Category: gardening

The Dorothy Clive Garden in August

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date September 7, 2016
2 Comments on The Dorothy Clive Garden in August

In late August we made one of our regular visits to the Dorothy Clive Gardens on the Shropshire and Staffordshire border to see how the garden was progressing. We chose a warm sunny day for our visit which gave strong contrasts and deep shadow for the trusty Nikon to deal with.

We expected to see lots of colour and much of it bright hot colours provided by flowering perennials as well as perhaps the first signs of late summer presenting a glimpse ahead to autumn, with seeds and berries beginning to show and some leaf colour on trees and shrubs.

There was most certainly no shortage of berries to discover shining brightly like jewels under a bright summer sun.

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A few very unusual berries in both colour and shape, were displayed by deciduous Euonymous and Magnolia.

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Seedheads were beginning to form on herbaceous perennial plants just as we thought we might find.

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We enjoyed the range of colours that flowers provided in the borders and these were highlighted by the August sun riding high in the afternoon sky.

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We were pleased to see that this garden’s Tetrapanax Rex was thriving having lost our specimen early in the year. One here was particularly beautiful with clean unmarked foliage.

Ferns also provided brilliant green foliage throughout the Dingle Garden, looking fresh beneath the tall mature trees and evergreen shrubs.

In the new Winter Woodland Garden we were fascinated by the way the gardeners were training the coloured stemmed willows. We will have to wait and see what the end result will look like.

We enjoy watching the changes to be seen in the many unusual specimen trees at Dorothy Clive and have always liked the look of this yellow barked Prunus, P. maackii “Amber Beauty”. We are really wondering at the moment whether this would be the ideal tree for a space we have at home which awaits a tree for autumn planting. Apart from its unusual bark colouring it has a graceful growth habit and a wonderful winter silhouette. For a Prunus it also has large leaves.

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The light during this visit was so interesting whenever the sun beamed through the tree canopy. We particularly loved the way it put this Hydrangea in the spotlight.

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It is always good to see promises of things that will be happening in the future and spotting them is an important part of any garden visit. Also it provides a most positive way of finishing my report on our august visit to this wonderful garden, a true favourite of ours. And as we have not featured the giant stag sculpture standing proudly at the top of the stream in the Dingle Garden here he is surrounded by lush greenery completely different to when we saw him in the starkness of the winter months.

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The pool at the bottom edge of the garden at the lowest point in the garden reflected the blue sky and we enjoyed spotting the small shoals of young Rudd enjoying racing around below the white flowers of the Water Lily.

We really appreciated on this August day the scents and colours of the blooms in the Rose Garden.

Our next visit to our monthly garden for this year will be in September. We hope to see some hot colours in the herbaceous borders and perhaps a little colouring up of foliage on the many trees at Dorothy Clive.

Tags berried shrubs, berried trees, berries, Dorothy Clive Garden, Dorothy Clive Gardens, gardens open to the public, North Shropshire, roses, seed heads, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Staffordshire Gardens

colours flowering bulbs garden design garden photography gardening hardy perennials light light quality National Garden Scheme NGS ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture Shropshire South Shropshire succulents swallows village gardens Yellow Book Gardens

My Garden Journal in August

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date September 2, 2016
2 Comments on My Garden Journal in August

My August entries in my Garden Journal 2016 see me beginning Volume Two. On the first page I look back to my original garden journal’s August entries.

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“I made my first ever entries for our new garden in August 2003. We moved to “Avocet” our Plealey home on 8th August. I wrote, “The garden needs our love and attention after 6 years of neglect. It is a garden of straight lines and loneliness, lacking in wildlife and its inherent vitality. It lacks colour.” Things are very different now 13 years later. The garden is now full of wildlife, full of calming atmosphere and peace. It is a garden that attracts many visitors each year and people enjoy hearing our talks about it.”

Over the page I considered the way light in August changes the look of the garden.

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“On bright days in August the garden looks very different depending on the time of day. When the sun is at its highest point in the sky the hot colours really burn and shadows deepen to jet black.

