Otter Nurseries answers SOS from TV gardener

Otter Nurseries staff recently sprang into action after receiving an SOS phone call from Alan Titchmarsh.

The celebrity gardener was creating a garden in Bideford for his TV show, Love Your Garden and wanted to know if the East Devon garden centre had a ready supply of the specific plants needed for his garden design.

Hardy nursery worker Carla Ward-Best said: “At first we thought it was a wind up, but there’s no mistaking his voice. He was very knowledgeable about the plants he wanted, too.”

The garden in question was being created for the Woods family who had moved to North Devon from France after dad Alex suffered a major epileptic fit and brain haemorrhage, causing him to lose his sight. Mr Titchmarsh had planned a coastal-style garden with a French twist, but the original supplier was unable to fulfil the order.

“The production team had rung a number of Devon garden centres but no-one had enough of the right plants,” explained Carla. “They needed coastal species such as Erigeron, Eryngium, Limonium latifolium – sea lavender – and lots of echium, which is common near the sea.”

Following Mr Titchmarsh’s request, Otter Nurseries put together 100 plants from the Ottery St Mary growing area, ready for collection the next day. However, when the television production team arrived in the morning they brought a lorry – and an additional list! Staff scrambled military-style to gather trellis, climbers and specimen shrubs – in total the garden centre supplied around 300 plants.

Managing Director, Jacqui Taylor said: “We were delighted to be able to help with the double request at such short notice. We hope the new garden will offer renewed quality of life to Mr Woods and his family.”

Episode 5 of Love Your Garden was broadcast on July 22 and is now available to view on ITV Player.