Special Plants Nursery (Chippenham, England)
Our third day was a busy one as we left our first hotel in Bath and traveled to Wells. There were several stops along the way, the first being Special Plants Nursery in Chippenham, England. It was a warm day. The nursery is owned by former Oregonian Derry Watkins, who moved to England decades ago when she married an Englishman. She is a plant collector and has traveled all over the world, her favorite place being South Africa. That is Derry in the above photos talking to our group. The house and garden are located on a steep hill with idyllic countryside surrounding it. She says the garden was designed by her architect husband and she has filled it with her favorite plants, mostly tender perennials that she has collected from her plant-hunting expeditions. Most of the beds are terraced and many plants are grown in gravel. The garden is also enhanced with some striking ornaments - Lower island beds proceed downhill - A bog garden - At the bottom of the property is a woodland walk....
Your garden is absolutely gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteYour garden is absolutely beautiful! I enjoyed the visit!
ReplyDeleteThere nothing like the light in your world. It makes all the plants shine. Happy Bloom Day Phillip. Thanks for sharing your garden. ~~Dee
ReplyDeleteYour garden is spectacular, Phillip! Wish I could grow that foxtail rosemary - it's wonderful. And the orange Calla... wow!
ReplyDeleteThe coreopsis and lavender looks so perfect together. My bee balm gets chewed every single year. I let it be the sacrificial plant, since nothing else near it gets eaten.
ReplyDeleteI am SO envious of your weather, although I have to say that, by comparison to other areas of the country, my part of coastal Southern California has also enjoyed a relatively mild summer, at least thus far. No rain for us, however! I loved your coreopsis/lavender vignette and I think I need to add some coreopsis this summer - the one perennial form I have hasn't yet made an appearance and seems more diminished with each passing year. Your Shasta daisy is a looker too.
ReplyDeleteOh that's a nice little Coreopsis-I'm very partial to yellow flowers. Maybe that Shasta is 'Becky' ? I had that one once and seem to remember just opened flowers were pale yellow fading to white as they mature. It's been a hot season here so far with many days in the 90's. The coast is beckoning.
ReplyDeleteSo many blooms. I enjoy seeing each and every one.
ReplyDeleteThose are spectacular I know many of them can't be grown in a climate where I live but still would try Filipendula as an annual for our spring season .
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I can do with crocosmia is kill it -- and then blame it on the weather. Pineapple Guava would be a stretch in my climate but with it changing, who knows? I am glad you had good weather - our summer has been great for growing cactus but nothing else.
ReplyDelete-Ray