Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Nafford House, A Lovely Private Garden In Worchestershire, England I

My husband and I are back home from England since about one and a half weeks now and I can't believe that I still haven't posted about one of the many private and public gardens, that we have visited during our England vacation. And oh my gosh, did we see incredible gardens this time!

I came home with wonderful memories full of the beautiful gardens that we have toured, tons of inspiration for my own garden, and literally thousands of photos. I hope, I can find the time in the following weeks and months to share at least some of them with you.



The very first garden that we visited the day after our arrival in the UK was Nafford House, located in Eckington, Worchestershire. It is a private garden, owned and cared for by Janet & John Wheatley, that opened in the context of the National Garden Scheme (NGS).

I was in heaven the moment when my husband and I walked through the garden gate and saw this beautiful white house conquered by climbing wisterias and the lovely garden beds framing the gravel path leading up to the front door.



The planting style in parts of the garden was what I would call wild romantic. Unfortunately my photos don't do these flower beds above and below justice. They look almost a bit weedy on the pictures, but in reality they were just packed densely with roses and many small plants that were allowed to spill over the edges into the gravel path. 



The abundance of late spring!



This rose caught my eye and I asked Mr Wheatley about the name. Kindly he went back into the house to ask his wife. Upon his return he said that it is 'Penelope'. The rose, a Hybrid Musk, had a very subtle intriguing coloration and a lovely, distinct scent. 



Getting a glimpse of the surrounding gardens to the left. 



Besides gardens another thing that makes my heart sing: Dogs! This one, who lived at Nafford House, greeted us and brought a toy with him to play. Doesn't he look like he is happy?



In this garden many planters and containers of different styles have been used, which I loved. With all the rain that they get in the UK, I guess it is a little bit easier to keep them watered and looking good than here in Southern California.



I found these petunias particularly pretty. As far as I can recall, they were a bit more lavender in reality than on my photo, though.



Liked the contrast between the informal flower beds in the background and the more formal planter and its circular flower bed in the foreground.



I would be interested to know what kind of tree this is with the chartreuse colored leaves. Does the leave color stay like this or is it just the case in spring? Anyways, at the time the photo was taken, it picked up the yellow hues in the flower bed to its feet perfectly.



I realized that in this garden they made great use of interesting flowering shrubs and beautifully colored trees.



This clematis was particularly pretty and looked great growing on the rustic climbing structure.



I have seen these cerise red flowering plants often in England and believe they are a kind of gladiolus.



Does anyone know the name of these beauties?



This pale pink flowering shrub was just stunning. I think it is a kind of weigelia.



Here is a close up of the blooms.



Another example of the flower beds filled to the brim. 



This burgundy colored shrub/tree is such an eye catcher. It looks really great together with the pale pink flowering shrub in the background and the chartreuse tree further to the left and the other burgundy tree to the right.



Another neat planter.



The overhang protecting the front door. So beautifully done!



Not only were the flower beds packed densely with plants and flowers, but the containers as well.



The foxgloves looked like they were allowed to grow where they had planted themselves. This informal style gave such a romantic feeling to the garden. The delicate white garden furniture go very well with this atmosphere.



A rose that I could not identify. When I asked the friendly Mrs Wheatley about the names of a couple of her roses she replied, that some have been already planted by her mother and the names have long gone lost. How wonderful must it be to take over your parents established garden and continue on to further develop and care for it.



As you can see on this photo, the garden was quite large. In one of  my next posts I intend to show you the long border in the center of this image a bit closer and also different parts of the garden, that we haven't visited, yet.

Thanks for stopping by on my blog today! I wish everyone in the US a wonderful 4th of July weekend!

See you in the garden!

Christina



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19 comments:

  1. Gladiolus communis subsp. byzantinus

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  2. The chartreuse tree is a locust. There are two kinds, black and honey, most easily distinguished by the thorns which we cannot see in the picture.

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    1. Jane, thanks for your input regarding identifying the cerise flowering plants and the chartreuse colored tree!

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  3. Thanks for the tour ! I love that if you can incorporate one little thing from your visit for your home garden that those memories can always stay with you.

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  4. Hello Christina,
    the rose that you could not identify is the rambling rose named "Phyllis Bide".

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  5. Very nice! We need to get exploring England more often, and to think we live here :)

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  6. Another lovely garden tour and one of my favorite styles, 'wild & romantic'.

    Thanks for sharing ~ FlowerLady

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  7. The tree is a Robinia pseudoacacia 'Frisia' - Golden Robinia. I had one in my own garden which sadly I lost. There was a period about 20 years ago when everyone over here was planting them. They bring a splash of sunlight to dark corners of the garden. Rather than loose their colour it remains throughout the summer but once the Autumn arrives the colour even intensifies.
    So pleased that you had a lovely trip over here and enjoyed some beautiful gardens.

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  8. Se ve un jardín precioso. Besitos.

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  9. Dear Christina,
    thank you for sharing such great pictures! What a lovely garden, I absolutely love its style, very inspirational! I really envy you for visiting all these wonderful gardens.
    Looking forward to more beautiful garden pictures!
    Kindest regards,
    Lisa

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  10. Dear Christina, this garden is mouthwatering! Oh, i hope to go soon to England and see al these beautiful gardens with my own eyes. Thanks for sharing. groetjes,
    Hetty

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  11. English gardens always make me envious and this one's no exception. I loved the photo of the dog too!

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  12. Wonderful. Thanks for sharing this beautiful garden. I love the fluffy dog and his toy, too.

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  13. What a wonderful romantic garden. It is a perfect English garden and is on my list of ones I would like to visit. Thank you for the tour!

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  14. Christina, das ist ja ein süßer Hund - sie brauchen immer ihre Stofftiere. Der Garten ist sehr schön, die Bepflanzung finde ich etwas außergewöhnlich, für mich ein wenig zu bunt. Ich kenne den Garten noch nicht.

    Sigrun

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  15. quelle chance de visiter ces si beaux jardins
    merci pour le partage d'une si belle promenade romantique
    bon dimanche

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  16. Hi Christina,
    Welcome back! This garden is marvelous. "Wild romantic" is perhaps my favorite garden style. I loved all the flowering shrubs and trees - it is an easy way to get color over large spaces! I primarily use trees and shrubs in my own garden, but I have far fewer perennials than this garden. The combination of the perennials with the trees and shrubs is magnificent. I was interested to see Penelope rose, as that is one that also grows successfully for me.

    Happy 4th to you! Have a great day! Deb

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  17. Another beautiful English garden! I have seen already so many of them, but England is well nigh inexhaustible of gardens. Love it.

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  18. A nice and lovely private garden in England.
    house for sale near me

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