Category: garden design

Bluebell Arboretum – Part 2

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 13, 2016
1 Comment on Bluebell Arboretum – Part 2

Back to Derbyshire and we shall continue our beautiful autumnal wanderings within the grounds of Bluebell Arboretum and Nursery. I shall concentrate on a selection of the true favourites we enjoyed most of all. The beauty of this arboretum is that there is so much to discover and enjoy that our favourites would be different each time we visit.

We start again just as we discovered a couple of different Hawthorns which is always interesting as most nurseries sell only the common native as a hedge plant and the double pink ornamental tree form. We enjoyed discovering the unusual Crataegus tanacetifolia, the Tansy Leaved Thorn and the rare Crataegus ellwangeriana “Fireball”. It is amazing how the leaf shapes differ as do the berry colours.

Now I will share two very different trees worth growing for their bark colours, patterns and textures, on the left Betula utilis “Grayswood Ghost” and in the centre and on the right Acer davidii “Cascade”. This selection of snakebark maple has a beautiful delicately weeping habit.

This next specimen had me foxed and I had to go in search of a label. Although it is a Lime the leaves were the size of a Catalpa but the label informed us it was Tilia carolina subs. heterophylla.

We were attracted to the autumn foliage colour of this Tulip Tree, so crisp and bright on a dull day. It is Lirodendron tulipifera “Arnold” a tree we had never seen before with its fastigiate form.

I love the berries and leaf shapes of all the Sorbus and to see a variety new to me was a delightful surprise, Sorbus eburnia “Harry Smith”. It was growing close to a Liquidamber which was turning from deep green to deep reds, and formed a beautiful open specimen.

Before I tell you what tree impressed me most at this wonderful arboretum I would like to share a few pics of Euonymus europaeus “Thornhayes” one of the selections of our native deciduous Euonymus simply because they are my favourite deciduous shrub and a Hydrangea petiolaris just getting established at the base of a tree. This will look great in 5 years time! We can’t grow them and so have given up! I have just discovered that the botanists have now decided that this climbing shrub must be called Hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolaris. I wonder what it did to deserve that!

And the star of the show? Well it just has to be a Birch doesn’t it – Betula utilis “Doorenbos”. White stems with the texture of suede and in places the gentlest hints of salmon pink. This multi-stemmed specimen stopped us in our tracks.

Of course before we left with just minutes until Bluebell shut up shop for the day we had to have a peruse around the nursery. We bought this little beautiful shrub with its delicate little scented yellow flowers and bronzed foliage turning red in places as autumn was approaching. It is called Bush Honeysuckle or Diervilla lonicera for our garden at home and a tree for the Winter Garden at our allotment community gardens, an orange stemmed Lime, Tilia cordata “Winter Orange” a tree we have been searching for since we planted this border up over 6 years ago now. So we had a great day and came home with two wonderful new plants. We were so interested in everything the Bluebell Arboretum has to offer that we almost overstayed our welcome. The owners politely asked if they could close the gate now please so they could take their dogs for a walk and they probably deserved their tea! Below is our newly purchased Diervilla.

Tags arboreta, arboretum, berried trees, betula, betulas, birch, birches, Bluebell Arboretum and Nursery, deciduous euonymus, deciduous trees, euonymus, garden trees, ornamental trees, sorbus, trees and shrubs, trees for a small garden

autumn autumn colours colours flowering bulbs garden design gardening grasses hardy perennials ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs shrubs spring bulbs Winter Gardening winter gardens

New Look for our Gateway Planters

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 3, 2016
2 Comments on New Look for our Gateway Planters

We change the plants in the wooden box planters we have at the bottom of our driveway to give the warmest welcome possible to visitors and to cheer up the entrance to the garden. We recently took out the summer display and changed it into a display more suited for the late autumn and to last through the winter. We often buy young plants to go in these boxes and this gives us a chance to grow them on before moving them into final planting places in the garden proper and it also gives us an opportunity to see how unknown plants perform.

