greenbenchramblings

Stone Ruins on Welsh Farm

When we stayed on Anglesey earlier this summer we rented a converted farm cottage which had been amazingly sympathetically modernised. The view from our bedroom balcony looked down over the ruins of pigsties. They added so much to the atmosphere of the place where we were staying. I thought I would share a few photos of this old agricultural building with you. I hope you enjoy them.

In the wall next to our holiday home was this old decommisioned postbox. A pair of Great Tits however had found a new use for the box, creating a nest and laying their eggs in the bed of down.

Tags Anglesey, Wales

garden design garden paths garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public hardy perennials light light quality nurseries ornamental trees and shrubs pathways shrubs Wales walled gardens woodland woodlands

Crug Farm – a planthunter’s woodland garden

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 27, 2018
3 Comments on Crug Farm – a planthunter’s woodland garden

We had not visited Crug Farm garden and nursery for several years, so taking advantage of our return journey from Anglesey we took a short detour to explore this woodland garden in Snowdonia. Driving into the little car park the yellow and orange poppies, Meconopsis cambrica, gave us a warm welcome.

I will now simply invite you to walk with us along the paths at Crug Farm sharing the atmosphere and the beautifully designed planting schemes, by following my gallery. Just click on the right arrow and navigate through using the arrows.

We left the woodland garden through a gateway that lead to the nursery set within a small walled garden. We enjoyed a walk around studying a large range of plants collected by owners the Bleddyn-Jones’. Of course we bought several to add to our shade borders.

Tags Crug Farm, Crug Farm Nursery, Crug Farm Woodland Garden, gardens of Wales, shade gardening, shade plants, woodland, woodland garden, woodland gardening

colours garden design garden paths garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public hardy perennials light light quality ornamental trees and shrubs Powis Powys shrubs trees Wales woodland woodlands

The Dingle Garden in July

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 24, 2018

Moving into the second half of the year, we wandered around the gravel paths of the Dingle Garden in late July. The day was dry with mixed clear skies with occasional cloud, but no rain came from them.

We immediately discovered the severe effects of this summer’s dry and hot temperatures. A mature conifer was turning shades of purple and brown as it was suffering from lack of water. Although colourful this was devastating for the tree. Elsewhere on the sloping parts of the garden the shrubs looked perfectly healthy and we enjoyed some great foliage contrasts and combinations.

Orange is a wonderfully effective colour for woodland planting, as flowers in this colour glow in the deepest shade and are caught by the sun. Yellow comes a close second!

Flowering shrubs are now coming into their own in the Dingle Garden, with Hydrangeas taking centre stage.

This is just a selection of the Hydrangeas putting on their show of blues, whites and pinks beneath the trees. We loved the variations in colour on individual flower heads.

Ferns look good almost the year through, but in the damp woodland atmosphere here at the Dingle they shone with health.

Herbaceous perennials appear in a few places beneath the trees and shrubs with Geraniums, Hemerocallis, Persicarias and Lysimachias showing well in the July garden.

Sometimes it is the little details that catch the eye when we explore gardens. On this visit to the Dingle Garden Jude was attracted to the moss hitching a lift in the fork of a Prunus. The purple spires of the Acanthus looked just right next to the sculpture of the Red Kite.

The real star of the July show was Cotinus coggygria with its deep red foliage with hints of glaucous blue and the smokey flower clouds.

So we will return next in August and see what late summer brings to the Dingle.

Tags cotinus, ferns, flowering shrubs, herbaceous plants, Hydrangeas, ornamental shrubs, ornamental trees, trees and shrubs

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

garden design garden designers garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public hardy perennials meadows

A lakeside walk at Trentham Gardens

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 11, 2018
1 Comment on A lakeside walk at Trentham Gardens

It was another hot day with clear blue skies and temperatures just short of 30C when we decided to take a drive out to the outskirts of Stoke-on-Trent to visit two very different gardens. The first was a courtyard garden at the Emma Bridgwater Pottery Factory featured in my recent post, and the second the vast gardens at Trentham.

We decided to walk the perimeter of the lake now that my newly rebuilt leg was working well. This was a walk we had always wanted to do but I was unable, so it felt good to be setting off on the walk. We were looking forward to discovering new planting by Nigel Dunnett, meadows integrated into the trees and waterside planting designed way back by Capability Brown. We usually wander around Trentham by turning to our right and going through the Piet Oudolf “River of Grasses” then travelling through his prairie gardens before going on to Tom Stuart-Smith’s modern planting within the original structure of the Italian Garden.

