Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Travel / Places to Visit => Topic started by: David Nicholson on February 14, 2008, 07:57:20 PM
-
It was a beautiful day yesterday and it was also Wednesday, and what do the Nicholson's do on a Wednesday? It's day out day. This time we visited Pine Lodge Gardens on the outskirts of St. Austell in Cornwall, about 1 hours drive from home. The Garden is about 20 minutes drive from The Eden Project.
We had not been to this garden before but we shall certainly go again. It covers about 32 acres is, privately owned, and is open every day apart from three days over the Christmas period. It has an excellent tea shop with plenty of CAKES. See www.pine-lodge.co.uk
The garden has a pinetum, wooded areas, general planting areas, a lake, and my favourite, a winter garden. The winter garden was started in 2005 and includes winter flowering shrubs under planted with huge drifts of Crocuses and Iris reticulata forms. It also has a nursery with a good selection of home grown plants. I was able to buy Maureen a Valentine's Day Gift (I remembered did you?) of a lovely Helleborus x ericsmithii.
A few pictures.
The first six some general views the last two of which show part of the Winter Garden with, in the last one, a flower smelling the flowers! The seventh is iris unguicularis-why can't I get mine to flower like that? The eighth Helleborus Dave's Star-I had to take that! Then one for the Snowies followed by Cyclamen cyprium.
-
A few more from Pine Lodge Gardens. Camellias were in full flower all through the Gardens and the first four shots show the variety in colour and flower form; followed by three Conifer shots because I like the shapes they make, and finally a couple of shots of Black Swans on the lake.
-
The Davidsons visit very nice places each Wednesday. Great photographs, David, obviously a nice place to visit.
Paddy
-
David the AGS Ulster Group visited there a few years ago and many other gardens in Cornwall
-
David it is interesting to see it in the winter, last time we were there was in August 2006 and it was simply wonderful, do go again.
-
Then one for the Snowies followed by Cyclamen cyprium.
Nice pictures David.
Iris unguicularis here started last July (due to the warm dry spring followed by cool wet summer?) but finished in December.
That cyclamen is coum.
-
Good pictures David! Curious where you take us next Wednesday?
-
Pine Lodge is a nice garden which we always visit when in Cornwall. Thanks David for showing those pics. I remember when visiting asking the lady owner of the garden about Daphne bholua, which is a rare and difficult plant in the Netherlands, and how it performed as I knew she had several but I had not been able to find it, going round the garden. She took me to it to show and the reason I had missed it was that i had been looking down for it. As it was an enormous plant of several meters high I had missed it because i should have been looking up. In their nursery i bought a seedling from that plant which is now over 2 meters high here and flowering: anice reminder of their beautiful garden!
-
Andre,I'm pleased the pictures brought back memories. If it is any consolation I didn't see Daphne bholua either!
Luit, next Wednesday may have to be shopping it seems shoes are needed. We have been married for 37 years and by far the greater proportion of those years have been spent in shoe shops! ;D
Ashley, my Iris unguicularis hasn't flowered at all :( Thanks for correcting the Cyclamen coum I should have known, but once again I believed what it said on the label!
Brian, we were so impressed with the garden that we bought a 'Friends of' ticket and we can now go as many times as we like.
-
David,
Well when I say my unguicularis flowered July-December, much of the time it was pretty sporadic (enough to keep the slugs from developing habits) ;D
-
Luit, next Wednesday may have to be shopping it seems shoes are needed. We have been married for 37 years and by far the greater proportion of those years have been spent in shoe shops!
So David, if you both needed so many shoes during these years, you both must be very fit people!
Or did you collect them before you collected plants? 8) 8) ;D
-
sorry wrong thread -over excited!
-
Luit, next Wednesday may have to be shopping it seems shoes are needed. We have been married for 37 years and by far the greater proportion of those years have been spent in shoe shops!
So David, if you both needed so many shoes during these years, you both must be very fit people!
Or did you collect them before you collected plants? 8) 8) ;D
Luit, we didn't BOTH need shoes, only one us, and the 'one' wasn't me!! ::)
-
Luit, we didn't BOTH need shoes, only one us, and the 'one' wasn't me!! ::)
Well David, she'll be the fittest of you two? :-[ :-[
But okay, I understand your problem, maybe not with shoes but..... after 42 years. ::) ::) ::)
-
Luit, we didn't BOTH need shoes, only one us, and the 'one' wasn't me!! ::)
Well David, she'll be the fittest of you two? :-[ :-[
But okay, I understand your problem, maybe not with shoes but..... after 42 years. ::) ::) ::)
At 42 years Luit, do you get a medal as a long service award ;D
-
At 42 years Luit, do you get a medal as a long service award
David, figurants do seldom get medals. :( :(
-
A cold but sunny day today with clear blue skies. Much too nice to stay in and watch the football on the box and we decided to pay our first visit of the year to Killerton House. Killerton is a National Trust property, lying between Exeter and Cullompton, and was formerly the home of one of Devon's old families, the Acklands (I think the Ackland family had Sir Francis Drake amongst their forebears but I can't find my reference book to check this out, so I could be wrong!). The House still stands and at present houses a collection of costumes from various ages.
