Category: climbing plants

Three Welsh Gardens – Part One -Tan y Llyn – a little nursery in a woodland garden.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date July 4, 2014
3 Comments on Three Welsh Gardens – Part One -Tan y Llyn – a little nursery in a woodland garden.

We ventured along narrow winding lanes into the countryside of Powys our neighbouring county across the border into Wales. We were not the only ones out travelling these lanes on a mission on this sunny afternoon. Several members of the Shrewsbury Mini-Group, part of the Shropshire Group of the Hardy Plant Society, were meeting up at a woodland garden and nursery called Tan y Llyn.

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The weather was bright. There is no better day to visit a woodland garden than a sunny one as it enhances the contrast between shade and light so well. Even the most ordinary plants such as this Cotoneaster and Yew look so good.

Any flowers in a woodland garden shine out from the shadows.

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Dotted around Tan y Llyn are interesting objects and well-composed cameos.

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Callum Johnston the garden owner also ran a little nursery specialising in alpines and herbs and he featured many of the plants for sale within a garden around his front door where plants were grown in a selection of pots and containers. They invited close inspection as did the sales benches close by in the shade of deciduous trees.

We were particularly drawn to this dry river bed of pebbles winding through the gravel of the driveway near the cottage’s front door. We immediately began to plan where we could try something similar out at home.

Callum admitted to an obsession – training, twisting and pruning willow into interesting structures. He also obviously loved hedge trimming where on occasion he lets his imagination run riot.

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Callum had even trained willows to become bird feeding stations. The birds certainly liked them as did our Hardy Plant friends. Callum and his partner Brenda served us up with cream teas under the shade of trees alongside these feeders so as we reveled in our luxury teas we were entertained by the birds enjoying theirs.

Nearby herbs grew in a terraced border and added their scent and spice to the conducive atmosphere. As with many garden owners who like to share their garden, Callum and Brenda knew how to make us feel comfortable and relaxed.

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A classic colour combination of yellow and blue attracted us. Closer to we realised that the yellow was provided by this stunning Lily.

One effective design trick used here was the use of enticing paths and it was very well used.

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A final wander around these paths beneath and between the trees was called for after our tea and before we reluctantly left this special place in a wooded Welsh valley.

Callum accompanied us down the drive as he thanked us for visiting and for buying lots of plants. They were very good hosts. At the bottom of the drive we made one final discovery, another surprise conjured up by this truly unique garden. Another of Callum’s tricks with his pruners.

Tags nurseries, Powis, Powys, Welsh gardens, woodland garden

climbing plants colours flowering bulbs garden designers garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public grasses hardy perennials irises Italian style gardens meadows ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture Piet Oudolf roses sculpture Staffordshire Tom Stuart-Smith trees water in the garden

A Garden in May – Trentham

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date June 10, 2014
3 Comments on A Garden in May – Trentham

Here we are with post number 5 of this series looking at the gardens at Trentham where we are trying to discover if Trentham really is a “garden of all seasons”. For our May visit we were hoping for better weather as rain has greeted us on every other visit. It may seem a bit late to be posting this post but we have been so busy getting our garden ready for our summer visitors and the allotment community gardens ready for our NGS Open Day we are now behind with everything. We are getting behind at being late!

But the day dawned wet yet again.

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We were amazed by the number of people around and the queue of visitors waiting to get through the turn styles. The majority of these visitors were young families. Soon we saw clues about what was going on – balloons, bunting and banners. It all pointed to the day being a special one for Trentham Gardens – their 10th birthday since reopening.

The area called the River of Grasses designed by Piet Oudolf has gained a lot of patches of colour from perennials among the strongly growing grasses. Persicaria bistorta, Amsonia and Trollius were particularly in evidence.

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When we moved into the Piet Oudolf prairie borders we noticed that the growth of the herbaceous plants since out last visits was amazing.

