Category: ornamental trees and shrubs

Changing Colours

It may be the cold or the blossom may be simply exhausted, but as we looked at the garden today we noticed that the Autumn Cherry tree blossom had changed from a delicate and pale sugar pink to a warm salmon-ginger.

Another change of colour I have recently noticed is related to the flowering quince that brightens up our gateway with its orange-red blossoms with contrasting yellow stamens. We recently brought into the house some twigs to encourage the flower and leaf buds to open. When they did open they opened not as a bright orange-red but as delicate shade of pink with a hint of salmon. Could this be different light inside and out?Different temperatures? Or even the lack of trace elements that the quince gets from the soil which aren’t in the case water?

Tags garden photography, gardening, ornamental trees, shrubs, winter, winter gardens

birds climbing plants garden design garden photography garden wildlife gardening hardy perennials ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture shrubs trees

A Wander around the Garden in January

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 2, 2012
3 Comments on A Wander around the Garden in January

This is the first in a series of blogs which I will write at the beginning of each month through 2012, and will show what is going on in our garden at that time – a sort of record of garden highlights.

So the new year has arrived. January 1st was a dull overcast day, with unbroken deep grey cloud and regular periods of drizzle. But at least it was warm with temperature holding up in low double figures all day. But not a day to perform a photographic wander.

So here I am on the 2nd January with camera in hand to record what’s going on appreciating a blue sky, but well wrapped against a freezing wind. Buzzards are sharing my joy of seeing a big blue sky as they are soaring silently above the garden with none of their usual sad cries. The garden is noticeably quiet, the bird feeders far less busy than they usually are in January. There is just the constant quiet, barely perceptible winter song of the Robin who follows me around and the equally gentle twittering of Goldfinches, Blue Tits and their long-tailed cousins.

Enjoy a walk around with me and my camera, as we take a tour …………

The newest addition to the garden, just planted today, is the dark foliaged Euphorbia "Redwing", spotted with fresh rain drops following a shower.

This brightly flowered quince, Chaenomeles "Fire Dance", glows at the drive entrance, providing a cheerful welcome.

DSC_0006-1 — This clump of bell-shaped flowers of Arbutus unedo, the Strawberry Tree, overhangs the roadside verge. We are so grateful for its performance as it only just survived the onslaught of the last two winters. We rescued it with heavy pruning.

Orange stems of Cornus "Cardinal" with the white stems of young Betula utilis in the newly planted Shrub Garden.

Terra-cotta pots and the pink flowers of Bergenia sit at the feet of Miscanthus and driftwood.

The yellow-faced blue Violas flower in pots by the front door.

In the Rill Garden two very different Hebes with colourful foliage sit in front of an orange-stemmed dogwood.

The low light of winter turns the cut foliage of the purple-leaved vine blood-red.

The creamy-yellow berries of the Cotoneaster rothschildianus hang in clusters covering this small tree.

The flowers of this pioneering Primrose appear too delicate to survive the cold of January.

Warm brown seed heads give so much to the Chicken Garden in winter.

The grasses throughout the garden catch both the winter light and the gentlest breeze. The curly seed heads of this Miscanthus napalensis are soft to the touch.

In the Secret Garden the cream metal seats become more dominant just when they are too cold to sit on.

In the Japanese Garden the blooms of our pink version of Prunus autumnalis subhirtella are a joy to look at.

Move in close and appreciate the pink glow.

The hottest of the coloured stemmed dogwoods must be Midwinter Fire - ours grows on the bank bordering the wildlife pond.

The white-stemmed Rubus sits alongside Midwinter Fire on the pond bank.

The fruit of our apple "Pixie" remained too tiny to pick so we have left them for the birds, who so far have ignored them.

Jasminum nudiflorum has been flowering by the chicken's run now for four months and is still going strong. What a star!

The mad seed heads of the orange-peel clematis, which I grew from seed, never cease to amaze me even though I see it each morning as I collect the chucks' eggs.

We seem to have calendula flowers somewhere in the garden every day of the year.

One of five Achillea still flowering away in January, this variety "Biscuit" is in the Secret Garden.

