时需附上订单号并用原包装寄回。植物属生鲜商品，消费者的七天无理由退货权不完全适用，但苗圃仍按七天的期限办。花色与实物略有出入不算问题，个体之间本就有差异。
养护与参加市集
站上把木曼陀罗按暖生和冷生分开写了养护要点，另有针对 B. sanguinea 和 B. suaveolens 的单独说明，还接了美国农业部的耐寒分区地图让园子对号入座。苗圃自己的说法是分区图只是参考，挡风、朝向和局部小气候才是关键，园子背风向阳会更好过冬。
除邮购外，苗圃一年里还会参加各地的植物市集，2027 年已排定的是六月在康沃尔圣奥塞尔附近办的 Tregrehen 稀有植物市集。老板会亲自到场，市集上买到的货也可以留到现场取。
The nursery
Exotic Earth Plants is at Diptford in Devon, a mail order nursery that does not open its gates to the public. It works on Brugmansia and other subtropical plants. By the owner’s account the stock began as semi-hardy subtropical plants kept in his own garden in 2012, and became a nursery in 2018.
Several trips to the Isles of Scilly and visits to gardens across south-west Britain shaped it. The brief is specific: subtropical plants that can be grown in this country with only minimal winter protection. Most originate in South America, some from elsewhere. The nursery sits in the mild climate of south Devon.
A National Collection of Brugmansia
In June 2024 the Brugmansia collection became a National Plant Collection under Plant Heritage, which the owner describes as more than ten years in the making. Brugmansia has seven species, and the IUCN Red List lists all seven as extinct in the wild. They fall into two genetically separate groups, cold growing and warm growing.
The species are B. arborea, B. sanguinea and B. vulcanicola as cold growing, and B. aurea, B. insignis, B. suaveolens and B. versicolor as warm growing. The nursery is working towards growing all seven; most of what it sells are hybrids. The collection can be bought through the website through the year and seen at plant fairs.
What is on sale
The online catalogue lists a hundred and eighty products, of which about a hundred and twenty are Brugmansia and their hybrids. The rest are other subtropical plants, sorted into categories for Iochroma and Trozelia, Solanum, selected Fuchsia species, large leaf plants, rare plants and unusual plants.
The mixed list shows the taste involved: several Dracula and Masdevallia orchids, ensete ventricosum, bananas, taro, the boldly coloured tetrapanax rex and salvia macophylla, and fuchsia boliviana, a species with long, slim flowers.
Ordering and packing
There is no shop to visit; everything is by post. Plants go out in 13cm pots of one litre, each boxed, bagged and bubble wrapped, then anchored so it cannot move. Several plants travel in one outer box with the individual boxes secured inside. UK mainland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man go by Royal Mail Tracked 24 Hour, usually one to three working days on the mainland and three to five days to the islands.
If a plant arrives in poor condition, get in touch straight away; the nursery may ask for a photograph to establish what happened. Once a fault is agreed, plants can be returned within seven days for a replacement or refund, with the order number enclosed and the original packaging used. Plants are perishable goods and consumer rights do not apply in full, but the seven days is honoured all the same. Colour not matching a photograph exactly is not treated as a fault, since specimens always vary a little.
Growing them and meeting the nursery
The site splits its Brugmansia advice into warm growing and cold growing, with separate notes on B. sanguinea and B. suaveolens, and it links the USDA hardiness zone map so a gardener can find their zone. The nursery is careful to say the map is only a guideline: shelter from the wind, aspect and local microclimate matter more, and a sheltered, south-facing garden gets through winter better.
As well as the online shop, the nursery takes a stall at plant fairs. The one currently listed for 2027 is the Tregrehen Rare Plant Fair, near St Austell in Cornwall, in June. The owner is there in person, and orders placed online can be collected at the event.
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