Category: garden design

The Dorothy Clive Garden in October

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date November 12, 2016
1 Comment on The Dorothy Clive Garden in October

Our tenth visit to the wonderful Dorothy Clive Gardens saw us wandering around in cool temperatures and lightly overcast skies in late October. We expected to see autumn progressing well and a few plants flowering out of season. The sweeping driveway up to the car park was full of promises of what delights we had in store.

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There were few visitors around which is typical of gardens once summer comes to an end. So many visitors to gardens think nothing goes on after September so stay away until next spring. We were there almost on our own sharing the joys of autumn at this beautiful garden with just a handful of other visitors. It is sad because there is so much to see in most good gardens in autumn and through into winter. The first few yards walk from the car park to the ticket office afforded distant views over the garden and a chance to study a newly planted border.

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Views along paths among trees and shrubs were greatly enhanced by the low bright light creating bright patches and deep shadows.

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The colourful Viburnum we enjoyed discovering earlier in the year caught our eyes again, its berries a more colourful mix of glossy red and black like jewels among its Persian carpet foliage.

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Flowering plants keep providing interest well into the autumn and foliage plants really come into their own especially grasses and ferns.

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Berries are a feature of autumn not to be missed. This year we are seeing more than usual remaining on trees and shrubs because there are fewer migrant thrushes visiting us to gorge themselves on our gardens’ bounty.

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Acers of course feature strongly as it is in this season that their foliage changes by the day, and we can begin to appreciate some of the interesting colours of the bark.

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It felt good to discover something totally new at the garden after visiting all year. We noticed that the gardeners and volunteers had been hard at work crafting this rustic fence from old rhododendron trunks with all their curls and bends. It is also exciting to come across a plant that we do not recognise at all so have to seek out a label and if we get lucky we can then follow up with research. This Lindera obtusiloba first attracted us to it because of its startlingly bright yellow leaves but on closer study we were struck by the unusual shape of its leaves.

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Autumn is the season that belongs to trees as it becomes their turn to turn up the colours and get out their paint pallettes.

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That is it for our October visit so just 2 more monthly reports of our regular wanderings around the Dorothy Clive Gardens. November will see autumn ending and giving way to winter.

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Tags acers., autumn, autumn colours, autumn gardens, coloured bark, Dorothy Clive Garden, Dorothy Clive Gardens, garden in autumn, gardens of Shropshire, North Shropshire, ornamental shrubs, ornamental trees, Shropshire gardens, Staffordshire, Staffordshire Gardens

colours garden design garden photography gardening grasses hardy perennials light light quality ornamental grasses outdoor sculpture reflections sculpture village gardens water in the garden

Take one little border.

This post will look at a small border in a Gloucestershire garden in a village at the bottom of Bredon Hill. It is a lovely garden, well designed and well cared with a calming atmosphere throughout. The gardeners and owners of the garden are my sister, Penny and her husband, Tony.

This little border in the front patch is a quarter circle in shape and covers only a couple of square metres but the choice of planting partners and artifacts together create a beautiful balanced feel.

The first photo covers the whole border in one shot which gives an indication of its size. The gravel mulch acts as a foil to enrich the colour palette, the bronzes, silvers and bronzes of the grasses and the rubies and purples of the sedums and diascias. The grasses also move and rustle in the lightest of breezes.

Diascia personata and Sedum Purple Emperor compliment each other beautifully.

Silken heads of soft grasses catch every iota of light and absorbs it to put themselves in the spotlights.

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Well chosen sculptural pieces crafted in suitable materials enhance the plants rather than detract from them. The rust of the corten steel is the perfect material both its colour and texture which allow them to sit beautifully with the silky heads of the grasses flowing past them.

Clear water with a flat reflective surface borrows the colour of the sky and adds it to the composition. The simple contrast of foliage shape and structure of the plants in the bed works beautifully because of the limited number of different plants used.

To see the rest of the garden just check back on my post published in August 2013 called “A village garden with a difference,”

Tags diasca, garden sculpture, grass, grasses, outdoor sculpture, sculpture, small gardens

colours garden design garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public grasses hardy perennials ornamental grasses outdoor sculpture sculpture

Sussex Prairie Garden – a prairie garden in Sussex

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date November 1, 2016
2 Comments on Sussex Prairie Garden – a prairie garden in Sussex

This is a garden I have been reading about and admiring in photographs for several years and I have enjoyed watching it develop. Imagine our surprise when we were on a mid-week break in September and discovered that we were staying in a hotel not too far from the Sussex Prairie Garden. We couldn’t miss this opportunity so it soon found a slot in our schedule. The big question was “Can it really be as good as we are expecting?” and this stayed in my mind as we drove out to visit it. Surely we wouldn’t be disappointed!

