An inspirational garden visit.

Garden visit to The Old Rectory.

On a beautiful sunny September day, we joined the members of the West & Midlands Iris Group visiting the garden of The Old Rectory, Eastnor, Herefordshire.

In 1848 Sir George Gilbert Scott surveyed the Church at Eastnor and made plans to build a new rectory between 1849 and 1850 with a large and asymmetrical house.

Around this, today’s owners have created a garden of 3.5 acres on Herefordshire red clay, much improved by mulching over the 15 years they have been developing it.

We first visited the walled vegetable garden designed in the style of a potager garden with a mix of fruit, flowers and vegetables, some in raised beds. This area was full of colours from annuals and dahlias, a particular favourite.

Nectarines and peaches are fan trained on the back wall of this greenhouse.

Here fruit trees are grown as either step-overs or espaliers, large apples on the Reverend Wilkes tree particularly caught my eye.

Pots of the beautiful species Pelargonium sidoides decorated the steps…

…down to the traditional orchard edged with two serpentine herbaceous borders.

Then on to a second greenhouse, this one dedicated to growing a variety of peppers and tomatoes. Speckled Heart, a stripy heart-shaped tomato and a black Queen of the Night were two of the more unusual ones.

A bed alongside the greenhouse was filled with more dahlias,

From here you had an excellent view of the ‘piece de resistance’ of the garden, the Tulip bed.

This bed was designed and built only three years ago in the shape of a tulip. In its centre are two curved weathered oak benches partly hidden by a mass planting of, I think, Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’.

Two large beds surrounding this are colour themed with white at the far entrance and gradually becoming warmer towards the greenhouse. There is a video link at the end of this post featuring the Tulip Bed.

We next visited the new woodland area and then onto the croquet lawn past rose-covered obelisks. Yew hedges at either end circled a Lutyens-style bench with roses planted behind it and in urns on either side.

Landscaping and different garden ornaments have been used throughout to create interest.

Steps led you up to a terrace packed with planting creating different garden rooms to suit shady or sunny situations.

Ornamental gates lead down to a rose garden and onto a large pond where members were happy to sit and enjoy the setting. Paths cut through the long grass here led you down to the Church.

A truly magnificent garden.

Welcome refreshments were served in the coach house and monies collected will be donated to the Church for repairing the stained glass windows.

Please click on “Watch on YouTube” for the Tulip Shaped bed video:

Autumn planting, Spring colour.

This year there is a new planting plan for the raised beds bordering the patio. This will be the first year I have not planted tulips here instead there are Wallflowers Persian Carpet, Digitalis Suttons Apricot and Forget-me-nots’. These have all been grown from seed a considerable saving on plants along with not buying tulip bulbs.

I have saved tulip bulbs from last year, these will all be planted in pots, then if they do not perform well they can be moved out of sight.

The tulip bulbs have spent the summer in the greenhouse they are now clean and ready for the planting.

The Foxglove, Digitalis ‘Pam’s Choice’ has been grown for the main border.

What have you planted for spring colour?

Preparing Pelargoniums for Winter.

One of the gardening jobs that has concentrated my mind this autumn has been preparing the growing pelargonium collection for the winter. I have been following the Pelargonium Society’s Website Here. advice on reducing the size of the plants so that they will fit into the space available. They recommend to reduce the risk of botrytis infecting plants
when they are cut back to a node to ensure the growing medium in the pots has dried out.

Having followed this advice it is disappointing to be seeing infected plants even after treatment with yellow sulphur.

The pelargonium society has recently posted on their YouTube Channel that this is one of the worst autumns for this problem due to the extremly mild, wet weather in the UK this autumn.
A gardening friend has recommended spraying with a fungicide.

Young plants growing on for next year.

Pictures from the greenhouse this October.

Some other greenhouse Winter residents.

Gardeners are traditionally an optimistic breed so here’s looking forward to a colourful pelargonium 2023.

How do you prepare your pelargoniums for the winter?

Drought Busters in Our Garden@19.

Very few plants in our gardens can survive these temperatures let alone flower. These are the few exceptions here.

I was once told I would regret planting this in my garden because it can be invasive. In our free draining soil, I am very happy to have it.

Cotyledon orbiculata just starting to flower.

What is surviving in your garden?

Drought Tolerant Gardens 3

The Old Vicarage East Ruston.

During our tour of East Anglia, this garden was high on my Wish list to visit.

When Alan Gray and Graham Robeson first came to the old vicarage there was no garden whatsoever, it was a blank canvas. Every garden was designed entirely by them as were the various buildings, their sole aim has been to try and enhance the setting of their home. Alan occasionally writes for the RHS magazine and has his own YouTube channel. Throughout the garden there are many rare and unusual plants growing. They propagate from these in small numbers so that they may be purchased from the plant sales area. There is a converted barn for a tea room with a wonderful display of vintage garden tools on the walls. The garden lies 1½ miles from the North sea.

The pedestrian entrance court with its free draining gravely soil is planted each spring with a variety of succulents, with Aeonium ‘zwartkop’ and the slaty blue Cotyledon orbiculata taking centre stage.

The garden spans 32 acres, containing many garden rooms to discover and explore. Herbaceous borders, gravel gardens, sub-tropical gardens, a box parterre, sunken rose garden, Mediterranean garden, Walled garden, large woodland garden and a Desert Wash garden.

The Desert Wash.

This area of the garden is designed to resemble parts of Arizona where, it probably only rains, once or twice a year, but when it does rain it floods and great rushes of water channel through the landscape tossing rocks and stones around and leaving behind dry channels and islands where succulent plants flourish.

The real work in making this garden started one metre below the surface where they broke up the sub-soil and incorporated lots of gravel. Then they built layer upon layer of gravel and gravel mixed with soil, the aim being to keep this area very free draining especially during the winter.

Many of the plants grown here are able to tolerate some cold provided they remain dry at the root. Some four hundred tonnes of flint of various sizes have been used in the construction of this area.

They are always experimenting and pushing the boundaries with the planting. Besides the usual drought tolerant plants you will find Puyas, Bromeliads, Agaves and Aloes. Nothing is wrapped for winter protection, the excellent drainage prevents water lying around their roots.

Slide Show The Desert Wash.

Viewed through a porthole cut in the shelter belt is this much photographed borrowed view of Happisburgh lighthouse.

St Mary’s church at the end of the garden.

This is one area of the garden, there is so much more to see not least its magnificent Walled Garden which was built to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

Drought Tolerant Gardens 2

RHS Hyde Hall.

In 1955 when Dr and Mrs Robinson came to Hyde Hall in 1955 there were only six trees on the top of a windswept hill and no garden. They donated the 42-acre garden, Hyde Hall, to the Royal Horticultural Society in 1993. We visited there in August 2012 during our garden tour of Essex and East Anglia.

A dry garden was created in 2001 by Mathew Wilson, curator at the time, it aimed to show visitors how they can work with the environment and use drought-tolerant plants.

This path leads into the dry garden, described as one of the crowning achievements of Hyde Hall.

Work began in the winter of 2000, which ironically was one of their wettest winters. It is home to more than 400 different species of plant.

The garden has been built on a south-facing slope covering 0.4 acres, using Gabbro boulders and subsoil mounded over the rubble.

The topsoil was mixed with grit and sand to offer a free-draining environment for the plants.

On summer days, with the rolling hills in the backdrop, the garden looks rather like a Mediterranean outcrop, and it’s easy to forget that you are in the heart of Essex.

In spring, the garden shines with golden Euphorbia, conifers are included for winter interest and drought tolerance, while in summer it turns purple as Verbena bonariensis attracts hosts of butterflies and ornamental grasses towers high above the garden.

Such as the wonderful Stipa gigantea below. Alliums are planted for spring colour with Agapanthus, which you just see on the left for later in the year. Also on the left is Perovskia ‘Blue Spire’ which provides colour over a long season.

Echinops ‘platinum blue’ and Verbascum olympicum enjoy these conditions.

Also, the beautiful Crinum Powelli is here with Eryngium planum.

From here you could look down onto the gravel or scree garden which had more recently been developed.

Some of the stars up close.

Hyde Hall is well worth a visit if you are in the area, this is only one of the many inspirational gardens within its boundary. Do you have any drought tolerant stars shining in your garden?

Drought Tolerant Gardens.

With the heat wave currently restricting me to the shade of my office and cooling fan, I thought it provided an ideal opportunity to write about drought-tolerant gardens.

We spent a week in August 2012 visiting gardens in Essex and East Anglia, one of the driest areas of the UK.

The first one we visited was Beth Chatto’s, famous for its gravel garden.

Beth Chatto’s Gravel Garden.

Beth Chatto was born in 1923 to enthusiastic gardening parents. After working as a teacher she married the late Andrew Chatto, his lifelong interest in the origins of plants influenced the development of the gardens and their use of plants to this day.
Following Andrew’s retirement, they built their new home on wasteland that had been part of the Chatto fruit farm. The site presented many difficulties for starting a garden including low annual rainfall. It was to Andrew’s plant research that they turned.

Informed by his knowledge Beth selected plants for a series of gardens that could thrive under different conditions. Beth Chatto’s first book, “The Dry Garden”, was published in 1978.

The gardens began in 1960 and from an overgrown wasteland of brambles, parched gravel and boggy ditches it has been transformed, using plants adapted by nature to thrive in different conditions. Thus an inspirational, informal garden has developed.

A light and airy tearoom allows visitors to relax and take in their surroundings over homemade cake.

The world-famous gravel garden inspired by the low local rainfall, is full of drought-resistant plants from the Mediterranean. The site was originally the nursery car park.

It was first subsoiled to break up the pan. The soil is largely gravel and sand, mushroom compost was added to help plants become established.

This picture shows Agapanthus Evening Star & Verbena bonariensis with large-leaved Berginias, in the bed across the path. The Berginias are a favourite for edging borders, providing all-year-round interest with many developing a rich red tone in winter.

Self-seeders such as Fennel and Verbena thrive in these conditions……….

along with Stipa tennuissima and Verbascum.

A few conifers were included as accent plants, Beth wrote in her book, “they, surprisingly, survived due, I think, to mulching in the early days” here also Stipa gigantea and Euphobias.

Perovskia blue spire and Alliums are some of the plants that make up the planting palette of this garden.

The Mount Etna Broom in the centre, has grown to become a 15ft tree.
Clean gravel is added to the paths from time to time to help conserve moisture and suppress germinating weeds.

Trees, such as Eucalyptus and shrubs were also chosen for their drought-tolerant qualities.

The Scree Garden.

Planted in 1999 in part of the old mediterranean garden, the Judas tree in the centre of the island was planted over 45 years ago and forms a focal point.

On the day we visited succulents and alpines were on display along with the washing

The accompanying plant nursery stocks over 2000 plants, all displayed by growing conditions. They do provide a mail order service.

If you are in the area I would recommend a visit, there is also a water garden, woodland and reservoir gardens. You can visit the restaurant, plant centre & gravel garden free of charge.

Bonsai in Worcester.

We recently visited a group of gardens in Worcester who were opening for the National Garden Scheme, I don’t think many of the visitors would have expected to find such a wonderful Bonsai collection in Worcester.

From the NGS website,

“The garden has been 14 years in the making. It was designed around a collection of Bonsai trees which needed to be displayed sympathetically in fairly natural surroundings. It is a low maintenance garden with many oriental influences and a studio designed to look like a tea house. There are also two small ponds with fish and wildlife.”

The owners are Malcolm & Diane Styles.

I am sure you will agree with me this is a wonderful garden and bonsai collection.

Roses.

A video tour of the roses in Our Garden@19.

Please turn your sound on watch on YouTube and select full screen and enjoy.

Thank you.

On June the 4th and 5th six gardens in the village of Hanley Swan opened in aid of the National Garden scheme.

Thank you to all the supporters who baked cakes, helped with serving the teas and selling plants in support of Saint Richards Hospice, especially the garden owners who put a lot of work in to ensure their gardens looked wonderful and not least of all the visitors without who we would not raise any money for the two charities.

Some pictures from our garden just before opening.

We also had a group visit from Evesham U3A on Wednesday.

Despite poor weather on Sunday we raised £1619 to share between the two charities.

Open Gardens and Flower Festival.

This bank holiday we joined in with 16 others in the village for the Open Gardens and Flower Festival.

Some of the tulips had gone over however the Camassia leichtlinii ‘Blue Heaven’ were just beginning to open.

Their true beauty can be really appreciated when photographed up close.

I created a short video of the garden during a quiet moment between visitors.

Please turn on your sound, select Watch on YouTube then select full screen.

In The beginning, Seed Sowing.

I guess, if you asked any gardener how to sow seeds, you would receive a different answer from each one.

I recently gave a zoom presentation to the Worcestershire Careers Association gardening group on seed sowing.

These are my thoughts.

Containers.

There is a wide range of pots and containers for seed sowing, generally, I prefer to use small pots rather than seed trays because they provide a deeper root run until you get round to pricking out the seedlings.

Large seed trays also encourage the sowing of too much at a time.

I also use root trainers. The large ones are useful for growing sweetpeas, beans and sweet corn, and they save pricking out. You can then plant them directly into the garden. You can buy smaller ones, ideal for starting vegetables such as lettuce or annual flowers.

A free alternative is used toilet rolls centres which fit nicely into the plastic containers grapes are sold in.

Compost.

The choice of compost can be a controversial area. Legislation regarding the use of peat is driving the move to peat-free compost.

I think you only need one type of compost, multipurpose. I use Melcourt ‘sylva grow’, a peat-free one recommended by the RHS. This year I am experimenting with using Fertile Fibre, a Coir product. This is dehydrated making it light to carry and is easily rehydrated for use.

This Coir brick is rehydrated with 3 litres of water.

There is no doubt peat-free compost requires more feed, which may explain why some comparisons show poor results.

I also use fine grade vermiculite for seed sowing, it is light to carry, helps prevent seedlings from damping off and benefits root development. Vermiculite is a naturally occurring mineral that is heat-treated. Traditionally horticultural sand or grit would have been used and as a gardener with recurring back problems, reducing the weight of materials is an important consideration.

Sowing.

For small seeds, I sieve multipurpose compost, to remove the larger pieces, mixing it 50/50 with vermiculite. When planting small seeds, I water from above before sowing or from below afterwards.

After sowing I lightly cover with vermiculite and label. You can cover it with a polythene bag and place it on a well-lit window sill. I use a heated propagator which negates the need to cover individual pots. You will need to remove the individual cover when the seeds have germinated, keep warm with good light to prevent them from becoming leggy.

Coir Jiffy pellets are useful for propagating seeds and cuttings, they require soaking before use.

Once germinated they can be planted out into pots to grow on, this also saves pricking out.

I use a mixture of compost with around 25% vermiculite for growing on.

I grow larger seeds such as sweet peas, broad or runner beans in the same 50/50 mix without sieving, planting into root trainers or toilet roll centres.

What is your secret to successful seed sowing?

Mind the Gap!

I have been thinking for some time that the wooden bridge crossing the dry river in the Japanese garden would soon need replacing. It had developed a certain amount of spring when crossing!

It gave way the other day as I was crossing to the shelter, so the decision was made for me as to when I would replace it!

The path leading to it contains slabs set at the diamond so it was an easy choice to add two more as stepping stones, through the dry river bed, along with some more small cobbles.

These should not rot!

I can now carry my coffee/wine to the shelter without fear of spilling anything!

Japanese Gardens.

Following my post ‘Peace and Tranquility’ I thought it would be interesting to post some pictures, as slide shows, of Japanese gardens we have visited here in the UK.

Tatton Park.

From their website:

“The Japanese Garden was almost certainly the result of Alan de Tatton’s visit to the Anglo-Japanese Exhibition at the White City in London in 1910.

Inspired by what he saw there, Alan de Tatton decided to introduce a Japanese garden to Tatton. A team of Japanese workmen arrived to put together what is now rated to be the “finest example of a Japanese Garden in Europe.”

The Shinto Shrine and artefacts contained within the garden are all reputed to have been brought from Japan especially for the construction of the garden.” More Tatton Japanese Garden.

Compton Acres.

From their website. “The Japanese Garden encompasses Thomas Simpson’s love for the unique elegance and incomparable beauty of Japanese horticulture.

He imported genuine stone and bronze artefacts to enhance the garden. The Tea House is draped with Japanese wisteria (Wisteria floribunda) and plants native to Japan have been used including the spectacular Kurume Hybrid azaleas, Japanese cherries and maples together with hostas, Hakon grass and a Ginkgo. The pool is home to large Koi carp best viewed when crossing the water on the stepping stones. The Japanese garden is still regarded as one of the finest in the country.” Website: Compton Acres Japanese Garden.

Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons.

From their website: “It would be difficult to find a poet who hasn’t opined on the changing seasons, it is equally relevant for gardeners, be they amateur or professional, who wait with eager anticipation for the first signs that the earth is thawing.

Raymond Blanc OBE is no different and along with his garden team, waits patiently for spring to arrive, taking time to remember the different destinations he has visited and how these trips during different times of the year have coloured his visions.

