Category: garden design

A garden reborn – Glansevern Hall

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date July 27, 2015
1 Comment on A garden reborn – Glansevern Hall

In this post we will be looking back to a garden visit we made in mid-May when we visited a garden near Welshpool just over the border into Wales but still only a half hour drive away. The last time we had visited the gardens at Glansevern Hall was about ten years ago when the current owners had just started to rejuvenate the run down gardens.

We arrived to find everything improved so much so that some areas were hard to recognise. It is now a garden of real atmosphere, a truly romantic garden. After parking up in a car park which was a clearing among beautiful mature trees, we entered the garden through a courtyard which would have originally have been the stable block of the hall. Planting in narrow borders at the base of the wall included some interesting plants and some great ironwork.

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Once outside the courtyard several garden rooms contained exciting plant combinations and swathes of colour and texture.

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We discovered more wonderful ironwork too!

In contrast to the irregularly shaped beds we came across circular beds planted in very different styles.

A pergola covered in Laburnum with its bright yellow racemes was a real surprise to find as we began finding our way to the informal meadow areas and their collection of interesting trees and shrubs.

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This weeping specimen tree took some identifying. We had never seen one before but eventually came to the conclusion that it was a Weeping Mulberry, Morus alba pendula. A real beauty. The sculpture and the Viburnums were much easier to identify.

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The gardens close to the hall itself were much more formal and had an “arts and crafts” feel to them. The colours of the planting were most unusual in different pale shades of blue around the front and shades of yellow along the side borders.

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Moving away from the hall we walked beneath a wonderfully colourful and highly scented pergola swathed in Wisteria with its long white and blue racemes of flowers. Beneath the narrow borders were full of purple headed Alliums.

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After a quick break for coffee and cakes we traced the path around the lake which was surrounded by specimen trees many rare or unusual, some we had never seen before and a couple we had never even heard of!

We had a great day at Glansevern and came away amazed at how much work had been done developing the gardens into such a romantic place.

Tags garden metalwork, gardens open to the public, Glansevern Hall, herbaceous borders, herbaceous plants, ornamental grasses, pergola, Powis, Powys, wisteria

garden design garden photography gardening succulents Uncategorized

Succulents in Pots

It is always good to have little projects to get on with in the garden. My latest little project was to create a pair of succulent pots. We already have pots of succulents dotted or hopefully arranged around our Rill Garden. Here we feature several different Aeoniums, Echeverias and Sempervivum. They grow happily here because it is south facing and gets extra light reflected off the glass of our garden room.

We thought it about time we introduced some more succulents for added interest for our garden visitors on our open days, so bought a pair of beautifully shaped terracotta bowl-shaped pots and went off to our local nursery, Love Plants, to get an interesting selection of different succulents. We looked for different leaf colours, textures and shapes. A few had the bonus of brightly coloured flowers too. They have such wonderful names too – much too difficult to remember, Oscularia deltoides, Sempervivum jovibarba alionii, Echeveria elegans, Pachyphytum “Dark Red”, Pachyphytum bracteosum and Sedum x rubrotinctum.

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So we gathered together everything we needed on the table in the Rill Garden and got to work.

We mixed up a suitable growing medium by combining equal quantities of a soil based compost and horticultural grit. We hoped this would be free draining while just holding enough moisture to keep the plants happy.

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We then covered the drainage hole with crocks and added a shallow layer of my compost mix, ready to arrange the plants to their best advantage.

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Some of the plants we put in the pots were our own cuttings. The picture on the left shows how new plants have grown from leaf cuttings. The plant on the right was grown from an offset.

Once satisfied with the arrangement we filled in between the plants with the compost mixture and topped it off with a mulch of horticultural grit.

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Whenever you deal with succulents bits fall off and each bit can become a cutting. Other pieces we deliberately took as cutting material.

The photo below shows a leaf cutting taken from an Echeveria which is now forming tiny plants at its base. This is an easy way to make new plants albeit rather slow. It is a process requiring a lot of patience but not much skill.

And here they are in situ, alongside our rill, our new succulent planters.

Tags Echeveria, garden containers, gardening, gardening in pots, Sedum, succulents

garden design garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public National Trust The National Trust

Wonder Walls

We always enjoy discovering what plants manage to grow in walls and marvel at how they get a foothold and seek out enough food. You can imagine how delighted we were when we came across this 50 metre long wall which was a garden in itself.

