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Stone House Cottage Garden – rare plants and follies

A return visit to a garden that we have not seen for a few decades is a rare treat. We returned to Stone House Cottage Garden and Nursery as part of a day out with our Hardy Plant Society Shropshire Group friends. In the afternoon we followed up with a wander around Arley Arboretum, another place we have visited before. Both gardens open for the National Garden Scheme during the year too.

We were greeted by Stone House’s owner and gardener, Louisa Arthbutnot, who invited us to wander freely but saying she would be around to answer queries. We entered through a round tower and were soon reminded about what makes this such a special patch, interesting plants combined well and brick-built grottoes.

Entering the garden through the first folly we are given a choice of paths straight away, so enticing.

But we did not make a choice straight as we were attracted to the unusual selection of plants growing right alongside the back door of the entrance folly.

 

Brickwork and follies feature so strongly in the is cottage garden and enhance it in a unique way.

 

As we moved through the garden we discovered unusual shrubs with loose meadow-style planting beneath them.

 

But what makes this cottage garden stand out as being something rather special is its collection of rare and unusual plants and the way Louisa places plants in communities so effectively.

 

As we left the garden we all made for the nursery where many unusual plants were waiting to tempt us.

 

 

 

 

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Gordon and Mona’s Place

We like to share with you the gardens owned by our fellow Shropshire gardeners and we especially sharing our visits to some excellent gardens created and looked after by fellow members of the Shropshire Group of the Hardy Plant Society. So here is a short series of three such gardens we enjoyed during 2016.

The first is owned by Gordon and Mona who also have a small nursery selling unusual plants. Gordon also gives garden talks to groups just as Jude and I do, so we have things in common. Gordon is a great lover of Salvias too, just like me, but unlike me he is very knowledgeable about them.

We followed roads leading us north-east from home towards a village known as Sheriffhales where we found the garden surrounding a house in the country. We loved the unusual entrance to the garden, passing through a narrow gateway in a holly hedge, which took us along a path to the back of the house and immediately we found ourselves immersed in the plants. It was like entering a secret garden, always a good start! Gates, hedges and pathways invited us seamlessly around the gardens surrounding Gordon and Mona’s home and comfy seats enticed us to sit a while and take in the scents and sounds of the garden. The movement of the many grasses and the bird song enriched the rest of the experience.

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Beautiful happy healthy plants growing upwards against a blue sky raise the spirits up with them.

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Gordon had previously introduced us to Commelinas, perhaps the most delicate and beautiful blue flower to be found in any garden. We now have some of Gordon’s seedling growing on nicely at home and it was good to meet them again.

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Let us now just share some of the individual plants and plant companions we enjoyed so much on this visit. Some of these plant combinations are so exciting bringing together unlikely colour partners, the sign of confident and knowledgeable gardeners.

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Salvias are Gordon’s true specialism and interest and here they are beautifully grown, sitting happily in mixed borders and flowering profusely.

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What a great afternoon visiting this lovely, gentle garden full of plant delights! Moments of magic appeared around every corner to add that little extra that raises a garden above the norm, as shown in my four pics below.

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