Category: South Shropshire

seasonal visits to two very different gardens – mid-summer at Wildegoose nursery and gardens

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 9, 2019
1 Comment on seasonal visits to two very different gardens – mid-summer at Wildegoose nursery and gardens

We made one of our frequent visits to Wildegoose Nursery and Gardens in the middle of July on a warm bright day. We were pleased to find a new sign at the entrance to the nursery and garden, a beautiful coloured plan of the walled garden. Also new was an area of planting alongside the path to the sales hut.

This new planting reflected the planting style of much of the garden, new perennial style with thoughtful colour matching. The nursery beds also looked really colourful and inviting.

We made our way up to the top of the slope where the tea shop is situated, and we treated ourselves to a coffee and one of their special cakes. Then suitably refreshed we set about exploring this wonderful space. Every gravel pathway led to interesting plant combinations.

We will finish off sharing our visit with you via a gallery of my photos. The whole garden is an exciting example of thoughtful planting groups, sometimes pale and subdued colours others bright and red hot. To follow our tracks click on the first photo and then use the arrows to navigate. We shall return later in the year to see Wildegoose in another season.

Tags garden sculpture, grasses, hardy perennials, hardy violas, new perennial gardening, nurseries, ornamental grasses, South Shropshire, unusual perennials, Wildgoose Nursery and Garden

climbing plants garden arches garden design garden paths garden photography garden ponds garden pools gardening gardens hardy perennials ornamental trees and shrubs roses Shrewsbury Shropshire shrubs South Shropshire water in the garden Yellow Book Gardens

My Garden Journal 2019 – June

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date July 3, 2019
5 Comments on My Garden Journal 2019 – June

As we reach the half way point in the year the garden really comes to life with bright green fresh growth and so much colour from flowers, herbaceous perennials, shrubs and climbers especially roses and clematis. I began by writing, “At the beginning of June we were still worried about how dry the garden still was and longed for some rain. Luckily a few days into June and this is exactly what happened. And luckier still was that the planned group visits to our garden at that time were not interrupted by wet weather. After rain, until the droplets on their flowers and buds dry off, make roses look sad and dejected.”

I then shared a batch of Rose pics.

The next double page spread featured wider shots of borders and plant communities.

I wrote, “I decided it would be a good idea to go out with my camera in hand to take wide shots of the garden borders to give an impression of the whole garden. But, as the overcast sky and rain didn’t go away, I went out into the heavy rain and took the shots I wanted.”

“Plant-a-Boxes – end of drive” “Herbaceous Violas – front door”

Then followed a set of 4 photos of our “Beth Chatto Garden”.

Next a set of photos of the Shrub Borders, and the New Garden finishing with a photo of out Hare who guards the lawn daisies.

“The New Garden”

“Our Hare Sculpture who guards the lawn daisies.”

Below are four photos of our Beth Chatto Garden.

“The Beth Chatto Garden”

The last two pics on this page show the Shed Roof Garden and the new Foliage Garden by the shed.

Turning over the page we move into the back garden, where I wrote, “To access the back garden you can go either side of the house. Access to the left and you can enjoy the “Shade Border” featuring ferns. Once in the back there are two paths to choose from both of which will take you the length of the garden.”

“Taking any pathway will present enticing views into the borders.”

Onto the next page I wrote, “The new Hot Garden has settled well and already giving pleasure.”

“Arabella’s Garden is now lush with growth and gives pleasure to her when she visits. She checks on it every time.”

Over the page I share my pencil crayon sketches of two of our smaller grasses, both Briza.

The final page for this month shows the Bog garden and the show of Alliums which dominates two borders in Jun. I wrote, “At the very bottom of the central path to its left lies the Bog Garden and the Wildlife Pond. Lush, colourful foliage is the order of the day, the tall reeds and Irises adding height.”

“Various Alliums dominate the Chicken Garden and Secret Garden throughout June and will continue into July.”

So there we have my June entries into my Garden Journal 2019, a great month in our garden.

Tags alliums, bog garden, bog plants, brizas, climbing roses, foliage, foliage combinations, foliage plants, grasses, gravel garden, hardy perennials, hardy violas, herbaceous borders, herbaceous plants, roses, violas

colours flowering bulbs garden design garden photography gardening gardens hardy perennials ornamental trees and shrubs shrubs South Shropshire spring spring bulbs spring gardening trees village gardens Yellow Book Gardens

My Garden Journal 2019 – May

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date May 30, 2019

It is the last month of spring and the garden is alive, everything is thriving and growing apace. But the weather is still confusing our plants. Towards the end of the month we had a few daffodils still in flower alongside normal May flowering plants. Here is my journal entries for the month.