This garden on a wall was at Sizergh Castle, a National Trust property in the southern end of the Lake District in Cumbria. there were other interesting “wall gardens” here too.

The wall runs the length of the Dutch Garden and is constructed of limestone. It is now home to many very happy looking plants. They are a sort of hanging garden!

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Along its top edge a narrow border adds an extra dimension to this wall. Forget-me-Nots in pink, white and the more usual blue provide splashes of colour. After enjoying the vast range of plants growing in the gaps, crevices and cracks of the wall a shelter with a comfortable seat provides a convenient resting place.

Within the gardens at Sizergh we found other examples of “hanging gardens”, one hanging from a flight of stone steps covered in alpine plants, presenting a colourful display. These decorative steps had been roped off to stop anyone using them and damaging the plants growing there. Many visitors stopped to take photographs of this mini-garden which I presume came about by accident. The plants probably self-seeded into the gaps between the stonework. Similarly plants have taken up residence on the side walls of the steps.

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In the kitchen garden at Sizergh the stone walls that make up the sides of the old cold frames also became a habitat for self-seeded little plants.

The walls around the kitchen garden gave the impression of more hanging gardens for us to enjoy. Many of the plants in these walls were wild flowers of hillsides and cliff faces or ones normally grown on rockeries. It was interesting seeing thes plants growing vertically instead of as mats on the ground.

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Ferns were particularly happy growing in the shade of the walls where they could establish themselves in cooler damper conditions found there.

These walls also had extra habitats added to them to encourage even more wildlife to shelter or set up home.

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For my final wall I include this stretch of the castle walls themselves where little creeping daisies, Erigeron karvinskianus had settled in happily showing off its flowers in white and many shades of pink.

We were amazed to find so many plants growing in these walls at Sizergh and wondered how many thousands of tiny critters we could not see as well as small mammals and birds were also sheltering or living there in their own secret miniature world.

Tags alpine gardening, Cumbria, gardens open to the public, NT, Sizergh Castle, The Lake District, The Lakes, The National Trust, wall plants

arboreta garden design garden photography garden ponds garden pools gardens gardens open to the public Italian style gardens meadows ornamental trees and shrubs shrubs trees water garden water in the garden

A Week in the Lake District – Part 7 – Holker Hall

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date July 4, 2015

I had recently read a book on the original creation and the more recent re-design of the gardens at Holker Hall so I was really looking forward to visiting it to see it for real. The book made mention of many rare and interesting trees being planted which made me extra keen to visit.

We hoped it would reach our expectations as it was the last day of our week in the Lake District. We looked forward to a gentle stroll around a peaceful, atmospheric garden. We were not disappointed in any way! Holker’s gardens were full of variety and surprises, with a careful balance of the formal and informal.

As we entered the garden we were presented with this vista, a vista full of promises to come.

Taking each pathway off from the central path we discovered beautiful examples of formality, neatly cut grass, hedges carefully clipped and seats neatly tucked into niches.

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But formality cannot work without carefully chosen and well-grown plants.

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As we moved away from the formality of the first section of the garden we found gentle meadows which presented a complete contrast.

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The meadows contained surprises, a stone circle, a maze, seats of single blocks of slate and the most beautiful sundial.

It was hot wandering out in the open space of the meadows so it felt good to wander around shaded areas and an Italianate water garden.

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One of the reasons to visit Holker Hall is the collection of rare and unusual trees. They were underplanted with meadows of grasses and wildflowers which gave the wooded area the character of a real William Robinson styled wild garden

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We were amazed by the number of interesting trees at Holker and enjoyed discovering several champion trees. There were so many special places throughout the gardens where shrubs and trees were sensitively grouped to set them off in the best light.

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Tags Cumbria, garden trees, Holker Hall, Italian garden style, meadows, shrubs, The Lake District, The Lakes, trees and shrubs, water in the garden, wildflower meadows

birds colours garden design garden photography garden wildlife gardening gardens open to the public ornamental trees and shrubs trees woodland

A Week in the Lake District – Part 4 – Brantwood

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date June 30, 2015
3 Comments on A Week in the Lake District – Part 4 – Brantwood

I had read a book about the making of the gardens at Brantwood in the Lake District, so when we found ourselves nearby we were determined to make time for a visit. Brantwood was the home of John Ruskin who believed in gardening with wildlife so his garden is often described as one of the closest to the ideals propounded by William Robinson.