We weren’t and we knew immediately that we wouldn’t be by the welcoming entrance, an unusual, quirky and humorous way in, coupled with a distinctive and beautifully designed garden sign.

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We also loved the simple stylized plan of the garden and the welcome notes on the back.

The leaflet described the garden as an “extraordinary garden features huge borders of sumptuous planting combinations that inspire and immerse you in an ever changing wave of texture, colour and form.”

To get to the main garden and tea shop we diverted to follow a path through the cutting garden. This area was to prepare us for the wonderful main garden we would explore after our tea and cakes.

There are 8 acres of naturalistically planted prairie garden containing over 50 ooo plants of over 1000 varieties and these are a magnet for wildlife. The only way to share such an exciting garden with you is to create a gallery for you to follow. As usual please click on the first photo and then navigate with the arrows.

We love sculpture in the garden and here at the Sussex Prairie Garden it was used very well, integrated beautifully into the planting areas and on open areas of mown grass.

As we reached the furthest point in the garden from the entrance we were in for a colourful surprise before we continued on our wanderings, beautiful fabric hangings on the fence.

So the Sussex Prairie was as good as we had hoped, the planting and design was remarkable. We must return again perhaps in the autumn season.

Tags garden sculpture, gardening, gardens open to the public, grasses, hardy perennials, open gardens, ornamental grasses, outdoor sculpture, prairie gardening, prairie planting, prairies

arboreta autumn autumn colours colours flowering bulbs garden design garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public half-hardy perennials hardy perennials National Garden Scheme NGS ornamental trees and shrubs Shropshire shrubs trees Yellow Book Gardens

The Dorothy Clive Garden in September

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date October 8, 2016

Back again ready to enjoy another visit to the Dorothy Clive Gardens and see what has been happening since our August visit. We expected early signs of Autumn and hoped for some colourful displays of Dahlias and Salvias. We decided to take a walk around the young mini-arboretum area this month instead of following the winding paths of the Dingle which has less interest at this time of the year.

As we wandered over to the coffee shop we admired the views over the lower garden and the light which lit up the Pampus Grass behind the Viburnum caught my eye. This was a sign that we could be looking forward to interesting light for garden photography. fingers crossed!

The border alongside the entrance to the coffee shop was at its most colourful so far this year, with Dahlias, Salvias, Nerine and Hesperantha sharing their colours.

These brightly coloured plants set the scene for much of our September visit.

I thought that a gallery of brightly cheerful flowering plants would be a good way of sharing the warm feeling prevailing over the Dorothy Clive Garden this September visit.

Please click on first pic and then navigate using arrows and of course enjoy!

I promised to share our enjoyment of wandering around the soft grass paths that led us around the little arboretum and closely studying the young trees. One surprise was the total lack of autumnal tints to the foliage.

We were particularly taken by this unusual, in fact unknown to us, Hawthorn, Crataegus laciniata. We are now considering adding one to our garden.

The foliage presented a metallic appearance, almost pewter and the haws ranged from yellows through orange and to a dull brown – a most subtle but attractive combination.

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I feel that another gallery is the best way to share our amble through the arboretum.

Our next visit to these lovely gardens will be for our October report so we should be getting into signs if autumn by then.

awards climbing plants colours garden design garden photography garden ponds garden pools garden seating gardening gardens gardens open to the public hardy perennials National Garden Scheme NGS ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture sculpture Shropshire shrubs trees Uncategorized village gardens water in the garden Yellow Book Gardens

Windy Ridge – another Yellow Book Garden

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date September 15, 2016
3 Comments on Windy Ridge – another Yellow Book Garden

Windy Ridge is a fellow “Yellow Book Garden” in Shropshire and thus like us opens for charity under the auspices of the National Garden Scheme. The gardener owners have been opening their garden for many years more than we have and we have visited several times before. We decided the time was right for a return visit to discover how it has developed over the years. The owners/gardeners are real plantspersons with plenty of knowledge to share and impart related to both plants, garden management and design.

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Windy Ridge is a garden of wandering paths, secret places, surprises around every corner but above all a garden full of plants to stop you in your tracks either because they are so well grown or very unusual.

