Category: gardens

Houghton Lodge Hampshire

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 27, 2020

While down in Hampshire last September we enjoyed a day out exploring the grounds of Houghton Lodge an 19th century fishing lodge built in a style similar to the later Arts and Crafts style. It is a uniquely beautiful white building surrounded by sweeping striped lawns and fascinating grounds running down to the clear running River Test.

As we took a walk along the banks of a short stretch of the Test a lone trout fisherman cast his fly from the opposite bank hoping in vain for a fish to rise and take his fly. The water was so clear and the stringy water weeds flowed with the water over its stone and sand river bottom giving us the occasional fleeting glimpse of a brown trout.

We were fascinated to find two collections of plants in the walled garden, hostas and dahlias.

But there was far more of interest throughout the gardens here, so here are a few photos of other borders and garden cameos. This proved to be a great find!

Tags dahlias, gardens of Hampshire, Hampshire, hostas, Houghton Lodge, River Test, trout rivers, walled garden

colours garden photography gardening gardens grasses hardy perennials light light quality ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs Shrewsbury Shropshire shrubs trees village gardens Winter Gardening winter gardens

My Garden Journal 2019 – December

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 20, 2020
3 Comments on My Garden Journal 2019 – December

My Garden Journal 2019 comes to an end this month, so here are the entries for December.

On the first page I wrote, “December sees most of the berries stripped from our shrubs and trees by dozens of thrushes including migrants who like our winter weather. A few berries remain to enhance he odd flowers, the grasses, seed-heads and evergreen shrubs.”

Over onto the next page I feature some of the more unusual and very subtle coloured foliage in our December patch.

I wrote, “Unusual coloured foliage of our evergreen shrubs come to the fore even on the dullest of days. Bronzes, browns, blushes, purples, blues, greys and greens with flecks of yellow.”

Over onto the third page for December and I talk of how much there is to see in our garden if you look down at your feet! “In our garden in winter it pays to look down. Silver glows and glistens at our feet. Silver leaf markings take on so many shapes and patterns.”

So just one final page for my December entries for 2019! Maybe my next year’s garden journal will be completely different?

For the last page of my 2019 Garden Journal I wrote, “I love sunny winter days when the low sun catches the colour and texture of twig and bark.” Then I featured a collection of ten photos of the light doing just that to a few of our trees and shrubs.

Tags bark colour, berried shrubs, coloured bark, coloured foliage, coloured stems, December, deciduous trees, foliage, foliage combinations, grasses, herbaceous plants, ornamental grasses, seed heads, shrubs in winter, silver foliage, the garden in winter, variegated foliage, winter berries

garden design garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public Land Art light light quality Norfolk ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture

Houghton Hall Part 2 – The Gardens

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 15, 2020
1 Comment on Houghton Hall Part 2 – The Gardens

So here we are with the second part of this visit to Houghton Hall in Norfolk, a post refound!

Although our main reason for visiting the gardens at Houghton Hall was to explore the land art created by Richard Long within its grounds and house, we also planned to enjoy the gardens in their own right.

The gardens featured huge expanses of sweeping lawns broken up by pleached hedges and topiary. As we approached the house we were surprised to see a circle of stumps arranged on the grassed area, like a stump henge. Each individual root stump was beautiful in its own right but the circular arrangement added another dimension, the dimension of mystery.

The pleached lime hedges presented a strong structural element to the lawned areas. The strong sunlight on the day gave patterns of light and shade, cool and warm. Some of the raised hedges were tall enough for us to easily walk beneath them to experience these contrasts, which was most welcome on such a warm day. Looking out from beneath the pleached blocks of lime gave us framed views of the expanse of the gardens. Further surprises appeared periodically mostly in classical style, stone columns and seats and occasional modern pieces.

In complete contrast to the formality of the parkland areas discussed above, roses featured in softer more romantic borders. This planting felt very soft, restful and gentle.

The parkland was separated from the farmland surrounding it by a “ha ha”, the cleverest way to keep livestock out of formal gardens.

