Since the beginning of the new year, I catch myself getting somewhat antsy thinking about our next vacation. Now that is a little bit early since we are most likely not be able to go anywhere before June but I can already dream and the joy of anticipation is a nice thing to have.
I would love if we would be able to visit England and its beautiful gardens again. To fuel my dreams and maybe yours as well I thought I would continue to write about Hidcote Manor Garden. We saw this garden in June last year and I did already one blog entry about it.
This time I will focus on a part of the garden called the Long Borders, which is a rather colorful exuberantly planted part of the garden containing many old French rose varieties.
But before we go there I would like to tour some of the exclusively "green parts" of the garden. There are areas which comprise precisely clipped trees and hedges, vast open spaces with long vistas, and magnificent mature trees to admire, which Hidcote is also famous for.
This is a partial view of the Stilt Garden, which is said to be inspired by Lawrance Johnston's, the creator of Hidcote, many trips to France. Maybe he enjoyed playing a game of Boules here. These rows of neatly pruned trees (are they hornbeams?) certainly make for an impressively long vista.
Notice the beautiful wrought iron gate at the end of the vista. It provides the perfect focal point for the tree alley. I realized that Johnston made extensive use of elaborate wrought iron gates in his garden which contribute a lot to its beauty.
The tree in the background, which I believe is a Cedar of Lebanon, was impressive, to say the least. Towering like a king over his empire it is located in an area simply called the Great Lawn. My husband is posing in the photo to give you an idea of its size. Hidden under the low branches of that tree to the left there is a gate, which is a little hard to see, through which we entered later into the Beech Allee.
But first a photo of the Great Lawn. This space is humongous. You can see parts of the Cedar of Lebanon to the left.
Looking in one direction of the Beech Allee...
...and in the other. It is hard to describe the emotions wandering around under these very tall and magnificent trees. I couldn't help but feeling in awe of nature and getting a sense of that the human ego isn't the most important thing in the world.
Passing by the kitchen garden we walked towards the famous Long Borders. Unfortunately, I photographed against the sun but still decided to include this shot in the post because this scene of majestic old yew pillars together with the wisterias grown as standards is so beautiful that I wanted you to see it as well.
Simply love the old gnarly wisteria trees.
View of the Long Borders.
The tall yew pillars give this border a wonderful structure year round no matter what is the season. As I said in the introduction to this post, Johnston planted many old and rare varieties of French roses in this part of the garden. As a rose lover I was particularly excited to see those, but got disappointed because even though we visited the garden in June, there were only very few in bloom.
It was fascinating and a great tribute to the skillfulness of the gardener, who designed this border that even though the roses weren't blooming much you didn't miss them. The border was planted so densely with other flowers and contained plants with great foliage and texture that they could hold their own. I wonder besides the yew pillars and the roses if it was still Lawrence Johnston's original design.
I was impressed by this silver leafed thistle-like plant. The combination with the alliums is so pretty.
The lupines did so well in this border. I wonder if white lupines would grow in my own garden in San Diego, but I am almost certain that they are very water thirsty plants.
Close-up of the lupines. Aren't they pretty?
And a close-up of the salmon colored oriental poppy. The dark stamens are fascinating.
By the way, Lawrence Johnston created the Long Borders between the 1930s and 1940s. It was the last area of the garden to be planted. Prior to that, it was an old orchard and a few of the original apple trees can be found to this day.
Even though the red lupines shown above were pretty these more subdued pink ones are more to my taste. I love them together with the blue delicate flowering plants in the background.
Looking back towards the Long Borders. Obviously, I wasn't the only one who couldn't stop taking photos. I had preferred to take the last shot of this incredibly beautiful area of the garden without people in it, but I was lucky that there weren't more in the picture since the garden was very well visited. I believe it gives you still an idea of the beauty of this border.
As always, I hope you enjoyed touring this famous English garden with me. I have taken many more photos of Hidcote and there will be further installments of this fabulous garden in the future on my blog. If you want to see part one, please click on the link below:
Hidcote Manor Garden I
Wishing you all a beautiful rest of the weekend!
See you in the garden!