When East and West meet

His visit to Japan in the early nineties was one such occasion, which ignited his imagination and inspired him to create a Japanese Garden in the environs of the 15th century Belmond Le Manoir. Captivated by the Japanese tradition of Hanami, a longstanding practice of welcoming spring (held between March and May), which is also known as the ‘cherry blossom festival’, Blanc wanted to bring part of his Japanese adventure back to the UK.

The Japanese Tea Garden at Belmond Le Manoir entices guests to become more mindful as they explore, crossing the oak bridge to find sanctuary and was influenced by Taoist, Buddhist and Shinto traditions.” More details of the Japanese Garden.

National Botanic Garden of Wales.

From their website: “This Japanese garden is called ‘Sui ou tei’, which refers to the national flowers of Japan and Wales, the cherry blossom and the daffodil.

It combines three different traditional Japanese garden styles: the pond-and-hill garden, the dry garden and the tea garden. Japanese garden styles have developed over a 1400-year history, each style celebrating the changing seasons in different ways.

Such changes illustrate the transience of life, and tiny details, such as leaf buds opening in springtime, play an important role by drawing attention to the passage of time.

In the last 150 years, Japanese gardens have been created all over the world, adapted to local conditions. They are appreciated for their tranquillity and sense of calm when visitors take the time to absorb the scenes presented by the garden.” Website.

Botanic Garden of Wales

Bridges Stone Mill.

Closer to home and on a more modest scale is Bridges Stone Mill, they open for the National Garden Scheme in Worcestershire.

“Once a cherry orchard adjoining the mainly C19 flour mill, this is now a 2½ acre year-round garden laid out with trees, shrubs, mixed beds and borders. The garden is bounded by a stretch of Leigh Brook (an SSSI), from which the mill’s own weir feeds a mill leat and small lake. A rose parterre and a traditional Japanese garden complete the scene.” Bridges Stone Mill NGS link

Then there is our garden with its small Japanese garden, open for the National Garden Scheme with five gardens in the village of Hanley Swan on the 4th and 5th of June. Details of all the gardens here: Hanley Swan NGS Open Gardens.

If you have the opportunity to visit a garden with a Japanese element, please do, I am sure you will find it relaxing and inspiring.

Peace and Tranquility in the Garden.

It has been said many times during the pandemic how important gardens and outdoor spaces have become to people from all walks of life.
Whether walking in the city parks or exploring the countryside everyone feels a benefit.
Those of us with gardens have also found them sanctuaries either to sit in enjoying a beverage of your choice or with your head down planting, weeding or sowing, when you soon forget everything else that has been going on.
When gardens have been able to open to the public there has been an increase in visitors, delighted to be able to visit gardens again.

Historically, gardens have always been considered sanctuaries, from the ancient Islamic gardens to the tranquillity of Japanese gardens.
Irene and I have, for some time, been attracted to Japanese style gardens, inspired by visits to Japanese gardens with the Japanese Garden Society. Most notable to Tatton Park where we meet Professor Fukuhara who helped with the restoration of their Japanese garden.
He took us inside the Japanese garden at Tatton and gave us a tour explaining the restoration of this famous garden.

The professor lectures on Japanese garden design in Japan and designed the gold medal and best in show Japanese garden at Chelsea in 2001, now relocated to the National Botanical Gardens in Wales, which we have visited several times.

He also redesigned and supervised the construction of the rock garden at RHS Wisley for the bicentenary of the RHS.

Those of you who have visited our garden will know we have a small enclosed area designed in the style of a Japanese stroll garden. Many visitors comment on the different atmosphere when they enter and sit in the shelter. With the three essential elements of a Japanese garden, rocks, water and plants, there is at the one entrance a Cherry tree.

Inside there are flowering spring trees, shrubs, bamboo and Acers, for their wonderful leaf colour, with rocks and a dry river bed leading to the Bamboo water spout.

The other gateway is covered with the stunning Japanese white Wisteria, floribunda ‘ Alba .‘

These elements can, I think, be easily incorporated into any garden or even just on a patio to help bring that sense of peace and tranquillity that many have searched for during these times.

Little did I realise when I booked this month’s speaker, for our garden club, on Japanese garden design history how important some of these elements in a garden would become to those of us who are fortunate to own a garden.

Wishing you peace and tranquility were ever you find it.

Winter Stems, Leaves and Flowers.

Three plants bringing colour and joy into our garden this January.

What is bringing colour and joy into your garden?

A Frosty Morning Workout.

Every January I wait for a frosty morning to pollard the Acer negundo Flamingo.

Without the cold weather, even in January, the sap will pour from the cut wounds, which could over time weaken the tree. The branches provide a lovely winter grey blue colour.

This is done to maintain the beautiful leaf colours, otherwise it can revert to green.

Done, now back inside for a coffee and warm up.

Next the rambling roses.

Do you have a cold weather must do job?

2022 Calendar.

I have chosen these pictures taken in Our Garden@19 during 2021 to create a calendar for this year.

It is difficult to select a favourite photograph from each month of the year.

However these are my choices.

I have chosen my favourite photograph from last year as a calendar cover picture.

Do you have a favourite picture from 2021?

Happy 2022.

Yellow is the colour…

…of my true loves hair sang Donovan in 1965. It is currently the dominate colour around the garden.

In the Oriental Garden.

On the Patio.

Around the Borders.

Euphorbia ‘palustris’ over the blue churn.

William Shakespeare, Sonnet 73.

That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang …

From Shakespeare to Donovan the colour yellow inspires words.

Broughton Grange.

NGS Visit.

Broughton Grange featured on the BBC Gardeners World this week, if you have not seen the programme I would recommend watching on catchup for an up to date view of this outstanding garden.

We visited in July 2016 when it was open for the National Garden Scheme. It was on my must see list having seen pictures in magazines and reading about Tom Stuart-Smith design of the walled garden. It did not disappoint, seeing it again on Gardeners World inspired me to post pictures from our visit.

This garden description below is from their NGS entry.

“Broughton, Banbury, Oxfordshire

An impressive 25 acres of gardens and light woodland in an attractive Oxfordshire setting. The centrepiece is a large terraced walled garden created by Tom Stuart-Smith in 2001. Vision has been used to blend the gardens into the countryside. Good early displays of bulbs followed by outstanding herbaceous planting in summer. Formal and informal areas combine to make this a special site including newly laid arboretum with many ongoing projects.”

The Greenhouses.

The Walled Garden.

Arboretum, Topiary, Plant Sales and Teas.

The garden is open on certain days, please visit their website for more information: broughtongrange.com

Wildlife in Our Garden and Autumn Colour.

Goldfinches feeding on sunflower hearts.

Malus Golden Hornet and Tithonia ‘Torch’

Please select Watch on YouTube then full screen for video.

What is giving you Autumn Joy in the garden or countryside?

Our Garden@19 in September.

September is one of my favourite months in the garden, it could be nostalgia because we always had a wonderful show of Michaelmas Daises (Asters/Symphyotrichum) in our cottage garden at home. Many other plants also provide interest at this time of year, the annuals such as dahlias, late flowering perennials, trees and shrubs with changing leaf colour.

The Asters.

Symphyotrichum n.a ’ Harringtons Pink’ with Bee.

Symphyotrichum ‘Little Carlow, Solidago ‘Fireworks’ & Calamagrostis Brachytricha

Some of the others.

Calamagrostis x a. ‘ Karl Foerster’ . These white Asters flower in October.

The Movie.

Please turn on your sound, watch on YouTube and select full screen.

Do you have a favourite September plant?

Ravelin.

We visited Ravelin on Sunday, one of their National Garden Scheme open days. It is situated in the next village to us, Hanley castle. The description is from their NGS page.

“A ½ acre mature yet ever changing garden with a wide range of unusual plants full of colour and texture. Of interest to plant lovers and flower arrangers alike with views overlooking the fields and the Malvern hills.

Thought to be built on medieval clay works in the royal hunting forest. Small pottery pieces can be seen interspersed with sedum planting.

Designed to enable you to move through areas ranging from perennial and herbaceous planting, gravel, woodland and pond. Seating provides different views and experiences and the opportunity to appreciate the unusual plants collected by the owner.

Seasonal interest provided by a wide variety of hellebores, hardy geraniums, aconitums, heucharas, Michaelmas daisies, grasses and dahlias and a fifty-year-old silver pear tree complemented by self-seeding plants adding colour, vitality and encouraging wildlife.”

Below is a short video showing some of the garden during our visit. Please select Watch on YouTube then full screen on the video.

Cream teas were consumed and plants purchased!

They are next open on Sunday 3rd October 12-4pm.

Thank You.

Along with many garden owners, we originally decided not to open our garden this year due to the pandemic. However, with the improving situation, we have now held popup openings in June and September supporting the charity National garden Scheme. ngs.org.uk

During these days we have also sold plants for St Richards Hospice and at the village of Pirton church fair.
These events have raised just over £1000.

We have to say a big thank you to all our visitors who purchased tickets, refreshments and plants. To the volunteers who manned the stalls and the staff at the National Garden Scheme for their support.
The pictures are from the garden just before the September opening.

We are going forward with more confidence with five other gardens in the village joining us next year on the 4th and 5th June for the National Garden Scheme.

Exotics in September.

We have decided to hold another pop-up opening for the National Garden Scheme charity.

The exotics are looking good, I am hoping the Michaelmas Daisies will soon start to join them.

And in the greenhouse.

We hope for a sunny day so that visitors can enjoy the garden with tea and cake!

Double value.

Three plants in the garden offering attractive foliage as well as flowers.

Galtonia candicans has white bell flowers with lance like blue green striped leaves.

The Pholx are just starting to flower here, this is Phlox paniculate ‘Harlequin’, variegated leaves with a touch of pink.

This is the first time Colocasia ‘Black Dragon’ has flowered in the four or five years we have had it. We have always being pleased with just its stunning foliage.

Do you have any double value plants in your garden?

Some July Specials.

Thalictrum flavum subsp.glaucum and Campanula lactiflora ‘Prichard’s Variety’

Clematis ‘Perle d’Azur and Dianthus carthusianorum

Geranium Johnson’s Blue and Lychnis chalcedonica

Who would have thought a runner bean flower could be so beautiful?

In the raised beds edging the patio Runner Bean White Emergo

Do you have some July Specials in your garden?

Good things come in small packages.

Clematis fusca

Pellies on Parade.

I think my favourite is ‘Merlot’, I love the colour and the wine!

Do you grow Pellies and do you have a favourite?

Wisteria, Iris, Cornus kousa, Clematis, Alliums and Alliums in early June.

A video tour of Our Garden@19 in early June. Please select Watch on YouTube and select full screen.

We are opening our garden for the National Garden Scheme on the 28th June, whilst some of these will be over the climbing roses among others should be in full swing.

Under The Veranda in May.

The plants in the new planter I built in April have settled in well and are starting to grow.

As this is on the North side of the house I selected shade loving plants. These are plants I already had in pots except for a new Trachelospermum jasminoides which I hope will eventually provide an evergreen scented screen.

Podophyllum versipelle ‘Spotty Dotty’, this will soon have bright red flowers.

Polygonatum x hybridum ‘Striatum’ a variegated Solomons seal.

Skimmia Hermaphrodite does not need a pollinator, the white flowers are just going over and being replaced by red berries.

Viburnum Rhytidophyllum and Hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolaris ‘Miranda’ are trying to cover all the pipes and boxes on the wall. However they are both in pots partly to contain their vigour especially the Viburnum, the mother plant I layered it from was around 15ft high and wide!

In a pot on the table is Trillium chloropetalum, some of the leaf markings have now faded.

The rear of the house is not the most attractive however the plants make an attractive diversion.

‘Maggs’ the family cat approves of her new seat in the dry!

Do you have a shady area in your garden?

May in Our Garden@19 Video.

A short tour of Our Garden@19 Please turn your sound on, select YouTube then full screen and enjoy.

Greenhouses and Raised Beds in May.

A tour of the greenhouses in May, the cold winds and frosty nights dictate that tender plants have to remain inside. This time of year is always over crowded greenhouse time!

The tomato, Amateur, new to me this year, Amelia from https://afrenchgarden.wordpress.com mentioned it as a favourite of her fathers. I was attracted to it because he grew it as a bush tomato.

On the side shelf are trailing pelargoniums growing on for the hanging baskets. Pelargoniums are one of my favourite summer plants.

Pelargonium cuttings and three purchased P. Ardens on the heated propagation bench.

Alongside are Courgettes, Genovese Basil in pots. In the root trainers are Coleus, ‘Festive Dance’ seedlings. Thunbergia plata, ‘Susie Series’ White and at the back Hordeum Jubatum an ornamental barley that I first saw growing in Aberglassney garden

On the top shelf are climbing French and Runner Beans, Sweet Corn ‘Swift’ and Dwarf French Bean ‘Purple Teepee’.

Spinach and Rocket seedlings growing on ready to plant in the raised beds later on.

These are Dahlia Merckii seedlings pricked out into root trainers, a seed swap from Fiona Wormald at https://thegardenimpressionists.com two years ago. I did not manage to sow them until this spring, the germination has been fantastic.

The Dahlia tubers are proving to be a little slow to show this year, one of the Striped Vulcan, new this year, has started.

Rainbow Chard in root trainers along with Fennel. This is the first time I have grown bulb fennel.

These young Alstroemeria plants are from seeds collected by my brother last autumn from the ones in his garden.

In the raised beds are crimson flowering Broad Beans.

With Spinach, Sweet-peas on the obelisk and newly planted lettuce.

Now we need some sunshine.

Tulips and Blossom.

I have begun an experiment with tulips this year, following an article I read by Fergus Garrett from Great Dixter regarding which tulips they found to be perennial.

The most reliable ones being the Darwin Hybrids, I planted three varieties in November, two in pots and one in the borders.
The real test will be next year if they flower as well. One indication mentioned in the article was whether the bulbs had divided into several small ones or remained as one big bulb, these being the ones worth saving.

I planted Tulip ‘Apeldoorn’ in pots placed in several areas around the garden. Please Click on gallery pictures to enlarge.

These remind me of the traditional cottage garden tulips similar to the ones I brought home from my Great Aunt’s garden.

Tulip Hakuun aka ‘White Cloud’ in large white pots in the White and Green garden.

Tulip ‘Daydream’ was planted in bulb saucers in the borders along with
Forget- Me-Nots and Wall Flowers.

Tulip ‘Abu Hassan’ has already proved to be perennial here, these tulip bulbs were purchased three years ago.

Tulip ‘Ballede’ was planted in the borders ten years ago and while its numbers have reduced over time, I think for such a beautiful tulip, it will be worth topping up next autumn.

Providing some spring cheer in the welcome rain is Clematis ‘ Pamela Jackman ‘ with pots of Azaleas at her feet.

Along with Apples ‘Rosett’ and ‘Blenheim Orange’…..

….is the Crab Apple ‘Golden Hornet’.

Have you found any tulip varieties to be perennial in your garden?

Spring (ing) into action!

This winter in Our Garden@19 has been busy with ‘Estate Maintenance’. I previously posted about replacing the trellis and fence in the white and green garden, then as now my brother Derek has been my right hand man.

Replacing the entrance to the propagation area was the simplest of our recent efforts. We gave it an oriental look.

Continuing with the oriental theme, our neighbour’s fence at the back of the oriental garden started to fall over with the weight of the ivy and snow. I decided to cut back the ivy and erect a new fence on my side.

Note the badger path underneath the fence.

Then painted it black to tie in with the rest of this area.

A moon window was added to look into the room.

Next on the list was rebuilding the raised beds.

The old obelisks I built when we came here were dismantled and rebuilt, hopefully with more style, to a design by Geoff Hamilton.

Broad Bean Scarlet Flower and Sweet Peas started in pots now planted out.

These early spring bulbs and flowers have been cheering me up on sunny days. Please click on gallery pictures to enlarge.

Back to the oriental garden.

In the rest of the garden…

The pollinators have also been taking advantage of the sunshine.

What is springing you into action this spring?

Garden visiting…..remember that?

Aston Pottery Garden.

Having read some impressive reviews about the garden at Aston Pottery, Aston, Oxfordshire, we visited in August 2016.

On this occasion, they were open in aid of the National Gardens Scheme charity.

Created by the owners since 2009 and set around Aston Pottery’s Gift Shop and Cafe, borders flower from June until November.

In the spring 5000 tulips are planted in pots around the shop and cafe, these are then followed by lilies and agapanthus. They created a wonderful pot display when we visited.

The Garden.

60 hornbeams flank the 72-metre Hornbeam Walk, opened in 2012 by the local MP David Cameron, planted as a year-round garden with a summerhouse at the end, and a mix of perennials and annuals which are enjoyed by pollinators.

You then arrive at the 80-metre Hot Bank with kniphofia, alstroemeria, cannas, dahlias and salvias.

There are stunning Double Dahlia Borders 5m deep with over 600 dahlias and grasses edging the back.

