Category: garden design

My Garden Journal 2020 – June

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date July 8, 2020
1 Comment on My Garden Journal 2020 – June

Back to my garden journal for 2020 again and we are into the last month of the first half of the year, June, the month that sees the longest day and shortest night.

I began by sharing some of our rose bushes and climbing varieties that we grow throughout our garden in mixed borders and up obelisks and arches. I wrote, “June, the month for roses …………..”

I then featured photos of some of our red roses, writing, “Roses are red!”

Here are the photos of some of our red roses that grace our garden in June.

On the following page I continued with roses but those that were not red! “My flowering plant of the month!

Roses are red? Or white, cream peach, yellow ……..”

After looking at our flowering rose bushes and climbers, I did something completely different. I collect bark that had been detached from one of our birches by recent strong winds and created a collage, which lets us see the variety in colours and textures.

“In June windy days blow detached bark peelings from our birch, Betula albosinensis ‘Septentronalis’. We find what looks and feels like paper all around the garden. Each piece of peeled bark has its own character.”

We can look over the page now for a complete change as I looked at some wildlife found in our garden, a damselfly and a wasp. “Being a wildlife garden, our patch brings us some beautiful visitors for us to enjoy, to listen to and to watch. They help balance the natural world of our garden.”

“Damsel Flies hatch from our wildlife pond by the dozens, beginning with various ‘Azures’ and later the ‘Reds’.”

This beautiful yellow and black Ichneumon Wasp has appeared in our garden in good numbers for the first time ever this month.”

From wildlife we turn to succulents on the opposite page, where I wrote “Our foliage plants of the month of June are Aeoniums, a very special group of succulents. I have built up a good collection now.”

I then shared photos of a selection of some of our aeoniums……..

Next comes clematis, with two pages of pics. I wrote, “Clematis, herbaceous and climbers are flowering throughout the garden. Some are already on their second flush having flowered in the spring.”

The first of the two pages feature flowers from “Pale blue to deep purple.”

The second page showed “Every shade of red.”

The final page for June is all about the bark of Acer rufinerve. I wrote, Plant of the month for bark and stem this month is one of our snake-bark acers, Acer rufinerve also known as the ‘Melon-skin Maple’. These six photos start at the base of the trunk and move upwards.”

So that is my journal entries for June. Next report will be July.

Tags acers., aeonium, bark patterns, birch bark, clematis, climbers, climbing plants, climbing roses, damselflies, garden wildlife, ichneumon wasp, roses, snake bark maples, snakebark maple., succulents, textured bark, wasps

garden design garden photography gardening succulents

Gardening in lockdown – Succulents in Containers

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date June 12, 2020

Once it is warm enough day and especially night time for plants to be hardened off out of the greenhouse I always enjoy smartening up my succulent containers and perhaps create a few new ones.

Even within lock down I still enjoyed this activity, especially as I had a few new aeonium and echeveria cuttings to include.

What is special about succulents is the way we can appreciate foliage close up, its textures, colours, patterns ans variations with temperature, season and dryness.

We do also get wonderful surprises from our succulents in the form of flowers.

Tags aeomiums, container gardening, echeverias, succulents

garden design garden wildlife gardening log piles meadows Shropshire wildlife

Gardening in lockdown – new wildlife strip

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date June 7, 2020
2 Comments on Gardening in lockdown – new wildlife strip

At the bottom of our back garden we had a stock fence for which we were responsible under the details of our house deeds. Recently the farmer who owns the land behind us created a new enlarged paddock in which to keep their ancient pony and some ewes with lambs, which left us with an awkward strip of land just 45 cm or so wide but the length of our garden. This became home to tough weeds like nettles, brambles and comfrey which we found hard to keep tidy as they were jammed between the two stock fences.

So when I was chatting to the farmer’s wife I asked if we could move our fence back to theirs and use the strip as part of our garden. She was delighted to agree as she loves our garden and comes past when on dog walking duty and has a look at our patch.

We took our old fence and gate down and after quite a struggle managed to get up the old oak fence posts which had been there for over 30 years. Our fence panels needed stripping of algae before we set about putting in new posts alongside the field boundary and refitting out fence panels. The new strip of land was cleared of weeds, dug over deeply but not improved as we wanted to make a wildlife border with some natives.

The strip was sown with wildlife flower seed mixes and we planted lots of small plants we had grown from seeds which would also attract wildlife. Now we must wait for it to grow and for the wildlife to appear.

Three weeks later and the seeds have germinated and our little plug plants grown on nicely. Several plants are in bud and a few are already flowering. You will spot our insect attracting features, a couple of bee steaks, a stone pile and a couple of log piles.

We have no problem with weeds comng in from the field as the sheep and their lambs nibble right up to the fence and even tear off any leaf of our border they can reach with their tongue. Sheep pruning!

Tags gardening for wildlife, meadows, the wildlife garden, wildflower meadows

flowering bulbs garden design garden photography gardening gardens hardy perennials irises Shropshire

My Garden Journal 2020 – May

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date June 1, 2020

My May pages for my garden journal are full of summery gardening. I opened with a page featuring two of my paintings of blue irises, one Iris germanica and the other Iris sibirica. I used Japanese brush pens.

