Nature – Page 9 – TRAVEL WORDS

Garden Portrait: The Garden House Part II

The second part of my visit to The Garden House is of the Walled Garden and the terraced areas leading up to the Café.

On both sides of a very neatly mown grass path, which seemed far too good to actually walk on, there are deep double herbaceous borders, filled in late May with swathes of Alliums, Peonies, Lupins, Aconites, Wisteria and lots of other perennials just beginning to emerge.

Ruined tower

lupins

Alliums and lupins

alliums

Aconite / Monkshood

Wisteria

Paeonia ‘Coral Charm’

Paeonia ‘Bowl of Beauty’

Fennel

Hakonechloa macra ‘all gold’

Melianthus major

More wisteria, bronze fennel, grasses and architectural plants such as the Melianthus major, Hostas and Ligularia.

These lupins in particular caught my eye, I just love the deep magenta pink colour

Eventually we made our way up to the Lower terrace and lawns to the café.

Behind the borders are more winding pathways among colourful shrubs and trees.

Geum

Impatiens

Corydalis

Rhododendron

On every level there was planting to admire.

We didn’t have time to explore the lake and arboretum, as we wanted to have one last birthday treat and enjoy a Cream Tea – the Cornish way!

Naturally it was far too tempting not to have a look at the plant sales although I did intend only to look up the names of a geranium I fancied. However, resistance is futile and I walked away with a couple of new Hydrangea plants for the dappled shade border.

And there is always time to stop and smell the roses

It is a garden I would love to go back to in a different season and being less than 2 hours from home it is entirely possible that we can do it on a day out.

Jo’s Monday Walk

Garden Portrait: The Garden House Part I

My visit to south Devon would naturally have to include a garden tour. This time The Garden House in nearby Buckland Monachorum, a mere 15 mins from the hotel we were staying in. I have read a lot about this garden so I was expecting good things.

Originally a family home and private garden purchased by the Fortescue family back in 1945, The Garden House is now run by the Fortescue Garden Trust, a small charity committed to developing and maintaining this special place, for everyone to enjoy.

Grasses

Thalictrum

Poppies

Alliums

It is a true plantsman’s paradise.

Aquilegias

Hardy Geraniums

I have split this post into two parts – this one will take you around the main garden which consists of several areas all connected by meandering pathways. In some ways it reminded me very much of the delightful East Lambrook Manor garden which we visited last year, only much larger.

The first area is the summer garden which leads through to the cottage garden and to the ‘Magic Circle’. You can’t rush. There are so many beautiful plants to see and admire.

Irises

Pimpinella major ‘Rosea’ / Pink Cow Parsley

Thalictrum / Meadow rue

Quarry Garden

The Magic Circle

Poppies and Salvias

From there we wandered through the Acer Glade, around the Wildflower Meadow and along the Jungle Path to Wisteria Bridge. This part of the garden must look absolutely stunning in autumn dress.

Astrantia

Views and Acer Glade

Stepping stones

Wildflower Meadow

Wisteria Bridge

Finally a Bulb Meadow takes you onto the lane across which you will find the Walled Garden which is the focus of my second post.

Jo’s Monday Walk

festival of spring #6

Seen in south-east England over Easter – so much blossom lining the suburban streets and the parks alongside the River Thames, from the purest white and the palest of pink to a deep magenta red.

I am going to join in with Dawn’s Festival of Spring which will last for 10 -12 weeks in celebration of this season.

Flashback Friday #43

If anyone is wondering where this week’s flashback is then you need to pop over to my flower blog as I am returning to a Lens Artists post about gardening and mental health written in October 2018, long before we’d heard of Covid-19.

Please leave any comments on that post. Thank you.

Flashback Friday #40

On the 1st October 2015 I was raving about my new macro lens which I took on a walk to a nearby broadleaved woodland down by the River Teme in Ludlow. One of my favourite places to walk when I lived in the town.

little things in life

A fellow blogger and friend has been posting some images of spring in Australia including close-ups of moss starting to sprout. It prompted me to take my new macro lens down to the river where I knew moss grows abound and where I had seen some tiny fungi growing just the other day. Unfortunately it was quite dark by the river (it is flanked by a high cliff and trees on the one side) and moss isn’t as attractive in its latter stages, but I did find the fungi and a few interesting little things to photo. They are not the sharpest of images, but as I have mentioned over on the flower blog where you will find more macro images, I am happy to record my journey with the new camera with the hope that as time goes on I will improve!

We will start with this quite small leaf covered with tiny hairs on which there were beads of moisture – from the early morning fog I imagine.

Next a look at some fungi – note that the puff ball ones are actually very, very small, probably the size of the nail on my little finger.

Then some moss – again with the droplets – ferns and a couple of flowers. I had not realised until now how much the spores on a fern look like tiny eggs.

Maidenhair Spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes)

Herb Robert

Spores on harts tongue / Asplenium scolopendrium

Green Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens)

Moss with droplets

Spores

Moss

And finally one insect (there was a spider too but the quality of that shot is far too embarrassing to post here) a bright red-brown fly. If you click on him to enlarge the image you will see the hairs on his back.

This post is a contribution to Fandango’s Flashback Friday. Have you got a post you wrote in the past on this particular day? The world might be glad to see it – either for the first time – or again if they’re long-time loyal readers.