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We visited on a hot sunny day so were pleased that we were exploring a woodland garden. As with other places we visited in the Lake District we were astonished to hear so much birdsong, missing now in much of the UK due to modern agricultural practices. Thrushes both Song and Mistle, along with their cousins the Blackbird, seemed to sing loudly from every tree. Blackcaps, Robins, Wrens and Whitethroats performed with equal gusto from the layer of shrubs and bushes.

Every surface whether ground, tree trunk, wall or rock-face seemed to be home to plants. We had to look everywhere all around us to make sure we didn’t miss a hidden gem or two.

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From the highest parts of the garden we glimpsed on occasion views of Coniston Water. It is possible to arrive at Brantwood via the lake on a steam paddle boat.

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The woodland garden felt just as Ruskin wished it to when he wrote about gardening there. He wanted to look back at where he had been gardening and see no sign that he had been there, just the hand of nature.

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As we wandered the garden paths through the valleys, alongside streams and beneath trees we kept a look out for Ruskin’s seat, set in his favourite part of the garden. It was beautifully crafted from local slate and was now weathered and covered in lichen. I think this would please Ruskin if he could see it now.

Tags Brantwood, Cumbria, garden wildlife, gardening for wildlife, natural gardening, Ruskin, Ruskin's garden, The Lake District, The Lakes, the wildlife garden, woodland, woodland garden, woodland gardening

climbing plants colours garden design garden photography gardening gardens hardy perennials irises light National Garden Scheme ornamental trees and shrubs Shropshire trees Yellow Book Gardens

My Garden Journal – May

May has now finished so it is time to present my entries for that month in my Garden Journal. Gardening was totally at the behest of the weather, which was to say disappointing.

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As usual my first page for the month of May included my chosen quotation from Jenny Joseph’s little book “Led by the Nose – A Garden of Smells”. Concerning May she wrote, “I breathe in the warm pleasant air and think “Ah, heavenly summer” and the next day I have retreated to my living-room, lit my boiler again, shut the windows and returned to winter. May can indeed be a complicating month.”

I wrote, “Indeed here in Plealey, May has been a complicated month. The weather forecasters have been wrong every day. When they predict a cool 14 C we get a lovely warm 19 C. However for our May garden open day they predicted rain and we got it! But a few hardy souls turned up!

Many visitors to our garden are amazed by our Judas Tree, Cercis siliquastrum. Early in the month its buds are beautiful in colour and shape.”

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I moved on to write “May is the month that our Irises come out to play, to show off their colourful, wonderfully shaped flowers and glow whenever the sun makes an appearance. The palest colours always come first.

Turn over the page and we find my first watercolour painting and the return to the Judas Tree.

My painting is of one of our favourite grass-like plants, a rush called Luzula nivea. A real challenge to express its subtlety in paints. I wrote “In amongst the bright colours of May little subtle plants can amaze us.”

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Concerning the Judas Tree, Cercis siliquastrum, I wrote “By the middle of the month, our Judas Tree is in full bloom.” A selection of photos followed.

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Over the page I wrote “May has been a cold, wet month so most disappointing for us gardeners and lovers of wildlife. Birds, Hoverflies and Butterflies have hardly put in an appearance. One patch of surprise colour came as one of the many May showers came to an end. A multi-coloured arch in the sky.”

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Alongside the page about the rainbow was a second page about our Irises, where I wrote “By the end of the month our more extravagently coloured Bearded Irises are giving vibrant explosions of colour in the Beth Chatto border.” Below these words was my second painting for May depicting one of our more brightly coloured Irises.

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My final entry for my Garden Journal in May was a little gallery of photos.

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To see larger images click the first thumbnail photo and use the arrows to negotiate through the gallery. Enjoy!

Tags bearded iris, garden photography, gardening, gardens in May, iris, irises, May, NGS, ornamental trees, Shropshire, Yellow Book, Yellow Book Gardens

fruit and veg garden design garden photography garden ponds garden pools gardens gardens open to the public irises kitchen gardens lakes meadows National Trust ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture sculpture The National Trust water in the garden

A Week in the Lake District – Part One – Sizergh

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date June 10, 2015
1 Comment on A Week in the Lake District – Part One – Sizergh

We decided that it was about time we re-visited one of our favourite family holiday destinations from when our children were youngsters, the Lake District. So a week in early June saw us journeying northwards to re-find some old haunts.

