Category: garden design

Broughton Grange – the outer edges.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date July 6, 2013
1 Comment on Broughton Grange – the outer edges.

Back to Broughton Grange and we can go through the piece of garden architecture, the stumpery arch and find that it becomes a whole garden growing around stumps on the other side. Old stumps were beautifully planted with varieties of Hostas, Ferns and Alchemilla.

Beautifully curved paths presented us with rich choices. Each path led to interesting specimen trees. Of course I had to start by following the route to the chestnuts, their deep salmon coloured towers of flowers covered even these young trees.

Cut through the arboretum were straight avenues each featuring a different variety of tree, such as chestnut and lime. This was a an effective contrast to the sinuous paths wriggling through the meadows growing under the young trees throughout the arboretum. These avenues gave long views to the Oxfordshire countryside beyond the boundaries of the garden and parkland.

So if you like good garden design, interesting plants, trees, meadows and of course the obligatory coffee and cakes and want a good relaxing day out keep an eye on the website for Broughton Grange and make sure you go along and see it for yourself.

Tags arboretum, avenues, chestnuts, garden photography, gardening, meadows, ornamental trees, Oxfordshire, trees, woodlands

arboreta Banbury climbing plants colours garden design garden photography gardening gardens open to the public half-hardy perennials hardy perennials meadows National Garden Scheme NGS ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture Oxfordshire photography poppies shrubs The National Gardening Scheme" trees walled gardens

Broughton Grange – a walled garden plus.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date July 4, 2013
4 Comments on Broughton Grange – a walled garden plus.

Back to Oxfordshire and this time we shall share a wander around a most wonderful and varied garden which we were privileged to visit recently. The gardens at Broughton Grange are only open a few days a year in support of charities and we visited on a weekend when it was open under the auspices of the National Garden Scheme, The Yellow Book.

We arrived not long after it opened and approached across a traditional wild flower meadow through which was cut a vehicle width track. Without thinking we drove slowly across the grass, the fact that we were taking a mechanical monster over something so delicate and special made us move as gently as possible.

Although there is plenty to see here we had to immediately make for the walled garden which had been designed by Tom Stuart-Smith. I was so keen to explore this garden that I even did without my pre-explore coffee! I was glad I did!

The design had a strong structure beneath it, both of hard landscaping and natural frameworks, which provided a network into which the plants could grow, softening the hard surfaces as they did so.

The planting scheme here had a wonderful coherence which allowed your eye to move slowly across a delicate colour palette but sometimes individual plants stood out from the crowd and demanded a closer second look. Luckily for us there were lots of access pathways so we could delve into the borders to enjoy a close look at specials that caught our eyes.

First a few shots of borders………….

………… and now for some of the glittering stars!

Foliage played an important role here too, with leaf texture, shape and colour adding further interest to the plantings.

We spotted this little cameo as we were leaving the walled garden to explore the outer grounds. A piece of accidental garden sculpture?

Outside the walled garden many acres awaited discovery by Mr and Mrs Greenbench. Woodland, a new arboretum, meadows and features such as this Laburnum arch – sunglasses were essential if you wished to pass through it!

Nearby a new patch of woodland featured many native trees plus a select few non-natives, such as lilacs with rich fruity scent that filled the air all through the neighbouring trees.

We wandered through an interesting garden in front of the house itself on our way to the arboretum. Here little meadows full of airy wild flowers and native grasses moving gently in the summer breeze bordered a parterre with bright blue obelisks as highlights.

As we left the old woodland to enter the newly planted arboretum we discovered a stumpery. We have a soft spot for stumperies and this was an interesting one as it was designed and laid out to form a welcoming funnel between the two sections of garden. From the woodland side the stumps build up to form a gateway.

So in my follow-up post about this wonderful garden I shall begin with the stumpery.

Tags stumpery

climbing plants colours garden design garden photography gardening hardy perennials ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture poppies roses Shropshire shrubs

A Bouquet for June

The stars of June h to be the alliums this year, which is rather odd because roses should be outshining them by now. Everything in our garden though is a good month behind this year after a strange start to the year where weather was concerned. Our roses usually begin to bloom in May and peak in June but they are just beginning their show now.

The front garden is almost over full this year with periods of warmth and wet weather creating ideal conditions for plant growth.

So the borders look lush and extra green. The gravel garden looks fuller than ever and we are pleased to see the return of our “purple flowered wild carrot” which we planted as a very small specimen last year. The first of the photos below shows this umbellifer in front of Euphorbia griffithii and the second a self-seeded achillea, another umbellifer growing through the same euphorbia. This promises to be an interesting colourful patch soon.

The stump garden is looking particularly pleasing just now and close up we can see tiny little sedums growing in the dimples of the old oak wood.

In the last few days we have given the Seaside Garden a tidy up.We painted the fence, removed old woody plants, added a few new ones and put up some cleaned netting which was some recycled fishing net originally used off the north coast of Scotland.

We also needed to revamp our little scree bed – it is odd how if one patch in the garden needs a re-vamp there always seem more. We had to replace all the wooden edging which had rotted and many of the plants had outgrown their spaces. We top-dressed the bed with fresh slate chips, a by-product of the slate mining industry and added a few new alpine plants.