I started by referring back to the weather in April, “April disappeared without giving us a day of ‘April showers’, the garden is still confused by the weather but we carry on enjoying being outside whatever the weather. The garden seems weeks ahead of where it should be, with trees and shrubs flowering and leafing out of season. May is a great month for flowering shrubs, using their fresh foliage as a foil.” I followed with photographs of just a few of our flowering shrubs.

Cercis siliquastrum Loropetalum chinensis “Fire Dance”

Azalea luteum Pittosporum tennuifolium ‘Gold Star’

Pittosporum tennuifolium ‘Silver Queen’ Buddleja salviflora

Blueberry

Over the page I continued by writing, “In May many of our flowering shrubs have white or off-white coloured flowers such as Viburnums in variety, Aronia and deciduous Euonymus.”

On the opposite page Euphorbias take over, a plant that fills our garden with its bright chartreuse, yellow and green. It is a very exciting plant family.

“Euphorbias -one of our favourite plant families. We grow so many! Brilliant form, texture and architectural beauty comes from foliage, bracts, stems and the tiniest of flowers. Euphorbias deserve looking at closely. Get down and enjoy the details.”

Turning over to the next double page we move from Euphorbias to garden jobs and the far more delicate perennial Violas.

“May is a busy month in our Avocet patch, a month when we are still deadheading spring-flowering bulbs and beginning regular mowing and edging of our grass paths and lawns.”

“Ian our garden helper, mows and trims edges while I reorganise my loppers.”

“Jude hangs out the hanging baskets and puts succulent pots outside.”

“We have planted strawberries in the strawberry pot.”

“Our tomatoes and courgette are now snug in their growbags.”

Violas feature on the opposite page where I wrote, “Recently we bought some old varieties of hardy perennial Violas, including V. Elaine Quin, V. Columbine, V. Etaine Cream and V. Belmont Blue.”

“We grow dozens of different ferns in the shadier parts of the garden. The star fern for May has to be ‘Matteuccia struthiopteris’ the Ostrich Fern.”

As we move on to the next double page we discover my Acer pruning and lots of Alliums.

“I enjoy pruning many of our shrubs in a Japanese style called Niwaki, which finds the beauty in each shrub, exposes their lower limbs and lets light in. Our Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood’ hasn’t been prunes in this way for a couple of years so May was the time I tackled it. The photos show before and after forms. I removed about 50% of the growth.”

“May is the month when our first variety of Alliums are at their best. Hundreds sweep through our borders with their beautiful, bee-attracting purple spherical flower heads.”

And so the final page for my garden journal in May, where we look at probably our favourite tree and the one asked about and admired most by visitors to our garden, Cercis siliquastrum.

I wrote, “Cercis siliquastrum, probably our favourite tree in the garden was in full flower in April and still looks magnificent at the end of May. I treat this to a Niwaki prune too as the first photo shows. As it begins to slowly drop its pink petals it leaves pools of bright pink on the lawn and on the seat beneath it.”

Tags acers., Cercis siliquastrum, creative pruning, euphorbia, euphorbias, ferns, flowering bulbs, flowering shrubs, garden journal, gardens in May, hardy violas, May, Niwaki, pruning, the garden in May, violas

colours flowering bulbs garden buildings garden design garden designers garden paths garden photography garden seat garden seating garden sheds gardening gardens gardens open to the public grasses hardy perennials light quality National Garden Scheme NGS nurseries ornamental grasses outdoor sculpture sculpture Shropshire South Shropshire spring bulbs spring gardening traditions village gardens walled gardens Yellow Book Gardens

Seasonal visits to two very different gardens

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date May 15, 2019

Instead of a monthly visit to the same garden for a whole 12 months I decided to look at two gardens, one small and one large. We have already visited the large one, Bodnant Gardens in North Wales already. So here is our first visit to our chosen small garden Wildegoose Nursery and Garden here in Shropshire.

We visited on May 5th, the day that Wildegoose opens with Millichope Hall Gardens for the NGS, just as we do. Wildegoose is the restoration project of the hall’s walled garden. Here a young couple, Jack and Laura Willgoss, have set up a nursery and are developing a modern perennial style garden as well as specialising in hardy perennial violas. It is an exciting project which we love to visit often.

Our first visit for this series of posts was on May 5th, a bright day with a chilly wind but a day with great light for taking photos and enhancing the brightness of colours.

