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 looks stupendous this August, especially given the recent heatwave. My Osteospermums mostly shut down flower production during the summer months (although, when I'm lucky, the plants themselves don't perish). My snapdragons are done and gone. The chaste tree I planted years ago from a tiny pot is still small and hasn't flowered but I haven't given up on it. Oddly, I haven't even seen flowers on my Hesperaloes this year - maybe too little water even for them :(
ReplyDeleteThe photo of Yucca 'Coral Glow' is looking very nice against the weeping cedar. It's not often that you shoot this angle of the garden. It looks to be a dark leaf Euphorbia in the back. Do you know which it is?
ReplyDeleteChavli
Chavli, that is Euphorbia 'Blackbird'. This bed is along the elevated retaining wall next to the driveway (that goes downhill). It has been a challenge finding things that grow well there.
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