Category: gardens

Croft Castle month by month – January – part two

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 20, 2015
2 Comments on Croft Castle month by month – January – part two

Welcome back to Croft Castle where we were about to find out what lies beyond the blue gate. We entered the space beyond the gate and found immediately to our right one of the gardeners’ buildings from the days when the walled gardens were a productive fruit and veg garden. Today it is a children’s discovery room complete with nature table. A board showed the gardening tasks for the month. Close by hung an old pruning saw.

After a good peruse among the dusty artifacts and sharing our memories of nature tables at primary school we moved on to the old, wooden framed greenhouse which until now we had viewed from the gate. On this visit we went inside. We were delighted to find the old iron mechanisms that controlled the windows and vents still intact. We both find these fascinating and are amazed by the ingenuity shown by the greenhouse designers of that era.

We were pleased to find a colourful line up of watering cans and a very healthy looking Cobaea climbing up wires and flowering profusely. It was easy to see why it is graced with the common name “Cup and Saucer Vine”.

Outside the greenhouse we found a stack of apple trees heeled into a pile of compost awaiting the time when the frozen ground allowed them to be planted. Further old buildings hugged the walls – they were ina tumbled down state. The old window attracted me and my camera but I remain undecided if it is best as a colour or monochrome picture. Any thoughts?

We continued our tour of the main walled garden following the herbaceous borders to discover ancient apple trees beautifully pruned ready for fruiting next season. Their trunks and branches were encrusted with lichens and mosses creating miniature landscapes. Clumps of Mistletoe decorated several of the trees. This is a common parasitic plant in the orchards of Herefordshire. A Mistletoe Fair and market are held in December every year in the nearby market town of Tenbury Wells. They are famous for their mistletoe auctions.

Along the third and fourth walls mixed borders included many shrubs which were well pruned in readiness for new growth when spring arrives. In the central area among the grass willows had been pruned too, cut into low pollarding and coppicing to encourage fresh, long new wands to cut and use around the garden as plant supports or sculpture.

I enjoyed a play with this pic on Photoshop!

We were attracted to the opened seed pods of a Paeony with its four sections of woody shell. I certainly enjoyed playing with the image on Photoshop! Here you can select your favourite of three versions.

The sweet scent of the pink flowers of Viburnum bodnantense reached our noses long before we spotted the shrub itself. Next to it in the border was the giant stalk of the biggest Lilly we can grow in the UK, the statuesque Cardiocrinum giganteum.

In the growing seasons there are some lovely features within the walled garden like little garden rooms, including a pool garden and a rose garden. In the winter they are so cold and bare! But an odd Rose bloom was trying hard when we visited. It sadly offered no scent though, unlike the neighbouring Rosemary with its gentle aroma coming from the tiny china blue flowers and the Lonicera frangrantisima, the Winter Flowering Honeysuckle.

The gardeners have been busy making a huge “bug hotel” which is now almost complete. They have been having fun!

Reluctantly leaving the walled garden through a stone archway, we found small courtyard gardens linked by interesting textural paths. We gained views of the rear of the castle building and its huge water butt!

A further archway in a stone wall took us to a quartered courtyard garden with white benches and heavily pruned rose bushes. A strong wind blew through this area, making life difficult when I wanted to take a photograph of a Primrose flowering well out of season, resulting in a blurred close up of my scarf. Oh dear! But I did manage in the end. Definitely better without the scarf.

Rounding the next corner we could look out over the low stone wall across the meadows towards the lake and woodlands. The weather was not right for exploring these areas, so we decided to save it for warmer times. Above the corner tower an unusual wooden bell tower peered. Against the house wall we found a second scented Viburnum bodnantense heavy with blossom.

The tiny garden surrounding the estate church is often colourful but in winter colour was total lacking. The tower of the church was covered in scaffolding and it looked as if restoration work was well under way. I will share some pictures of this lovely building when the scaffolding is down later in the year.

We finally reached the front entrance to the castle, the massive door protected by stone-carved dragon sentinels. As we retraced our steps along the herbaceous border and stone wall we looked back to get views of the whole castle frontage.

Our next visit will be in February when we will see if anything in the garden changes as the days lengthen slightly and the light values improve. It may be a bit warmer too! Fingers crossed.