We arrived via a tall gate in the the brick walls and were immediately struck by a patch of Forget-me-nots and tulips. We soon realised that Jack and Laura had a great taste in tulip colours. These tulips complimented so effectively the strength of colours of euphorbias and wallflowers.

Throughout the garden, as we wandered and explored, little gems of plants caught our eyes like this unusual Cammassia and the strong stemmed Thalictrum “Black Stocking”.

Memories of the walled garden’s Georgian origins and its history until its demise after the two world wars appear occasionally throughout the garden, and exciting artifacts integrate into the plantings.

The teashop is wonderfully old-fashioned and is so welcoming with beautiful bone china crockery in which tasty tea is served along with home-made cakes. We found a beautifully coloured table and chairs within the garden. We are tempted to paint some of our metal furniture in that colour as it sits so comfortably in the garden.

Next here is a selection of photos taken throughout the walled garden for you to enjoy.

We finished our wanderings at the nursery. Always a good idea! Here we bought a selection of their hardy perennial violas – beautiful!

Laura and Jack’s twins always leave a surprise somewhere in the garden and today this was in the nursery beds. A nice friendly way to finish an inspirational, relaxing afternoon.

We will be back in the summer and report that exploration too.

Tags hardy perennials, hardy violas, independent nurseries, new perennial gardening, nurseries, ornamental grasses, perennials, South Shropshire, violas, Wildgoose Nursery

colours flowering bulbs garden design garden photography gardening gardens grasses hardy perennials ornamental grasses Shrewsbury Shropshire South Shropshire Winter Gardening winter gardens

My Garden Journal 2019 – January

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date February 4, 2019

Back with my new journal for a new year, my Garden Journal 2019. January is often described a s a quiet month in the garden and gardeners are often told to keep inside in the warm, order seeds from catalogues, clean their sheds and sharpen bladed tools and clean up all tools. But in reality a good garden is a good garden for 12 months of the year and a good gardener keeps his bladed tools sharp continously, all his tools are cared for througout the year and there is plenty to look at and enjoy in the garden and plenty of interest to be found in plants.

I begin my January journal entries with the words, “What is in flower in our Avocet patch early in January? A quick wander around on a calm, dry day with camera in hand provides the answer. I thought I wouls be out in the garden for 10 minutes or so but there was so much t lok at that it was three times longer.”

I shared a set of 8 photos showing “Violas, Cyclamen, members of the Primula family and even an adventurous Rose.”

I then went onwards with my camera into the greenhouse which is not yet heated at all, so we are simply keeping things ticking over. Soon we will put heat on and the heated propagating bench in readiness for the exciting task of seed sowing. I wrote, “The greenhouse is a busy place in the winter full to overflowing with over-wintering sensitive plants, autumn seedlings ticking over and cuttingstaken late in the year.”

Examples of these sorts of plants are shown in the set of photos, including seedling Achilleas, Fuschia thalia and Sedum Matrona cuttings.

On the opposite page I looked at some of our many grasses that shine in January and shared a set of pics. “Grasses come into their own in January both deciduous and evergreen. Carex are exceptionally valuable winter grasses.”

Carex elata aurea Carex elata aurea

Calamagrostis “Northwood” Miscanthus sinensis Carex “Evergold”

Carex elata “Evergold” Uncinia rubra Carex “Frosted Curls”

Carex elata “Bowles Gold” Anemalanthe lessoniana

Calamostris brachytricha Carex buchanii

On the following double page spread I moved on to look at some of our berries and foliage plants giving interest in January. On the first page I wrote, “Throughout the winter birds especially members of the Thrush family enjoy gorging on the berries on our trees and shrubs. We grow berrying plants for the birds to eat as well as for our own visual feast. By January a few are still left over.”

Guelder Rose Mahonia “Winter Sun”

Honeysuckle berries Malus “Admiration”

Native Holly Iris foetidissima

Cotoneaster Libertia

Sarcococa confusa

We can now look at the opposite page and consider some of our interesting foliage, where I wrote, “In January interesting foliage catches the eye, variegation, dusting with silver, glaucous or ruby coloured.”

Eucalyptus parvula Rhamnus aureomarginata Eleagnus ebbingei

Coprosmia “Pacific Night” Pinus mugo “Mumpitz”

Hedera helix “Long Trail Yellow” Hebe

Budleja “Lochinch” Euphorbia lathyris

Over the page I wanted to share the disaster we had with our old fence that backed our Seaside Garden. I wrote, “I shall now report on the progress we have made with our winter projects and look at work in progress too. You will not be surprised that strong winds broke down the fence panels backing the Seaside Garden so this area neededa complete renovation. The old fence was soon replaced jointly with our neighbours and the new, better quality fence presented opportunities to put up vine eyes and wires. We planned to plant plenty of new climbers as well as renew and replenish the other plants and artefacts. We decided to include more plants this time.”