I wrote, “May is the month when spring morphs into summer, a time when we can get warm sunny days and blue skies occasionally interrupted by days with biting cold winds and frosty nights. The garden fills rapidly with boisterous growth with flowers on trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants.

The iris family have the most unusually structured flowers in our garden, with their flags, falls and landing strips for bees.”

In contrast to the bright blues of our iris I looked at euphorbias on the opposite page where I created a montage of photos of closeups of the heads of euphorbias, with their bright greens and yellows of their bracts and flowers. I wrote, “Bracts and flowers work in harmony on our large collection of Euphorbias. The flowers are very much less significant than the bracts that surround them.”

Turn over onto the next double page spread and we consider azaleas and succulents. I wrote on the first page, “We grow very few Azaleas in our gardens apart from a couple of deciduous varieties, ‘Luteum’ and ‘Golden Eagle’. My painting is of ‘Golden Eagle’.

On the page opposite ‘Golden Eagle’ I discussed some work I was doing with succulents and I wrote, “For a few days in May I busied myself sorting out our succulent container gardens, using cuttings from last year plus some new selections. By the end of summer all these containers will be full and each plant will give me new cuttings.”

Onto the next double page we look at more azaleas and thalictrums, with azaleas on the left hand page. I wrote, “I have selected miniature azaleas as the flowering plant of the month for May. A few pages back I shared my watercolour painting of the orange flowered Azalea ‘Golden Eagle’, which is deciduous and scented. In the Japanese Garden we grow a few evergreens as used by Japanese garden designers.”

Pair of A. japonica ‘Ageeth’ A. japonica ‘Spek’s Orange

A. japonica George Hyde

A. japonica ‘Spek’s Orange’

This next page looks at thalictrums, my foliage plant for May. My foliage plant of the month is Thalictrum of which we grow a wide selection. These are herbaceous perennials grown for both their flowers and foliage , but for now the foliage has the largest presence.”

For the final page of May I feature one of my favourite trees, a betula (birch). “Plant of the month for bark and stems is the most beautiful of birches, Betula albosinensis ‘Septentronalis”. It boasts white bark peeling to orange and salmon pink. The sun catches the peeling bark and it becomes fine brittle toffee.”

So when we next visit my garden journal we will be half way through the year – it is going far too quickly!

Tags bearded iris, betula, Betula albosinensis, Betula albosinensis "Septentronalis", euphorbias, iris reticulata, irises, thalictrum

garden design garden furniture garden photography garden seat garden seating

Gardening in lockdown – Sitting Comfortably at Avocet

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date May 23, 2020
5 Comments on Gardening in lockdown – Sitting Comfortably at Avocet

I have occasionally shared posts for years now called “Are you sitting comfortably?” where I feature garden seats we find on our exploration of other people’s gardens. As we are in “lock down” now we are not visiting any gardens other than our own here at Avocet, so I thought it would be fun to feature all the garden seating in our Avocet garden.

We hope you enjoy sharing them with us! I have taken a photo of each seat and then one or two of the view from each seat. This lock down period means that we have no visitors to sit in our seats – how strange!

Let us start in the front garden where we have a pair of purple chairs and a seat under an arch.

Here are the views from the arched seat…….

…..and from our purple chairs.

Moving into the back garden the seats become harder to find as they are situated in each area sometimes well hidden away from paths. The first seats, a pair of wooden folding chairs are alongside the Conservatory Garden give us views over the Conservatory Border.

Nearby is a set of metal table and four chairs sitting alongside the rill in the Rill Garden. The view from here looks out across the Rill Garden towards the Winter Garden.

If we then follow the central pathway and take the first grass path on the left we find ourselves in the Hot Garden where we have two hand crafted wood and metal seats made for us by sculptor Nik Burns. We like his work as he uses wood selected fro woodland local to us. They are so beautiful being made for us using local elm and burr oak, so special!

These seats afford us views around the Hot Garden.

Next to the Hot Garden is a path that we can cross over to enter the Japanese Garden where we find just one seat a cold concrete bench, from where we can get a good look around this part of our garden.

If we then wander past the Wildlife Pond and the Bog Garden we can visit Arabella’s Garden where we have an old Victorian Railway Platform seat made from cast iron and wood. From this seat we can see the plantings in Arabella’s Garden and also look out across the farmland beyond our garden.

Brightly coloured table and chairs sets are found in the final two garden rooms, The Secret Garden and The chicken Garden. The orange set is in The Chicken Garden and the pale blue set in The Secret Garden.

The photos below show on the left the view from the orange seats and on the right the view from the pale blue seats.

Tags garden benches, garden furniture, garden seating, garden seats

garden design garden furniture garden photography garden seat garden seating gardening gardens gardens open to the public National Garden Scheme National Trust NGS nurseries Shropshire South Shropshire The National Trust village gardens Wales walled gardens Yellow Book Gardens

Are you sitting comfortably – no 21 in an occasional series

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date May 5, 2020
1 Comment on Are you sitting comfortably – no 21 in an occasional series

First set of seats in this installment about garden seating features those we found while on holiday near Pembroke followed by more we discovered at Bodnant Garden in north Wales. Then a set we found at Wildegoose Nursery and Garden and finally some we found at our friends, Nathalie and Tony’s Oswestry garden and Ruth and Mike’s village garden in North Shropshire.

