Design

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 ...

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 det...

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 vegetab...

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 t...