New in 2015 was an 80m x 7m deep Annual Border full of over 5000 annuals grown from plug plants.

A traditional Perennial Border with over 50 different perennials offers a wonderful view from the country cafe.

The garden has featured in the Telegraph, Country Living, RHS The Garden and BBC Gardeners’ World. They have been producing pottery for over thirty years suppling Liberty’s of London.

When garden visiting begins again, this is a garden I would recommend, it is a stunning riot of colour. They are planning to open for the National Garden Scheme this year on the 21st and 22nd of August and are normally open seven days a week except over the Christmas period. The pottery shop and cafe make it ‘A Grand Day Out’.

I have created the video below from photographs I took during our visit, to remind us all of the joy of Garden Visiting!

Please watch on YouTube then select full screen.

A seasonal delight – in winter.

Guest Publisher Leonie Creighton.

Leonie is a knowledgeable and enthusiastic gardener she is the minutes secretary to the Black Pear Gardening Club. I have invited her as guest publisher for this seasonally appropriate article she wrote for the club newsletter.

IRIS UNGUICULARIS.

One of my favourite plants at this time of year is IRIS UNGUICULARIS (I.stylosa) Algerian Iris.

This lovely flower is native to Algeria, Tunisia, Turkey , Greece and Syria where it grows in light scrub,open pine woods and rocky places.

It flowers from late autumn to early spring when so few plants are in flower. The flowers are beautifully scented, in shades of lavender to deep violet with a yellow throat.

This winter flowering Iris is easy to grow in well drained soil in full sun. Plant near a wall to help maintain the soils heat. I grow it in a raised bed that’s in full sunlight for most of the day, but that said I also grow it in a woodland area in partial sunlight and it is still happy but doesn’t flower quite so well. It is also useful to grow at the base of clematis as they like their heads in the sun and their roots in shade and it helps to hide the bare base of the clematis and keep its roots cool.

Plant it so that the rhizomes are just below the surface of the soil and 10cm (4in) apart.

It produces an evergreen mound of narrow, arching grass like foliage. This foliage does become brown and bit untidy but can easily be trimmed back to keep it looking good.

A top dressing of bone meal or potash in either autumn or spring is beneficial but look out for snails hiding among the leaves.

It dislikes being moved, but if you have to disturb it do it in spring after flowering. It may sulk for a while before it starts to flower again.

This is a long lived plant. I grow the species variety from divisions taken off my mother’s plant that has been growing in her garden for probably fifty years.

Two other very nice named varieties are ‘Mary Barnard’ which has a lovely velvety blue-purple flower, a much more intense colour than the species.

Also, ‘Walter Butt’ a ghostly pale grey-blue , but with a heavenly scent.

Flowering: November-March

Hardiness: Fully hardy

Height: 30-45cm

Did you Know : Iris was a Greek goddess, the personification of the rainbow, which she used as her pathway though the sky.

Leonie Creighton.

Happy New Year.

Winter visited Our Garden@19 towards the end of 2020.

Flowering in the house and keeping warm is the Christmas Cactus.

From the bathroom window we can see the snow-capped Malvern Hills.

Snow boot painted by the Grandchildren as a Christmas present.

A snowy video tour of the garden wishing you a Happy New Year please turn your sound on and select full screen.

https://videopress.com/v/YOwu5WIo?preloadContent=metadata

Thaw.

Over the land freckled with snow half-thawed

The speculating rooks at their nests cawed

And saw from elm-tops, delicate as flower of grass,

What we below could not see, Winter pass.

EDWARD THOMAS (1878-1917)

Thank you for visiting Brimfields.com during 2020, hopefully, some of you may be able to visit the garden in person later this year if we are able to open for the village church funds in May.

December 2020

This December has so far been very mild here in Our Garden@19 with only one frost.

The cannas and dahlias are all lifted…..

….safely stored in the garden shed with fleece covering for the cold nights.

The tender plants are divided between the two greenhouses…

Two small areas have been planted with Tulips also Foxgloves, Wallflowers and Forget-me-nots, along with several pots in the hope that we will be able to join the village church open gardens in early May.

The majority of the pots are stored over winter on the patio in the hope that the squirrels do not find them!

One of the many ‘Estate’ maintenance jobs for this winter was to replace the trellis fence between the White and Green garden and the Blue Borders…

It edges the path where the badgers enter the garden, I was concerned, due to its poor condition, they would push through into this area of the garden instead of following their usual path via the ground bird feeder.

With help from my brother, we managed to replace it in one day with Rebar steel mesh normally used in reinforced concrete, without doing too much damage to the climbing Iceberg rose.

I have used Rebar before it is an excellent replacement for trellis.

In The Oriental Garden the Magnolia ‘Stella’ fury buds are forming.

One of my aims within the garden is to try and have something in flower or of interest in the garden throughout the year, this month it is the Hamamelis Moll Pallida (Witch Hazel).

Below is the last garden tour video for 2020, here’s hoping for a better 2021. Please turn your sound on select full screen, play and enjoy.

https://videopress.com/v/ZWfnbtfE?preloadContent=metadata

Autumn Colours, Music and Poetry.

A video of the changing autumn colours in Our Garden@19 and some borrowed landscape. I filmed this over a two week period to record the changing colours. Please watch on YouTube

What is providing you with Autumn colour?

With the requirement in most countries to wear a face mask due to the Covid19 pandemic smiling at people is difficult. I have read that an eyebrow smile works, this Spike Millagan poem brought a smile to my eyebrows.

Ivy and the Bees.

Why you should allow some ivy to grow in your garden.

I do grow some cultivated variegated forms, ivy does not produce any flowers until their adult growth stage when the leaf shape changes, usually at around 10years. They can be kept pruned to their juvenile stage and leaf shape when they will at least provide nesting sites for birds.

Hedra helix Gold Child on a shady fence.

Do you grow ivy in your garden?

Virtual meetings, the Garden in July and Plant Sales.

The Covid-19 restrictions have inevitably prevented any meetings of our club, The Black Pear Gardening Club..blackpeargc.org.uk Our family has been using Skype for keeping in touch so I decided to try and hold a trial meeting for the club with the opportunity for members to say hello, I then presented pictures from our garden with the aim to include pictures from members gardens at the next meeting. While technology can be challenging we did manage to hold the meeting.

July has been a busy month here in Our Garden@19 with the open garden visits cancelled I had been left with a large stock of plants that I had hoped to sell. We decided, with the village of Pirton, (Worcestershire), where my brother Derek lives, to hold a plant sale in memory of his wife and our late sister in law, in aid of St Richards Hospice who cared for Diana. When the plants had been made presentable for sale, a large transit type van arrived to transport all the plants the day before, ready for setting up the sale the next morning.

The sale was well supported by the village, both helping and purchasing plants along with several members of the garden club.

The tomatoes are a bush type? ‘Maskotka’ which crop well despite their vigorous growth.

Are you using technology to keep in touch?

The Six NGS Gardens of Hanley Swan.

This weekend six gardens in the village of Hanley Swan should have been opening in aid of the NGS nursing charities.
Due to the Covid-19, this has been cancelled, so together with the other garden openers, we have created a video tour of the gardens.
Please make yourself a cup of tea or any beverage of your choice. Imagine you are in the gardens, sit back, turn on the sound, click on play, select full screen and enjoy.

The May Garden Video Tour.

“April Showers Bring May Flowers”.

While we did not have many April showers the May flowers have, like us, enjoyed the sunshine.

Please join me on a video tour of Our Garden@19 to see our May flowers. Turn up the volume, click on the link below and select full screen, play and enjoy.

https://youtu.be/_4jq9P11_CI

Worcestershire Apples and a Fruit Blossom Video Trail.

Orchards have long been a feature of the Worcestershire Countryside, apples for cider, eating and cooking and similar with pears and plums. The Vale of Evesham has a popular fruit blossom trail and because we are unable to visit it this year, I have created this blog post about the development of apple varieties in Worcestershire and a fruit blossom video trail of the fruit trees in Our Garden@19.

Following the Second World War government policy encouraged the grubbing up of orchards to grow more wheat, resulting in many old fruit varieties and orchards lost.

Today there is an increasing interest in restoring orchards with old local varieties of fruit, especially in village or community orchards. Hanley Swan and Welland both have a community orchard.

Worcestershire was responsible for the development of many varieties of apples.

I have listed some of them below with information from the Worcestershire Orchards (Please visit their very interesting website). http://www.worcestershireorchards.co.uk

Worcestershire Orchards.

Worcester Pearmain

This is the most well known of the county’s varieties and the only one still grown on any sort of commercial basis. It is believed to have originated from the pip of a Devonshire Quarrenden grown by a Mr Hale of Swan Pool, Worcester and was introduced as a commercial variety by Messers Smith of Worcester in 1874.

King Charles Pearmain

A dessert apple said to have been raised by Charles Taylor, a blacksmith of the village of Rushock in Worcestershire in 1821, is claimed by Hogg in 1876 to have been introduced commercially by nurseryman John Smith of Worcester. It is also known as Rushock Pearmain.

Lord Hindlip

A late dessert apple whose name suggests an origin at Hindlip just north of Worcester, yet it was a Mr Watkins of Hereford who first submitted it to the RHS fruit committee in 1896.

(Hindlip Hall is now the Head Quarters of West Mercia Police).

Newland Sack

This variety, as its name indicates, originates from the district of Newland just outside Malvern. According to the ‘Herefordshire Pomona’, the variety arose around 1800, supposedly from a pip that grew from a discarded pile of pomace (the pulp leftover from a cider press) at Newland Court.

William Crump

This apple takes its name from Mr William Crump who was the one time head gardener at Madresfield Court near Malvern. He is credited with raising the variety and personally exhibited it in 1908 when it received an RHS Award of Merit. It is believed to be a cross between ‘Cox’s Orange Pippin’ and a ‘Worcester Pearmain’.

Edward VII

Another of the older culinary apples that were no doubt displaced by the ‘Bramley’. It dates from 1908 when it was introduced by Rowe’s nursery of Worcester. Having been first recorded in 1902 it is thought to be a ‘Blenheim Orange’ X ‘Golden Noble’ and won a Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Award of Merit in 1903.

Pitmaston Pineapple.

A quite different and distinctive russet, claimed by Herefordshire but associated with Pitmaston in Worcester. Some might be attracted to this particular apple by its reputation as being everything the supermarkets hate, being small, yellow and spotty yet with a fantastic taste!

It makes for a good garden tree with its moderately vigorous and upright growth pattern and the small fruit is ideal for children. The flesh is crisp, beneath a thick yellow skin with a russet of dots. Flavour is intense, being of a sweet, sharp and slightly nutty character and as the name suggests, with the slightest hint of pineapple.

As a tree, it is notably scab resistant although very prone to biennial cropping, with huge crops thrown one year and virtually nothing the next. The variety is neglected because of the small size of the apples. They are ripe from mid-September onwards and if stored well will keep until December.

The variety is thought to have arisen from the pip of a ‘Golden Pippin’ and although recorded in Hereford in 1785 it was introduced by Williams of the Pitmaston district of Worcester, hence its inclusion in this county list.

Pitmaston Russet Nonpareil.

This dessert fruit claims (by name) to be the ‘Pitmaston Russet’ beyond compare. It was raised at Pitmaston near Worcester by nurseryman John Williams.

The variety first fruited in 1814 before being formally introduced in 1818.

The skin is a bright green with varying levels of russet over it. The fruits have firm flesh with a rich, aromatic flavour. Will keep up to Christmas and beyond.

You cannot write an article about Worcestershire fruit without mentioning:

The Worcester Black Pear

History of the Black Pear
The iconic ‘Worcester Black Pear’ appears today in places such as the City coat of arms, the County Council crest and the cricket and rugby club badges, whilst an image of the pear blossom was borne as a badge by the Worcestershire Yeomanry Cavalry until 1956. The earliest reference to any pear associated with a crest is in relation to the Worcestershire Bowmen, depicting a pear tree laden with fruit on their banners at the battle of Agincourt in 1415. Drayton’s poem of Agincourt mentions the fruit, where it is referred to as the badge of Worcester: “Wor’ster a pear tree laden with its fruit”.

Tradition has it that during the visit of Queen Elizabeth I to Worcester in 1575 she saw a pear tree laden with black pears, which had been moved from the gardens at White Ladies and re-planted in her honour by the gate through which the queen was to enter the city. Noticing the tree Elizabeth is said to have directed the city to add three pears to its coat of arms.

The modern grafted Apple tree is well suited to any size garden. We have six in our Garden@19, Malus ‘Blenheim Orange’, ‘Grenadier’, ‘Hereford Russett’, ‘Kidd’s Orange Red’, ‘Rosette’ and of course Worcester Pearmain’. We also have the Cherry ‘Sunburst’, the Pear ‘Invincible’, a Plum, ‘Opal’, the ‘Cambridge Greengage’ and the Crab Apple ‘Golden Hornet’.

To view the fruit trees in blossom in Our Garden@19. Please turn up the sound select full screen, click play and enjoy.

Tulip Video Tour.

Every year since 2011 our village church has held open gardens over this bank holiday weekend, we have taken part every year bar one. This year, along with all open gardens it has had to be cancelled. With the public unable to come to the garden, this weekend, I have produced a tulip video tour from Our Garden@19.

Please turn the sound up, select full screen on the video, click play and enjoy the tulip tour.

Spring Video Tour 2

This tour takes us around Our Garden@19 to see what is adding colour and interest in late March-early April. Happy Easter, stay well and enjoy.

Brian

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns13CPfXwvo

Doddington Hall Garden Visit and Growing Bearded Iris.

In August 2019 Irene and I were invited to a family event near Lincoln, this provided the perfect opportunity to visit a garden that has long been on my wish list ever since reading about their technique for growing Bearded Iris. Sadly when we visited the iris were over, however, as with all good gardens, there was much else to admire. We have many bearded Iris in the garden, several inherited from my Mother and Great Aunts’ gardens. Bearded iris have beautiful delicate, often fleeting flowers, due to our weather, which can make them even more precious.

Bearded Iris has fallen out of favour due largely to the traditional way of caring for them, with the need to lift and thin them, in the autumn, every three to four years. The “Doddington system” is a trouble-free way to divide them, requiring minimum attention. Some of their older iris have been in the same beds for over 30 years.

Their system is based on the fact that bearded iris set their flower initials in August and require the rhizomes to be warmed by the summer sun.

The iris are split every year after flowering in June, just as the new leaves start to grow. The iris are not lifted but split with a spade, leaving the healthy young rhizome with shoots, whilst removing the old rhizome. the aim is to leave 9-12″ between plants. Then you remove the early summer leaves and flower stems leaving the new late summer leaves. They topdress the bed with bone meal.

Large rhizomes can be divided with the spade with one part lifted to transplant, either to fill a gap, expand the bed or pot up to sell on open garden days.

I have been using this system since 2014, I was initially attracted because it entailed much less bending, having had a back problem for some years.

Bearded iris in Our Garden@19

Another interesting fact with Doddington is they contain the Bryan Dodsworth iris collection. He was the most celebrated C20 British breeder of Tall Bearded Iris and was awarded the Dykes Medal for new varieties 12 times.

This garden description is from their website:Doddington Hall.com

“For many, the Gardens at Doddington are just as spectacular as the Hall itself. Remaining faithful to the original Elizabethan layout, mellow walls provide the framework for the formal East Front and West Gardens. Beyond the West Gardens begin the lovingly restored Wild Gardens. Over the generations, most recently by Antony and Victoria Jarvis and Claire and James Birch, the gardens at Doddington have been restored, cared for, nurtured and developed to their fullest potential.

THE EAST FRONT

The point at which the dramatic nature of the architecture of the Hall becomes apparent. A regular pattern of box edging and topiary follows the outer original Elizabethan walls, leaving the central view of the Hall from the Gate House uninterrupted. Standing guard in the forecourt are four topiary unicorns, representing the Jarvis family crest.

THE WEST GARDEN

Reorganised in 1900 with the help of experts from Kew, the West Garden is a riot of colour from April through to September. Wide borders filled with botanical surprises such as the naturalised Crown Imperials, elegant Edwardian Daffodils and a Handkerchief Tree frame a tapestry of box-edged parterres bursting with glorious Bearded Irises in late May/early June.

THE WILD GARDEN

A spectacular pageant of spring bulbs begins in early February with swathes of snowdrops and Crocus tommasinianus, continuing through March and early April with drifts of Lent Lilies and our unique collection of heritage daffodils, winter aconites and snake head fritillaries until May when our famous Irises steal the show in the West Garden. There are also winter-flowering and scented shrubs, Rhododendron, and an underlying structure is given by topiary and some wonderful trees – the ancient, contorted Sweet Chestnuts that overlook the croquet lawn are still productive.

Meandering paths lead you to our Temple of the Winds built by Antony Jarvis in memory of his parents, a turf maze that he made in the 1980s, and if you look hard you may find the ‘dinosaur’s egg’ (a large boulder that he put in the branches of a field maple tree to surprise the grandchildren).