Tags greenhouse, greenhouses, Herefordshire, Herefordshire gardens, National Trust, The National Trust, Victorian greenhouses, walled garden, walled gardens

birds buildings fruit and veg garden buildings garden design garden photography garden wildlife gardening gardens gardens open to the public grow your own hardy perennials irises kitchen gardens light National Trust ornamental trees and shrubs The National Trust walled gardens walled kitchen gardens Winter Gardening winter gardens

Croft Castle Month by Month – January

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 18, 2015
2 Comments on Croft Castle Month by Month – January

Welcome to the first post in my series of monthly posts looking at a local garden. Throughout 2014 we traveled northward through the Shropshire Plains into neighbouring county Staffordshire in order to visit Trentham Gardens.

Throughout 2015 we will travel south to Croft Castle just into our neighbouring county of Herefordshire. We live at the northern tip of the Shropshire Hills, with the welcome sign just three-quarters of a mile away. In order to get to Croft we have to go southward through this range of hills, one of the most beautiful upland areas in the UK. We will enjoy our journeys!

At the entrance building a “Tramper” scooter acted as an effective sign. As we wandered towards the garden we enjoyed views of some of the estate’s ancient trees. These old massive Sweet Chestnuts are hundreds of years old and each year another dies. Luckily new ones have been planted as replacements. A natural mulch of leaves and nut casts are snuggled at their feet.

We soon met a much smaller and younger character, placed to help celebrate wintertime. We were to find many more of his friends. Currently there is an evening event on here based on light and these trees were part of it. We vowed to visit one evening!

We were soon on our way to the walled garden, our favourite part of Croft. To get there we followed a long mixed border abutting a tall stone wall. There was not much to see here in January but it looked full of promise. But we found character number two and three both smiling away just like their colleague we met earlier.

The shop, not open in the winter, is housed in an ancient barn and on shelves at its entrance these hedgehogs caught our eyes. More interesting characters!

A gap in the brick wall enticed us into the walled garden. We always enter with great anticipation, perhaps more so on this visit as we had never visited in the winter before. Either side of the doorway there was signs of colour in the narrow borders. The colours of the berries of an Iris, the mauve flowers of Liriope muscari and the silver of the long thin catkins of Garrya eliptica.

From the open doorway views of the walled garden opened up in front of us. We soon espied different types of trained fruit and clumps of textured perennials in the borders.

The textured foliage was provided by silver narrow foliage of Santolinas and in strong contrast the thin strap-like leaves of the Black Grass, Ophiopogon. This is not a grass at all but in reality a Lily!

There were two very contrasting sorts of trained fruit. Ancient beautifully sculpted apples and a much newer array of grape vines, also beautifully trained. It was so good to see the skills of fruit training created at two very different periods of time.

What made this walled garden extra good for productive gardening was the fact that it was on a slope encouraging the sun to warm up the soil to its maximum. Even in early January the difference in temperature was noticeable. We could feel the change as we entered and exited the walled area. The photo of the door in the wall illustrates the slope and shows how steep it is. The plants also illustrate the effects of the walls protective powers. An Iris was in flower and a Melianthus was in bud. Arum italicum “Marmoratum” was in full marbled leaf.

When we were half way along the second edge of the walled garden we reached the gateway leading out of the garden which in the past had been clearly marked “private – keep out” so we were pleased to discover that it has been opened up for us to explore. Jude was soon on her way through! We had always longed to get a close up look at the old greenhouse range.

We will leave you here for now as we disappear behind the beautiful, unusually shaped blue gate where we found out what new treats were in store for us before we returned to the walled garden. See part two where we discover what was going on behind the blue gate as well as in the rest of the walled garden. We also wander around the rest of the gardens at Croft.

Tags fruit training, fruit., hedgehogs, Herefordshire, Herefordshire gardens, iris, open gardens, The National Trust, trained fruit, walled garden, walled gardens

autumn autumn colours colours garden design garden photography garden seating gardening gardens gardens open to the public grasses hardy perennials light light quality ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture RHS sculpture Yorkshire

Autumn at RHS Harlow Carr – Part Three

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 15, 2015
1 Comment on Autumn at RHS Harlow Carr – Part Three

I am back with my third and final part of my posts featuring the wonderful RHS garden Harlow Carr. In the first post I mentioned a willow trail so here are a few of the pieces we came across on our wanderings.

