Tag: ornamental trees

Aiming for a year round garden – early summer.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date June 4, 2014
4 Comments on Aiming for a year round garden – early summer.

Number four in this series of posts concerning our aim at ensuring that our garden all year round sees me and my trusty Nikon wandering the paths of our garden in the last week of May. so come with me and see what you think. Are we still on track?

As usual we shall begin our wanderings in the front where right by the front door we find our personalised trug and our climbers growing in the old galvanised container. Opposite the front door the Freda Border is looking full of interest.

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Round the front of the house the Chatto Garden seems full of chartreuse highlighted with brightly coloured Irises.

Our mixed borders are full of many different textures, shapes and colours provided by the herbaceous plants and the shrubs.

As we move into the back we find our lush colourful planting in the Secret Garden and the Chicken Bed. On a sunny day you need sunglasses to appreciate these areas.

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Down by the pool the Japanese Garden is dominated by the Acers but in the Bog Garden the big leaves of the Rheum and Hostas pick up any shaft of sunlight.

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How about this for a self-seeder, an Anthirinum in the deepest pink possible with tiny splashes of yellow and orange growing alongside a red leaved Acer.

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Looking from the Summerhouse the garden looks full of, so is now a lovely place to sit with a coffee and enjoy our hard work.

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Moving back towards the greenhouse we can take a look at the Crescent Bed and around the Rill Garden. Just look at this little flower hovering above the leaves of the Aeonium.

From the Rill Garden we can see the Seaside Garden which we recently revamped.

We often miss out the mini-gardens on our wandering blog posts so we shall have a look now at the Fern Border, Shed Slate Garden, the Salad Beds and the Slate Scree Garden.

So there we have it, our garden in early Summer. We hope it is still looking good. The next post in this series will be in mid-Summer when we shall be fast approaching our first ever opening under the National Garden Scheme. Seeing our own garden in the famous Yellow Book certainly makes you look closely at our garden.

Tags foliage, fruit and vegetable growing, garden photography, gardening, grasses, grown your own, National Garden Scheme, NGS, ornamental trees, Shropshire, shrubs, Yellow Book

colours flowering bulbs fruit and veg garden design garden photography gardening gardens grow your own hardy perennials Hardy Plant Society herbs kitchen gardens light light quality ornamental trees and shrubs shrubs spring bulbs spring gardening Staffordshire trees village gardens woodland

Pauline and Derek’s Woodland Garden

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date May 26, 2014
6 Comments on Pauline and Derek’s Woodland Garden

This is the third post in my series of post about gardens of friends. In this post I shall share with you a visit Jude “The Undergardener” and I made with a couple of other Hardy Plant Society friends to the woodland garden of fellow members, Pauline and Derek. It was a wet, dull day when we set out but as we approached the village of Loggerheads things were looking a little more optimistic. Just outside the village we found “Broomside” where Derek greeted us as we got out of the car. Quickly passing through the front garden to get out of the rain gave us clues as to what to expect. We couldn’t wait to see more!

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Pauline had prepared the coffee and tempting biscuits so that took priority. When we were ready for a guided wander the weather turned back to heavy rain so we donned rainwear and carried on regardless. We are after all “Hardy Planters” so mustn’t be put off by the weather, whatever it throws at us.

These general garden views show the richness of its planting and give a hint of the inviting atmosphere.

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Despite the rain the light was good for photographing foliage plants. With contrast reduced textures were highlighted. Woodlaand plants seem to possess a richness in texture and colour in their foliage.

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The late spring blossom on the trees and shrubs and the flowers on perennials were still a delight and somehow even more welcome on such a dull day.

This garden is full of special plants but these three stood out even among such quality planting. Purple cones, purple Trillium flowers and a creamy Paeony.

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After enjoying the woodland section of the garden we stepped up a few steps, one of which was the root of a tree, to find the veggie patch.