We enjoyed a diversion off one of the main paths while searching for more Richard Long installations, and the narrow path was edged with beautifully cloud-pruned box hedging. The pathway led us to a “Skyspace” by James Turrell. We love his work so spent time sitting inside watching the moving weather. So peaceful!

In complete contrast to the open parkland and grassed areas with architectural planting features, we found another area of the garden at Houghton, the Walled Garden such a contrast. This part of the garden will be the subject of the third post concerning Houghton Hall.

Tags cloud pruning, Houghton Hall, James Turrell, Norfolk, pleached limes, pleaching, roses

fruit and veg garden design garden photography gardening gardens hardy perennials kitchen gardens Land Art ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture sculpture Shropshire South Shropshire village gardens Yellow Book Gardens

Oakley Mynd – a wildlife garden with views

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 6, 2020

Here is a post I wrote back in the summer which I thought would be good to post now to bring back memories of warmer days.

We always like finding new gardens opening for the NGS, and Oakley Mynd was a real find. As there was no parking we had to park in Bishops Castle where we took the mini-bus provided by the NGS up the narrow steep lanes.

Tags gardens of Shropshire, kitchen gardens, ornamental grasses, ornamental shrubs, ornamental trees, productive gardening, South Shropshire, South Shropshire Hills, Yellow Book, Yellow Book Gardens

colours garden design garden furniture garden photography garden ponds garden pools garden seat garden seating gardening gardens gardens open to the public grasses hardy perennials light light quality NGS ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture photography sculpture shrubs spring bulbs trees water in the garden Winter Gardening winter gardens Yellow Book Gardens

A canal-side garden in winter – John’s Garden Part 2

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 22, 2019
2 Comments on A canal-side garden in winter – John’s Garden Part 2

I found this unpublished post originally written back in mid-February of 2018. I hope you enjoy it!

Back at John’s Garden for our February visit in the cold we can carry on with our exploration as we wander further along the canal-side borders to the canal bridge. In part two we will move along the canal borders before returning along the opposite side of the patch, while along the way discovering a pool, sculpture and a terrace and lots more exciting plants and plant pairings.

Conifers, grasses and trees and shrubs with coloured stems and bark give a common theme throughout. The first two photos below show the matching gold coloured foliage of a group of conifers and a swathe of grasses.

The Rhodendron above has a surprise for you if you turn over its leaves! Who would expect orange on the reverse side of a touch dark green leaf? And it feels like the softest felt.

Skimmia “Kew Green” has unusual green flowers instead of the usual reddish shades, while the Witch Hazels sport many shades of yellow.

Snowdrops in drifts light up the ground beneath the tree. Ilex “Ferox” sparkles with variegated leaves curled and heavily spined, probably one of the best hollies available for the small garden.

Metal panels with cut-out shapes of fern leaves reflect the planting beneath them in the border. John features many different versions of the low growing evergreen shrub, Leucothe. This one was a real beauty!

White can be a powerful colour when the winter sun catches it, as in the bleached stems of Teasels, the trunks of white-bark Birch and the ground covering Carex.

Along the way a beautiful pool gave a space to slow down and take a deep breath to take in all we had so far seen.

Every garden however small needs seats and they must be chosen to fit the design and atmosphere.

Sculpture is scattered around the garden providing us with pleasant surprises among our delight at its plants.

Turning at the far end of the garden we had a quick look at the new garden which has just begun being created, Adam’s Garden, designed in memory of John’s gardener who died very young late last year. This will be a great addition to the garden and we look forward to seeing it develop. We then returned on the opposite side of the long garden making interesting discoveries all the way.

The terrace is a place where you need to stop and study the small details, the pots full of original planting ideas, trimmed shrubs, interesting foliage and some floating blossoms.

Exploring an interesting little terrace garden finished our visit and we returned to the cafe via John’s lawned area with Betula, Snowdrops, Crocus and sheep.

We have a list of the other few open days the rest of the year so aim to return. All of John’s open days are to raise money for charity including some for the National Garden Scheme, the NGS. We will be back!

colours flowering bulbs garden design garden designers garden photography gardening gardens half-hardy perennials hardy perennials meadows National Garden Scheme NGS Yorkshire

The Sheffield Gardens – Part 2 – James Hitchmough’s patch

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 19, 2019

So during our weekend up in Sheffield after visiting the garden of Nigel Dunnett, we moved on to explore the garden of his colleague, Professor James Hitchmough. This garden was half way up a steep narrow road near the city centre with terraced houses on both sides.

