Q2 Omnibus

Orangery at Knole

I have been on the road a fair bit this Spring. My parents came to visit end of May and we met up in East Sussex to visit Great Dixter, Charleston Farmhouse and Knole and we even managed to squeeze in another trip to Furzey Gardens which was in a very interesting transitional stage from the full-on riot of the azalea and rhododendron season to a more mellow summer colour. 

During the trip to East Sussex I read Helen Attlee's The Land Where Lemons Grow: The Story of Italy and its Citrus Fruit, which had me slightly obsessed with owning a lemon tree, and of course the Orangery at Knole, filled with the strong scent of its flowering citrus plants, became even more fascinating.

Charleston Farmhouse, once owned by Vanessa Bell and a centre of the Bloomsbury Group going-ons has been on my list for a long time and was absolutely crammed with the most wonderful stuff but we were not allowed to take photos of the interiors ...

Much love,

Qaroline

Cherry blossom at Oare House

Bluebells at Oare House

Orange tip butterfly in my garden

The Sunken Garten at Great Dixter

Ladybird poppies at Great Dixter

At Great Dixter

At Great Dixter

'The House Opposite' in Rye, East Sussex

Ypres Tower in Rye

Iris in Charleston

Water feature at Charleston

Citrus plants in the Orangery at Knole

Wall in the Orangery at Knole

Knole

Furzey Gardens, third trip

Furzey

Primulas and iris at Furzey

Furzey

Acer at Furzey

Red vista at Furzey

Roadtrip: Azalea Season

Furzey Gardens, New Forest

I had promised myself another trip to Furzey Gardens in the New Forest ever since the unexpected autumn colour spectacle that I found there in November and even though I could feel the beginnings of a cold catching hold I took the chance of Easter Monday bank holiday to pay a second visit.

I arrived quite early and had the gardens to myself for a while, apart from a ginger cat called Lily who accompanied me for the first twenty minutes. This time I had expected a great display but was again overwhelmed by the boldness of colour combinations, especially in the azeleas that are now coming into their own, the fresh foliage of the acers and the scented summer azeleas. If I had to draw up a High Fidelity style top five favourite gardens, Furzey Gardens would currently hold number one.

Much love,
Qaroline

Summer azaleas have a very distinctive fragrance

Lily the cat

Camellia, almost open

Some great structures.

This acer and the azalea in the background just work so well together.

Not quite sure what this climber is ... but the buds remind me of teeth on a necklace

Roadtrip: Cricklade Fritillaries

Purple and white snake's head fritillaries

It was quite chilly today but we had planned to see the famous snake'shead fritillaries (Fritillaria meleagris) at  North Meadow nature reserve in Cricklade for some time. This old hay meadow is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and supports Britain's largest population of the rare fritillaries and it took us at least one hour to walk around the meadow. The fritillaries moved with the breeze like a field of little bells and a sparkly purple haze seems to hover over the grass and it is a shame that these impressions don't translate to photos. Afterwards we went for lunch to the Fritillary Tea Room, organised by the Cricklade Bloomers where a wide range of plants was on sale, so I bought a few for the shady part of my garden, a variegated solomon's seal and a geranium, as these seem to do quite well in my garden.

If you're in the area, North Meadow is really worth the drive and the second and third week of April is the best time to see the fritillaries!

Much love,
Qaroline

Purple haze: North Meadow Nature Reserve

The German name for these flowers is 'Schachbrettblume' (chessboard flower) and here you can see why.