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There are quality sculptural pieces among the plants for visitors to enjoy beginning with a huge carved tree trunk at the garden entrance.

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Secret pathways which lead the visitor onward and present choices are an important element of a quality garden.

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In our own “Avocet” garden we enjoy raising the canopy of our trees and shrubs to expose interesting bark and trunk shapes and to let in light to allow planting beneath. At Windy Ridge this is performed to perfection and helps give the garden its character. The first photo below shows how this technique even helps Laurel, my most disliked plant! To make it work the gardener must look closely at and listen to the plant before attempting the first cut. If the gardener does this he is more likely to react to the character of each tree and shrub and give it the shaping it deserves and wants.

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We enjoyed and admired the way that the formality of clipped box integrates so well into the softness of the planting.

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Berries enhance the September garden and add even more colour to that provided by flowers. Windy Ridge had colour aplenty!

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If I had to pick out one plant as my favourite at Windy Ridge it would have to be beautiful coloured and scented Clematis, C. odorata, a plant left to ramble unpruned to great effect. It is a Clematis we have been seeking for our own patch for many years so seeing and smelling it here has renewed our determination to add it to our huge clematis collection already climbing and clambering in our Avocet garden.

Hydrangeas were well in bloom when we visited and the sheer variety of colours was to be admired.

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The highlight for many visitors is the large garden pond with wonderful marginal planting, a decked area with white ironwork seats and a narrow pathway behind it for the visitor to explore. We had a great afternoon returning to the garden at Windy Ridge and found it as inspiring as always. We were pleased to note that it had received an award in a national garden competition.

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Tags berries, garden sculpture, outdoor sculpture, Shropshire, Shropshire gardens, trees and shrubs, water gardening, water in the garden

colours garden design garden photography garden ponds garden pools gardening gardens gardens open to the public hardy perennials light light quality ornamental trees and shrubs roses Shropshire shrubs trees water in the garden

The Dorothy Clive Garden in August

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date September 7, 2016
2 Comments on The Dorothy Clive Garden in August

In late August we made one of our regular visits to the Dorothy Clive Gardens on the Shropshire and Staffordshire border to see how the garden was progressing. We chose a warm sunny day for our visit which gave strong contrasts and deep shadow for the trusty Nikon to deal with.

We expected to see lots of colour and much of it bright hot colours provided by flowering perennials as well as perhaps the first signs of late summer presenting a glimpse ahead to autumn, with seeds and berries beginning to show and some leaf colour on trees and shrubs.

There was most certainly no shortage of berries to discover shining brightly like jewels under a bright summer sun.

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A few very unusual berries in both colour and shape, were displayed by deciduous Euonymous and Magnolia.

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Seedheads were beginning to form on herbaceous perennial plants just as we thought we might find.

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We enjoyed the range of colours that flowers provided in the borders and these were highlighted by the August sun riding high in the afternoon sky.

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We were pleased to see that this garden’s Tetrapanax Rex was thriving having lost our specimen early in the year. One here was particularly beautiful with clean unmarked foliage.

Ferns also provided brilliant green foliage throughout the Dingle Garden, looking fresh beneath the tall mature trees and evergreen shrubs.

In the new Winter Woodland Garden we were fascinated by the way the gardeners were training the coloured stemmed willows. We will have to wait and see what the end result will look like.

We enjoy watching the changes to be seen in the many unusual specimen trees at Dorothy Clive and have always liked the look of this yellow barked Prunus, P. maackii “Amber Beauty”. We are really wondering at the moment whether this would be the ideal tree for a space we have at home which awaits a tree for autumn planting. Apart from its unusual bark colouring it has a graceful growth habit and a wonderful winter silhouette. For a Prunus it also has large leaves.

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The light during this visit was so interesting whenever the sun beamed through the tree canopy. We particularly loved the way it put this Hydrangea in the spotlight.

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It is always good to see promises of things that will be happening in the future and spotting them is an important part of any garden visit. Also it provides a most positive way of finishing my report on our august visit to this wonderful garden, a true favourite of ours. And as we have not featured the giant stag sculpture standing proudly at the top of the stream in the Dingle Garden here he is surrounded by lush greenery completely different to when we saw him in the starkness of the winter months.

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The pool at the bottom edge of the garden at the lowest point in the garden reflected the blue sky and we enjoyed spotting the small shoals of young Rudd enjoying racing around below the white flowers of the Water Lily.

We really appreciated on this August day the scents and colours of the blooms in the Rose Garden.

