In the flowerbeds in May...
We welcomed the second of our coach parties this week, this
time a group from Colton Women’s Institute. They spent the morning at Dorothy
Clive Gardens, then joined Nigel in the gardens at Betley Court for a talk and
tour. Its is always interesting how different groups come up with contrasting
ideas about the restoration of the gardens, and Colton WI came up with some
extremely useful suggestions, including more seating along the paths. Someone
also suggested the restoration of the walled garden, although I see one major
problem – the grounds in the old walled garden were sold by the previous owners
of Betley Court years ago, and now contain a 1980s housing estate! That has to
constitute an obstacle that cannot be manoeuvred around.
The formal flower bed parterre is coming into its own right
now. The white irises I divided last autumn are clearly enjoying their new
spaces, and rewarding us with a lovely display. Alongside them, the stellate flowers
of the ornamental garlics (Allium aflauetense), are providing a stunning
contrast, to the irises’ papery blooms.
Our Christmas market bargains, the tulips, have now gone
over, and although the artist in me adores the changing colours of the petals
as they decay, we have decided to replace the pots with sweet Williams and
pansies. These two reliable plants are our ‘go-to’s’ for planters. They are not
favoured by the rabbits that occasionally raid the formal gardens, and they are
reasonably trouble-free as far as pests and diseases are concerned. They are
tough and forgiving, when I am less than reliable with the watering, to boot.
Finally, for this post I received a lovely message from Alex
Brown. He spent some time last year filming parts of the garden with a drone
camera when he was visiting from Australia. He’s produced a short film, that’ll
take you on a quick tour of the gardens. You can find it on YouTube via this
link:
The
film makes me think of a little bee flying round the grounds trying to make
sense of the gardens as it travels, and I think you’ll enjoy it!
That’s all for now.
Ladybird Su
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