A nature trail starting from just beyond the Temple at the end of the Garden follows a circular route back to the ‘ha ha’ at the end of the Yew avenue and provides a pleasant and interesting walk of about a mile. The route passes through woodlands, open parkland and a wetland meadow from where the clay was dug to make the bricks to build Doddington.

THE KITCHEN GARDEN

Thanks to a grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the formerly neglected two-acre Walled Kitchen Garden was restored to its former glory in 2007. Just a stone’s throw from the Hall it now provides an abundance of fruit, vegetables, salads and herbs which take centre stage on the Café and Restaurant menus and are regularly for sale in our Farm Shop.

By implementing organic techniques including crop rotation, minimum tillage, biological controls, the use of green manures as well as no-dig beds, we are able to naturally maximise productivity and minimise pests so we have no need for chemical fertilisers, weed killers or pesticides.”

A photo garden tour.

East Front

West Garden

Wild Garden

Kitchen Garden

Bryan Dodsworth

A great name for an Iris!

If you have an opportunity I would recommend a visit to Doddington Hall, besides the hall and gardens, they have a cafe, restaurant, farm shop and several other shopping outlets, you can even get married there.

March Tour.

Despite the awful weather this winter, it has been a busy one here in our garden@19, see: (A Winter Project and a Wildlife-Friendly Experiment.) following on from several autumn projects.

With all the depressing news from around the world, just an hour working in the garden is welcome, ending with a quick photo tour accompanied by a chilly wind.

It is cheering to see that despite everything else, spring is coming in the garden.

Looking colourful with some dogwood prunings inserted…

Arabis procurrens with Euphorbia myrsinites

…Also

The Blue Border…

Under the arch…

In the Oriental garden…

What is spring bringing to cheer you up in your garden?

Some Colourful Relief.

With all the terrible weather, gales and floods that the UK has recently experienced, I hope some spring colour will help to bring some relief.

(Fortunately whilst we live close to Upton upon Severn, currently Upton in Severn, we are away from the floods).

Tulip ‘Johann Strauss’ The label said, flowers March to April.

Narcissus ‘Tete a Tete’ and Primula ‘Little Queen Red’

Here’s wishing for a sunny, dry spring.

A Winter Project and a Wildlife Friendly Experiment.

When we purchased the house, I designed the garden and the rear of the main border, now named the blue border, was planted with climbing roses, trained to rope swags. Unfortunately, the rope soon rotted and was replaced with trellis. Now several years later the trellis along with some of the posts required replacing this winter. With a coil of blue rope already in stock, I have gone back to plan A. The posts have been replaced, painted to match the colour scheme and furnished with new fittings. I also took the opportunity to remove two of the oldest roses. They came with us from our previous garden and there are still two identical ones elsewhere in the garden. Managing so many vigorous rambling/climbing rose was becoming quite hard work. (Old age, mine not the roses). These will be replaced with clematis, joining some already there.

You may notice, in the picture above, lots of plant debris on the garden. I recently read an article about the Millennium Garden at Pentsthorpe Natural Park in Norfolk, which we had visited in 2012. This garden was designed by Piet Oudolf, the internationally famous dutch nurseryman and garden designer, known for his prairie style planting. Historically, the many perennials and grasses were not cut down in the garden until February, to provide winter shelter for insects, and then removed to giant compost heaps. According to the article, they now cut it all down in small bites, or pieces, leaving it on the ground as a mulch, to continue providing homes for the wildlife.

While I do not claim this border to be ‘prairie planting’, it does contain perennials and grasses so I decided to experiment with cutting it down in small bites, leaving it as a mulch. I did this using garden shears if you had more to do you could use a hedge cutter (Mine has broken).

I will add my usual mulch on top of this in March, I do it then to smother the chickweed, which germinates here around that time. It will be interesting to see how it develops, I don’t think it will suit the tidy gardener. However, we are constantly being advised that as gardeners we should be a little more untidy to help the wildlife.

I will record progress with photos and publish them later in the year.

Have you tried this in your garden?

Winter Shapes and Silhouettes.

A winter tour, with the camera, around Our Garden@19 to capture some of the season’s shapes and silhouettes. This is an evergreen and topiary time of year, black and white pictures add to the wintery appearance.

Do you have a favourite winter shape in your garden?

Fragrant Flowering Shrubs for Winter Interest.

This article was originally posted on the website of the Black Pear Gardening Club by club member Julie Munn. With its seasonal interest, especially now we all have our Christmas garden gift vouchers to spend, I invited Julie as guest publisher for this post.

Fragrant Flowering Shrubs for Winter Interest.

Winter Flowering Shrubs can add that much-needed cheer & interest to our gardens when the days are so long & dark after Christmas. As Gardeners, we are always working ahead & planning for the Spring, Summer & Autumn but Winter often gets forgotten & inspiration can be slow to come to mind when the borders look bare & uninteresting. In this article I aim to introduce some plants that can bridge the gap before Spring takes a hold & the welcome Snowdrops, Narcissi & Hellebores make an appearance. The plants which follow are all fragrant which is a bonus to the often, delicate flowers, as well as providing an enticement into our gardens when it’s cold & frosty. Winter Flowering Shrubs also provide nectar for any early foraging insects & provide a refuge for birds during harsh weather. Here are a few of my favourites.

Hamamelis

Hamamelis or Witch Hazel are deciduous shrubs which have very fragrant, spidery, yellow, orange or red flowers in late Winter. They grow best in acid-neutral, well-drained soil in sun or part shade. Their growth is slow, but they need space to achieve their natural, vase-like, spreading habit. Hamamelis can be planted in a mixed border or as specimens in a lawn or Woodland Garden. They also have excellent Autumn colour. Several varieties are available.

Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Jelena’

Jan 2016

Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Diane’ Feb 2016

Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Arnold Promise’ Mar 2015

When planting Hamamelis, improve soil by adding well-rotted manure or garden compost especially if you have clay soil. Planting on a slight mound can aid drainage & ensure the grafting union is not buried.

Mahonia

Mahonia are large, evergreen shrubs &
are available in many varieties & sizes.
Their evergreen foliage provides excellent
contrast against other plants & leaves are
usually spiny. Fragrant, clusters of flowers
are a welcome sight from late Autumn
through Winter & early Spring, followed
by black or purple berries. Mahonia
provide good architectural structure in a
Mixed Border or Woodland Garden &
they tolerate part or full shade. Grow
Mahonia in any moist but well-drained
soil.

Mahonia x media ‘Lionel Fortescue’

Dec 2015

Sarcococca

Sarcococca are evergreen shrubs whose flowers have an intense, sweet fragrance in Winter & are an excellent addition to any garden. Sarcococca confusa is the most well-known variety with its small, creamy white flowers which are almost hidden by the foliage. They grow best in any humus rich, moist but well drained soil & prefer to be positioned in full or part shade. Their flowers are followed by shiny, black berries. Sarcococca can be positioned in Mixed Borders & Woodland Gardens but to enjoy the fragrance at its best, place near to an entrance door or pathway where its scent can be enjoyed. They make excellent additions to Winter Pots & Containers.

I grow S. hookeriana var. digyna which gives a pink tinge to its flowers.

Sarcococca hookeriana var. digyna

Feb 2019

Chimonanthus praecox

Chimonanthus praecox, often known as Wintersweet, is a deciduous shrub with a multi-branched, bushy habit & is best for the back of a border or against a wall or fence, where they can enjoy some protection. The highly fragrant, yellow-greenish flowers appear along the previous year’s stems in Winter & early Spring & often have a reddish-purple inner petal. Their flowers can be easily missed until you smell the fragrance & then the hunt for its source takes over. The flowers are followed by fruits, capsule shaped which contain the seeds.

Chimonanthus praecox Mar 2015

They grow best in any well-drained soil in a sheltered position & enjoy full sun.

Daphne

Daphne can be deciduous or evergreen shrubs & are available in a variety of growth habits. D. bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’ is one of my favourite Daphne’s & its perfume is a welcome fragrance in the Winter Garden. Position this Daphne near to a pathway, entrance or in an enclosed garden area, to fully appreciate the scent. The clustered flowers are purplish-pink & white & highly scented, followed by black berries. Plant in any moist but well-drained soil in full sun or part shade & it benefits from having a sheltered position.

Daphne can be placed in a Mixed or Shrub Border but choose the spot carefully as Daphne can resent transplanting.

Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’

Jan 2015

Grevillea rosmarinifolia

Grevillea rosmarinifolia is an evergreen shrub which grows to approximately 2 metres & has a loosely arching habit. Its branches of rosemary-like foliage with each rigid leaf having a prickly tip. The flowers appear in clusters at the end of branch tip & are a deep red in colour & unusual in form.

Although the flowers are not scented, I couldn’t resist bringing this plant to the fore for its long flowering period. Flowering starts from late Winter & lasts through to late Summer. Grows in acid-neutral, moist but well drained soil in full sun. I planted my Grevillea behind a wall for some shelter at its base, but it now enjoys full sun & has achieved 2 metres in height.

Somewhat prickly to work around but tolerant of pruning & shaping. Fits well into any Shrub or Mixed Border.

Grevillea rosmarinifolia

These are only a few of the many Shrubs which add Winter Interest to our gardens. So, be inspired & once all your herbaceous borders have died back, look at your garden areas & fill in the gaps with some of these lovely plants.

Julie Munn – 14th November 2019 All photos my own

About Julie.

Gardening & Plants have always been my passion, my Grandad was a keen Gardener & I have a vivid memory of watching his large fingers pricking out tiny Antirrhinum seedlings into meticulously, straight rows in seed trays. This sparked my interest & I was hooked, as well as eating the warm, ripe tomatoes he offered when I turned up at his greenhouse door. My Parents are also keen Gardeners & Allotment holders & have always encouraged me in the garden & with Nature in general while growing up.

After working in the NHS & in my husbands’ engineering business, my son no longer required my attentions, so it was now my time to do something I enjoyed. I enrolled on an RHS Course at Pershore College & little did I know it was to be my home for the next 3¹/₂ years. I passed the RHS Diploma in Horticulture, level 2 & also volunteered at Spetchley Park Gardens which gave me some hands-on experience. The staff at Pershore College encouraged me to continue my learning, so I stayed on for a further 2 years to obtain the Pershore Diploma in Garden Design, Level 4, which I passed with distinction. I have always enjoyed Art & the design element fed my creative juices. While at College, I started my own Garden Maintenance business & have now been self-employed for nearly 6 years. Mainly working in large gardens in the counties of Hereford & Worcester, carrying out Plant & Border Maintenance, all types of Pruning, Soil improvement, Propagation, the Control of Pests & Diseases & of course Weeding. I worked for 3 years in a Garden which was open to the public during the Spring & Summer months, helping with charity open events like NGS days as well as giving guided garden tours to groups & clubs, which I really enjoyed. I have had several Planting Design commissions & Garden Designs including a design completed on the Island of Jersey which was a real pleasure. I have a real passion for unusual plants & enjoy designing planting plans that provide interest all year round. I am now growing my Garden Design business as I really enjoy working with clients to help them achieve not only a lovely garden but one which they can enjoy & confidently manage successfully for themselves, with perhaps a little help from me, from time to time.

Julie Munn

Julie Munn Garden Services

Winter Solstice and Merry Christmas.

From all of us at Our Garden@19.

Flower of the Month. December 2019.

I caught sight of this Vinca flower in the spring border. Vinca difformis is similar to Vinca major, differing most significantly in its habit of flowering right from Autumn, through mild Winter spells to Spring.

Such a welcome cheering sight to find in the garden at this time of year, especially after all the rain and dull days of this autumn and early winter months.

Tulips, Pots and Saucers.

The beginning of November saw the planting of pots with, crocus, iris, narcissus and species rock tulips.

Old hanging baskets used to keep the squirrels away.

Two large pots either side of the banana bench were planted with Tulip ‘Abu Hassan’, Siberian Wallflowers and Forget-me-Nots.

When the rain finally eased I managed to complete planting my remaining tulip bulbs.

Those of you who regularly follow my blog will know that I rotate dahlias with tulips in the raised beds edging the patio. Last year I used three bulb saucers for the tulips as an experiment to see if it was any easier, when it came to lifting them in the spring.

I was suitably impressed to use them for all the tulips in these beds this year. I purchased extra ones to have four 30cm ones for each bed. One hundred flaming spring green tulip bulbs were shared out between the eight saucers, four pots of Camassia leichtlinii ‘Blue Heaven’ saved from last year, Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ planted around the edge with Wallflower ‘Vulcan’, grow from seed planted in July, in between the bulbs. Forget-me-Not’s will be added in the spring from self-sown ones from around the garden.

Hopefully they will all be putting on a show for our opening on the 2nd and 3rd of May, in aid of the village church, when we will have a plant stall to raise funds for St Richards Hospice, based in Worcester.

Here’s looking forward to Spring.

Anniversary.

Five year’s this November brimfields.com on WordPress.

Even the Head Gardener emerges occasionally!

Goldfinches on the niger seed and sunflower hearts feeders.

Wordless Wednesday.

Autumn Project 4, Unexpected!

This year I noticed that the Parthenocissus Tri. Veitch, Boston Ivy, behind the banana bench, had been almost completely replaced with wild Ivy. Now while I like Ivy in the garden for its benefit to wildlife, here I would prefer to see a more colourful plant. I decided that it was necessary to remove the ivy.

This revealed that the Ivy was holding up the trellis, with most of it rotten along with two of the posts at ground level. I was left with no other option than to replace it all.

Picture from behind where trellis would have been.

From the front, with two posts waiting for sanding and staining.

I have, in previous blogs mentioned my inclination to watch TV gardening programmes for inspiration. On several occasions concrete reinforcing steel grid has been used to support climbing plants instead of wood trellis. With the advantages of not going rotten, not requiring painting (the rust look is on trend, so I’m told) and at 3.6m x 2m for just under £20 is cheaper than trellis. Two repair spikes were required with some rapid set postcrete to repair the two rotten posts, then a coat of wood preservative applied. Next grid was cut to size with a steel cutting angle grinder. The grid was fixed to the posts with 2×1” treated and stained timber screwed through to the posts.

Have you had any unexpected autumn Projects?

Autumn Project 3 Completed.

I have long held the view that autumn is the beginning of the gardening year, preparing the garden and the plants for their winter rest before the explosion of spring and summer glory.

The main autumn project, this year, has been to move plants into their correct positions!

I am sure many of you can relate to the gardener’s curse of initially positioning plants in the wrong place.

Two of the first candidates for moving were the Cytisus, ‘Golden Cascade’ and Albus. While they produced wonderful spring colours and scent, they had become far too tall, even with some pruning.

I did not want to completely lose them, following a hard prune, I have moved them to the rear of the borders and hope with generous watering they will successfully establish. This has freed an area, which has been planted with Lupins and Foxgloves to flower in June for the open gardens. The lupins will be treated as annuals, in the Great Dixter way. Colourful exotics such as Dahlias and Cannas will follow.

I have for some time had a yearning for a Cornus Kousa ‘Miss Satomi’. After ordering one two years ago, I planted it in the garden. Sadly it died during the winter. The nursery that supplied it kept promising to replace it. When visiting Pershore College plant centre, they had some very reasonably priced Cornus Kousa ‘China Girl’. One was purchased, then planted in ‘Miss Satomi’s allocated position. Soon afterwards the nursery rang to say they had a replacement for me, although they could only obtain ‘Milky Way’. I decided this would have to live in a large pot, on the patio by the entrance to the oriental garden, while I decided where it was going to live permanently.

This turned out to be an ideal position, we could see it from the dining room windows. Three slabs were consequently lifted from the edge of the patio to provide a permanent home. Ironically the flower colours are more like ‘Miss Satomi’ than ‘Milky Way’, The nursery has not returned my email asking if there could have been an identification error!

Several years ago I was given a Rhus hirta Staghorn sumac. Because of its reputation for suckering, it has been residing in a pot on the patio where we could enjoy its beautiful autumn colour.

Last year we inexplicably lost a five year old Snake-bark Acer from the middle of the blue border. This completely unbalanced the border, there is an Acer griseum on the opposite side. Not wishing to risk another reasonably sized, quite expensive tree, I decided to plant the Rhus there, after seeing one looking stunning with it’s autumn colours, in a Piet Oldoulf garden.

I may pot up any suckers to sell on our open days. I think it looks very colourful in its new home among the Asters and grasses.

Moving the plant theatre in project one, freed up an area. This provided a space to plant a Greengage tree that I had purchased as a young bare root tree two years ago. It had been growing on in a pot, now it is planted along with the rhubarb, emptying more large pots.

Having admired large pots packed full of colourful exotics and annuals in other gardens, all these freed up pots will provide an opportunity to do the same.

Now to plan filling these!

Plant of the month.

Asters, Michaelmas Daisies or Symphyotrichum, as some of them have now been renamed, are one of the autumn garden flowers I have always loved to see. This is probably because of the wonderful stand that grew in my parents and grandparents gardens.

There are many to choose from, for October’s plant of the month, in Our Garden@19.

