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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....

Native Plants for Pollinators West of the Cascades


I brought this handy reference card home from work and thought it was worth sharing. Oregon State University did a nice job of showcasing how native plants can be used in the landscape (in this case, exclusively so. OSU is a great resource for gardeners. I use their Landscape Plants database often and their Extension Service page is excellent.

The back of the card shows a listing of the plants and a color-graph to show the time of bloom.



Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

Comments

  1. That chart is an excellent resource for developing good succession flowering. Thanks for sharing that!

    Now, to find the equivalent for SoCal--or to create my own, maybe.

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