garden

Home Sweet Home

/ Heyjude / 19 Comments

As I have said in my ‘About’ page, at the moment I do not have a garden, only a tiny space at the front of my rented Georgian style home. Big enough for several pots and a table and chairs it is nontheless my little haven. I can sit out there, hidden from the tourists, who gather around the courtyard on the Historic Ludlow tour, by the huge pot of bamboo (not mine). The sun shines on it until mid-afternoon so it is a veritable sun-trap. And more importantly it is, at the moment, my garden.

Someone mentioned that they would like to see my garden: so here it is, in technicoloured summer dress

patio in summer 2013

 

Italian Pot
White Hydrangea
Hosta and Weigela
Deep Pink Cosmos
Aeonium Schwartz
Gertrude Jekyll Rose
Shasta Daisy
Pelargonium and Lavender
Gazania
Pale Pink Cosmos
Shadows and Shade
Clematis
Montbretia ‘Emberglow’
Lilac Rose
White Hydrangea
Pelargonium
Marmalade Heuchera
Pelargonium
Rock Rose

As well as these flowers I also have rosemary, mint, thyme and sage, succulents, day lilies, lilies, patio roses, fuchsias, campanulus and sweet-peas (not flowering yet), a camellia, winter jasmine, hellebores and spring-flowering bulbs, euonymus, a couple of hebes and penstemon.  So as you can see, every square foot is used 🙂

Hope you like it!

Felbrigg Hall Walled Gardens

/ Heyjude / 14 Comments

I visited Felbrigg Hall, a National Trust house and garden, which is close to the North Norfolk coast, in August 2013. The weather was perfect for visiting an English Garden and due to the late spring we experienced in the UK that year, many flowers were still in their prime.

I particularly liked the African Garden area where drought-tolerant plants such as sedums, osteospermums, euphobias, aloes and agave plants and palms were show-cased.

The Dovecote

The Dovecote from the African Garden

Felbrigg has a walled garden (one of my favourite kinds of garden) and the planting is spectacular. There are double borders filled with colourful perennials and annuals, communal fruit and veg allotments, beehives in the orchard, bantams, peacocks and guinea fowl roaming freely, an 18th century octagonal working dovecote and even redwoods in the west garden.

echinacea

Echinacea

If you tire of the grounds or the weather is inclement then you can always visit the magnificent hall and library or have a bite to eat in one of the cafés.

Cockerell in the allotments
Rhubarb
Scarlet Poppies
Agastache and Buddleia (the Blues)
In the Walled Garden
California Poppies
Double Borders
Helenium
Hot Border
Zinnia
Clematis
Helenium
Drought-tolerant plants
Poppies

For more information about Felbrigg’s Walled Garden click HERE

The Eden Project

/ Heyjude / 8 Comments

The Eden Project in Cornwall is an educational charity and social enterprise, creates gardens, exhibitions, events and experiences and projects that explore how people work together with nature to change things for the better. Two vast biomes housing wild landscapes, crops and stories from the Rainforest and Mediterranean regions act as a backdrop to the outdoor biome and plants from the climate of the UK.

The Rainforest Biome contains the largest rainforest in captivity. Trek through the steamy jungle and get an amazing view from the Lookout, 50m above, discover how rainforests keep us alive and how we can help do the same for them.

The Mediterranean Biome has sights, scents and stories from the Mediterranean, South Africa and California. Visit wild landscapes and stroll through kitchen gardens – wild vines, age-old olives, cork forests and more.

Be warned though, it is expensive. £23.50 per adult on our recent visit (April 2013) and I personally think that is overpriced. It is very much tuned to education and school visits, not really for plantsmen (or women). If you are one of those then you might prefer going to the Lost Gardens of Heligan, RHS Rosemoor or one of the many NT or private  beautiful gardens in Cornwall.

Your choice.