I have selected Symphyotrichum ‘Little Carlow’, it has RHS AGM status and is generally disease-free. With its masses of small blue flowers and yellow centres, I think, it is a good companion with Solidago Fireworks.

It will self seed around the garden, although it will not come true, it can however be propagated by division, preferably in the spring.

With it being a simple flower it is popular with the pollinators.

Do you have a favourite October flower?

Autumn Project 2 Completed.

I have to confess to watching many of the gardening programs on television along with reading gardening magazines, books and of course blogs, for inspiration in planting and design.

One programme featured, what I thought was a good structural design for supporting climbing plants.

When I had finished building my version, I thought it looked too much like railway signals. The original one had used wider timber.

My design consultant (Irene) convinced me it was okay and would soon be covered by the Rose.

I have either been brave or stupid (you will, I am sure, have your own opinion) planted a Rosa banksiae ‘Lutea’, which I have grown from a cutting, to help screen one side of a shed. This is the one I have built the support for.

This is the rose the cutting came from! It has never been pruned.

Will it be ideal to ‘train’ a Rose over?

It will certainly need to be pruned.

Autumn Project 1 Completed.

Do you have any autumn projects?

Plant of the month.

Visiting RHS Chatsworth Show in June this year, one of the bulb stands had Zantedeschia Contor on display, and in flower. Talking to the owner he reassured me the tubers would flower this summer.

He was right!

I am linking with Noelle who has posted her plant of the month.

Do you have one?

Wordless Wednesday Summer Glory.

Plant of the month.

Fig leaf Holly Hocks are my choice, in August, for plant of the month in our garden@19.

I love the delicate colours of this one. The seed was sent to me probably two years ago by Gill Heavens after admiring pictures of them on her blog. This is their first flowering.

Do you have an August favourite?

Plant of the month.

Choosing a plant of the month at this time of year is a little like choosing your favourite child. Daucus carota, the wild annual carrot, flowering in the blue border mainly from self sown plants is my choice. I grew it two years ago from seed, there was none in the garden last year, now this year…

Scarlet Tiger Moth, you see the red underneath when it opens its wings.

A simple drought tolerant plant, easy and cheap to grow, used by herbalists, loved by the pollinators and ideal for wildlife friendly gardening.

Do you currently have a favourite flower?

July Garden Joy.

Clematis ‘Madame Julia Correvon’ and Rosa ‘Francis E Lester’.

What is bringing you July Garden Joy?

May Joy.

Our garden@19, in May, was cloaked in the joy of May flowers, starting with the Wisteria floribunda ‘Alba’ …

Allium Mount Everest with White Honesty.

The Blue Border with Allium ‘Purple Sensation ‘.

These pictures were taken just before our NGS May opening, when 77 visitors came on a Tuesday. We are now preparing for our next opening on Monday June 17th.

April Top Ten.

A quick tour around Our Garden@19 to capture my Top Ten, joining Chloris at The Blooming Garden.

The White and Green garden, Lunaria annua ‘Alba’ and Tulip ‘Spring Green’.

Lunaria annua ‘Rosemary Verey’ and Cytisus ‘Golden Cascade’

The Lego inspired Bug Hotel with Roof Garden.

You can see more April Top Ten by visiting The Blooming Garden

Do you have a favourite or a top ten of your own?

No need for words!

Vinca.

Vinca have a bad reputation with gardeners as being very invasive. This is more true of ‘major’, the smaller ‘minor’, known as the Lesser Periwinkle is, I think, an excellent plant for dry, shady areas. It is not often considered for planters, although it can look particularly good in urns or large pots, trailing over the sides like a green waterfall.

Available in colours other than blue, it can be a garden worthy plant.

The double blue, grows in ourgarden@19 in urns either side of the banana bench.

An attractive alternative is the purple form, here in a large terracotta pot.

A white one lives happily in a small Cotswold Stone pot in the White and Green garden.

The star of our Vinca family is ‘Jenny Pym’ with its delicate pink and white colours…

…scrambling through our Spring Bed…

…does pink and yellow go together?

‘Brazen Hussy’.

The plant family, Ranunculus, includes buttercups and lesser celandine, plants that most gardeners would not welcome into their garden. However with these looks and the name of ‘Brazen Hussy’, I have made an exception.

It was discovered and named by Christopher Lloyd growing in the woods at Great Dixter.

Here, enjoying the sunshine, it has brazenly self seeded into some cracks in the path. What is being ‘Brazen’ in your garden?

Crowning Glory.

Who is reigning over your garden this spring?

Bulbs, Sunshine, Tea and Cake.

The churchyard at Birlingham, Nr Pershore in Worcestershire has long been a pilgrimage for snowdrop lovers in the area. Bulb Teas are held each Saturday and Sunday in February until Sunday 24th February in the Village Hall from 11.00am to 4.00 pm.

The Grade II listed church of St James with its 15C tower, which at one time contained a dovecote, sits in the middle of the village by a small green, with the old school, now a private house, and the village hall.

We visited on Sunday, in glorious sunshine, and with the snowdrops starting to go over, crocus and cyclamen were taking their place.

A Cherry tree just outside the church wall was in full flower with honey bees taking advantage of the sunshine to gather nectar.

A colony of bees have made their home in the tower…

In this hole under the old clock face.

The church was open and had been decorated with flower arrangements.

The teas and cakes were proving to be very popular on this beautiful afternoon in this charming Worcestershire village.

Snowdrop Temptation.

We visited the first National Garden Scheme, http://ngs.org.uk open garden in Worcestershire on Sunday. The garden, Brockamin, includes Plant Heritage National Collections of Asters and some hardy Geraniums. It opens for Snowdrops in February, Daffodils in March and Asters in September.

The 1.5 acre informal garden contains mixed borders planted with hardy perennials and shrubs, several of which were in flower or adding stem colour.

Lonicera fragrantissima & Iris reticulata

Hellebores, Crocus with an early Narcissi adding to the colour.

Then of course the snowdrops, all labeled for identification.

G. Wendy’s Gold

Tea and cakes along with plants for sale were there to tempt us. Was I tempted I hear you ask, lets just say I have always been attracted to gold!

A Christmas gift that keeps giving.

A Christmas gift of Hippeastrum first flowered with six blooms, now on its second flourish with five blooms.

Plants can provide not only pleasure, also optimism with a feeling of wellbeing, very welcome during the dark days of January.

What is giving you joy in your gardening world?

Remembrance.

Christmas and New Year are often a time for remembering lost loved ones. Imagine my surprise at seeing the rosemary in flower in our garden@19 this morning following a night of -2* frost.

Happy Memories and New Year.

(Photos taken with iPhone)

December Rain.

In the Garden, December 2018

T’is the season to be merry, of turkey, tinsel and snow with visits to Santa’s Grotto.

I cannot promise you any of the above, we can though visit Our Garden@19 following a rain shower, looking for some winter cheer and colour. In the Oriental Garden the Witch Hazel is in flower, although it is not looking too cheerful due to its habit of retaining all the old leaves.

The golden bamboo always adds a cheerful glow in the corner.

Two of the Cornus are brightening up the back of this border, reminding me that the fence panels could do with re-staining!

Cornus Alba ‘Westonbirt’ syn C. alba ‘Sibirica’ Cornus sanguinea Midwinter Fire

In the White and Green garden the Viburnum f ‘candidissimum’ is in flower, this wonderful shrub flowers all through the winter…

…the Mohonia has grown through the trellis to add a splash of yellow to this ‘carefully’ colour co-ordinated garden…

…the standard holly is an attractive centre piece here.

Ilex aquifolium ‘Argentea Margenata’ Standard

In the Blue Border the ornamental grasses provide an interesting straw coloured contrast to the Thuja occ. ‘Smaragd’…

…where the Rose ‘Charlotte’ has a rain drop covered bud surviving.

The bark of the Prunus is always very attractive this time of year.

The winter jasmine and the clematis are providing a splash of yellow, with the clematis climbing through the wisteria.

The skimmia’s are also a welcome sight with ‘Rubella’ very popular with the flower arrangers at Christmas.

‘The Holly and The Ivy’, with a cloud pruned conifer by the entrance to the Oriental Garden…

… with moss appropriately growing in the crux of an acer tree.

Hydrangea flower heads, in December, make wonderful flower arrangements and photographs.

The title of December Rain is best illustrated with this picture of pine needles with jewel like rain drops, especially the close-up one below.

I hope you have good reflections of 2018. Sadly we had to say goodbye to our faithful companion Murphy.

On a happier note our youngest daughter, Mary is joining her partner James on the 22nd in their first home together. It will all seem a little quiet around here. The Hanley Swan NGS open gardens had another successful year, with totals raised since we started four years ago reaching £8,500. Looking forward to the new year, we have a new garden opening with us along with ‘plans’ for our garden.

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year from all of us at Our Garden@19: brimfields.com

November Sunshine.

Blogging has had to take a back seat recently with a wedding, holiday, a kitchen refit and decorating taking precedent. I lifted all the Dahlias from the raised beds last week, replacing them with tulips, also filling all the tulip pots. With the sun shining, I took a quick tour of the garden with the camera.

Rhodochiton atrosanguineum ‘Purple Bell Vine’

Hopefully I can soon catch up reading some of your posts, there is quite a list in my inbox.

What has been catching the November sun in your garden?

Autumn Colour in Our Garden@19

Parthenocissus tripcuspidata (Boston Ivy)behind the Banana Bench.

Dahlia ‘After Eight’ & ‘Bishop of Llandaff’

Symphyotrichum ‘Little Carlow’ & Solidago Fireworks

Sambucus nigra ‘Aurea’ & Amelanchier ‘Lamarckii’

Arum italicum subsp. italicum ‘Marmoratum’

Cotoneaster horizontalis & Cyclamen hederifolium

The National Garden Scheme has posted this quote on their website.

“Autumn…the year’s last, loveliest smile.” William Cullen Bryant (1794 – 1878)

You can view their Autumn Smile here

What is making you smile this Autumn?

Cool.

Hot…Spicy…and now Cool in Our Garden@19.

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I hope you are enjoying your summer, what ever the weather and where ever you are.

Spicy!

Last year my Ginger Lily produced one flower, this year two!

What has spiced up you garden?

Hot!

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Now that its raining I thought I would post pictures of the ‘Hot’ plants in Our Garden@19.

Which plants have been matching the summer weather in your garden?

Blackmore Grange July 2018.

On Saturday the Black Pear Gardening Club visited Blackmore Grange, owned by Doug and Anne Robertson. A total of £206 was raised and donated to St. Richards Hospice, Worcester. The Hospice has recently launched a fundraising drive to support its £5.3m expansion plan. You can find out more via this Link

41 members visited on a beautifully sunny day (another one!), to enjoy the garden and tea and biscuits (of course). Anne also invited members to bring along a picnic to enjoy in the garden.

Anne, a knowledgeable plants women, has previously opened her garden for the NGS. This quote is from the 2011 NGS Yellow Book.

Blackmore Grange. “All year round two acre rural garden surrounds the family home. Packed with a large variety of plants, shrubs and trees. The swimming pool has been transformed into the stable garden, an outstanding area of traditional cottage-style planting. Also a mixed orchard, woodland walk, mixed planting beds and kitchen garden”. Described by Chris Beardshaw as “A natural garden full of interest and variety”.

One entrance to the garden is along this woodland path…

…where you arrive into one of many seating ares in the garden.

From here you have views across the sweeping lawn in front of the house towards two curved borders one edging the west facing terrace, the other viewed across the lawn…

These borders are packed with plants, amongst those enjoying the summer sun were fennel and lavender…

…and this beautiful dark blue agapanthus ‘Navy Blue’…

Following this path along side the border…

…past a thriving kniphoia…

…you enter the stable garden…

…where the teas were served.

The plants which caught everyones’ attention here were the dark red dahlias, ‘Chat Noir’, ‘Rip City’, ‘Sam Hopkins’ and with its dark foliage, ‘Kamar Choc’…

…a double Hollyhock…

and this delphinium ‘Faust’.

Verbena bonariensis, agapanthus and succulents growing in the gravel and broken pots.

Climbers including, ornamental vines, roses and clematis, cover the pergola and scrambled up through support plants.

This dahlia and hydrangea add a splash of light colour, providing a perfect contrast to the smoke bush, several of which were flowering in the garden.

Leaving the stable yard garden for the woodland walk, some of the roses were still flowering with their hips just beginning to develop their autumn scarlet colour.

A welcome bench in the shade…

Anne, on the right with club member Betty Mills.

It is important to read the plant label to ensure you have the correct name to go with the photo.

Turning back towards the house you see the mixed orchard, which is underplanted with spring bulbs and roses growing up into some of the more mature apple trees. In the centre of the lawn, is a magnificent tulip tree, Liriodendron tulipifera.

Near the house, down some steps, is Anne’s potting shed and the kitchen garden with its fruit cage full of ripening fruit…

…and at the rear, an impressive pot display of hostas, acers and seasonal bedding plants.

No one was in any hurry to leave, enjoying the weather and the setting in this “Natural garden full of interest and variety”.

Drought Busters July 2018.

Those of you living and gardening in the UK do not need me to tell you that we are ‘enjoying’ one of the hottest June/July periods for some time, with day time temperatures reaching 30c. Whilst for many of you reading this in other parts of the world this may not be unusual, but here it is , testing both the gardener and their plants.

These plants featured are the drought busters in Our Garden@19. Interestingly I originally grew them all from seed, except for the allium, also some of them have since self seeded around the garden.

The wild chicory towers above almost every thing in the garden, here in the herb bed, growing through the standard gooseberry. It is a beautiful shade of light blue.

Also towering above everything else are the teasels, this is the first year I have grown them. Listening to a talk by Fergus Garrett inspired me to plant them and they allow them to self seed around Great Dixter. They are good for wild life especially the pollinators and the seeds are said to be loved by Goldfinches in winter. I have only planted two in the garden, they can dominate if left to their own devices.

The ‘thistle-like’ plants always do well in dry conditions, here Echinops ritro, is yet to bloom…

…also ‘Miss Willmotts Ghost’, I do like this spiky plant. It is I think, a little like the lady it was named after. Especially if you worked for her.

Eryngium giganteum ‘Miss Willmotts Ghost’.

The wild carrot has seeded itself around the garden including here between two paving slabs, thus preventing anyone from sitting on this chair!

Daucus carota ‘Dara’.

Similarly the Lychnis of both colours have seeded in the gravel…

Lychnis coronaria alba.

Lychnis coronaria

…and the Linaria seeds around everywhere!

Linaria purpurea.

In a sunny spot by the banana bench and in the alpine boxes on the south side of the house, is Dianthus carthusianorum, with its clusters of diminutive deep pink flowers.

I am ending with this single Allium ‘Red Mohican’. I wish I had more!

An interesting fact about these plants is that several of them were for sale during our open weekend and very few of them sold, because, I guess, they were not in flower at that time.

I wonder if they would sell now?

Do you have any ‘Drought Busters’ in your garden?

NGS Open Weekend 2018.

We were blessed with prefect weather for the Hanley Swan NGS Group open weekend this year. This encouraged 244 visitors to came through the open garden gates during the weekend….

including a group from Gorsley Garden Club, on the following Monday, all helping to raise £2280 for the Charity.

Thanks must go to the other five garden owners, those who donated cakes and our band of volunteers who manned the entrance table, the car park, the plant stall and not least the catering team serving teas and cake, waiting at the tables and washing up.

The demand for refreshments peaked at around 3.00pm, with one couple returning on the Sunday for some more. (the entrance ticket covered both days.)

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Enjoy your summer visiting gardens including your own!

May Blooms.

The month of May has seen Our Garden@19 blessed with high temperatures by day, cool nights and thunderstorms.

The surviving flowers have put on a wonderful show.

Hopefully some of these will continue to flower for our NGS opening on June the 9th and 10th, to be joined by more still to come.

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How has your garden survived the May weather?

‘The Mad Month of May.’

March is usually considered to be the ‘mad’ month of the year. Here at Brimfields.com, May qualifies due to so many ‘events’ taking place.

This weekend the Hanley Open Gardens takes place over the three days of the bank holiday weekend. Our Garden@19 will be open on the Sunday and Monday. (Spit and polish between the showers).

The following weekend is the RHS Malvern Spring Show described on their website as “Set against the magnificent Malvern Hills, our spring festival is packed with flowers, food, crafts and family fun.” A good introduction to the ‘Gardening’ content can be found here on the Chatty Gardener Blog We will be there, one day, helping on the National Garden Scheme (NGS) stand.

Winchcombe Gardening Club have invited me to give a presentation to them on the 16th, this is my sixth visit, they either enjoyed the talks or are trying to get their monies worth!

The following Saturday our gardening club, The Black Pear Gardening Club, is holding a Gardener’s Market, there is also a Worcestershire HPS meeting that afternoon which I would like to attend, timing will be tight!

The last weekend in May is another Bank Holiday and friends of ours are opening their garden in Worcester, for the NGS on two days, where we will be helping with teas and plant sales.