Derek had an impressive collection of mints. We enjoyed their varied scents. This one, with its long slightly glaucous leaves was I think was Mentha buddleifolia, one I had never seen before. Indeed I wasn’t aware of its existence.

After exploring the paths winding through the vegetable garden we found a colourful mixed border along the side of the house. Here colourful Euphorbias added extra brightness to more rich planting.

Pauline has discovered a novel, attractive and effective way of labeling her plants. She writes their names on pebbles which are then placed at their base. She also advised us on the best pen to use and gifted one to us. We shall certainly be trying it out!

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We had a most enjoyable day even better for having defied the elements. It is good to share the gardens of friends and even better when you do so with other friends. Hardy Plant Society members are often a knowledgeable breed so we can always learn something from them and discover plants new to us. Pauline and Derek’s garden with its woodland atmosphere afforded us a refreshing change after working hard for a few days in our own South facing exposed garden.

Tags foliage, fruit and veg, garden photography, gardening, grown your own, ornamental trees, shrubs, spring bulbs, Staffordshire, trees, woodland gardens

colours flowering bulbs garden design garden photography garden ponds garden pools garden seating gardening gardens hardy perennials irises light quality ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs poppies Shropshire shrubs spring bulbs spring gardening succulents water garden water in the garden

Aiming for a year round garden – late spring.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date May 6, 2014
3 Comments on Aiming for a year round garden – late spring.

It is only a few weeks since I published my post looking at our garden in early spring, but it is time for another look to see how we are doing where our aim of trying to establish a year round garden is concerned. It is amazing how much has changed in that time.

Come for awalk with me and my camera!

Let us start in the front garden with a look at our gravel garden, The Beth Chatto Border, where we find the brightest of colours radiating from various Euphorbias. In sharp contrast a near black Iris crysophagres has flowers of the darkest indigo.

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In the other borders in the front garden the last of the spring bulbs mingle with the earliest of the herbaceous perennials.

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The Shed Bed also rings with the colour of Euphorbia and the newly revamped water feature gives a gentle bubbling sound for us to enjoy. This water feature is created from metal objects we dug up when we first made the garden and we have now planted miniature Hostas and different varieties of Tricyrtis around it. The view down the path to the chickens is framed by the richest of blues of the Ceanothus. The little slate border by the shed is displaying the first flower on our Tulbaghias along with the tiny pink blooms of the Erodium. In the insect hotel a pair of Dunnock have built their nest just a few inches above the ground and about 6 inches from the path.

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The Freda Border is full of every shade of green punctuated by the pale blue of the Camassias. Nearby in the alpine troughs and crates the Saxifragas flower like myriads of tiny red gems.

On the opposite side of the house the Shade Garden, the only part of the garden which is shaded, looks lush and lively.

Moving along from the Shade Garden towards the back garden we wander through the Seaside Garden and into the Rill Garden.

From the Rill Garden we can take the central path past the greenhouse, where Jude aka Mrs Greenbench or The Undergardener, is busy tending her hundreds of seedling veggies, annuals and perennials. It is a very productive place!

Turning left just past the greenhouse the borders surrounding our small lawned area are bursting with late spring colour and fresh growth.

Just off this lawned area we enter the Japanese Garden with its pool which is an essential element of any oriental garden but here it doubles up as a wildlife pool.

We can wander along a gravel path back towards the central pathway and along the way we can look at the Prairie Garden on our right and the Bog Garden on our left.

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In the Bog Garden foliage predominates with Hostas, Ligularias and Rheum purpureum. One flower worth a close up look is this stunning Primula which sadly we don’t know the name of.

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A glance over our shoulder gives us the chance to look back over the pool towards the Summerhouse.

On the opposite side of the central pathway we find the Chicken Garden and the Secret Garden both now still full of colour from spring bulbs but bursting with the burgeoning growth of the herbaceous perennials.

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Wandering back along the path towards the shed we can appreciate close up the beauty and complexity of the Camassia flowers.

