Tag: foliage plants

A Cottage in Leicestershire

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date February 16, 2013
15 Comments on A Cottage in Leicestershire

Our son, Jamie and his fiancee, Sam have just bought their first home together, an old cottage in a small Leicestershire village and so we were looking forward to visiting them and having a good nose around and of course to explore their garden to see what promises it had in store for the coming seasons.

The village seemed a perfect, idyllic place to live, with a pub, a village shop, a primary school and lots of friendly neighbours. Homes have been built here over the centuries giving a huge range of styles – a potted history of domestic architecture. Jamie and Sam’s cottage was built about 300 years ago, but I should really have said two cottages as originally these were two tiny workers cottages. From a quick look at old census returns for the village the cottages were likely to have been home to stocking knitters, lace workers or agricultural labourers. There could be many hours of internet searching of historical sources ahead to enjoy.

It is a very welcoming cottage with a beautiful porch with a feature stain glass window alongside it. The front garden consists of a triangle of land just big enough for a Lilac to grow with a few small shrubs at its feet. Sadly the day after I took this photo the lovely old Lilac blew down in strong winds.

J and S are excited by the thought of what treats might emerge from the cottage garden to the back of the cottage. A walk around revealed some lovely secrets awaiting their season. The garden is a long plot, well stocked with plants to attract wildlife.

From the plants we could identify it should reveal itself as a true cottage garden planned with wildlife in mind. A small pond, a wildlife friendly hedge and a couple of log piles have also been included. A beautiful dry-stone wall provides shelter for a variety of creatures. We took along a bird table and nestbox to add to these and these were soon in place.

The perennials present include Asters, Aquilegias, Foxgloves, Sedum, Iris, Crocosmias, Hemerocalis and Aconitum, so there is a promise of lots of colour and lots of butterflies, bees and beneficial insects.

Of particular interest were the many clumps of Arum Lilies, a family I know little about. We grow Arum italicum marmoratum which was present as several clumps, but I think there were others there with different foliage markings and colours. The main reason to grow these is for their marbled leaf markings.

One task J and S set us was to identify “the sticks”, their non-gardening word for shrubs and trees without leaves! The biggest and most impressive “stick” proved to be a very old apple tree over which scrambles an equally old rambling rose. These will both take a lot of remedial pruning but will prove to be wonderful features. A mature Buddleja, Spiraeas, Hydrangeas and a small cherry will provide colourful flowers in the future, and the Buddleja will bring in both scent and butterflies for their enjoyment.

The large terrace is separated from the garden itself by a low wall of mature bricks which proved to be a handy place to display interesting objects discovered as we cut down the old growth of perennials and tidied up the borders. The little sculpture of stacked sea-worm bricks is one I made years ago.

Three found items, a chair, a terra cotta bowl and a rusty pruning saw blade now adorn the shed.

Two days with J and S wandering around and discovering their new garden and hatching plans for the future, inspired ideas for a mini-meadow of wildflowers, a much bigger pond, a prairie garden and some trained fruit. They have years of fun to come!

Tags apples, buddleia, foliage, foliage plants, garden wildlife, gardening, Leicestershire, outdoor sculpture, shrubs, winter gardens

colours garden photography gardening gardens open to the public photography

Wisley Part Five – The Centenary Glasshouse

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date February 1, 2013
6 Comments on Wisley Part Five – The Centenary Glasshouse

I promised you a sample of the delights of the RHS’s Centenary Glasshouse, and here they are.

Usually in glasshouses the flowers are the stars of the show so just for a change let us begin by bringing foliage to the fore and letting leaves revel in the lime-light.

Foliage in all shapes, sizes, textures, markings and colours are to be found around every corner.

Now for the flowers!

Tags foliage, foliage plants, garden photography, gardening, glasshouses, greenhouse gardening, greenhouses, orchids, RHS Wisley, The Centenary Glasshouse", Wisley

garden design garden photography gardening grasses ornamental grasses photography Wildlife Trusts

The Frosted Garden – Part One

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 5, 2013
8 Comments on The Frosted Garden – Part One

As a gardener I dislike the frost because it prevents me getting any tasks done but I love the way frost adds completely new character to the plants. The simplest bare stem or branch can come to life when the low sun catches a rim of frost.

As a photographer I dislike the frost as it makes my fingers hurt with cold deep down into the joints but I love the way light and frost adds a magical element not present at any other time. I find my fingerless thermal gloves a great help.

Grasses, when frosted create line drawings. My eye and camera lens are drawn to them on every frosty day.

Looking out into the garden on bright frosted days, the low morning light creates special moments as it catches the seed heads of perennials.

In our frosted garden artefacts, ornaments and objects take on a new life. The copper obelisk looks black against the whiteness and it sports a delicate white coating. My next post will be about others.

