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.
Lots of purpleAsters were a feature of this September gardenAnd seed heads. Phlomis russeliana are particularly effectiveWild seed heads of the VeronicastrumBeautiful flowering grasses soften the bordersPurple and Yellow contrasting coloursLovely prairie style planting
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.
I haven’t really been a sporty person since leaving school where I was involved with hockey and athletics. With four children to bring up there was never really any time, nor money and my physical activity has been limited to gardening, household chores and walking. Not exactly sporty! Though I did once do line dancing. OK not a sport. Though pretty physically demanding. I don’t suppose board games count? Thought not.
Fortunately other people are. Sporty.
Young SurferStand up Paddleboarder (and surfers)Kite surfing – HayleSurfer – Gwithian BeachWindsurferMan fishing off the rocks in South AfricaSailing on the Broads, NorfolkSurf skimming in South Africa
Funnily all to do with water. The last one looks fun, though I would probably break my ankle!
I used to photograph doors almost obsessively – and have several posts on this site about them. But for this week’s challenge from Sofia I wanted to simply show one door that I don’t think has been posted.
Those of you who have followed me for a while will know that I am passionate about flowers, nature and gardens. In fact I even have a blog dedicated to them. Earth Laughs in Flowers is no longer being updated but it is a resource of my garden visits from around the world. Wherever I travel I seek out a garden.
“My garden is all overblown with roses,
My spirit is all overblown with rhyme”
~ Vita Sackville-West
So what can I say in a single post? What do gardens mean to me?
A lot of the pleasure of a garden of one’s own is nurturing the plants through their lives. Sowing seeds, watching them grow, making sure they have the right conditions, changing them if not. It’s a lot like having children or pets. You make mistakes. You learn. And when things go well, it makes you happy. And when they don’t you try again.
(Please click on an image to enlarge / scroll through the gallery)
Details
I like to visit other gardens for many reasons. Combining a walk in pleasant surroundings is one. Having a nosey around small gardens to pick up ideas of what might work in my own is another. Large estates often have stunning vistas too. Then there are the design features, colour combinations to copy, unusual plants to admire, tiny details picked up through the camera lens, a walled garden, a fragrant garden, an edible garden, a secret garden to explore, gardens to relax in and listen to nature: mindfulness.
Colours to admire
Alliums at Kew Garden, May 2024Euphorbia in the Delos garden, Sissinghurst, May 2024Roses and Achillea and Bugloss at Mottisfont, June 2024Ghislaine de Feligonde (Musk rose)Roses and foxgloves and hardy geraniums at Mottisfont, June 2024Rosa Mundi (Gallica var, officinalis ‘Versicolor’)Tintinhull Garden, Somerset – Pool garden with towering foxgloves. June 2024Rosa banksiae ‘Lutea’ at Sissinghurst
Design Ideas to inspire
The new Delos-inspired garden at Sissinghurst Castle Garden in Kent, re-imagined from Vita and Harold’s original vision. May 2024Rose Garden, Sherborne Castle and Gardens, Dorset, June 2024Hot borders, Sissinghurst, May 2024
Vistas
View of Sherborne’s Old Castle from Sherborne Castle and Gardens, Dorset, June 2024Sherborne Castle and Gardens, Dorset, June 2024Kew Garden, London, May 2024Oast Houses at Sissinghurst from the Delos garden, May 2024Cool, tranquil and calming aspect in Sissinghurst Castle Garden, May 2024
Somewhere to relax
Sherborne Castle and Gardens, Dorset, June 2024Ginkgo Tree – Sherborne Castle and Gardens, Dorset, June 2024Relaxing in the walled garden at Mottisfont, Hampshire. June 2024Meadow and orchard in Sissinghurst Castle Garden, May 2024
The last words come from my favourite garden designer who says it much better than I can.
“I try for beauty and harmony everywhere, and especially for harmony of colour. A garden so treated gives the delightful feeling of repose, and refreshment, and purest enjoyment of beauty, that seems to my understanding to be the best fulfilment of its purpose; while to the diligent worker its happiness is like the offering of a constant hymn of praise.
For I hold that the best purpose of a garden is to give delight and to give refreshment of mind, to soothe, to refine, and to lift up the heart in a spirit of praise and thankfulness.”
~ Gertrude Jekyll (Wood and Garden)
TRAVEL WORDS 