Gwenfar's Garden and other musings
Notes on growing ornamentals and edibles, and musings on other matters that interest me.
Living in Sheffield means living close to the Alpine Plant Centre in the Peak District, which has an amazing selection of alpines, often rare, and at really good prices. I’ve been before and have used quite a few alpines from there to …
Following on from my last post on some of the autumn colours at Cambridge Botanic Garden, are some alpines from the Alpine House. I think there is a tendency to think of alpines as more late Spring-early Summer flowering plants, …
We made a return visit to Cambridge Botanic Garden on the weekend, this time to enjoy the Autumn colours. This is a garden that never fails to please, although for some reason I’ve only seen it is Winter and Spring in the …
Renishaw Hall Gardens is an Italianate garden on the edge of North Derbyshire and South Yorkshire, rather close to my home in Sheffield. I’ll confess at the outset that I’ve never been overly fond of Italianate gardens. Past experience has …
We often make journeys between Sheffield and Cambridge to visit Kevin’s mum. It just so happens that along this route, the A1, sits Easton Walled Garden. We had visited in late Spring 2013, so this was our second visit to …
It’s hard to resist a walled garden. Well, I cannot, anyway. Just the idea of a walled garden, a place of adventure and beauty. All very ‘Secret Garden‘. Kevin & I wanted a day out, Kevin wanted to visit the …
Last week we visited Clumber Park Walled Kitchen Garden, which happens to be not far from us here in Sheffield, being on the edge of Nottinghamshire & South Yorkshire near Worksop. I’ll let the pictures to the talking. Well, mainly, a …
It was Easter holidays, my friend Manishta was visiting from Oxford, and it was sunny: a perfect combination for garden visiting. My choice was Stillingfleet Lodge Gardens, which lies just south of York. I follow Stillingfleet on Twitter @SLGardens and …
It’s probably not the best way to start a blogpost, being negative, but here I go… When I visited RHS Harlow Carr several years ago (possibly more than 10 years ago), I remember coming away disappointed. It was mid-April and …
Now that we have moved ‘up North’, we are in the process of discovering our new annual flower pilgrimages. In Oxfordshire, each year we would see the snowdrops at Kingston Bagpuize Gardens in February, the fritillaries at Iffley Meadows in …