The Norfolk Mangave breeders with a love of silver and spikey plants The Plant Based Podcast

In this bonus episode of The Plant Based Podcast, Ellen is at the Norfolk Olive Tree Company. She chats to Paul and Antonia Smith in their shed within a Mediterranean courtyard, surrounded by a wonderful evergreen garden. Paul and Antonia love the sculptural, evergreen qualities of olive trees and they ship trees from Europe that are no longer fruitful, to live out their retirement in the U.K. They discuss how olive trees can live for up to 800 years on average, as well as how they acclimatise to UK climates.
The second half of the podcast is all about spiky plants - Agave and the relatively new Mangave which is tipped to be the musthave plant of 2020. Mangave is a hybrid of  Agave and Manfreda, and Paul is propagating lots of them! He calls Mangave a “plant geek’s dream” – it combines Manfreda’s striking colours and patterns with Agave’s strong structure, but without the spikes. Share in Paul’s passion; he’s a true plant forecaster and loves new plants and varieties. His enthusiasm for Mangave is infectious!
 
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