Our next visit to our monthly garden for this year will be in September. We hope to see some hot colours in the herbaceous borders and perhaps a little colouring up of foliage on the many trees at Dorothy Clive.

Tags berried shrubs, berried trees, berries, Dorothy Clive Garden, Dorothy Clive Gardens, gardens open to the public, North Shropshire, roses, seed heads, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Staffordshire Gardens

colours flowering bulbs garden design garden photography gardening hardy perennials light light quality National Garden Scheme NGS ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture Shropshire South Shropshire succulents swallows village gardens Yellow Book Gardens

My Garden Journal in August

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date September 2, 2016
2 Comments on My Garden Journal in August

My August entries in my Garden Journal 2016 see me beginning Volume Two. On the first page I look back to my original garden journal’s August entries.

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“I made my first ever entries for our new garden in August 2003. We moved to “Avocet” our Plealey home on 8th August. I wrote, “The garden needs our love and attention after 6 years of neglect. It is a garden of straight lines and loneliness, lacking in wildlife and its inherent vitality. It lacks colour.” Things are very different now 13 years later. The garden is now full of wildlife, full of calming atmosphere and peace. It is a garden that attracts many visitors each year and people enjoy hearing our talks about it.”

Over the page I considered the way light in August changes the look of the garden.

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“On bright days in August the garden looks very different depending on the time of day. When the sun is at its highest point in the sky the hot colours really burn and shadows deepen to jet black.

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I then looked at Salvias and share photographs of some of those we are growing in our patch.

“Every few years I like to set myself a challenge in our Plealey garden. For the last few years I have been trying to master growing and keeping Aeoniums. This is coming along well now so for this summer my new challenge is to discover lots of beautiful varieties of Salvias and learn how to grow them well. We already have a large collection so the next part of this challenge will be over-wintering them. These three (in the photos below) show the vast range of colours available from the deepest blue, the brightest pink to the gentlest of yellows.”

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On the opposite page I featured a selection of eight of the Salvias in flower in our patch in August. I have included a couple more here too for you to enjoy and to help us appreciate the variety we have.

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I move on in my journal then to look at very special and very unusual perennial plant, a Diascia. On the page opposite I share a few of our new sculptural pieces in the garden.

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“One plant that always attracts admiring glances is this pink gentle giant, an evergreen Diascia, which is called D. personata “Hopleys”. It is an exceptionally good garden performer, growing to a tall six feet and flowering from May to December in a good year.”

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“We love sculpture in the garden and in our patch”Avocet” in Plealey we mostly choose metal or stoneware pieces as these enhance the planting rather that dominate. Recently we have added four new new iron work pieces, two based on seed heads – Clematis and Allium – plus a new bird bath.”

Here are three of them, the fourth appears later.

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I then move on to one of the brightest of garden perennials to grace borders in the UK, the Crocosmias.

“Various Crocosmias feature throughout the patch and in August many come into their own, showing off their yellows, oranges and reds. We have dozens of different varieties. Here are a few ……….. “

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Firstly the yellows ………….

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…………………….. and then the oranges and reds.

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Returning to the sculptural pieces we have recently added to our garden collection, I introduced another 5 pieces.

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“Two new bird sculptures joined us too, one metal, a Wren, and one ceramic, a Blue Tit. The Blue Tit piece doubles up as a planter for some of our many Sempervivum, as does our chestnut shell sculpture.”

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“A Begonia Rex adds colour, shape and texture to our stoneware Green Man planter, one of a pair.”

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“The moon-gazing Hare.”

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“We grow many different Echeveria in terra-cotta pots and pans in the Rill Garden and on our drive edge. These mostly have glaucous leaves and produce flowers of subtle blends of pink, salmon and orange. Recently we acquired a new variety with almost black succulent foliage, Echeveria “Black Prince”. Imagine our delight when it gave us these beautiful red flowers.”

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“For this month I have decided to paint two delicately coloured flowers, a yellow Linaria dalmatica and the china blue climber and scrambler Clematis jouianiana.

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On the opposite page I finish off my entries for August by looking at some of our newly acquired plants.

“We are always adding new plants to the garden at Avocet and indeed a few found their way in during August. Here is a selection ………. “

“New Honeysuckles to clamber up our new willow hurdles.”

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“A white Physostegia to accompany our pink one.”

“Crocosmia “Okavango” and “Salvia leucantha “Eder”.