Tags betula, clematis, cornus, dogwoods, grasses, hebe, prunus, rubus, winter gardens

bird watching birds conservation garden wildlife ornamental trees and shrubs trees Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust wildlife

Wildlife in the City – Barnes

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 31, 2011
1 Comment on Wildlife in the City – Barnes

We went down to London for the day, not to see a show or visit a museum or shop in Harrods, but to go birdwatching. Not something I could have said a few years ago, but luckily for us and the residents of the capital city the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust have created a haven for wildlife right in the heart of the city. We hate cities and definitely hate driving in them, so we hoped our visit would be worthwhile. We were accompanied by our daughter Jo and son-in-law Rob who had recommended the place to us, so the pressure was on them! They are good navigators in cities which was most useful. Last year they visited and were amazed at 5 Bittern sightings.

The day dawned cold and wet with a bitter wind so we wrapped up in thermals and layer upon layer of clothing suitable for Polar Bear spotting. First impressions were favourable – the centre was attractively built, we were “meeted and greeted” by a friendly WWT person who told us where to go starting with the cafe. it turned out to be a good cafe which served tasty lattes and even tastier bacon butties. We reluctantly left the cafe’s warmth and shelter expecting to have to tackle the weather to reach the first hide. Wrong! It was in the same building as the cafe and a most comfy place to view the large expanse of water.

Watching the numerous species of duck against an urban background seemed somewhat incongruous. And watching a Peregrine spook the ducks in a diagonal stoop over the cold grey water added to this feeling. We saw over 40 species of bird including Snipe, both Common and Jack, wildfowl such as pochard, teal and shoveller, but fewer small birds but we were treated to a close up view of a Stonechat, that dapper little alert chap dressed in russet and wearing a black cap. The Jack Snipe, Pintail and Water Rail were probably the star spots of the day. It has been 30 odd years since we last saw this diminutive Jack Snipe, the little wader with the long beak that is surprisingly shorter and less ridiculous than the one sported by its larger cousin the Common Snipe. We had a fine view allowing us to appreciate its wonderful striped head and russet wing markings.

Walking between the hides we were impressed by the wildlife gardens planted along the walkways. The dried stems of perennials and the stark outlines of dogwoods, willows and birches gave a taster of how attractive they must be in warmer months. There were examples of methods of attracting wildlife such as this magnificent “insect tower block”.

Coloured stemmed willows feature strongly as pollarded trees, hedges, structures such as arches and living fences. These yellow stemmed pollarded and coppiced specimens lit up the dull grey day.

Barnes certainly lived up to expectation even though the visitors’ favourite failed to put in an appearance, the weather being too inclement for the Bitterns, a bird that dislikes the wind. But it gives a reason to return. We plan to visit next in the summer when it will be interesting to see what summer migrants are in evidence in this wildlife oasis in the city. I know how corny the phrase “wildlife oasis” is, but how else can you describe this little gem.

Tags Barnes, snipe, stonechat, wildfowl, Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, WWT

climbing plants garden photography gardening hardy perennials ornamental trees and shrubs roses

Christmas Rose

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 25, 2011

No, this is not going to be primarily about hellebore, sometimes known as Christmas Roses. They do not always flower at Christmas time, although in recent years the tendency to flower in December has increased here in our Shropshire garden.

I am talking here about the climbing version of Rosa Graham Thomas, a David Austin rose which we grow clambering over one of our garden sheds. We try to train some branches along the nearby fence but it likes to be on the shed roof best of all. It has been voted “The World’s Favourite Rose”. This seems particularly apt as Graham Thomas himself was one of the world’s favourite garden writers, having written 17 books in all. He was also an excellent artist working in both water colours and pencil, though he was best known perhaps for his role as the National Trust’s “head gardener”.

A second slow cold walk around the garden revealed that this year the hellebore are in fact performing in tune with their nick name, so perhaps I had better feature them too!

Here in winter its deep yellow blooms help to emphasise the depth of clear December skies. This rose manages to flourish all year, flowering almost every month of the year except straight after its annual pruning in spring. In winter it also displays large hips of orange and later red. Sadly it lacks the scent which pervades the garden in the humid warmer months. The David Austin catalogue describes this scent as typical “fresh tea rose fragrance” although “The under gardener”, otherwise known as my wife Jude, thinks it reminiscent of school dinners!

