Tag: roses

Bridgemere Show Gardens June

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date July 9, 2025

This visit is the first of the summer season so we arived expecting some major changes and lots more colour. Hopefully the Rose Garden might be flowering well.

The first splash of bright colour was just inside the way in gate, a stone trough of pelargoniums painted in pink. The Cottage Garden behind the troughs was full of colourful patches.

We moved on then after admiring the perennials flowering in the Cottage Garden towards the pond where we were expecting to see plenty of bright colours.

We always like to see this bright red Tropaeolum clambering over shrubs or trees.

As we neared the pond we were surprised to see how much the hostas had grown beneath the cherry tree since May.

When we reached the pool it looked so different from what we had seen in May with bursts of pastel shades from candelabra primulas and splashes of purple from Iris ensata.

We had already after only a short wander begun to realise that the various gardens here contained many delightful geranium. We decided to photograph any we spotted. You will notice that one geranium was photographed with its foliage only and this was because it was such a deep colour and had beautifully sculpted leaves.

A little while later we reached the Rose Garden which we expected to be in its full glory. In fact we were a little disappointed as only about half were blooming. Those in flower though were beautiful and many were scented too.

As we continued around the show gardens we spotted a few more perennials that featured strongly often appearing in big groups, especially astrantia and

I will finish off this report on our Bridgemere Show Gardens with a gallery of wider views. These are always worth looking out for here.

Next visit will be in July when as usual there will probably be plenty of colour in the various gardens and some new flowers will be in bloom.

Tags flowers, garden, gardening, nature, roses

garden design garden furniture garden paths garden photography garden seat garden seating gardening gardens hardy perennials ornamental trees and shrubs Powis Powys roses town gardens Yellow Book Gardens

Pont Faen – another lock down garden in Powys

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date November 3, 2020
1 Comment on Pont Faen – another lock down garden in Powys

We visited another NGS garden in Powys as we continued our way through lock down, this time the garden was on the edge of the town of Knighton. Pont Faen was owned and garden by a retired farmer and his wife.

The garden wrapped around the house and had a colourful collection of alstroemeria, several roses, dahlias and many bright coloured patches of rudbeckias.

All these collections of colourful plants were scattered around a garden of lawn and large sweeping borders, which allowed us to see large parts of the garden at the same time.

The gardeners here have a wonderful use of foliage either in clumps of species together such as these hostas or integrated into borders as a foil for the flowering plants.

Another interesting garden visit to help cheer us up while locked down – so enjoyable!

Tags alstroemerias, foliage plants, gardens of Powis, gardens of Wales, hostas, roses, Rudbeckias

climbing plants colours garden design garden photography gardening gardens roses Shrewsbury Shropshire South Shropshire

My Garden Journal 2020 – June

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date July 8, 2020
1 Comment on My Garden Journal 2020 – June

Back to my garden journal for 2020 again and we are into the last month of the first half of the year, June, the month that sees the longest day and shortest night.

I began by sharing some of our rose bushes and climbing varieties that we grow throughout our garden in mixed borders and up obelisks and arches. I wrote, “June, the month for roses …………..”

I then featured photos of some of our red roses, writing, “Roses are red!”

Here are the photos of some of our red roses that grace our garden in June.

On the following page I continued with roses but those that were not red! “My flowering plant of the month!

Roses are red? Or white, cream peach, yellow ……..”

After looking at our flowering rose bushes and climbers, I did something completely different. I collect bark that had been detached from one of our birches by recent strong winds and created a collage, which lets us see the variety in colours and textures.

“In June windy days blow detached bark peelings from our birch, Betula albosinensis ‘Septentronalis’. We find what looks and feels like paper all around the garden. Each piece of peeled bark has its own character.”

We can look over the page now for a complete change as I looked at some wildlife found in our garden, a damselfly and a wasp. “Being a wildlife garden, our patch brings us some beautiful visitors for us to enjoy, to listen to and to watch. They help balance the natural world of our garden.”

“Damsel Flies hatch from our wildlife pond by the dozens, beginning with various ‘Azures’ and later the ‘Reds’.”