(Plant propagation has been an on going process for some time, preparing for the garden openings sales table).

June is a much quieter month, we only have our NGS opening to organise on the 9th and 10th June. (More spit and polish). It all adds up to make life interesting!

What is keeping you ‘active’ in May?

Daffodil delights & Narcissus narcissism.

Narcissi are one of the delights of spring. Here are some that brightened the spring in Our garden@19, from the smallest…

…to the weird.

To the big and blowsy…

Narcissus Pseudonarcissus subsp. obvallaris. The Tenby Daffodil.

The next few pictures are of unknown varieties.

To seeing double. I don’t know where this one came from, it could have been among plants that came from my Great Aunt’s garden.

Version 2 Narcissus admiring his reflection in a pool in a Hanley Swan garden.

Have you had some lovely narcissi to admire this spring?

An Alpine Spring Welcome.

Welcome to Our Garden@19.

Narcissus bulbocodium var citrinus. Hoop Petticoat Daffodil.

Arabis procurrens ‘Variegata’.

Arabis procurrens ‘Variegata.

Tulip clusiana

All we need now is some Spring weather!

Oriental Colour.

Camellias ‘Ruby Wedding’ & ‘Donation’ with Magnolia ‘Stella’

Chaenomeles japonica with Phyllostachys nigra.

Top Ten for March.

Weather lore says: “March, in like a lion out like a lamb.”

March is a month of transition, a much used word of late. In a gardening context I think emergence is a more suitable label. The garden and plants are emerging from winter into spring.

It was traditionally the month for planting spring crops, mainly spring barley, when the March winds would help to dry out the soil as it was cultivated in preparation for the drill. Warm April showers would follow to help germinate the seed.

Joining in with Chloris at the Blooming Garden and the other bloggers posting their top ten flowers of the month, I decided to post pictures of emerging flower buds and leaves,( There is a theme emerging here!)

These pictures were taken during the month – we haven’t recently had snow.

Forever the optimist, here are my ten ‘potential’ flowers to brighten the spring garden.

Fritillaria ‘William Rex’, already producing its distinctive smell!

Paeonia Lactiflora ‘Duchesse de Nemours’.

Please visit Chloris and see what she and all the other bloggers have posted as their Top Ten.

What is emerging in your garden?

Wordless Wednesday 28th March 2018.

The National Botanic Garden of Wales.

The National Botanic Garden of Wales is one of our favourite places to visit in Wales.
“It is a charity dedicated to the research and conservation of biodiversity, to sustainability, lifelong learning and the enjoyment of the visitor.”

The National Botanic Garden of Wales was opened to the public on the 24th May 2000. We first visited in 2005.

The double walled vegetable garden was not open then, you could however view it from a platform. It has now been rebuilt from a ruin.

The double walled vegetable garden in 2005.

Our next visit was in 2013.

The Broad-Walk.

The 220m long avenue which divides the Garden is known as the Broad-walk.
One of the longest herbaceous borders in Britain, from spring to winter, this Garden provides a colourful welcome.
It begins at the Gatehouse, passing this water sculpture called Scaladaqua Tonda.

The Rill.

I particularly love this rill, it runs the full length of the Broad Walk, vanishing into pools along the way, starting at this dragon topped mirror pool.

This feeds water down into The Rill,

a meandering stream that flows down the Broadwalk with a shape and course that is inspired by Carmarthenshire’s Towy Valley river.

It then disappears into the Circle of Decision, a fountain shaped like the cross section of an ammonite,

The great glasshouse.

Designed by Foster and Partners, is the largest structure of its kind in the world. The structure is (312 ft) long and (180 ft) wide, with a roof containing 785 panes of glass.

The plants are divided into sections from Chile, Western Australia, South Africa, California, the Canary Islands and the Mediterranean.

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The Japanese Garden.

Designed by professor Fukuhara for the 2001 Chelsea flower show, it won a gold medal and best in show, after which it was recreated here.
“It is named Sui Ou Tei, a reflection of the national flowers of Japan and Wales – the cherry tree and daffodil. It consists of three traditional Japanese gardens – the Stream and Lake Garden, the Gravel Garden and the Tea Garden. Filled with symbolism and guided by Zen philosophy, this is a lovely place to sit and contemplate.”

The Aqualab.

This is a place of learning, perched upon stilts this wooden building is full of microscopes and study aids, here schoolchildren can get the opportunity to explore the wonders of nature.

The Tropical House.

Situated in the Walled garden.

It was designed by the world-renowned Welsh architect John Belle, celebrated for his restoration of some of the most famous landmarks in the USA. It is home to tropical plants and a butterfly house.

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The Double Walled Garden.

When it was built 200 years ago, the Double Walled Garden, at over three acres, could provide enough fresh fruit and vegetables for a household of 30 people, and employed 12 full- time gardeners.

The double walled vegetable garden in 2013.

The two walls, one brick, one stone, provided shelter from animals and the harsher elements, and created important microclimates where tender plants could grow. It is divided into four quadrants, each with its own distinctive pathway. Part of the vegetable garden is given over to local School Allotments, where the schools have built a plastic bottle greenhouse.

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The Bee Garden.

You can end your exploration at the Stable Block, this houses the Seasons Restaurant, Gift Shop and Oriel Yr Ardd Gallery.

If you are planning to visit Wales during the year, we would recommend a visit to the Botanic Garden of Wales, there is much more to see than I have shown.

It also ties in well with a visit to Aberglasney Gardens, another favourite with us.

St David’s Day. 1st March 2018.

Chris, Camassia & Chaos.

Our gardening club, The Black Pear Gardening Club, meets monthly, with speakers during the winter months and garden visits during the summer.

For the February meeting we welcomed Stella Exley from Hare Spring Cottage Plants, York.

The Title of her talk was ‘Chris, Camassia and Chaos’.

Stella regaled us with accounts of the trials and tribulations she went through to provide camassia to Chris Beardshaw for his RHS Chelsea gold medal winning garden in 2015.

It started with a chance meeting at Arley Hall show, following which Chris contacted Stella, to arrange a visit to her nursery. She holds the national collection of camassia and grows other hardy perennials.

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He showed Stella his plans for the show garden and she agreed to grow 2000 camassia, individually in pots, to provide the 1000 that he needed.
In order to do this she decided to actually grow 4000, this was on top of the 10,000 that she normally grew, nearly all single handed!

All her plants are grown outside on the floor with only a small poly tunnel and greenhouse to work in. That winter they were ‘blessed’ with two periods of snow which held back the development of the camassia. With her experience of growing them she knew they could not be forced on under cover, even if she had the facilities to do so.
The decision was made to rotate them in and out of the poly tunnel, for only two hours during the day and four hours at night, which she did wearing a head torch. She then started to feed them carefully with liquid feed so as not to scorch the leaves.

Chris visited the nursery to see the camassia in flower for the first time just before the show. camassia-gallery-about-gallery-07

Delighted with what he saw he asked Stella to choose the ones that would go on to the lorry for the garden. To make it more difficult they had to be transported trailer at a time down the narrow track to the waiting artic lorry.

Stella ended by showing us pictures of the gold medal winning garden.

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Following a question and answer session, she was busy selling some of the many pots of camassia she had brought with her all the way from North Yorkshire.
There was general agreement that this was one of the most interesting talks we have had.

Stella and the pots of Camassia she brought for sale at the meeting.

I succumbed to the ‘Charms’ of Camassia leichtlinii ‘Sacajawea’ for our Green and white garden. It has ivory white flowers with variegated foliage.

You can visit Stella’s website: Hare Spring Cottage Plants.

The website for the Black Pear gardening Club: BPGC

Do you grow camassia?

Unless indicated otherwise all pictures are published with Stella Exley’s permission.

Hats, Gloves, Scarves & Muddy Boots.

On Wednesday we replaced our Hats, Gloves, Scarves and Muddy Boots with our ‘Wednesday Best’ to attend the Worcestershire County National Garden Scheme AGM and lunch. ( This being a charity, garden owners have to pay for their lunch).

With the Chief Executive, George Plumptre, of the NGS in attendance, Our County Chairman, David Morgan presented an impressive report for the year.

Worcestershire NGS raised a total of £74,261.34 direct from garden owners opening during 2017, with a net total of £79,823.28, including advertising and donations. Nationally, the NGS donated over £3million to beneficiaries in 2017. You can see which charities benefit from this by visiting the NGS website Here

Before lunch we were entertained and informed by Darren Rudge, BBC local radio gardening expert on ‘Tea bags, bra’s and tights, – household items that can make gardening more cost effective!”

Following the AGM and lunch, we all collected our advertising material for the year, posters, direction arrows and signs to put around the garden.

County booklets are distributed around various garden centres, shops, tourist offices and any venue where the public can accesses them.

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The Garden Visitor’s Handbook 2018, which covers all N.G.S. open gardens in England and Wales, is available from the NGS website. It makes an ideal companion for the holidaying gardener.

The Hats, Gloves, Scarves and Muddy Boots were back on the next day, we have a deadline to meet!

Do you visit gardens when you are on holiday?

Ten February Favourite Blooms.

Chloris at The Blooming Garden encourages us garden bloggers to venture out into the garden in all winds and weathers to take pictures of our favourite ten blooms each month. My ten include the inevitable Snowdrops, of which I have the grand total of three varieties, (Chloris is the one to visit to enjoy a Galanthus feast), the common Nivalis, its double and the third which I think is Galanthus S. Arnott. This is also Hellebore season, with the orientalis adding their charm and colour to the February garden.

I am very impressed with the Hamamelis in the oriental garden, it has been flowering since December. I do have a degree of admiration for the variegated ‘Laurel’, which at this time of year lightens up the rear of the oriental garden. It was a rescue, ‘no name’, plant when we were living in our previous house. I could not decide where to plant it therefore it remained in a pot until we developed the garden here. I do like to see an underdog succeed!

This is the beginning of the Crocus season, there are more still to flower in the garden. ‘Gypsy Girl’ is I think a bit special with its brown stripes, it is in pots along with an unknown Iris Reticulata. A favourite Iris this time of year is ‘ Katherine Hodgkin’, I have had it in the garden since Carol Klein sang its praises during a lecture at Pershore College.

In the White and Green garden there is a nod to the seventies when we all grew Conifers and Heathers. The Erica Carnea ‘Whitehall’ thrives due to it not requiring ericaceous soil, it sits below the fragrant flowering Winter Honeysuckle.

A special plant for me is the Lunaria Annua ‘Rosemary Verey’, its dark leaves providing a contrast to the snowdrops. I purchased one plant four years ago and have saved seed each year to raise plants for the garden and to sell at our open days. It has also self sown around the garden, coming true each time even though we have two other varieties here. Rosemary Verey was the first garden designer to influence me, from visiting her garden, at Barnsley, Gloucestershire, experiencing the style of planting within the borders and the pottager. Then through her books, with the plan of her Chelsea garden in 1992 inspiring the original layout of what I now call the blue border. (It has changed somewhat since 2005).

While Christmas now seems a while ago the flowering Hippeastrum was a gift to Irene from a friend. We were very impressed with its three blooms.

I think its a varigated Laural .

Hamamelis Moll Pallida (Witch Hazel)

Galanthus ‘Flore Pleno’

Galanthus ’S Arnott’

Iris ‘Katherine Hodgkin’

Crocus ‘Gipsy Girl’

Iris reticulata

Hippeastrum

Crocus with a Fuchsia in the old cast iron boiler.

Erica carnea ‘Whitehall’

Lonicera fragrantissima

Helleborus orientalis

Lunaria annua ‘Rosemary Verey’ with Galanthus nivalis

These are my ten favourites for February, please visit Chloris to see what she and other bloggers have chosen. Do you have a favourite February flower?

Wordless Wednesday 14th February 2018.

In the February Sunshine.

These winter months are the time of year I try to carry out any ‘estate’ maintenance along with completing the pruning of the climbing/rambling roses, wisteria, vines, the apples and pear trees.

These all require the use of a ladder, which in the past has involved balancing on the top of a rather unsteady step ladder. Having some time ago reached the age where I don’t bounce so well and not wishing to add to the queues at the local hospital A&E department I have invested in a Henchman ladder. This is one of the best investments I have made in garden equipment. The ladder is similar to the Japanese tripod ladders, with adjustable leg heights to accommodate different ground levels and a bar at the top that you can safely lean into, so long as you don’t go any higher than recommended. This feature doesn’t seem to appear on the Japanese ladders which was the deciding factor for me when making my choice. They are made in the UK from aluminium and therefore very light to carry and come in different sizes. I did feel very safe using it this year, it can also serve as a coffee table!

You can view more details Henchman Ladders.

Two jobs required the help of a local builder, one has been the replacement of the walls to the raised herb bed. I originally built it, in 2004, with treated timber planks, as these have rotted away in places, I decided to replace them with new sleeper timbers.
This bed is also home to a climbing ‘Albertine’ rose, on the trellis, a red currant fan trained along the side fence and a standard red gooseberry in the centre. The new bed is not as big, therefore more of the herbs will be in either terracotta pots or the old galvanised bath and buckets.

The lawn just off the patio always looks a mess, especially at this time of year, it is not very wide and all the foot traffic passes through here ( human and animal ). I have had it edged with porous black pavers, to match the ones incorporated into the patio design. Wether the grass remains, in this small area, or is replaced with gravel, is yet to be decided. Another option is artificial grass, I am following Cathy at Rambling in the Garden’s progress, with interest, to see how she gets on with her small installation.
I have also edged the fence along the Green and White garden with the pavers to save having to strim the grass.

Our neighbour has a willow (Salix) tree right against the boundary fence by the Oriental garden. We have dropped several, so far unsuccessful, hints regarding keeping it pollarded to prevent it becoming to dominant.

I decided to remove the worst offending boughs, the main branches will be placed, in a corner of the garden, to become a wildlife sanctuary, with the whips along with some Cornus trimmings, being woven into a small natural edge to the bed behind the banana bench. The remainder will be chipped for mulching around the shrubs in the Oriental garden.

My compost bins are in a poor state of repair and need replacing. I have for two years, had one of the local authority garden waste recycling bins. This has reduced the need for so many bins here. I have replaced one with an extra leaf bin, this is such a useful garden by-product, either for mulching or adding to potting compost that I don’t send it away from the garden.

We have recently taken delivery of 400 NGS Worcestershire County booklets this month to distribute around local shops, libraries and any garden clubs we visit. We also have our county AGM and lunch this month, where we garden openers collect all the publicity material for our open days. It reminds us the clock is ticking ( I think I have heard that before with a french accent!)

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We have been fortunate to have recently enjoyed some winter sun, thus enabling me to make some progress on the maintenance list, while enjoying the winter sunshine, entertained by bird song.

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What winter maintenance projects do you have for your garden?

The Birds and the Bees…

Today (Friday) was the first day of sunshine here and after too many days of rain, it does bring a song into your heart.

I ventured out into the garden to finish pruning the climbing roses, before I began, I decided to do a tour with the camera. The gardener’s friend, was as usual, keeping an eye on me while providing his own welcome tune.

The Mohonia in full flower, with the sunshine, brought the honey bees out from their hives.

They were also visiting the Clematis which scrambles all over it.

The Flowers and the Trees.

By the front door there are pots planted up for a seasonal display with Carex, Ferns, Cornus stolonifera ‘Flaviramea’, Erica x darleyensis ‘Phoebe’, Thuja ‘Goldy and the…

…Snowdrop elwesii…

…and a hellebore.

Another pot contains the Sarcococca ‘Winter Gem’.

On the other side of the door an Euonymus is trained against the wall with Sarcococca confusa in front…

…the powerful scent from the Sacococca ( Christmas Box) fills the house every time the door is opened.

Sarcococca confusa with Euonymus Emerald & Gold

In the Oriental garden the Hamamelis is in full flower, I have mentioned before I would not recommend this variety, because it holds on to its dead leaves. I removed them all before taking this picture.

The sunshine was highlighting the Erica ‘Albert’s Gold’ by the entrance to the White and Green garden and the standard variegated Holly, Ilex ‘Argentea Margenata’ at the back.

Around the Holly are planters with variegated Myrtle, Tulips just starting to show and Vinca minor ‘Alba’

IMG_2875_001 — Ilex aquifolium ‘Argentea Margenata’ & Myrtus Communis Variegata

The snowdrops are beginning to open around the garden, especially where the sun reaches…

…the common double, which was given to me by a friend, are clumping up well, ready to divide later on…

…as is the winter aconite, although more slowly.

The Prunus Serrula always looks wonderful with the sunlight on its bark, its mug decorations ( Mug Tree) have so far survived the winter.

Around its roots is a Skimmia and variegated Ivy. Many gardeners fear ivy in the garden, I like to see it, the variegated forms are not so vigorous, while providing some colour to lighten a dark area of the garden along with being good for wildlife.

Skimmia japonica ‘Rubella’ & Variegated Hedra.

It is easy to ignore plants such as Skimmia when everything else is in full flower, however at this time of year they make a welcome contribution to the garden and this one below is a little more unusual than most.

