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.

camellia latifolia.

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.