If the rose is the King of Climbers, and Clematis, the Queen, what High Rank must the wisteria hold? Beautiful, fragrant & vigorous - in May and early June, it is surely unsurpassed for sheer Impact. The Laurels nursery, near Cranbrook in Kent, specialises in Wisteria (and birch) and featured in The Garden magazine recently…
Month: May 2013
Hatchlands Park
A Gertrude Jekyll flower parterre, good trees and a dream-like park. The curving path from the old orchard, now the car park, brings the eighteenth-century mansion into view at an oblique angle between the trees. In its restored state, it is a striking block of red brick and white paintwork, contrasting sharply with the parkland…
Continue reading ➞ Hatchlands Park
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Geraneum Rozanne
RHS Plant of the Centenary, announced this week, from a shortlist of one plant per decade. Here it is threading its way through Stipa tenuissima, with Rose Harlow Carr, white Cosmos, Verbena bonariensis, a flash of Geum Mrs Bradshaw and Nepeta Walker's Low, in my Roehampton project last June. Planted out a month or so…
Continue reading ➞ Geraneum Rozanne
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A Star is Born
Geraneum Rozanne has been named as RHS Plant of the Centenary. And a Very Good Plant it is too, I've used it in many gardens. Have a look at the RHS website for details of the shortlist.
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Orange Beauty
Rhododendrons in Isabella Plantation, in many shades of peach, apricot and orange. Marvellous. Very probably this one is called Orange Beauty. And it is.
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Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Sneezy – and Bluebell
The Isabella Plantation is an ornamental woodland garden within Richmond Park and it is ablaze with colour at the moment with rhododendrons, azaleas and bluebells at their very best.Pink and orange, red and white, yellow and blue, yellow and orange, orange and blue, purple and red - hot clashes and cool combinations. Probably the best…
Continue reading ➞ Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Sneezy – and Bluebell
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A reminder, before new work begins
Time to look back at one project from 2012, as plans are made to return to the garden, assess the plot after an absence of almost six months (for winners and losers both) and agree on schemes for other areas. Some of my very favourite plants here.
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This blowsy old girl makes a splendid show
Clematis Mrs Cholmondeley, in my garden today 'This blowsy old girl makes a splendid show.' 'A (blue) large-flowered clematis that simply can't stop flowering. From tip to tip the early flowers are very large, but because of the narrow sepals and large gaps between them towards the base, one's impression is not so much of…
Continue reading ➞ This blowsy old girl makes a splendid show
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2013 Chelsea Flower Show Plant of the Year
Mahonia eurybracteata subsp. ganpinensis ‘Soft Caress’ has been crowned the 2013 RHS Chelsea Flower Show Plant of the Year. Mahonia ‘Soft Caress’ was described as a fascinating new form with unusual delicate ferny foliage which softens borders. Bright lemon yellow scented blooms are followed by attractive blue berries. The Clematis ‘Lemon Dream’ was placed in…
Continue reading ➞ 2013 Chelsea Flower Show Plant of the Year
The Teddington Gardener 