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After enjoying the fresh colours in this area we wandered across neatly mown grass towards the Italianate Garden, and on the way we passed the Hornbeam Arbour and through a Hornbeam archway. We found evidence of the newly cut area where seagulls of crocus and snowdrops were earlier in the year (see earlier posts in this series). Now they appear as ghosts in the grass.

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In the Italianate Garden the gardeners were planting out large specimens of Cannas with huge incredibly marked and coloured leaves.

From the Italianate Garden we get our first views of the garden designed by Tom Stuart-Smith, where he imposed modern style herbaceous plantings onto the original Italian Garden. Since last month these borders are showing so much colour and to begin with it is hard to identify what plants are providing all the colour.

Closer up we found the colour was from Alliums, Euphorbias, Amsonias, Irises, Rogersias and Astrantias. Enjoy a tour of these borders.

Last time we were here the gardens above the Tom Stuart-Smith borders was yellow with daffodils naturalised in the grassed banks. On this visit the colour was purple and it was provided by hundreds of purple globes of Alliums. A young photographer was snapping away.

A new woven figure has appeared on the grassed banks.

More Alliums were naturalised in the grass beneath the mature trees from the otiginal parkland plantings. They added colour to our walk over to look at the Display Gardens.

Here the newly planted gardens were taking shape.

As always our wanderings around the gardens at Trentham finish with a walk along the Rose Walkway. Yet more Alliums grew here in between the roses.

Wisterias were flowering as they climbed over the metalwork and added colour and scent to our walk.

We came across this pink flowered shrub which although we had seen it before we could not remember what it was. It was a beautiful shrub. Any ideas?

I finish our May wander of this amazing garden with a few views from the rose walk looking over the River of Grasses.

Tags foliage, garden photography, gardening, grasses, meadows, ornamental trees, outdoor sculpture, Piet Oudolf, shrubs, Tom Stuart-Smith, trees, Trentham Gardens

Cheshire climbing plants colours garden design garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public half-hardy perennials hardy perennials light light quality ornamental trees and shrubs spring gardening trees water in the garden woodland

The Dorothy Clive Garden

I promised at the end of my post about the wild colours at Dorothy Clive to take a wander with my camera to show the milder coloured side of this lovely garden in late spring. We usually visit this garden in the late summer or early autumn when the mixed borders simply zing! The oranges of Leonotis and Leonorus and the reds of Crocosmia “Lucifer” work in wondefully to give a burst of fiery colours. Annuals mix with perennials and the odd shrub in long sweeping borders. When we had the invitaton to visit in early May we jumped at it, hoping to see a side to the gardens we had not seen before. We turned left by the cottage into the dell full of the outrageous colours of the Rhododendrons and Azaleas as featured in my previous post.

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But there was more here than just bright colours, and we soon discovered a rich selection of woodland plants.

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As in many gardens over the last few years the gardeners have realised the beauty that lies beneath the floral displays of the Rhododendrons – the sculptural form of their trunks and branches. Clever pruning techniques brings the beauty of their form to the fore.

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Leaving the dell we wandered the winding paths towards the Laburnum Walk which we were expecting to be in its most glamorous clothes. We found more woodland favourites and more flowering shrubs and small trees. We enjoyed the purity of the white flowered Magnolias.

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Lovely vistas opened up as we left the more densely planted areas under the mature trees. the mixed borders here had a very gentle feel to them.

The Laburnum Walk was not in flower as much as we had expected but the sun came out after a storm giving added freshness to the light and we enjoyed walking slowly through the tunnel of Laburnums.

Golden Hop climbed among the Laburnums and gentle coloured perennials sat at their feet.

The newest area at Dorothy Clive is the Edible Woodland and this has developed nicely since our last visit.

We managed to quickly walk part of the sloping gardens before the rain came in ferociously and drove us to an early finish to our visit. Hopefully the few photos I managed to take as the rain approached will give some idea of how delightfully planted this part of the garden is.

