Tag: foliage plants

A Bouquet for June

The stars of June h to be the alliums this year, which is rather odd because roses should be outshining them by now. Everything in our garden though is a good month behind this year after a strange start to the year where weather was concerned. Our roses usually begin to bloom in May and peak in June but they are just beginning their show now.

The front garden is almost over full this year with periods of warmth and wet weather creating ideal conditions for plant growth.

So the borders look lush and extra green. The gravel garden looks fuller than ever and we are pleased to see the return of our “purple flowered wild carrot” which we planted as a very small specimen last year. The first of the photos below shows this umbellifer in front of Euphorbia griffithii and the second a self-seeded achillea, another umbellifer growing through the same euphorbia. This promises to be an interesting colourful patch soon.

The stump garden is looking particularly pleasing just now and close up we can see tiny little sedums growing in the dimples of the old oak wood.

In the last few days we have given the Seaside Garden a tidy up.We painted the fence, removed old woody plants, added a few new ones and put up some cleaned netting which was some recycled fishing net originally used off the north coast of Scotland.

We also needed to revamp our little scree bed – it is odd how if one patch in the garden needs a re-vamp there always seem more. We had to replace all the wooden edging which had rotted and many of the plants had outgrown their spaces. We top-dressed the bed with fresh slate chips, a by-product of the slate mining industry and added a few new alpine plants.

Let us wander around now using a gallery – just follow by clicking on any photo and use the arrows to navigate. Enjoy the journey!

Tags foliage, foliage plants, garden photography, gardening, grasses, ornamental trees, shrubs, summer, trees

climbing plants colours garden design garden photography gardening half-hardy perennials hardy perennials Hardy Plant Society HPS ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture photography Powis roses shrubs town gardens trees

Two Welshpool Town Gardens

June’s Hardy Plant Society garden visit took us to two little town gardens. The first garden was truly tiny and the second slightly less tiny. They were perfect if very different examples of what it is possible to achieve in such small spaces. The secret to them both was wriggly paths leading the eyes and feet around to discover hidden secrets.

The tiniest of the two had planting at all levels from tiny specimens right by your toes to trees above your head and the borders were full of unusual plants. Little surprises.

The gardeners here even found room for an alpine house, a fruit cage and a couple of little water features.

Humour is essential in any garden however small.

Humour reigned supreme in the second garden we visited that morning. There were interesting arches, grottoes, seating areas all surrounded in lush planting.

Hidden throughout this little patch were containers planted up skilfully to give surprises wherever we turned.

Deep in the heart of this little paradise we came across a cool enclosed garden where we found ourselves in for a real treat – a little glimpse of the Far East.

This garden was tightly fitted within a group of houses close by the town’s main church and occasionally we caught glimpses of these other buildings through the foliage.

Atop one of the many little outbuildings lived a very healthy and happy green roof.

This was a very special garden – a place to relax and become engulfed in plants. In the afternoon we met again as a group to enjoy a very different garden in a very different setting. We found ourselves out in the open high up on a hillside with big skies above a wide view. This garden features in my next post.

Tags clematis, foliage, foliage plants, garden photography, gardening, greenhouse gardening, greenhouses, ornamental trees, outdoor sculpture, Powis, Powys, roses, shrubs, town gardens, Welshpool

garden design garden photography gardening hardy perennials Hardy Plant Society HPS National Garden Scheme NGS ornamental trees and shrubs Shropshire village gardens

The Hardy Planters at Lower Hall

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date June 10, 2013
4 Comments on The Hardy Planters at Lower Hall

Our first visit to a local garden with the Shropshire branch of the Hardy Plant Society this year took us to Lower Hall in the picturesque village of Worfield.

The River Worfe which gives the village its name meanders aimlessly through the garden and as we wandered along its paths we kept coming across bridges to take us over its flooded waters. The header picture shows the flower head of Dalmera peltata which grows in the boggy patches along the Worfe. The globe of flowers sits atop a tall thin stem rising straight from the soil before there is any sign of any leaves.

The garden has many different elements to it, a walled garden, a stream, a woodland area and various borders so there is a richness of plants to enjoy.

As always the Hardy Planters of Shropshire stand and admire!

Tags foliage plants, garden photography, gardening, Hardy Plant Society, NGS, ornamental trees, outdoor sculpture, sculpture, Shropshire Hardy Plant Society, shrubs

colours garden design garden photography gardening hardy perennials ornamental trees and shrubs Yorkshire

Stillingfleet Lodge Gardens – a very special place.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date May 26, 2013
5 Comments on Stillingfleet Lodge Gardens – a very special place.