Christina
I would love if we would be able to visit England and its beautiful gardens again. To fuel my dreams and maybe yours as well I thought I would continue to write about Hidcote Manor Garden. We saw this garden in June last year and I did already one blog entry about it.
This time I will focus on a part of the garden called the Long Borders, which is a rather colorful exuberantly planted part of the garden containing many old French rose varieties.
But before we go there I would like to tour some of the exclusively "green parts" of the garden. There are areas which comprise precisely clipped trees and hedges, vast open spaces with long vistas, and magnificent mature trees to admire, which Hidcote is also famous for.
This is a partial view of the Stilt Garden, which is said to be inspired by Lawrance Johnston's, the creator of Hidcote, many trips to France. Maybe he enjoyed playing a game of Boules here. These rows of neatly pruned trees (are they hornbeams?) certainly make for an impressively long vista.
Notice the beautiful wrought iron gate at the end of the vista. It provides the perfect focal point for the tree alley. I realized that Johnston made extensive use of elaborate wrought iron gates in his garden which contribute a lot to its beauty.
The tree in the background, which I believe is a Cedar of Lebanon, was impressive, to say the least. Towering like a king over his empire it is located in an area simply called the Great Lawn. My husband is posing in the photo to give you an idea of its size. Hidden under the low branches of that tree to the left there is a gate, which is a little hard to see, through which we entered later into the Beech Allee.
But first a photo of the Great Lawn. This space is humongous. You can see parts of the Cedar of Lebanon to the left.
Here we are back to the entrance of the Beech Allee. There is another lovely wrought iron gate at the end of the allee leading into to the open space of the surrounding countryside.
Looking in one direction of the Beech Allee...
Passing by the kitchen garden we walked towards the famous Long Borders. Unfortunately, I photographed against the sun but still decided to include this shot in the post because this scene of majestic old yew pillars together with the wisterias grown as standards is so beautiful that I wanted you to see it as well.
Simply love the old gnarly wisteria trees.
View of the Long Borders.
The tall yew pillars give this border a wonderful structure year round no matter what is the season. As I said in the introduction to this post, Johnston planted many old and rare varieties of French roses in this part of the garden. As a rose lover I was particularly excited to see those, but got disappointed because even though we visited the garden in June, there were only very few in bloom.
It was fascinating and a great tribute to the skillfulness of the gardener, who designed this border that even though the roses weren't blooming much you didn't miss them. The border was planted so densely with other flowers and contained plants with great foliage and texture that they could hold their own. I wonder besides the yew pillars and the roses if it was still Lawrence Johnston's original design.
Oriental poppies are another favorite of mine.
The lupines did so well in this border. I wonder if white lupines would grow in my own garden in San Diego, but I am almost certain that they are very water thirsty plants.
Close-up of the lupines. Aren't they pretty?
By the way, Lawrence Johnston created the Long Borders between the 1930s and 1940s. It was the last area of the garden to be planted. Prior to that, it was an old orchard and a few of the original apple trees can be found to this day.
Even though the red lupines shown above were pretty these more subdued pink ones are more to my taste. I love them together with the blue delicate flowering plants in the background.
As always, I hope you enjoyed touring this famous English garden with me. I have taken many more photos of Hidcote and there will be further installments of this fabulous garden in the future on my blog. If you want to see part one, please click on the link below:
Hidcote Manor Garden I
Wishing you all a beautiful rest of the weekend!
Christina
I am linking to
One More Time - Share It One More Time
Rustic and Refined - Dishing It & Digging It
Cedar Hill Farmhouse - The Scoop
Savvy Southern Style - Wow Us Wednesdays
Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson - Share Your Cup
21 Rosemary Lane - Share your Style
How Seet The Sound - "Anything Goes" - Pink Saturday
Coastal Charm - Show and Share
A Delightsome Life - Home and Garden Thursday
One More Time - Share It One More Time
Rustic and Refined - Dishing It & Digging It
Cedar Hill Farmhouse - The Scoop
Savvy Southern Style - Wow Us Wednesdays
Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson - Share Your Cup
21 Rosemary Lane - Share your Style
How Seet The Sound - "Anything Goes" - Pink Saturday
Coastal Charm - Show and Share
A Delightsome Life - Home and Garden Thursday