Our little Slate Garden is colourful now with Auriculas and Primulas in full bloom.

So there we have it – a gentle wander around our garden in early May. It all looks very different now just a few weeks after my early Spring post. The next post in this series will be in early Summer when I guess we can look forward to even bigger changes. I shall finish this post with a photo of the Ceanothus that kept getting blown out of the ground root and all during the gales of Winter. But just look at it now! It illustrates just how resilient plants are. It has a sweet scent that welcomes us whenever we go to the shed to pick up the tools we need in the garden each day. Sadly I am not sure I like it when it flowers so heavily.

Tags ceanothus, foliage, foliage plants, garden photography, gardening, grasses, greenhouse gardening, greenhouses, ornamental trees, poppies, shrubs, spring, spring bulbs, spring flowers, spring garden, trees

flowering bulbs garden design garden designers garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public grasses hardy perennials Italian style gardens meadows ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs Piet Oudolf spring bulbs spring gardening Staffordshire Tom Stuart-Smith trees

A Garden in April – Trentham

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date May 4, 2014
2 Comments on A Garden in April – Trentham

So here we are on our April visit to the gardens at Trentham, already the fourth in this series of posts looking at Trentham Gardens throughout the year.

We immediately notice that the fresh growth of Spring is well underway. The grasses in the River of Grasses are no longer brown and dead but putting on strong bright green growth. The herbaceous growth huddled in the grasses is looking vigorous with Trollius adding splashes of gold. Euphorbias look vibrant under the river of birches. Leaf buds are bursting on all the deciduous trees.

As we move into Piet Oudolf’s perennial prairie plantings some plants are well into growth where others have barely started. Thalictrum and Amsonias are looking particularly vibrant.

Leaving the Prairie area we immediately notice that the Hornbeam arbor has grown vigorously and is now looking like a big shaggy sheep. The bench is a great place to get a shaded, secret, quiet moment. The arbor looks like it could get up and walk away!

As you may remember from our earlier visits we move through grassed areas with shrub borders towards the Italian Garden, passing through an avenue of Hornbeam on the way. The tulips in this part of the garden are nothing short of startling! We are not sure at all of some of the colour combinations but they are definitely cheerful.

From here we take our usual look over Tom Stuart-Smith’s garden where bursts of colour mostly oranges and blues greet us. When we get closer we realise they are the colour is provided by Camassias and various Euphorbias.

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Let us now have a closer look at some of the individual plants of interest.

Firstly the strange Primula like flowers of Dalmera peltata looking like pink lollypops on tall sticks. The flowers come before there is any sign of the leaves and the flower stem appears out of the rizomes which sit right on the surface of the soil. The leaves when they do appear are equally dramatic – big circular leaves held right off the ground.

The flower shoots of Eremurus robustus, the Fox Tail Lily are appearing at the base of the whorl of leaves. These were the mystery leaves in last month’s visit. The grey-pink blooms of the Giant Red Deadnettle, Lamium orvala wrap themselves right up the stems between the leaf clusters.

The yellow pea flowers of the Thermopsis montana, variously known as False Lupin, Golden Pea, Revonpapu and so on, are just freshly out and blend nicely with the silvery green leaves.

As we leave the Tom Stuart-Smith gardens we notice, as we follow the gravel pathway to the display gardens, that the daffodils in colour on our last visit are still presenting a haze of yellow.

On our return journey through the garden we notice the newly emerging flower bud of this Allium, sitting like a table tennis ball in the centre of the three leaves. The fresh leaves on a deciduous tree stand out in sharp contrast to the dullness of its evergreen companion even in dull light.

Tulips adorn the Rose Walk where the roses are budding strongly. From here we can look back on the team of gardeners beavering away heads down in their waterproof jackets.

Looking through the rose pergola we can see the green growth in the River of Grasses. Alongside this path Corydalis is flowering at ground level whereas at a higher level the red leaves of the Acer manage to look cheerful in the rain.