The House Sparrows are gathering in the top of a Viburnum before diving down on to the ground feeders.

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What ‘Birds and Bees, Flowers and Trees’ are making you sing in your garden?

Wordless Wednesday 24/1/18 ‘Mrs Thompson’ @ Oxford Botanical Gardens.

Oxford Botanic Gardens.

We enjoy visiting gardens, it usually features in any holiday plans, besides giving pleasure they provide material for the blog and my garden presentations. In March 2017 we visited Oxford University Botanic Gardens.

The river Cherwell runs along the one side.

Growing on the bank is this lovely multi stemed silver birch.

The garden was founded in 1621 making it the oldest Botanic Garden in Britain. It was originally founded to grow plants to support the teaching of medicine at the University, something that still continues today. Beneath the Parrotia Persica tree spring bulbs were in flower also in the distance a Cornus mas.

Almost everything growing here is classified whether it be by botanical family, geographical origin or by its use. The family borders are planted to demonstrate which plants are related to each other. This Salix ‘Britzensis’ is in one of those borders, we have this willow in our garden. It has also been planted along side the river at Upton upon Severn a town close to us, in the Mathew Wilson designed borders. It looks particularly good alongside a pool, reflecting in the water, providing brilliant winter colour, hence its name.

Within the wall borders they grow plants from different regions New Zealand, the Mediterranean and South Africa.

Going down to the Lower Garden, you pass the Rock Garden, first built in 1926.

Plants that changed the world feature in the four allotment style beds in the Lower Garden. This one, for some reason cought my eye!

The Lower Garden has been redeveloped since 2009 by Kim Wilkie Associates to more reflect its role as a Botanic Garden.

There has been a glass house here for over 300 years. today there are more than 700 square metres of glasshouses.

The Palm House.

This is home to mainly crop plants, such as Banana, Pineapple and the Pink Banana, Musa Velutina, a species of seeded banana.

Banana.

Pineapple

Musa Valutiina.

The lily House.

Here their giant Victoria Water Lily, takes pride of place the leaves of which you can see in the front of this picture.

This is a tropical water lily, its date of origin is prior to 1856. It is described as highly viviparous, in that its seeds begin to develop before they detach from the plant.

Oxford Botanic Garden. — Nymphaea x daubenyana

The Arid House.

Is home to their collection of cacti and succulent.

Alongside the three main glasshouses are three smaller ones.

The Alpine House uses a traditional plunge sand bed to display the plants.

Lithodora Zahnii,at first glance looks like rosemary, it is a member of the borage family.

The Fern house is devoted to displaying the many different forms of this group. I do like the look of Staghorn ferns or Elkhorn ferns, there are 18 species in this family.

The Insectivorous House is home to the insect eating plants.

Throughout the glasshouses and the connecting passageways, there were many interesting plants, a few examples are in the slide show.

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I hope you have enjoyed visiting the Oxford Botanic Gardens, if you have the chance to visit for real please do. There is also the Harcourt Arboretum.

Do you have a Botanic Garden you enjoy visiting?

Wordless Wednesday 13th December 2017 It’s cold enough to make your hair stand on end.

Tulips. (From Hanley Swan).

I am, sadly, old enough to remember Max Bygraves singing the cheerful song ‘Tulips from Amsterdam’.

Tulips along with Dahlias are a vital element to providing year round cheer and colour here in Our Garden@19

The dahlias are all now lifted and safely stored in the small greenhouse, this one is kept frost free. There are two electric tube heaters in here, with a new heated propagating sand bench, at the rear, containing some seedlings which I am hoping to carry through the winter. These have been joined by the Aeoniums, Cotyledon Orbiculata, Colocasia ‘Black Dragon’ and Pelargoniums.

The dahlias on the bench are labeled and waiting for the ‘head gardener’ to box them up in compost similar to the ones you can see on the shelf below.

The raised beds that edge the patio have been home, during the summer, to the dahlias and annuals, it is my nod to the Exotic Garden at Great Dixter. I wrote about the dahlias I grow here.

Tulip ‘Abu Hassan’, now follows into the raised beds along with a few Erysimum x allionii (Siberian Wallflowers) and Myosotis (For-get-me-nots.) Hopefully these will be putting on a show for the early May Bank holiday open gardens.

The pots contain more tulips to dot around the garden in the spring, they are wintered on the patio to help keep the squirrels away.

The Tulips carried over from last year are Tulip clusiana ‘Peppermintstick’, Tulip ‘Calgary’ ,Tulip ‘Orange Emperor’, Tulip ‘Prinses Irene’, Tulip ‘Red Riding Hood’, Tulip ‘Spring Green’, Tulip ‘Tres Chic’ Tulip ‘Queen of the Night’ and Tulip ‘China Pink’. These were lifted or emptied from their pots after flowering and laid out to dry in the small green house rotating with the dahlias.

Tulipa ‘ Ballade ‘ is left in the main borders.

These bulbs are new for 2017, adding to the ones already in the garden.
Allium ‘Beau Regard’, Allium Karatavience ‘Ivory Queen’, Iris reticulata ‘Polar Ice’,
Muscari ‘Siberian Tiger’, Scilla siberica, Narcissus ‘Thalia’ and Tulip ‘Angelique’.

Some tulip pictures to show what we are hoping for.

Tres Chic

China Pink

Abu Hassan.

Orange Emperor.

Princess Irene.

Peppermintstick.

Spring Green

Queen of the Night

Have you planted any bulbs for a spring spectacular?

Ten Top for November.

I am joining Chloris and her many followers in posting my Top Ten for November, please visit The Blooming Garden to see what their Top Ten are.

Number one, the seed heads of the Lunaria, which provides a silvery shine in the low November sunlight. This plant provides interest through out the whole year, from the young leaves with their maroon spots, the dark purple flowers and now the seed heads.

…growing in front is a young Cotinus, we lost a mature one a few years ago, therefore we are looking forward to this one developing and flowering in the future.

These two ‘Grasses’ make a striking feature at the end of the pebble river in the Oriental Garden. I originally saw this plant combination when visiting The Bressingham Gardens, Nr Diss, Norfolk.

Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’, hakone grass and Opheapogon Nigrescens, black mondo grass.

This Viburnum, in the White and Green Garden, is one of the earliest flowering shrubs in the garden. It flowers from early autumn through to late spring, and looks particularly good when there is a blue sky behind it.

Anna from the The Greentapestry was recently singing the praises of this rose, mentioning that it flowers from July to November.

Here it is in the Iris bed on the south side of the house…

…along with ‘ ‘Geoff Hamilton’, I am hoping this bud will open.

I will always have Viola’s in the garden, whether it’s the diminutive ‘Heartsease’ which I grow from seed, (it does also self seed), or ones purchased from garden centres to provide colour through out winter.

We were given two Clivia three years ago, one flowered the first year, none the next year and one, (yippie!) so far this year.

I am not sure if Number ten qualifies for a November favourite, although it is one of mine and it is in the garden. The first sighting, today, of the female Blackcap on the bird feeders. I always like to see the arrival of this aggressive little bird, she always arrives before the male and tries to defend the feeders from all comers. the down side is that it heralds the arrival of winter weather, ‘Up North’ which will eventually make its way here.

This is a picture from 2014, they are quite nervous and therefore difficult to photograph. You can see more ‘Birdie” pictures by clicking the Wildlife Category.

That is my Top Ten in Our Garden@ 19, for November, I wonder what will be around for December?

Wordless Wednesday 8th November 2017.

Top Ten for October.

Choosing my Top Ten flowers in Our garden@19 is difficult at any time of year, however one for October has to be the Michaelmas Daisy. (Aster/ Symphyotrichum.)

This white one appeared in the garden two years ago. I think it may have come in with another plant. It is a runner (ie.invasive) by the appearance of its roots, I was unsure whether to keep it, until it flowers then, when it does, I relent.

I like the way it blends in beautifully with number two, the Acer griseum, ( I know its not a flower, I hope Chloris approves*, See below) with its peeling cinnamon like bark…

…along with the Molina ‘Karl Foerster’. The Grasses make a lovely contribution to the October garden, therefore they are my number three.

Calamagrostis x a. ‘ Karl Foerster ‘ and Miscanthus sinensis

Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ has been a feature in this garden ever since I first saw it in Bob Brown’s, Cotswold Flowers, display beds. It stands at the back of the border, stiff and upright without the need for support.

In the White and Green garden the amazingly reliable Iceberg rose is still flowering…

…along with a late planted Sweet Pea that has decided to climb up the Taxus bac. Fastigiata.

Sedum do not seem to do very well in Our Garden@19 so this one is very welcome.

The Crab Apple ‘Golden Hornet’ is in its second period of glory*, blossom being the first. it is growing alongside the raised bed containing ‘THE’ Dahlia for me ‘David Howard’.

Malus ‘Golden Hornet’.

Malus ‘Golden Hornet’ and Dahlia ‘David Howard’.

Dahlia ‘David Howard’.

The arch is covered with the ornamental vine ‘Spetchley Red’ through which…

…you can stroll to the banana bench and sit, to take in all the autumn colours in Our Garden@19.

I am joining in with Chloris * and other bloggers posting our Top Ten for October. Please visit them using the link to see their selection.

Wordless Wednesday 18th October 2017 Seed heads in the autumn sunlight.

Ten Favourites for September.

Just in the nick of time I am joining Chloris at The Blooming Garden with my Ten Favourites for September. You can see what others have posted by visiting Chloris Here

Number one in Our Garden@19 is a flower on the Ginger Lilly, I have been waiting two years since I was given them for one to flower. This year one did!

I have had a soft spot for Morning Glory since growing them as a child, this one is from a late sowing of mixed colours.

I purchased Kirengeshoma palmata after seeing it look so wonderful in Beth Chatto’s garden, I now grow it in a pot on the patio, where I can keep an eye on it due to the slugs loving it is much as I do!

You cannot help but smile when you see the Cyclamen growing in all the inhospitable dry areas where little else will survive. Here along the shrubbery it is joined by…

…the Arum, whose main attraction is its leaf markings earlier in the year. I usually sow some of the berries each autumn to increase my stock.

Mentioning the shrubbery, the shrubs are adding colour to the garden just now, not least the Fuchias

This one has such elegant flowers compared to the more blousy ones above.

One of my favourite shrubs ever since I first saw it in Rosemary Verey’s garden is the Leycesteria, especially the yellow leaved one here along the shrubbery walk, lit up by the September sunshine.

September is Michaelmas time and this is a favourite, you can call it a Daisy, Aster or as the famous victorian gardener, William Robinson did ‘Starworts’ or whatever the botanists have now decided. ‘Little Carlow’ is a good reliable one which doesn’t suffer from mildew, the sad fate of so many.

I pair it with this well behaved Golden Rod with its arching flowering stems.

We inherited many Nerine bowdenii from my Great Aunt’s garden, I shared them with my brother, sister and daughters. They are in Our Garden@19, also here, in the allotment cutting garden I share with our youngest daughter. They are a beautiful flower of September along with a reminder of our Great Aunt who had them growing along the south side of her house. She used to sell them by the bunch at the door.

IMG_0001 (1) — Nerine bowdenii in the allotment.

Those are my ten for September, I hope you enjoy them.

Signs of Autumn.

Walking around Our Garden@19 the other evening there were some notable signs of autumn, not least in the temperture.

Some of the plants are starting to develop their seasonal colours. Please join me on a short walk through the garden.

The first to catch your eye is the flowering cherry tree between the patio and the oriental garden…

…wherein you will find the first Acer to change into its autumn coat..

Walking up the garden via the shrubbery path you pass a large arching Cotoneaster lacteus, this can look wonderful either trained flat against a fence or wall or, as here, left to grow freely at the back of a border…

…from there you arrive at the banana bench overlooked by the Green Man who is surround by The Boston Ivy.

After a rest on the bench in the autumn sunshine if you follow the never ending woodland walk you pass the Rose glauca, with its slaty blue leaves and bright red hips.

Further along, providing colour all year round is the Prunus serrula…

…with its beautiful tactile bark.

While Autumn can be a little depressing due to its heralding oncoming winter, the plants brighten up our days with their fiery colourful, leaves, berries and bark.

What is brightening up your autumn garden?

Dahlias.

Growing Dahlias has become popular again within the last 15 years or so, some credit the late Christopher Lloyd at Great Dixter with their revival.

I grew up next door to my maternal grand parents and there was a large garden producing almost all of our food. A vegetable garden and orchard with chickens, pigs and bees kept my grandparents and parents busy, we were ‘encouraged’ to help with the weeding along with having our own little plot.

Besides growing food for the table my grandparents used to show an array of produce in all the local shows. Their pride and joy was the Dahlia cutting bed (how ‘today’ was that!) providing both flowers to sell and for show.

This picture below shows them standing among the Dahlias with one of their prize winning cups.

GGBANKS copy

From the beginning I have grown Dahlia’s here in Our Garden@19, partly due to nostalgia, partly inspiration from visiting Great Dixter and reading Christopher Lloyd’s books.

I use them in a simple rotation, in the raised beds edging the patio and following on in the space, occupied by Tulips, Wallflowers and Forget-me-Nots. I lift and store the Tulips in the greenhouse during the summer when the Dahlias are ready to go into the garden. The bulbs worth keeping, along with any new ones, are planted in November after lifting the Dahlias to store in the green house.

The Dahlias below are the ones in the garden this year. One new one is ‘Mexican Star’, a hybrid between Chocolate Cosmos and a Dahlia. It is darker in colour than the photograph and is reputed to smell of chocolate, I can confirm it does. I wrote about purchasing the tubers at Chocolates and Flowers

The raised beds are also planted with other tender annuals such as Tagetes patula. I purchased the original seed from Great Dixter, it is their own strain selected for height and will grow to between 3 to 4ft…

Tagetes patula

Tagetes patula.

..also with Cosmos…

Cosmos ‘Dazzler’.

Cosmos ‘Candy Stripe’.

Cosmos sulphureus.

and Calendula officinalis…

All of the above have been grown from own saved seed, the yellow Cosmos seed originally came from Amelia

I have copied below an updated version of a Dahlia Fact Sheet I produced for the Black Pear Gardening Club website. I hope you find it interesting and perhaps useful.

DAHLIA FACT SHEET.

Named after Dr Anders Dahl.

There is a Tree Dahlia that flowers at Christmas.

Dahlia Imperialis grows up to 18ft high.

Open centred Dahlias are better for wild life.

Propagation.

Dahlias can be grown from own saved seed, but they don’t come true to type.

Cuttings can be taken in the spring when growth starts. You need to cut a small amount of tuber with each shoot, you can apply rooting hormone, pot up and keep in a propagator or put poly bag over pot. You may need to spray mist in the first few days.
When there are signs of growth, pot on to individual pots when needed.
Remove central stem from cuttings to produce more stems.
If you have a big tuber you can divide it. Wait until you can see new growth and then cut into sections with at least one shoot. Dress any cuts with yellow sulphur dust and then pot up.

Lifting and storing Dahlias.

Lift after frost has blackened tops, cut off tops, shake most of the soil off and place in frost free environment upside down to dry. Dust tubers with yellow sulphur powder, especially on any damaged tubers, before putting in boxes of compost right way up with the stems just showing.

I store in boxes lined with newspaper in a mix of cheap compost and vermiculite (approx 10:1). A cheap form of insulation is polystyrene tiles placed under and around the boxes.
In very cold weather you can also throw over horticultural fleece but don’t use bubble wrap over the top, as this does not allow any air into the box and the tubers could rot. Bubble wrap is ideal for lining greenhouses to provide extra insulation in winter. Check during the winter and if the compost becomes too dry, give a light watering on a frost free day. Also remove the fleece to allow fresh air to circulate or mould can develop.

Around mid March start to apply some water to encourage growth.

In April I put the tubers into big pots with good compost to give them a good start before
moving them outside on sunny days to harden off before planting out in late May – June. They are well grown by the time they are planted into the garden, which helps to reduce slug damage.
If you have free draining soil and wish to leave in the ground cut back after the first frost and provide an insulating mulch of compost or bark. You will need to apply slug protection early in the spring.

Pest and Diseases.

Virus – yellowing of the plant. (Destroy plant don’t compost.)

Earwigs – only a problem if growing for show. My Grandfather use to put inverted flower pots stuffed with folded newspaper on canes by each Dahlia he would then shake the earwigs out into a bucket and feed to the chickens! If you want to use as cut flowers, cut the Dahlia flower, hold upside down and shake vigorously to dislodge insects before taking inside the house.

Slugs – use any method that you find works. I use organic slug/snail pellets and nematodes in the garden. (Nematodes don’t work against snails).

Feed.

Dahlias are heavy feeders; good garden compost or old farm yard manure can be incorporated into the planting hole along with a high potash fertiliser, Vitax Q4, a Rose fertiliser or for organic gardeners Blood, Fish and Bone. A second application will be needed later in the growing season to keep them flowering. If grown in pots use a slow release fertiliser and some water retaining gel.

