English Garden Tour w/ Mike & Frank - Summer 2023

 This is all the gardens Frank and I saw during our travels this summer to England, particularly East Anglia, the Midlands and the Cotswolds area of great beauty.  A quick summary and archive of the post of each garden, park or landscape roadways that caught our eyes.

We landed at Heathrow Airport at 7 AM, dropped off our luggage at our accommodations and headed out to see London.  First stop Saint Peter's Cathedral. 

Reflection Garden - London St. Paul's Churchyard

This reflection pond is across the street from the cathedral, tucked away behind a large hedge and a popular place to eat a take-away lunch in the middle of a bustling city.   Unfortunately we noticed large number of rats and sitting in one of the many available benches didn't feel comfortable.  We took our photo and left.  

In chronological order with title linking to the original post.  Please click through to those you want to see more photos.

Crossrail Place @ Canary Wharf - London

Batsford Arboretum - Cotswolds

Sequoias and Thuja plicata, some really big trees.   

RHS Hyde Hall - East Anglia

This combination of Echineace, Clary Sage and Verbena was looking full.  

Beth Chatto's Garden - East Anglia

I love this vignette.   I know the Stipa will bring cries of weediness, but it looks so golden and light here with a bit of soft pink from the Evening Primrose (verify plant name) and the dusky blue of the Agaves (verify plant name).

Bressingham Garden - East Anglia

Wow, what a beautiful weed!   I hear you screaming, dear reader, but that Pampas Grass, so maligned in California, has a pale pink tinge to its otherwise copper-beige flower heads.  Then with the pink smoke bush and deep burgundy Cercis, this was a delight to see in person.

East Ruston Old Vicarage Gardens - East Anglia

Of all the photos I have of East Ruston Old Vicarage, I think this one sums up the sheer gay elegance of this very large garden.  The way it's set up with numerous allees and lawn walks, one will get some good exercise seeing everything here.  

Pensthorpe - East Anglia

The millennium Garden by Piet Oudolf along a braided river on it's way to the North Sea.  We had a quick visit getting there 30 minutes before it closed at 5pm.  A good time to take photos but we had to run to the garden.  

Sheffield - Grey to Green

This large urban renewal project refurbished an inner ring road with a wide and long greenway replacing two lanes of roadway.  This was possible when they built an outer ring road that relieved much of the auto traffic right around the city center.  I loved it.  Three phases were evident with the latest third phase in the midst of construction.  

The Garden of Pooled Talents - University of Sheffield

Close to the Grey to Green streetscape is this garden on the University of Sheffield campus.  In the courtyard is a bit of Nature among the academic buildings.  I like it.

Sheffield Botanical Gardens - Midlands

A lovely botanical garden in the middle of Sheffield.   Clearly a city that wanted to educate their citizens.  A fossilized gigantic club moss appears to be an unassuming stump.  

RHS Bridgewater

A brand new RHS garden in the Midlands has only been open to the public for a couple of years.  It was looking gorgeous with all emphasis on the plants, like all Royal Horticulture Society gardens, it is about the plant.  What do I mean by that?   It is an institution to teach about the cultural needs of the plants.  But there are also a lot of design ideas here too.   They are forward thinking about mulching pruning litter in situ.   A fundamental technique I use in my garden back home.  I feel validated.

Mayfield Park, Manchester

Wollerton Old Hall - Midlands

We both love Wollerton Old Hall.  Our second visit and we defininately will add this to our tour offerings next year.   It a mid-size suburban lot that is divided into 30 small areas.  I find these small spaces a pleasure to walk around but not exhausting like many large gardens can be.  Lots to see in a short walk.  See you next year!

Trentham - Midlands

We are here at Trentham again.  It's hard to go to Manchester and not stop at Trent-on-Stoke and see Tom Stuart-Smith parterre.  It was looking good today.   A little bit of rain help keep the mass away from this theme park like pleasure garden.   

The Meadow at Oxford Botanic Gardens

The evening before our tour starts we are spending the night in Oxford where we will pick up the van tomorrow morning.  This evening's light had a quality to it that made the meadow glow.  The golden grass seed-heads along with the yellow flowers of the solidago and lime green leaves of that unidentifiable plant, were all apparent from across the garden, drawing one towards it.  

Waterperry Gardens - Oxfordshire

We had a little extra time this morning so we decided to stop by Waterperry Gardens.  This is our second visit; Last one was really rainy hard and we barely saw the long borders.   This time we had partly sunny weather with a bit of rain in the atmosphere but not enough to derail us from seeing the entire garden and nursery.  

Broughton Grange - Cotswolds

Back to Broughton Grange with guests and well, I was feeling a little underwhelmed.    Things looked a little weedy and not so sharp.   But that could be the timing as this garden does inspire new ideas.  Above is the new part of the garden, a goose foot with fountain.  (Verify name)

Hidcote Manor Garden - Cotswolds

We out early this morning because we have two gardens to tour today.   First is Hidcote Manor, a perennial favorite of ours.  Here's looking out from their gated lawn onto The Cotswolds, an area of outstanding beauty.    Click through to see more of Hidcote-->

Kiftsgate Court Gardens - Cotswolds

Our afternoon garden was another perennial favorite, Kiftsgate Court.   I love the blue furniture.

Lunch at RH England 

Lunch and shopping at RH, formerly known as Restoration Hardware.

Rousham - Cotswolds

Back at the historic Rousham Gardens.   Lots have been written about this garden and I'm not going to repeat it here.  Look it up.

Rodmarton Manor - Cotswolds

We are here at our final garden of our tour.   An authentic Arts and Crafts garden and house.  We toured the house too which is usually not the case.   But the garden is a manageable size and we had plenty of time to see the house.   We first came here in 2014 and it has improved over the time.  

Oxford Christ Church Meadow

We dropped off our guests and Frank and I are back in Oxford for one night before heading back to London.   School had just begun and crowds of young people were everywhere.