Several other roses have odd flowers on at the moment as a quick wander around with camera in hand illustrated. This sad rose bud didn’t quite make it to full bloom before being cut by the wind. The orange is the flower of a Calendula. They landed side by side on the bark surface of the new “Secret Garden”

Tags David Austin, Graham Thomas, hellebores, New English Roses, roses

garden design garden photography gardening hardy perennials meadows ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs roses

A Garden for all Seasons – Trentham

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 23, 2011
2 Comments on A Garden for all Seasons – Trentham

The phrase, “a garden for all seasons” is over-used and too often banded about in the gardening media. Rarely is a garden good in all seasons but it is something that we aspire to here in our garden in Plealey. We haven’t achieved it yet but feel we get closer in some borders each year. We do a lot of garden visiting and the garden we visit most often is Trentham Gardens in Stoke-on-Trent. This has to be the closest you can get to “a garden for all seasons”. We visited yesterday, 22nd December, to see how good it was at this rather dull austere time of year.

The day dawned bright with blue sky decorated only with vapour trails and a whisp of a moon, which looked like a simple delicate curve drawn with a piece of fine blackboard chalk. Over our garden and the fields beyond buzzards wheeled in this clean, clear morning atmosphere. As I fed the chucks and had my morning chat with them the buzzards were never silent, gently “mewing” in time with their soaring in search of the first thermals of the day. A perfect day to visit one of our favourite gardens but were we asking too much of it? We drive off with high expectations.

Any garden that had involved Tom Stuart-Smith and Piet Oudolf in its re-design had to impress. We had visited in all seasons before but never in the winter. From our first glimpse of the vast expanse of gardens from the bridge over the River Trent, busy with mallards, we knew we were not to be disappointed.

It is truly a mix of the old and the new, as the new plantings are in the context of the original Capability Brown parkland and formal bedding gardens and Italian Garden. The garden signposts invite you to “The Italian Garden” but it is so much more than that.

First up is Piet Oudolf’s River of Grasses which in the low light of this December morning glowed. The gentle breeze imposed gentle swaying and rustlings of the biscuit tinted dried stems and seed heads. These were dotted with ginger and brown seed heads of perennials such as sedum and astilbe. The wide green cut paths we followed through the sea of grasses emphasised the clever design and simple planting.

Just before leaving the River of Grasses an avenue of birches with wonderful orange peeling bark cuts across our path. There is no way to walk through this double row of betulas so technically speaking it probably shouldn’t be called an avenue. With the light behind the peeling bark it lit up like thin slithers of brittle toffee.

From the River of Grasses we moved into the Floral Labyrinth another Piet Oudolf creation. Here there were swathes and blocks of dried stems and seed heads of tall perennials. Blackbirds and Song Thrushes enjoyed searching for their brunch and regularly scuttled across the path. There were more grasses here and they were rimmed with the bright low sunlight.

Leaving the labyrinth meant leaving Piet Oudolf’s contribution to Trentham behind and experiencing a culture shock was on the cards as we entered features of the older more formal garden. Look out for a blog I have planned for the near future on the work of Piet Oudolf.

After passing through a long archway of trained Hornbeam we found the very formal garden with its tightly clipped swirling patterns of box hedges. In the summer this area is just too gaudy for me, being styled on Victorian bedding. Not my favourite!! I like it in the winter when instead of bright red geraniums etc the gaps between the box are the gentle green of wallflower and primula foliage. The first photo shows an area with gravel infill and tall thin cypresses.

From the raised terrace of box patterns we looked over the old Italian Garden redesigned by Tom Stuart-Smith, where the original framework of paths encloses soft but dramatic plantings of grasses and perennials. Bursts of water from pools surge upwards and are caught by the light and the wind. They look white and frothy with sprays of fine mist blowing from them. The horizontal patches of grass seed heads are rimmed with light and create strong horizontal lines contrasting with the rigid upright cypresses and the dumpy domes of golden yew.

