Category: garden photography

Return to Wildgoose Nurseries and Garden

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date October 15, 2018
1 Comment on Return to Wildgoose Nurseries and Garden

We returned in early October to a nearby garden and nursery set in a walled garden, Wildgoose Nursery and Garden run by Jack and Laura Wildgoose. This young couple took over the running and renovation of the walled garden in 2011 and we are amazed at each visit to see how far they have come.

The garden looks especially good in late summer and into the autumn, displaying many ornamental grasses and late-flowering hardy perennials. The light was goodon our last visit so the garden looked extra special.

As the above photos show the garden is situated in a sloping walled garden and along one wall is a very unusual curved glasshouse which has been beautifully restored and visitors can go inside to appreciate its special beauty.

The garden itself is based on brilliant planting using new perennial style material with meandering gravel paths throughout giving close views of most of the plants. Long vistas allowed us to appreciate the way shapes, structures and colours of the plants are so well thought out. Jack and Laura, the owners, have such a good eye for special plants plus the ability to arrange them beautifully. I thought that a gallery of my photos would give the clearest impression of this very special garden. It is difficult to imagine that the couple only took on the restoration of the walled garden and the creation of the new garden and nursery in 2011. Such determination and strength of character!

autumn autumn colours Cheshire garden design garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public ornamental trees and shrubs trees

Sorbus at Ness Botanic Gardens

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date October 12, 2018
3 Comments on Sorbus at Ness Botanic Gardens

As mentioned in my post about Ness Botanic Gardens themselves we were using the visit to study their many different Sorbus trees, to help us choose one for our garden. Here is a selection of those we found and liked. At the end of the post we shall share with you our shortlist drawn up during our visit.

The first cultivar which featured strongly in the carpark planting and around the garden was unusurpisingly Sorbus “Ness Pink”, a beautiful fastigiate structured tree with blue foliage and pale pink flowers. A stunning selection which immediately went onto our short list.

Next up was another neat tree with finely cut foliage and crisp yellow-orange berries, which was not labelled but later we found another that we thought was the same – Sorbus “Wisley Gold”. Another for the list!

Next ones we found in the pinetum were these deep pinkish berried trees, the one on the left is S. “Leonard Messell” and the other S.”Eastern Promise”.

We carried on in the woodland alongside the pinetum to find S. “Jospeph Rock” and S. coxii. We already have Joseph Rock growing at home and is a real favourite but we were not aware of coxii. It had the most beautiful glaucous foliage, but researching it is hard work as no-one seems to know much about it.

The pair that I photographed next were on the left S. discolor and on the right S. “Autumn Spire” which we already grow in our Avocet patch. Is a narrow upright tree with bright orang fruit looking fiery with red autumn colour.

Below are the next two Sorbus we came across and liked enough to photograph were sadly unlabelled. No help to us in seeking a selection for our garden. Good looking trees too!

We then were disappointed to find this pale yellow almost lemon berried tree had no label either. The one on the right is S. “Carmesina” a deep pink fruiting tree with pale glaucous foliage.

Two pink berried cultivars are featured next, the first with the palest pink possible, S.bulleyana, the second S. discolores with a deep blush to their pale pink.

At the end of the pinetum we came across a perfectly shaped rowan dripping with orange-yellow berries, Sorbus aucuparia “Dickeana”, a special specimen indeed.

We were delighted to discover on a grassed area on our return route to the centre among Betulas, a few more beautiful Sorbus, the red-leaved S. “Dodong Olympic Flame” and the more gentle S. Chinese Lace.

And to finish off a return to the magnificent Sorbus “Pink Ness”.

So what were the varieties that made it onto our short list? Here as promised is our selection from which we must seek out and purchase just one.

You may have guessed that Pink Ness is there, plus Chinese Lace, Dodong Olympic Flame and Wisley Gold. Great selection – hope you agree.

Tags autumn, autumn colours, berried trees, Cheshire, Cheshire gardens, flowering trees, gardens of Cheshire, Ness Botanic Gardens, rowans

autumn autumn colours Cheshire garden design garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public grasses hardy perennials ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs

Ness Botanic Gardens

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date October 6, 2018

We meet regularly with a group we went to teacher training college with back in 1969 to 1972, for a get together. We often meet up at a garden for morning coffee and lunch, with time to explore in between.

