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Category Archives: Garden visits

August memories

26 Sunday Aug 2012

Posted by marytheherb in Fruit, Garden visits, Gardening

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Herb bed 2012

August in the garden in previous years

I love looking back in my garden journal and reading about how the garden performed in previous years. It is amazing how easy it is to misremember and think that last year’s crops were better than they were. In fact now that I have started this blog I am not writing in my journal as much, which is a pity, and I must get going again.

I notice that in August 2011 the weather was rather wet after quite a dry summer. Generally speaking the vegetables were good, although I recorded the runner beans as being affected by black fly and only growing slowly. The apple crops last year were fantastic and so were the plums, a green variety which is ready in early August.

Most of my entry for that month was about gardens we had visited and one in particular stands out for me –  Stone House Cottage Garden near Kidderminster. This is an unexpected little treasure and very quirky. The owner bought a cottage and then built follies and castellated towers around, which have created wonderful warm walls for all manner of climbing plants. It is very much a plantsman’s garden and much of the planting was lost on me but it is very charming and shows what can be done to create different planting situations. The garden is in the RHS members handbook, the website is www.shcn.co.uk, it has a small nursery and is well worth a visit.

At the end of August 2010 I recorded that ‘the drought is well and truly over’. The apple trees had not done well with only two in fruit – the Bramley and another that might be a Discovery. We had hardly any plums. So the fruit situation was similar to now, although the apples we do have this year look poor specimens.

I am noticing that most years the runner beans take ages to get going and are usually afflicted by blackfly, slugs or something else but that by October they are cropping well. Plenty of time for them to improve then. We had our first 4 beans today. I just love them.

Get growing beans!

Evenley Wood Garden

14 Monday May 2012

Posted by marytheherb in Garden visits

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open gardens, woodland

This weekend we visited Evenley Wood Garden again (near Brackley, Northants). We first went there in early spring 2009 and were very impressed. It is a delightful woodland area that is sheltered on a windy day. The daffodils and hellebores were on display and so was the wonderful ‘river of scilla’.

The river of Scilla at Evenley Wood Garden

Last year we thought that it had improved and this year everything is looking very good.   In April the magnolias look impressive and in May the rhododendrons and azaleas are a picture. Yesterday it was very quiet and we felt that we had the wood to ourselves. The garden is open weekends until June and again in mid-July for the lilies. The garden is unusual in this area for its acid soil. More information can be found on its website http://www.evenleywoodgarden.co.uk/ It is well worth a visit.

Visit to Batsford Arboretum

01 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by marytheherb in Garden visits

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arboretum, gardening, trees

We visited Batsford Arboretum a week ago. It is a charming arboretum with something interesting in every month.  There is also now a very nice tearoom and shop. The cherry blossom was looking spectacular. There are so  many species but I think my favourite is Prunus incisa, the Fuji Cherry. The blossom looks very delicate and in the pink varieties there are a number of shades (I suppose dark buds and lighter open flowers) on the tree at one time. The blossom seems to last quite a while as an extra bonus and there is good autumn leaf colour too. This is a rather newly planted cultivar.

Prunus incisa ‘Mikinori’ at Batsford Arboretum

Pear blossom can be stunning. Here is Pyrus nivalis.

Pyrus nivalis at Batsford Arboretum

This is the charming Cornus ‘Ascona’. It looks a bit like something a child would draw.

Cornus 'Ascona'

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