Tag: grasses

My Garden Journal 2019 – January

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date February 4, 2019

Back with my new journal for a new year, my Garden Journal 2019. January is often described a s a quiet month in the garden and gardeners are often told to keep inside in the warm, order seeds from catalogues, clean their sheds and sharpen bladed tools and clean up all tools. But in reality a good garden is a good garden for 12 months of the year and a good gardener keeps his bladed tools sharp continously, all his tools are cared for througout the year and there is plenty to look at and enjoy in the garden and plenty of interest to be found in plants.

I begin my January journal entries with the words, “What is in flower in our Avocet patch early in January? A quick wander around on a calm, dry day with camera in hand provides the answer. I thought I wouls be out in the garden for 10 minutes or so but there was so much t lok at that it was three times longer.”

I shared a set of 8 photos showing “Violas, Cyclamen, members of the Primula family and even an adventurous Rose.”

I then went onwards with my camera into the greenhouse which is not yet heated at all, so we are simply keeping things ticking over. Soon we will put heat on and the heated propagating bench in readiness for the exciting task of seed sowing. I wrote, “The greenhouse is a busy place in the winter full to overflowing with over-wintering sensitive plants, autumn seedlings ticking over and cuttingstaken late in the year.”

Examples of these sorts of plants are shown in the set of photos, including seedling Achilleas, Fuschia thalia and Sedum Matrona cuttings.

On the opposite page I looked at some of our many grasses that shine in January and shared a set of pics. “Grasses come into their own in January both deciduous and evergreen. Carex are exceptionally valuable winter grasses.”

Carex elata aurea Carex elata aurea

Calamagrostis “Northwood” Miscanthus sinensis Carex “Evergold”

Carex elata “Evergold” Uncinia rubra Carex “Frosted Curls”

Carex elata “Bowles Gold” Anemalanthe lessoniana

Calamostris brachytricha Carex buchanii

On the following double page spread I moved on to look at some of our berries and foliage plants giving interest in January. On the first page I wrote, “Throughout the winter birds especially members of the Thrush family enjoy gorging on the berries on our trees and shrubs. We grow berrying plants for the birds to eat as well as for our own visual feast. By January a few are still left over.”

Guelder Rose Mahonia “Winter Sun”

Honeysuckle berries Malus “Admiration”

Native Holly Iris foetidissima

Cotoneaster Libertia

Sarcococa confusa

We can now look at the opposite page and consider some of our interesting foliage, where I wrote, “In January interesting foliage catches the eye, variegation, dusting with silver, glaucous or ruby coloured.”

Eucalyptus parvula Rhamnus aureomarginata Eleagnus ebbingei

Coprosmia “Pacific Night” Pinus mugo “Mumpitz”

Hedera helix “Long Trail Yellow” Hebe

Budleja “Lochinch” Euphorbia lathyris

Over the page I wanted to share the disaster we had with our old fence that backed our Seaside Garden. I wrote, “I shall now report on the progress we have made with our winter projects and look at work in progress too. You will not be surprised that strong winds broke down the fence panels backing the Seaside Garden so this area neededa complete renovation. The old fence was soon replaced jointly with our neighbours and the new, better quality fence presented opportunities to put up vine eyes and wires. We planned to plant plenty of new climbers as well as renew and replenish the other plants and artefacts. We decided to include more plants this time.”

The new fence ………………….

The trellis goes back up and the vine eyes and wires are being fixed up.

The climbers are planted ……………. and grasses soon join them.

To finish the month of January off, we can have a quick look at what the finished revamped seaside garden ended looking like, ready for the growing season ahead.

I wrote, “We had great fun rebuilding the Seaside Garden despite cold temperatures made more severe by the icy cold winds. So, wrapped up well against this typical January weather we put up old fishing nets from Scotland, sea-washed driftwood from Devon and Anglesey plus shells and pebbles.”

“Avian des res!”

“House Sparrows”

“Titmice”

“Wrens”

“Meanwhile we continued to change the 3 beds around the back grass into a new hot garden. Sadly we messed up the grass so had to also prepare this for repair. We have now finished planting the new plants and repaired the grass area ready for seeding in March.”

