Rhododendrons and rocks at Exbury Gardens

* I was provided a pair of tickets to Exbury Gardens & Steam Railway and therefore are marking posts from my visit as 'Ad’ - as usual my views and opinions are very much my own.

We stopped off at Exbury Gardens on our way down to the New Forest, which for us in South London is about a two and a half hour journey, though the traffic app warns it could be anywhere up to four hours. We were lucky and had a really good, and uneventful trip down, which is just what you want really isn’t it?

It was our first time visiting Exbury, and we were keen to get out of the car to stretch our legs and to see for ourselves what was on offer.

Spoiler: I took lots of photos, way too many for a single post and so I’ll split these into more manageable chunks. And yes, I know that’s not much of a spoiler at all is it, it’s mostly the norm!

Exbury Gardens & Steam Railway, to give it its proper name, is as its name suggests in Exbury, Hampshire. It has 200 acres of informal woodlands and was created by Lionel de Rothschild in 1919 and still managed by the family today. It’s famous for its displays of rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias with large collections, which are not only plentiful but also full of colour.

I wasn’t disappointed.

There were pinks of every shade you could imagine - the one above caught my eye as it was so vibrant and solitary, looking almost ‘bird of paradise’ like, but it wasn’t the only one. There’s over 800 types of rhododendron (which comes from the Greek ‘rhodos’ meaning rose and ‘dendron’ meaning tree) which are spread around the globe.

Here at Exbury Lionel de Rothschild relied on nurserymen from around the world to send him interesting plants, one of which went on to become the most famous post-war species and parent or grandparent to a host of compact plants suitable for smaller gardens.

I’m never one to pass on a photo opportunity of some lichen, you know how much I liken the lichen - but this one’s a real beauty!

And just when you think it can’t get any better there’s bushes and bushes of azaleas too which are truly stunning, the colours even more vibrant than those of the camellias and the rhododendrons we’d already seen.

We’d spotted the Rock Garden from our trip on the train - perfectly named the Rhododendron Line - and as all rock gardens should, its entrance was marked with a rock.

Here the planting changed, but we weren’t totally without the rhododendrons. The two acre garden was created in the late 1920s but fell into disrepair as a result of the war becoming overgrown and neglected. It was restored and replanted with dwarf rhododendrons and conifers in the 1970s which reached maturity some thirty years later. As with every garden, there’s always work to be done and this garden is no different and is currently undergoing a programme of rejuvenation.

And with the different planting, as you’d expect the garden had a totally different feel. It was calmer, and more relaxing - though that may also have been down to the speed (or lack of) that we explored the space. There were paths leading up and down and around, which including using the large rocks to navigate through the space - nothing too strenuous, but so, so worth it.

Having explored the rock garden and marvelled at how such spaces are created we left to immerse ourself in the colour elsewhere in the garden. In future posts I’ll share more about our trip on the steam train, the trees throughout the garden and the sundial garden - but in the meantime I’ll leave you with the deepest crimson rhododendron, the most glorious coloured one I think I’ve ever seen, and a wall of azaleas which provides the perfect photo stop.

I’d heard good things about Exbury Gardens before our visit, and as I said at the start of this post, I wasn’t disappointed.

With thanks to Exbury Gardens & Steam Railway who provided a pair of tickets for entry. All views and opinions are very much my own.

Post Comment Love 12 - 14 May

Hello there, and welcome back to this week’s #PoCoLo - a friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any blog post published in the last week, please remember this, posts which are older will be removed from the linky. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked and share some of that love. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here this week we’re pleased you’ve joined us.

This week I’ve mostly been overwhelmed by all the photos I’ve taken recently! Not only those from our break in the New Forest, but also from a day at Grand Designs Live at Excel. I’ve plenty of posts to write but most of these haven’t even made it to draft stage, so after a week or so procrastinating - or as I prefer to think of it - as a week thinking about how to plan, I’m hoping to make progress soon. And if the rain continues as it has done, then I’ll really have no excuse!

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My garden in April

I can always tell when it’s been a busy month in our garden just by the number of photos I’ve taken, and have to choose from when I start to write these monthly posts. And this year our garden came to life in April with tulips, dandelions and more bringing a very welcome burst of colour.

What with a short break in the New Forest quickly followed by a day at Grand Designs Live I am wallowing in photos and potential posts and seemingly more and more behind in the schedule I’ve set myself. But with the traditional April showers continuing into May then I’m using the latest down-pouring well at least.

The weather has been mixed, as you can see we’ve had sunny days too.

And the garden has burst into colour. The tulips and the berberis providing a burst of orange right on the patio.

The acer woke up, looking quite spindly and delicate at the start of the month - but bringing another shade of glorious colour visible from the house.

There’s been plenty of yellow too, with the small forsythia bush reaching its peak. Unfortunately the same can’t be said of the dandelions, of which we have plenty - I’ve a feeling that their peak is a way off yet. Our new task is to pick the dandelion clocks before the wind disperses the seeds, it’s a never ending job.

The amount of weeds in the garden seems more than before, and I stand by blaming them on the drought. The weeds are so much hardier and resilient, so when the grass was almost dust they thrived.

Thankfully though we have a lot more than just weeds, and the buds on the cherry tree are another sign of something more positive, and much more welcome.

In fact all of the trees we had cut as the hot spell started last summer, are all looking healthy and spurting into life - and much more so, than at the start of the month when these photos were taken. It’s reassuring, and while we always knew they’d be back, it’s still good to see them actually start growing again.

On one walk up the garden I saw that the tulips had just been getting on with growing, and doing that pretty well. So they were repositioned so that we could enjoy their colour from the house and when (hopefully) sitting on the patio.

What with them and the acer - see how it’s grown from the photo above - has been a blast of colour.

The tulips have been stalwarts in the wind we’ve had this month, but still managing to look great even when they’ve clearly been a bit battered. The wind has also brought a smattering of pink confetti from the camellia, which has flowered quite well this year, and not too much later than our neighbours - for a change.

One of our big achievements this month has been to rediscover the edges of our lawn, and free them from the weeds - including the forget-me-nots which grow and grow in this section of the garden. I never thought we’d have so many trugs of weeds, but I’m sure we filled a whole wheelie bin with them. Seriously.

The small apple tree, which is in a pot by the side of the shed, has put on plenty of new growth. I thought it might have been a casualty of a wet winter, but I was wrong. The bluebells too are finding ways through the paving and are filling the beds throughout the garden. They’re welcome to do as they will, though once the flowers have gone there’s a lot of greenery which can be quite wet and encourage slugs and snails, so I’ll be keeping my eye on them.

I was pleased to see that the two peonies which I potted up last year have thrived in their pots. They’ve also obliged me by growing through the circular supports, and there’s the promise of buds too. It’ll be a month or so before they flower, but these are definitely ones to watch.

You see what I mean about forget-me-nots in our garden, these ones are slightly more sneaky and have got themselves into this pot along with some lemon balm, which also seems to grow freely here. As these are trying to confine themselves, they’ll have a longer stay of execution, but I can’t promise how long they’ll last.

As well as bluebells we also have some pink and white bells - though I’m sure that’s not really their name - but they are just as beautiful as the blue ones, and they’re all very welcome.

And as ever, the tulips are having the last word - though it seems that it’s all been too much for this one, which I found flopped on top of the hellebore leaves. I guess, any port in a storm, hey?