When out walking in woodlands sometimes the light surprises and plays around on the trunks of the trees. Light plays with the shadows it creates and paints onto the bark of smooth skinned Beech trees. It deepens fissures with shadows too.
It feels good to be back sharing my Garden Journal with you once again. So here is the first for 2017, my report on what was going on in our Avocet garden in January.
For 2017 I will share the beauty, the happenings and the stars of our Avocet garden month by month. I will consider the wildlife that visits and shares our garden with us and see what it is up to. I aim to record the birds we spot, the creatures which live in our pond and the mini-beasts who appreciate our plants in our borders.
I hope to set up my moth live-trap and carry out a pond dip regularly. I will record using words, photographs, paintings and drawings.
My 2017 Garden Journal opened with a comment about the weather, the favourite subject of the English and particularly English gardeners, “We were well into the third week of January when we were pleased to get typical January weather, frosty mornings followed by bright glue skies. Fog joined in on odd days. Until then every day was dull and wet, dull to the point of darkness at times. Not a good start to a new year of gardening and enjoying our garden.
Extra colour and movement, and of course sound, is added to the atmosphere of our garden by the birds who visit. This winter we moved our main bird feeding centre closer to the house so that we could observe the birds in close up. Surprisingly this had the extra bonus of increasing the birds visiting, in particular the finches.
Birds of our January garden:
Blackbird Goldfinch Blue Tit
Robin Greenfinch Great Tit
Wren Chaffinch Coal Tit
Dunnock Blackcap Long-tailed Tit
Jackdaw Siskin Collared Dove
Mistle Thrush Song Thrush Nuthatch
Turning the page finds me discussing scented shrubs starring in our January garden.
Scented shrubs add an extra element to enjoy in our Avocet garden all year round, but winter-flowering shrubs are probably the most important of all. Their rich scents, warm and sweet and spicy, spread far to attract the few insects flying in the colder months. In January we are enjoying the welcome aromas of Mahonia, Sarcococca, Witch Hazels and Daphne. The local honey bees are drawn to the Mahonia and we can hear their gentle humming whenever the sun gives some unexpected warmth and brightness.
I used my watercolours to create a painting of a Honey Bee, Apis mellifera, and it was a very difficult painting to do.
On the page opposite my bee painting, I included photos of the “Scented flowering shrubs of our January garden at Avocet, our home in Shropshire, a very cold county in winter.”, Sarcococca confusa, Daphne bholua “Jacqueline Postill”, Hamamelis Jelena and Diane and Mahonia “Winter Sun”.
Over the page we look at “new” gardening tools, one brand new and one new to me which is a vintage tool.
“Acquiring new tools to use in the garden is always a pleasure. Recently I have treated the garden, and myself of course, to a few interesting implements”.
Firstly a pair of Japanese secateurs, with the unusual problem of instructions written in Japanese. As I had ordered them from Japan I should not have been surprised really!
I painted a picture of my new Japanese secateurs, which was a lot harder that it looks.
“Okatsune secateurs are the favourite of professional gardeners in Japan. They are manufactured from Japanese high carbon steel so they sharpen easily and well.”
“My second “new” gardening tool is actually a vintage piece, a 1930’s turfing spade made in Birmingham by a company called Vaughan’s. The long handle is crafted from solid forged iron and the handle is made from Ash wood. The long wooden shaft reduces the workload and the beautiful “D” handle makes the tool comfortable to use. The shape of the blade makes it efficient at even lifting an even 1 inch thick slices of turf. The unusual shaped metal shaft increases the efficiency of this wonderful old tool. So my turf lifting spade is vintage circa 1936 but “new” to me.
I moved on to show how Ian, our gardener, used the vintage turfing spade to replace the grass on some of our paths.
“We bought the Vaughan tool specifically to use in our garden, to lift the turf paths in our back garden. Our gardener, Ian, loved using it and found it easy to use, a real joy. Now it is part of my vintage garden tool collection, a great addition.”