In early October we met up at Ness Botanic Gardens run by Liverpool University. Jude and I had visited several times over the years, so looked forward to reaquainting ourselves with this wonderful garden.

We hoped to get a good show of bark, foliage and berries from their many Acers, Betulas and Sorbus. We were particularly keen on looking at the Sorbus as we are currently seleceting a new one for our Avocet garden. We love so many and hoped this visit would help us choose.

Leaving the visitors centre we could see the strong sharp shadows emanating from trees and lying across the grass. Through these trees we were afforded long views across the lower gardens.

Beds to show the main plant families were cut into the grass and we enjoyed these before following a gravel path down the slope that took us to the wonderfully colourful late perennial borders.

The herbaceous perennial borders shone with grasses and Asters, growing below shrubs and trees displaying signs of autumn, coloured foliage, fruit and berries.

After enjoying these mixed borders we returned to the far side of the garden to explore.

We made our way back to the centre for lunch and then Jude and I carried on touring the garden in search of Sorbus varieties, while the rest of the group made their ways home.

In my next post I shall share the Sorbus discoveries with you.

Tags Cheshire, Cheshire gardens, garden photography, gardens of Cheshire, grasses, Ness Botanic Gardens, sorbus

climbing plants garden photography gardening gardens

Simply Beautiful – 24

Back with another post in my occasional series of posts looking at things that are “simply beautiful”, and in this one we are looking at some sweetpea flowers still showing colour in mid-September.

The first two pics are of Sweetpea Cupani, the first ever sweetpea to be in cultivation.

The following pics are of two of our perennial sweetpeas.

Tags climbers, climbing plants, Cupani, Sweet Peas

countryside garden design garden photography garden ponds gardens gardens open to the public outdoor sculpture

An adventure to get here – Canwood Gallery

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date September 7, 2018
1 Comment on An adventure to get here – Canwood Gallery

Canwood Gallery in the Herefordshire countryside is found after miles of narrow winding lanes and so is decsribed as “an adventure to find” on its website. We visited this outdoor sculpture gallery after hearing of it from Graham and Vivky, my brother and our sister-in-law.

The driveway led us to a beautifulbrick and timber house wrapped in a garden and fields in beautiful countryside. We started wandering around to the sound of a tractor at work. Apart from that the place was silent. Some sculptural pieces were situated close to the house or even leaned against farm buildings.

An indoor gallery set in an old combine shed held an exhibition called “In the middle of somewhere.”

Starting our tour of the outdoor exhibition spaces we were attracted to these two corten steel pieces. Follw my mini-gallery to follow me as I walked around the pieces looking through them to the spaces beyond.

Close by two large heads looked over the countryside.

Sometimes we both find odd pieces not to our taste and this one made us feel nothing.

When studying some sculpture pieces it is the detail that attracts, such as with these figures, one in wood the other stone.

Simply titled “The Bull”, this piece created from two finishes of metals was full of strength and movement.

Moving pieces always add interest to a collection of static pieces. This figure moved with the breeze most elegantly, catching the light as it did so. Enjoy my mini-gallery to follow her changing positions.

After being mesmerised by her gentle movements the following pieces appeared strong and static.

From the fields we entered the gardens through a metal gate to enjoy the sculpture standing comfortably among garden plants. Two pieces, “Birds” and “Lady of the Lake” are sharing the water of the pond in front of the cottage.

I will put all my photos of the other sculptures in to gallery for you to enjoy.

Tags art in the garden, garden sculpture, gardens of Herefordshire, Herefordshire, Herefordshire gardens, outdoor art, outdoor sculpture, sculpture

garden design garden paths garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public hardy perennials light light quality nurseries ornamental trees and shrubs pathways shrubs Wales walled gardens woodland woodlands

Crug Farm – a planthunter’s woodland garden

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 27, 2018
3 Comments on Crug Farm – a planthunter’s woodland garden

We had not visited Crug Farm garden and nursery for several years, so taking advantage of our return journey from Anglesey we took a short detour to explore this woodland garden in Snowdonia. Driving into the little car park the yellow and orange poppies, Meconopsis cambrica, gave us a warm welcome.