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I then looked at Salvias and share photographs of some of those we are growing in our patch.

“Every few years I like to set myself a challenge in our Plealey garden. For the last few years I have been trying to master growing and keeping Aeoniums. This is coming along well now so for this summer my new challenge is to discover lots of beautiful varieties of Salvias and learn how to grow them well. We already have a large collection so the next part of this challenge will be over-wintering them. These three (in the photos below) show the vast range of colours available from the deepest blue, the brightest pink to the gentlest of yellows.”

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On the opposite page I featured a selection of eight of the Salvias in flower in our patch in August. I have included a couple more here too for you to enjoy and to help us appreciate the variety we have.

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I move on in my journal then to look at very special and very unusual perennial plant, a Diascia. On the page opposite I share a few of our new sculptural pieces in the garden.

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“One plant that always attracts admiring glances is this pink gentle giant, an evergreen Diascia, which is called D. personata “Hopleys”. It is an exceptionally good garden performer, growing to a tall six feet and flowering from May to December in a good year.”

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“We love sculpture in the garden and in our patch”Avocet” in Plealey we mostly choose metal or stoneware pieces as these enhance the planting rather that dominate. Recently we have added four new new iron work pieces, two based on seed heads – Clematis and Allium – plus a new bird bath.”

Here are three of them, the fourth appears later.

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I then move on to one of the brightest of garden perennials to grace borders in the UK, the Crocosmias.

“Various Crocosmias feature throughout the patch and in August many come into their own, showing off their yellows, oranges and reds. We have dozens of different varieties. Here are a few ……….. “

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Firstly the yellows ………….

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…………………….. and then the oranges and reds.

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Returning to the sculptural pieces we have recently added to our garden collection, I introduced another 5 pieces.

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“Two new bird sculptures joined us too, one metal, a Wren, and one ceramic, a Blue Tit. The Blue Tit piece doubles up as a planter for some of our many Sempervivum, as does our chestnut shell sculpture.”

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“A Begonia Rex adds colour, shape and texture to our stoneware Green Man planter, one of a pair.”

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“The moon-gazing Hare.”

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“We grow many different Echeveria in terra-cotta pots and pans in the Rill Garden and on our drive edge. These mostly have glaucous leaves and produce flowers of subtle blends of pink, salmon and orange. Recently we acquired a new variety with almost black succulent foliage, Echeveria “Black Prince”. Imagine our delight when it gave us these beautiful red flowers.”

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“For this month I have decided to paint two delicately coloured flowers, a yellow Linaria dalmatica and the china blue climber and scrambler Clematis jouianiana.

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On the opposite page I finish off my entries for August by looking at some of our newly acquired plants.

“We are always adding new plants to the garden at Avocet and indeed a few found their way in during August. Here is a selection ………. “

“New Honeysuckles to clamber up our new willow hurdles.”

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“A white Physostegia to accompany our pink one.”

“Crocosmia “Okavango” and “Salvia leucantha “Eder”.

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And there ends my journal entries for the month of August. Our next visit to look at it will be in September a month that the meteorological office places in autumn but us gardeners tag it onto summer – a much better and more accurate idea. We move into a much quieter period now as we have completed our NGS open days for this year and have received the last of our visiting groups.

Tags crocosmias, diascia, Diascia personata Hopleys, Echeveria, echeverias, garden sculpture, gardening, gardens, honeysuckle, National Garden Scheme, NGS, outdoor sculpture, salvias, sculpture

community gardening fruit and veg garden wildlife gardening grow your own hardy perennials July National Garden Scheme NGS ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture Powis Powys recycling sculpture town gardens Wales Yellow Book Gardens

Ponthafren – an amazing community garden.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 30, 2016
2 Comments on Ponthafren – an amazing community garden.

We love visiting community gardens whenever we can find one to explore. We like to see what they are trying to do and particularly how gardening is involved in their client activities. We were delighted to find one open under the auspices of the National Garden Scheme not far away just over the Welsh border into Powys. As we approached over a river bridge and first spotted the building we were taken aback by its sheer size. It looked an impressive building with its gardens sloping down to the river bank.