“The old turf from our worn paths is soon removed and new rolls are soon down.”
I next looked at a beautiful totally dried seed head of an Allium, which, with its spherical shape, tends to get blown around the garden with several others. We meet them at random times and places all overthe garden. We are always surprised by their simple beauty. I drew the Allium seed head using just a pencil. Looking and studying the Allium took much longer than the time spent with pencil moving on paper.
“The dried spherical seed heads of all our different sorts of ornamental Alliums remain in the garden through the winter months. They act as our own Avocet “tumbleweeds” as wind takes them on journeys.”
I hope you enjoy the close ups of my drawing below.
By turning the page we see little white birds and colourful bulb flowers. I wrote: “We bought three new stoneware sculptural pieces for our garden, three cheeky and chirpy Sparrows. We loved taking them around the garden seeing where they looked their best. We decided to keep moving them around as the mood took us. They, however, decided that their favourite place was our garden bench in “Arabella’s Garden”. Cheeky chappies indeed!
Opposite the photos of the sculpture birds are photos of early flowers, Irises and Hellebores.
“Iris reticula, the first bulb to flower in 2017.”
“Meanwhile Hellebores are budding up strongly, so we will have flowers in Feb.”
January frosts feature on the next double page spread.
“On the early hours of the days following cold frosty nights, the flowers which give colour to our January garden, were topped off with cold, icy halos.”
“Cold nights also gave our sculpture pieces a thin layer of icing sugar.”
My next page was titled simply “January Frosts” and featured a series of photographs of foliage and seedheads covered in a thin covering of frost and icy crystals.
Turn over to the next page and we leave the frost behind and take a look at one of our Birches, Betula albosinensis “Septentronalis”, one of the best Betulas around.
“Plant of the month – Betula albosinensis “Septentronalis”. This Birch is an elegant tree with an open canopy so casts little shade. We grow it mostly for its colourful bark which peels to expose clean, more colourful bark beneath. This is best described as pale salmon coloured which peels back to show gingers beneath. This tree also produces beautiful long catkins.”
I collected up some peeled bark from the tree and glued two pieces side by side to illustrate how different the layers of bark can be.
Betula albosinensis “Septentronalis” is probably one of the best trees for the small garden and no garden should be without one. Larger gardens can host a trio of them!
And that is it for my Garden Journal in January. Perhaps in February winter may be biting deeper or we may be experiencing one of our occasional February heatwaves when temperatures can reach 17 celsius.
We haven’t shared a visit to a cathedral for quite a while now so a trip to Lichfield recently allowed us just that. A religious place of worship has existed on the site for more than 1300 years and the current cathedral now draws not just worshippers but also tourists who come to admire its architecture and artifacts.
We visited on a return journey after a weekend in Leicestershire visiting our son, daughter-in-law and our new granddaughter. We have driven past signs for the city so many times and have been determined to visit one day. This is the story of that day.
As we approached the cathedral green we found this “speakers’ corner” on the approach to the bridge. The cathedral was visible in the mist with its spire disappearing. There is sadly no place from which we could see its three spires.
The cathedral’s stonework was dark and well-eroded giving it an untidy finish, and pollution had darkened it in places to black. We were confused to find a carved tomb and a statue on the outside wall which we presumed were perhaps at one time inside the building in a part since demolished.
The main entrance was up several stone steps and the doorways arches were beautifully carved with complex patterning. Equally impressive were the carvings on the doors themselves.
Once inside we were surprised at how dark it seemed and how tall. There was colouful stained glass, beautiful columns and amazingly shaped ceiling structures.
The chancel was impressive because of its high vaulted ceiling and medieval painted walls. We were lucky to visit at a time when there was a display of artifacts from the famous “Staffordshire Hoard”. We were amazed by the beauty of the objects and how tiny but detailed they were.
There were so many interesting things to see and take photographs of that I have far too many to put in this post so I have created a gallery for you to enjoy. Please click on the first photo and then navigate with the right arrow. We hope you have enjoyed sharing our visit to Lichfield Cathedral.