While in Yorkshire last summer we visited a small and very special garden, full of ideas to be taken home. Ideas on planting and design. This is a garden of many “rooms” each with its own character and atmosphere. Stillingfleet Lodge Gardens, just 6 miles south of the city of York, has been described by Alys Fowler as “One of the country’s finest cottage gardens.”

It is a garden where the plantsmanship and passion of the owner is felt and can be touched. She works closely with nature and understands how caring for a garden and caring for wildlife should go hand-in-hand.

Look carefully at the picture below and see if you can spot a delicate iris.

We were particularly taken with the meadows as they included some interesting additions beyond native species. At the time of our visit the last few flowers were left on the top of the flower stalks of Camassias in whites, creams and blues. We were interested to see that Rosa rugosa were planted in the meadows. When we spoke to the gardener she informed us that they were simply strimmed down along with the grasses and herbaceous materials and they re-grew each spring, flowering successfully every year.

Of all the many garden rooms we discovered we particularly liked the yellow/golden garden full of bright foliage and yellow flowers. The overall feel was of being inside a chartreuse world glowing and warm.

Other areas were more formal with cut box edging, neat lawns and rills. There was a veritable feast of seats of all descriptions on which to rest and absorb all the different atmospheres in these rooms. In complete contrast to the formal gardens were the informal pond and wildlife meadows.

As usual a particular favourite sitting place was the tea shop! Situated in a secluded courtyard with gentle sculptures and calming borders the teashop lived in a beautiful old outbuilding. To illustrate what a friendly place Stillingfleet Lodge is we only have to go into the teashop. Here there is all you need to make tea or coffee and plates of fresh, home baked cakes and biscuits and an honesty box with a price list alongside. True faith in the honest character of the visiting gardeners. Work by local crafts people was also beautifully displayed here.

Tags foliage, foliage plants, garden photography, gardening, organic gardening, shrubs, Vale of York, Yorkshire

colours garden design garden photography gardening hardy perennials spring gardening

Pulmonarias – unsung heroes of the spring garden.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date May 11, 2013
15 Comments on Pulmonarias – unsung heroes of the spring garden.

Some plants become taken for granted and fail to be fully appreciated. I recently posted about celandines and got lots of favourable comments, so today I shall feature the wonderful pulmonarias with their subtle flowers and unusual foliage.

Here is the classic pulmonaria seen in so many British gardens with flowers in both pink and blue on the same plant and bristled leaves splodged with silver. We grow them in almost every border in our patch but they really prefer a little shade.

The best way to sing the praises of pulmonarias and hopefully encourage a few more gardeners to go out and get some for their own gardens is to put together a little gallery of photos of our plants to show their subtle beauty.

Just click on a photo and follow the journey to see if you are convinced.

Tags foliage, foliage plants, garden photography, gardening, pulmonarias, spring, spring flowers, spring garden

colours garden design garden photography gardening hardy perennials Winter Gardening winter gardens

Celebrating Celandines

Some plants are taken too much for granted and do not get the recognition they deserve. The celandine is just such a plant. Rarely does it find itself in a top ten favourite plant list But when it appears in spring it is a very special plants worthy of celebration. Along our lane sides they shine looking like gold sovereigns glowing in the fresh green of the new year’s grasses.

In our garden alongside the central path sits a bronze leaved selection found by the one and only Christopher Lloyd in a patch of our native celandine in his own garden, Great Dixter. It is called Brazen Hussy and it has the shiniest foliage I have ever seen. It glows so much that taking a photo of it upsets the camera’s metering system and it seems impossible to show the depth of the purple colouring. We love it. We have patches along the water’s edge in our wildlife pond and in the shade border.

We have an orange-flowered variety which has not inherited the family’s ability to spread and in some people’s minds become a nuisance. It keeps us on tenterhooks each spring – we think we have lost it but just as we have given up hope it suddenly springs into rich orange flowers.

Tags foliage, foliage plants, garden photography, gardening, spring flowers, winter gardens

colours garden design garden photography gardening gardens open to the public hardy perennials meadows outdoor sculpture photography

Breezy Knees

Enough of this cold, wet, miserable weather! Let’s transport ourselves back to warmer times and brighter days in the wonderful Vale of York.

Breezy Knees. What a great name for a nursery! We came across it in an article written by Roy Lancaster for the RHS members’ magazine, “The Garden” and he highly recommended it. So when travelling around the Vale of York and finding ourselves close to it we just had to go and have a peruse. It also has a garden to wander around attached to it, which highlighted many of the unusual herbaceous perennials it sold.

How about this for a bench?