Tags foliage, foliage plants, frost, garden photography, gardening, grasses, winter, winter gardens

autumn colours garden design garden photography gardening gardens open to the public grasses hardy perennials ornamental grasses photography

A Selection of Sedums

Sedum spectabile “Autumn Joy”. If you had looked for autumn flowering sedums in gardening books 20 years ago that would be the variety that would invariably have popped up. Today things have changed so much.

Thanks to the work of garden designers from all over Europe such as Piet Oudolf and Tom Stuart-Smith, who have been seeking out new and imaginative ways of using herbaceous perennials, we have the choice of many. Different flower colours. Different leaf colours, textures and shapes. Different ways of changing their flowers as autumn moves into winter. The photo below illustrates how Piet Oudolf uses Sedum at Trentham.

We have been adding many to our newer borders at home and in the communal borders on the allotments and now is the time to look and see how many we have and how we have used them.

The first selection is from our garden at home, the first two illustrating our favourite way of using them with grasses. The extreme contrast in flower shape – the flat umbrellas of the Sedum with the tall spires of the grasses – make them good companions and the colours of the grasses both in their green coats and in their dried winter cloaks enhance each other.

Up at the allotments members have donated many different Sedum which we have planted within the communal gardens.

And finally I can’t resist sharing a few shots taken in other people’s gardens.

So there we have the sedums. Stalwarts or stars?

Tags autumn, foliage plants, garden photography, gardening, grasses, Piet Oudolf, Sedum

autumn autumn colours garden design garden photography gardening gardens open to the public ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs photography the South trees

Images of Savill.

Savill Garden is a special places. Wandering around, its paths leads you to surprises, gentle places, sudden views and unexpected delights.

Tags autumn, foliage, foliage plants, garden photography, gardening, grasses, ornamental trees, the Savill Gardens

colours garden design garden photography gardening gardens open to the public grasses ornamental trees and shrubs photography the South trees winter gardens

The Winter Garden at The Savill Garden

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date November 29, 2012
9 Comments on The Winter Garden at The Savill Garden

For our second post about the Savill Gardens we shall discover the colours, shapes and textures of the Winter Garden. Although planted with winter interest in mind when we explored in the autumn it was full of interest.

The third and final visit to the Savill Gardens will feature a selection of images from around the gentle walk we took through these stunning gardens. We had looked forward to visiting these gardens for years and when we finally did we were not disappointed in any way.

Tags foliage, foliage plants, garden photography, gardening, grasses, ornamental trees, shrubs, the Savill Gardens, trees, winter gardens

autumn autumn colours colours garden design garden photography gardening gardens open to the public grasses hardy perennials ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs photography the South trees

The Savill Garden in October

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date November 27, 2012
4 Comments on The Savill Garden in October

At last we have got around to visiting the Savill Garden. It was worth waiting for! The new visitor reception is an amazing building, a single storey space under a long, sinuous roof shaped like the tail of a Whale.

Looking up at the wonderful reception building.

Looking down into the garden from the reception building.

The Savill Garden is situated on the edge of Great Windsor Park and is just a small part of the Royal Landscape. We followed the recommended path around the garden so that we could see the effects of Autumn throughout.

In most areas of the garden, Savill had the typical look and feel of a stately home garden, both in plants grown, choice of design features and border arrangements, but hints of newer thinking were showing through, such as the use of grasses and new perennial plantings.

A true highlight of our visit to the Savill Gardens was the surprise at coming across this modern water feature. It looked good and it sounded good.

Although we visited the gardens at Savill in the Autumn one of the most colourful areas was the Winter Garden, already showing many interesting features. So the next post will be about the winter Garden in Autumn.

Tags autumn, autumn colours, foliage, foliage plants, garden photography, gardening, grasses, greenhouse gardening, ornamental trees, shrubs, the Savill Gardens, trees

allotments autumn autumn colours bird watching colours community gardening fruit and veg garden photography garden wildlife gardening grasses grow your own meadows natural pest control ornamental trees and shrubs photography roses wildlife

A Wander Around our Allotments in November

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date November 10, 2012
10 Comments on A Wander Around our Allotments in November

The penultimate lottie wander post for 2012 and at last the weather is providing a few bright cold days. This is what we look forward to in this autumnal month, rather than the wet dark days we have been presented with in the first few days. The light is warm and gives a crisp edge to any photos taken as the blue haze of summer has disappeared.

We went up the lottie yesterday to deliver some spare seeds for the Seed Swap basket and to collect some greens left by fellow plot holders for our chickens. They are spoilt by our friends from the site! It was mid-afternoon and we had not intended to stop to work, but we changed our minds. We got out the communal mowers and rakes and gave the final two meadows their annual “hair cuts”. Jude, The Undergardener did most of the work as it is a bit difficult with my spine and leg pains, so I wandered off taking advantage of the special quality of the day’s light and shot off a couple of dozen pics with my Galaxy.