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fruit and veg garden buildings garden design garden photography garden wildlife gardening gardens gardens open to the public kitchen gardens National Trust ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture The National Trust walled gardens walled kitchen gardens Winter Gardening winter gardens woodland woodlands
A Walk in the Park – Attingham in January – Part Two – Woodland Walk
Back with the second part of our report of our January visit to Attingham Park we find ourselves taking the path into the woodland at this Shropshire National Trust property.
When leaving the walled garden the visitor has the choice of two walks and we decided to follow the 3 mile “Woodland Walk” as the weather seemed set dry for the day. Next month when we make our February visit we will follow the “Mile Walk”.
Just a short way into our walk we came across the “Burning Site” marked by a wooden deer complete with impressive antlers. We like gardens with a touch of humour so we were delighted to discover this family of owls created from wood offcuts left after trees surgery work. They were created by the gardeners as a competition. We loved them all!
Walking in woodlands in the winter helps highlight textures and patterns not easily spotted when the trees and shrubs are in full leaf. The gentle colours of lichens and mosses are more easily appreciated too as they carpet tree trunks. Please follow the gallery below featuring bark textures and the colours of lichen and mosses. The texture of fallen trees is changed over the years by the huge array of hard-working fungi present in the woodlands. Without these fungi the fallen wood would pile up so the fungi’s function of breaking down the dead trees is essential to the well-being of the woodland ecosystem. Click on the first photo and navigate using the right hand arrow.
Woodland walks are made more interesting by the manner in which rays of light penetrate the canopy, creating patterns and patches of strong contrasting light.
After enjoying exploring the woodland following the Woodland Walk way-marked path we cut back across the parkland to the house itself. First glimpse of the house is through a framework of Cupressus trees. To find this view we crossed over two stone bridges which took the path over water and the stonework attracted as much lichen as the tree trunks did.
Our return to Attingham Park will be in February when we will look at the Walled Garden again and then follow the much shorter walk, the Mile Walk.
So here we are with the first of this year’s monthly visits to our chosen patch, Attingham Park, a National Trust property and without doubt one of the most popular. It is so popular simply because there is such a choice of walks. For our January visit we chose a cold but bright day and we enjoyed the company of the winter sun.
We began our wander by visiting the walled garden to see what the gardeners have been getting up to within the protection of its walls. We took the soft path where the surface is made from chipped bark which feels friendlier and more natural under our feet than the alternative gravel path which runs almost parallel. It is good to feel a path giving slightly beneath each footstep. The path leads us beneath tall mature deciduous trees bare of their leaves. The leaves from the fall remain carpeting the ground as a reminder of autumn but there are also signs of things to come, the leaves of bulbs have broken the surface and look like green spears thrusting towards the sky. It won’t be long until they are flowering away brightening up the woodlands. Buds on the branches of the trees are fattening up ready to open in the spring and clothe the woodland with greenery.
As we approached the walled garden the freshly painted bench glowed white strongly contrasting with the brick-red wall which provided support for trained fruit trees.
Entering the walled garden we could appreciate the vastness of it and marvel at the amount of produce grown in the past for the “big house”.
We could see straight away that the gardening team of employed gardeners and volunteer gardeners had been busy creating beautiful structures from hazel and willow for climbing crops to clamber up. They had also been spreading a thick layer of rich compost as a mulch where needed, in between which deep layers of chipped bark had been lain to make soft comfortable paths.
The most important crops remaining in the ground and currently being harvested are the members of the brassica family, such as cabbages, kales and sprouts. They are very decorative crops with their coloured leaves with each cultivar sporting its own texture. One crop is hidden away beneath terracotta forcers, keeping the light off their developing stalks, rhubarb. The forced stalks will be pale-coloured and sweet-tasting.
Blackboards keep visitors informed of the current gardening tasks being carried out in the garden. The one info board sadly explained that the chickens were under cover because of the current “bird flu” scare.