Except for dwarf varieties, Dahlias will need staking. The Great Dixter method, for individual plants, is to tie a piece of string to a stake and then loop the string around each of the main stems and tie back to the stake. This prevents that bunched up look you see when string is tied around the whole plant and allows each stem some individual movement.

Dead head during the flowering period and you will have a good display all summer.

Over time Dahlias have come and gone, here in Our Garden@19, the one constant presence is my favourite ‘David Howard’. It is a robust Dahlia, producing large tubers from which to propagate.

I realise orange is not to every ones taste in a flower, I recently read it described as ‘Butterscotch’, however I think along with its dark foliage it has the ‘Wow’ factor.

D.’David Howard’

Not quite up to Grandparents standard, third prize in our village show. (Apparently the stems are too short).

Do you grow Dahlias and have a favourite one?

Ten favourite plants for August 2017

It is often said that August is a poor time for English gardens, if you visit Chloris At The Blooming Garden. you will see how wrong that statement can be.

I am joining in with Chloris and all the other garden bloggers with my ten favourite Plants for August.

In no particular order of preference, the first three are in the White & Green Garden.

They are Rosa ‘Iceberg’ well into its second flowering period, with the Japanese Anenome and the Phlox paniculata ‘White Admiral’.

Phlox paniculata ‘ White Admiral ‘

Rose Climbing Iceberg

Japanese Anenome

Number four and new to the garden this year is the Gladiolus papilio. I purchased this one when visiting Moyclare Gardens, Cornwall Here The corms originally came as a gift from the renowned Cottage Gardener, Margery Fish.

Gladiolus papilio

Five and six are foliage plants, Eucomis comosa ‘Sparkling Burgundy’…

…and Colocasia ‘Black Dragon’.

Colocasia ‘Black Dragon’

These two are both in pots, they are entered into the village show today, respectively as a flowering and foliage pot plant.

Number seven in the charts is another pot plant, Aeonium arborean atropurpurem. This being a tender plant spends its summers in the south facing front garden.

I do like to see Bronze Fennel in the garden, both for its scent when you brush against it and its delicate flowers. The insects appreciate it too. I usually propagate some from seed each year, although given the right conditions it will self seed.

Foeniculum vulgare ‘Purpureum’. Bronze Fennel.

Number nine is the Echinops ritro, this will also self seed. I was originally given a plant by someone who was removing it from their garden because it spreads. It has been well behaved here, it is another the pollinators love.

Last but not least is the Pelargonium ‘Frank Hedley’ AGM…

…with its crimson red flower and variegated leaves, it is a winning addition to the late summer garden.

Do you have favourite August flowers?

To see what others have posted as their favourite plants for August please visit Chloris using the link at the top of the page.

Wordless Wednesday 16/8/2017 Viola ‘Rebecca’.

Five favourite flowers for July.

Chloris at the blooming garden has been posting her 10 favourite flowers for July while encouraging others to join in. I along with several others, am posting my five favourite flowers for July.

Star of the month is this, name unknown, Phlox which also features in the picture above, it came from my Great Aunt’s garden, and has been flowering for weeks.

Next also in the picture above is this Dahlia, again name unknown, given to me by a client several years ago who didn’t like the colour.
Veronicastrum Fascination stands tall at the back of the border and as you can see is also loved by the bees.

Digitalis lutea is a perennial foxglove, easily grown from seed.

I often leave envious comments on blogs showing wonderful stands of Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’, I have been trying to get it to flower here for some time. Is this the start of something big?

These are my five for July, please visit some of the other blogs which are posting their favourite flowers to see what they have chosen. Which ones are yours?

Wordless Wednesday 19/7/2017. The lighter side.

Pelargonium Scented leaved ‘Fringed Apple’.

Wordless Wednesday 12/7/2017 ‘The Dark-side’.

Moyclare Gardens.

In May we had an enjoyable holiday in Cornwall, which I wrote about: here.

One of the gardens we visited, that left a lasting impression on us was the Moyclare Garden, near Liskard.

This is the introduction to the garden from their website.

“The garden at Moyclare was established in 1927, and hosts a fine variety of plants, shrubs and trees in one acre of sheltered flat ground around the house. Many are unusual and some are quite rare.
The garden was first planted by Moira Reid, and is now in the care of Elizabeth and Philip Henslowe.
It is open to visitors from the end of March or early April until near the end of August.”

The great cottage garden writer Margery Fish was a close friend with the exchange of many letters and plants. Many other notable garden visitors were to follow, again to quote from their website:

“Amongst the keen garden visitors was Beverly Nichols, another gardening writer, who gave a present of a Eucalyptus gunnii. John Betjeman wrote: ‘A perfect piece of England’ in the visitors book – much to the annoyance of Moira who considered it then to be an Irish garden! Charles Nelson from Dublin’s Botanical Gardens was another visitor, as was Topline Broadhurst who televised it often in the 1970s, and many others. The most recent was Helen Yemm, who writes for the “Daily Telegraph”.”

On entering the garden the first plant to catch my eye was Azalea Amoena, in full flower.

The garden is a series of mainly woodland walks between beautiful flowering shrubs…

…predominantly camellia, rhododendron and azaleas.

Growing along the edge of this path was this delightful Vinca difformis ‘Jenny Pym’

We gardeners know that our gardens are constantly changing, although not always planned.

Another unusual ground cover plant brightening up the garden understory was Stylophorum lasiocarpum.

Several arches have more recently been built around the garden providing support for many different climbers, clematis, roses, wisteria and in the case of this one…

…the Actinidia Kolomikta…

…commonly known as the variegated leafed hardy kiwi.

The pond is home to goldfish and much aquatic life despite the efforts of the local heron.

The young crozier shaped fronds in a huge clump of Osmunda regalis were asking to be photographed.

When we visited the South Lawn was dominated, both with its flowers and scent, by a huge Myrtle ‘Amomyrtus apiculata’,

The red flower to the right of it is the Rhododendron ‘Winsone’.

To the left in the border was a Enkianthus campanulatus, living up to its name with beautiful little bell shaped flowers.

The terrace facing the south lawn is home to many tender plants such as the Abutilon megapotanicum, which blooms freely, it has also produced a seedling or sport of a new taller Abutilon.

In pots on the terrace and planted around the garden was the late flowering tulip Angeliue, which Irene was very taken with. One for next years bulb order.

The current owners Elizabeth and Philip Henslowe made us very welcome, Elizabeth is justifiably very proud of the garden and the unusual plants it contains and she has an enviable depth of plant knowledge. Several new plants have been discovered within the garden over the years some of which have been propagated and sold by The Duchy of Cornwall Nursery.

Moyclare is a wonderful garden to explore, you literally find gems around every corner. The garden does have the ‘Wild garden’ look, a style of garden I much admire, very William Robinson, I thought, perhaps that is due to the Irish connection. If you should be visiting the area please check the website here for opening times. Tea and cake is available along with a chance to purchase some of the rarities (and not so rare) plants growing in the garden.

Did I?

Hosta ‘Whirlwinds’ Gladiolus ‘Papilio’ Vinca ‘Jenny Pym’ Stylophorum lasiocarpum.

Wordless Wednesday 14/6/2017 Anyone for Tea? (NGS Open Garden).

Wordless Wednesday 7/6/2017 !!

Catching up!

One problem for a gardener who chooses to go away on holiday in May is the work preparing to go away and then to catch up on your return. This is especially so when you have an open garden date looming in June. This also applies to catching up on reading and writing blogs.

Here is a quick tour of our garden@19 to see what is currently performing following the absences of the gardener.

The copper barrier has so far protected the Hostas, although we have not yet had any challenging slug weather. (warm rain).

Leading off the patio the white wisteria has survived the late frost and is now in full bloom.

The White and Green garden is home to Hosta Patriot, the white Hesperis matronalis…

…and Allium Mount Everest.

The Iris are at their peak, here in the front garden…

Also in the Blue Border along with Allium Purple Sensation and Euphorbia ‘palustris’ is…

The Iris sibirica are just stating to open, this is such an easy, beautiful plant to grow.

The Welsh Poppy cheerfully seeds itself around every where.

The last of the Rhodo’s to flower.

The Clematis are beginning to do their thing..

…along with a new Climbing Rose, which true to its name, it is the first to flower this year.

Whether Home or Away, take a seat for a moment and enjoy a garden. This weekend is the NGS Anniversary Weekend Open Gardens. May 27th to 29th is their 90th Anniversary weekend and will see over 370 gardens opening for a weekend of horticultural delight.

For information about the open gardens, where to find one near you and the charities they support please visit NGS

What is ‘Performing’ for you in your garden in May?

Holiday Time.

We have just returned from an enjoyable holiday in Cornwall.

Staying at Tregrill Farm Cottages, owned by Peter and Diane Bellamy, who previously lived near to us in Worcestershire.

My holiday reading (along with my blog list), I was attracted by the title, it perfectly describes my gardening philosophy.

We visited gardens (More of these in a later post), which of course led to some retail therapy.

On Gardener’s World on Friday night ‘Monty’ in his list of jobs for the weekend mentioned dead heading tulips.

Oh well back to it….although it will be a day off tomorrow visiting the Malvern Spring Show, which is right on our doorstep (More RT?)

Wordless Wednesday 3/5/2017 Recovery Position.

Wordless Wednesday 26/4/2017.

Tulip Time Plans 2017

Our village of Hanley Swan has for the last few years held an open gardens during the Early May Bank Holiday weekend. I usually plant tulips in the garden and pots to provide colour and interest during the weekend. This year it looks as if my plans are in jeopardy due to the early spring weather. These pictures show some of what might still be on display.

The pictures are in order of flowering.

This one came from my Great Aunties garden.

In the raised beds…

In the pots…

Orange Emperor. New this year, it has three buds per stem.

This year the tulips are two weeks earlier than previous years. I have moved some of the ones in pots into the shade to try and delay their flowering until the open weekend.

Version 2

Either side of the Summer House doors.

In the White Garden.

Version 2

In the Blue Border.

The best laid schemes of mice and men
Go often askew, Robert Burns 1785.

What is affecting your plans this spring?

Spring in Close-up.

These pictures were taken with my Canon 18-200mm lens with the Canon close up lens 500D 72mm attached.

What is providing you with a Close-up view of spring?

Chocolate and Flowers.

On Sunday (Mothering Sunday) we visited the Gardens Illustrated Garden Festival held at Westonbirt School, Tebury, Gloucestershire.

You can read about its history along with details regarding visiting the garden on the website: Holford Trust

It was a beautiful spring day, the marquee on the lawn housed some interesting plant and garden related stalls. I bought Chocolate and Flowers.

We had previously visited the gardens in the summer of 2015, these pictures are from then.

I am looking forward to seeing and smelling these!

Following ‘Hanami’…

Into the Oriental Garden…

Take a seat and enjoy the view.

Wordless Wednesday 15/3/17 ‘Hanami’ has arrived in Our Garden@19

I have built a wall!

I have been thinking about my Hosta plants…

We have a north facing corner against the house…

Where I grow shade lovers including Epimedium x Rubrum, Ferns, Buxus and Hosta in pots. Looking good eh! Yet for how long?

Now I am very fond of Hosta, although as all gardener’s know so are…

I have tried all the usual treatments, grit, old wool, organic approved slug pellets, a garlic drench that was recommended by a national collection holder, none of them were 100% effective. We always ended up with shredded leaves.

Other gardens visited appear to manage:

The Dutch…

DPP_0001

A friends open garden in Malvern…

Version 2

An NGS open garden in Worcester…

Version 2

Prince Charles’s National Collection at organically gardened Highgrove (No photography allowed.) However this is…

So I have built a wall!

Now I know what you are thinking, especially you Cathy at Rambling in the garden, call that a wall!

It is said that molluscs will not cross copper because it administers a small electric shock. my defensive wall is wooden, artfully painted in ‘Ivory’ to complement the white furniture, topped with self adhesive copper strips sold for the sole purpose of repelling the Hosta enemy. A second defence is small sharp grit just in case the mollusc parachute regiment drop in!

It appears to be working, although, at this time of year it is generally too cold for both the enemy and the gardener..

Early shoots of promise?

What defences do you find works in your garden?

Spring is in the air.

In Our Garden@19

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While enjoying the early signs of spring the head gardener has been preparing for the summer drought. The garden benefits from the borrowed landscape of the neighbours trees in the autumn, the downside is the amount of water required by such large trees.

Partial soaker hose irrigation was installed when we originally laid out the garden, it has now been installed into the rest of the garden.

Laying out a coiled roll of soaker hose without stepping on emerging bulbs and perennials was reminiscent of playing Twister. (You have to be of a certain age to know the game Twister!)

What has been causing you to perform a jig in the garden?

Trentham Gardens.

Some summer flowers and a little sunshine to bring cheer to a winter’s day.

In August 2016 we visited Trentham Gardens in Staffordshire with the Black Pear Gardening Club.

Trentham is an award winning garden which has won numerous awards including BBC Countryfile’s Garden of the Year 2015.

There is a large Garden Centre and Shopping Village, restaurants and a 119 bedroom Premier Inn Hotel.

There is a separate entrance to the Monkey Forest, which our coach first took us to, here you can walk amongst 140 free roaming Barbary macaques, in a natural woodland setting for this endangered species.
For added excitement there is ‘Aerial Extreme’, a treetop high rope adventure course.

History.

In 1786 the 2nd Earl Gower, owner of Trentham was created Marquess of Stafford.

He commissioned, Lancelot ’Capability’ Brown, between 1759 – 1780 to enlarge the lake, create parkland, a Ha-Ha and build two lodges at the end of the lake.

In 1803 the 2nd marquess of Stafford married Elizabeth, Countess of Sutherland, one of the wealthiest heiresses in the country. Their son George Granville, 2nd Duke of Sutherland along with his architect Charles Barry were responsible for much of what you see today at Trentham. His statue sits on the top of high land at the southern end of the lake.
Barry created the famous Italian Gardens, dividing it into three terraces.

By the late 1800’s the pollution of the River Trent from the pottery industries was so severe the lake and the fountains were ruined.

In 1905 The Duke and Duchess of Sutherland abandoned the house. It was eventually sold and demolished for building materials.

The property has passed through several different owners with The Department of Environment listing several of the remaining buildings. Eventually, in1996, it came into the ownership of St Modwen Properties PLC.
Their plan was to create a tourist and leisure destination and to restore the estate and gardens. They were finally granted permission in 2003 to start on their £100m development of Trentham.

You enter the gardens through the shopping village via this bridge over the river Trent.

Titania points the way to her 14 fairy friends from the shopping village. Each fairy is different, they are placed all around the garden for children (and adults ) to find. They were created by Robin Wight.

At the centre of Trentham Gardens is the mile long, Capability Brown designed, Trentham Lake. Along some of the walks around the lake are new meadows by Nigel Dunnett and the team who were responsible for the wildflower plantings at the Olympic Park. These were planted to celebrate the centenary of Capability Brown.

The contemporary revival of the famous Italian Gardens was led by renowned designer and multi-Chelsea gold-medal winner Tom Stuart-Smith.

Some of the plants in the Italian Garden.

Along one side of the Italian garden is a 90 metre Rose Garden, planted with David Austin roses and a trellis walk.

To the east of the Italian Gardens are the Rivers of Grass and the adjacent Floral Labyrinth.

Both these schemes were designed by the Dutch plantsman, and Chelsea gold-medal winner, Piet Oudolf.

The fairy “Anahi” was living on the Giant Dandelions.

The Giant Dandelions were created by Robin Wight’s daughter Amy, and are situated alongside the lake.

“They look wonderful with the Wildflower Meadow as a backdrop.
‘Spring’ the naughty nymph, appears as though she’s pole-vaulting from a delicate dandelion into the landscape beyond.

There were even snowdrops in August!

If you are looking for a garden to visit in 2017, this is one I would highly recommend.

Please click on any tile to create a slide show. If you wish to receive new posts when I publish them please click on the “follow” link via email box.

Canon EOS 1100D. Canon,18-200mm lens. Canon wide-angle lens, 10-18mm.

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The Old Vicarage East Ruston.

The Desert Wash.

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RHS Hyde Hall.

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Beth Chatto’s Gravel Garden.

The Scree Garden.

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Tatton Park.

Compton Acres.

Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons.

National Botanic Garden of Wales.

From their website: “This Japanese garden is called ‘Sui ou tei’, which refers to the national flowers of Japan and Wales, the cherry blossom and the daffodil.

Bridges Stone Mill.

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In the Oriental Garden.

On the Patio.

Around the Borders.

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NGS Visit.

“Broughton, Banbury, Oxfordshire

The Greenhouses.

The Walled Garden.

Arboretum, Topiary, Plant Sales and Teas.

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The Movie.

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Aston Pottery Garden.

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“April Showers Bring May Flowers”.

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THE EAST FRONT

THE WEST GARDEN

THE WILD GARDEN

THE KITCHEN GARDEN

A photo garden tour.

East Front

West Garden

Wild Garden

Kitchen Garden

Bryan Dodsworth

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