Tag: garden design

The RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park – Part 1 – The Best of the RHS Shows?

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 28, 2014

Okay so Chelsea gets all the publicity, all the air time on the BBC and is the place to be seen if you class yourself a “celebrity”. Some even see it as another “Ascot”, a chance to be seen and to wear a designer outfit and a big hat! Hampton Court Show gets plenty of coverage too in the press and on TV but is not seen as “the place to be seen”.

I have been to Chelsea and won’t go again. There are simply too many people there who are not interested in plants or gardens and let’s be honest the show gardens are just “not real” are the? Sorry, but it is about time budgets for show gardens were controlled and designers were brought back down to earth and restricted to designing with plants in season.

However go to the RHS Tatton Show and you are in for a treat. It is a garden show for real gardeners and the show gardens are full of realistic ideas to stimulate the thinking gardener. However the BBC just give it two half-hour slots. Not enough celebrities in attendance and no visit by the Queen I suppose! Just look at the look of sheer delight on the faces of Monty Don and Carol Klein when they broadcast from Tatton and listen to their obvious and genuine enjoyment in their voices. This year the theme of the show was carnival time and it was promoted as “The Great Garden Carnival” with the elements of “inspire, escape, grow and feast”.

Just like the BBC coverage we shall start with the show gardens. These show gardens are far more realistic with most designers using plants flowering and performing that are in season.

This means that gardeners can take away ideas to try in their own patches especially plant partnerships. Just look at the photo of the Echinacea and Achillea together, a combination we have used before but not in that colour combination, which looks so fresh and lively. And alongside that photo another showing the same Achillea with Helenium. This pale lemon Achillea appeared on many of the show gardens and looks a very worthwhile plant.

We were pleased to see grasses being used in fresh ways too especially smaller ones with gentle whispy flowers which showed off one of their attributes, moving in the wind, so well. They were used with Chocolate Cosmos on one garden and with Veronicas on another, both equally effective.

Our favourite garden was this one by a young designer, his first ever RHS garden and he received a Gold. He was a very happy designer! We spoke to him for a long while and he explained his ideas and choice of plants to us. It was a fresh lively garden and as he pointed out to us not expensive to build. The strength of the design was in the use of triangles, which in itself is unusual.

This garden illustrated how corton steel can be used really well as long as the planting co-ordinates with it too. The pics show how well the steel and the plants worked together.

“Grow Your Own” was a feature in several gardens and appeared throughout all aspects of the show. Look at these smart raised beds and great ways to support climbing beans.

And of course no show based on creativity is complete without a little quirkiness! How about purple and lime green cauliflowers or a water feature based on recycled exhaust pipes, multicoloured birdboxes and even a rainbow of ribbons.

And of course there are always a few plants in the Floral Marquee or in the show gardens large and small that catch our eyes.

After that little diversion we can return to the show gardens which appealed to us.

I shall follow this post about the RHS Tatton Park Show with two more, one celebrating the gardeners of the future and one the colours that made the show so vibrant.

Tags flower shows, garden design, garden designers, RHS, RHS Tatton Park Flower Show, Tatton Park

climbing plants garden design gardening herbs recycling roses

Hide that ugly pipe!

Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best. Recently we saw on a television gardening programme some covers to fix over drain pipes so that you can plant climbing plants to hide the ugly plastic pipe.

So we sent for a pair and then went off to the Antique Centre at nearby Church Stretton in search of an interesting galvanised container suitable for growing some climbing plants in. Success! We found an old cannister hidden in a pile of miscellaneous objects from an old bakers shop. Baking tins, a till, the manager’s desk, enamel signs, and a miscellany of galvanised containers!

We were so pleased with ourselves that we treated ourselves to a coffee at a great coffee house across the road, Ginger Green. They make excellent coffee and an amazing array of cakes! As you see from the pics below they pride themselves in the look of the coffee too! 10 out of 10 for presentation.

When the climbing frames arrived we fixed them up, put the galvanised cannister in place and drove off to the Derwen Garden Centre near to Welshpool. We came away with a clematis, a climbing patio rose and two thymes perfect for planting up our new planter which waited patiently at home. We were also tempted to a Calyanthus a flowering shrub we had been seeking for a long while.

We must now sit back and wait for the summer when we shall find out if our planting works and if the plants will climb the frames and hide the ugly pipe.

Tags clematis, climbing plants, climbing roses, garden design, reusing

garden design gardening gardens recycling

An Ugly Duckling

Remember the story of “The Ugly Duckling” one of the Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales, also a children’s song sung by Danny Kaye? We used to listen to that song on the radio when we were kids growing up in the 50’s on a programme called “Children’s Favourites”. Well, this post reminds me of it!

The least favourite part of our garden which we inherited when we first moved into our Plealey home ten years ago, is the central concrete pathway in the back garden. It consisted of a row of 3 feet by 2 feet concrete slabs with a concrete border each side about 9 inches wide. It looked so ugly, dull and grey!