Living fences made from willow and hazel featured strongly in the productive gardens and some included seats built in also made of willow. It was seeing these when they were being created at Harlow Carr during the renovation of the kitchen gardens, that gave us the idea of creating our fedge at our allotment community gardens.

I promised a return to the prairie style borders and my favourite part of late autumn borders, the dried flower heads and seed heads of perennials and grasses. The subtlety of colour and delicate contrasts make for a most pleasing picture.

2014 10 31_6963

We left the perennial borders to follow paths through the stream garden which would give us the chance for a second look at the winter garden. Willow is used along the water’s edge to secure the bankside using a technique known as spiling. Beautiful stone bridges take the path back and forth over the stream.

So that is Harlow Carr the northern jewel in the RHS’s crown, beautiful whenever you visit with surprises galore alongside old favourites. It won’t be long until be come back again!

Tags autumn, autumn colours, autumn gardens, ornamental grasses, prairie gardening, prairie planting, RHS, RHS gardens, RHS Harlow Carr, willow, winter gardens, Yorkshire

autumn autumn colours colours garden design garden photography gardens gardens open to the public half-hardy perennials hardy perennials light light quality ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs sculpture Yorkshire

Autumn at RHS Harlow Carr – Part Two

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 12, 2015
1 Comment on Autumn at RHS Harlow Carr – Part Two

Back at the end of November I posted part one of a series of three posts related to our visit to the RHS’s northern garden Harlow Carr, so this week I shall post the second and third.

Back to Harlow Carr and we carry on with our wander around the acres of lawns, woodland and borders.

The display gardens showing typical gardens through the ages are different to everything else at Harlow Carr. Here we can always find little interesting details.

We moved off into the woodlands next where among the autumn colours we discovered a trio of wicker pigs and a newly built wooden shelter. Wood leaf carvings decorated the roof.

The low light of an October afternoon added a certain magic to the woodland but we enjoyed finding a different sort of magic was provided by a wooden sculpture of a troll guarding his bridge. Every garden needs a little humour!

The garden threw up sculptural surprises throughout.

The bright colours of the late flowering half-hardy perennial Salvias can cheer up the dullest of days. An unexpected flower however, unexpected but equally bright, was that of a candelabra Primula.

2014 10 31_6928

At this time of year I love the subdued shades of the dried flowers and seed heads of perennials. In the third part of my Harlow Carr posts we shall find these dominate in the large prairie styled borders.

One reason for this return to Harlow Carr was to look at the area dedicated to alpines. We had recently been gifted two old buttler’s sinks which we aim to convert into alpine troughs. We were hoping for inspiration. In the alpine house itself it was the various miniature Oxalis which entranced us, but on the paved area outside we found the alpine troughs which inspired us to make something special of our two sinks.

Before I finish part two of my Harlow Carr posts I thought I would show you these two photos showing two true stars! A generously flowering Aster and a brightly coloured Ladybird in search of a safe winter hibernation spot.

Tags autumn, autumn colours, autumn gardens, garden in autumn, Harlow Carr, RHS, RHS Harlow Carr, salvias, seed heads

climbing plants colours garden design garden designers garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public grasses hardy perennials Italian style gardens meadows ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs Piet Oudolf RSPB sculpture Staffordshire Tom Stuart-Smith Winter Gardening winter gardens

A Garden in December – Trentham – Part Two

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 5, 2015
4 Comments on A Garden in December – Trentham – Part Two

Back at the Trentham Gardens we moved into the borders designed by Tom Stuart-Smith. But first we passed through the formality of the Italianate borders with their strong structure of low box hedges. The view of these borders, which we get from the top of a flight of semi-circular stone steps is guaranteed to take our breath away. We looked forward to this moment every time we visited.

Seed heads were the stars here too with a mix of tall grasses and structural perennials. New growth was appearing promising colour to come in the spring.

Phlomis, having given bright sunshine coloured flowers in summer, were now starring again with their dark brown almost black spheres of seed heads spaced up the length of their straight stems.

