flower photography – Page 2

Beth Chatto’s Gravel Garden

Beth Chatto transformed an overgrown wasteland deemed unfit for fruit farming, into a series of informal gardens. As the conditions within the garden vary widely, five distinct areas have been created providing useful examples of working with nature to find the right plant for the right place.

The world-famous drought-resistant Gravel Garden, created in 1992, began as an experiment to replace sun-scorched grass with a living garden of drought-tolerant plants.

The Gravel Garden, once a car park, was originally planted by Beth and her team as an experiment to test a range of drought-tolerant plants. The garden is famous for the fact that it is never watered, despite being situated in one of the driest parts of the country and having naturally occurring, free-draining soil.

Sedums add contrast – this is Hylotelephium Red Cauli

The seed heads of Phlomis russeliana have an impact here too.

Eryngium ebracteatum; Hylotelephium Red Cauli; Verbena Bampton; Gaura / Oenothera lindheimeri; Pennisetum villosum

I want to know how they keep the gravel weed free.

A lot of the plants in this garden are quite low growing

It serves as an inspiration for gardeners looking to create beautiful and resilient landscapes with minimal water use.

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Beth Chatto Reservoir Garden

The heavy clay soil of the Reservoir Garden was improved by Beth’s team and replanted in 2017. The garden showcases a variety of ornamental grasses and prairie-style plants offering late season interest with an exciting new display of perennials, accessible via winding pathways.

There are plenty of benches on which to sit and contemplate the garden.

Asters were a feature of this September garden

And seed heads. Phlomis russeliana are particularly effective

Beautiful flowering grasses soften the borders

When I visited Beth Chatto’s Gardens in 2016 this area was a complete blank canvas. My favourite zone then was the gravel garden, but this year the Reservoir Garden with its naturalistic prairie planting, grasses wafting in the wind and the pops of colour from the asters, heleniums and rudbeckias intertwined with dramatic seed heads was by far my favourite area. In fact I sat here for a good half hour simply enjoying the peace.

Lens Artists Photo Challenge # 364 |Quiet Moment

Beth Chatto’s Gardens

No Six on Saturday post from me today, but here is one view of the planting scheme in Beth Chatto’s gardens in Essex. More to come later.

(Please click image to enlarge)

The Reservoir Garden replanted in 2017 so after my visit to these gardens in September 2016. The garden showcases a variety of ornamental grasses and prairie-style plants offering late season interest.

Red Squares in July

During July I will be joining in with Becky’s SimplyRed Squares.

Day 18

Isabella’s Plantation

The Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park, Surrey, is a 40 acre woodland garden set within a Victorian woodland plantation planted in the 1830’s. First opened to the public in 1953, it is best known for its evergreen azaleas, which line the ponds and streams and at their peak of flower in late April and early May.

My previous visit was in late August 2022 and the floral offerings were somewhat disappointing although it was still a lovely place for a walk. The timing was perfect this month though, as the long queue to the car park indicated.