Ilex aquifolium, the common holly, is native to the UK and much of Europe and has been cultivated for hundreds of years, producing a great many varieties. A number of these are most impressive and this is one notable example, Ilex aquifolium ‘Argentea Marginata’.

Of the millions of people who have lived at some time in a home with a Swiss cheese plant (Monstera deliciosa), very few will have seen one produce fruit. This is rare indoors. Now is your chance, for the magnificent mature specimen in the Pavilions has started to fruit.

Fatsia japonica has so many star qualities that it is not surprising that it holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit. It is evergreen, remaining handsome year round, and its huge glossy leaves impart a bold and exotic look to a tropical bed. It is valuable too as a landscaping plant for very shady sites, as well as windy seaside ones. Not many plants are ornamental in so many situations.

From slender stems, the clear scarlet, cup-shaped flowers of Hesperantha coccinea 'Major' emerge throughout autumn and early winter, catching the eye in the mixed borders above the fountain.

Cornus 'Norman Hadden' provides a stunning display of beautiful flower bracts, thickly layered along the branches from May to July. They slowly change from white to various shades of deep pink.

At the top of the West Lawn, in front of the pavilions, a dense clump of overgrown hollies and shrubs has recently been cleared, resulting in much improved vistas and the dramatic revealing of a fine oak, Quercus x hispanica 'Lucombeana'.