At last! A drop of rain! After another week of pretty scorcio temperatures, we finally had a bit of rain on Friday night/Saturday morning. Some moderately hard rain but mainly just a dismal drizzle. We’ll need to get significantly more if we are to avoid the hosepipe bans which have already been instituted in other parts of the country. It does seem somewhat peculiar to be wishing for rain!
It’s been another good week – what are the chances of that? We had a terrific Garden Club outing on Thursday and a trip to the airport on Friday to deliver a couple of excited tourists.
Thursday’s outing was to the Ashwood Nursery and, more specifically, to John’s Garden which I previewed last week.
‘John’s Garden’ at Ashwood Nurseries is a wonderful eight-acre private garden created by nursery owner and Chelsea Gold medallist John Massey VMH. Informal borders, island beds, woodland dells and a wildlife garden are set against the beautiful backdrop of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal.
Regarded as one of the finest private gardens in the UK, there are magnificent collections of trees, shrubs, herbaceous perennials and conifers adding to the interest all year round with an abundance of rare plants as well as familiar favourites.
Its many fine features include a stunning pool and rock garden planted with choice alpines and miniature bulbs, an Anemone pavonina meadow, a rare tufa garden and a dramatic fern stumpery. The ruin garden and Christopher Lloyd border put the spotlight on some inspirational seasonal planting.
The least bad of Penny’s and my photos.
A great day out!
Friday morning we were up and about bright and early so that we could provide a taxi service to the airport for Nick and Annabelle who were flying off to the States for a couple of weeks.
They’re visiting family in New England and then travelling out to LA to visit with Ben, Brex-Anna and Max and finally heading up to Acme, Washington for my niece/Nick’s cousin Emily’s wedding. She and her partner Miles run Samara Farm where they have a number of magnificent treehouses and host events including weddings. Sorry we can’t make it but we wish them every happiness!
And, I think that’s it about it for this week!
Meanwhile, keep breathing, keep happy, keep smiling, keep exercising, be good, be careful, and keep safe. And be gentle to wasps and bees – we need all the pollinators we can get.
Lots of love to you all,
Greg
The photos of the garden are so beautiful. Those are cute Dachshunds — do they live there? .
Yes, they live there and they’re very good – they don’t move no matter how many people crowd around. That might be because they’re statues.