I will now simply invite you to walk with us along the paths at Crug Farm sharing the atmosphere and the beautifully designed planting schemes, by following my gallery. Just click on the right arrow and navigate through using the arrows.

We left the woodland garden through a gateway that lead to the nursery set within a small walled garden. We enjoyed a walk around studying a large range of plants collected by owners the Bleddyn-Jones’. Of course we bought several to add to our shade borders.

Tags Crug Farm, Crug Farm Nursery, Crug Farm Woodland Garden, gardens of Wales, shade gardening, shade plants, woodland, woodland garden, woodland gardening

colours garden design garden paths garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public hardy perennials light light quality ornamental trees and shrubs Powis Powys shrubs trees Wales woodland woodlands

The Dingle Garden in July

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 24, 2018

Moving into the second half of the year, we wandered around the gravel paths of the Dingle Garden in late July. The day was dry with mixed clear skies with occasional cloud, but no rain came from them.

We immediately discovered the severe effects of this summer’s dry and hot temperatures. A mature conifer was turning shades of purple and brown as it was suffering from lack of water. Although colourful this was devastating for the tree. Elsewhere on the sloping parts of the garden the shrubs looked perfectly healthy and we enjoyed some great foliage contrasts and combinations.

Orange is a wonderfully effective colour for woodland planting, as flowers in this colour glow in the deepest shade and are caught by the sun. Yellow comes a close second!

Flowering shrubs are now coming into their own in the Dingle Garden, with Hydrangeas taking centre stage.

This is just a selection of the Hydrangeas putting on their show of blues, whites and pinks beneath the trees. We loved the variations in colour on individual flower heads.

Ferns look good almost the year through, but in the damp woodland atmosphere here at the Dingle they shone with health.

Herbaceous perennials appear in a few places beneath the trees and shrubs with Geraniums, Hemerocallis, Persicarias and Lysimachias showing well in the July garden.

Sometimes it is the little details that catch the eye when we explore gardens. On this visit to the Dingle Garden Jude was attracted to the moss hitching a lift in the fork of a Prunus. The purple spires of the Acanthus looked just right next to the sculpture of the Red Kite.

The real star of the July show was Cotinus coggygria with its deep red foliage with hints of glaucous blue and the smokey flower clouds.

So we will return next in August and see what late summer brings to the Dingle.

Tags cotinus, ferns, flowering shrubs, herbaceous plants, Hydrangeas, ornamental shrubs, ornamental trees, trees and shrubs

climbing plants drought garden photography gardening gardens hardy perennials Shrewsbury Shropshire South Shropshire

My Garden Journal 2018 – July

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 22, 2018
2 Comments on My Garden Journal 2018 – July

Here is my garden journal entries for the month of July, a month when the garden continued to suffer the effects of the drought.

My opening words were, “July begins as June ended, in a heatwave with temperatures in the upper twenties. And sadly for the garden, still no rain. Rainless time has now lasted for a month and very little for the previous month.”

I featured a set of photos of our Passion flower which grows in our greenhouse.

“We grow our passion-flowers in the greenhouse as we are too cold here for them to survive outside. We train them along the side of the greenhouse where they can shade our tomato plants. Natural shading!”

On the opposite page I moved on to look at the digitalis we grow here in our Avocet garden.

“We grow so many different foxgloves in our patch, with several grown from seed by Jude. Our native Digitalis purpurea in both its forms of purple and white, enjoying spreading themselves around our borders, deciding for themselves where to settle down. Dan Pearson writes of Digitalis in “National Selection”,

“I like the way vertical lines of foxgloves draw the eye like an exclamation mark. They are delicate, using only as much ground as they need, but providing plenty of bang for your buck with the upward motion.”“

Turning over to the next double page spread, I featured photos of a selection of the moths we trapped in our live trap.

“Butterflies and moths have been in short supply so far this year, but both appeared as July arrived. Our first session of live-trapping moths showed how many we had in our garden and how varied they are. We always delight at getting close up to the surreal Elephant Hawk Moths.”

Elephant Hawk Moths

Master of Disguise

These tiny moths are equally fascinating.

A myriad of moths.

The next double page spread features Tulbaghias, Leucanthemum, Helenium and several different Hemerocallis.