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We received a warm welcome from the volunteers who ran the centre and enjoyed a tasty cup of tea and extravagant looking cup cake each as we chatted and learned more about the work of the group. We were amazed at what we heard and were full of admiration.

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We couldn’t wait to wander around the garden and see what the volunteer leaders and their clients were up to on this steeply sloping wooded riverside site.

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Bunting and flags always add to the feeling of being warmly welcome in any garden and here they fluttered in profusion.

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Mosaics were popular ways of decorating features here from table tops to sundials. The clients created these in their art and craft sessions.

There were clues at every turn that wildlife was welcome to share the garden with the clients, volunteers and visitors.

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There was such a sense of humour prevailing throughout the community garden and many craft items created by the clients illustrated this.

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As with any garden whatever its primary function fine examples of plants are good to see.

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Productive gardening was all part of the work here with the produce grown and nurtured by the clients being sold to help raise funds for the community garden. Wormeries sat in one corner working away producing compost and liquid feed for the veg.

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We found some fine examples of craftwork in metal and fabrics among the plants on the slopes.

We finished our tour by taking wooden steps and gravel paths down to the riverside where we ended beneath colourful cheerful bunting just as we had started. We were so glad to have discovered this special place run by such special people and they also told us of another community not too far away which may be a place for a future visit.

Tags communal gardens, community, community gardening, community spirit, fruit and veg growing, gardening for wildlife, outdoor sculpture, productive gardening

buildings colours garden buildings garden design garden photography garden ponds garden pools gardening gardens gardens open to the public hardy perennials Herefordshire irises nurseries ornamental trees and shrubs water garden water in the garden

A Water Garden around an Old Mill

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 24, 2016
2 Comments on A Water Garden around an Old Mill

A while ago now we visited this wonderful water garden created around an old water mill on the outskirts of the beautiful Herefordshire village of Pembridge. We decided it was about time for a return visit and also time to peruse the Old Chapel Galleries in the same village. After spending some time and too much money on new sculptures for the garden we drove a few miles on and parked up in the garden car park under lovely mature trees. We collected our hand drawn plan of the garden and set off to explore the Westonbury Mill Water Gardens. Immediately we were impressed by how fresh everything looked and were drawn to bright patches of colourful planting among the greenery.

As in any good garden the quality and choice of individual plants is a key factor in making it an enjoyable place to visit. Take a look at these beauties at Westonbury Mill. Being a water garden designed around a series of streams and pools we searched out the water and marsh loving plants first and found many in flower including the following specimens. Irises including varieties of I.ensata, the wild flowerheads of Butomis, the flowering rush and various Primulas including P. florindae and Rodgersias.

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Even though this was a water garden there were plenty more perennials flowering well and catching the attention of visitors.

Westonbury is well-known for its collection of follies, built by the garden owner for the sheer fun of it and to amuse the visitors, although they can also have a secondary purpose.

We discovered the first just as we approached the garden itself and so we could enjoy it from outside the garden and within. Water rose up a water ladder from the stream beneath to be released into the hands of gravity thus sending water spewing from the mouth of a stone gargoyle.

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Through a structure of willow rather than stone we moved on to discover further eccentric buildings including a glass bottle igloo, towers and shelters.

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To give you an idea of the feel of the garden and the quality of the planting and structure I thought I would finish this post about Westonbury Mill Water Gardens with a selection of broad shots taken as we wandered its many winding paths.

What a lovely atmospheric garden this is! Full of interest and full of interesting plants and features.

Tags follies, garden buildings, garden follies, garden ponds, garden pools, Herefordshire, Herefordshire gardens, irises, Pembridge, water gardening, water gardens, water in the garden

climbing plants colours garden design garden photography garden wildlife gardening gardens gardens open to the public hardy perennials light light quality National Garden Scheme photography roses Shropshire Yellow Book Gardens

What our visitors saw in August

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 19, 2016
1 Comment on What our visitors saw in August

We open our garden a few times a year both by appointment and full open days so I thought it would be interesting to wander around our patch just after a group left, taking photos as I went, thus giving a visitors’ eye view of our garden. The date was early August.