The tallest stems were of a plant we did not recognise. Tiny seed heads hung like Tibetan prayer flags from gently bowing stems.

As we left the T S-S borders we looked back over them from the raised pathway. Dampness from earlier showers made the path surface glisten and reflect the blue of the sky.

On the lawned slopes by the glass fronted cafe giant snowdrops powered over our heads. We always love willow structures! These were made from willow, some stripped of their brownish green bark and were beautifully woven and shaped. They stood a good 10 feet tall.

After our compulsory coffee stop which, was much appreciated on this cold December morning, we wandered back through the borders towards the Rose Walk. Again my camera snapped away at the wonderful structures of the perennials and grasses.

Although most winter structure showsoff the many shades of biscuits and browns, silver seemed to dominate one area. Giant leaves of Verbascum hugged the cold ground in huge, soft, silver rosettes. The silver giants were the Onorpordum or Scotch Thistles which in winter take on strong sculptural shapes.

The roses still persisted, producing occasional buds in gentler colours than in the summer. There was an added subtlety about them which gave them extra charm.

The sculptures at either end of the Rose Walk were wrapped up snuggly against the ravages of the winter. The Japanese Acers along side the walk displayed their seeds like the rotors of helicopters. The Wisteria which had clothed the metalwork with blue racemes of flowers in the Summer was now showing buds and old seed pods.

As usual I took a few photos looking through the arches across to the River of Grasses.

We were amazed to see a clump of Delphiniums with fresh growth of foliage and strong flower stems with fattening buds. No doubt the weather will have the last say and bring them to a premature ending.

The team of Trentham gardeners were, as always, beavering away in the borders. We have enjoyed seeing what they are up to on each of our visits. They have always greeted us with a smile and a few words of welcome.

So there we have it – a year in the life of one of Britain’s best gardens! Even though we have made the effort to visit every month throughout 2014 it never seemed a chore. We loved every minute of the many hours spent here. And we shall keep coming back. It has to be our most popular garden destination.

Tags grasses, hardy perennials, new perennial gardening, ornamental grasses, perennials, phlomis, piet, Staffordshire, Tom Stuart-Smith, Trentham Garden, Trentham Gardens, willow, willow features, willow structures, willow weaving

garden design garden designers garden furniture garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public grasses hardy perennials Italian style gardens ornamental grasses outdoor sculpture Piet Oudolf sculpture Staffordshire Tom Stuart-Smith Winter Gardening winter gardens

A Garden in December – Trentham – Part One

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 2, 2015
1 Comment on A Garden in December – Trentham – Part One

The final installment in my monthly series looking at how the gardens at Trentham change throughout the year.

The garden has gone full circle passing through the seasons. We began last January when the gardens were in the throes of winter and finish off in December in another winter.

As we crossed the River Trent on the suspension bridge we got a good view of the golden “River of Grasses” through the two trunks of a multi-stemmed Birch, our native Betula pendula. In all or our previous monthly wanders we turned right at the bottom of the bridge into this huge area of grasses. For our December wanderings we turned left partly because we fancied a change but mostly because we spotted a willow word.

The gravel path took us beneath tall, ancient trees both deciduous and evergreen. Up in one we were surprised again to find a fairy looking down at us watching our every move.

When we reached the willow NOEL we spotted a row of willow stars further along the path .

On one old trunk where a large bough had been cut off nature had been at work with her army of fungi to eat away at the rotting wood, and thereby creating a piece of relief sculpture. Can you spot a figure emerging?

After this little diversion from our usual route we retraced our footsteps to explore Piet Oudolf’s River of Grasses. Here a few seed heads stood against all odds having withstood the ravages of early winter.

I have enjoyed seeing how the Betula nigra are looking on each of our monthly visits. The texture and colour of their peeling bark catches the light whatever the time of day or time of year.

By passing through the avenue of Birches we found ourselves in Piet Oudolf’s prairie style borders, where so many different seed heads stood strong and proud.

We enjoyed seeing how the gardeners had tied up some of the tallest of the old stems. We decided there and then to give it a go in our own patch.