Let us wander around now using a gallery – just follow by clicking on any photo and use the arrows to navigate. Enjoy the journey!

Tags foliage, foliage plants, garden photography, gardening, grasses, ornamental trees, shrubs, summer, trees

climbing plants colours fruit and veg garden design garden photography gardening grow your own hardy perennials Hardy Plant Society HPS ornamental trees and shrubs Powis Powys

A hillside garden near Welshpool

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date June 25, 2013
4 Comments on A hillside garden near Welshpool

In my last post I invited you to join us on our journeys through two tiny town gardens in Welshpool and promised s different visit to a garden nearby. We found this garden by following narrow single track lanes with passing points and we drove higher and higher above the town of Welshpool and way out into the countryside. Jude the Undergardener’s little car finally turned into the lane leading up to the garden. This lane was so steep the car struggled so we were relieved to finally get parked up alongside other Hardy Planters cars on the little grass verge car park.

Getting out of the car we were met with the most amazing views over farmland and what seemed like a huge sky.

We had to admire anyone who could garden against such odds. An average garden would have been quite an achievement but we were treated to a brilliant garden. The borders were rich with planting with variety in colour and texture.

As with any Hardy Planter’s garden there were some beautiful specimen plants that stopped you in your tracks demanding a closer look. They deserved appreciation.

In the lower section of the garden below the house a poly tunnel housed impressive crops, potatoes, tomatoes and even peaches. It was amazing to see the Runner Beans in flower so early in the year.

I shall finish with a few more shots of this wonderful garden created in such a difficult environment.

climbing plants colours garden design garden photography gardening half-hardy perennials hardy perennials Hardy Plant Society HPS ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture photography Powis roses shrubs town gardens trees

Two Welshpool Town Gardens

June’s Hardy Plant Society garden visit took us to two little town gardens. The first garden was truly tiny and the second slightly less tiny. They were perfect if very different examples of what it is possible to achieve in such small spaces. The secret to them both was wriggly paths leading the eyes and feet around to discover hidden secrets.

The tiniest of the two had planting at all levels from tiny specimens right by your toes to trees above your head and the borders were full of unusual plants. Little surprises.

The gardeners here even found room for an alpine house, a fruit cage and a couple of little water features.

Humour is essential in any garden however small.

Humour reigned supreme in the second garden we visited that morning. There were interesting arches, grottoes, seating areas all surrounded in lush planting.

Hidden throughout this little patch were containers planted up skilfully to give surprises wherever we turned.

Deep in the heart of this little paradise we came across a cool enclosed garden where we found ourselves in for a real treat – a little glimpse of the Far East.

This garden was tightly fitted within a group of houses close by the town’s main church and occasionally we caught glimpses of these other buildings through the foliage.

Atop one of the many little outbuildings lived a very healthy and happy green roof.

This was a very special garden – a place to relax and become engulfed in plants. In the afternoon we met again as a group to enjoy a very different garden in a very different setting. We found ourselves out in the open high up on a hillside with big skies above a wide view. This garden features in my next post.

Tags clematis, foliage, foliage plants, garden photography, gardening, greenhouse gardening, greenhouses, ornamental trees, outdoor sculpture, Powis, Powys, roses, shrubs, town gardens, Welshpool

colours garden design garden photography gardening hardy perennials meadows spring gardening

Aquilegias in June

As spring-flowering bulbs fade hope relies on the Aquilegias for the next big colour burst. In our garden we have many selections of self-seeded natives and several species from elsewhere. They are grown for their unusual bonnet-shaped flowers, which come in a huge range of colours and shapes but are best recognised by the spurs that fly from the back of the blooms. Some have virtually no spurs at all but others can have spurs several inches long. They are traditional cottage garden plants but in the wild grow in a range of habitats throughout the Northern Hemisphere and can be found in meadows, woodlands and higher up mountain sides.

One of their strengths is their hardiness, defying whatever the weather may throw at them but also shrugging off pests and diseases. We have never had a problem on any of our hundreds of plants, so they are excellent plants for the organic gardener.

Please enjoy a walk around our garden looking for our aquilegias. Just click on any shot and follow the arrow.

Tags aquilegias, garden photography, gardening, meadows, organic gardening

garden design garden photography gardening hardy perennials Shropshire village gardens

A Perfect Iris Day

We deserved a morning out of the garden so set off just a few miles up the road to visit a garden which we had previously visited late last summer. It is open under the auspices of Plant Heritage and it holds two national collections, Roscoea and Cautleya. But of course neither of these are at an interesting stage at the moment.

After our compulsory start for any garden visit – coffee and cake – we wandered off to discover that the dominant plants of the day were irises. The irises were mostly of the bearded type but a few sibiricas were showing early promise.

First though a look at a few plants of interest other than the iris.

And now for the iris! The glamour plants of the June garden.

When we returned home we had a look around our own patch to see how our own iris compared. The bearded iris were looking impressive but the sibiricas were still in bud.

I delayed writing this post for a couple of days as my favourite bearded irises always come out last. They were definitely worth waiting for as I am glad I can include the final two to burst into bloom, these dark gingery brown flowers with buds that appear almost black.