“Tulbaghias seem to enjoy the weather, whatever it does. These look great in dappled shade beneath the outer limbs of a Quince tree.”

“Leucanthemum and Helenium catch the light so well. Their shaded petals add extra depth.”

I next featured a whole page of photos of Day Lilies, Hemerocallis.

“In the middle of the month we visited our friend Mark (Zennick) with his wonderfully colourful collection of Hemerocallis. As always we came away with a good selection from his nursery.”

Next we take a look at how the garden is being adversely effected by the dry hot weather, and then I share my paintings of Camassia seed heads.

I wrote, “Another quote from Dan Pearson, upon his return from a trip to the Hawaiian Islands ………”I returned to a wet English summer, where the smells were crisp and clean.” Anyone returning to England this July would be met by golden dried-up lawns, trees with wilting leaves and dead leaves on herbaceous perennials.”

Opposite I used water-based pencil crayons to record the different stages as the flowering stems of Camassias were drying out.

“As well as their beautiful spires of blue, cream or white flowers, Camassias have lovely green pods which dry slowly to digestive biscuit colours.”

My final page for July in my Garden Journal 2018 show a few plants that seem to thrive in the dry conditions.

“July moved on still without rain and the garden continued to suffer. Flowers bloomed but lasted a very short time. The lawn simply remained brown and stopped growing. A few plants though performed really well.”

Agastache Scrophularia

Erigeron and Hebe Clouds of Achilleas

Two deep purple Clematis

As I finished my journal entries for July there was still no sign of any appreciable rainfall, just occasional short-lived showers which hit the ground and evaporated immediately. August will hopefully be kinder to our Avocet garden and its resident plants.

Tags achilleas, Avocet garden, clematis, drought, dry weather, July, summer in the garden

garden design garden designers garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public hardy perennials meadows

A lakeside walk at Trentham Gardens

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 11, 2018
1 Comment on A lakeside walk at Trentham Gardens

It was another hot day with clear blue skies and temperatures just short of 30C when we decided to take a drive out to the outskirts of Stoke-on-Trent to visit two very different gardens. The first was a courtyard garden at the Emma Bridgwater Pottery Factory featured in my recent post, and the second the vast gardens at Trentham.

We decided to walk the perimeter of the lake now that my newly rebuilt leg was working well. This was a walk we had always wanted to do but I was unable, so it felt good to be setting off on the walk. We were looking forward to discovering new planting by Nigel Dunnett, meadows integrated into the trees and waterside planting designed way back by Capability Brown. We usually wander around Trentham by turning to our right and going through the Piet Oudolf “River of Grasses” then travelling through his prairie gardens before going on to Tom Stuart-Smith’s modern planting within the original structure of the Italian Garden.

On this day though we decided to turn left an make our way around Capability Brown’s lake. Nigel Dunnett’s first meadow plantings tok our breath away. The subtle colours worked so well together and led our eyes twards the water beyond.

As we moved into the shade of mature trees from Capability Brown’s original designs, his choice of flwers changed with brighter flowers being integrated with the purples and whites. This gave the opportunity for Dunnett to use the strong opposite colours, purple and orange, guaranteed to set the heart racing a little faster and smiles to appear on our faces.

With his designs there are always surprises to make to pause and think and we came across just such a place, a plantation of young Birches, Betula Doorenbos. Close by a flowing piece of metal sculptural pieces were integratred within a stretch of the meadows. Corton steel waves to reflect the waves on the surface of the lake when rough. It looked beautifully satisfying floating above the meadow flower colours.

After wandering through the woodland more meadows appeared with much softer planting style. These stunning owl sculptures were a fine finale to our visit.

Tags Capability Brown, garden sculpture, meadows, Nigel Dunnett, Stoke-on-Trent, Trentham Garden, Trentham Gardens

climbing plants garden photography gardening half-hardy perennials hardy perennials

Simply Beautiful – part 21 of a very occasional series

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 5, 2018

While enjoying the courtyard garden at the Emma Bridgwater Pottery in Stoke-on-Trent in mid-June and mid-heatwave too, we found the drying seedpods of honesty in different stages of drying out in readiness to spread its seeds. Gentle shades of grren decorated the circular pods of the Honesty, circles of fly away seeds sat atop allium stems and the drying pods of sweetpeas looked just like petit pois.