2014 12 16_8790

Where some of the herbaceous plants had been cut back by the gardening team, new growth of the freshest green has burst through and waits patiently for the Spring to come along. The cut down grasses however remain dormant, but without doubt within their sheaths new spears of green are making moves.

Tiny vestiges of colour remained to surprise us, please us and amaze us.

Before we left the prairie borders we looked back for the final time in 2014.

We discovered new things at Trentham even this late in the year – a set of beautifully crafted wooden garden benches complete with meaningful phrases composed by local writers from Stoke-on-Trent’s past alongside a couple from the two great garden designers involved in Trentham Garden’s rebirth, Piet Oudolf and Tom Stuart-Smith.

Read and enjoy P O’s words of wisdom – words which express the power of these amazing gardens.

And reflections on the gardens from Tom Stuart-Smith ……….

“What was once a scene of decay is now a breathtaking panorama of beauty.”

There are two phrases from Arnold Bennet, a local 19th Century writer,

“You can turn over a new leaf every hour if you choose.”

“It is easier to go down hill than up but the view is from the top.”

The final two phrases were written much earlier by Capability Brown, 18th Century landscape designer and his contemporary John Bing, Viscount Torrington who owned Trentham at that time. John Bing wrote

“My old friend L Brown is to be traced at every turn……………. and a judicious former of water; the lake, here, is very fine”

Brown himself wrote,

“………. from its edges “quite round, making them everywhere correspond naturally with the ground on each side.”

A new phase of work is just starting to restore some of the early Capability grounds.

The old formal Italianate gardens that link the two main gardens had been replanted with seasonal bedding plants.

In part two of our posts sharing our December visits to the wonderful gardens at Trentham, we move on to the gardens designed by Tom Stuart-Smith and see how they look as the year ends.

Tags grasses, hardy perennials, Italian garden style, new perennial gardening, ornamental trees, Piet Oudolf, prairie gardening, prairie planting, Staffordshire, Tom Stuart-Smith, Trentham Garden, Trentham Gardens

colours garden design garden photography garden seating gardening gardens grasses hardy perennials ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture photography Yellow Book Gardens

Aiming for an all year round garden – our garden in December.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 18, 2014
6 Comments on Aiming for an all year round garden – our garden in December.

The final chapter! December. We have followed the journey through the months of 2014 looking at our garden trying to decide whether we have succeeded in our aim of creating a garden with interest in every month of the year.

2014 12 03_7986-1

So here we are on our final wander of 2014 to see how the garden is looking in December. Next year we open our garden for charity throughout the spring and summer so we hope we have succeeded in our aim for creating an all year garden. The day I decided to go for my wander with camera in hand coincided with the day of the first proper frost. But it didn’t last long and had little affect on the plants. The grapes are now well past their sell by date, but the chickens and the local Blackbird population seem to enjoy them anyway. Frost brings out the texture in leaves and seed heads.

The Blackbirds and Mistle Thrushes are enjoying the variety of berries we grow for them, but once the winter migrant thrushes arrive they have more competition.

As the frost melts away it has a translucent look where it sits on the leaves of this Hypericum.

Garden ornaments and furniture both play a more important role as the plant life dies down over the winter months.

Our Hellebores are coming into flower far too early this winter. We usually enjoy them in February and March. But the Prunus subhirtella autumnalis can blossom anytime from November to March, so to see it this good in December is no surprise.

Our trees show off their wonderful silhouettes now they are bereft of leaves. The bark texture shows up sharply in winter light.

Some of our Japanese Acers are hanging onto their leaves still so give us plenty of colour to admire.

As trees are now largely leafless and much of the perennial growth has died down other features of the garden gain prominence. Just look at the curled up Birch bark in one of our insect hotels and the hanging glass globe.

The poppy seed heads have shed their seeds long ago and are now very delicate but extremely beautiful.

We have a few flowers alone and out of season, the last Sweet Peaand a single Calendula struggling to stand upright in the cold, but other flowers coming out now seemingly enjoy the cold and poor light. Violas with cheerful faces welcome visitors. It seems that the perennial Wallflower and the Welsh Poppy can send out an odd flower in any month of the year but in the depths of winter they seem to glow more than a any other time.