This beautiful yellow and black Ichneumon Wasp has appeared in our garden in good numbers for the first time ever this month.”

From wildlife we turn to succulents on the opposite page, where I wrote “Our foliage plants of the month of June are Aeoniums, a very special group of succulents. I have built up a good collection now.”

I then shared photos of a selection of some of our aeoniums……..

Next comes clematis, with two pages of pics. I wrote, “Clematis, herbaceous and climbers are flowering throughout the garden. Some are already on their second flush having flowered in the spring.”

The first of the two pages feature flowers from “Pale blue to deep purple.”

The second page showed “Every shade of red.”

The final page for June is all about the bark of Acer rufinerve. I wrote, Plant of the month for bark and stem this month is one of our snake-bark acers, Acer rufinerve also known as the ‘Melon-skin Maple’. These six photos start at the base of the trunk and move upwards.”

So that is my journal entries for June. Next report will be July.

Tags acers., aeonium, bark patterns, birch bark, clematis, climbers, climbing plants, climbing roses, damselflies, garden wildlife, ichneumon wasp, roses, snake bark maples, snakebark maple., succulents, textured bark, wasps

colours garden photography gardening ornamental trees and shrubs

Gardening in lockdown – early roses

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date June 16, 2020
2 Comments on Gardening in lockdown – early roses

However we feel pressurised by the pandemic at this time the garden reminds us that time moves on, nature continues as normal and the garden thus becomes a powerful presence in our daily lives and our ability to look to the future. Gardens give us some promise of good things to come.

Surely in early summers roses take central stage in many of our gardens. Here are a few of those adding colour and scent to our Avocet patch in early June. I grew up in a garden full of roses as my Dad was a keen gardener and roses were his first love. He grew them in a rose garden that took up the whole of our square front garden, up arches, against the house walls and over arbors with seats below. Our front garden was unlike the rose gardens of the fifties which would normally have a central rectangle of lawn with narrow straight edged borders around the perimeter. Roses were the only plant allowed. My Dad had no lawn just Cotswold stone paths winding their way beneath the roses and beneath the roses he grew lavenders, aquilegias and other delicate annuals and perennials.

We grow our roses in our mixed borders as shrubs or as climbers up posts, swags and obelisks. Here are some we are enjoying now. I wandered with my camera starting from the conservatory doors and followed pathways right the way around the garden front and back.

Rosa ‘Winchester Cathedral’ Rosa ‘Warm Welcome’

Rosa ‘Goldfinch’ Rosa ‘Hot Chocolate’

Rosa ‘Veichenblau’

Rosa mutabilis – variation in flower colour

Rosa ‘Bobby James’ Rosa ‘Wollerton Old Hall’

Rosa ‘Pauls’ Scarlet Climber’ Rosa ‘Summer Wine’

Rosa ‘Summer Wine’ with Clematis romantika Rosa ‘Red Velvet’

Rosa ‘Bengal Beauty’ Rosa ‘Raspberry Royale’

Rosa ‘Prince’s Trust’

Rosa ‘The Enchantress’

Rosa ‘Lady of Shallot’ Rosa glauca

Rosa ‘Jude the Obscure’ Rosa rugosa

Rosa ‘The Enchantress’ with Berberis ‘Helman’s Pillar’ Rosa ‘Geranium’

And there are so many more to come! Many of those still to come will be David Austin roses bred not far from us here in Shropshire, such as Rosa ‘Shropshire Lad’ a heavily flowering climber with a beautiful scent.

Just as I was ready to publish this latest lockdown post two more David Austin shrub roses came into bloom, R. ‘Fighting Temeraire’ (left) and R. ‘Lark Ascending’ (right).

Tags climbing roses, New English Roses, rambling roses, roses, single roses

roses

Simply Beautiful – No 36 in an occasional series

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date March 31, 2020

For the 36th post in this occasional series about simple beauty, I decided to revisit a summer’s day back in June when simple single roses were glowing in the sunshine.

