We made our way out towards the West Midlands from our home in South Shropshire on 23rd May on what was to become a warm, bright day. As has become our habit on arrival we ordered coffees from the converted horsebox on the grassed area where picnic tables allowed us to sit outside for coffee in the fresh air. The horse box is called ‘The Oss Box’ and is a converted horse box with the characteristics of a vintage Citroen van.
Once refreshed we made our way through Adam’s Garden, this time keeping to the left side boundary fence where a beautifully fresh looking meadow of fine mixed grasses was coloured in with purple lupins and shining yellow meadow buttercups.
At the end of the long thin meadow we encountered two beautifully planted mixed borders.
Iris were definitely strongly featured in John’s Garden on this visit, showing some rich coloured specimens deserving of close up study. The first two photos show examples of bearded iris but the third with their much flatter flowers are Iris ensata which enjoy moister conditions. Bearded iris much prefer to live in dry patches in the garden.
One of the elements of this garden that help make it special is that there is beauty in the detail but equally in the long views. You can concentrate on the detail of a plant then look up and be absorbed by the beauty of a long or wide view.
Bright colours always managed to lift a planting area especially on bright days when such colours glow. Orange is perhaps the strongest of all such colours
We will return in June with perhaps another bright blue sky day.
greenbenchramblings 
One reply on “Our May Visit to John’s Garden at Ashwood Nursery”
I am always in awe of your garden tour opportunities. We do not have that type of option here. I love Iris so I would have certainly enjoyed the close ups and long views. It’s interesting here that when we sponsor our annual Master Gardener plant sale we never offer Iris because no will buy them. They don’t know what they are missing.