Illness has prevented us making our monthly visit to Croft Castle where I would take photographs and report back about all that is going on in the gardens of this Herefordshire property run by the National Trust. Thus this final visit for the year took place in early December and will be a joint report for November and December together.
Back at Furzey Gardens we continued to wander along its magical paths seeking out secret places and reveling in its beautiful plants. Beyond each corner more beauty was revealed and the depth of its calmness and peace increased. Furzey Gardens takes hold of its visitors and admirers. Throughout the garden volunteers and clients work together, laugh together and learn together. The trust here is set up to help adults with learning difficulties gain new skills, social and horticultural and develop a sense of self esteem and confidence. This results in everyone at Furzey having great pride in what they are doing and a deep level of satisfaction.
A graceful stand of Birches with the white umbels of Cow Parsley scattered at their feet felt as full of calm and contentment as any place could possibly feel.
The rust colours of autumn trees matched the seeds of Primula close by.
The colours, tints and shades of Autumn can make ordinary places look special but it can also make special places look exceptionally beautiful. Just as we discovered here at Furzey.
Homes for everything can be found at Furzey. As well as homes for fairies we found homes for hay bales and homes for birds.
The hedges along the edge of the gardens were full of fruit ready for the invasion of winter migrating thrushes and our resident Blackbirds and Thrushes.
Enjoy our wanderings back to the cafe where we refreshed ourselves before journeying back to out hotel.
Among shrubs and trees we discovered a building which hid a secret place for sky viewing.
I thought I would drop in a couple of pics of herbaceous flowers to show that there was a lot more to Furzey than shrubs and trees.
I promised to share with you more of those Fairy and Insect Doors secreted around Furzey.
Our tour of the gardens at Furzey finished as we explored the 16th Century Forest Cottage, beautifully renovated and re-furnished in simple elegance. It sat in a garden of equal character and an accurate portrayal of its period.
We loved our first visit to friends Richard and Anne’s home where we were treated to a tour of their wonderful, atmospheric arboretum. There is something extra special about a small arboretum, the results of one man’s vision. Richard knows every tree he has ever planted, its common name, its botanic name, its country of origin and the source of the plant or seed. The arboretum is now just 20 years old.
After a warm welcome we firstly enjoyed the lovely courtyard garden that Anne tends. It is a soft, gentle area that embraces the south facing side of the old mustard coloured mill house. Red flowered Pelargoniums with deep purple foliage filled an old stone trough beneath a brick wall clothed in soft pink roses of the climbing rose, Rosa “Open Arms”. Its scent is warm and richly fruity and remains with you as you leave it behind.
The stone paving is softened by beautiful compositions of flowers and foliage.
Richard and Anne took us across the gently sloping lawns with a boundary provided by the River Perry, and we climbed up to a gate in the fence which is the entrance to Richard’s fine collection of the finest trees. The real stars of the collection are Betulas (Birches), Acers, deciduous Euonymous and Liquidambers.
More surprising was the incredibly deeply coloured red leaved Oak, with its large deeply cut leaves and……..
……….. this unusual specimen, Pistacia chinensis commonly known as the Chinese Pistacia.
Every arboretum needs a selection of Sorbus (Rowans) to give the many coloured bunches of shiny berries, and Richard’s arboretum boasted a lovely group.
Probably my favourite deciduous shrubs are the deciduous Euonymus with their unusual flowers and bizarrely coloured berries, combining such colours as cerise and orange. Luckily for me it is also Richard’s favourite shrub and he is building up a fine collection.
Naturally what we really enjoyed most of all was seeing the wonderful selection of Birches in their autumn glory. We certainly were not to be disappointed. Jude even gave her favourite Betula a big hug – she must be turning into a tree hugger!
Of course you would be expecting me to mention the Betulas, my favourite family of trees and luckily it is Richards too and he grows alomst 180 different ones and several of his favourites.
The River Birch below is Betula nigra “Dura Heat”. This is a particularly impressive multi-stemmed specimen and although just a young tree is already showing its peeling bark giving it a shaggy dog look.
Now just enjoy my photos of a selection of our other favourites.
What a great day we had sharing Richard’s trees and enjoying his vast reserves of knowledge. We will return in the Spring.
I will just finish with two other trees we found in the second field which Richard is building up into an extension of his arboretum, an unusual Acer, a Cercidyphlum and a black berried Buckthorn, a tree we had never seen before.
I had recently read a book on the original creation and the more recent re-design of the gardens at Holker Hall so I was really looking forward to visiting it to see it for real. The book made mention of many rare and interesting trees being planted which made me extra keen to visit.
We hoped it would reach our expectations as it was the last day of our week in the Lake District. We looked forward to a gentle stroll around a peaceful, atmospheric garden. We were not disappointed in any way! Holker’s gardens were full of variety and surprises, with a careful balance of the formal and informal.
