We often visit our gardening friends, William and Linda and their garden up in the hills where it is often colder and windier than here lower down in our garden. In between our visits William and Linda visit us and our garden, so we share each other’s gardens.
In late February we made our first visit of the year and there was plenty of interest for us to look at beneath the gloomy winter skies. The narcissus and cyclamen below certainly attracted our attention. Narcissus Rijnvelds Early Sensation and Cyclamen mirabile.
I chose these three cyclamen plants for their different foliage markings. Cyclamen foliage is so intricate and each leaf is different and equally fascinating.
Carrying on wandering along a meandering pathway we found more little cameos to photograph along the way -foliage, flowers and dried stalks and seed heads.
Surprises wait for us around every corner, the yellow of a Witch Hazel, the tiny fuschia flowers and at the other end of the scale the colourful bark of an old eucalyptus.
Beauty can also be surprising, an orange-red cowslip, a rare scilla and a yellow-edged deep mauve primula flower.
We were delighted to find more cyclamen, a white flowered one and another with long slender foliage.
A great way to finish off is with a photograph of a newly constructed dead hedge, a fine example of recycling green and brown materials.
We will return again soon and find even more delights and surprises.
We hadn’t gone far into the new year when we decided to take the short drive to Attingham Park our local National Trust property. We certainly were not the only ones to think the same as it was the busiest we had ever seen it!
I want to share a selection of my photos taken of details and patterns that appealed to me. Enjoy!
We will be returning in a few weeks to follow the snowdrop walk which we enjoy every February.
So we move into another year, 2022, and we are still stuck with the pandemic which has gone on now for far too long. Thank goodness for our lovely garden which keeps us both busy and sane.
Here are my pages of my garden journal for January 2022.
On the first page for the new year I wrote, “The new year, 2022, began as 2021 left off, cold biting strong winds and some days of continuous rain. Not an easy month for gardeners but with appropriate clothing we carried on. We have been re-vamping some of our garden sculptures, tidying and top-dressing borders. Ian helped by planting new plants including new rose bushes. We have started clearing our fern garden in readiness for replacing the fence panels that back it”.
Below I shared photos of us getting on with some of these tasks.
The two pictures below show our resin and fabric sculpture called ‘Amber’ after I had revamped her somewhat and given her fresh paint.
Turning over to the next double page spread I featured our pittosporum and opposite ferns.
Concerning pittosporums I noted, “Early in the year, late on in the winter, foliage takes on a much more important, central role in our garden with such wide variety of shape, texture, colour and variegation. Shrubs such as those in the pittosporum family look beautiful all the rest of the year too. They present as such elegantly shaped shrubs.”
Below I shared photos of some of our pittosporums.
When discussing ferns I noted, “We grow dozens of different ferns throughout our garden and they provide huge variety in foliage, shape, size, structure and texture. Here are a few of our evergreen ones which add so much to several of our borders, a few in sun, some in part shade and others in full shade.”
Then I showed a selection of my photos of just a few of our many ferns.
Onto the next double page spread I looked at an achillea called ‘Paprika’ and wrote, “Some summer-flowering herbaceous perennials continue to give patches of colour well into the winter months. our Achillea milliflora ‘Paprika’, rich red in the late summer months, mostly turn to a deep ginger and dark sienna browns with highlights of magenta, blues and reddish-brown.” I then shared a a sketch I did using inks and a glass pen.
On the page opposite I spoke of the way or occasional frosts caught the evergreen foliage and dried seed heads and a grass.
I noted, ” The middle of the month brought clear night-time skies and early morning frosts.Days such as these are special in our garden as we leave dried grasses and perennials to catch the frost. These plants are also used by insects which overwinter within them too.” I added a selection of my frosty morning photos.
On the next double page spread I considered winter flowering shrubs and the effect of the low rays of winter light. Concerning winter flowering shrubs I wrote, “Most winter flowering shrubs are scented, and their scent tends to be stronger than scented shrubs from any other season. There are far fewer pollinators around in winter so shrubs need to work harder to attract them. We love these flowering shrubs too! Daphne, viburnum, sarcococca, cornus, hamamelis, clematis, mahonia, salix, ………”
On the opposite page I noted, “The rays of the winter sun cross our garden from a low angle so are effective spotlights, highlighting foliage and flowers.”
I then shared photos of the light catching our plants.
My last page for January concerned us working hard replacing six broken fence panels and I shared photos of our endeavours. I wrote, “We continued clearing our Shade Border and potted on all of the plants we had to remove temporarily. We received a delivery of fence panels, gravel boards and bags of ‘post fix’. We could then begin removing our old wattle fence panels and replace them with new wooden fences.” After the photos I noted, “Almost there!”
When we next visit my garden journal we will be in February and we will see how the shade border refurbishment develops.
We grew a collection of begonias from plug plants a few years back to display and enjoy in the greenhouse during the warmer months but a few are grow outside in areas of shade specially for their foliage. The more delicate plants come into the house during the winter where we can enjoy them every day.
Here is a short gallery of photos of their foliage.
Back in the summer we traveled down the A49 trunk road through Ludlow and almost reaching Leominster we find one of our favourite gardens of all time, Stockton bury in our neighbouring county of Herefordshire. I hope this reminder of a summer’s day in a beautiful garden will drive away any cold and dreary winter weather.