Salvias featured strongly as did clematis and roses. Colours in the garden were strong and lively, helped by the sunshine when it occasionally came out to play.

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The added bonus of wildlife always delights our visitors. We will soon be hosting our final visit by a garden group for this year but we already have groups booked to come and share our Avocet patch with us in 2017.

I now invite you to come with me and my camera lens for a wander around our garden by navigating through this gallery. I hope you enjoy the journey. As usual click on the first photo and navigate with the arrows.

Tags August, clematis, colour in the garden, garden wildlife, gardens, roses, salvias, summer, summer gardens

garden design garden photography gardening hardy perennials July Shropshire

A Modest Gardener – celebrating a small garden

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 15, 2016
2 Comments on A Modest Gardener – celebrating a small garden

Our dear friend Jean is a talented gardener who sadly won’t recognise that she is. So I thought I would share a set of photographs with you that I took in her garden in late July so that you can enjoy her lovely garden too. Jean loves wildlife and enjoys sharing her garden with the birds, butterflies, bees and any other creatures that come for a visit or to stay. As with all gardeners slugs and snails may be one step too far.

Come on a wander with me by following my gallery of photographs all taken on the same day. It is easy to appreciate this excellent example of what can be achieved in a small space. As you run through the photos will see one showing an old blackbird’s nest in the stems of a clematis.

Tags hardy perennials, small gardens, summer gardens

colours garden design garden photography gardening hardy perennials July ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs Shropshire village gardens

My Garden Journal in July

Here we are moving into the second half of our gardening year, with my journal entries for July. By the time I had recorded all the entries for July My Garden Journal 2016 was full, so Volume 2 will begin with my August entries.

“July, being well into summer, should be great month for the garden, the gardener and gardening. We should be able to look forward to long, warm and bright days to give us time to work in the garden and relax in it too. Relaxing in their own gardens is a skill many gardeners find hard to acquire. The weather put paid to any idea of sitting comfortably on any of our garden seats dotted around our garden rooms.

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Looking back at my Garden Journal 2014 for the first week of July I wrote, “Wet and windy start to July” so things were exactly the same in 2014 and 2016.

Luckily after the first week this year the weather warmed up and the rain retreated.”

Turning the page in my journal I moved on to look at hardy Geraniums.

“The hardy Geraniums in our patch seem happy enough with our July weather. Our favourite is probably Geranium palmatum.

“We have been planting hardy Geraniums in our garden since we moved here. I decided to take my camera out to see how many different ones were flowering in early July. We were in for a big surprise!” Below are 4 examples, but there are so many more!”

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Turning over we find a double page spread of Geranium photographs and among them the phrase, “Pink is the colour!”

Over another page and a third page of photos of Geraniums appears but this time featuring blue flowered cultivars, with the phrase, “….. and a few shades of blue.”

“I found over 20 different Geraniums in flower at that moment but we have others flowering earlier and later. We never dreamed we had so many.They are a good reliable and colourful family of hardy perennials.”

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There are so many hardy Geraniums flowering in our July garden I thought it would be interesting to present a gallery for you to enjoy. Click on the first photo and then use the arrow to follow your way through the gallery.

On the opposite page to the blue Geraniums I move on to consider one of the brightest flowers in the July garden, Lychnis coronaria.

“In July one of the brightest flowers in our garden borders are the cerise gems, Lychnis coronaria. They work well in many combinations with other plants despite their extreme brightness of colour. They make white look extra pure and clear, they sparkle with orange and sit comfortably with every shade of green foliage. Their own foliage is a soft, furry grey.”

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Over the next page I continue looking at Lychnis coronaria with the emphasis on the flower colour and the subtle variations among them. Among my selection of photographs to show the colour of the foliage and the variations in cerise itself I include the phrases,

“Silver-grey foliage” and “Variations of the theme of cerise!”

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Opposite this page of cerise beauties I feature a more subtle variation on the pink theme, as I found another Lychnis we grow, this one being Lychnis chalcedonica “Salmonea” and just like the coronarias their colours vary.

