the silver lining

We’ve been away from the Garden of Eden for a short time, visiting friends in The South. It was our first four night break since last May and was a welcome recharge, especially as visits to The Hillier Arboretum and Exbury Gardens were on the agenda, as well as three garden open under the National garden Scheme. I’ve visited the former many times, indeed I used to live within walking distance,  and still have a Myrtle I bought there in about 1989, but had never been to Exbury. It was such a treat, to visit in perfect weather and with the camellias, rhododendrons and azaleas just coming into their full glory. At Hilliers it was the glorious magnolias that were the stars of the garden. This crazy season has delayed the blooms until the frosts seem to be over, and the flowers were abundant and perfect. This is the silver lining after the severity of the winter and the wetness of last summer, a blessing for the patiently waiting.

Exbury blue sky behind magnolias

The view from Mrs Eddy’s seat

Exbury pond

Now we live on neutral soil and have several rhododendrons and azaleas just budding, I looked with renewed interest at the shapes  and forms of the flowers and shrubs, as well as the colours. I found myself drawn to the smaller forms of rhododendron, but have yet to find a magnolia I don’t like! I discovered a couple of magnolias I would cheerfully grow, although I may need to save hard for both and plant a shelter belt! I enjoyed seeing the massed azaleas in both gardens but on reflection, I prefer the smaller rhododendrons to the vivid azaleas.

Hilliers Magnolia denudata Purple Eye

Hilliers-Magnolia Gold Star

Malus Katherine

Exbury rhododendron

Exbury Rhodendron

Exbury Azalea

The camellias were stunning. The beauty of the flower form is almost as if it were carved from wax and I understand how it would be easy to lose your heart to a collection of camellias. I am almost glad my garden is a little too exposed for them, as I have no idea which would be my favourites, there are so many beautiful forms. I would cheerfully grow any of these in my garden

a new favourite garden

Sometimes visiting someone else’s garden is such a delight it stays with you for hours, days,  after the event. Yesterday we visited the enchanting Arts and Crafts Garden, begun in 1912, called Bryans Ground, right on the English/Welsh border, in North Herefordshire.

The current owners have been there since 1993 and have produced a quirky,  delight of a garden, that even in a late season and on a cool grey day was uplifting. It should be on every keen gardener’s visit wishlist. The lateness of the spring -there was snow here until just 2 weeks ago-meant that the structure of the garden was very obvious today, and the plants were playing second fiddle . Apart from pulmonaria, daffodils, anemones and some other bulbs, the flowering was quietly understated and the perennials were only just emerging, although in the greenhouse there were beautifully staged displays of geraniums and fritillaries.

Much of the garden nearest the house is set out in a series of rectangular plantings areas, rooms, if you will, with beech,yew and box hedges dividing the areas. Within the planting areas squares , rectangles and straight lines are the repeated motifs, together with topiary.

The garden has the feeling of a child’s garden of delight, with many nooks and crannies containing treasure in the form of found garden objects and interesting metal oddments from old clocks and machines, numerous paths to explore and an almost Alice in wonderland sense of theatre.

I would have loved  to have been a child living here with the whole garden as my playground.
The very strong grid structure provides an abundance of examples of symmetry, both in the planting and in the layout, as well as emphasising the numerous viewpoints. From every seat there is a vista, from every item of sculpture there is a view.

And  delightfully, the pools and other water features mirror and reflect the plantings and views into a third dimension.

 

At the edges of the garden, the views tumble out into the landscape of the countryside beyond, sometimes as regular hedge boundaries, once where a mock Ha ha has been created and once where the very thick holly hedge has a deliberate viewpoint cut through it.

The effect is of a garden in and belonging to the landscape, secluded but not isolated from it.

When we first decided to visit I was not sure I would appreciate or enjoy the quirky sculptural pieces and bric a brac displays, but I discovered I loved them. To the extent that I am thinking about finding something quirky to put in my garden too.

This was the first visit to Bryan’s Ground, but it certainly won’t be the last, and if you find yourself in these parts, take a detour and visit. Tea and cake too. And to finish, my favourite part, the auricula theatre beneath a staged collection of blue and white china fragments.