In around 1771 Sir Thomas Ackland appointed a young Scottish (these Scots get everywhere!) gardener called John Veitch to lay out his grounds for him. He made a very creditable job of it and the grounds have not changed a great deal from those times and trees said to have been part of the original planting are still to be seen. John Veitch went on to greater things and founded a nurseries in Exeter and Chelsea in London, and funded, and most likely profited greatly, from early plant hunting expeditions all over the world. His successors played a part in setting up the Royal Horticultural Society and the Chelsea Flower Show. It was in Veitches nursery in 1856 that the worlds first hybrid orchid was developed in 1856.
The grounds are set on a hillside but the peacefulness of them is somewhat spoiled today by the incessant hum of traffic on the M5 motorway about a mile away. They are well wooded but well laid out with modern, but not intrusive pathways, allowing access by golf style buggies for the elderly and disabled.
Here are a few pictures.
-
Final batch from Killerton House.
Later edit: sorry the first picture is a bit on the big side when 'clicked' I forgot to re-size it.
-
Oh, my word, how lovely! Hard to believe those camellias, rhodos and that magnificent magnolia out already down there. But, what's the best, sit up and take REAL notice picture, for me.... THOSE CYCLAMEN! WOW!! WOW!! Just the most sumptuous display. I could do serious mischief to have that on my property! FAB! 8) 8) 8)
-
Beautiful aren't they? They were full of Bumble Bees doing their stuff and from the edge of the ring of flowering plants for a further 8/10 meters there were loads of seedlings. In a few years time it will really look great.
-
Magnificent cyclamen carpet David.
-
... and mentioning bees, the first queen of 2008 was in my garden yesterday
-
In a few years time it will really look great.
David, it looks GREAT already for me! It's really WOW, WOW.!
-
Stunning pictures David - what an amazing garden !
Thanks a million for sharing it ! :D
-
What a treat David, Killerton has evaded us in the past, I can see that next time it is a visit in the Spring. I just love those cyclamen drifts ... and of course the snowdrops ;D
-
Great pictures David, those cyclamen are amazing.
Sue
-
Here are some pics made today at the Botanical Garden of Wuppertal
Inside the greenhouse
Iris lazica, Arum creticum, Camellia japonica, Canarina canariensis, Cyclamen persicum
and in the garden
Cyclamen coum, Helleborus orientalis, Galanthus spec. ?, Crocus + Elisentower
Gerd
-
The next ones
The crocus lawn, the terrace, the Elisentower and views from the tower
This tower was a windmill first and 1838 it became a look-out tower within the garden,
a school garden at that time.
Gerd
-
This is the rest
the bay of the villa inside the garden and two visitors in the sunshine.
Gerd
-
It looks to be a lovely garden Gerd and the two of you looked very comfortable.
-
David,
I am neither the larger gentleman nor the smaller one. I don't know them - only asked the larger one if he agree for making a pic of both.
Gerd
-
Sorry Gerd, I meant the larger gentleman. I saw the beard and I saw the glasses, I added 2 and 2 and the answer was 5! ;D
-
[I'll tack this on here rather than starting a new thread.]
Can anyone recommend gardens etc. to visit in/near Amsterdam over Easter?
-
[I'll tack this on here rather than starting a new thread.]
Can anyone recommend gardens etc. to visit in/near Amsterdam over Easter?
I'm sure Luit will have some ideas for you Ashley, but one to start you off here
http://www.keukenhof.nl/nm/english.html
-
Thanks David - very tempting. I'll have to negotiate though ... ;D
-
Ashley,
You will find a real and quite big, interesting rock garden at the "Uithof", the botanic gardens of the Utrecht university. ;)
(more negotiating to do.... ;D)
-
I'm sure Luit will have some ideas for you Ashley, but one to start you off here
http://www.keukenhof.nl/nm/english.html
It depends much in which area you are, but Keukenhof is just opened then and will be interesting to see but I think a month later would be much better.
De Uithof, Utrecht is a must for rockgardeners.
What would you like to see and how much time do you have?
-
What would you like to see and how much time do you have?
Thanks Luc and Luit for your suggestions. Unfortunately we have only three days so realistically I can't expect more than a few hours for green things! My main interest would be bulbs, and as close to Amsterdam as possible. Hortus Botanica?
-
What would you like to see and how much time do you have?
Thanks Luc and Luit for your suggestions. Unfortunately we have only three days so realistically I can't expect more than a few hours for green things! My main interest would be bulbs, and as close to Amsterdam as possible. Hortus Botanica?
Ashley, that is rather short. Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam has not many bulbs, I think.
The other H. Bot. of the Free University is closed in weekends.
You could consider to visit the Connoisseur Collection with me.
It's about half an hour driving from Amsterdam and on Sunday afternoon I could spare some time.
You even could consider dropping your companied people at the beach of Noordwijk nereby.. ;D ;D 8)
Send me a PM if you might consider this as a possibility.
-
David and Gerd,
Thanks to both of you for the lovely pics. I'm blown away as always by those mass planted lawns. Would love to view something like that in person as the scale is just amazing. You guys are seeeing Camellias in flower up there as my first sasanqua camellia is opening it's first flowers for this autumn down here. A bit early, but nice none-the-less.
Great pics, and thanks again for sharing your visits with us. :D