We visit this garden a few times every year and enjoy every one of our explorations around it. There are so many interesting plants grown around an old cider mill, the garden itself being divided up into distinct areas. Join us as we look back at our August visit in warmer times!
Walking from the carpark to the cafe in the tithe barn we enjoy views of one of the most beautiful old cider orchards, thousands of trees in long rows all equally spaced out.
The buildings around the garden entrance soon give away its heritage.
These beautiful old red-brick farm buildings provide a wonderful foil for interesting plants.
Longer views of borders rather than plant portraits show the atmosphere of the garden.
Thoughtfully pruned shrubs always have such character, displaying its character and soul.
The large pond and bog garden near the grotto are a delight all year and we always enjoy walking all around their banks, alongside the marginal plants.
I shall finish off this post with three of my favourite photographs from this visit to Stockton Bury.
The garden is now closed until the spring of 2022 when I feel sure we will be back.
I have already published a post considering our visit to an NGS garden in our neighbouring county of Herefordshire.
I want to return now to just look at the garden sculpture we enjoyed discovering there, which ranged from simple sculpture which can be found at garden centres right up to beautiful exclusive bronze pieces.
These two modern bronze and stone pieces worked well together round a short set of stone steps.
After looking at this selection of all sorts of sculptures featured so far, I will now move onto the collection of beautiful bronze sculptures. Each is elegant and so full of character.
I want to finish with a set of smaller bronzes that we found around a set of stepping stones crossing a shallow stream.
We really enjoyed the way these sculptures add such richness to this garden that was wonderful in its own right.
It is always exciting to find gardens to visit which we do not know anything about, especially if they are National Garden Scheme gardens which allow us to support such worthwhile charities at the same time as having a satisfying day out. The gardens on the Lower Hope Estate were described as 5 acres which included rose gardens, herbaceous borders, and Italian, Mediterranean and Japanese influenced areas.
We parked the car up in the field abutting Lower Hope Gardens and we were both delighted to spot some interesting perennials for sale, gown at a local nursery. Temptation got the better of us and we bought a dozen or so healthy looking plants before we took a step into the garden itself.
We entered the gardens through a wooden gate and followed a path through a small woodland area, and it soon became clear that this garden had a lot to offer. There were clues as to what we might expect to find.
The Italian influenced garden had a gentle feel to it with stone pillars, several seats and water features.
We left the Italian Garden behind and soon found some impressive mixed borders. The selection of dahlias was most impressive!
After admiring the borders with their impressive selection of dahlias, we wandered off around a small lake to find the Japanese area.
We finished off our tour of the garden by making our way to the lake with its native planting around its edges. We found plenty to catch our eyes along the way.
I thought it would be fun to finish off with this photo of Jude sat on an oversized garden chair. She found it extremely difficult to get back out of it! We love gardens that show a touch of humour!
I shall begin a look at my Garden Journal 2021 for December by reflecting on the week in which November ended and December got started. Storm Arwen had left us with work to do!
On the first page I noted, “December began as we cleared up Storm Arwen’s mess and destruction.”
This first page features photos of some of the tasks we undertook in the early part of the month.
A group of six photos showed some of the damage caused by Storm Arwen. Beneath them I noted that, “Grasses, fences and half of our Liquidamber tree have been broken by Storm Arwen.”
I also included two photos showing a couple of usual seasonal work, planting a new climbing rose to replace Rosa ‘Falstaff’ and Ian our gardener pruning the blackberry plant. I wrote, “Normal garden tasks happen alongside the necessary repair work after sorting Arwen’s damage.”
On the opposite page I featured some of our clematis in their winter coats and I wrote, “On clear mornings the low winter light highlights seed heads of some of our large selection of clematis growing throughout our garden.’
I also noted that, “Evergreen winter flowering clematis still show leaves and buds ready for flowering in January and February.”
I followed on with two pages about grasses, firstly deciduous and secondly evergreens. I wrote, “The most effective light-catching plants in our garden are the many grasses we grow particularly the deciduous ones, which all add new layers of soft colours to the borders.”
And so onto the next page where we change to evergreen grasses especially the carex family.
Ten of my photos of such grasses featured on the page.
Three photos followed on illustrating that not all evergreen grasses are members of the carex family.
Stipa tenuissima, Uncinia rubra and Nasella.
From grasses I looked back at roses, one particular rose called Rosa ‘Bengal Beauty’, a beautifully simple, single flowered shrub. I wrote, “We have Rosa ‘Bengal Beauty’ growing alongside our drive so we can appreciate the softness of its winter petal colours and the beauty of its long pink stamens.” Below I added a water colour painting of the buds at different stages.
On the opposite page I featured more gentle colours of our winter garden, this time the dried flowering stems of a couple of herbaceous perennials. I wrote, “In that same border I found the gentle, soft tones of biscuit, ginger, brown with hints of green, forming equally beautiful dried flower stems of perennials.”
Below I featured a couple of sketches using Japanese Brush Pens, featuring a Libertia and Japanese anemone.
For the final page of my December report for 2021 I featured another Japanese Brush Pen drawing, this time a more colourful sketch of the winter foliage and berries of one of our many Hypericum inodorum shrubs.
So that is it for my 2021 Garden Journal. We shall re-visit in 2022!
I decided that the best way to wish everyone a Happy Christmas is to share some photos of our Avocet garden, and I chose to photograph a selection of grasses, flowers and berries three of the most important features of our garden.
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