Tags bearded iris, garden photography, gardening, iris, iris sibirica, irises, June, Plant Heritage, Shropshire Hills

garden design garden photography gardening hardy perennials Hardy Plant Society HPS National Garden Scheme NGS ornamental trees and shrubs Shropshire village gardens

The Hardy Planters at Lower Hall

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date June 10, 2013
4 Comments on The Hardy Planters at Lower Hall

Our first visit to a local garden with the Shropshire branch of the Hardy Plant Society this year took us to Lower Hall in the picturesque village of Worfield.

The River Worfe which gives the village its name meanders aimlessly through the garden and as we wandered along its paths we kept coming across bridges to take us over its flooded waters. The header picture shows the flower head of Dalmera peltata which grows in the boggy patches along the Worfe. The globe of flowers sits atop a tall thin stem rising straight from the soil before there is any sign of any leaves.

The garden has many different elements to it, a walled garden, a stream, a woodland area and various borders so there is a richness of plants to enjoy.

As always the Hardy Planters of Shropshire stand and admire!

Tags foliage plants, garden photography, gardening, Hardy Plant Society, NGS, ornamental trees, outdoor sculpture, sculpture, Shropshire Hardy Plant Society, shrubs

bird watching birds garden design garden photography garden wildlife gardening natural pest control photography Shropshire shrubs village gardens wildlife

Summer house revamp

After ten years our summer-house, our little quiet place of escape at the bottom of the garden, was beginning to look worse for wear. The back wall faces directly south so gets harsh sun on it in the summer months and as our garden is at the bottom of a hill temperature inversion in the winter means that the poor summer-house feels the full effect of the cold frosty air as it rolls down the hill to hit our summer-house first. The first two pics show the summer-house as we began work, with the original interior on the left and the first stages of cladding the walls on the right.

We decided to re-clad it inside and out and then repaint both the inside and outside. A job that ended up taking us a long time as we fitted it in between more interesting gardening tasks.
But at last we have finished! A big sigh of relief can be heard all over the garden!

So, first let us share with you what it looks like now.

The summer-house is our little secret place where we hide at the bottom of the garden and ignore the telephone and doorbell, pretend that television and computers don’t exist and believe there is no lane passing our house.

It catches the evening sun in the last few hours before it sets, so is a great place to end the day. We sit and listen and we can appreciate a different view of our garden. We listen to the calls and songs of our garden birds and those passing over our heads. We can share the intimacy of their bathing as they come to freshen up in the shallow end of our wildlife pool. A square of decking sits in front of the summer-house and hangs over the pool.

Please share the view from our summer-house seat.

To give you an idea of some of the special things we can see right now from our little house I have taken a few shots with a long zoom on my camera.

As we enjoyed a coffee in the summer house today, a female blackbird came to bathe almost splashing our feet. She must have been enjoying a few moments off the nest, a few moments to herself. A house sparrow also came to bathe when the blackbird returned to the nest. On the nearby bird feeders a nuthatch noisily bashed away at the peanuts with its long powerful beak and took small bits back to its young in a hole in a nearby tree. It soon returned for more and we heard its beak tapping on the metal mesh of the feeder.

A blue tit couple are rearing young in a nest box fixed to the summer-house and we watched as they appeared with beaks full of wriggling caterpillars. We could hear the fledglings begging as they open their yellow wide gapes to beg for their share of the wrigglers.

In the pond itself life lives on the film of water and secretly below the surface. Pond skaters dominate the surface but they are frequently joined by sub-surface dwellers in need of a gulp of air, newts, water boatmen and water beetles. Below the surface we can watch tadpoles of frogs and toads feeding and fattening themselves up.

The pond is home to many of our pest controllers such as newts, toads and frogs who all breed here at our feet.

But as we look out and appreciate our garden and its life, one nosey bird looks in to see what we are up to. A robin comes close, perches on the nearby malus and watches us with head cocked to one side as if bemused.

As we rest in our little summer-house world the garden and its wildlife busily carry on close by.

Tags birds, garden buildings, garden photography, garden pond, garden wildlife, gardening, organic gardening, pond, summer-house, wildlife, wildlife ponds

community gardening fruit and veg garden design garden photography garden wildlife gardening gardens open to the public half-hardy perennials kitchen gardens natural pest control village gardens

Find Peace and Tranquility in a Walled Garden

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date June 3, 2013

Geoff, a friend and gardener, recommended Sugnall Walled Garden as a special place to visit. We love walled gardens and always have done for their special unique atmosphere. Peaceful. Tranquil. Enclosed. Calm. Secret.

Sugnall is not pristine, and it is better off not being so. We liked its “shabby chic” effect. It is a mix of productive and decorative borders with lots of paths to follow inviting exploration. But first we had to check out the tea shop! A little plant as a table centre set the scene for our walled garden visit.

There were some very efficient pest controllers working within these walls. Two pairs of ducks were champion slug and snail eaters. Nesting swallows, which appeared and disappeared through a convenient hole in the gable end of the potting shed were seen to be catching insects while in flight to feed to their hungry youngsters.