The first place we visited was the National Trust property, Sizergh Castle, right at the southern end of the lakes, in an area described as the “gateway to the Lakes”. The National Trust is very much in evidence in this area owning many properties as well as lakes, hillsides, fells and farms. The Lake district was central to the Trust’s early development.

Sizergh Castle is a Medieval house with gardens, orchards, limestone pasture and semi-natural woodland. The garden features fern collections, a kitchen garden, a pond, lake and its main feature a massive rock garden.

We soon realised that this was going to be a place full of interesting plants which also looked after its wildlife.

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The little wooden sign clearly showed us the way!

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We followed the little wooden sign on a stone wall directing us to the garden and made our way towards the kitchen garden. On the way we stumbled across the “stumpery” where the garden’s fern collections are being re-homed. The variety of ferns was vast and we spotted many we had never seen before.

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The walls in the fernery and walled garden were home to so many different tiny plants as well as just ferns. We were soon to discover that this was a feature of the walls throughout the gardens.

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The kitchen garden was on a gentle slope and based on a strange shape somewhat like a long bent rectangle! The old wooden cold frames were still fully in use. We were fascinated by the raised hot beds where plants grew in soil covering heaped manure. This gave heat and later as it broke down fertility and structure to the soil.

Within the kitchen garden we found a small patch of multi-coloured Forget-me-Nots. We found lots more throughout the gardens.

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From the kitchen garden we wandered into the orchard with its bee hives, buzzing with activity. Beyond the orchard we came across a small lake. In the borders on the lake side were beautifully sculptural pollarded willows. They looked like a group of people meeting up for a chat.

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Wide open expanses of lawn opened up in front of us as we walked away from the lake. These afforded us views of the castle buildings themselves.

Where there was a change of level the grass banks were sown as narrow wild flower meadows. They were full of life.

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Behind the main buildings we found the “Great Barn”, an agricultural building of a type we had never seen before. The barn was raised up on a bank to create two levels. In the lower level the animals were housed while carts loaded with cereals drove up the grass covered gradients to the upper level.

One of the most famous sections of the gardens was the vast rock garden. Acers gave this area colour and texture and provided great views back to the castle itself. Tiny streams wound their way through the rocky outcrops ans areas of planting.

We found these appealing little carvings while we wandered around. The first was a yard high snail carved in wood while the second was a sculpture created by Mother Nature and again we thought it resembled a snail. The final piece was a wise old owl carved from wood.

Our first day in the Lake District was most enjoyable and we hoped our other days would be equally as inspiring.

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Tags acers., Cumbria, ferns, garden sculpture, kitchen gardens, meadows, NT, orchards, outdoor sculpture, rock gardens, rockeries, sculpture, Sizergh Castle, The Lake District, The Lakes, The National Trust, water gardens, water in the garden, wildflower meadows

garden design garden wildlife gardening gardens log piles natural pest control wildlife

A Weekend Promoting Gardening for Wildlife

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date May 18, 2015
2 Comments on A Weekend Promoting Gardening for Wildlife

Tim, the plant manager of a local plant centre asked if I would do a weekend there to help promote wildlife gardening. The centre is going to set up a “plants for wildlife” section and this weekend was planned to launch this innovative idea.

Tim and his plant centre staff had put a collection of suitable plants together with their new sign and Caroline, one of the centre staff had created a bug hotel from an old wooden veggie box.

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Jude the Undergardener and I set up our display alongside. We had lots of photos and books to display along with my garden journals. We wanted to illustrate the diverse range of suitable plants and to show how easy gardening with wildlife really is. The main focus was on convincing people that wildlife gardens can attract and provide homes, food and shelter for wildlife of all sorts and still look beautiful.

It was great fun talking to so many different people who were interested in gardening for wildlife, gardeners of all ages, all levels of experience but united in their desire to help our wildlife by gardening with it in mind.

Tags bug hotels, gardening for wildlife, plant centres, the wildlife garden, wildlife gardening

colours flowering bulbs fruit and veg garden design garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public hardy perennials National Trust natural pest control ornamental trees and shrubs spring bulbs spring gardening The National Trust trees walled gardens

Croft Castle Month by Month – Part 4 – April

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date May 6, 2015
1 Comment on Croft Castle Month by Month – Part 4 – April

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It is already time for our fourth visit to the National Trust’s Herefordshire property, Croft Castle. On this visit the sun shone on us and we enjoyed a lovely warm spring day.

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The first noticeable change was that there was now life in the trees as buds were bursting and delicate bright green leaves were making their entrance.