We began by collecting together all the new plants, bags of bulbs, chicken manure pellets, multi-purpose compost and trowels. The summer plantings definitely looked in need of refreshing!

We had collected together some young evergreen shrubs, some deep red cyclamen and variegated ivies together with some richly coloured Uncinia rubra grasses.

First job was to plant up the terra-cotta pots in the wrought iron plant stand with purple and yellow violas and some of our seedlings of our bronze evergreen grasses.

I cleared out the summer plants, removed the top 3 inches of compost and refreshed it with chicken manure pellets as fertiliser and fresh compost. While I did this Jude the Undergardener trimmed back the flowering stems on our hedge of Munstead Lavenders along the road edge and planted a mixture of bulbs in the narrow drive-side border.

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Once refreshed and ready for planting we got going on the best part of the job, the planting up of the boxes.

The plants were soon snuggled up to their new partners and the planters looked the part again. The plants removed earlier were loaded into the wheelbarrow ready to be planted out in the garden borders.

Ah! Now that looks better! That should cheer the garden entrance up for the winter very nicely.

Tags container gardening, garden containers, grasses, ornamental grasses, shrubs, spring bulbs, winter gardening

autumn autumn colours community gardening garden buildings garden design garden furniture garden photography garden ponds garden pools garden seating gardening gardens gardens open to the public light light quality memorials ornamental trees and shrubs trees

Furzey Gardens – a wonderful gardening community – Part One

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 11, 2015
1 Comment on Furzey Gardens – a wonderful gardening community – Part One

Jude, The Undergardener, and I always love visiting community gardens to see what is going on. As we are Chairman and Secretary of a community garden, Bowbrook Allotment Community, we always appreciate everything our fellow community gardeners are achieving.

When in Hampshire we discovered that we were close to Furzey Gardens, run as a charitable trust and a very special community garden indeed, described as “A haven of peace and tranquility in the heart of the New Forest.”

We discovered this 10 acre garden created within woodland around a 16th Century forest cottage. It is a partnership between Furzey Gardens and the Minstead Training Trust. To find out more check out their respective websites, http://www.furzey-gardens.org and http://www.minsteadtt.org .

We arrived at their car park where our progress into the car park was hindered by wandering pigs belonging to local commoners taking advantage of their “rights of pannage”. The signage looked promising. We soon came across a photograph of some of the garden’s volunteers and a shed where produce was sold.

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And once inside we discovered a lovely cafe and gallery run by some of the trust’s volunteers. This was to set the scene for the whole visit.

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The views from the table at which we enjoyed our coffee and cakes were certainly very encouraging. We set off with high expectations!

We noticed within the outside seating area this huge table carved by a local wood sculptor from the trunk of a tree. It was hard to see how this was possible. But possible it was! In the picnic area we found another!

We found more beautiful hand made furniture throughout the gardens.

We soon discovered that this was a garden sporting some beautiful specimen trees and shrubs which in early autumn were performing a colourful show. The volunteers maintained the gardens and individual specimens to a very high standard. Above all a sense of peace pervaded every space and the volunteers we saw working looked full of contentment and displayed a great pride in their work.

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We loved this sign which faced us as we followed our pathway through the garden.

“We love children but we also love plants!

Many of the plants at Furzey are old, rare and fragile.

So please don’t climb our trees or trample on the flowers.

Feel free to hop and skip along the paths

And follow the secret places map.”

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We moved on and the low autumn sunshine lit up the foliage all around like a massive stained glass window.

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We enjoyed having so much choice when it came to sitting resting and taking in the beauty of Furzey. Many benches were memorials of volunteers, clients and visitors who simply enjoyed the special nature of this place.

After a break for tea and yet more cake we set off through the shrubs and trees to find the lake, a lake whose surface was cluttered with water lily leaves and its moist margins decorated by big-leaved plants and umbel seed heads.

Throughout the walkways there were secret places for children to discover, “Fairy Houses” hidden low down and camouflaged.