So there we have my entries for January in my 2019 garden journal.

Tags climbers, climbing plants, cyclamen, flwering bulbs, grasses, seaside border, seaside garden, spring bulbs, spring flowers

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

Ness Botanic Gardens

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date October 6, 2018

We meet regularly with a group we went to teacher training college with back in 1969 to 1972, for a get together. We often meet up at a garden for morning coffee and lunch, with time to explore in between.

In early October we met up at Ness Botanic Gardens run by Liverpool University. Jude and I had visited several times over the years, so looked forward to reaquainting ourselves with this wonderful garden.

We hoped to get a good show of bark, foliage and berries from their many Acers, Betulas and Sorbus. We were particularly keen on looking at the Sorbus as we are currently seleceting a new one for our Avocet garden. We love so many and hoped this visit would help us choose.

Leaving the visitors centre we could see the strong sharp shadows emanating from trees and lying across the grass. Through these trees we were afforded long views across the lower gardens.

Beds to show the main plant families were cut into the grass and we enjoyed these before following a gravel path down the slope that took us to the wonderfully colourful late perennial borders.

The herbaceous perennial borders shone with grasses and Asters, growing below shrubs and trees displaying signs of autumn, coloured foliage, fruit and berries.

After enjoying these mixed borders we returned to the far side of the garden to explore.

We made our way back to the centre for lunch and then Jude and I carried on touring the garden in search of Sorbus varieties, while the rest of the group made their ways home.

In my next post I shall share the Sorbus discoveries with you.

Tags Cheshire, Cheshire gardens, garden photography, gardens of Cheshire, grasses, Ness Botanic Gardens, sorbus

colours flowering bulbs garden design garden photography gardening gardens grasses hardy perennials irises light light quality ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs roses Shrewsbury Shropshire shrubs South Shropshire spring bulbs Winter Gardening winter gardens

My Garden Journal 2018 – February

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date March 1, 2018
2 Comments on My Garden Journal 2018 – February

Part two of my 2018 Garden Journal sees us still freezing cold and struggling to get time in the garden.

I opened my February entries by noting, “February is the month when we feel that the quality of the light improves and makes us feel better and there are definite signs of the days lengthening. Early bulbs begin flowering and others are showing strong leaf growth.”

I next sought out another quote from Dan Pearson’s book, “Natural Selection” and was pleased to find this one, “Making room for the winter garden is every bit as important as managing a garden that draws your attention in the dark months.”

Turning over to the next double page spread I write about newly acquired plants.

“It is always an enjoyable time planting newly acquired plants but it is an extra-special experience doing so in February. We were delighted to find good healthy specimens of two fastigiate plants, a Taxus baccata “Fastigiata Robusta” and an Ilex crenata “Fastigiata”. The only two fastigiate plants we have already established at Avocet are a Berberis and an Oak, Berberis thunbergia fastigiata atropurpurea “Helmond Pillar” , (a tall thin shrub with a long thin name!” and Quercus palustris “Green Pillar” which despite its name is grown for its deep red autumn colour.”

“We also recently planted a Viburnum with a very different growth habit to our fastigiate purchases. It is a low growing shrub with a very open, airy growth and sweetly scented flowers in April. It is also described as “almost evergreen”, so we will wait and see exactly how ours behaves. We already have a good collection of Viburnums around our Avocet patch.”

Some of my watercolour sketches of Hellebores and details of their petals feature on the next page.

“Hellebores peak in February adding a richness with the deep reds and purples as well as cheeriness with their yellow flowers.”

“I love turning up each flower to reveal its beauty, its colours and markings of spots and streaks.”

On the opposite page I looked at some of our grasses with winter interest and share some photos of them.

“In late February we begin to cut down “deciduous” grasses, choosing the right time to avoid cutting through this year’s new growth. Evergreen grasses especially varieties of Carex come into their own especially when partnered with evergreen foliage plants such as ferns, bergenias and arums.”

Moving on to the final double page spread for February, I considered coloured stemmed Dogwoods and a look at roses as they give their final points of interest before they are pruned and begin to grow anew for this year.