As we entered the garden we were presented with this vista, a vista full of promises to come.
Taking each pathway off from the central path we discovered beautiful examples of formality, neatly cut grass, hedges carefully clipped and seats neatly tucked into niches.
But formality cannot work without carefully chosen and well-grown plants.
As we moved away from the formality of the first section of the garden we found gentle meadows which presented a complete contrast.
The meadows contained surprises, a stone circle, a maze, seats of single blocks of slate and the most beautiful sundial.
It was hot wandering out in the open space of the meadows so it felt good to wander around shaded areas and an Italianate water garden.
One of the reasons to visit Holker Hall is the collection of rare and unusual trees. They were underplanted with meadows of grasses and wildflowers which gave the wooded area the character of a real William Robinson styled wild garden
We were amazed by the number of interesting trees at Holker and enjoyed discovering several champion trees. There were so many special places throughout the gardens where shrubs and trees were sensitively grouped to set them off in the best light.
Recently I purchased of a pack of close-up filters by Polaroid. I longed to use them but the weather thwarted me. After days of waiting the light was good enough so I rushed to attach them to the standard lens of my trusty Nikon DSLR.
These are my first attempts, after the worst were deleted. My failures were mostly trouble with focus. It is difficult to get distance to subject right but trial and error resulted in the following shots. Let me know what you think. I need to do some research now and find out a bit more about using them effectively and efficiently. I shall dig into my photography books and copies of the wonderful “Outdoor Photography” magazines.
First a couple of shots of a Hamemelis “Jelena” followed by looking at the spent seed heads of Echinops, Clematis and Eryngium.
A close shot of this Buddleja illustrates the soft texture of the surface of the leaves. The texture of the Cotoneaster berry with its hard glossy red jacket is in strong contrast with the matt black berries of the Hypericum.
The leaves of the variegated Osmanthus are in every shade of yellow and bronzed green. The similarly spiky edged leaves of Eryngium are dry and grey as old bone.
The next few shots are of the old dessicated flowers of asters. They are so delicate – it makes you wonder how they stand up the strong winter winds.
Taking close up shots of fennel seeds within their seed heads shows the restricted depth of field of the close up lenses. Look closely at the differences and you will find the subtle changes by altering slightly the central point of focus.
The flowers of Mahonia japonica are usually seen in long racemes but a close up lens lets us appreciate them as individuals. I had not realised until I looked at these pics that each little flower is a double form.
We grow several trees for their interesting bark and in winter the low angle of the sun allows us to see golden light brightening it up.
Tansy is such a common flower we rarely take time to have a close look and appreciate its beauty. I tried to show them at their best here but sadly not too well.
Looking at the light playing on sticks and stems brings out their beautiful structure and delicate colours.
Grasses look stunning in any bright light and when studied close up their beauty increases further.
These little shaving brush flower heads expose their softness of texture when viewed in close up with each fine thread catching the light.
I shall finish this selection of my close up photos with the soft pink blooms of our Prunus subhirtella autumnalis. I shall keep trying and play around with the close ups and post again when I get more of a handle on them.
Yesterday we planted new shrubs in the front garden. The weather was dismal with light drizzle and mist hanging all around. We were entertained by the calls of winter migrants passing overhead. It sounded as if large flocks of Redwings, Mistle Thrush and Fieldfares were passing overhead as we could hear regularly the mechanical “chick chuck” call of the Fieldfares and the higher pitched call of their smaller relative the Redwing. The cloud was so low though we only saw a few low-fliers, those with vertigo presumably.
The darkness lasted all day and daylight never seemed to happen. I took photos of the new acquisitions but the light was so poor the results were terrible, so today a bright sunny day I tried again. The low autumn rays of the sun made photography much more interesting.
The bed already has a trio of white-stemmed birches and a Sorbus vilmorinii and some established shrubs such as Sambucus “Black Lace”, Forest Pansy and a gleditzia. As these grow we hope the new shrubs will act as an understorey. We chose shrubs with interesting berries or coloured foliage or stems.
So for berries we selected Viburnum davidii and Hypericum “Magical Beauty” with their pearl-like berries in gloss black and peachy pink respectively.
Two shrubs we bought should produce berries but the specimens we found were devoid of them. The first of these, another Viburnum selected for its berries and the colour of its foliage in autumn was Viburnum nudum “Pink Beauty”. It displays creamy-white flowers in summer followed by pink fruit which matures to purplish-black which should contrast beautifully with its deep red autumn foliage display. The second was a shrub we have previously not grown, Itea virginica but we were tempted by the variety “Little Henry” with its deep purple autumn foliage. We can now look forward to the scent of its white drooping spires of white flowers in the summer.
The final two shubs are colour coordinated but we didn’t realise this until we put them together in the trolley. The red and orange flowers of Mahonia nitida “Cabaret” match perfectly the stems of Cornus sericea “Cardinal”.
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