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We shall find more of these little magic places in part two of our visit to Furzey, but I shall finish this first part by sharing with you one of the many thatched rustic garden buildings scattered throughout the gardens. The use of coloured glass leaves added magical light effects.

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Tags communal gardens, community, community gardening, community spirit, Furzey Gardens, garden sculpture, garden seating, Hampshire

garden buildings garden design garden designers garden photography gardening gardens hardy perennials Herefordshire meadows outdoor sculpture sculpture Yellow Book Gardens

Montpelier Cottage – another Yellow Book garden

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date October 17, 2015
2 Comments on Montpelier Cottage – another Yellow Book garden

A warm bright day in early September was a great day to visit another National Garden Scheme, Yellow Book garden. Thus we drove once again into our neighbouring county of Herefordshire in search of Montpelier Cottage. The main roads turned into minor roads and the minor roads turned into lanes. The lanes got narrower and narrower until at last we found the yellow NGS sign on a gate into a field which for the day became a temporary car park.

The cottage in its primrose yellow livery felt so welcoming.

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A sense of humour, important in any garden, soon became apparent at Montpelier Cottage.

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The gardeners here are the garden writer Noel Kingsbury and his wife Jo Eliot and they have been developing the garden for ten years. The garden style and plant combinations are experimental looking to find “the border between the wild and the cultivated” being inspired by American prairies and the wildflower meadows of Europe. As we knew Noel Kingsbury had been working closely for many years with garden designers and nurserymen Piet Oudolf and Henk Gerritsen, we were interested to see how this ten year old garden had developed.

As we followed the narrow path towards the back of the cottage the gardens came into view and we knew we were in for a colourful wander. The terrace of stone slabs overlooked the garden and sitting here enjoying a refreshing tea and tasty cake we could get views over most of the garden. Brightly coloured annuals and tender perennials grew vigorously in pots.

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When we had finished our refreshments we soon found a sign which invited us through a gap in a hedge. Alongside the gap a piece of sculpture created from beautiful blue glass caught our attention.

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As in any garden there are certain individual plants that stand out and here at Montpelier Cottage they were this deciduous Euonymous sporting a cerise and orange colourway, the deep ruby flowered Sanguisorba “Red Buttons”, the monochrome bamboo, the Rosa rugosa with big hips and the incredibly tall growing Hollyhocks.

But as with any garden it is the big picture that gives it its own style and presence. At Montpelier Cottage the garden boasted large areas of perennial planting through which paths were cut.

It was too late in the year to see the wildflower meadows at their flowery best so we hope to visit earlier in the year in 2016, but the kitchen garden was looking very productive.

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There are interesting rustic buildings which came into view as we wandered the paths through the garden.

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I shall finish my post about this unusual garden with a photo of a lovely slate sculpture and another piece of creativity by Mother Nature herself, weaving with Ivy stems. The final picture shows a beautiful use of shaped box.

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Tags hardy perennials, Herefordshire, Herefordshire gardens, meadows, National Garden Scheme, new perennial gardening, NGS, NGS gardens, Noel Kingsbury, wildflower meadows, Yellow Book, Yellow Book Gardens

colours garden design garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public grasses hardy perennials light light quality National Garden Scheme NGS ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture photography Yellow Book Gardens

Aulden Farm – another Yellow Book garden

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date September 28, 2015
1 Comment on Aulden Farm – another Yellow Book garden

We open our garden under the auspices of the National Garden Scheme and love to see our garden in its famous Yellow Book. But we also love to visit other gardens from the Yellow Book.

We recently visited Aulden Farm which is in Herefordshire, our neighbouring county and we were particularly keen to wander around this garden as it has a similar description to our own in their Yellow Book entry although it is much larger! “Informal country garden surrounding old farmhouse, three acres planted with wildlife in mind. Emphasis on structure and form, with a hint of quirkiness, a garden to explore with eclectic planting.”