“The coloured stems of Dogwoods add so much colour to the winter borders. We use them to catch the rays of the low sun which helps them to glow and liven up our garden.”

I finished off my February journal entries by featuring roses and a very special plant, special because it is a dogwood that occurred in our garden as a chance seedling of Midwinter Fire crossed with one of our other Cornus plants. We have grown it on and now take lots of cuttings hoping to bulk it up. We hope to be able then to sell them at our open days. Very exciting!

I wrote, “Our Cornus Midwinter Fire throws up new plants from runners and occasionally a few from seed. The runners are identical to the parent plant but the seedlings can vary a lot. We pot the seedlings on and then plant them out on our allotment plot to allow us to identify “star plants”. We have one which is far redder than its parents and has better autumn colour. We are propagating these (see below). We have named it Cornus “Arabella’s Crimson” after our granddaughter.”

My final page is about roses and yellow flowers of the February garden. The yellow flowers are Jasminum nudiflorum, Cornus mas and a pale yellow rose bud. I wrote “Sparkling spots of yellow flowers brighten up the February weather, fighting against this month’s greys.”

“Late February is the time when we begin pruning our bush roses in readiness for the new growing season. We always find wrinkled rose hips and even the odd flower bud.

“Next month is one we really look forward to. Already by mid-February light values have improved, but soon Spring may begin to creep in!”

Tags arum, cornus, cornus mas, Cornus Midwinter Fire, dogwoods, fastigiate plants, flowering bulbs, grasses, iris, iris reticulata, ornamental grasses, shrubs in winter, spring bulbs, viburnum, winter, winter aconite, winter garden, winter gardening

garden design garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public grasses hardy perennials meadows ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs RHS Yorkshire

Two RHS Gardens – Part 2 Harlow Carr

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date February 13, 2018
1 Comment on Two RHS Gardens – Part 2 Harlow Carr

To visit the second of the RHS gardens we visited during 2017 we had to travel north up to Yorkshire and we stayed near Harrogate, a beautiful spa town. This is the RHS garden we probably visit the most as it is our favourite and we love the area it is situated in. We chose to go up in late summer. We particularly enjoy the Winter Garden and the new perennial gardens and as we had already visited to see the Winter Garden so we needed to see the perennials borders too.

The RHS are excellent at giving a warm welcome to its visitors and we certainly felt that at their most northerly garden, beautiful planters, great breakfast at the famous “Betty’s Tearooms” and cheerful plants as we entered the main gardens, including bright, cheerful meadow planting.

A recent children’s competition involving creating miniature gardens in old boots provided some entertainment at the bottom of the main steps into the garden.

Next we will share moments we enjoyed as we made our way towards the educational centre with its new buildings, glasshouse and plantings.

The gardens around the education centre provide a fine example of contemporary plant choice and plant combinations, starring grasses and tall airy perennials, growing beautifully among gravel, a wildlife pond and a contemporary styled vegetable garden alongside. Even the seating has been carefully chosen to look just right. Nothing has been left to chance!

As mentioned at the beginning of this post we were looking forward in particular to wandering around the borders of “new perennial planting” especially as we were visiting when it should be its prime time. So please enjoy this wander with us by following the gallery. Click on the first picture then navigate with the arrows.

When we were finishing our visit to this wonderful RHS garden we made our way back for a final coffee before finding our car and returning to our hotel, and noticed a large and very beautiful insect hotel alongside the path. It was an heartening end to our exploration.

Tags grasses, hardy perennials, new perennial gardening, ornamental grasses, perennials, RHS, RHS gardens, RHS Harlow Carr, Yorkshire

colours garden design garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public grasses hardy perennials light light quality ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs RHS

Two RHS Gardens – Part 1 – Hyde Hall

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date February 2, 2018

As members of the RHS we often visit their gardens and their partner gardens. Sadly it is a long journey to get to any of their main gardens so we do not visit as often as we would like. We make an effort to visit at least two each year.