I am not a great conifer fan but the colours of these cones against the glaucous needles looked amazing. I am beginning to enjoy Pines now and appreciate them far more. I am sure we shall be visiting the Dorothy Clive Gardens again before long and then perhaps we can concentrate more on this gently sloping section.

Tags Dorothy Clive Garden, foliage, garden photography, gardening, ornamental trees, rhododendron, shrubs, trees

climbing plants colours flowering bulbs garden design garden photography garden wildlife gardening gardens grasses hardy perennials ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs Shropshire spring bulbs trees Uncategorized Winter Gardening winter gardens

Aiming for a year round garden. Part One – The Winter

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date March 22, 2014
5 Comments on Aiming for a year round garden. Part One – The Winter

Over the last few years we have worked hard planning to make our garden look and feel good all year round. So today I took a wander with camera in hand to see how well we had done so far. See what you think. Are we getting there?

Of course flowering bulbs come into their own at this time of year and we now have a wide selection of crocus, muscari, miniature narcissi and Iris reticulata throughout the garden. Grasses are of equal importance but only recently have they been accepted as an essential element of the winter garden. The first photo shows how well our Pony Tails Grasses contrast with the foliage of Hebes. In the second crocus team up with grasses to create a great combination of colours and textures.

A have a soft spot for celandines, enjoying the glossy yellow native plant that lights up our hedgerow bases as well as the cultivated bronze leaved Brazen Hussey and the “Giant Celandine” in the photograph below.

Euphorbias are another of those families of plants that are all year round essentials in our gardens but at this time of year their new bracts glow on overcast days. Foliage is perhaps more important than flowers in the winter garden as it provides variations of colour, pattern and texture. Phormiums, Heucheras and grasses are most effective.

Scent can play its part as it pervades the calm air and delights us as we wander with the thought of brighter warmer days. Daphnes, Sarcoccocas, Cornus, Mahonias and Viburnums all perform well in our garden.

Textured bark on our trees in our Spring Border looks especially good in winter light. The peeling orange bark of the Prunus serrula and the birch is like slithers of brittle toffee.

Hellebores star in most gardens in winters since so many wonderful easily grown specimens have become available in most garden centres and nurseries.

Here some of our many hellebores are twinned with coloured stemmed cornus and salix.

Any flower brave enough to appear in the winter is worthy of mention be they primulas, witch hazels, pulmonarias or bergenia. They would perhaps seem quite ordinary if they flowered among the stars of the summer garden but in the winter they are extraordinarily good garden plants.

A recent discovery is the shrub Drimys with its red stems, glossy green foliage and buds looking fit to burst into life.

Structures such as our cloud pruned box hedge that lines our central path become much more important and noticeable in the emptier garden of winter. But we hope our garden is now richer in this the coldest and darkest of our seasons.

We must not forget the role our feathered friends play in adding colour, sound and movement to our garden in winter.

Part Two of our search for the all year round garden will consider our garden in Spring. Signs of that season are already giving hints of what is to come such as in the buds of the quince fruit tree.

Tags dogwoods, foliage, garden photography, garden wildlife, gardening, grasses, greenhouse gardening, organic gardening, ornamental trees, shrubs, winter, winter garden, winter gardening, winter gardens

climbing plants garden design gardening herbs recycling roses

Hide that ugly pipe!

Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best. Recently we saw on a television gardening programme some covers to fix over drain pipes so that you can plant climbing plants to hide the ugly plastic pipe.

So we sent for a pair and then went off to the Antique Centre at nearby Church Stretton in search of an interesting galvanised container suitable for growing some climbing plants in. Success! We found an old cannister hidden in a pile of miscellaneous objects from an old bakers shop. Baking tins, a till, the manager’s desk, enamel signs, and a miscellany of galvanised containers!

We were so pleased with ourselves that we treated ourselves to a coffee at a great coffee house across the road, Ginger Green. They make excellent coffee and an amazing array of cakes! As you see from the pics below they pride themselves in the look of the coffee too! 10 out of 10 for presentation.

