In 1994 a species of tree was found in a narrow canyon in the Blue Mountains in Australia by David Noble, a New South Wales National Parks and wildlife officer and part time explorer, who also had an interest in plants. The tree was thought previously to be extinct having only been found in fossilised remains, so its ancestors were around in the time of dinosaurs! The location of the trees has been kept secret to protect them.

The tree was named Wollemia nobilis (after David Noble) commonly known as the Wollemi Pine. It isn’t in fact a pine but is part of the Araucariaceae family which includes the Monkey Puzzle tree and the Norfolk Island Pine.

As you can see it has deep green ferny leaves, a dark brown knobbly bark often referred to as looking like coco-pops! Some specimens are single stemmed whereas others have multiple stems.

The Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney propagated a limited number of “First Generation” trees and made them available by auction with Sotheby’s in 2005. A customer of Castle Gardens was very interested in the story and was keen to purchase one of the first-generation trees and in the early hours by telephone a successful bid was made. Other trees in the collection went all around the world and many ended up in botanic gardens with others in private collections.

The tree was duly delivered to Castle Gardens and was on display for several months before heading off to its home which was large pot in a courtyard garden. It has been in a pot being enjoyed in the private garden until the recent sad death of the owner. It was then donated for everyone to enjoy and a new spot was found for it in conjunction with Sherborne Town Council in Pageant Gardens.

It was planted by a collaboration of horticulturalists from the town council and Castle Gardens very early one morning in the spring of 2025.