So we leave Trentham in the rain yet again and look forward to our May visit when maybe we will see a little sunshine and a blue sky!

Tags foliage, garden photography, gardening, grasses, meadows, ornamental grasses, ornamental trees, Piet Oudolf, spring bulbs, Staffordshire, Tom Stuart-Smith, trees, Trentham Garden, Trentham Gardens

colours flowering bulbs garden design garden photography gardening gardens grasses hardy perennials ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs spring bulbs The National Trust trees Winter Gardening winter gardens

Three Winter Gardens – Part Three – Anglesey Abbey

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date April 27, 2014
2 Comments on Three Winter Gardens – Part Three – Anglesey Abbey

This, the third in my series of three posts looking at winter gardens, sees us at the most well known of all winter gardens, Anglesey Abbey.

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Situated near Cambridge within the larger gardens and grounds of this National Trust property the winter garden here is often considered to be the best of all and a big influence on all others that follow. We shall look at further aspects of the gardens at Anglesey Abbey in future posts.

We visited the winter garden at Anglesey Abbey many years ago the first year it was open to the public so it was like meeting an old friend but one who has changed a lot in the intervening years.

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This set of gates welcomed us as we arrived at the start of the winter plantings.

We soon met the friends we had seen in our other two winter gardens, the dogwoods, rubus and willows grown for their stem colour underplanted with hellebores and ivies. There was some wonderful pruning techniques on display here too.

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Grasses featured strongly with their wonderful warm colours and strong structural shapes.

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We were once again interested to see which plants the gardeners from Anglesey Abbey used as ground cover to help reduce weed growth. Various low growing grasses teamed up with Arum and Bergenias to perform this role.

All these plants acting out their roles as ground covering plants encouraged us to look down as we were seeking ideas for our allotment Winter Garden, but we were struck also by specimens higher up.

The Viburnum pictured below didn’t just look good it smelled sweetly too. The Pulmonaria has not just flowers of two colours but unusual foliage to catch the eye.

The fresh foliage of the Cercis had leaves of a delicate bronze which was a strong contrast to the much more brash reds of the Photinia “Red Robin”.

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The white bark of the trunks of Betula utilis although now used in every winter garden still deserve to be centre stage. Here at Anglesey Abbey some had been “dressed” in bright colours for added humour.

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This golden stemmed ash is rarely seen in gardens but in the winter its black pyramidal buds strongly contrast with the golden stems. It is one of those plants that are simply too big for the average garden but when space allows it can be really attractive.

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I have concentrated so far on the attributes of individual plants but we need to see how they fit in to the whole to fully appreciate their impact and the atmosphere of this amazing winter garden.

We entered the winter borders through interesting sculptural gates and we left through another. A quick look over the shoulder gave us a final chance to appreciate this brilliant garden.

So there we leave the series of three posts concerning winter gardens. Although Dunham Massey is the newcomer it looked good against the other two, but in the end it has to be said that the “original” winter garden at Anglesey Abbey remains my firm favourite.

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Tags betulas, birches, dogwoods, foliage, garden photography, gardening, grasses, National Trust, ornamental trees, salix, trees, willows, winter, winter garden, winter gardening, winter gardens

colours garden design gardening ornamental trees and shrubs shrubs spring gardening trees village gardens

Fresh Foliage – our Acers

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date April 23, 2014

Over the last few years w have been gradually adding a selection of Japanese Acers to different areas of our garden to add year round foliage interest but with an emphasis on the spring and autumn seasons.

We already had a few different acers only one of which was a Japanese variety. The largest is a beautiful snake bark maple which looks over our Rill Garden and is a great all year round tree absolutely full of interest and it always receives admiration from any visitors to the garden.

In mid April when I took these photos the flowers were just forming and the leaves just unfurling. The while pencil thin lines show up clearly on the smooth green bark.