An annex to the walled garden is enclosed in a similar fashion but contains the range of glasshouses and cut flower beds. In this area there is a collection of the herbaceous bulb, Camassia. In the summer their many shades of blue and white will brighten up their corner border.
On entering the bothy we discovered the gardeners and volunteers enjoying their mid-morning break and a chance to get together to discuss the work in hand. They were a happy bunch laughing and enjoying their company. As always the bothy had interesting displays on view for visitors to enjoy and learn from.
We left the walled garden via the wooden doorway into the orchard. We found that the trees had been treated to a dose of wood ash from the bothy’s fire and woodburner. The outer walls are also used for training fruits possibly grape vines or kiwi fruit. We shall find out when the leaf buds unfurl.
The volunteers and gardeners followed us out of the walled garden each wheeling a wheelbarrow in which they would soon be loading more mulch for top-dressing the veg beds. Leaving the productive area of the park we decided to move forward and follow the path leading us to the Woodland Walk. In part two of my January Attingham post we will share the woodland walk experience with you.
Imagine my surprise when checking back through my list of posts to find my Garden Journal for November still waiting to be posted. It nearly got away but here it is. Better late than never! Imagine we are back in the autumn!
This will be the penultimate visit to my 2016 Garden Journal as we look at what November has in store for our Avocet patch.
Colour launches my November pages with a double page spread of rich colours with the words, “Autumn has crept in further as November arrives and the garden is starting a new chapter where foliage colours dominate and individual plants become the focus of our attention rather than whole borders of blooms.”
I move on to share our purchase of three new trees for our patch, an oak and two birches, all trees that we have been seeking out for several years. The oak is good for a small garden like ours because it has a columnar habit of growth growing tall but very slim. It is Quercus palustris “Green Pillar” which hides the fact that its main reason for growing it is for its bright red autumn leaves. I wrote, “Three new trees have been planted at Avocet. Tree planting is such a satisfying experience as is choosing and collecting your selection. So a journey down to the best tree nursery near us, The Dingle at Welshpool, saw us returning home with 3 specimen trees neatly tied up and fitted, threaded in fact, into our car. We sat with three of our favourite trees surrounding us, embracing us with the scents of Autumn. We chatted excitedly of the emotions of tree planting, the positive messages and the future joy these trees will give us.
Quercus palustris “Green Pillar”is an upright growing, narrow oak and is a relatively new introduction. The deepest red leaves imaginable hold on through the Autumn and odd batches of foliage remain on the columnar tree into the Winter. To add further magic, the foliage is highly glossed almost like Japanese lacquer.”
I chose three leaves to paint in watercolours and fibre tipped pens trying to capture the texture and colour variations.
My next double page spread featured our other 2 new trees and I started by writing, “Anyone who knows us as gardeners will have guessed that the other two new trees are our favourite Betulas, B. nigra “Heritage” and B. “Hergest”. Both of these Birches should be the same dimensions reaching 16 feet tall by 6 feet wide after 10 years. We have planted them either side of a covered bench in the front garden. “Hergest” is a Birch we have been longing to plant in our patch because of its wonderful bark texture and colour. It is in the “albosinensis” family of Betulas described by tree
specialist Frank Matthews a rare and beautiful tree possibly a cross between B. albosinensis and B.ermanii. We look forward to the bark turning light copper-brown and glossy. Another reason we love it is because it orginates from a local, favourite garden, Hergest Croft. We chose B. nigra “Heritage”, a variety of River Birch, because of its peeling bark of cinnamon, pink, purple and gold. These Betulas will add so much to our garden.”
“Betula albosinensis “Septentronalis” (first 3 pics top row) and Betula utilis jacquemontii “Snow Queen” (bottom row) with the odd photo of our immature B. albosinsensis “Chinese Ruby” awaiting a colourful future.”
Moments of delight come next in my journal for November, “Autumn in the garden is he time and place for special moments, seen once and never repeated. Cobwebs, droplets of dew and a beam of sunlight catching colours. November moments!” I would like to share seven photos of some of our special moments in our garden.
