Month: June 2022

We found an NGS open garden open one Sunday close to us, so left home to drive down narrow country lanes with hedges close on each side and too many sharp bends, humped bridges and steep gradients. We intended to arrive as the garden opened mid-morning.

We parked up the the school carpark in the village of Condover and wandered through the village to find the garden following the NGS yellow signs. Following the drive we met the owner who gave a warm welcome and directed us to the start of the garden.

Here we were mighty impressed with the colourful combinations of tulips, so cheerful!

After revelling in the bright colours of the tulips we made our way into the attached woodland area where mature trees could be enjoyed from woodchip paths and these paths were so soft to walk on as the woodchip was very deep. Alongside the woodland ran a crystal clear brook.

From the woodland we re-entered the main garden via a small grassed area. The main garden consisted of circular lawn with mixed borders all around. This had all been created fairly recently.

Around the perimeter of the house itself we found little cameos of interest, those little extras that help make a garden that little bit better.

Because this garden opened all day and we arrived as it opened in the morning, we found we had time to visit another open garden not many miles away so off we went for another plant exploration, this time aiming for a place called “The Leasowes” near a village called Cound.

“The Leasowes” will be the subject of part two of this post, following soon.

We have long time friends, who we went to college with in 1969-72, who live in the coastal town of Barmouth. A group of us who studied together at Alsager College in Cheshire, part of Keele University, still meet up regularly in different places.

We decided going to meet up in the Barmouth home of Kath and Andy would be a good idea as the year was moving on and the weather was becoming more promising for a trip to the coast. We travelled there early in the morning and after parking in the main carpark we made our way uphill to their hillside home and garden. We zig-zagged up the steep garden steps and path.

Peaceful figures could be seen from the pathways looking content in the greenery. Spring blooms appeared alongside the paths.

After coffee and a wonderful lunch Andy suggested a wander around the hillside above the house so we took off following steep tracks, steps and wriggled between houses, garden walls and found ourselves far above the seaside town and its beach. We enjoyed superb views until a sea mist blew inland and obliterated them.

The stone walls and rocky outcrops enjoyed their own special collection of plants.

Views over the sea, beach and town soon started disappearing.

Returning to the hillside house we had another chance to look around before making our way home. Andy sat on one of the many blue seats and watched us safely negotiate the paths down the slope back to the gate. We all had a great day out in Barmouth and vowed to return.

The entries for May in my Garden Journal 2022 take us close to the middle of the year and summer has certainly arrived.

On my first page I noted that, “May is a month when the weather should allow us to enjoy our gardens, with warmer brighter days and borders full of life. Plants and wildlife come together to delight us!”

I shared eleven photos of parts of our garden which we are enjoying at the moment.

On the opposite page I considered the garden tasks we enjoyed during the month, where I wrote, “The amount of growth and flowering in the borders mean that we have lots to be getting on with. We pruned water shoots off the trained fruit trees and gave spring-flowering shrubs their annual trim. We planted new plants and potted on perennial seedlings.”

Below are photos of us being busy in the garden.

We then move on to a few pages of flowering plants beginning with irises. We seem to have so many in bloom but you can’t have too many.

Over the page from the irises I shared a sketch I did using ink colouring pencils of a Sanguisorba called ‘Martin’s Mulberry’.

Before looking at more flowering plants we looked at the greenhouse, where I wrote, “In May we harden off our succulents, salvias and bulb type plants such as gingers, cannas and dahlias, leaving us space for a new display. Seedlings and cuttings fill the propagating section.”

More flowering plants appear over the page this time featuring flowers of plants in our greenhouse, our colourful collection of begonias and pelargoniums.

And so onto the final page of my entries into my garden journal 2022 for May and we feature aquilegias. I wrote, “Aquilegias self-seed freely around the garden and we look forward to new surprises every year. Just a few are species but most are random crosses.”

Next visit to look at my garden journal will be marking the middle of the year as I look at our garden in June.

I think this is the first time we have visited two NGS gardens on the same weekend. On the Saturday we visited the Albrighton Trust Moat and Gardens, a community garden built around a C13 fortified manor house and moat [the house has disappeared but the moat remains]. We have never visited it before even though it is quite close but dates of opening have never worked out for us before.

Bloss0m and spring bulbs are always so welcoming and cheering.

After our usual coffee and cake we wandered around the moat and found a pool and bog garden in the process of renovation, with a wonderfully coloured acer alongside. We stopped now and again to admire massed planting of muscari, fritillaries, hellebores and narcissi and patches of primulas.

At the moment there is little to be seen of the pond and bog garden because of the renovations but the wonderful acer with its riot of spring foliage gave us plenty to see in this area of the garden.

As we explored the rest of the garden we came across some interesting vistas, little cameos and sculpture.

So now to finish here is a short gallery of some of the plants which caught my eye. We hope you enjoyed this visit to Albrighton Moat.My next post will be all about our visit to the second NGS garden we enjoyed the same weekend.

One of the first gardens we visit each year is nearby Edge Villa who like us open for the NGS (National Garden Scheme) and are only a few miles away as the crow flies. However by road it takes about quarter of an hour as all the way there we follow narrow country lanes.

It is the garden of friends, Chris and Bill, and it is a good example of a country cottage style garden. It is very special in the spring. The drive side border is so welcoming with lots of interesting foliage working beautifully together. We were mightly impressed by the cloud pruned Euonymus.

After chatting to friends at the gate we had a quick look at the plant stall, which is always impressive (we bought three!), we continued to explore the many borders. The borders were mixed with shrubs and perennials, bulbs and the occasional tree.

At the lower end of the gently sloping garden the grass areas are interrupted with borders of bulbs – fritillaries and narcissi – and specimen trees including the most beautiful Acer griseum.

We were amazed to see a row of trained crab apples still with berries on. Why haven’t the birds eaten them all?

I enjoy spotting little cameos, found objects and simply interesting appealing items as we walk around gardens. Edge Hill had plenty to delight the camera!

I shall finish off with a collection of plant photos, which reflect the wide variety of plants grown at Edge Villa.

So there we have my report on our visit to a nearby garden belonging to friends. It won’t be long until we return no doubt.