Visit to Barnsdale Gardens

 I was very lucky to visit Barnsdale Gardens on Sunday, with my friends Katy and Alison.   Geoff Hamilton, the TV gardener, created the gardens and they featured on Gardeners' World for many years, until Geoff's untimely death, twenty years ago.  He was a huge inspiration to me in my gardening and it was through watching him that I thought I might be able to grow things too.
It had been so wet, we wondered whether we would be able to go, and the weather forecast wasn't that great, but in the event, the heavens smiled on us and we only had a couple of showers.  The gardens are about an hour or so away, but I don't manage to visit as often as I would like (I hadn't visited since 2013), so this was a treat.  Thanks to the recent rain, the whole place was green and verdant and full of birdsong.  It was really quite magical.  Also, due to the rain, there weren't that many visitors, so we almost had the place to ourselves.  Above is a lovely wisteria.

 This is one of my favourite gardens, the 'Country Garden', which has some beautiful birch trees and shade loving plants which give a woodland feeling as you walk through.

 The Town Paradise Garden has really matured and was full of lush growth...

 ...as was the Country Paradise Garden.  Hardy geraniums featured in most of the gardens.

 I was fascinated by the structure of this tree (I haven't a clue what it is).  It was quite spiky. (Edited to add: it is a young monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana) - thanks to Amy for this).

 Looking across at the wildflower meadow from the Artisan's Cottage Garden.

 I have always liked this water feature, made from an old copper water tank, in the Recycled Garden.

 A little sparrow was enjoying a bath too.

 The Hosta garden displayed a wide range of green.  We noticed that some of the hostas were un-nibbled by snails, but others were rather holey - we decided this was all to do with the toughness of the leaves.

 The light shining through the leaves of the smoke bush caught my eye...

 ...as did this combination of planting, which contrasted so well and looked very vibrant.

 I liked the pastel mix of the Nigella or Love-in-a-mist.

Dan Pearson's design for this 'Cottage Garden' always looks inviting.  It has fruit trees amongst the roses and other perennials, and a small square box maze.  When the roses on the arches are in flower, they look and smell amazing - a previous post showing them in flower is here.

 I know that Alchemilla Mollis can be invasive, but when it has been rained on and the water droplets collect like mercury on the leaves, it can be forgiven.

 We all liked the Herb Garden with its mix of medicinal and culinary plants.

This was the view when we had a cup of tea and were joined by a robin, looking for some crumbs (which Alison gave him, of course!)  It was so peaceful, listening to the birds, looking at the plants and a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.

A visit to Mum and to Barnsdale Gardens (part 1)

I have been a little quiet over the last few days (an unusual occurrence for me!) as I have been staying with my mum.  I had intended to go and stay in June, but she got a cold, so the visit was postponed until now.  It was lovely to be able to spend some time helping her in the garden, re-potting tubs, planting new plants and pottering.  There was just one thing I definitely had to do while I was there and that was to visit Barnsdale Gardens, which belonged to the late Geoff Hamilton and are run today by his son, Nick.  I used to be a frequent visitor to the gardens, but hadn't visited for two and a half years!  I took a mass of photos, but will split them up into a couple of posts, so I hope they will be enjoyable to look through.  The garden above and following was created by Dan Pearson (something I didn't know), who is now known for his prairie style of planting.  This one shows a productive garden with a mini-maze, and the most beautiful rose 'Crimson Showers', entreating the visitor to enter.

 Isn't the rose wonderful?  I do enjoy looking through an arch and wondering what is on the other side.
Barnsdale Gardens are made up of lots of small gardens or areas, showing many different styles of garden design.  Geoff Hamilton built several of them for television series, such as the Cottage Gardens and Paradise Gardens. I always take a few ideas away with me from all the different areas.

 This garden is a complete contrast to the rose filled one, with muted colours and lots of green.  It was a very calm space, with just the trickle of an unobtrusive water feature.

 There was also some artwork on show in the gardens (always interesting, sometimes controversial!) and this was the first piece I spotted, which looked at home in the wooded area. 

This was a new garden to me and did give the feeling of a coastal garden, with a shingle beach.

 Another lovely arch; really dark inside but with the light tempting me onward.

 A productive apple and pear arch, leading towards the allotment area.  It had a lot of fruit on it.

 I enjoyed the 'mad hair' of this ornamental grass, its exuberance contrasting with the formality of the urn.

 One of the vegetable gardens which was also very productive.  Most of the vegetable areas had been companion planted with marigolds in bright yellows and oranges.  Normally, I am not drawn to those colours, but the planting was so cheerful, how could I resist?

 Beautiful bright and cheerful colours.

 My favourite seat in the gardens.  I love to sit here for a while and listen to the birds and just relax...

This is the view from the seat, looking back towards the entrance, which was lovely and restful.
More from my visit in the next post.

A (small) bouquet of roses

 I know, more roses, but I had to cut these yesterday because they kept trying to attack me when I walked down the path.  I was on a mission to re-pot my large Magnolia 'Susan', which I had been meaning to do for about three years at least.  I have had to massively root prune the poor thing and I'm not sure I haven't overdone it.  It may be a fatal re-pot, but I am trying to remain positive and am anxiously checking it.  I did give it three watering cans full of feed and water once it was in a bigger pot, so I am hoping it will survive.  Anyway, I digress. 

The roses are (left) 'Jacques Cartier' and (right) 'Geoff Hamilton'.  Rose 'Geoff Hamilton' has ball shaped blooms which don't hold up well to being rained on, but that hasn't been a problem this year.  It does have a lovely scent, which is wafting around the kitchen.  I have about twelve roses in my very small garden - when I get my larger garden (one day, hopefully when I am still physically able to look after it), I shall have lots and lots of roses.  'Gertrude Jekyll', 'Molineux', 'Margaret Merrill', 'William Lobb', 'New Dawn', 'Constance Spry', 'Rosa Mundi', 'Mary Rose', 'Geoff Hamilton', 'Tuscany Superb', 'Crocus', 'The Generous Gardener', etc., ... one day...