“Often our moments of delight are light shows starring grasses, their movement, their filigree seed heads and their biscuit and ginger hues.”
Turning over the page we encounter a page looking back at early tree planting and I checked out how one favourite is doing now 13 years on.
I reported, “Looking back into the early November pages of my first Avocet Garden Journal, I notice that back then we were celebrating Autumn by planting trees. “Tree hunting at Harley Nursery, saw us ordering 16 trees. Should give us structure, a top plant storey and the colours of leaves, flowers and berries.” Later in the month I continued, “Three Betula utilis jacquemontii “Snow Queen” and a single Liquidamber styracifolia “Worplesdon” were planted along the road side border to begin the required woodland feel. In the Winter Garden we planted a snake barked maple, Acer rupestris.” We had intended to choose between the more usual snakebark maples, Acer greggii and A. davidii, but our friend Duncan who owned the nursery promised to find us a much better one, A. rupestris. This he did and it has proved to be the right choice. It is a true 12 month tree and a visitors’ favourite.”
My photos show some of its attributes including the bark which varies in colour and texture up the trunk.
In my October journal I featured the tiny flowered Fuchsia minimiflora and promised to look at two other Fuchsias this month, so I began by stating, “Unlike F.minimiflora these two have long thin flowers and colourful foliage. They are so similar that we are not sure if they are identical but sold under different names. One we bought as F. thalia, the other was a thank you gift from friends and its label gives its name as Fuschia x hybrida “Koralle”.
A strange creation makes an appearance next, a phenomena we have never seen before anywhere. A sculpture created in grass by the wind! “We grow the delicate grass, Stipa tenuissima , or Pony Tail Grass, on our green roof. The flowering stems grow to 15 to 18 inches long and move in the slightest breeze. Passing the roof and looking up I noticed this strange knot which the wind had created by spinning a few flowering stems together. It hung still attached to the plant presenting an amazing silhouette against the blue sky.” I captioned my photos of it “garden magic”.
The colour red is the theme of the next section in my November journal. I noticed how powerful this colour looked in the garden at this time of year so took my trusty Nikon out for a walk.
“Red is such an important colour in the November garden. In life red relates to many different emotions from love and passion at the one pole to danger and anger at the other. Red in the garden simply draws me to it and makes me smile. David Bowie wrote, “Put on your red shoes and dance the blues”. The garden puts on its red shoes and chases away the winter blues. Red appears in flowers, berries, leaves, stems and bark, but also on the handles of Felco secateurs and the wattles of garden hens.”
And there we have, the garden in November. My next look at my garden journal will be the final one of 2016. Where did the time go, simply flying as we enjoyed being in our special patch.
Coton Manor Gardens are so full of atmosphere. Ten acres of hillside gardens are landscaped to give variety throughout the year on this Northamptonshire estate. There are streams, fountains and ponds, a bluebell wood and meadows. We have visited this romantic garden a few times already but decided to visit again in July of 2016.
Honey coloured stonework make the buildings look warm and welcoming and entering the drive after a short walk from the car park we noticed climbers covering every wall. We entered a cosy courtyard on our right which gave us the chance of refreshments and a peruse of the nursery tables. A surprise here for everyone was the resident Hyacinth Macaw who greets each visitor on arrival with a loud screech!
The garden itself is designed around a series of garden rooms separated by yew and holly hedges, and each room has its own special character and atmosphere, which makes for a refreshing garden walkabout. Leaving one room you don’t know what to expect next. Close to the house courtyards featuring half-hardy plants such as Pelargonium and Salvia make for a colourful start to our wanderings. Share our wanderings through these areas by following the gallery below. (click on the first photo and navigate through by clicking on right hand arrow)
We passed through an archway surrounded by scented pink roses and from there moved on to the Rose Garden and then wandered into an area of woodland shade garden complete with a small stream.
Some very unusual and interesting plants came to our attention in the wooded and streamside gardens, all beautifully lit by the rays of the sun penetrating the tree canopy.