The new fence ………………….

The trellis goes back up and the vine eyes and wires are being fixed up.

The climbers are planted ……………. and grasses soon join them.

To finish the month of January off, we can have a quick look at what the finished revamped seaside garden ended looking like, ready for the growing season ahead.

I wrote, “We had great fun rebuilding the Seaside Garden despite cold temperatures made more severe by the icy cold winds. So, wrapped up well against this typical January weather we put up old fishing nets from Scotland, sea-washed driftwood from Devon and Anglesey plus shells and pebbles.”

“Avian des res!”

“House Sparrows”

“Titmice”

“Wrens”

“Meanwhile we continued to change the 3 beds around the back grass into a new hot garden. Sadly we messed up the grass so had to also prepare this for repair. We have now finished planting the new plants and repaired the grass area ready for seeding in March.”

So there we have my entries for January in my 2019 garden journal.

Tags climbers, climbing plants, cyclamen, flwering bulbs, grasses, seaside border, seaside garden, spring bulbs, spring flowers

autumn autumn colours climbing plants colours garden design garden photography gardening gardens grasses hardy perennials light light quality ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs pelargoniums Shropshire shrubs South Shropshire

My Garden Journal 2018 – October

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date November 7, 2018
2 Comments on My Garden Journal 2018 – October

Here we are in October, my 10th visit to my garden journal this year. I love October, with its special rich light and the fire and flame colours of foliage on trees, shrubs and perennial plants alike.

The first words in my October journal were, “With October came our first signs of Autumn, foliage on perennials, shrubs and trees are all colouring up – yellows, oranges and reds. Green is becoming a far less dominant colour.” I have taken lots of colourful photos to share what we can see each time we wander out into our garden.

On the next page my photos one of the most colourful of all autumnal shrubs, the deciduous Euonymus, and I wrote, Our deciduous Euonymus are at their best in October, foliage and berries.”

Over on the next double page spread and on the following page too, I continued to look at our current projects.

I wrote, “Moving on with our project, creating a new border to replace our rather jaded foliage bed, we positioned the plants in pots, moved them around until they looked just right. The planting could then get underway.”

“We decided that for another autumn and winter task we would re-design our Hot Border which was looking a little jaded. This simple decision soon became far more complicated. We ended up making the bold decision to move the new Hot Garden to a completely different part of our patch. But first we had to finish work on the new bed featured on the opposite page. Bulbs had to be planted and an access path made along the backof the border plus a couple of Liriope muscari needed planting.”

“A selection of bulbs and a few more Carex get planted.”

“Ian, our gardener, creates a new acess path for the back of the new border.”

“Two Liriope muscari now enjoy their new home.”

Moving on to the next double page spread I share the beginnings of developing the new front border to replace the original Hot Garden. I wrote,“As Ian trimmed our Lavender Hedge, I began stripping out the original Hot Border. As I dug plants up, Jude repotted any we wished to keep, if necessary splitting them up too.”

The front border soon looked empty and Ian improved the soil by double digging and and incorporating organic compost and forking it all through. It is now easily workable and feels a perfect texture.

On the opposite page to our front border adventures I shared some of my paintings of October seedheads, created using graphite pencil and Japanese water colour brush pens.

I wrote, “When the sun shines bright on a dry October day, its rays catch each delicate seedhead atop the fine stems of perennials. The slightest breeze invite these lightweight beige, bronze, ginger and coffee seedheads to dance.”

The final double page spread brings colour back as we look at what is in flower during the last few days of the month. I wrote, “In contrast to the subtle colours of dried grasses and seed heads our late flowering climbers, shrubs and perennials are so bright!”

“Sharp contrasts give the garden added depth as the autumn sum dips lower in the sky.”

So we see the end of October with reasonable temperatures holding up and plenty of dry days to get out into the garden and get busy.

Tags garden in October, hardy perennials, light, light and shade, light quality, October, ornamental grasses, ornamental trees, shrubs and trees

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

My Garden Journal 2018 – July

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Elephant Hawk Moths

Master of Disguise

These tiny moths are equally fascinating.

