The Harold Comber Collection consists of plants that are connected to, or named after, plant hunter Harold Comber, who was the son of Nymans Head Gardener, James Comber (1895-1953). Nymans has many plants associated with his plant hunting trips and some of the original specimens can be found in the garden today.
The Erica & Calluna (Sussex heather cvs.) Collection is a grouping of plants where all cultivars are directly connected to a person, family, garden or place in Sussex.
The Nymans Collection consists of 37 different cultivars of mainly trees and shrubs that are in some way connected to Nymans. These are named after a person linked with the garden or family, or have been bred here by one of the propagators in Nymans history.
Many of the plants in our collection are from wild origin material via plant collecting trips in the 1920s. We have a great history of plant hunters and are lucky that the Messel family have always been plant focused, meanig that new and exciting species have been introduced to the garden and will always have a place in its future.
On a daily basis we record, propagate and work on getting all significat plants in our collection labelled, tagged and put onto IrisGB, a plant records database. This can really help us tell the story of the garden and how it has developed since 1890 when the Messels bought Nymans.