Steps, paving and walls of warm limestone appeared throughout the garden affording ideal places for wall plants to get a hold.
I will finish this report on our visit to the romantic garden at Coton Manor with a few more photos which I particularly enjoyed taking. I hope you like the salmon pink plumaged flamingoes which had free range of the garden but mostly seemed to enjoy sleeping with their head hidden beneath their wings,
We are lucky living where we do with the choice of top quality gardens for us to visit and enjoy. The counties of Shropshire, our home county, and its neighbour Herefordshire are home to some real gems from tiny back gardens to large parklands. One of the best Shropshire gardens is Wollerton Old Hall, a garden we have visited many times as it is one of the best gardens in the UK created in the 20th century. We decided we were due another day there in 2016. Wollerton is a great garden all throughout its open season but it peaks in late summer and early autumn so we decided to visit on a bright day in September.
Two elements make Wollerton such a charismatic garden, the strength of its structure and the originality and quality of the planting. Wollerton’s many garden rooms are linked by pathways, gateways, arches and alleyways inviting the visitor to make choices to help guide their route around the garden.
Box cut into shapes and hedges of box and yew give strong bones to the garden and help lead the eye and focus on important elements.
The borders at Wollerton Old Hall are full of exciting planting combinations and exciting plants.
The Hot Garden is the most exciting planting as it shines and glows in the slightest hint of brightness. There are so many strong plant combinations to enjoy. This patch can brighten the dullest day and bring a smile to the saddest face.
It has been fun sharing our love of the gardens at Wollerton Old Hall with you. It is a garden we take friends and family to so that we can share our enjoyment with them. Perhapps we will visit in the spring or summer of 2017 and we can show you what a good garden it is then too.
We enjoy growing Hostas in all shapes, sizes and colours many in the garden and almost as many in pots. We simply love them! We often reach the time when we think we have room for no new ones. Until! Until we spot a special one that calls to us!
Our latest member of the Hosta family to join us is called H. Purple Heart. It had beautiful rich apple green leaves but the what made this Hosta special was the purple colour of its leaf stalk and central vein.
In the autumn the plant becomes totally different. Simply beautiful! The beauty is short lived as the autumn foliage soon rots and the glossy purple stems soon follow. All we have then is a pot topped off with its grit.
Jude and I are great fans of land artists and are proud of our British contingency of these sculptors with big ideas. We have sought out pieces around the UK and loved the work of Andy Goldsworthy, David Nash and Richard Long in particular.
Leaving a wooded shaded area and entering a open grassland mown short by the munching mouths of deer and sheep, the sunlight caught the purity of the white fibres of the sheep wool. A simple white line, a reminder of the work of Richard Long.
Richard Long and his landscape art would soon come back to our thoughts and eyes, as we continued our wandering in the woodlands at our local National Trust property with its wonderful parkland, woodland and walled garden, we had to take a detour veering away from our usual routeway. We took a poorly marked diversion beneath open woodland of long stretched trees with narrow trunks and branches way up creating a high canopy.
Some of these trees, although relatively young tend to weaken due to competition from their neighbours simply growing too closely, and then either die off or get blown over by strong winds. On this day in late November the bright sunshine shone so low down that it lit up the felled trunks. Below I share my photograph of a thin silver line lying beneath the narrow black verticals, a broken birch bough beneath living conifers stretching to reach the light.
It put in my mind the work of Richard Long, the part played in his creativity of lines and paths. I took a few shots to put together as a short appreciation of his work.
The end of the line ………………..
……………………… for now. Soon more broken bright green moss covered fallen boughs cut across our pathway. the richest green cutting through the deeply carpeted dried browns of fallen autumn leaves.
More lines appear before your eyes when you have Richard Long’s work in your mind, the wash left as a white line across the dark surface of the river, the bright line of light vertically drawn down the trunk of an ancient proud tree.
So our visit to Attingham Park was made even more special and the experience raised even higher by linking it to Richard Long’s creativity. What a surprise!
greenbenchramblings 