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The ancient Sweet Chestnuts were beginning to show glossy ribbed fresh green foliage.

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Different wildflowers added colour to the little meadow area that we pass on our way to the walled garden, Lady’s Smock with the softest possible pink petals, white and purple Fritilleries and buttercup yellow Dandelions.

Beyond the meadow we passed through the gateway in the stone wall and got a glimpse of the castle and its chapel. We then walked along the deep long mixed border.

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We arrived expecting to see big changes in the walled garden itself and immediately we were struck by how lush green everything looked.

In the bothy we read the job list for the gardeners. The greenhouse had a surprise in store for us, these zingy orange Clivia flowers. I couldn’t resist taking a shot of the peeling paint on an old wooden seat.

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Although there was little sign of growth on the vines the Apples were showing their first blossoms and the Rhubarb plants were producing strong stems. The garden staff had already picked a large crop. In the Rose Garden Tulips provided bright patches of colour.

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In readiness for the next school holiday the staff had put out games from times past. Jude the Undergardener just couldn’t resist it!

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Close to the Hopscotch game our noses were attracted to the scent from the Wisteria flowers.

We loved this sign explaining why some grass was left uncut.

We discovered colour in every border in the walled garden, flowering bulbs and early shrubs.

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Next visit to the gardens at Croft Castle will be in May when Spring will be in”full swing”.

Tags Croft Castle., Herefordshire, National Trust, spring, spring bulbs, spring flowers, spring garden, Sweet Chestnut, The National Trust

colours flowering bulbs garden design garden photography garden ponds garden pools gardening gardens gardens open to the public hardy perennials National Garden Scheme NGS ornamental trees and shrubs spring bulbs spring gardening The National Gardening Scheme" trees walled gardens water garden water in the garden Yellow Book Gardens

Yellow Book Gardens – 3 – Brobury House Gardens

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date May 1, 2015

For our third Yellow Book Garden visit we found another garden set in our neighbouring county of Herefordshire, so we drove down through the beautiful countryside of South Shropshire and North Herefordshire. It was a sunny day with a sparkling blue sky. Brobury House Gardens are open for much of the year but on the day of our visit they were open for the NGS Yellow Book Scheme. Their website was enticing so we arrived with high expectations. The garden was situated alongside the River Wye so we were looking forward to views of the Wye, probably the most picturesque river in England.

We began as usual with coffee and cake which was served in a beautiful conservatory with seating in and out. The view we enjoyed as we sat enjoying our refreshments increased our expectations. We were given a beautiful plan of the garden with some details of the garden and from this we learned that the garden was being redesigned and a lot of replanting had taken place.

As we approached the conservatory we spotted this beautiful blue Clematis and a nice barrow of plants for sale. From the conservatory we admired this beautiful, gnarled Mulberry tree reputed to have been planted by the naturalist and diarist the Rev Francis Kilvert. Close by, yellow tulips lit up the borders.

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Among the tulips we were pleased to see a Drimys showing its delicately scented yellow flowers. We have a couple of these evergreens in our Avocet garden but we have rarely seen them elsewhere.

From the pond, in the section of garden inspired by Lutyens, we got a wonderful view back to the house.

After the formality of the Lutyens styled garden we wandered down to the strongly contrasting stream and informal pools. Close by was a stand of mature white stemmed Birches, which glowed on this sunny afternoon.

As we followed the narrow stream of clear water we found a border of Hellebores under the shade of tall native deciduous trees. The stars of this border were the Hellebores with flowers the colour of Primroses.

The stream continued its short journey to the River Wye through beautifully planted bog gardens.

As we left the boggy areas we found a stand of Weeping Silver Pears covered in white blossom.

The stream beyond the boggy areas became narrower as it passed through sloping meadowland. Here our native Snakeshead Fritillaries graced its banks and among the purple flowers we discovered this white beauty with thin green lines on the outside of its petals.

Behind the coach house the walled kitchen garden has been renovated and redesigned. It still has peaches growing on the walls and the greenhouse range has been beautifully restored.

We were drawn by the varieties of Tulips in flower in this area, especially this stunning lily flowered orange bloom.

We had one border still to see, a long border against the wall below the house. Spring bulbs featured strongly here so it was a very colourful border.

And naturally we had a coffee before we made the journey home, this time we sat outside on the terrace as the weather had improved throughout our exploration of this interesting garden and the chill wind had lessened. We shall certainly recommend this garden to our friends.