As we appreciated the quiet of this area our attention was drawn by a pair of Grey Wagtails playful and flirting low over the grasses. High overhead loose flocks of gulls wheeled and squealed.

We wandered around the paths stunned by the beauty of T. S-S’s planting ideas, every clump of seed heads complimented its neighbours, making each bed look good when viewed as a whole but nothing short of brilliant when studied in close-up. Marjoram, sedum, rudbeckia, lillies and phlomis. So many shades of biscuit, browns, russets and reds.

One of the beauties of a visit to Trentham is the coffee drinking opportunities provided, in the garden centre before you enter the actual garden, in the shopping village, at the garden entrance and in the beautiful rounded glass cafe just beyond the Tom S-S borders. We sat and enjoyed a latte and warm minced pie and talked about the garden so far. No we didn’t just talk about it – we raved about it! We just couldn’t believe how good it was on this day in December. Nearby music and squeals of delight emanated from a marquee that housed a skating rink. More joyful noise and children’s cries of sheer enjoyment poured from the play area. We couldn’t believe how warm we got sat in the window with the sun on our backs. We mused over this garden of contrasts, enjoyed from every visitor from 2 to 82 years of age. The Oudolf and Stuart-Smith gardens has a magical calming effect on everyone. Children don’t run in that part of the garden but they do once they move into the park areas and woodland. Calm appreciation!

Behind the cafe is a series of display gardens, the number increasing with every visit we make. There was a potager, a wildlife garden a contempoary garden, a garden of sound and many more.

The wildlife garden feature this huge insect hotel complete with bee hive and wormery built-in.

As we wandered back to the garden’s exit we took a look over the Capability Brown lake, ambled through the rose arch with a David Austin border and couldn’t resist a final gentle stroll through Piet Oudolf’s grasses. The rose garden featured some gently curving metal scrolling.

Another coffee before the return journey home when we decided to return in May when the alliums should be at their best alongside the fresh growth of the grasses and perennials. The “Undergardener ” on the way home pronounced “That must be a near perfect winter’s day!”

Tom Stuart-Smith wrote “Trentham is unique, a garden made on a grand scale which pays respect to the historic context, but is nevertheless of our time.”

For more information about Trentham see their website www.trentham.co.uk. Look out for my planned blogs on the gardens of Piet Oudolf and Tom Stuart-Smith and I am tempted to look back at my photo library and seek out my summer photos of Trentham to illustrate a “Summer Memories of Trentham” blog.

Tags David Austin, grasses, Piet Oudolf, prairie planting, Tom Stuart-Smith, Trentham Garden, winter gardens

garden photography garden wildlife gardening ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture roses shrubs town gardens trees wildlife

A small town garden in December.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 19, 2011
2 Comments on A small town garden in December.

Earlier this week we spent a few days down in Gloucestershire at my Mother’s home. She has a small town house with a small town garden, about 30ft by 20ft in the back and a token patch in the front. The house is the last in a row on the edge of a small town and the garden boundary is a tall rich hedge of mixed native plants with fields beyond. For centuries this hedge has fed and sheltered wildlife in its hawthorns, ivies, wild roses and the sprawling shawl of brambles. It is home to a rogue buddleja germinated from a seed dropped by a bird and now attracting butterflies, bees and hoverflies to its scented purple flowers each summer.

The ivy has spread from the hedge and along the garage wall which forms one side of a little secret garden, a shaded place for tea and cake. This ivy is now full of black berries, food for blackbirds who earlier in the year used its shelter in which to build their nest. It is a warm place for wrens to roost.

A look out from the front window into the garden shows the skeleton of silver branches of the Cercis Forest Pansy now having lost the last of its red and plum coloured leaves of autumn and a recently neatly pruned climbing rose on the porch wall. A glance at the back shows it to be dominated by a fine specimen of Arbutus unedo, the strawberry tree. There are small dots of colour from remnant flowering of earlier seasons still to be seen, but go out with camera in hand and there is so much more interest. Here the lens sees more than the eye and conjures up a garden full of textures and colours. Old terra-cotta pots spiral beneath the trunk of a malus arranged to add interest when the crab apples have been eaten by blackbirds and migrant thrushes and the yellow, orange and red of October leaves have journeyed to the ground only to be blown away by strong November winds.