As we worked on the meadows the resident Field Voles scuttled off as they felt the mower’s vibrations and disappeared down their holes. We left a few clumps of wildflowers standing for everyone to enjoy before winter cuts them down. Field Scabious, Mallow and Sunflowers.

The meadows that are already trimmed look flat and brown, but the pathways mown through them look crisp and green.

The foliage in our Sensory Garden is given extra vitality in the November sunshine.

The next shot is a view of the site boundary through the seed heads of a white-flowered Actaea across the Spring Garden. In the Spring Garden a tiny Acer shows that you don’t have to be big to impress.

In the meadows the last of the grasses and sunflowers stand tall and proud.

Up in the mature Sycamore and Oak the resident bats will be shuffling around and preening in readiness to leave their roosts in the boxes and go on the feed for moths and night-flying insects. Bats are our night-time pest control patrols. In the daylight hours we are being entertained by birds of prey often being mobbed by our flocks of Jackdaws and Rooks . Peregrines, Buzzard, Red Kite, Kestrel and Sparrow Hawk.

Around the plots the gardeners are preparing their plots for the winter, beds are cleared and manure piled up or spread over the surface.

A few crops remain for winter sustenance.The red stems and purple leaves of Ruby Chard add a burst of colour. Brassicas are covered to give protection from ravenous and greedy Wood Pigeons who love to eat the sweet centres of Brussels Sprouts and the tenderest, newest leaves of cabbages.

A few remaining flowers add extra brightness to the plots.Tthat most popular of companion plants, the Calendula brightens up compost areas and odd roses still perform in the Summer Garden. We can expect these David Austin roses to continue to treat us to flowers until the new year.

The star of the site for the next few months will be the Winter Garden and it is already showing promises and hints of what delights it has in store for us in times ahead. As leaves fall from trees and shrubs the colours and textures of the stems and trunks will come into their own.

We have endured a wet summer and autumn with each month breaking previous rainfall records. Crops have been poor and we have been flooded four times. Dave, the Scarecrow looks a bit worse for wear too!

autumn autumn colours colours garden design garden photography gardening gardens open to the public National Garden Scheme ornamental trees and shrubs photography shrubs The National Gardening Scheme" trees

The Dingle – A Welsh Garden Wonder

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date November 3, 2012
4 Comments on The Dingle – A Welsh Garden Wonder

Close to Welshpool, just a half hour from home across the Welsh border, are our favourite nursery and garden centre, The Dingle and The Derwen, part of the same family. They sell unusual trees and shrubs and many good-value perennials all locally grown. But hidden away in the Dingle nursery, through a little wooden gate is a wonderful sloping garden. The garden is mostly a wonderful collection of unusual trees and shrubs on a gentle slope down to a lake, so a visit in the autumn is an assault on the senses.

The nursery which is now over 40 years old, grows thousands of plants on its 150 acres of Welsh countryside. We rarely come away without a gem – and they give free coffee away too!

The garden itself extends to just four acres, but those four acres feel much larger than expected with a complex network of paths which give occasional views which are wide and stunning. This is good garden design.

As the paths take us around corners they feature interesting, colourful shrubs and trees to delight the eye before enticing us to find out what is around the next corner.

Being on a slope, the garden’s many seats are most warmly welcomed by aching legs.

Some of the seating provides cover which proved useful a few times as showers burst from the dark sky just visible through gaps in the trees.

Coloured, textured foliage and bark keep the interest of the plant lover in us going strong and enticing us around each corner.

As in any good garden little cameos stop us in our tracks and catch the eye.

The lake at the lowest point of the garden, provides a restful place – restful to the eye and restful to the legs.

Strong contrasts in foliage colour show up in the brighter weather as we work our way back up the paths to the gate.

As in any garden specialising in trees and shrubs the stars of the autumn are the Acers.

Back up the top of the garden we pass through the little wooden gate and are tempted for a perusal of the colourful nursery beds.

Tags acers., autumn, autumn colours, cornus, foliage, foliage plants, garden photography, gardening, NGS, ornamental trees, Powis, shrubs, trees, Welshpool

autumn colours garden photography gardening grasses ornamental trees and shrubs photography trees

Leaves

Just for a change we have no words just photographs to enjoy. A few sneak in near the end though!

If only you could smell the leaves below! They are from the tree called Cercidyphilum and they smell so sweet. I think they smell of toffee apples, Jude thinks they smell of candyfloss while others think the scents reminiscent of brittle toffee, burnt sugar, in fact anything sweet and sticky!

The most underrated plants for autum leaf colour must be the grasses. They very rarely get a mention in relation to autumn colour, so let’s put it right.