An NGS sign pointed us through a gateway, where a path took us through the side garden where a wooden gate opened up to reveal the back garden, where glimpses of yellow, orange and red invited us to explore further.

These colourful glimpses hinted at the array of South African bulbs such as watsonias and gladioli, which formed part of a garden that was one low growing meadow below a few gnarled old apple trees. This was no surprise as James Hitchmough is the pioneer of seed sown meadows mixed with such bulbs, but his public gardens such as the one at Wisley tend to be so much larger than his own little patch.

It is a gentle garden with foliage playing an important role and many blues, pinks and whites adding some subtlety.

This was a small but so interesting and atmospheric too.

Tags flowering bulbs, garden designers gardens, herbaceous plants, James Hitchmough, Sheffield, Sheffield School of Planting, South African flowering bulbs

garden design garden designers garden paths garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public hardy perennials log piles meadows NGS ornamental trees and shrubs village gardens wildlife Yellow Book Gardens

The Sheffield Gardens – Part 1 – Bramble Wood Cottage

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 16, 2019
2 Comments on The Sheffield Gardens – Part 1 – Bramble Wood Cottage

Via the NGS book, The Yellow Book, we had the opportunity to book a weekend up in Sheffield to explore three gardens, owned by members of the “Sheffield School of Planting” who have been encouraging the use of wildflowers and wildlife mixed borders for years now. In particular they have been encouraging local authorities to take a fresh look at their parks and verges, with the emphasis on planting or sowing for wildlife and in many cases reducing maintenance budgets.

The leading figure in this movement is Nigel Dunnett and it was to his garden at Bramble Wood Cottage we made our way first, as it was the furthest from the city centre. As we drove around the Sheffield area we could see the influence of this planting movement.

Nigel met us part way up the pathway that took us through the sloping front garden and welcomed us then explained what his garden was all about and what it meant to him. The planting here was to set the tone for what was to come behind the cottage. Native plants and wildlife friendly cultivated plants intermingled to present soft gently planted borders both sides of the path.

The back garden was a large sloping garden with mature woodland area at the very top which gradually became more cultivated as we moved towards the cottage.

To get the full effect of the garden I will create a gallery of some of the photos taken during our visit. As usual just click on the first photo then navigate with the arrows.

So from Bramble Wood Cottage we drove back into the city and found our next garden situated half way up a steep street of brick-built terraced houses.

Tags garden photography, gardens, grasses, hardy perennials, herbaceous borders, National Garden Scheme, NGS, ornamental grasses, Sheffield

autumn autumn colours birds colours flowering bulbs garden photography garden ponds garden pools garden wildlife gardening gardens grasses hardy perennials light quality ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs shrubs water in the garden

My Garden Journal 2019 – November

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 5, 2019
4 Comments on My Garden Journal 2019 – November

I started my entries for November by commenting. “November takes us deep into autumn, the red hot colours of foliage dominate but little gems of flower colour provide spots of colour that attracts us. This November the dominant colour has changed to yellow by the end of the first week.”

On the second page I continued, “We continue to be busy revamping areas of the garden and began the month reworking the Rill Garden. We cleared the borders and rill and pond of all herbaceous plants. After clearing out the rill it was replanted. In the Winter Garden to the right of the rill we added a new selection of shade-loving plants.”

The two Brunnera are B. ‘Alexander’s Great’ and B. ‘Little Jack’ and between them is the unusual shade lover, Azara splendens.

Two epimedium have been planted in the renewed border in the dappled shade, Epimedium ‘Spine Tingler’ and Epimedium ‘Mandarin star’

“We had a new stable door fitted which we needed to protect with coats of yacht varnish.”

“Half pots we planted with dwarf bulbs and top-dressed with horticultural grit.”

“General views around the garden show just how much colour there still is to enhance the look of our patch.”