When the climbing frames arrived we fixed them up, put the galvanised cannister in place and drove off to the Derwen Garden Centre near to Welshpool. We came away with a clematis, a climbing patio rose and two thymes perfect for planting up our new planter which waited patiently at home. We were also tempted to a Calyanthus a flowering shrub we had been seeking for a long while.

We must now sit back and wait for the summer when we shall find out if our planting works and if the plants will climb the frames and hide the ugly pipe.

Tags clematis, climbing plants, climbing roses, garden design, reusing

autumn autumn colours birds climbing plants colours garden photography garden wildlife gardening gardens grasses hardy perennials migration ornamental trees and shrubs poppies roses trees wildlife Winter Gardening

A Garden Bouquet for December

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 14, 2013
1 Comment on A Garden Bouquet for December

Already we are almost at the end of the year so here is my December bouquet from our garden,the final chapter in 2013.

It is only mid-December and while in the garden we are treated to the beautiful repetitive piping call of a Song Thrush, already making his territorial proclamation. He must have found a mighty fine territory which he is making sure no-one else can take possession of.

The skies seem full of passing flocks of Redwing and their larger noisier cousins the Fieldfare on migration, escaping their cold food-less summer homes in central Europe. Below them exploring the trees and shrubs of our garden mixed foraging flocks of finches seek out the last of the seeds and berries while amongst them groups of Titmice, Great, Blue, Long-tailed and Coal arrive in hurried flight to explore every nook and cranny of dried stems, tree bark and shrub branches for insects especially spiders.

A few delicate looking soft coloured flowers still hang on determined to be the final blooms of the year. It seems amazing but the odd big bumbling Queen Bumble Bee appears to feed on them.

Berries on shrubs and small trees add extra sparkles of colour but the resident Mistle Thrushes guard them from the migrant thrushes. They are the larder for the colder days to come. The red fruit of the Cotoneasters, Hollies and Rowans will be eaten first and most will have been devoured by the thrushes and Blackbirds before the month is out. The creamy-yellow berries of the Cotoneaster rothschildiana will stay longer being mere second choices. The last to go without fail will be the white berries of the Sorbus, so we can get to enjoy them against dark winter storm clouds before the birds eat them.

At this time of year we can enjoy the dessicated seed heads and old flower heads that have managed to survive the wet times that autumn invariably brings. This year has been so wet that we seem to have fewer still standing than ever before. But a few are putting on a display for us and when covered in a frosty layer or when donning a hat made of snow will look even better. Within them are the remnant autumn leaves as yet to be blown from their branches by blasts of wind.

Signs of next year’s growth are already in evidence like this adventurous bud found on a clematis snuggled between stem and petioles.

Patterns become important in winter as they emerge from seasons hidden away behind plants. So that is the end of my year of garden bouquets for 2013. Perhaps they will return for 2014.

Tags autumn, autumn colours, birds, clematis, dogwoods, fieldfare, foliage plants, garden photography, garden wildlife, gardening, ornamental trees, redwing, seasons, song thrush, thrushes, trees, wildlife, winter, winter gardens

autumn autumn colours climbing plants colours fruit and veg garden design garden photography gardening grasses half-hardy perennials ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs Shropshire

A Garden Bouquet for October

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date October 25, 2013
7 Comments on A Garden Bouquet for October

October this year is a very confused month, with some plants thinking it is already well into autumn and others believing they are still in mid-summer. And some, judging by the number of berries dripping from the trees must be getting ready to feed the winter migrant birds. Come with me for a wander and you will see what I mean.

In the Freda Garden opposite the front door this beautiful Crocosmia with its flowers in orange with an unusual hint of pink continues to flower profusely. By the front door the pots are filling up with bright orange violas giving a cheerful welcome to visitors.