Tags roses, single roses

garden design garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public Land Art light light quality Norfolk ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture

Houghton Hall Part 2 – The Gardens

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 15, 2020
1 Comment on Houghton Hall Part 2 – The Gardens

So here we are with the second part of this visit to Houghton Hall in Norfolk, a post refound!

Although our main reason for visiting the gardens at Houghton Hall was to explore the land art created by Richard Long within its grounds and house, we also planned to enjoy the gardens in their own right.

The gardens featured huge expanses of sweeping lawns broken up by pleached hedges and topiary. As we approached the house we were surprised to see a circle of stumps arranged on the grassed area, like a stump henge. Each individual root stump was beautiful in its own right but the circular arrangement added another dimension, the dimension of mystery.

The pleached lime hedges presented a strong structural element to the lawned areas. The strong sunlight on the day gave patterns of light and shade, cool and warm. Some of the raised hedges were tall enough for us to easily walk beneath them to experience these contrasts, which was most welcome on such a warm day. Looking out from beneath the pleached blocks of lime gave us framed views of the expanse of the gardens. Further surprises appeared periodically mostly in classical style, stone columns and seats and occasional modern pieces.

In complete contrast to the formality of the parkland areas discussed above, roses featured in softer more romantic borders. This planting felt very soft, restful and gentle.

The parkland was separated from the farmland surrounding it by a “ha ha”, the cleverest way to keep livestock out of formal gardens.

We enjoyed a diversion off one of the main paths while searching for more Richard Long installations, and the narrow path was edged with beautifully cloud-pruned box hedging. The pathway led us to a “Skyspace” by James Turrell. We love his work so spent time sitting inside watching the moving weather. So peaceful!

In complete contrast to the open parkland and grassed areas with architectural planting features, we found another area of the garden at Houghton, the Walled Garden such a contrast. This part of the garden will be the subject of the third post concerning Houghton Hall.

Tags cloud pruning, Houghton Hall, James Turrell, Norfolk, pleached limes, pleaching, roses

climbing plants garden photography roses

Simply Beautiful – no 33 in a very occasional series.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date September 4, 2019
3 Comments on Simply Beautiful – no 33 in a very occasional series.

Here we are with number 33 in this occasional series about simple beauty. I took a series of photos of Rosa Shropshire Lad. I hope you agree it is simply beautiful.

Next time will be no 34 but as yet it has no subject. I await discovering simple beauty somewhere sometime.

Tags climbing roses, Rosa Shropshire Lad, roses

climbing plants colours garden design garden photography gardening gardens hardy perennials ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs roses Shropshire shrubs village gardens Yellow Book Gardens

Ruth and Mike’s Garden – exciting plants and richly planted borders

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date July 24, 2019

Gardening friends Ruth and Mike opened their village garden for the first time under the auspices of the NGS this July. We were sadly away in Sheffield at the time so were unable to visit on that day. However we were invited to visit the following week with one of the mini-groups linked to the Hardy Plant Society Shropshire Group.

We arrived on a sunny warm day to spend the afternoon exploring the borders full of interesting plants beautifully placed together to give maximum effect. We wandered through the next door neighbour’s garden before following a path through an orchard and through a gateway into Ruth and Mike’s garden.

Once we reached Ruth and Mike’s garden proper we were immediately amazed by the use of colour in the richly planted mixed borders, where plants gelled so well with their partners creating such satisfying plant communities. Come with us now through the garden by following the gallery of photos. As usual click on the first pic and then navigate using the arrows.

Ruth and Mike’s garden met all our expectations and in fact surpassed them too. It is a great garden and worthy of celebration. As it was open for their first time this year as an NGS Open Garden many people will be able to enjoy it for years to come.

Tags clematis, climbers, climbing plants, climbing roses, hardy perennials, NGS, NGS gardens, roses, Yellow Book, Yellow Book Gardens

climbing plants garden arches garden design garden paths garden photography garden ponds garden pools gardening gardens hardy perennials ornamental trees and shrubs roses Shrewsbury Shropshire shrubs South Shropshire water in the garden Yellow Book Gardens

My Garden Journal 2019 – June

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date July 3, 2019
5 Comments on My Garden Journal 2019 – June

As we reach the half way point in the year the garden really comes to life with bright green fresh growth and so much colour from flowers, herbaceous perennials, shrubs and climbers especially roses and clematis. I began by writing, “At the beginning of June we were still worried about how dry the garden still was and longed for some rain. Luckily a few days into June and this is exactly what happened. And luckier still was that the planned group visits to our garden at that time were not interrupted by wet weather. After rain, until the droplets on their flowers and buds dry off, make roses look sad and dejected.”

