Wildlife Botanical Garden

July 18, 2025

Kiftsgate Court Gardens

Just right down the road from Hidcote is Kiftsgate Court Gardens. This garden was created by Heather Muir beginning in the 1920s. Muir's daughter, Diany Binny, came to live at Kiftsgate in 1954. She would add the half-moon pool and redesigned the white garden. She also first opened the garden to the public. Today, the tradition continues as granddaughter Anne Chambers and her husband maintain the gardens. Heather Muir was a friend and neighbor of Hidcote's Lawrence Johnston (their houses are within one mile of each other), and he inspired her in the garden's design. However, the two gardens differ in character and have their own unique characteristics. While Johnston's garden is laid out in strict geometric lines, Muir took a more naturalistic approach. Muir added many heirloom shrub roses to the garden and is famous for the 'Kiftsgate' rose, which occurred from a seedling in the garden. Unfortunately, we were too early for the roses. There were a few like t...

I made another visit to the Wildlife Botanical Garden in Brush Prairie, about 15 minutes from our house. We had visited earlier in 2018. Since that time, it was not surprising to see that things had really grown. I was looking over the photos from my earlier post and I didn't even see certain plants this time (for example, the Mimosa tree).

Fall flowers, like rudbeckia and asters dominated -