Heading home

I'm heading home tomorrow after a lovely visit trooping around visiting gardens in Southern England -- I 'm so impressed by the environmental inclinations and pollinator-friendly aspects of so many of the gardens I've visited.

I enjoyed the name of this travel shop -- I'm not really a global adventurer, but my gardening companion and I love to visit new places and learn as much as we can.

And the bird song is quite impressive; here in my B&B near Gatwick, I'm being serenaded by a beautiful evening song.

The countryside is beautiful here; we could have a lesson or two in how to preserve our landscapes at home. It's certainly happened by intention, and probably has made houses here quite expensive, but it's appreciated nevertheless.

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An amazing array of gardens and plants

The songs of birds and diversity of bees are constants in the gardens in Southern England I've been visiting. It's notable, particularly since even though England is a lovely place, it's not unusually species-rich in terms of natives. So gardens, regardless of whatever plants are there, are often quite rich places for harboring an array of wildlife, simply because of the diversity.

A biologist at the University of Sheffield (a fellow whose name escapes me at the moment) wrote a really interesting little book about wildlife in English gardens called something like An Ear to the Ground - basically, his studies had found that diversity of habitats and plants was a key to wildlife diversity in English garden, regardless of origin of plants, and had all sorts of examples of native wildlife using non-native plants.

Certainly, I can believe that in terms of bees -- there are a LOT of different bees visiting flowers in these gardens.

The mild climate here means they can grow all sorts of things, and mix up plants in beds in a way that definitely wouldn't work in the Southeastern U.S.

But what is such fun about gardening here is how fervently it's practiced as a 'hobby'. The nursery/gardens I've visited have been outstanding -- a striking array of plants and unusual species -- also offered for sale, but all arranged and labeled by scientific names, and not common names. It took me awhile to notice this -- at the big public gardens, usually both appear, and I'm accustomed to scientific names.

The nursery/gardens that I've visited in the last couple of days -- Iden Croft, Merriment's Garden, and Beth Chatto's Garden -- have had imaginative gardens along with their nursery plants for sale. And all have been packed with visitors and buyers, in spite of what I would consider inclement weather.

And, they start early. This little boy was fascinated by the bright pink Armeria maritima.


But all this diversity takes a LOT of work....

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Denmans Garden

Driving through rolling hills and countryside on the way to Chichester, I made my way to Denmans Garden, created by an influential British garden designer.

It's an exuberant, not restful, garden, as his style is to let many plants self-seed in the beds, and then edit them out.

So lots of interesting combinations occur -- some pleasing, some pretty unusual, depending on your taste!

I admired a wall covered in small climbing roses, clematis, and several things I didn't recognize.

Denman's use of foliage contrasts is striking. But even better, I liked the technique of letting the lawn be a meadow with a mowed edge and path system, so that layers of grass become part of the landscape.

Lots of the same Allium and Euphorbia spp. that I admired at Wisley were mixed with a large purple native geranium and catmint.

An amazingly diverse border was remarkable.

And the attached nursery was quite interesting, with a wonderful array of plants. A Russian (I think) visitor was asking determinedly in Russian (or whatever Eastern European language she spoke) about the hardiness of a Lobelia fulgida of a bemused nursery staff person. I made an 'educated' guess that she was asking about hardiness based on her mention of centigrade and winter, and 'translated' that. The nursery person asked how I knew what she was asking, and I said I guessed based on practice!

Traveling in many places does help one's ability to 'interprete' things.... I know Lobelia from the wonderful native species that we have in the SE United States, which didn't seem to me like they would be hardy in winter in extreme climates, and he confirmed that for this species. She seemed crestfallen, but then returned to take a pot, and said something about bringing it inside in the winter. And this for a plant that only had leaves, somewhat scruffy, at that.

(Just a note: for these posts, I've kept the image size a bit larger, so if you want to click on them, you'll see a larger and nicer version, not that photos are really able to convery the essence of these gardens.)

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RHS Wisley

A gardening friend of mine told me that RHS Wisley was her favorite English garden. I can see why.

Somehow they manage to include 'everything' anyone could want in a garden-- interesting plants (especially species, not cultivars), fabulous design, huge old trees in a beautiful landscape, demonstration vegetable gardens, fantastic borders, etc. set in a backdrop of lovely old buildings.

It helps that it must be at least 800 acres, plus some huge amount of backup greenhouses & nursery beds. I was thankful that I took a couple of extra memory cards with me -- and was glad that I have a new 4 GB card, too. I had thought I might visit another garden or two, but spent the entire day at Wisley. Here are just a few images until I get them sorted out.

Their 'plant centre' for sales was truly amazing -- just imagine the most comprehensive and fascinating nursery you've ever been in, and multiply it by two. It was full of all sorts of interesting plants, including vegetables, and also included seeds. It was a good thing that I'm a traveler.

What was especially fun was running across so many of 'our' North American plants tucked in various places. There was an oakleaf hydrangea out in full sun in a border, a coral honeysuckle planted on a building wall, Yucca filamentosa, agaves, an unusual dwarf Juniperus virginiana labelled 'Grey owl' and a cultivar of Magnolia grandiflora called 'Charles Dickens' among many others.

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Nymans: a National Trust House and Garden

My first garden visit was close to my lodging (perfect for an arrival day visit!) Nymans, a National Trust garden, is an 'estate' garden founded by a wealthy family who were also keen plant collectors.

Nyman's not really a garden for planting 'ideas,' but one to enjoy walking in, and to see the viewscapes, landscapes, and historic plantings. There were lots of visitors today -- mostly 'older' British folks, I think, although I did chat with a 'younger' American who'd lived in Britain for almost 19 years, working for US-based airline companies.

There's an interesting assortment of very old and impressive trees, lots of rhododendrons and azaleas in flower this time of year, coming from all sorts of places in Asia and the Southeastern U.S.

To me, the rhododendrons and azaleas are quite familiar, since we have our natives and the Asian species flourish as well, but they're particularly happy in the buffered climate of Southern England as they're large and floriferous.

These familiar plants were punctuated by unusual plants, a Chilean firebush in full flower, a woody Echium with a tremendously tall inflorescence, Euphorbias, and clearly prized old Wisteria vines and a (big for England) Southern Magnolia.

There were some lovely borders with Iris, Allium, and Salvias, mixed with cardoon, catmint, a stout lupine, lambs ear, and Aquilegias.

The views into the surrounding countryside were lovely, focused on long viewing distances that pull your view forward. The surrounding woods (almost 300 acres) encompasses some Areas of Special Interest and harbors rare plants in the understory of the woods.

And an old dovecote still harbors beautiful white doves.

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