Just as the clay pots were given new life, so the trunk of the conifer, outgrown its space and lopped, has been reborn as the post for a bird table. It is now visited by the birds who ignored its barren foliage when it lived.

Foliage plays a central role in small gardens in winter, both for colour and texture. Some like the Senecio, now sadly re-christened brachyglotis by the botanists, has both with its leaves surfaced in silver-grey fur.

And in sharp contrast to the delicate senecio, the bristly character of the berberis, purple in summer now turns to the red and orange tones of fire. In the shadow of the house wall a small nettle leaved plant clambers over the ground with its matt dry textured foliage shaded with silver, plum and purple. no artist could have designed these leaves.

Close by the variegated periwinkle, Vinca major, defies the season and manages two pure blue blooms.

Promises of scent and colour from late winter and early spring flowers are evidence of rapidly changing seasons, the few lonely pink-blushed blooms of Viburnum bodnantense “Dawn” remind us of the profusion there is in waiting, while the soft-furred pointed buds of magnolia hide all its promises of scent and waxy petalled blooms. Sarcococca is an amazing name for a shrub. In the summer it is quite a dull little waxy leaved evergreen but below its branches are hung with tiny buds that will open into little white gems absolutely loaded with a heavy honey scent at the most unlikely time, January and February. Such a treat, and this one is planted alongside the garden path, just where it can treat anyone passing by.

Whereas the buds of the viburnum and the magnolia are promises of future joy, other buds are remnants of the joys of summer. White buds of the annual pelargonium and the palest pink of the hardy geranium are hanging on into the cold weather. True wishful thinkers!

We access the front garden by passing under a rose arch, over which rambles a Canary Rose one of the earliest roses to come into bloom every year. Now its yellowness comes from its leaves glowing in the winter sun. Its foliage causes confusion as several visitors have thought it to be a rowan.

Beneath the arch the yellow of the Canary Rose is precisely reflected in the deep yellow of the richly variegated euonymus.

In the front the white, silver and cream variegated euphorbia is far more noticeable than at any other time of year even though it never changes.

Tubs at the front have been planted to give bursts of colour mostly from cyclamen. Why can I accept such bright colours and clashes in the winter when I would find them undesirable the rest of the year?

In the short stretch of low dry stone wall, between two levels of garden, I spied this snail-shell, providing just a hint at the many hibernating molluscs hidden in its warmth.

Tags buddleia, town gardens, winter shrubs

arboreta fruit and veg garden photography gardening ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs shrubs trees

Malus “Admiration” – an impulse buy.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 13, 2011

We had to visit the garden centre at Bridgemere to buy a few presents for gardening friends and relations, so as usual we had to have a wander around their plants. We always enjoy their seasonal displays where the best plants of the time are put together in border-like collections – a great idea if you want to know what is giving best seasonal interest. It was particularly good today as a chiminea was simmering away sending wafts of gentle wood smoke into the cool moist air. We were in search of a couple of specimens of Cornus “Cardinal” to creat a trio with the one we bought earlier in the winter. The garden was crying out for a group of three under the white-trunked trio of Betulus utilis “Silver Queen”.

On the journey there we had spotted a stunning malus on the grass verge that glowed an orangy peach colour. And then by coincidence we spotted one at Bridgemere just after loading a pair of cornus into our trolley and as you can imagine it ended up joining them. Gardeners should never give in to impulse buys especially if they have no idea where the plant in question could be planted. We fell for it. The temptation was too great and we definitely had no idea where it would fit into our garden.

We wandered around the garden with the new malus, trying out various spots and eventually found what we hope will prove an ideal situation in front of a grass to emphasis the fruit colour and near a bronze leaved phormium for contrast. Here it will be in the spotlight in autumn and early winter when the low sun will light up the orange and peach of the fruits and emphasise their translucency.