I took a mid-morning stroll around our garden with camera in hand to record what our Japanese Acers were up to. It is amazing how they are all at different stages of opening their foliage, with some almost fully out and others still in bud with only a hint of activity from within. Please come with me and enjoy what my camera saw. When I had finished my wander I realised just how many acers we had planted over the last few years, which was far more than I thought.

Tags acers., arboretum, foliage, garden photography, gardening, maples, ornamental trees, shrubs, snake bark maples, textured bark, trees

colours flowering bulbs garden design garden photography garden ponds garden pools gardening gardens grasses hardy perennials light light quality ornamental trees and shrubs photography shrubs spring bulbs spring gardening water in the garden

Aiming for a year round garden – early spring.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date April 10, 2014
3 Comments on Aiming for a year round garden – early spring.

We looked at our garden in late winter to see if our aim of creating a garden with interest all year was paying off. Now in Early April things have changed a lot in the garden since our last look so I thought we could have a look at it in early spring. Are we getting there?

I shall start with a look out over our gravel garden, The Chatto Garden, which illustrates just how important Euphorbias are at this time of year. The second shot illustrates how our new border has developed since we planted it up earlier this year.

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Foliage is still a key element in early Spring including fresh foliage of newly emerging herbaceous plants.

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Plants don’t have to be new to be good! Just look at the old favourite shrub, the flowering currant – just ask the bees and they will say how important they are! And of course daffodils and muscari bring life to our spring gardens every year without fail. All bulbs give little splashes of colour to brighten the dullest spring day.

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Our Hellebores are still going strong.

And now a quick visit to our Japanese Garden and the pond side border alongside. There is a lot of colour to find here.

Our native Primrose is perhaps our favourite plant in our garden at this time of the year with the delicacy of its scent and colour. Other small flowers star before their larger neighbours take over the borders.

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The star plant in our garden for early spring has to be the Chatham Island Forget-me-Not, Myosotidium hortemsium, with the flowers in a shade of blue that is so intense it is impossible to describe in words or give labels to. It lives in our Shade Garden so we have to make an effort to go and see it. It deserves our effort.

One part of the garden that we have given a spring clean to is the Seaside Garden which was in need of a face lift.

And for a promise of scent and colour soon to come we need to turn to the Viburnum family.

There are just too many photos left so I shall move into a gallery for you to enjoy.

Tags bulbs, flowering bulbs, foliage, foliage plants, garden photography, gardening, grasses, organic gardening, ornamental trees, photography, shrubs, spring, spring bulbs, spring flowers, spring garden

climbing plants colours flowering bulbs garden design garden photography garden wildlife gardening gardens grasses hardy perennials ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs Shropshire spring bulbs trees Uncategorized Winter Gardening winter gardens

Aiming for a year round garden. Part One – The Winter

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date March 22, 2014
5 Comments on Aiming for a year round garden. Part One – The Winter

Over the last few years we have worked hard planning to make our garden look and feel good all year round. So today I took a wander with camera in hand to see how well we had done so far. See what you think. Are we getting there?

Of course flowering bulbs come into their own at this time of year and we now have a wide selection of crocus, muscari, miniature narcissi and Iris reticulata throughout the garden. Grasses are of equal importance but only recently have they been accepted as an essential element of the winter garden. The first photo shows how well our Pony Tails Grasses contrast with the foliage of Hebes. In the second crocus team up with grasses to create a great combination of colours and textures.

A have a soft spot for celandines, enjoying the glossy yellow native plant that lights up our hedgerow bases as well as the cultivated bronze leaved Brazen Hussey and the “Giant Celandine” in the photograph below.

Euphorbias are another of those families of plants that are all year round essentials in our gardens but at this time of year their new bracts glow on overcast days. Foliage is perhaps more important than flowers in the winter garden as it provides variations of colour, pattern and texture. Phormiums, Heucheras and grasses are most effective.

Scent can play its part as it pervades the calm air and delights us as we wander with the thought of brighter warmer days. Daphnes, Sarcoccocas, Cornus, Mahonias and Viburnums all perform well in our garden.

