Henton & District Gardening Club Trip to Greencombe – 20th April 2023
On a glorious spring day, we happy few embarked on the trip to visit the fabled garden at Greencombe on the North Somerset coast. We arrived, after lunch in the local pub, to be greeted by Rob Schmidt, the nephew of the late Joan Lorraine. Those who met Joan will be unable to forget her single-minded enthusiasm for her garden, and for her national collection of Erythroniums and other shade-lovers.
The garden is on a north-facing slope of acid woodland, with the Bristol channel at its foot. The woodland is managed expertly to allow pools of light through the overhead branches that highlight the camellias, the tall species rhododendrons, and patches of forest floor.
A walk through the garden becomes slower as the visitor spots so many different rarities.
There are many north American trilliums, just coming into flower in mid-April. Wood anemones lie on the ground like fallen petals, and the fabled Erythroniums spring up through the woodland soil to burst joyously into expansive flowers. There are groups of labelled plants growing in saucers dug out of the slope and filled with leaf-mould. They are so happy in this draining but rich woodsy soil that they have produced seedlings almost as good as the parents.
The paths traverse the slope; the lowest path alongside vast ‘bins’ of leaf-mould contained within wooden walls. This produces a neutral mulch, and planting compost, that is ideal in these acid conditions. Everything looks happy, healthy and actively growing. They have had an idyllic upbringing in a garden that sings of beautiful, and rare, plants growing as they should.
It is a vision of paradise.
Sally Gregson April 2023
It is a vision of paradise.
Sally Gregson April 2023
Garden Trip to Tredegar House and Llanover Gardens 7th June 2023
Henton Gardening Club Summer outing
On a glorious day last week members of Henton Gardening Club enjoyed a trip to two, very dissimilar Welsh gardens. The first, Tredegar House, is a National Trust property with a fascinating past. It remained in the Morgan family for 500 years. The house has been restored to its Twenties heyday, and the garden is steadily being replanted and the woodlands regenerated. It’s definitely one to watch.
The afternoon was all about the beautiful gardens of Llanover, on the Welsh borders. It too has been owned by the same family for eight generations. Elizabeth Murray remembers her idyllic childhood in its garden and grounds. And what a garden! Elizabeth has continued in her father’s footsteps. She and her husband, Ross, have planted some well-chosen and extremely beautiful trees where they can grow and expand to their full potential. Some of the oldest trees are recorded ‘Champions’, that is they are the largest trees of their species growing within the British Isles. The Champions are magnificent, unspoilt specimens planted by Elizabeth’s grandmother.
Rhododendrons are another lovely feature in this slightly acid, free-draining soil, but all our eyes were drawn to a huge Cornus ‘Norman Haddon’ basking in the sun. And the roses! What a treat to smell the perfume of such heady beauties as R. ‘Charles de Mills’ and admire showers of rambling roses muddled with clematis!
The whole garden is interwoven with water-courses that interrupt the visitor’s steps and provide a low, background murmuring all the while. The Rhyd-y-Meirch stream has been re-directed and its flow interrupted by sluice gates that can be opened and closed according to the ambient rainfall.
The formal, round garden bears witness to Elizabeth’s love of perennials. Here she has planted for each season and rescues the floppies with woven hazel supports. Even the most unruly peonies behave and carry their heads in the sun.
Llanover is open again in September and October to admire the autumn colour. It’s on my list!
Sally Gregson
June 2013
On a glorious day last week members of Henton Gardening Club enjoyed a trip to two, very dissimilar Welsh gardens. The first, Tredegar House, is a National Trust property with a fascinating past. It remained in the Morgan family for 500 years. The house has been restored to its Twenties heyday, and the garden is steadily being replanted and the woodlands regenerated. It’s definitely one to watch.
The afternoon was all about the beautiful gardens of Llanover, on the Welsh borders. It too has been owned by the same family for eight generations. Elizabeth Murray remembers her idyllic childhood in its garden and grounds. And what a garden! Elizabeth has continued in her father’s footsteps. She and her husband, Ross, have planted some well-chosen and extremely beautiful trees where they can grow and expand to their full potential. Some of the oldest trees are recorded ‘Champions’, that is they are the largest trees of their species growing within the British Isles. The Champions are magnificent, unspoilt specimens planted by Elizabeth’s grandmother.
Rhododendrons are another lovely feature in this slightly acid, free-draining soil, but all our eyes were drawn to a huge Cornus ‘Norman Haddon’ basking in the sun. And the roses! What a treat to smell the perfume of such heady beauties as R. ‘Charles de Mills’ and admire showers of rambling roses muddled with clematis!
The whole garden is interwoven with water-courses that interrupt the visitor’s steps and provide a low, background murmuring all the while. The Rhyd-y-Meirch stream has been re-directed and its flow interrupted by sluice gates that can be opened and closed according to the ambient rainfall.
The formal, round garden bears witness to Elizabeth’s love of perennials. Here she has planted for each season and rescues the floppies with woven hazel supports. Even the most unruly peonies behave and carry their heads in the sun.
Llanover is open again in September and October to admire the autumn colour. It’s on my list!
Sally Gregson
June 2013
LLANOVER GARDENS
Drum House Garden, Wells - 27th June 2023
On a rather threatening early evening last week, Anthony and Maggie Langdon invited members of the Henton Gardening Club to their new garden overlooking Wells. We reached the top of the hill unaware of the thrill in store.
And what a treat! Anthony and Maggie have created from a very unpromising site, an exquisite garden, overflowing with flowers, bathed in full sun, on what was a difficult clay soil. They have added loads of organic matter, grit, and garden compost to improve the ground and it has worked. The plants were chosen for their ability to endure the rigours of full exposure to sun and wind in the front of the house facing Wells; while around the other side, in the relative shade, they have planted some beautiful hydrangeas and shade lovers. They are all thriving.
All along the side of the house Maggie and Anthony have produced rows of happy, luscious vegetables: tomatoes, fat, white leeks; and lettuces; all were looking good enough to eat.
They have spent the last five or six years planting trees too: notably a beautiful young birch and an unusual Cercis; that are waiting in the wings to mature and punctuate the skyline.
And above all, and the reason they both worked so hard, is the sight of Wells Cathedral down below, and Glastonbury Tor in the background. They should be justly proud of such a ‘stunning’ garden. It is a real knock-out!
Sally Gregson
June 2023
All along the side of the house Maggie and Anthony have produced rows of happy, luscious vegetables: tomatoes, fat, white leeks; and lettuces; all were looking good enough to eat.
They have spent the last five or six years planting trees too: notably a beautiful young birch and an unusual Cercis; that are waiting in the wings to mature and punctuate the skyline.
And above all, and the reason they both worked so hard, is the sight of Wells Cathedral down below, and Glastonbury Tor in the background. They should be justly proud of such a ‘stunning’ garden. It is a real knock-out!
Sally Gregson
June 2023