Hebe “Great Orme” is still flowering well after many months and shows no sign of giving up. The last seedhead of our many Crocosmias still glows a russet-ginger in the low light. The viburnum is just beginning its long display of honey scented blossom.

The last few leaves of the Ricinus in sheltered spots retain their glossy texture like well-polished shoe leather. Some curl at the edges and glow orange. Veins deepen to the darkest blood red.

So that is it. Another year in the life of our quarter acre plot here at Avocet. We have had a great gardening year with plants performing outstandingly, our first open day and the first magazine article featuring our garden. Next year looks set to be just as busy!

I am going to begin a new series in January – my garden journal – featuring words, paintings, drawings, photos and I hope some i-pad art too.

Below is a further small selection of shots taken in mid-December on a day the sun shone. They celebrate the year in our garden and give promises for the year to come.

Tags December, foliage, garden photography, garden wildlife, gardening, grasses, NGS, outdoor sculpture, sculpture, the garden in December, the gardening year, winter, winter gardens

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

Autumn at RHS Harlow Carr – Part One

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date November 28, 2014
1 Comment on Autumn at RHS Harlow Carr – Part One

We visit the RHS garden, Harlow Carr situated just outside Harrogate, at least once each year. We do this simply because we love the place whatever time of year and whatever the weather. On our latest visit we wanted to see it in the autumn.

As soon as we arrived we realised there were a few things going on to celebrate the autumn. In the entrance foyer there were clues that a Willow Trail had been set out for children to follow.

Beautiful pure white stems of Betulas welcomed us into the garden.

Recent high winds had stripped the leaves off many of the trees so on this visit it looked as if we were not going to be seeing much of the autumnal hues we thought we were going to enjoy. The garden was already showing signs of winter. Long views across the gardens afforded us views of tree skeletons combined with just a few orange leaved shrubs and the deeper greens of the conifers.

The Winter Garden soon proved itself to be a brilliant place in the autumn too. Berries gave the strongest colours closely followed by the remnant leaves of shrubs.

The whisps of the ornamental grasses appeared white at first glance but close up we realised they were the subtlest of biscuit shades.

There were still plenty of surprises to be found including the bright colours of late flowers in the perennial meadows.

As the days get shorter more and more of these perennials dry to shades of biscuit, ginger and brown.

This little corner was probably my favourite part of the garden with the slender trees showing off their coloured trunks and the shrubs beneath them displaying brightly coloured stems.

Although still late autumn when we visited some of the scents of winter were already pervading the air. The pink flowered Viburnums emitted the strongest scent of all.

In part two of our visit to Harlow Carr we will explain what else this exceptional all-season garden had to offer us.

Tags autumn, autumn colours, autumn gardens, autumn leaves, foliage, garden photography, gardening, grasses, Harlow Carr, ornamental trees, RHS, RHS Harlow Carr, winter, winter gardens, woodland, Yorkshire

garden design garden furniture garden photography garden seating gardening gardens

Are you sitting comfortably? – part four of a very occasional series.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date November 23, 2014
2 Comments on Are you sitting comfortably? – part four of a very occasional series.

So here we are back with another selection of garden seats. Twenty more special places to sit and rest!

Sometimes you come across a garden seat with a design that sets it out above the rest. These “Eye Seats” in the Piet Oudolf garden at Hauser and Wirth’s Gallery in somerset fit perfectly in that category. They shared their patch of grass with sleek black loungers.

Just occasionally when wandering around a garden you discover a seat that fits into its space comfortably like a favourite slipper. In the community gardens at the Bishops Garden at Wells Cathedral in Somerset we came across a little collection that sat beautifully in a glade of old trees. Elsewhere in the main part of the palace garden we found two very different seats, one traditional wooden bench and a modern very sleek cast concrete bench with carved calligraphy.

When we visited the gardens designed by Tom Stuart-Smith at the family home, Serge Hill, we were interested in the positions in which he placed seats. Each was put where you could best relax or sit and contemplate, a few were very isolated and given a lot of space.

These two seats are in the tiniest garden possible. In fact the garden is just the seats on the path outside terraced cottages in the Yorkshire village of Haworth, famous for its links with the Bronte family. Several of the street side cottages here wrap pots and containers overflowing with plants around the steps from the front doors.