Tags garden seating, garden seats, gardens of the National Trust, National Garden Scheme, village gardens

garden design garden fun garden furniture garden photography garden seating gardening gardens gardens open to the public hardy perennials light quality ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture sculpture shrubs water in the garden

Return to Waterperry – part 2

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date April 15, 2020
4 Comments on Return to Waterperry – part 2

As promised I am back sharing with you our summer time visit to the gardens at Waterperry.

Through this wooden gate we discovered a formal garden divided into four sections all featuring interesting and unusual alpines. The golden crocus lookalikes are Sternbergia lutea. Since seeing this beautiful patch we ordered a dozen for our own garden.

The orange flowers looking somewhat like Pentstemon pinifolia ‘Wisley Fire’ was in fact Zauschneria californica ‘Dublin’. Again, although we already grow P. ‘Wisley Fire’ we have bought the Zauschneria too and planted it in scree,

Occasionally when exploring gardens we come across seats that really surprise and impress and here at Waterperry we did just that. The first, the ‘Head Gardener’ seat seems to suit me! I want one! Jude obviously equally enjoyed the other.

As well as garden seats we discovered a spherical stone water feature which had the thinnest film of water seeping over its edge and down the sides. Completely different but again rather interesting was this thatched dovecote.

These metal and glass screens looked equally good close-up as they did from a distance. The light altered their colours as we moved around them.

I will finish this report on our return visit to Waterperry Gardens with photos of this beautiful figure sculpture sitting on top of the wall and a stunning piece of cloud pruning.

Tags alpine gardening, alpines, fun in the garden, garden humoir, garden sculpture, garden seating, garden seats, gardens of Oxfordshire, herbaceous borders, herbaceous plants, outdoor sculpture, Oxfordshire, Waterperry, Waterperry Gardens

fruit and veg garden buildings garden design garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public grow your own hardy perennials ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture sculpture

Return to Waterperry – part 1

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date April 8, 2020
2 Comments on Return to Waterperry – part 1

Waterperry in Oxfordshire is a garden we have visited a few times in the past and enjoyed it every time, so finding the opportunity to drop in while traveling down south we welcomed it.

Set up in 1932 the garden is the home of the School of Horticulture for Ladies run by the stern-looking Beatrix Havergal. Today it is a glorious garden which gave us several hours of enjoyable wandering.

We visited at a time when I was writing a new garden talk titled, “Fabulous Foliage, the unsung hero of our gardens”, so many of my photos focused on the way the gardeners put foliage colours and textures together. The pear orchard was a very peaceful place and looked to promise great crops before too long.

The garden is punctuated with pieces of sculptures varying widely in style, from the beautiful figure in the canal to the rather formal to the beautiful obelisk with words from the Koran on each face.

Probably our favourite part of the garden was the designated ‘quiet place’ which was an enclosed garden exuding calm and peace. The planting softened the formal layout and the beautiful sculptural figure with the lamp pulled us towards it. I was so impressed by the simple but effective plant combinations at her feet.

The most colourful areas in the garden were the trial beds and the long richly planted herbaceous border.

Waterperry Gardens have so much to offer and there is so much we haven’t shared with you in this post, so I will continue in part 2.

Tags alpines, garden sculpture, gardens of Oxfordshire, herb garden, herbaceous borders, herbs, outdoor sculpture, quiet places, Waterperry, Waterperry Gardens

countryside garden design garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public hardy perennials landscapes ornamental trees and shrubs shrubs Wales

Pentre Uchaf – a high altitude garden

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date February 23, 2020
2 Comments on Pentre Uchaf – a high altitude garden

While holidaying in mid-Wales near Cardigan we enjoyed a visit to a garden high up in the hills, surrounding a cottage called Pentre Uchaf. It took quite a drive to get there following narrow lanes up and down steep hills and along narrow valleys. We were so relieved to get there and started as usual with refreshments.

The walk from the car up to the house treated us to great views looking through the planting of trees and perennials.

The theme of the visit was enjoyment of these views from every part of the garden.

These two little surprise elements added extra interest to our garden wanderings.

As with any garden it is the plants that are the stars! Pentre Uchaf was no exception!

It may have been a difficult drive to find this little garden but it was most definitely worth the effort.

Tags garden views, gardens of Wales, Pentre Uchaf

garden design garden photography gardens gardens open to the public outdoor sculpture sculpture Wales

Sculpture Heaven

The name for this garden was a bit off-putting but once through the gates we warmed to it immediately. This was a collection of outdoor sculpture of all sorts, a huge variety in fact but there was the important element of a garden wander to see all the pieces.

As soon as we entered through the rustic gateway we knew we were in for a treat, as sculpture was placed all around in trees, shrubs, in borders in grassed areas. We made our way across for refreshments and checked out the map to get an idea of a route we could follow and not miss any areas out.