“Wildlife is full of surprises as we still see and hear so many bees feeding on our mahonias, fatsias, and ivies. Whenever we garden buzzards and kites entertain us with their acrobatic displays in the sky overhead. Migrating starlings, and thrushes fill the sky with gossip.

“There are usually a dozen or more blackbirds in our patch who gorge themselves on the berries we grow for them, especially our cotoneasters, of which we grow several species and cultivars.”

“We continue to be busy whenever the weather allows, re-developing the two gravel circles in the front garden.”

So that is my garden journal for November 2019, and now we are waiting to see what December brings by way of ending the year.

Tags autumn, autumn berries, autumn colours, autumn gardens, berried shrubs, berries, cotoneaster, gardens in autumn, gravel garden, the garden in autumn

arboreta autumn autumn colours colours garden design garden fun garden paths garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public grasses hardy perennials National Trust ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs photography shrubs The National Trust Wales water in the garden woodland woodlands

Seasonal Visits to two very Different Gardens – Bodnant Gardens

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date November 22, 2019
1 Comment on Seasonal Visits to two very Different Gardens – Bodnant Gardens

Following on from our seasonal autumn visit to our smaller garden for 2019 we took a drive up to north Wales to wander around our larger garden, Bodnant Gardens. Join us as we enjoy the signs of the new season on its trees and shrubs.

Within the first ten minutes wandering we had discovered so many interesting plants and plant combinations. We were slowly making for the Winter Garden, one of our favourite parts of the garden. A first for us was a wall trained Gingko biloba which was really striking, as were the glossy indigo berries on this Dianella.

Of course The Winter Garden excels in its season but puts on a pretty good show in the autumn too.

From The Winter Garden we wandered through the open woodland towards the Acer Glade. All along the way trees were warming up the day with their hot coloured foliage and with some the added splash of colour provided by berries. I hope you enjoy my short gallery of photos below.

The woodland paths of gravel and sometimes grass led us to the predominately orange and red Acer Grove, which was busy with photographers and grandparents escorting their grandchildren picking up selections of their favourite leaves, natural jewels of the glade floor.

We left the Acer Grove and made towards the stream which we crossed by a wooden bridge and went upwards into the wooded slope of the dingle, so that we could wander along the many paths and look down into the dingle itself. We found more acers and other colourful deciduous shrubs below the giant conifers. Follow our journal be enjoying this gallery.

And so our day of wandering around the wonderful gardens at Bodnant came to an end, but as usual as we walked towards the gate we had a look at the Hot Garden alongside the stone wall. There is always something worth a second glance here whatever month we visit.

Perhaps one more visit to our other garden Wildegoose to go and if tempted another to Bodnant before the year is out!

Tags acers., autumn, autumn berries, autumn colours, autumn leaves, berried shrubs, Bodnant, Bodnant Garden, deciduous trees, garden in autumn, gardens of North Wales, gardens of the National Trust, National Trust, North Wales, ornamental grasses, viburnum

garden buildings garden design garden furniture garden garden arches garden paths garden photography garden ponds garden pools garden seat garden seating garden wildlife gardening gardens ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs town gardens water garden water in the garden

The Sheffield Gardens – Part 3 –

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date November 11, 2019
1 Comment on The Sheffield Gardens – Part 3 –

David Clayden is the third gardener from the Sheffield School of Planting whose garden we visited in the weekend arranged by the NGS. His garden was completely different to the other two but enjoyed by us equally. The garden had a gentle feel to it and it was full of wildlife. It had many features that would attract wildlife including dry-stone walls, green roofs and patches of ferns and grasses.

We found the narrow entrance half way down a steep street of terraced houses, and we got a feeling for the garden as we walked through the tiny front patch.

We then wandered around the side of the house into the back and immediately felt calm and relaxed. With plenty of places to sit including seats on a deck in front of a summerhouse complete with green roof, there were opportunities throughout the garden to sit and observe the planting and soak up the atmosphere.

I will finish this report from the three Sheffield School gardeners home gardens with a selection of more images of this third garden. I hope you have enjoyed looking at these three Sheffield gardens which we visited one July weekend.