Discovering stunning plants at Holker Hall

I discovered these plants for the first time last June when we were in the Lake District, and then again more recently when I was finally sorting through and editing my photos. With no firm plans on what to post here, and also wanting to finally post the outcomes of a delayed pre-pandemic post, I decided to share them today.

Holker Hall is an independent garden in Cark, Grange-over-Sands which was close to the cottage where we stayed in Cartmel, and just around the corner from Sizergh which we also visited.

Part of the beauty about these plants, is that for most I don’t know what they are - that doesn’t make them any less stunning, but if you can identify any which I can’t then please leave a comment and let me know.

The lightness and airiness of the white flowers above is their appeal, but I’m not sure what they are - they look like they could be related to a chrysanthemum but I’m happy to be told otherwise.

It’s not often that you see a blue flower, even bluebells can be more lilac, and I’m not sure I’ve seen plants like the ones above and below before. I’m leaning towards them being some kind of wort or maybe a euphorbia, but I really don’t mind, as I think these are absolutely the most stunning. And if it turns out these are suited to woodland type environments then they’ll go to the top of my wish list.

Alliums and irises are more well known so I feel on safer ground with the next few photos. Each appeals for their vibrancy and delicacy, in equal measures.

And one final shot which I couldn’t resist including…

Isn’t it great - the expression, and how good does that stretch look?

The Japanese Garden at Barnsdale

If you asked me, I’d say I probably wasn’t a Japanese Garden fan, but there’s something about this one. The planting is minimal, and it’s all very calming.

Maybe the attraction was that it was so different to many of the other gardens at Barnsdale. Maybe it was the raked gravel that really gives the impression of calming water.

The bamboo is large, and also creates fencing.

And the stones that weave their way through the gravel tempt you into believing there’s water there too.

It’s definitely a place for mindfulness, and while on our visit there was little colour - other than green - the information on display showed the most shocking pink and beautiful plumes of Astibe, would be a great addition.

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See the other Barnsdale gardens I’ve shared here.

A summer cottage garden

One of my unexpected highlights from our recent break in Lincolnshire was our visit to Barnsdale Gardens. Before we arrived in our holiday cottage I’d not heard about these gardens, but they were in the recommended places to visit, so I took a look. And as soon as I did, they went straight onto our ‘to visit’ list.

Barnsdale is the Gardeners’ World home of former presenter Geoff Hamilton, and it’s where the programme was filmed. It’s a garden full of gardens, described as a gardener’s theme park - there’s thirty eight individual gardens in the garden. I thought I’d diligently photographed every single garden, but somehow I don’t have all the photos.

Never mind.

I’m starting by sharing garden number twenty eight - a summer cottage garden.

This garden was built as the main show garden for the very first Gardeners’ World Live Exhibition at the NEC in 1993 and was designed by Dan Pearson. Isn’t it delighful?

Originally the maze was a herb maze - filled with silver variegated thyme, lavender, rosemary and sage - imagine the smell! The Barnsdale gardens are heavy soil and the herbs didn’t thrive, so was replaced with a box hedge.

The archways are covered in roses, and like many cottage gardens there’s delphiniums, more roses, campanula, geraniums, foxgloves and clematis.

It’s exactly the type of garden that you could easily see in a domestic garden, and wouldn’t that be something to aim at?

I loved the strategically well-placed deckchair, which on a warmer day would I’m sure be in much demand.