We had a lovely drive through beautiful countryside before parking on the grass verge and wandering up the gravel drive leading to Aulden Farm’s garden. A gravel area surrounded by interesting planting was a great place to enjoy tea and homemade cakes.

Alongside the tea courtyard was a gravel garden in front of a beautiful barn close to tumbling down. Verbena bonariensis was the star in this garden and the afternoon lit it up dramatically. Butterflies were attracted to it as much as me and my camera. This was an area full of texture and interest too good for any photographer to miss.

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We eventually left behind our tea, cakes, verbenas and butterflies and wandered, suitably refreshed, through the shade garden where the low rays of the sun created pools of light and shade. from here we could choose different routes through the garden described in its own leaflet as “very relaxed, tranquil and some even say romantic, but that is for you to decide”. So we couldn’t wait to find out for ourselves.

Now come for a walk with us around this beautiful garden by enjoying my gallery. Please click on the first photo and navigate with the arrows.

I hope you enjoyed this photographic journey around this wonderful garden. Is it romantic? Yes, definitely so! This is a garden with atmosphere.

We left with an invitation to return whenever we wanted – bliss.

In my next couple of posts about Aulden Farm gardens I will share my images of two special families of plants that caught the beautiful light that day and my imagination, Persicarias and Rudbeckias and also a look at some of the wide ranging sculpture we enjoyed there.

colours garden design garden designers garden photography gardens gardens open to the public meadows

Return to Trentham Gardens

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date September 23, 2015
2 Comments on Return to Trentham Gardens

In mid-September we made a return visit to the gardens at Trentham which I featured monthly during 2014. This time we visited not specifically to enjoy the gardens themselves but to meet friends from university, friends we had not met since the early 1970’s.

While there our reminiscences were interrupted by the sheer beauty of a new area of planting, a meadow designed by Nigel Dunnett. The meadow was sown on a slope alongside woodland and even at this time of the year was full of colour and surprises.

Come on a journey around the meadow with us in my gallery below. As usual simply click on the first photo and move on by clicking on the arrows. If this new meadow looked this good in mid-September I can’t wait to go back next spring and summer to see what pictures they paint then.

Tags meadows, Nigel Dunnett, Staffordshire, Trentham Garden, Trentham Gardens, wild flowers, wildflower meadows

arboreta colours garden buildings garden design garden photography gardens gardens open to the public hardy perennials light light quality ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture sculpture trees

Harold Hillier in Hampshire – Part 2

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date September 15, 2015
1 Comment on Harold Hillier in Hampshire – Part 2

So here we are back in Hampshire and still wandering around the miles of paths along which we explored the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens.

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The Acer Grove was full of colour when the sun hit the foliage after the dullness of the rains.

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The Pinetum was a wonderful place to explore the many shapes of the trees and the texture and colour of their needles. Cones added even more interest. Not a great lover of conifers I felt myself enjoying being among their rich variety.

But the broadleaved trees were my stars of the gardens with their colourful bark, flowers and the leaves.

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Jude was easily distracted by this wonderfully sculptural swing!

We continued to discover a huge variety of sculptural pieces along every path and around every corner.

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But there was so much more than trees and sculpture to enjoy at these amazing gardens – we found so many interesting colourful flowering plants too.

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I will finish part two of our visit to the Harold Hillier Gardens with these photos of an amazing archway over a path and a beautifully coloured and shaped pot.

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Tags flower colours, garden sculpture, gardens open to the public, Hampshire, Harold Hillier, outdoor sculpture, sculpture, The Harold Hillier Garden, trees

arboreta garden design garden photography gardens gardens open to the public ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture sculpture trees

Harold Hillier in Hampshire

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date September 12, 2015
2 Comments on Harold Hillier in Hampshire

We have had the Harold Hillier Gardens in Hampshire on our bucket list of places to visit for a few years now so we decided that the summer of 2015 was the time to go. We had great expectations! But did it live up to them?

