Flower of the Month: June

June just has to be roses, doesn’t it? Though Cornwall is not known for growing roses. The damp climate reeks havoc on the leaves (black spot) and flowers (balling buds, browning petals) so roses are not that popular. Saying that I have seven of my own (three inherited), two from my previous container garden and two new ones which are supposed to be disease resistant.

However, black spot is the most serious disease of roses. It is caused by a fungus, Diplocarpon rosae, which infects the leaves and greatly reduces plant vigour, the fungus is genetically very diverse and new strains arise rapidly. Unfortunately, this means that the resistance bred into new varieties usually fails to last because new strains of the fungus arise to overcome it. (Source: RHS)

There is something quintessentially English about a rose though. Childhood memories of picking highly scented petals and soaking them in water to produce a rather brown, but fragrant ‘rose perfume’. The beautiful jewel-like colours, the silky blooms and the myriad of scents. There is nothing quite like a rose garden. In summer. In the sun.

All these images were taken at Godolphin Gardens on 19 June 2019. 

 

Flower of the Month: May

May is the most floriferous month in my opinion. Everything seems to spring into life as the soil warms up and the daylight hours increase. Trees are green once again and many are full of enticing blossom, but the ones that are noticeable in Cornwall are the Rhododendrons and Azaleas. Cornish gardens are simply at their best from March to the end of May.

All these photo were taken in Trelissick Garden.

Garden Portrait: Mrs Greville’s Rose Garden

Mrs Greville’s rose garden at Polesden Lacey in the Surrey Hills  is set out in a simple cross pattern, with long, box-edged, wooden pergolas, adjoining seams of ‘Munstead’ and deeper ‘Hidcote’ lavenders, walls draped in clematis and a water tower festooned in an old Chinese wisteria, it is a mass of pink and white in the summer months.

This view is towards the well-head.

Ethel

‘Adélaïde d’Orléans’

Climbing roses

White Double

Lady Alice Stanley

Ramblers

Town: Great Bookham
Postcode: RH5 6BD
County: Surrey
Website: Polesden Lacey House and Gardens

Garden Portrait: Summer at Hinton Ampner

The walled kitchen garden is full of lavender-edged borders and swaying grasses and the Norman church is now surrounded by greenery. Pear trees that were in blossom in the spring, now drip with ripening fruit.

In July the garden is transformed. Around the house and the terraces shrubs give way to bedding plants, perennials, delicate shades of roses, lilies, dahlias, agapanthus, lupins and alliums.

At the east side of the house is a lily pond, and to the front a grass terrace with views over the parkland.

A sunken garden which was cordoned off in the wet weather to prevent damage to the lawned pathway is now open.

The terraces are full of summer planting, and ornaments that went unnoticed in the spring.

 

The smoke bushes are in full bloom next to the classical temple.

It is a peaceful and relaxed garden in which to loiter. Sheep wander among the trees in the parkland and a ginger cat gets some shut-eye in the heat of the sun.

Hinton Ampner has been creatively planted and tended with so much to see in quite a small garden. If you are in the area during the summer months I recommend a visit. And next door is a lovely pub, the Hinton Arms,  which serves excellent food.

Size: 13 acres (5.3 hectares)

• Street:   Hinton Ampner
• Postcode:   SO24 OLA
• City:   Bramdean, Alresford
• County:   Hampshire
• Country:  United Kingdom
• Website:   Hinton Ampner House and Garden

Garden Portrait: Erddig

Erddig Hall is a National Trust property on the outskirts of Wrexham, Wales. Located 2 miles south of Wrexham town centre, it was built in 1684–1687 for Josiah Edisbury, the High Sheriff of Denbighshire.

House from Canal

The garden and indeed the house, were in disrepair when the estate was handed over to the National Trust in 1973. Nothing but brambles, nettles and overgrown shrubs in this formal garden designed originally by Thomas Badeslade in 1740 in the Dutch style.

Now there is a crisp pattern of paths and lawns, avenues of pleached limes, pyramidal fruit trees, yews and hollies and clipped Portuguese laurels. Apples are grown in abundance with more than 100 varieties, many espaliered along the walled garden. In fact an apple festival is held here annually in October.

The walled garden is also home to one of the longest herbaceous borders you will see and this is a riot of colour in the summer.  Wide borders are filled with spring bulbs and old varieties of daffodils some dating from before the First World War. And the banks of the canal are colonised by the wild Welsh Lent Lily (Narcissus pseudonarcissus) in spring, followed by common spotted orchids in the summer which spread during the period of neglect in the garden.

Bedding schemes favour the Victorian flavour and more so in the small Victorian Flower Garden where pink ‘Dorothy Perkins’ roses and deep violet Clematis Jackmanii are strung along swags of ropes.

If you like walking there are 3 trails taking you through the extensive park where dogs are welcome on leads. This landscape was largely the work of the well-respected landscape designer William Emes, a contemporary of ‘Capability’ Brown, who worked at Erddig from 1768-1780. In 1779, Philip Yorke I put up the following notice at the entrance lodges at Erddig:

“Mr Yorke having at great Expense, and at the labour of many Years, finished the Ground and Wood Walks about Erthig, desires to acquaint his Neighbours, that they are extremely welcome to walk in the same for their Health and Amusement.”

Size: 13 acres (5.3 hectares)

• Street: Erddig
• Postcode: LL13 0YT
• City: Wrexham, Clywyd
• County: Gwynedd
• Country: United Kingdom
• Website: Errdig