Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Parham House and Gardens, England - IV

A few days ago I realized that I promised in January on my blog to do one more and final post about our visit at Parham House and Gardens last year. If you are interested to see the older posts about Parham House and Gardens please click on the links:

Parham House and Gardens - I
Parham House and Gardens - II
Parham House and Gardens - III

So better late than never, here is the fourth part:



We are still in the walled garden! You can get an idea of how extensive the walled garden is when you realize that you can't even see the wall of it in this shot.
I found the symmetric design with the large container in the center and the huge lavender beds quite impressive. Too bad that the lavender was not in bloom when we visited. It must have been an even more stunning sight.



A great structure to conquer for climbing roses. If I remember correctly it shelterd an old well.



A delicate blue flowering plant that caught my attention. If you know the name of this one, please let me know.



These very dark almost black tulips are certainly not to be overlooked.



The plant combination of the tulips with the chartreuse colored plant to their feet is quite a show stopper, don't you think?



This simple and yet elegant sundial was surrounded by four small stone structures. I don't recall seeing it done like this ever before. Maybe an idea for our own gardens?



Before we happy but exhausted left the grand gardens of Parham, we made one more detour through an old small greenhouse and should not regret it. Besides other plants it was holding a quite lovely collection of geraniums.



I really like the geraniums potted up in terracotta containers. See the nice stone paving of the floor in the greenhouse?



It also had very beautiful windows.



More geraniums. Until I saw them in this greenhouse I always looked a little bit down on them and thought of them as bourgeois and granny plants...



... but at Parham I suddenly saw them in a differently light.



The blooms seemed to be outstandingly beautiful and I loved that there were so many different varieties on display.



It didn't took too long after we came home from that England trip that I felt the need to buy my own very first geranium and so I did.



Has it ever happened to you as well that you changed radically how you perceived a plant and maybe you fell in love with one that you formerly disliked?

Seeing the geranium collection was a nice finish of our visit to Parham House and Gardens. We had the impression that the house is well known and appreciated, but the gardens not so much. Many visitors didn't even seem to bother to have a look. We definitely think that the gardens are worth visiting as well and would recommend that you do so if you ever go to Parham. Bring plenty of time with you to take it all in without being rushed. There is so much to see. We certainly would love to come back and get a second chance to enjoy this lovely property again.

See you in the garden!

Christina



20 comments:

  1. Goodness would I like to go!! What an expansive view! And that greenhouse is amazing! The geraniums look so very pretty in those weathered terra cotta pots! And yes that floor of the greenhouse is a complete dream!!! Thanks so much for sharing friend!!!

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  2. Wunderbar - und gleich noch einen Einblick ins Gewächshaus. Ich hätte auch gerne eines.

    Sigrun

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  3. Better late than never! Great to see your photos again, which also makes us appreciate the beauty of some of the gardens here. Must really take some time to explore this area of England soon.

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  4. It does look a lovely place to visit. I love the old stone features and I must admit I do love geraniums in pots by windows. Such beautiful, cheerful colour.

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  5. Looks beautiful. I've never seen tulips that colour before...wow.

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  6. Thank you for another look into these lovely gardens. I would love to grow geraniums down here, but they are not crazy about our heat and humidity.

    I love that old window with the brickwork around it and the fancy ironwork.

    Have a wonderful Christmas holiday season ~ FlowerLady

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  7. Lovely geraniums ... lovely memories. Greetings, my dear Christina !

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  8. J'ai suivi tous tes messages publiés sur ce jardin. La quatrième partie est grandiose. La première photo est magnifique. et la structure recouverte de rosiers doit être délicieuse au moment de la floraison. Quant à la plante bleue, j'hésite pour te donner son véritable nom.
    Belle soirée jocelyne

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  9. Nicole, that greenhouse was truly delightful to be in. I hadn't noticed it consciously, but you are right the patina of the terracotta containers adds a lot to the charm of the displayed geraniums.

    Sigrun, I don't need a greenhouse to overwinter plants, but I would love to have one as well to grow plants from seeds. My garden is too small to accommodate one, though!

    Mark and Gaz, your really must take some time to look at the gardens in the West Sussex area. Besides Parham there are so many gems out there!