We arrived in heavy rain so made straight for the cafe and dawdled for even longer than usual over coffees and cake while keeping an eye, a “weather eye”, on what the rain was up to through the windows. We gave up waiting for a lull in the rain so donned waterproofs and wandered into the garden clutching the garden plan that was to get soggier and soggier as the day wore on.

The garden was simply brilliant so took our minds off the weather. When you wait so long to visit a place you feel set for disappointment but no such things here at the Hillier Gardens.

As we expected the trees were the stars. We wandered through the Winter Garden and on through the Acer Dell and stopped frequently to enjoy close up views of the huge range of trees. Within the trees though splashes of herbaceous colours shone through the gloom of the overcast and very wet morning.

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We seem to have the knack of visiting gardens when there are sculpture exhibitions on and it happened to us again here. Sculpture always looks so good against trees and flowers. There was a huge variety of subject, material and style in the selection.

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Spot the metal sculpture of a Little Owl among matching metallic leaved conifers.

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The rain gave way to clouds mixed with sunny periods and we enjoyed the sight of raindrops on foliage. In part two we will continue our wanderings.

Tags arboretum, garden sculpture, garden trees, Hampshire, Harold Hillier, outdoor sculpture, sculpture, The Harold Hillier Garden

garden design garden furniture garden photography garden seating gardening gardens

Are You Sitting Comfortably? – Part 6 of a very occasional series

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 25, 2015
2 Comments on Are You Sitting Comfortably? – Part 6 of a very occasional series

Number six in a very occasional series of posts all about the seats I find in gardens. Use your imagination and have a sit in each and see what you think! I hope you enjoy the view from some – you will have to use your imagination!

A visit to the famous Herefordshire garden, The Laskett, created by the couple Sir Roy Strong and Doctor Julia Trevelyan Oman, provided many unusual garden seats for us to try out and to photograph.

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At the Laskett even the toilet seat is quality!

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We will now look at another C20 garden, the gardens at Preen Manor near Much Wenlock not far from Shrewsbury. This is a garden of many”rooms” and each room seems to have a different style of seat.

On a visit to a Yellow Book NGS garden a good mixture of seats can be found, such as these four at Upper Shelderton Hall gardens.

Another Yellow Book Garden, Dovecote Barn in Herefordshire revealed these two seats, one well placed for a secret rest hiding in the polytunnel and the other a little precarious with a bit of a backward slope to it.

So there is my sixth selection of garden seats – I can now look forward to trying out lots more in my search for the seventh selection!

Tags garden furniture, garden seating, garden seats, gardens

architecture colours garden buildings garden design garden photography garden pools gardens gardens open to the public hardy perennials National Garden Scheme NGS ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture roses shrubs trees water in the garden Yellow Book Gardens

Miserden Park, a Gloucestershire Garden

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 23, 2015
2 Comments on Miserden Park, a Gloucestershire Garden

We were journeying south towards Hampshire and searched for a place to break our journey. We were pleased to discover Miserden Park was close to the road we travelled. We expected it to be easy to find as we knew which village it was on the outskirts of but poor signage directing us firstly to the village and then to the garden itself made it difficult.

When we saw the house at Miserden we were impressed with the way the gardens around it helped it sit so comfortably in the landscape. The pale blue planting looked so good with the pale limestone of the building.

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We soon realised that this was one of those gardens which impressed with the tiny details of individual plants and colour combinations but also with the bigger pictures it presented.

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Metalwork impressed us from the imposing gates to the intimate seats.

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We loved the contrast between the formal gardens and the wilder “Robinsonian” areas. Paths mown through the long grass in these wilder areas led us to surprise plants to appreciate such as this Aesculus.

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On the paved area which surrounded the house containers planted up with gently coloured plants enhanced the colour of the stonework.

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An unusual rill garden had been created to celebrate the Millenium and a nearby conveniently positioned summer house gives visitors a good chance to rest awhile and admire it.