Friday, January 13, 2012

Arundel Castle, England, Part IV

Even in Southern California many gardens look pretty plain and unexciting at this time of the year unless you plant tons of colorful annuals, of course. Overall mine for sure does, since I neither have the budget to splurge on annuals nor the time to plant them. Here it is high rose pruning season right now and that is what I am mainly busy with since the last week of December. Necessary work, but not really adding to the current beauty of the garden.

Because I suffer a little bit from the winter blues I thought it might be nice to look at some garden pictures, where a garden is actually in bloom and I went back to my files with the photos from our England trip last year in June. I think, I still have many beautiful shots from the Arundel Castle Gardens that I haven't shown you, yet. Alas here is another post about those lovely Gardens. Hope you like it!



After leaving the Collector Earl's Garden (to see my post about it click here) we entered another garden area, which was defined by tropical plantings, a maze mowed into the lawn and a wild flower meadow interplanted with palms as the centerpiece of the maze. The main lawn area in the middle of this garden was surrounded by very nice borders and there were two more structures build out of green oak wood. You can see them in this photo: to the left of the Arundel Cathedral a pavilion is placed and to the right a wooden gate, which provided a stunning exit of this garden room. I found the design, choice, and combination of plants in this area quite fascinating and unusual and I don't think that I have ever seen anything like this before. The majestic Arundel Cathedral gives the garden a very special background and I feel they made optimal use of this borrowed view the way the garden is designed.



I loved the opulent plantings of alliums in some of the flower beds. The alliums were a little bit past their prime, when we were visiting but still real beauties to look at. 



Here we are standing in front of the slightly elevated wooden pavilion (see first photo of this post) looking back down on the maze and the Collector Earl's Garden with its impressive and beautiful wooden structure in the background. 



The paths were layed with a light gray/white gravel, which was nice to look at and made pleasing crushing sounds under our feet. In this garden room they also used plenty of tasteful and nicely planted terracotta containers.



I was completely taken by the lush and unusual border plantings in this area. I would love to plant my garden as densely as it is done here, but it would cost a fortune to do this at once. So I only can come closer to this goal one plant at a time and be patient, but persistent.



The wooden pavilion, shot from another angle. I just love everything about this garden area. It is simply perfect!


 

Inside the pavilion shown one photo above was an interesting fountain installed. It looked liked that the golden crown was simply held up in the air by the strong water ray of the fountain itself. I think that was indeed the case unless we have fallen for a trick.



Soft yellow phlomis was a plant that was extensively used in this garden room.



Close-up of the center of the maze.



Fascinating borders, which offered many ideas for plantings at home. Especially because they seem to work in a Mediterranean climate where I live as well.



Close-up of the beautiful penstemon that you could see in the shot of the border in the photo above this one. I bought my first blue/lavender penstemons last year in autumn inspired by our visit of Arundel Castle. It is not the same variety as this one, but I find it equally pretty and as far as I can judge by now it does well in my garden. Can't wait for spring to come so that the bees and I really can enjoy the lovely blooms. Did you know that bees go crazy about penstemons?



How much I admired this border planted with palms, dracaenas, alliums, nasturtiums and many more interesting plants. Inspired by this bed I intend to sow some nasturtiums in my garden, too. 



Close-up of nasturtiums together with the alliums. Don't you just love the combination?



The variety in tropical plants was just stunning and the obelisk seen on the left side of the path fit so well in here and added further interest. 



And yet another border, which I could not take my eyes of.



Nasturtium together with a succulent. The contrast between the intense orange yellow bloom of the nasturtium and the purple green thick leaves of the succulent just kept me captured for a while.




We left the garden through this wooden gate to enter, you guessed it, just another garden. I truly feel that the garden shown in this post is a masterpiece of garden architecture. There was so much to see and admire. I remember that by now my head was already spinning from all the beauty and unusual plants and structures that we had taken in, but I was also excited to explore what would come next. I hope you join me for another post about the Arundel Castle Gardens coming soon.

If you are interested to look at the previous posts that I did about the Arundel Castle Gardens, please click on the following links:

Arundel Castle, England Part I
Arundel Castle, England Part II
Arundel Castle, England Part III


See you in the garden!

Christina

23 comments:

  1. Thank you for posting pictures of that amazing castle! What beautiful gardens, and I would never have imagined palms and tropicals growing in England. I enjoyed seeing the colorful photos and will look forward to your future posts of Arundel. I will have to add the castle to my "places to see" list!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Must have been wonderfull to see and walk in these gardens. I longing for the flower season.
    Have a nice weekend
    marijke

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dorothy, thank you so much for leaving this kind comment! I was also surprised that it is possible to grow that many tropical plants in England. I wonder what the lowest temperatures might be in Arundel. Arundel Castle is now on my "places to see, again" - list" :-)!