Textured bark on our trees in our Spring Border looks especially good in winter light. The peeling orange bark of the Prunus serrula and the birch is like slithers of brittle toffee.

Hellebores star in most gardens in winters since so many wonderful easily grown specimens have become available in most garden centres and nurseries.

Here some of our many hellebores are twinned with coloured stemmed cornus and salix.

Any flower brave enough to appear in the winter is worthy of mention be they primulas, witch hazels, pulmonarias or bergenia. They would perhaps seem quite ordinary if they flowered among the stars of the summer garden but in the winter they are extraordinarily good garden plants.

A recent discovery is the shrub Drimys with its red stems, glossy green foliage and buds looking fit to burst into life.

Structures such as our cloud pruned box hedge that lines our central path become much more important and noticeable in the emptier garden of winter. But we hope our garden is now richer in this the coldest and darkest of our seasons.

We must not forget the role our feathered friends play in adding colour, sound and movement to our garden in winter.

Part Two of our search for the all year round garden will consider our garden in Spring. Signs of that season are already giving hints of what is to come such as in the buds of the quince fruit tree.

Tags dogwoods, foliage, garden photography, garden wildlife, gardening, grasses, greenhouse gardening, organic gardening, ornamental trees, shrubs, winter, winter garden, winter gardening, winter gardens

garden design garden photography garden pools garden seating gardening gardens gardens open to the public grasses hardy perennials light light quality meadows natural pest control ornamental grasses outdoor sculpture trees water in the garden Winter Gardening winter gardens

A Garden in January – Trentham – Part Two

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 28, 2014
4 Comments on A Garden in January – Trentham – Part Two

Welcome back to Trentham in January where we find ourselves in the part of the garden featuring the Italian Garden re-designed by Tom Stuart-Smith.

From the raised terraces of the Italian Parterre we can see how symmetrical and rigid the structure is. Tom Stuart-Smith has designed a brilliant garden within this structure using grasses and perennials similar to those used by Piet Oudolf. If anything the planting is more varied. The impressive thing about his design is the way soft flowing plant combinations can look so good in a formal setting.

I always particularly like these corner beds with their plantings of low grasses, sedum, phlomis, marjoram and knautia. The little box edging is a most effective foil for the softness of the planting.

Our walk around Tom Stuart-Smiths plantings was interrupted by a shower of freezing rain accompanied by cold winds. We sheltered in the loggia conveniently located nearby. This afforded us a good view over much of this area.

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We managed another five minutes exploration of this garden when the heavens opened once again. Conveniently by this time we were close to the coffee shop which is always our half way stopping point so we retreated to enjoy a welcomed beverage and slice of something sweet. The cafe is housed in a beautifully designed modern building based on a semi-circle. It sits snuggly within a clump of trees. The seating fits all around the floor to ceiling windows giving great views over the Tom S-S gardens.

The wind was moving the grasses around and skewing the water in the fountains. It illustrated how important grasses can be in any garden, as even the slightest breeze sets them waving.

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Within the grasses the seedheads of the perennials were the stars of the show.

The garden team were busy cutting down the perennials in the beds which had been worst effected by the winter weather. If you look carefully you may spot the one gardener’s amusing headgear! When she bent over it looked as if it was Yogi Bear doing the work!

We made a diversion into the area beyond the cafe and tall trees where the show gardens are. We found a few new gardens including a “Stumpery” (a favourite garden feature of Mrs Greenbench) and this row of colourful dogwoods, Cornus Midwinter Fire.

The glass panels in one of the gardens looked brilliant alongside the russet coloured grasses.

Close to the cafe is an area for children’s play with climbing frames, a maze, a bare foot walk, road ways for sit-on toys and these superb sandpits. Because of the poor weather they were sadly deserted today but they are usually very popular. It is so good to see children absorbed in play that does not involve screens or batteries!

