One of the small gardens within the Walled Gardens of Cannington is the Blue Garden and that's a challenging choice, as 'true blue' is a relatively rare colour among flowers. You might immediately think of cornflowers, irises and periwinkles, and maybe even the more purple blues of lavenders and pansies. And I'm sure there's more, but they don't roll of the tongue easily, do they?
WHAT OTHER COLOUR BENCH WOULD YOU EXPECT?
The cobalt blue benches were striking on the wet and grey day we visited. With more blue flowers in the garden I'm sure it would be a fantastic space.
You forget that rosemary has small blue flowers, but it does, and they were starting to make themselves known. I bet the garden is also one of most fragrant spots what with the rosemary and lavender.
BLUE FLOWERS STARTING TO SHOW ON THE ROSEMARY
The water feature, which somehow I've cut the top off in my photo, was designed by a student and creates a modern interpretation of a conifer tree. It's been modified though as it seems that the design also soaked visitors. As you'd expect the stone wall that it sits around it matches the theme of the garden - blue lias stone - and was quarried in Somerset.
THE BLUE GARDEN WATER FEATURE
THE SILVER BLUE LEAVES OF LAVENDER
There's a lot of rosemary in the central part of the garden, and it was a good reminder of how it can be used sculpturally, adding shape and height. It also gives me hope for my future rosemary hedges over on the plot.
ROSEMARY USED IN SWATHES OF BEDS
Given that our visit was the middle of March we did well to see the blue flowers we did, especially given the cold weather. The irises were starting to make themselves known and yet again reminded me that I need to add some to my garden.
DWARF IRISES ADDING A PURPLE BLUE TO THE GARDEN
The board in the garden says it's been designed for year round interest, and it'd be great to see it throughout the year, wouldn't it?
