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

The Garden at Ringmer Park, England - III

This is the final post about my visit of The Garden at Ringmer Park. There was more to discover in this wonderful garden than I have shown so far (click here to see post part I and here to come to post part II). The next highlight was a long double herbaceous border of mainly blue, lilac and purple flowering plants.

The photo above gives you a good idea about the color scheme used in this border. Unfortunately many things were just starting to flower, but you can imagine how beautiful it must be when the whole beds are in full bloom.


 

I don't know how long this border is, but it is probably the longest one that I have ever seen in a private garden. The very large trees surrounding the border are adding another wonderful tough and complete the picture. How great it is to be able to have a garden with many mature old trees!

I thought a wizard came up with the plant combinations in this part of the garden.

The pale blue irises were just lovely,...

...and so were the alliums, which are used extensively here.

And these two plants go so well together.

But there were also incorporated many other interesting plants like this extraordinarily beautiful aquilegia,...




...so monotony wouldn't become an issue.

I was so smitten with these irises.




This was quite a colorful beauty, too. Another plant that unfortunately I don't know the name of. It seemed to be almost common in England.

The stone columns at the end of this long border were very magnificent, in their classic elegance conquered by a wisteria, which just started to bloom. This plant was bursting with energy, you could almost feel it grow.

If I only had a few feet of this border in my own garden, I would be a happy person. 

By the way, I read in the info sheet written by the owner that was handed out to every visitor entering the property that in summer they work 120 hours weekly in this garden to keep it looking pristine. That gives you an idea how demanding and labor intensive the maintenance of a garden like this is. How great that people are willing to put that much time, effort and resources into their gardens, that something as beautiful as Ringmer Park can exist.

 

I am not a hundred percent sure anymore, but I believe that this photo shows the outer side of the long double border featured in the photos above. This garden was just so masterfully done in each an every way.

There is one last small corner of this extensive garden that I would like to show you. I think it illustrates perfectly that you can learn something from visiting a huge garden, take it home and make use of it in your most likely much smaller patch of land (at least mine is). What a refreshing bang of color you were confronted with here.

If you are not a fan of tulips so far, these ones may make you change your mind.

Although a little bit tattered already this one just stopped me in my tracks with its incredible play of colors. 

I was tired by now after touring and photographic the garden for approximately two and half hours, but this small bed got me all excited again,...

...and just let me hit the shutter button of the camera.

I guess this is the most extraordinary tulip that I have ever seen and I am so glad that we didn't skip this part of the estate. Still after taking in all the gardens my husband and I were more than ready for some refreshments. The tea and cake at this place was as delightful as the gardens themselves.

See you in the garden!

Christina