In 2017 the two we selected were Hyde Hall in Essex and Harlow Carr in Yorkshire, two very different gardens, one in the south and one in the north. The first we visited was Hyde Hall which is the furthest away of all their gardens so we have only ever explored it once before. We made this journey in the middle of the summer and were looking forward in particular to seeing how the Dry Garden had developed as this was a new venture when we originally visited this garden. When we journey down to Essex we usually pay a visit to the garden of the great lady of British gardening, Beth Chatto, but this time we did not have time. But we will go to her garden soon when I will post about her incredible garden when we do. For now though we will concentrate on the gardens of Hyde Hall.

It is rarely possible to admire the planting within a car park, but at Hyde Hall the planting was worth looking at and photographing. It was based on new style perennial planting which had such a gentle calming effect on us as we walked from the car to the garden. Grasses and airy perennials were the mainstay of the plantings.

Once inside the gardens themselves, the quality of planting and the brilliant way in which plant partners were grouped were of the highest quality.

Grasses feature strongly at Hyde Hall adding texture to the landscape where grass is cut selectively, but different ornamental cultivars are used for structure and their architectural presence, and in mixed plantings for contrast, movement and for visitors to touch and stroke.

In places we could identify where plants had been chosen to take advantage of the light from the sun, using its brightness to encourage us to see reflection, shimmering light, glossy textures and contrasting patterns. Essex is dry and sunny particularly compared to our Shropshire climate. Using the brightness of the sun and the dryness of the climate to enhance gardens is so clever and not often done well. Hyde Hall is the star in this department.

In my second post about this wonderful RHS garden I shall focus on their famous Dry Garden, but for now I want to explore the way light is used so effectively in some areas. Light can emphasise glossiness of foliage, it can emphasise the interplay of light and shade and it can emphasise texture.

Tags dry gardening, Essex, Essex gardens, grasses, hardy perennials, Hyde Hall Gardens, light, light and shade, light quality, new perennial gardening, ornamental grasses, perennials, RHS, RHS gardens, RHS Harlow Carr, the dry garden

architecture Cheshire garden design garden paths garden photography garden ponds garden pools garden seat garden seating gardening gardens gardens open to the public grasses hardy perennials ornamental trees and shrubs trees

The Most Romantic Garden in England – Cholmondeley Castle

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date November 18, 2017

Many visitors believe that the gardens at Cholmondeley Castle are the most romantic in England, and after each visit we have made it is hard to disagree. Jude, the Undergardener and I visited in mid-September with a group of college friends, every one of whom loved it for its atmosphere. The “Cheshire’s Gardens 2017″ leaflet describe the gardens as “Romantic, beautiful and wild”.

The Cholmondeley family have lived on the site since 1200 but the castle we saw was built in the early 19th Century. Today the gardens feature the Folly Garden, a Lily Pond, a woodland area, as well as smaller borders such as the grass borders. The wide sweeping lawns encourage visitors to wander freely between the borders and enjoy long views.

As we walked these inviting paths, enjoying wide vistas and clumps of mature trees we stopped frequently when our eyes rested upon some fine planting, beautiful individual plants and imaginative groupings.

We had a great day at Cholmondeley Castle discovering what the romantic garden had to offer. It certainly did have a romantic atmosphere!

Tags acers., Cheshire, Cheshire gardens, Cholmondeley Castle, gardening, gardens open to the public, grasses, ornamental grasses, trees and shrubs

diy garden buildings garden design gardening gardens grasses hardy perennials herbs ornamental grasses Shropshire

Developing 3 new spaces – Part 2 – the new roof garden

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date October 9, 2017
2 Comments on Developing 3 new spaces – Part 2 – the new roof garden

The final new garden we developed early in 2017 was our second roof garden here at Avocet. To find out about our first green roof refer to my post called “Growing up! Making a green roof.” published back in April 2013.

This, our second roof garden, was created when we got rid of one of our garden sheds and moved a smaller one into its place. (see the post entitled “Three Sheds into Two will Go”)

We constructed a strong framework around the shed in timber so that the roof garden itself was putting no extra stress on the shed roof itself. We then added a new floor to the roof garden from strong floorboards which we waterproofed with two layers of roofing felt. In order to make it ready for the planting media we added a layer of weed membrane to allow for drainage and to retain the compost. We created a drainage channel filled with gravel. The final stage of preparation was adding a layer of light weight compost which was carefully leveled.

rg2-07 rg2-01 rg2-02 rg2-03 rg2-04 rg2-05

Time to plant! It always seems strange planting when up a ladder!