    Wendy, I am always impressed by the tasteful stone features that you can find in old English Gardens. I am usually not so much into bold colors in my own garden and I guess that is one other reason why I didn't like geraniums so much. But it is great that we are all different and all have different tastes and for that reason our garden are so unique and personal.

    trishie, I think I also saw black tulips for the first time in person in Parham. They are so outstanding in their color.

    Lorraine, the windows in the greenhouse were quite special and besides the lovely plants added much to its charm.

    Dani, one more thing that I like about blogging is that it brings up so many lovely memories from our trips!

    Jocelyne, I also think that the structure that covers the well must look awesome when the climbing roses are blooming. Too bad that they weren't when we were visiting!

    Christina

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  10. Thank you, Christina, for taking us on the tours of Parnham Gardens. I've enjoyed all the tours. And I had a similar experience with geraniums, not really caring for them too much, until I saw them growing in terracotta pots at the Green Gables house on Prince Edward Island. They were so charming in that setting, and I developed a new appreciation for them. (The blue flower looks like it could be 'Scabiosa'.)

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  11. The light while you were there was truly special! I wonder if the light purple plant you asked about is a type of Knautia or and Allium. I can't see the detail enough to tell, but from a distance, they resemble those plants. The Geraniums are gorgeous--I can see why you fell in love with them. Something similar happened to me when I visited the Grass Garden at Kew in London. I wasn't much of a Grass fan before that, but I appreciate them much more now. Great post!

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  12. Dorothy, I am glad that you liked my Parham series of posts! Interesting that you had almost the same experience with geraniums. I thought a little bit more about my own change of heart regarding them and have come to the conclusion that so much is depending on how a plant is presented, the context in which we see it in and not just the plant itself. Thanks for giving a guess in terms of the blue flowering plant!

    PlantPostings, I recall that the day we were in Parham is was quite hazy, humid, and hot. Not so pleasant for the body, but good for taking photos :-)! Thanks for letting me know what you think the blueflowering plant can be. I will look up the varieties that you suggested. Too funny I am not a big fan of grasses either, even though they are very much in fashion right now. Maybe I can be converted it the future as well ;-)!

    Christina

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  13. Loved the geraniums, there are so many new varieties now and they are far from granny plants! I especially love regal and rosebud geraniums, I had some this summer for the first time and will definitely have them again. Thanks for sharing, loved it.

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  14. Hi Christina,
    Oh it is so nice to go on a garden tour on this very cold day!! That Lavender must be amazing and climbing roses, sigh! Your mystery flower is Bee's Friend here is a link http://www.harmonicherbs.com/seeds/phacelia.php I keep a tub in the garden and the bee's do love it!
    Happy Weekend to you...
    Bella

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  15. Liebe Christina,
    wunderschöne Bilder von deinem Besuch dieser herrlichen Gärten :-)
    Da kann man richtig ins Träumen kommen!
    Wir haben den Sturm nun gut überstanden und es liegt ein wenig Schnee :-)
    Ich wünsche dir ein wundervolles 2. Adventswochenende
    ganz viele liebe Grüße sendet dir Urte :-)

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  16. Helene, it looks like that things have moved on in the geranium department :-)! I am currently growing two varieties of geraniums in my garden (a regal and a zonal one) and I curiously how they will fair over the winter and what they do when spring comes.

    Bella, thanks for sending the link to help identifying the blue flowering plant. I will look it up! If the bees love it even better :-).. Also thanks for becoming a follower.

    Urte, thanks, when I look at theses photos it always makes me dream about what I can do in my small garden. How to improve it, what to change, new and exciting plant combinations... I am glad to read that you survived the storm in Germany without damage. They can be so hard on a garden.

    Christina

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  17. I am glad you enjoyed your visit to Rye and the memories. Now this is a garden that I have not visited.

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  18. Barbara, if you have a chance go and see Parham. For my husband and I it was such a lovely experience to visit the house and stroll through the gardens. To sweeten the deal they sell tea and cake there, too :-)!

    Christina

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  19. Those geraniums are gorgeous! Who wouldn't want to get geraniums after seeing ones like those? I didn't use to like geraniums until I saw pictures on a Swedish blog called roses and stuff. I love those super dark purple tulips.

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  20. sweetbay, now that you say it I recall that I have seen some nice use of geraniums in a couple of Danish and Swedish blogs, too. I would love to grow tulips here but the climate is simply to mild for them to do well. They are just annuals here and for that reason it is too much work and too costly for me to plant them. Too bad!

    Christina

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