The Gardens at Barnsley House

The beginning of last week saw me chopping some of the Geraniums to the ground, fed up of having them peek early and then looking sad from late July, the only option a late cut back to reveal a gap that's hard to fill. My aim to postpone the flowering until slightly later, a little experiment.  After cutting back I placed a support frame or cloche over the  'reduced' plant for it to grow through, round and over. The cloches below were made by Ben, a couple of years ago, from Cornus alba and had a spell as Christmas decorations, hence the glitter!

Glam rock gardening.

Not far out of Winstone and heading west there's a turning to the right, 'Miserden'. The road ribbons down and bright green meadows tightly grazed by sheep sweep steeply back upwards. Woods of Hazel, Oak , Ash and Beech surround these meadows, it's very alpine. On reaching the bottom this hidden valley engulfs the traveller as more delights in the form of  white carpets of Ramsons and walls with their raggy laggings of moss line the ascent up and out through woods.

Miserden Nursery

My destination was Miserden Nursery, where Julie Dolphin and her husband Steve Richardson have just taken over as the proprietors. A uniquely situated nursery with a collection of stunning greenhouses and a wide selection of good quality plants ranging from old favorites to the more unusual. With an exceptional array of hardy Geraniums, tender Pelargoniums (a good time to buy with Summer in sight) as well as bedding, climbers, Roses and Ferns. I came away with some Lobelia 'Cambridge Blue' for the Village Pub planters and a real find.... a Ribes speciosum! We lost our Fuchsia Flowered Currant some years ago so I'm more than happy to have found a specimen to bring back to Barnsley, just need to select a spot for it!

Malus transitoria with Cow Parsley on the edge of the 'Wilderness'.

It was nice to catch up last week with John and Katie Kosta of Huron Valley Travel and to show them and their group round once again, look forward to seeing you again next year. Also good to see Michael B. Gordon last week when he visited with a group, a Barnsley House regular over the years, hope you have fun at Chelsea.