The green roof is the exciting finishing point in our shed project. The first phase of planting really made us feel as if we had completed our work with the three sheds, which had now been turned into two! The plants were a selection of grasses, Incinia rubra, a selection of Carex and Stipa tenuissima but more will follow soon. Flowering plants included a selection of small Sedums, Sedum tricolor, S. telephinium ss riprechtii “Hab Gray”, S. ewersii and S. cauticola Coca Cola plus two scented Violas, V. odorata sulphurea and V. odorata Konigin Charlotte, a low growing Sedum-like plant Chiastophyllum opositifolium and a variegated Trifolium, T. pratense “Susan Smith”.

Job done!

Tags garden design, garden diy, garden sheds, grasses, green roof, ornamental grasses, roof gardening, roof gardens, thymes, violas

climbing plants garden design garden wildlife gardening grasses hardy perennials natural pest control ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs Shropshire

Developing 3 spaces in our garden – part 3

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date February 23, 2017
3 Comments on Developing 3 spaces in our garden – part 3

The second new area we were able to develop this winter was a very small border created when we rationalised our sheds. The bed was originally used for a selection of mints which we used for cooking so the soil had to be removed and very bit of mint root removed. Some is bound to come back though as it seems impossible to rid yourself of mint in one go. We will have to keep our eyes peeled. As yet we have not named this little patch but I guess it may end up being something akin to “The Old Mint Patch”.

ng1-1

We began by erecting a screen wrapping around behind the bed and one end and we chose willow hurdle panels for this as it lets some wind through but gives some protection. We also love the natural rural look of it, and have used it effectively elsewhere in our garden. To match the natural look of the fencing we added a border edge of log-roll.

ng1-2 ng-01

We planned our planting in three layers. First plantings were climbers, followed by shrubs and finally herbaceous perennials including grasses. The first climber we planted was Trachelospermum asiaticum, chosen for its flowers which are creamy coloured and scented in strong contrast to its dark green glossy foliage. We partnered this climber with a Honeysuckle and a Clematis. Clematis Fragrant Auberon has creamy-white, heavily scented flowers in spring contrasting strongly with its evergreen foliage. The Honeysuckle was Lonicera Spring Purple, where the purple refers to its foliage.

The shrubs we selected were favourites of ours which had graced our wishlist for a few years now so this new, unexpected planting opportunity meant they could now leave their place in the wish list and grace the new border instead. Firstly we planted a Hydrangea aspera, a summer flowering shrub called H. a. “Hot Chocolate”, so we look forward to its lacecap flowers consisting of pink florets surrounding violet florets in the summer, and of course its foliage which is a chocolate colour above and wine-red velvety textured below.

We are always pleased to find space for another deciduous, so we planted a specimen of Euonymus planipes in this new border. We put it in when it was leafless and we spotted its beautiful mahogany long thin leaf buds. Later it will boast bright pink fruits with vivid orange seeds hanging from within, an incredible colour combination.

Our third shrub was an Abeliophyllum distichum, which was showing its gently scented pale pink almost white flowers. We look forward to its foliage turning rich purple in autumn.

fj1-1

The final planting later to put in place was the herbaceous layer where we selected plants mostly for their unusual foliage but a few will flower. Thus we planted three Saxifrages – S. stolonifera called “Hime”, S. fortunei “Blackberry and Apple Pie” and S. stolonifera “Maroon Beauty”, strongly textured, coloured foliage and unusual shaped flowers. We planted a fern too to link across to the one in the container which I write about later. We chose Dryopteris erythrosora “Prolifica” which features copper foliage each spring. Three Libertias join in to give spikes of foliage some with coloured stripes and white flowers in the summer and autumn. These Libertia are L. ixioides “Taupo Sunset”, L. peregrinans “Gold Leaf” and a third is an unknown species we grew from seed. We finished with our usual grasses, essential in every border, so we placed between the other perennials three Uncinia rubra,