“We grow another perennial Lychnis which also displays pink flowers. These blooms though are not of the brightest cerise but a much more subdued dusky salmon. This plant is Lychnis chalcedonica “Salmonea” and just like the coronarias the flower colours vary but more gently so.”

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The final four pages in my journal entries for July are all about one of the grasses families, the Carexes. I set myself the difficult challenge of painting 6 different varieties, concentrating on the flower and seed heads. A very big challenge indeed as it turned out!

“We love grasses and use them in almost every border where they enhance flowering perennials as well as adding their own particular charm, their movement, sound and structure. We particularly love two families, Miscanthus and Carex. In July our many Carex are in full flower and they have distinctive characteristics.”

Volume One of my Garden Journal 2016 finishes with the words, “It is good to finish Volume One of my Garden Journal 2016 with such a challenge, drawing and painting six different Carex flowers and seeds. In Volume Two I will begin with my report and photographs for August and maybe a little painting or two. I might even be tempted to draw and paint some of our other grasses.”

Tags carex, geraniums, grasses, hardy geraniums, July, lychnis, ornamental grasses

garden buildings garden design garden furniture garden photography garden seating gardening gardens open to the public

Are you sitting comfortably? Part 9 of a very occasional series.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 5, 2016
3 Comments on Are you sitting comfortably? Part 9 of a very occasional series.

So here we are back in Devon to share more garden seats with you. In this collection of seats found and tested on our travels we will share with you those we discovered at the RHS garden at Rosemoor.

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When at Rosemoor this February we were delighted that our day coincided with an exhibition of outdoor sculpture. At times it was hard to tell if a garden seat was a piece of sculpture or if a piece of sculpture was a seat.

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This seat with its carved ends all made from wood from the same tree was a great place for its two owls to settle. It lived beneath an iron framed arch which would be clothed in climbing plants a few months hence. Close up the carved creatures were so full of character.

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We were both amused and amazed when we spotted this comfy looking armchair from a across a wide garden border. Closer to we realised it had been created from handmade bricks, joined together by silicone.

The wooden seat in the photo alongside the armchair was home to a Buddah carved from a single piece of wood joined to a bench of the same species of tree. It gave out a deep feeling of piece.

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Sometimes a seat can be a perch for a photographer. In this case our friend Pip was getting close to a spout of water pouring from the stone wall. Look closely at the picture alongside and you will see that a scarecrow is sitting comfortably with his picnic by his side and his crop of pumpkins piled close by.

Often garden seats have protection around them to protect the resting gardeners or visitors from the wind and rain. In the photos below wooden posts provide the protection.

Sometimes the simplest designs work best. These two seats are beautifully designed and crafted and are so simple in their design and construction.

Other seats sit beautifully within their surrounds looking comfortable and full of belonging.

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Seats can be works of art in themselves and then they really do become pieces of sculpture.

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This is a very ordinary garden bench which is very common in our gardens, but the placement of an old green lawn roller gives it character and invites visitors to sit down and enjoy the beauty of this garden artifact.

The best of seats on wet days are those under cover, in this case the seat is enveloped beneath a thatched cottage-style arbour overlooking the herb garden. Here you can appreciate the sights and scents in front of you.

Seats can be made special because they have special purposes, to tell stories from or to enjoy a good swing on.

Where Part 10 of this very occasional series will send us we must wait and see!

Tags Devon, garden sculpture, garden seating, garden seats, garden structures, Gardens of Devon, RHS, RHS gardens, RHS Rosemoor, Rosemoor

conservation garden design garden photography garden ponds garden pools garden wildlife gardening hardy perennials Herefordshire National Garden Scheme NGS ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture sculpture water in the garden wildlife Yellow Book Gardens

A beautiful wildlife garden in Herefordshire

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date July 31, 2016
1 Comment on A beautiful wildlife garden in Herefordshire

Today we travelled further than we usually do for our regular visits to NGS gardens and made our way southwards through South Shropshire and down through Herefordshire to a tiny village near Ross-on-Wye. Even the approach to this garden was special as we left the temporary car park in a farmyard and followed a narrow track through a narrow band of woodland down towards the cottage and its garden. The description in the NGS Yellow Book promised a great afternoon out in a quirky cottage garden created for wildlife and managed organically. We were not to be disappointed in any way!