This malus was new to us and is also known as Malus “Adirondack”. It is a small tree or large shrub growing to just 12ft tall and 5ft wide after a decade – just right for a small garden. We look forward now to its “dense clusters of large waxy white flowers” which follow its dark carmine buds.

Tags crab apples, malus, malus adirondack, malus admiration

allotments gardening ornamental trees and shrubs shrubs

Taking Hardwood Cuttings

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date November 26, 2011

We have been busy taking hardwood cuttings of dogwoods and willows this week, the sorts we grow for their coloured stems for winter colour. We have several different varieties of both at home and in the Winter Garden on the lotties. We hope to plant up the allotment’s car park border with the successful cuttings. The photo below shows just how varied the colours are from yellow and pale green through every shade of orange and red and on to black and violet.

The whispier stems of the willows provided cuttings to strike in a bucket of water – oh so simple.

For the dogwoods and the thicker willow stems we made 9 inch long cuttings of the ubiquitous “pencil thick” stems. These we have dealt with in two ways so it will be interesting to see which turns out the most successful. The first batch we put in compost in a pot.

The second batch we rolled up in a cut strip of an old compost bag with compost on which was then rolled into a swiss roll.

Now we play the waiting game!

Tags dogwoods, hardwood cuttings, willows

arboreta autumn garden photography National Trust ornamental trees and shrubs trees wildlife

Woodland Walk – The new woodland walk at Attingham Park

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date November 25, 2011

We arrived at Attingham Park, the closest National Trust property to home, for a coffee and wander in the woods, to discover a sign announcing that a new woodland walk was now open. We had to try it out even though it was a miserable looking day. But once in the wood it didn’t matter what the weather was up to as the sky was hidden by the towering trees. The local bird life however didn’t appreciate the weather for they were virtually absent and almost silent, bar Wood Pigeons flying over the tree tops and small flocks of tits moving rapidly through the branches. The one ornithological treat was being surprised by a Treecreeper that swooped down onto the bottom of the tree trunk alongside us and scuttled its way upwards. It seemed totally unaware of our presence.

Lovely rustic seats gave frequent and welcome resting places. The seats were made from logs and slabs of wood felled from the park. The path was soft and relaxing to walk on being surfaced with pine needles or just deep woodland debris. Our footsteps were thus quiet and did not disturb the woodland peace.

A carpet of leaves underfoot and tall trunks on all sides called us onwards deeper into the Attingham Park woods. Logs and branches of all sizes were left in piles to attract and give shelter to insects, including the Lesser Stag Beetle which frequent the understory.

As the colours were so muted under the greyness of the cloud cover, the most striking feature of our walk was the textures found in live and dead wood. Mosses and lichens carpeted stumps and felled trunks with silvers and greens, and the spent dried leaves had settled onto rough textured bark.

This orange oak leaf rested on a fallen tree, its orange matching perfectly the spots of the Coral Spot fungus. Amazing juxtaposition!

Tags autumn colours, country walks, National Trust, woodland

garden photography gardening ornamental trees and shrubs shrubs

Gardening in autumn sunshine, listening to Bob Brown and buying an unknown plant.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date November 21, 2011

This must have been a near perfect day for any gardener – a morning spent in the garden under autumn sunshine, listening to a talk by Bob Brown in the afternoon and then buying one of his plants, a plant new to me.

Bob is a most entertaining speaker, full of information, humour and original thoughts and ideas. It was when we got our plant home I first noticed the wording on the bag that held our buddleja. At the top it said “I’ve found It! and below that “Bob Brown’s Nursery” and a nice clear map. If you have ever tries to find his Cotswold Cottage Flowers (www.cgf.net) you will understand the need for the map and the meaning of the comment.

Buddleja “Morning Mist” is a cross between Buddleja crispa and Buddleja loricata. Although these parents are not hardy the cross is reputed to be a good hardy little shrub. It grows into a neat metre high dome with silver foliage which is white on the underside, white soft furry stems and silver flowers with mustard centres. And it is scented with the aroma of honey! And it flowers most months of the year! A perfect plant?

Mustard yellow centres add a sparkle of colour to the beautifully scented flowers. Turn the silver leaves over and the undersides are pure white and covered in gentle white fur.