We decided to take up every other slab and replace them with purple slate. This was hard work as the slabs were 2 inches thick concrete and were very close together making leverage more difficult than we had anticipated. Where there were any spaces between them these had been filled with mortar. So it took a while to lever up each slab with a spade. We then “walked ” them onto a porters trolley to take them away.

We put weed suppressing membrane down and topped it up with a good deep layer of slate.

We have always wanted to get rid of it or at least change its look. We have at last got round to doing it. It was hard work but it gave us something creative to do on a cold day when the ground was too wet to work on.

One of the added bonuses of using any form of slate in the garden is the fact that it features different colours depending on whether it is wet or dry. The slate was wet when we put it down so in the above photos the slate is purple-black in colour and deeply glossy, but when dry it goes much paler almost white with just a hint of grey and is matt in texture.

So, there we have it the ugly duckling of a concrete path – turned into the beautiful swan – the new path of alternating slate and slab. We were pleased that we had managed to do this using recycled or re-used materials. The slabs were obviously our own and the slate came from the waste heaps of the old Welsh slate mines. These come from the waste heaps which until recently had no use whatsoever and they were a blot on the landscape of Snowdonia.

A good days work! An attractive new garden feature, reusing our old slabs and bringing in just one new material and that was a quarrying industry by-product.

Tags garden design, garden paths, garden photography, re-use, recycling, slate, Snowdonia

garden seating gardens

Are you sitting comfortably? A series dedicated to garden seating.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date October 18, 2013
6 Comments on Are you sitting comfortably? A series dedicated to garden seating.

Seating in a garden turns a display of plants into a place in which to become entranced. We only have a quarter of an acre of garden but we have a seat around every corner and a seat to enjoy every view. I started taking photographs of seating in gardens at the beginning of last year’s garden visiting season, photographs of any bench or chair that appealed to me or seemed particularly well-placed or particularly welcoming. In this series of posts I shall choose an interesting selection for you to enjoy.

First up is this elegant metal table and chairs in a wild area of a garden away from the house where tea and cakes can be enjoyed whilst appreciating the wildlife that shares the peace that pervades this patch .

This benches in one of the green spaces at our allotment site provides an ideal place for a picnic. Here we can sit amongst meadows of grasses and wildflowers growing beneath young apple trees in one of our orchards. The feeding stations and “Edible Hedge” close by attract lots of entertaining wildlife. The birds feel safe so confidently feed a few metres from us.

Under the big old Oak tree other picnic benches provide a resting place for youngsters who visit our allotments. After exploring the meadows and the turf spiral a time to rest is in order.

In our own garden we have seats wherever there is a view or where we can sit and relax engulfed in plants.

In the next post dedicated to the humble garden seat we shall search the gardens of Yorkshire and find places to sit comfortably. Throughout the autumn and winter I shall post issues of “Are You Sitting Comfortably” so keep an eye out for them.

Tags garden design, garden furniture, garden seats, gardening

arboreta garden design garden photography gardening gardens open to the public ornamental trees and shrubs photography trees Winter Gardening winter gardens

Betula at Bluebell

Back to Bluebell Arboretum for a look at their collection of my favourite trees, the Birches. Browse the photos below and you will see why.

Betulas are particularly popular at the moment because of an interest in coloured and textured bark. This is coupled with a surge of interest in the creation of winter gardens within major gardens open to the public, an interest influencing plantings in smaller private gardens. I thought a gallery of our favourites at Bluebell would show the amazing variations.

Betula utilis “Wakehurst Place Chocolate”

Tags arboretum, betulas, birches, coloured bark, garden design, garden photography, gardening, Leicestershire, ornamental trees, textures, trees, winter gardens

community gardening garden design garden photography gardening outdoor sculpture photography the sea the seaside the South town gardens

Bexhill-on-Sea – a cold walk by the sea. Go South 2.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date October 4, 2012
6 Comments on Bexhill-on-Sea – a cold walk by the sea. Go South 2.

After not visiting the seaside all year we have now done so twice in a week. A few days ago we went up to the north Wales coast and enjoyed a walk along the sea front on a bright warm day. Then we visited the south coast of England and walked along the front at Bexhill-on-Sea. It was cold with icy winds and periodic bouts of heavy rain. How can our weather be so different just days apart? It is a good job we like variety where our weather is concerned and it is a good reason to live in the UK.

Bexhill looked good even under grey clouds and viewed through downpours. There was such an obvious sense of pride about the place. The seafront has obviously had a facelift recently so it now boasts interesting garden designs where even the seating is interesting. I would imagine a garden designer was involved, resulting in interesting materials being used. Even the “Healthy Heart” fitness trail featured exercise equipment that had almost sculptural qualities and actually enhanced the overall look of the walk along the sea front.

It was good to see new architecture sitting alongside the old, mirroring it or picking up on some of its detailing. There must be strict planning controls here but not so strict that they squash innovative new architecture. The only strange decision of the planners seems to be making sure that all the beach huts, traditionally a medium for lavish colour schemes, are painted white. Strange and somehow disappointing to see them lined up in a row all looking the same.

Bexhill is a town reflecting so many periods and styles of “seaside” architecture. There are fascinating features to be found on buildings all along the front.