The leaves of the yellow winter flowering Ribes are turning all shades of pink and red while beneath it the perennial wallflower, Bowles Mauve, continues to flower even though it has barely had a rest all year. The lovely yellow Crocosmia sits comfortably alongside the Cotoneaster which is already heavy with berries.

In pots alongside the wood store sit these two Michaelmas Daisies which we bought from the Picton Garden recently and they still sit in pots waiting for us to find a spot for them. On the left is the variety “Coombe Fishacre” and on the right the species “elegans”.

Down the drive the berries of Cotoneasters and Rowan await the arrival of the winter thrushes but we will enjoy their rich red colouring while we can. Opposite them this beautiful blue Aster looks extra blue with the golden hues of the little grasses alongside.

In the Chatto Garden, which looks good every day of the year, the whispy strands of the Stipa tenuissima move in the slightest of breezes behind the rigid dried heads of Bherkeya and the mauve flowers of Verbena bonariensis

Glaucous leaves of this Euphorbia afford a good background for the seed heads of Amaryllis. Close by another Euphorbia, griffithii “Dixter”, dies to a bright pink in stem and leaf.

The sword-like Iris leaves are similarly glaucous and they enrich the deepest pink of Huskers Red Pentstemon. A beautiful combination!

The white stems of Betula utilis jacqemontii “Silver Queen” glow against the evergreen background afforded by the Red Robin. In the same bed two varieties of deciduous Euonymus are changing into reds and pinks and busy white bell shaped flowers of Arbutus, the Strawberry Tree hang in full bunches. We have never seen so many flowers on our Arbutus before so we are anticipating a profusion of “strawberries” later on.

On the grass giant fungi sit like plates, dining plates for the slugs that feast on them.

Autumn colour is particularly well advanced on the Cercis “Forest Pansy”, Stransvesia and Amelanchier. The strange pink flowers of Lobelia tupa appear in a different place each year as they migrate around the Hot Border.

Moving into the back garden via the shade border we find the contrasting leaf shapes of Inula and ferns.

Arriving in the Rill Garden we can appreciate how the remnant flowers of the Pelargoniums match the berries strung out along the stems of the Cotoneaster.

These Ornithogalum are a new plant for us this year – we are so glad we grew them. It seems an awful long time ago we planted the bulbs in their big terracotta pots. In the border behind them the leaves of the Witch Hazel are colouring up nicely in patterns, the Hypericum berries are now shiny black and the Echinops flowers sit stiffly on rigid stems like silvery blue spheres.

Looking down the central path of the back garden the glowing red fruit of Apple Scrumptious still decorate the arch over the path.

I shall feature a few special favourites and then create a gallery for you to enjoy to illustrate what else is going on in the back garden. Schistostylus are a real late autumn flower but can flower at any time, some responding to the first frosts before they show. We have just bought this pale pink one but have enjoyed the red one for years now.

How about this for a Salvia – you can’t get blue much richer or deeper than this! The Persicaria is P. aucuparia Firetail which produces its poker-like flowers for months through the summer and autumn. Some of the flower heads at the moment are a good 3 inches long and an inch wide.

These two umbrella shaped flower heads are very different in habit. The glowing pink Sedum sits low to the ground on floppy glaucous stems while the Vernonia stands proud aloft tall 4 foot rigid stems.

An archway leading to the pool and Japanese Garden is covered in the red leaves of Vitis purpurea and alongside the pool is this willow. The stems of the Violet Willow are covered in a white bloom from now through to the spring when the winter rains return them to deep violet-black.

Now enjoy a wander around the back garden to see what October has in store for us to appreciate.