A myriad of moths.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Agastache Scrophularia

Erigeron and Hebe Clouds of Achilleas

Two deep purple Clematis

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

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

colours garden photography hardy perennials nurseries Shropshire South Shropshire

Return to Mark’s New Hope Gardens’ Day Lilies

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date July 29, 2018
1 Comment on Return to Mark’s New Hope Gardens’ Day Lilies

Friend Mark Zennick, is well known for his wide range of Hemerocallis or Day Lilies and he has many varieties for sale at his nursery not far from Plealey. He began his love for Day Lilies while still living in his native US.

We find it by taking a lane for just three quarters of a mile to the A488 road towards Bishops Castle and Clun. After passing through the Hope Valley and the outskirts of Bishops Castle we soon found Mark’s little specialist nursery on our right. We had come to collect a particular cultivar called Alabama Jubilee and it is featured in the first photo below. We love it for the intense orange colours and the darker areas like shading. As always though we were tempted by several more, especially the dark flowered ones.

We were greeeted with a broad smile and a warm welcome, from both Mark and his trusty old Labrador. Behind him the colours of row upon row of Day Lilies stretch out away from the car park. So much colour in such a small nursery! These rows led our eyes out to the beautiful countryside surrounding the nursery.

It was so hot and bright that Jude the Undergardener used her ladybird umbrella to keep the sun off, which amused Mark. Crazy English lady! I promised to send him a photo!

We wandered very slowly up and down each row of plants making notes on the order form Mark had given us for that purpose. The list of “wants” kept getting bigger and we had to start some editing. We decided that shortening the list was such a difficult task that we would allow ourselves ten plants maximum!

There was so much choice, diffirent colours, flower shapes, habit and flwering period. Here is the selection we started off with. We eventually left with eleven plants.

Mark made us promise to return soon when even more of his special plants would be flowering. How many Hemerocallis will we be tempted by then I wonder?

Tags day lilies, hemerocallis, independent nurseries, Mark Zennick, nurseries

colours flowering bulbs garden design garden photography gardening gardens grasses hardy perennials irises light light quality ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs roses Shrewsbury Shropshire shrubs South Shropshire spring bulbs Winter Gardening winter gardens

My Garden Journal 2018 – February

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date March 1, 2018
2 Comments on My Garden Journal 2018 – February

Part two of my 2018 Garden Journal sees us still freezing cold and struggling to get time in the garden.

I opened my February entries by noting, “February is the month when we feel that the quality of the light improves and makes us feel better and there are definite signs of the days lengthening. Early bulbs begin flowering and others are showing strong leaf growth.”

I next sought out another quote from Dan Pearson’s book, “Natural Selection” and was pleased to find this one, “Making room for the winter garden is every bit as important as managing a garden that draws your attention in the dark months.”

Turning over to the next double page spread I write about newly acquired plants.

“It is always an enjoyable time planting newly acquired plants but it is an extra-special experience doing so in February. We were delighted to find good healthy specimens of two fastigiate plants, a Taxus baccata “Fastigiata Robusta” and an Ilex crenata “Fastigiata”. The only two fastigiate plants we have already established at Avocet are a Berberis and an Oak, Berberis thunbergia fastigiata atropurpurea “Helmond Pillar” , (a tall thin shrub with a long thin name!” and Quercus palustris “Green Pillar” which despite its name is grown for its deep red autumn colour.”

“We also recently planted a Viburnum with a very different growth habit to our fastigiate purchases. It is a low growing shrub with a very open, airy growth and sweetly scented flowers in April. It is also described as “almost evergreen”, so we will wait and see exactly how ours behaves. We already have a good collection of Viburnums around our Avocet patch.”

Some of my watercolour sketches of Hellebores and details of their petals feature on the next page.

“Hellebores peak in February adding a richness with the deep reds and purples as well as cheeriness with their yellow flowers.”

“I love turning up each flower to reveal its beauty, its colours and markings of spots and streaks.”

On the opposite page I looked at some of our grasses with winter interest and share some photos of them.

“In late February we begin to cut down “deciduous” grasses, choosing the right time to avoid cutting through this year’s new growth. Evergreen grasses especially varieties of Carex come into their own especially when partnered with evergreen foliage plants such as ferns, bergenias and arums.”

Moving on to the final double page spread for February, I considered coloured stemmed Dogwoods and a look at roses as they give their final points of interest before they are pruned and begin to grow anew for this year.

“The coloured stems of Dogwoods add so much colour to the winter borders. We use them to catch the rays of the low sun which helps them to glow and liven up our garden.”