    Marijke, thanks for your comment. It was indeed a treat to visit the Arundel Castle and Gardens. I am with you, I also can't wait until my garden is waking up again and comes fully to life. Wishing you a nice weekend as well!

    Christina

    ReplyDelete
  4. So pretty, so impressive! I will have to check out penstemons! Great photos for inspiration and dreaming.

    ReplyDelete
  5. That was England?? It looks like SoCal with a castle. I didn't think palm trees grew there! Penstemon is one of my favorite flowers. They struggle with our humidity and heavy soil but I have a couple in pots - two I bought off the clearance table and one was rescued from the garden last spring and stuck in a pot, so it didn't do much. I'm hoping they all bloom this summer. I have native penstemon in my garden that are white. They're plain but the bees love them.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Holley, thanks for your comment! Penstemons are really a great discovery for me. I would assume that they will grow well in your climate, too!

    Casa Mariposa, love your comment "It looks like SoCal with a castle"! I can imagine that Penstemons prefer a more arid climate and light soil, but growing them in pots might fix any problems that you have with them in your native soil. I love the color white so your "plain" white native penstemon might be just my cup of tea. I also noticed that the bees are really into penstemon. I am happy that I planted something that is not only awfully pretty but a great food source for them, too!

    Christina

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow, what a place, and the planting looks so exotic! So many beautiful places, so little time and even up to now we're still discovering new places to visit someday in England. Glad to see your blog too, and will look forward to your future posts :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Mark and Gaz, welcome to my blog! Arundel Castle Gardens are quite stunning, aren't they? You have so many incredible gardens in England that I completely believe that it is hard to visit them all even for someone who lives there. Looking forward to seeing you on my blog, again!
    Christina

    ReplyDelete
  9. These British people seriously know how to garden! Ah! only if I had the creativity and the budget to create gardens like that.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi KL, thanks for leaving a comment! Yes, the Brits are amazing gardeners. I always think they garden in a different league than all others :-)! I have never seen gardens as beautiful as theirs in any other country and that goes not only for the gardens of the rich and famous!

    Christina

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Christina..
    Nice that I was inspiring you...so I started myself also.
    When we had our 'Open Garden" several years, than I served also koffee or tea in china what I collected from flea markets, only that was bleu and white.
    This rose china, I bought it indeed for High Tea moments, for a birthday or something like that.
    Only the event what is coming over about 4 month's, i's not ganna be a High Tea...is's gonna be very special for us....
    And than, yes than it can, serving something in and on rose patternd china...

    ReplyDelete
  12. Marian, oh you have a collection of blue and white tea china, too? That's great. I can imagine that serving tea at an Open Garden in only these two colors would be very lovely, too. I better start collecting :-)!

    Christina

    ReplyDelete
  13. Christina, I am not sure what happened, did my previous comment make it? Thank you for the wonderful pictures, I enjoyed your post very much.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hi Masha, no I didn't get any comment regarding my Arundel Castle post part VI prior to this one from you. Thanks for trying again and your kind words, I am glad you enjoyed my post.

    Christina

    ReplyDelete
  15. These photos are just beautiful. What a unique and pretty water fountain. You really captured all the lovlieness at this wonderful place.
    ~Sheri at Red Rose Alley

    ReplyDelete
  16. Sheri, thank you very much for your kind comment! I am glad you liked the photos. The water fountain seems to be indeed very unique. I have never seen anything like this before. It really is a neat idea.

    Christina

    ReplyDelete
  17. Christina - Congratulation! Because of your love for roses (my personal favorite), I am awarding you the Liebster award (which in German means favorite). You can read more about it at my post here: http://dreamingofroses.blogspot.com/2012/01/1-blooms.html I hope you will accept it and pass it on to 5 of your favorite blogs, too. :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Dear Holley, thank you so much for nominating me for the Liebster Blog award! I feel honored that you have been considering my little humble blog!

    Christina

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hi Christina,

    Long time no blog update. I hope everything is fine with you. I have awarded you the Versatile Blog Award. Please visit http://boonton-newjersey.blogspot.com/2012/01/holleygarden-you-have-made-my-day.html to accept it and see the rules. I hope you will do so. Thank You, KL

    ReplyDelete
  20. Looks like you got it twice due to your awesomeness!

    ReplyDelete
  21. KL, thanks a lot for awarding me with the Versatile Blog Award. I appreciate it very much! I hope I am able to blog more in the future, again.

    Casa Mariposa, how nice of you to consider my little blog for the Versatile Blog Award! That is very nice of you!

    Christina

    ReplyDelete
  22. Hey Christina,
    Have not seen a blog from you over the past 2 weeks everything oke with you?
    I hope so
    Have a nice weekend
    Marijke

    ReplyDelete
  23. Dear Marijke, thank you very much for your concern, it means a lot to me. Hope I be able to put up a new post this weekend. There is just so much going on in my life right now...
    Wishing you a nice weekend as well!

    Christina

    ReplyDelete