In a garden of rare treasures

This morning I joined VP and several other ladies on a visit to the Botanic Nursery for a workshop on shrub pruning, run by the owner. Terry-the owner is a real plantsman and enthusiast and possesses encyclopaedic knowledge of plants and their care, all effortlessly delivered in the manner of such great plantsmen. I felt no question would have been treated without gentle and careful thought, and no question would have been outside his knowledge. In another life he would have made a great teacher.

We were privileged to be able to stroll around the garden that is the source of much of the propagating material used in the nursery, as well as around the plant area. Terry explained how each of the many rare and less rare shrubs could be pruned, as well as describing the best conditions for growth and frequently the origins of the plant. All the while we were serenaded by a garden full of birds in Spring song, or raucous chorus in the case of the rooks and jackdaws. And the sun shone for us too.

I mostly resisted buying anything but had to bring home a little deep blue Pulmonaria “Blue Ensign” that was calling to me…

At Rosemoor 2

Trees are very important to me. I have a tiny back garden, but still have managed to squeeze four trees into it, and that’s not counting several in pots. The garden is edged by a nine foot high beech hedge, beyond which are a line of sycamores, so there are still more that form part of my boundary. It is beginning to feel like living in a woodland.

At Rosemoor, as well as being attracted to the beautiful, jewel-like colours of the autumn leaves, I loved the bark on some of the maples and birches. Here are just a couple I thought were especially outstanding.

Acer pennsylvaticum

Prunus serrula

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There are some stunning pictures of bark here.

As I mentioned yesterday, the gardeners at Rosemoor have also created the most covetable vegetable garden. I was staggered at what was in full production on the last day of October. With the exception of the sub-tropical plants such as aubergines, peppers and tomatoes, just about everything else you might want to eat was there. Look at those lovely lettuces below and in the distance there are rows of cabbages including the ornamental ones, and leeks. The fencing is to keep rabbits off.

In the foreground of the picture above is the leaf of Florence fennel plants, not yet dying down.

I was so impressed. I want my allotment to look like this next year. And I think a few flowers for drying would be nice, as well as fresh ones for the house.

Everlasting flowers hanging up to dry.

I think this scarecrow is just too well dressed for my plot. People might get us confused!

At Rosemoor

Halloween pumpkins

We had a very interesting visit to the RHS garden at Rosemoor in North Devon on Wednesday. We have been occasional visitors since it was in its infancy as a public garden and it has been interesting to see how the planting has grown and changed since the early 1990s. Situated in a natural valley, it is already partially sheltered but the many beech and yew hedges have grown up an afford shelter to many tender plants that are marginally hardy or tender in this climate.

Tropical plants in the borders

Calla lilies in the tropical border. There were still flowers open.

Winter garden with grasses

We had particularly wanted to take MiL to see the autumn colours but got caught up for ages in the winter garden, admiring the beautiful forms of the tall perennial grasses, their seed heads nodding against the a backdrop of evergreen hedges or beautiful bark. In due course we reached the lake where the water mirrored the beautiful colours if the trees and the fading waterside plants.

The lake with maple leaves

Autumn colchicums

The garden was a photographers dream. The light was soft and there were so many plants demonstrating stunning colour or form. The colchicums are a favourite of mine-it’s an unusual colour in November and this Chilean prairie grass was right up there in the magnificent category, measuring about 2 feet across and with blue flowers at the base of these red leaves. Its worth clicking the picture to see the little flowers.

Tomorrow I will post some of the bark pictures I took of birches and maples, and a vegetable garden to dream of. It was stunning.