I then shared a batch of Rose pics.

The next double page spread featured wider shots of borders and plant communities.

I wrote, “I decided it would be a good idea to go out with my camera in hand to take wide shots of the garden borders to give an impression of the whole garden. But, as the overcast sky and rain didn’t go away, I went out into the heavy rain and took the shots I wanted.”

“Plant-a-Boxes – end of drive” “Herbaceous Violas – front door”

Then followed a set of 4 photos of our “Beth Chatto Garden”.

Next a set of photos of the Shrub Borders, and the New Garden finishing with a photo of out Hare who guards the lawn daisies.

“The New Garden”

“Our Hare Sculpture who guards the lawn daisies.”

Below are four photos of our Beth Chatto Garden.

“The Beth Chatto Garden”

The last two pics on this page show the Shed Roof Garden and the new Foliage Garden by the shed.

Turning over the page we move into the back garden, where I wrote, “To access the back garden you can go either side of the house. Access to the left and you can enjoy the “Shade Border” featuring ferns. Once in the back there are two paths to choose from both of which will take you the length of the garden.”

“Taking any pathway will present enticing views into the borders.”

Onto the next page I wrote, “The new Hot Garden has settled well and already giving pleasure.”

“Arabella’s Garden is now lush with growth and gives pleasure to her when she visits. She checks on it every time.”

Over the page I share my pencil crayon sketches of two of our smaller grasses, both Briza.

The final page for this month shows the Bog garden and the show of Alliums which dominates two borders in Jun. I wrote, “At the very bottom of the central path to its left lies the Bog Garden and the Wildlife Pond. Lush, colourful foliage is the order of the day, the tall reeds and Irises adding height.”

“Various Alliums dominate the Chicken Garden and Secret Garden throughout June and will continue into July.”

So there we have my June entries into my Garden Journal 2019, a great month in our garden.

Tags alliums, bog garden, bog plants, brizas, climbing roses, foliage, foliage combinations, foliage plants, grasses, gravel garden, hardy perennials, hardy violas, herbaceous borders, herbaceous plants, roses, violas

garden arches garden design garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public grasses ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture RHS

Returning from Cornwall – Part 1 – RHS Rosemore

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date April 8, 2019
2 Comments on Returning from Cornwall – Part 1 – RHS Rosemore

We like to enjoy a few extra visits on our way back from any holiday we go on to extend our enjoyment, so we tend to book hotels partway back. On our way back from our Cornwall holiday we stopped off at a hotel in Devon so that we could visit RHS Garden Rosemore.

We try to visit all the RHS gardens every year if we can, so we know them well and tend to enjoy them at different times of the year. An early autumn visit to Rosemore was going to be a real treat. It is a garden of two halves, the newer section developed from scratch by the RHS and the older original garden donated to them.

The beauty of this garden is its overall design which can be discovered by exploring its series of differently themed rooms joined with walks across grass areas, through woodland and even under a road via a tunnel.

My photos show some of our favourite plant combinations.

Trees feature in several favourite plant communities which really appealed to us. They add strength, texture and structure to any border. We use trees in many of our borders at home in our Avocet patch.

Dahlias and roses were particularly colourful when we visited

Sometimes added interest can be achieved by including cameos and views, pieces of sculpture, arches, pergolas, garden buildings of all sorts or other features.

The involvement of ornamental grasses in garden borders can add so much if carefully matched to their partners. Light catches their seed heads, they wave about with just the slighest of winds and softness of their textures adds touch to the mix of border interest.

I shall finish with a set of three photos that illustrate the quality of planting and gardening work at RHS Rosemore, a truly great garden full of interest and ideas for us all to take home with us.