The first garden visit this year with the Hardy Plant Society Shropshire Group was to north Shropshire to a town called Wem. The garden was called Sunningdale and we were really looking forward to seeing the garden once again. We have visited twice before but the last time was about ten years ago so we were looking forward to discovering what changes had been made. The first development being this original sign on the brick wall which was angled into the garden entrance.
We met the owner, Sue, just inside the front gate to the garden. She welcomed us and suggested we start our tour to the left and around to the back of the house. Along this narrow pathway there was much to draw the eye, the reddest of roses, a multicoloured succulent and containers of magnificent hostas.
The passageway alongside the house led us to a newly redeveloped area with a strong Japanese theme. A long shelter painted in black housed interesting seats and artefacts and gave views over the gravel area with the expected plants especially acers and miniature conifers.
The twisting conifer below had such soft needles and green cones at the top of each branch.
From there we could see colourful irises, lupins, and a yellow flowered jasmine all worth a closer look.
Throughout the garden after passing through the pergola there were so many points of interest from oversized hanging conkers to a ceramic frog and plants that drew our attention.
We wandered along a straight path along the one border of the garden to discover what extra horticultural treats we had in store. We began with a closer study of a lilac with oversized flower heads.
I will finish now with a photo of a beautiful hardy fuchsia in all its floral glory.
greenbenchramblings 