We also had space adjacent to the new bed for a large stoneware pot which matched the one at the far end of the path close by. We planted this up with a Gaultheria mucronata “Sneeuwwiyje” which I think translates as “Snowdrop”. It sports red stems and shiny dark green foliage and in summer white flowers with hints of soft pink followed by white berries later. Beneath this shrub we planted a fern and a couple of trailing ivies for year long foliage colour and texture. The ivies Hedera “Golden Kolibri” and Hedera “White Wonder”, the names reflecting the colour of the leaf variegation. The fern was Polystichum setiferum “Plumosum”, with soft textured foliage.

ng-03 ng-06 ng-08 ng-07 ng-05 ng-04

The final flourish was installing a wildlife “village” of varied insect homes, some coming from the old garden shed others newly made.

ng-16 ng1-3 ng1-4

A few weeks later we added spring flowering bulbs from pots, a few more grasses and a third Saxafraga, S. Blackberry and Apple Pie.

We then had to sit back, let Mother Nature and all her soil workers and the weather do their best and watch the new patch develop. Maybe it will develop well enough to appear in my garden journal later in the year.

Tags Avocet garden, berried shrubs, climbers, climbing plants, flowering shrubs, grasses, ornamental grasses, shrubs, the garden at Avocet, trees and shrubs

autumn autumn colours colours garden design garden photography gardening grasses half-hardy perennials hardy perennials light light quality ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs Shropshire shrubs South Shropshire succulents trees Uncategorized village gardens

The one that nearly got away! – My Garden Journal in November

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 31, 2017
3 Comments on The one that nearly got away! – My Garden Journal in November

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.”

nj-3 nj-2 nj1-4 nj1-5 nj1-3 nj1-6 nj1-2

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.”

nj2-8 nj2-1-1 nj2-3 nj2-6 nj2-4

“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.

nj9-08

“Often our moments of delight are light shows starring grasses, their movement, their filigree seed heads and their biscuit and ginger hues.”

nj4-10 nj4-08 nj4-09

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.

nj9-09

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.

nj5-04 nj5-01 nj5-07 nj5-10

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”.

nj9-10

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”.

nj6-2 nj6-1

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.”

nj8-02 nj8-11 nj8-10 nj8-12 nj8-18 nj8-01 nj8-15 nj8-03 nj8-16 nj8-04 nj8-13

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.

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

Bressingham Gardens – 2 – Using Grasses.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 18, 2016
1 Comment on Bressingham Gardens – 2 – Using Grasses.

In this second report of our visit to the gardens at Bressingham I am going to look at the use of grasses throughout the gardens. As the batch of shots below illustrate, grasses here are beautifully integrated into the mixed borders and enhance their partners’ attributes. The grasses add movement, sound and an element of delicacy to the whole garden.

The Bloms family created the gardens here at Bressingham not only to show the use of perennials and grasses but also coniferous evergreens. It is here they display all the many new cultivars of grasses and perennial herbaceous plants that they have bred over the decades. They also pioneered the use of island beds in garden design where for the first time herbaceous borders were designed to be seen from all around and the island beds of plantings were designed to be islands within seas of lawn.

Grasses especially varieties and cultivars of Miscanthus are an integral part of the gardens here including the island beds. There is a large collection of Miscanthus which impressed and delighted me as it is a grass family that I love to see and love to use in our garden. It is a great multi-season group of plants.

Here are a few shots of the Miscanthus collection, but it was hard to do justice with the camera to illustrate the subtle variations in colour, height texture and growth habits of these grasses, the colours in all the different flowers and the leaf stripes and variegations.

gb-13 gb-11 gb-15 gb-14 gb-12 gb-09 gb-10

Using grasses in clumps, blocks, rivers and ribbons adds drama to the garden, but equally a single specimen partnered with a shrub, tree or herbaceous plant can increase the aesthetic value of both the grass and its partner.

Here are a couple of ideas seen at Bressingham using grasses in ribbons and rivers.

gb1-05 gb1-06 gb1-09 gb1-01 gb1-04 gb1-03 gb1-07