I finished off my February journal entries by featuring roses and a very special plant, special because it is a dogwood that occurred in our garden as a chance seedling of Midwinter Fire crossed with one of our other Cornus plants. We have grown it on and now take lots of cuttings hoping to bulk it up. We hope to be able then to sell them at our open days. Very exciting!

I wrote, “Our Cornus Midwinter Fire throws up new plants from runners and occasionally a few from seed. The runners are identical to the parent plant but the seedlings can vary a lot. We pot the seedlings on and then plant them out on our allotment plot to allow us to identify “star plants”. We have one which is far redder than its parents and has better autumn colour. We are propagating these (see below). We have named it Cornus “Arabella’s Crimson” after our granddaughter.”

My final page is about roses and yellow flowers of the February garden. The yellow flowers are Jasminum nudiflorum, Cornus mas and a pale yellow rose bud. I wrote “Sparkling spots of yellow flowers brighten up the February weather, fighting against this month’s greys.”

“Late February is the time when we begin pruning our bush roses in readiness for the new growing season. We always find wrinkled rose hips and even the odd flower bud.

“Next month is one we really look forward to. Already by mid-February light values have improved, but soon Spring may begin to creep in!”

Tags arum, cornus, cornus mas, Cornus Midwinter Fire, dogwoods, fastigiate plants, flowering bulbs, grasses, iris, iris reticulata, ornamental grasses, shrubs in winter, spring bulbs, viburnum, winter, winter aconite, winter garden, winter gardening

autumn colours climbing plants colours flowering bulbs garden design garden photography garden wildlife gardening gardens half-hardy perennials hardy perennials irises light light quality log piles logs natural pest control ornamental trees and shrubs roses Shrewsbury Shropshire shrubs South Shropshire spring bulbs succulents trees

My Garden Journal 2017 – November

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 7, 2017
2 Comments on My Garden Journal 2017 – November

The penultimate visit to my garden journal for 2017 is here – hope you enjoy it. I began by referring back to a development we started in the garden back in September which we finished off in November. We are very pleased with how it has turned out and look forward to seeing the new plants flourish.

“October continued with damaging winds and days with brown skies and orange sun as we received the effects f Hurricane Ophelia, downgraded to Storm Ophelia as it hit our shores. The last few weeks of October and the early days of November, saw us busy continuing develop our “Oil Tank Garden”.

“We screened the ugly tank with panels of beautiful diamond latticed panels and soon got on with the planting. Always the exciting bit!”

Over the page I continue to describe our development of this border and wrote “Behind the tank we have planted two trees, the Heptacodium mentioned in September and a stunning Sorbus called Joseph Rock with yellow berries in stark contrast to its deepest red autumn foliage.

“Hundreds of miniature daffodils were planted with crocus, Anemone blanda and other small bulbs.”

“A new solitary bee home was sited in the new garden. We gave it a miniature green roof!”

“We soon had a selection of climbers planted to clothe the trellis panels, Roses, Clematis, Honeysuckle and a Coronilla”.

“Behind the tank we planted for wildlife and hedgehogs in particular. We placed a nestbox for hedgehogs among dense planting of ferns and Euphorbias. We added stone piles, leaf piles and log piles.”

Turning over another page I featured some words by Dan Pearson and looked at some autumn flowering plants.

“Taking a look at Dan Pearson’s writings about Autumn in his “Natural Selections” book he wrote,

I want to invite the seasons into the garden, vividly and in layers. I use asters, autumn crocus and gentians at ground level, and shrubs that perform for this season to take the eye up and away, to straighten the back. I weave berrying trees and shrubs into the garden as much for their jewel-like fruit as for the birds which flock down to gorge when the fruit is ready for feasting upon.”

We aim to do exactly the same in our Avocet patch. Below are a few of our Asters which feature in our “Shrub Border”, a border that brings Autumn in.”

“Another herbaceous perennial that features strongly in our November garden are the Salvias. We leave a few to over-winter in the garden but most will be brought into the cool greenhouse.”

Turning over again I take a look at succulents, plants rarely mentioned in the context of the autumn garden.

“When considering Autumn colour, succulents are rarely mentioned, but just check out the photos below of some of our succulents taken in November“

Below are my paintings/drawings of two multi-coloured succulent stems which I created with water soluble pencil crayons.

“Taking succulent cuttings.”

“Final pots of succulents waiting to go into their winter home.”

The final page of my November entries in the Garden Journal celebrates my “Plant of the Month”, which is one of only two Irises native to the UK, Iris foetidissima.