The nursery is less than ten years old and created on open farmland, very open hence its quirky name. We arrived at the end of a period of rain and the day before had seen the nursery’s show gardens closed as much of it was flooded. From the nursery to the gardens entails a ten minute walk between fields and we soon discovered the relevance of its name.

The garden is a collection of small garden rooms displaying different types of garden styles and conditions, from an annual meadow to a rose garden and from raised beds to double borders. The most unusual is the “Rogues Gallery” where garden thugs live together and warn us of their behaviour.

We began our exploration of Breezy Knees with a wander along an enticing path cut through the Spring Meadow, and then moved on through the show gardens discovering some beautiful plants along the way.

If you are up that way, make sure you drop in to Breezy Knees. It will be worth it.

A sense of humour always adds an extra element to any garden. Breezy Knees certainly had plenty to offer. As well as their long bench we were delighted to come across this pair of wonder wellies! Jude the Undergardener looks as if she is checking to see if they are her size!

Tags foliage, foliage plants, garden photography, gardening, meadows, outdoor sculpture, sculpture, Vale of York, Yorkshire

colours garden photography gardening shrubs wildlife

The Stuttering Start to Spring

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date March 15, 2013
12 Comments on The Stuttering Start to Spring

We have been getting signs that Spring may be on its way. Buds of Hawthorn and Elder have started to split open to allow the brightest of green leaves to squeeze their way out. Yesterday frogs left us a gift in the wildlife pond – a big pile of spawn. Seeing the first spawn this late in the year is unusual as we normally find some in mid-February.

Last night the temperature dropped to minus 6! The spawn was frozen into the icy surface of the pond and fluffy snow flakes littered the surface.

The Hellebores that we have been enjoying so much over the last few weeks drooped losing all their structure. Stems bent over and lowered the flowers to the frozen ground. We know they will burst back when temperatures again rise above freezing and perhaps assisted by a little sunshine.

Happily a few plants in the garden have responded more positively to the fall in temperature. The foliage of Hebe “Red Edge” is always colourful but in this spell of renewed cold it has taken on richer tints.

Tags foliage, foliage plants, frog spawn, frogs, garden photography, garden wildlife, gardening, hebes, hellebores, shrubs, wildlife

autumn colours colours garden photography gardening ornamental trees and shrubs trees

The ever changing colours of Liquidamber

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date March 13, 2013
6 Comments on The ever changing colours of Liquidamber

Liquidamber has to be one of the best trees for the small garden in autumn and winter.

It develops the usual colours associated with autumn but holds onto its leaves and the colours get more and more intense as the season progresses.

So for this post I shall regularly take pics of our Liquidamber to illustrate how they change.

The first three photos were taken in October, at which time greens were still bright and frequent amongst the yellows and oranges.

Early in December the colours are richer and not much evidence of green remains.

In mid-December a rim of frost decorated each leaf, emphasising their palmate shape and adding depth to the tints of fire.

By January the leaves are beginning to look dry with browns becoming the commonest colours.

Now in mid-March I would normally be able to enjoy the deepest of red leaves it is possible to imagine and they would be clinging onto their stems until new season leaves force them to release their grip and drop to the ground.

This year this eagerly anticipated redness has failed to appear and the remaining leaves are just crisp and dull brown. Half have already fallen and the others look as if they will soon give up their grip.

Once spring arrives and instigates budburst I shall start taking photos of our Liquidamber once again and follow the progress of its leaves throughout the year.

Tags autumn colours, foliage, foliage plants, garden photography, gardening, liquidamber, ornamental trees, trees, trees for a small garden, winter gardens

colours garden design garden photography gardening grasses hardy perennials ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs shrubs Winter Gardening winter gardens

A February Bouquet

Nothing seems to have changed much in the garden since my “Bouquet for January” post. The ever-changing weather, moving from cold to very cold and back again appears to have stagnated growth. The first daffies have just opened and crocus in various colours are appearing around the borders.

There is a much wider range of Hellebores to enjoy though. I love having to bend down and lift their heads to find the secrets of their hidden beauty. Enjoy my Hellebore gallery.

The Prunus subhirtela autumnalis flowers have been browned by the weather and we have cut down many of the grasses and perennial seed heads. Now the garden is looking empty but as a result of our tidying up we can appreciate the importance and impact that foliage plays in the February garden. Grasses and Phormium join with shrubs such as Pittosporum to give interesting colours and leaf patterns.

One of my favourite garden plants is the simple and much-maligned Bergenia. At this time of year the leaves take on deep shades of green, red and purple and the first of their flowers start showing colour before being lifted up on strong stems later on.