On this day though we decided to turn left an make our way around Capability Brown’s lake. Nigel Dunnett’s first meadow plantings tok our breath away. The subtle colours worked so well together and led our eyes twards the water beyond.

As we moved into the shade of mature trees from Capability Brown’s original designs, his choice of flwers changed with brighter flowers being integrated with the purples and whites. This gave the opportunity for Dunnett to use the strong opposite colours, purple and orange, guaranteed to set the heart racing a little faster and smiles to appear on our faces.

With his designs there are always surprises to make to pause and think and we came across just such a place, a plantation of young Birches, Betula Doorenbos. Close by a flowing piece of metal sculptural pieces were integratred within a stretch of the meadows. Corton steel waves to reflect the waves on the surface of the lake when rough. It looked beautifully satisfying floating above the meadow flower colours.

After wandering through the woodland more meadows appeared with much softer planting style. These stunning owl sculptures were a fine finale to our visit.

Tags Capability Brown, garden sculpture, meadows, Nigel Dunnett, Stoke-on-Trent, Trentham Garden, Trentham Gardens

climbing plants garden photography gardening half-hardy perennials hardy perennials

Simply Beautiful – part 21 of a very occasional series

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 5, 2018

While enjoying the courtyard garden at the Emma Bridgwater Pottery in Stoke-on-Trent in mid-June and mid-heatwave too, we found the drying seedpods of honesty in different stages of drying out in readiness to spread its seeds. Gentle shades of grren decorated the circular pods of the Honesty, circles of fly away seeds sat atop allium stems and the drying pods of sweetpeas looked just like petit pois.

Tags alliums, Honesty, seed heads, seeds, Sweet Peas

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

family time

One little girl and a hat!

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date July 16, 2018
3 Comments on One little girl and a hat!

Almost 18 months ago Jude and I were looking after our granddaughter, Arabella for a day which is always great fun as although she was just 18 months old at the time she has a brilliant sense of humour and is full of fun. She likes sharing things that belong to me especially my food and my walking stick. As the weather promised to be sunny and warm we decided to take her to Sudbury Hall to wander around the park and gardens. Arabella enjoys walking but will give in and reluctantly accept a lift in her pushchair when she tires out.

It was only a matter of a few minutes of being pushed along when she called me and asked for my hat. This is what happened over the next half hour. Enjoy!

That was fun!

Tags family, family fun, family time

climbing plants colours garden arches garden design garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public half-hardy perennials hardy perennials light quality poppies town gardens

An oasis in a city – the Emma Bridgwater Courtyard Garden

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date July 13, 2018

On a sunny day in late June we set off to the city, Stoke-on-Trent, to visit two gardens. Emma Bridgwater Pottery shop has its own courtyard garden with its own gardener caring for it and nurturing every plant. I had read the book he had recently written and emjoyed his words and the accompanying photos so wished to see it in real life. The second garden was Trentham, one of our favourite gardens and one we visit often. This visit was to see for the first time the new meadow plantings by Nigel Dunnett. These will be the subject of a following post. First we visit the courtyard garden.

The raised beds in the entrance courtyard are an antedote to the city, to the factory behind.

We arrived in temperatures nearing 30C and started off with drinks in the cafe there before wandering through the pottery shop exiting a doorway at its far end that was the entrance to this secret garden. It felt a special place, an atmosphere of colour, calmness and peace in a city. the blue of the window frames, the step banisters and various railings are enhanced by the greens and other colours of the flowers in the beds. The entrance is softened and made more welcoming.

We wonder if this is going to be the garden in its entirity but are heartened when Jude spots a sign to the “Courtyard Garden”. Peering through the door as we step over is threshhold we are amazed by what is before us inviting us to explore. The garden is no bigger than a back yard of a terraced house, but it packed a punch in the gentlest way possible.

The brightest colour came from sweet peas, dahlias, lilies and other more subtle colour was provided by hardy herbaceous plants. The sun brought out their colours and the accompanying shadows emphasised their textures. Annuals were dotted through the borders, poppies and phacelia.

The gentle clucking and chatter of Pekin hens and the chirp of their chicks provided a calming backdrop and cut out the traffic sounds from nearby roads.

As we left the courtyard we noticed a display of succulent Echeverias in terracotta pots alongside the door close to a beautiful self-seeded native Euphorbia. This little patch of garden inside the city was so gentle and succeeded in hiding the sights and sounds of the busyness outside its walls.