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And there ends my journal entries for the month of August. Our next visit to look at it will be in September a month that the meteorological office places in autumn but us gardeners tag it onto summer – a much better and more accurate idea. We move into a much quieter period now as we have completed our NGS open days for this year and have received the last of our visiting groups.

Tags crocosmias, diascia, Diascia personata Hopleys, Echeveria, echeverias, garden sculpture, gardening, gardens, honeysuckle, National Garden Scheme, NGS, outdoor sculpture, salvias, sculpture

buildings colours garden buildings garden design garden photography garden ponds garden pools gardening gardens gardens open to the public hardy perennials Herefordshire irises nurseries ornamental trees and shrubs water garden water in the garden

A Water Garden around an Old Mill

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 24, 2016
2 Comments on A Water Garden around an Old Mill

A while ago now we visited this wonderful water garden created around an old water mill on the outskirts of the beautiful Herefordshire village of Pembridge. We decided it was about time for a return visit and also time to peruse the Old Chapel Galleries in the same village. After spending some time and too much money on new sculptures for the garden we drove a few miles on and parked up in the garden car park under lovely mature trees. We collected our hand drawn plan of the garden and set off to explore the Westonbury Mill Water Gardens. Immediately we were impressed by how fresh everything looked and were drawn to bright patches of colourful planting among the greenery.

As in any good garden the quality and choice of individual plants is a key factor in making it an enjoyable place to visit. Take a look at these beauties at Westonbury Mill. Being a water garden designed around a series of streams and pools we searched out the water and marsh loving plants first and found many in flower including the following specimens. Irises including varieties of I.ensata, the wild flowerheads of Butomis, the flowering rush and various Primulas including P. florindae and Rodgersias.

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Even though this was a water garden there were plenty more perennials flowering well and catching the attention of visitors.

Westonbury is well-known for its collection of follies, built by the garden owner for the sheer fun of it and to amuse the visitors, although they can also have a secondary purpose.

We discovered the first just as we approached the garden itself and so we could enjoy it from outside the garden and within. Water rose up a water ladder from the stream beneath to be released into the hands of gravity thus sending water spewing from the mouth of a stone gargoyle.

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Through a structure of willow rather than stone we moved on to discover further eccentric buildings including a glass bottle igloo, towers and shelters.

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To give you an idea of the feel of the garden and the quality of the planting and structure I thought I would finish this post about Westonbury Mill Water Gardens with a selection of broad shots taken as we wandered its many winding paths.

What a lovely atmospheric garden this is! Full of interest and full of interesting plants and features.

Tags follies, garden buildings, garden follies, garden ponds, garden pools, Herefordshire, Herefordshire gardens, irises, Pembridge, water gardening, water gardens, water in the garden

climbing plants colours garden design garden photography garden wildlife gardening gardens gardens open to the public hardy perennials light light quality National Garden Scheme photography roses Shropshire Yellow Book Gardens

What our visitors saw in August

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 19, 2016
1 Comment on What our visitors saw in August

We open our garden a few times a year both by appointment and full open days so I thought it would be interesting to wander around our patch just after a group left, taking photos as I went, thus giving a visitors’ eye view of our garden. The date was early August.

Salvias featured strongly as did clematis and roses. Colours in the garden were strong and lively, helped by the sunshine when it occasionally came out to play.

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The added bonus of wildlife always delights our visitors. We will soon be hosting our final visit by a garden group for this year but we already have groups booked to come and share our Avocet patch with us in 2017.

I now invite you to come with me and my camera lens for a wander around our garden by navigating through this gallery. I hope you enjoy the journey. As usual click on the first photo and navigate with the arrows.

Tags August, clematis, colour in the garden, garden wildlife, gardens, roses, salvias, summer, summer gardens

garden design garden photography gardening hardy perennials July Shropshire

A Modest Gardener – celebrating a small garden

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 15, 2016
2 Comments on A Modest Gardener – celebrating a small garden

Our dear friend Jean is a talented gardener who sadly won’t recognise that she is. So I thought I would share a set of photographs with you that I took in her garden in late July so that you can enjoy her lovely garden too. Jean loves wildlife and enjoys sharing her garden with the birds, butterflies, bees and any other creatures that come for a visit or to stay. As with all gardeners slugs and snails may be one step too far.

Come on a wander with me by following my gallery of photographs all taken on the same day. It is easy to appreciate this excellent example of what can be achieved in a small space. As you run through the photos will see one showing an old blackbird’s nest in the stems of a clematis.