Tags apples, autumn, autumn colours, autumn gardens, foliage, fruit and veg, garden photography, gardening, ornamental trees

autumn autumn colours climbing plants colours flowering bulbs fruit and veg garden design garden photography gardening grasses grow your own half-hardy perennials hardy perennials light light quality ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs shrubs succulents trees village gardens

A Garden Bouquet for September

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date October 1, 2013
5 Comments on A Garden Bouquet for September

September is the month when the first signs of autumn creep in and there is something special happening to the light. Misty mornings give the garden a fresh atmosphere. Darkness comes too early each day. Fruit picking is the order of the day and we get out our pruning kit, secateurs, pruning saws and loppers large and small to tackle the trees and shrubs.

Grasses begin to change colour, some flowers and seed heads are turning redder and more purple others towards the pale tints of biscuit.

The Blackberry vine is so heavy with fruit that it blocks the pathway and apples hang in thick bunches but seem slow to ripen. At last colour is creeping into the greenness of the grapes. Fingers crossed that the weather is kind to them and therefore kind to us.

This Buddleja is a special one with purple flowers at the tip of each arching branch. The out side of each individual flower is dusty purple-grey but the rich bright purple inside provides a beautiful contrast. Buddleys lindleyana is a very special shrub. A real favourite! And it looks even better alongside a bright orange neighbour in the guise of a Crocosmia. While we are on the subject of bright flowered Crocosmia the yellow one nearby is gentler but still a true bright beauty.

Shrubs and trees are thinking ahead to the winter and painting their leaves in reds, oranges and yellows. The first two photos are of a special Ribes which will give us yellow flowers in the winter. These are followed by deciduous varieties of Euonymus and Cercis “Forest Pansy”.

On the gravel garden, our Beth Chatto Garden, grasses are starring alongside the autumn stars, Michaelmas Daisies.

Bulbs usually mean late winter or early spring but these cyclamen and tulbaghia are showstoppers right now.

So off we go into autumn!

Tags apples, autumn, autumn colours, foliage, foliage plants, fruit and veg, fruit and vegetable growing, fruit., garden photography, gardening, grasses, grow your own, grown your own, harvest, September, shrubs, trees

bird watching birds climbing plants colours conservation fruit and veg garden design garden photography garden wildlife gardening grasses hardy perennials ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs photography roses Shropshire village gardens wildlife

A Garden Bouquet for August

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 31, 2013
5 Comments on A Garden Bouquet for August

It is time I took up my camera and took photos of the delights our garden has to offer. This is a particularly important set of photos as we have decided on August 3rd as the date we are going to open our garden for the National Garden Scheme next year. We keep looking for gaps or places in need of improvements be it little tweaks or bigger tasks such as re-laying our main central path in the back garden.

So I went off around the garden with my zoom lens attached to see what’s what in our patch. As it panned out there was so much to see in the back garden that all this month’s photos were taken there. Please enjoy the journey and feel the damp, cool morning air which acted like a soft lens filter giving a delicate misty blue atmosphere to some of the shots.

In the “Shed Bed” the delicate china blue flowers popping out of the spiky spheres of the echinops provide sustenance for our bees and the apple tree trained over an arch will provide sustenance for us. The odd white flowers come from the gentle creamy colours of the hydrangea heads.

Our tulbagias continue to flower in the new slate garden close by and above them the purple sedum foliage hangs from the old gypsy kettle on our old ladder.

There are lots of plants to look at around the end of the greenhouse where the vine is dripping with grapes awaiting late summer sun to ripen them and paint them in purple and black. The Quince vranga tree has a few fruits hanging at the tips of the branches and the soft pink curled flowers of Sanguisorba “Pink Elephant” brighten the border below.

In the long “Tree Border ” this lilac flowered clematis is dripping with flowers and the thornless blackberry is heavy with young unripe fruits.

The Secret Garden and the Chicken Garden are at their best, blooming brightly with the cordon apples full of ripening fruit acting as a backdrop, many of which are just beginning to develop a flush in their cheeks. The Shropshire Damson tree overhangs one border and its deep purple fruits are weighing down its branches so heavily that the fruits look like they are reaching out to hold hands with the flowers.