As we neared the end of our wander we walked beneath the metal archways of the “Trellis Walk” running alongside the David Roses border. Here there were roses still trying to bloom and others with hips on. The gardens are maintained organically so within these borders we found lovely insect shelters and clumps of Phacelia plants both designed to bring in beneficial insects. Four beautiful relief panels were spread out along the border depicting different garden movements from the past. We could see through the trellis walkway back to the “River of Grasses” and in the ever-darkening late afternoon light the grasses really seemed to glow. We now look forward to re-visiting in February to see what is going on.

colours garden design garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public grasses hardy perennials light light quality meadows ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs photography trees Winter Gardening winter gardens

A Garden in January – Trentham – Part One

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 26, 2014
4 Comments on A Garden in January – Trentham – Part One

Since I began my blog a few years ago I have written monthly features with photos about our own garden on Greenbenchramblings but for a change this year I decided to visit another favourite garden, Trentham. So every month throughout 2014 we shall take you on a journey around these unique gardens so that you can enjoy them in all their different guises. Different plants will become the stars throughout the year.

So enjoy a visit with us as we enjoy a winter wander in mid-January. The garden’s major features are huge areas designed by two of my favourite garden designers, Piet Oudolf and Tom Stuart-Smith, both of whom have appeared before on Greenbenchramblings. These two new areas fit well within a huge parkland area created by Capability Brown including a mile-long lake with woodland all around, open grassland and specimen trees. There is also an Italianate Parterre designed by Charles Barry and an area where small show gardens display good modern designs full of ideas for visitors to take home with them. A huge maze with a viewing mound, a rose walk featuring David Austin roses and areas specially designed for children make Trentham one of the best days out in the Midlands where it is possible to indulge oneself whatever your age.

A beautifully designed modern suspension bridge welcomes you into the garden where Piet Oudolf’s “Rivers of Grass” greets you. Massed plantings of grasses dotted with patches of perennials are full of the colours of all sorts of tasty biscuits. Wide mown grass paths wind sinuously throughout providing plenty of choices of ways through. The atmosphere is one of complete calm, a place to be quiet and listen to the rustling of the grasses as they move in the slightest breezes.

Seedheads on perennials cleverly left by the gardeners draw the visitor in for a closer look where the rich gingers, browns, greys and russets can by fully appreciated. No doubt the resident finches enjoy the seeds too and bugs such as ladybird and lacewing larvae shelter in their hollow stems.

A row of River Birch act as an open barrier cutting across between the River of Grasses and Oudolf’s “Floral Labyrinth” which we entered next. The pink, silver and peach coloured bark of these Betula come to life with its peeling strips of orange paper.

The Floral Labyrinth is explored from winding gravel paths and wider expanses of mown grass. This is in the style now called “New Wave Perennial Planting” featuring tall prairie style plants mixed with grasses especially miscanthus and pennisetum. Again the seedheads are key elements at this time of year.

Where many plants have fallen or suffered from rotting in the winter deluges the gardeners have cleared up and signs of new growth are appearing. Here Day Lillies look raring to go!

This fallen leaf has curled up into the shape of a Woodlouse or Pill Bug.

Many of the seedheads when studied as individuals are like constellations of tiny stars.

Others are like thin church spires.

Many of the taller stems are now falling after all our strong winds.

Under large mature Yew trees, cyclamen have been planted in circles. The leaves shine in the low sun and the little swept back petals of the flowers give so many shades of pink as well as a few white.

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Moving on from Piet Oudolf’s pair of gardens we wander through an area of open lawns with features of the older gardens and get views of the derelict buildings which must at one time have been impressive and dominating in the landscape. Pioneer plants such as Buddleja and Cotoneaster are gaining a foothold on the masonry as it crumbles. Try to spot them near the top of the ruins.

As we finish the first half of our tour we can look forward to more startling planting creations but these have been created within the old structure of the Italian Gardens. These will be featured in part two, my next post.