These seats are in a completely different environment, the vast open gardens at Trentham. They are situated in Piet Oudolf’s “River of Grasses”.

Can you spot the wooden bench in the photo below also taken at Trentham. It is hidden away in the amazing Hornbeam arbour here wearing its golden autumn coat.

When we visited the National Botanic Garden of Wales on a wet November day we spotted these beautifully designed chairs. They were well suited to their situation but it was far too wet to try them out for comfort.

Tags garden design, garden seating, gardening, gardens, gardens seats

autumn autumn colours climbing plants colours garden design garden designers garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public grasses hardy perennials Italian style gardens light light quality ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture Piet Oudolf sculpture Staffordshire Tom Stuart-Smith trees

A Garden in October/November – Trentham

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date November 12, 2014
1 Comment on A Garden in October/November – Trentham

We have now reached the penultimate posting in this series where we have been looking at how Trentham Gardens in Staffordshire have changed through the months during 2014. Since our last visit in September Autumn has taken a strong grip on the gardens. Many leaves have taken on their auutmn hues and many have fallen. But it is amazing how much colour there still is to enjoy, colours in late flowers, dried stems and seed heads.

We always cross over the gently arching suspension footbridge over the River Trent full of anticipation. On our visit in early November we were presented with a sea of yellows, where Piet Oudolf’s River of Grasses had been transformed by the passage of time into a river of liquid gold.

We wandered along the gravel path as it cut through the line of River Birch, Betula nigra in search of Oudolf’s prairie borders. These beautiful trees had already shed all their leaves but still drew our eyes as their bark was peeling and curling decoratively away from their trunks.

Once in amongst the prairie planting we immediately noticed that seed heads in every hue of brown and beige and bright patches of late colour had joined the lemons, mustards and golds of the grasses. Pale purples glowed in the dull light of autumn. This glow is their secret weapon to attract moths and other night flying pollinators.

The gardening team were hard at working replanting a section of one of the borders. It must be a never ending task. I suppose it gives them the chance to keep improving things as well as keeping the gardens in top condition.

Deep pinks and cerise of the Persicarias and the Knautias catch the eye of every visitor. They look so good against the neutral shades that dominate gardens in the autumn.

This lovely old Tulip Tree caught our attention. It is the oldest of its kind we have ever seen and a notice close by warned of the danger of falling branches. It must be susceptible to winter storms but should it fall it would make a wonderful natural bridge over the Trent. The dome of Hornbeam over a bench is now a golden dome.

2014 11 04_7175

We made our way towards the formally planted Italian Parterre Garden, passing through an archway of Hornbeams on the way. Sunlight penetrated the coniferous plantings casting long shadows and creating bright patches. It lit up the little low box hedges of the knot garden.

The summer bedding in the parterre has been consigned to the compost heaps and winter/spring plants has taken their place, primulas and a deep red Bellis perennis.

We always enjoy our first look out over the Tom Stuart-Smith gardens. We were not to be disappointed today.

The autumn light emphasised the texture on this bronze sculpture and on the much newer tunnel archway which marks the way into the display gardens. It gave an all new look to the low slate walls around one of these gardens too. It again emphasised the texture but brought out extra colours too. The light similarly added colour to the plants and to the glass panels featured in another of the display gardens.

A wander back through the Stuart-Smith gardens gave us the chance to see the planting in a different light. As the afternoon had progressed the sun dropped down lower and was back-lighting the plants, giving a very different perspective.

The Rose Walk was still remarkably colourful with Roses, Cleomes and Verbena bonariensis still putting on strong performances. Butterflies and bees were still busy here too, the blooms having attracted them as they emerged hunting for sustenance as the temperatures rose slightly in the afternoon sunlight. You can see our long shadows cast across the border.

From the long metal pergola we looked back over the Oudolf gardens and at the shrubs nearby and the butter yellow leaves of the Wisteria climbing over the framework.

Now we can look forward to our final visit to Trentham for this year in readiness to publish the final episode in this series of posts. So far we have determined that gardens at Trentham are worthy of a visit any month of the year. Let us hope our December visit confirms it.