As we had approached Bexhill I suddenly remembered that the little town had a place in motor racing history and after racking my brains and wearing out a few cogs and cells in the process, I came up with the thought that the first motor race had taken place here on the sands. Later I was informed by Son-in-Law, Rob that it was the first in Britain and not a world’s first. This old postcard illustrates one of the early race meetings.

It is often the little details that appeal to me when taking photos at the seaside, details of texture, pattern and shape.

Oh no! I nearly finished a seaside post without a picture of boats! So here it is.

Tags Bexhill-on-Sea, coastal gardens, garden design, Southern England, the coast

conservation flower show garden design garden photography garden wildlife gardening hardy perennials July meadows ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs photography RHS The National Trust wildlife

A Day at the RHS Flower Show Tatton Park

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 4, 2012
4 Comments on A Day at the RHS Flower Show Tatton Park

We have been to the Chelsea Flower Show, Harrogate Flower Shows and The Autumn and spring Malvern Flower Shows but the one we enjoy the most is always the one set in the grounds of Tatton Park. Luckily this is the RHS show closest to home. Although Chelsea is often called the greatest flower show, having visited once we have no desire to go again. But we frequently go to Tatton.

Tatton Park Show is described as “the North’s greatest garden party”. We enjoy its large show gardens, its “Back to Back” gardens and children’s gardens but most of all those designed by young garden designers. This is where the UK’s garden designs of the future lie and the standards are always so high. The designers have to be under 28 and this year their brief was to design a garden based on the theme of “colour”. We were so pleased when we learnt that the designer of our favourite one of these gardens had won the accolade of “RHS National Young Designer of the Year”. Tristen Knight designed this garden using recycled materials and it was full of interesting and original ideas and design feature. The colour of his planting of perennials and grasses was beautiful, all orange and biscuit. He studied for a BA in Industrial Design and Technology before training in garden design at Writtle College. He spoke with great enthusiasm and excitement about his garden and he told us about the materials he had chosen and how they were all items from building sites. For example the rill was formed from a an “H” beam and the flexible screening was created from scaffolding boards. I found it hard to take photographs that did justice to this brilliant young designer’s work. We enjoyed his garden and talking to him about it.

We moved on to the main large garden show gardens, some of which we liked whereas others we did not like at all. But that I suppose is what design is all about. If we all liked the same plants and designs wouldn’t gardens be boring?

I begin looking at this set of gardens by featuring our favourite, a garden based on circles achieving a wonderful peaceful atmosphere through the planting which was light and wispy. It relied heavily on grasses to do so, with one planting area consisting of just grasses and one variety of allium.

It received the Best in Show award!

This show garden featured decking curves and colourful planting choice.

The next sequence of photos illustrates the wide variety of show gardens at Tatton. Enjoy the tour.

Once we had enjoyed the large show gardens we made a bee line for the garden designed by students and staff of Reaseheath College, partly because their garden is always so interesting with elements of attracting wildlife but also because this is the college where I followed some of my horticulture training several decades ago. This year their garden excelled, with such vibrancy in the planting and in its features. Again the design integrated beautiful features created to attract wildlife.

To finish my first post about the RHS Tatton Park Flower Show I want to share a couple of photos of children’s gardens celebrating the Queen’s Jubilee. In the next post we shall visit the Floral Marquee and the smaller show gardens.

Tags community gardening, foliage plants, garden design, garden photography, garden wildlife, gardening, grasses, harvest, meadows, organic gardening, RHS Tatton Park Flower Show, Tatton Park

garden design garden photography gardening

Green on Green

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 2, 2011

Garden designers often talk about colour contrasts such as blues and yellows and about how important green is as a foil for other colours. but what about two shades of green working together. Just think of the fronds of vivid green ferns bursting out from the green paddle leaves of the hosta. in her book entitled “The Gardener’s Pallette” the American garden writer Sydney Ellison wrote “In nature, green is the colour of life” and “It is the colour that makes fewest demands on the human eye.” In most gardening books green is discussed as a foil for other colours and rarely considered as important in its own right.

I searched through photos I have taken this year that featured green for its own sake not merely acting as a foil. Here follows a selection. They prove how powerful greens are!

The grass, Hakanechloa macra , moves slowly like waves in the slightest breeze and here in Neil Lucas’ garden, look great as a sea of green for a specimen tree to burst out of. The plain green Hakanechloa often looks better than its variegated cousin but is rarely seen for sale. It deserves more recognition.

Neil’s use of the simple green sheet of grass under a tree displays brilliant design skills. This photo is the absolute opposite – an accidental paring of two contrasting greens – where a pure bright green apple has dropped onto a neatly clipped box hedge in a potager.

The first photo illustrated how a gardener used green so effectively, the second how an accident can produce beauty in greens and the above one shows how Mother Nature does it. Rather well methinks!

The above photo must illustrate the ultimate “green on green” border, gentle on the eye and so satisfying. Looking at green as a key colour in the garden now on the first day of winter makes you feel better. Just think of all the green we can look forward to!