A few new plants are waiting, still in their pots, in the Secret Garden while we decide where to plant them. They seem to be the colours of citrus fruits!

Along the central pathway our pears are close to their peak picking time. As I pass each day I look longingly to see if a couple are ready. Surely this is the ultimate gardening experience, eating a juicy, scented pear still warm from the sunshine just seconds from leaving the branch. The few plums look sad and lonely – from all four cordons we have just one clump of fruit. A poor year!

In the greenhouse the tomatoes are producing prolific amount of fruit in shades of yellow, red and purple. We are picking and enjoying them daily and adding some to the store of produce in the freezer. In the late autumn we shall make them into chutney coupled with our onions and apples.

From the greenhouse door I can look out across the “L Bed” and the “Long Border” through an arch draped in richly scented roses and a delicate china blue clematis. This is a herbaceous clematis rather than a climber, but it does enjoy a good scramble over everything in its path.

This strange fruit is a heritage cucumber called Booths Blond, which Jude the Undergardener tells me is very tasty. I don’t eat them, they are one of the few fruits and veggies I don’t enjoy. This variety certainly looks very different to the long straight regimental cucumbers sold in supermarkets.

We have been concerned about the lack of butterflies and bees this year but recently they have come back in good numbers. Honey bees, bumble bees and solitary bees are all feeding furiously on any simple flowers. The butterflies are particularly tempted by the buddlejas and the marjorams. We garden with wildlife in mind particularly in the choice of plants we grow. Our flowers tend to be simple and open, just the sort preferred by pollinating insects. We rely on our insects and birds to look after our garden for us. We garden totally organically relying on wildlife to do our pest controlling and pollinating of our crops.

As I am writing this the sky is full of House Martins and Swallows gathering together in readiness for their long migratory journey to the African continent. There they will find flies to feed on while here in the UK the insect population will disappear with the onset of winter. These acrobatic flying little birds seem to be celebrating a good English summer!

In the shrubs and trees warblers and titmice are busy feeding up after a period of moult. August and September are when we tend to see our warblers, Willow, Garden and this year even a Grasshopper Warbler. Chiffchaff and Whitethroat tend to be with us most of the year.

Tags apples, birds, clematis, damsons, foliage, fruit and veg, fruit and vegetable growing, fruit., garden photography, garden wildlife, gardening, grasses, greenhouse gardening, grown your own, harvest, insects, organic gardening, roses

Cheshire climbing plants fruit and veg garden design garden photography gardening grow your own hardy perennials Hardy Plant Society HPS kitchen gardens Land Art ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture roses village gardens

A garden to make you smile.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 23, 2013
1 Comment on A garden to make you smile.

On a blustery, heavily overcast day last weekend we visited two gardens on a day out with our friends from the Shropshire Branch of the Hardy Plant Society. Bumping down a narrow south Cheshire lane that twisted and turned a little too much for comfort, found us at “The Rowans”, a one acre garden loosely based on an Italianate theme. The elements reminiscent of the Italian styled gardens appeared in the structured garden rooms and the use of ornament especially sculpture, but I felt the theme of happiness was much more in evidence.

There were signs scattered throughout the garden to inform and delight.

Humour was potently presented in ornament and statuary. Animals dominated!

But not all the entertaining was performed by animals – there were lots of varied bits and pieces to find amongst the plantings and hanging from the branches of trees.

The planting was not of rare or desirable plants but quite ordinary plants well grown and well put together.

We particularly liked the dense planting in an old wheelbarrow and a miniature pool in a blue glazed pot. Oh, and of course we enjoyed seeing how someone else grows their veggies!

We enjoyed a refreshing cup of tea or two before leaving and left with a promise of some seeds of two plants we liked. The kindness of gardeners shows no bounds.

We then took off back down the bumpy lanes to find our afternoon treat, a woodland garden that is the province of two of our Hardy Plant Society friends. So in my next posting you should find us there enjoying a tasty Hardy Plant Society lunch.