We found a steep driveway as we left the woodland shade and slowly made our way down it to the cottage below passing floriferous meadows all the way. We were delighted to see orchids in with more common meadow flowers.

We paid our entry fees and met the gardener who like us loved peaceful gardens full of wildlife especially. As we spoke I noticed this little selection of artifacts found in the garden. It was to set the tone for the day.

As we slowly ambled along the many meandering softly surfaced paths we kept one eye on the plants and another on the look out for more artifacts and sculptural pieces. We first found this perky looking pig! We found many more varied pieces to amuse, appeal and amaze.

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This was a garden that invited us to wander and explore its many paths, to discover its calm and restful character. It succeeded in doing what we hope our garden does, to make you feel calm and contented. The planting was gentle and brought to mind the writings of William Robinson, especially how he expressed his philosophy of gardening in his book, The Wild Garden.

We shall now take a wander around this lovely gentle garden by following the pics in this gallery. As usual just click on the first picture and use the navigation arrows.

This was such a beautiful garden which welcomed other gardeners and wildlife alike, and was so full of atmosphere. We hope we are able to return one day in the future.

Tags garden sculpture, gardening for wildlife, Herefordshire, Herefordshire gardens, outdoor sculpture, the wildlife garden, wildlife gardening, Yellow Book, Yellow Book Gardens

canals garden design garden furniture garden photography garden ponds garden pools garden wildlife gardening gardens gardens open to the public hardy perennials Hardy Plant Society HPS nurseries ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture sculpture trees water garden water in the garden wildlife

John’s Garden – Ashwood Nurseries.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date July 25, 2016
2 Comments on John’s Garden – Ashwood Nurseries.

We have wanted to visit John’s Garden for a long time but have never been able to attend on any of his open days, so when we noticed that a private visit was planned for the Shropshire Group of the Hardy Plant Society we were determined to go along. It is always worth going on these garden visits which give the chance to share the experience with your friends and also share their joint expertise and interest.

John Massey is well known for breeding his own strains of Hellebores and more recently Hepaticas too. He is also an excellent speaker and he has spoken to our Shropshire HPS group several times.

As we wandered down the drive to his bungalow we stopped to admire this imaginatively clipped hedge like billowing clouds. Opposite this was a lawned area with a small collection of interesting trees and some crazy sheep sculptures grazing the grass.

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As we entered the main garden there was more smart pruning deserving a closer look, including this Pyrus salicifolia shaped into an umbrella.

Let us take a quick look at a few photos of garden vistas, views which tempted us onwards.

Sculpture featured strongly in John’s garden and here is a selection for you to enjoy.

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Some well-chosen and carefully placed sculptures adorned the area around a beautiful pool. The planting was intriguing too and called out for closer examination.

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A second much smaller water feature was surrounded by a collection of beautiful plants. The little fountain raised the water just a few inches before it dropped back creating gentle ripples and a relaxing sound.

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The area of garden around the back of the house was partly covered with a large pergola over paved areas. Imaginatively planted containers and plenty of seats made this a restful area inviting the visitor to sit and relax to enjoy the succulents and alpines. From the paved area a lawned areas sloped gently down to the canal, a lovely feature acting as the boundary to a garden.

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John and his garden team seem very good at putting plants together especially using foliage as the link pulling the design together.

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As in any good garden however good plant combinations and plant communities are, there are always individual specimens that draw the visiting gardener in for a closer look.

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We really enjoyed our leisurely walk around John’s Garden particularly as we were accompanied by John himself, who was such a generous, knowledgeable and humorous guide. We were lucky to share this garden with the owner and chief gardener.

But I shall leave you with two surprises we had during our journey, a totally unexpected border, a newly built stumpery and a lovely close-up view of a frog on top of a topiary sphere!