Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Travel / Places to Visit => Topic started by: ranunculus on May 04, 2009, 09:07:53 PM
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A cool, drizzly and overcast Bank Holiday Monday and the Bookers decide to spend a couple of hours at Fletcher Moss Gardens in Didsbury, Manchester. We had visited twice before, twenty plus years ago, but had forgotten what these lovely gardens were like. There is an alpine house (unfortunately locked due to vandalism and theft of plants) that is currently being restored to former glories by a band of volunteers; a large pond and a well-established rock garden that had some super plants and evidence (in the form of plastic bottles, crisp packets and the like) of a few recent picnics and/or evening gatherings. Such a shame in such a splendid setting. The poor maintenance staff must despair because the rest of the garden is kept in immaculate condition and the rock garden must tempt local office workers at lunchtime, some of whom leave evidence of their culinary delights!
The weather worsened after the first hour, but I was amazed that my total of sixty five digital exposures resulted in at least fifty images worthy of posting on these pages (well, I hope so anyway) ... twenty to start the ball rolling this evening.
All in all a smashing place to visit ... but take our advice and choose a dry, sunny day. :D
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Batch Two from Fletcher Moss ...
Click images to enlarge ...
More to follow tomorrow ...
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A few more from Fletcher Moss Gardens in Didsbury, Manchester.
More later ...
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Very nice indeed Cliff, always nice to see a hidden treasure. Some of the non-funded gardens must really struggle to keep going these days.
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Thanks David.
Fletcher Moss Park - Wilmslow Road, Manchester, Greater manchester M20 2RZ
This 8.50 hectare (21 acres) park was acquired as a gift from Alderman Fletcher Moss in 1914. Renowned for their botanical beauty, the gardens contain many antiquated and unusual plants and flowers. The park has retained many of its original features such as the rock and heather gardens, and the orchid houses situated in the Parsonage Gardens adjacent to Fletcher Moss. Together they form a picturesque, tranquil haven for visitors.
The last of my images ...
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Final ten from Fletcher Moss ...
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Thank you Cliff ! Some smashing pictures once more !
I'm sure the staff of the garden would be proud of both their and your wordk ! ;)
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This 8.50 hectare (21 acres) park was acquired as a gift from Alderman Fletcher Moss in 1914.
I was just starting to wonder why you had no pictures of bryophyta ;D ;D ;D. I once visited the Moss Temple garden in Kyoto. They had mosses.
This must be a super place to visit ,judging from so many excellent pictures. Good work!
Göte
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Hi Cliff, a rare treasure indeed with so many superb plants, why dont some people waken up to where they are and leave only footprints, cheers Ian the Christie kind.
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Cliff - Marvellous photos. Can you tell me which rhododendron that is in FM25, the brilliant clear red? And what camera you use to capture red so perfectly? I cannot get good reds with the Coolpix 8700.
johnw - the night of the big rare plant sale here. Two trucks loaded to go.
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johnw - the night of the big rare plant sale here. Two trucks loaded to go.
Have fun at the sale.... try not to go with two trucks and come home with four!! ::)
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Lovely place to visit Cliff. You even managed to make a more or less ugly tulip (nr.12) looking nice with your
photographic art.
And I like it very much that you make pictures too of a very normal path with Populus. 8)
Something we see very often here in our landscape, but rarely use a camera then.
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Thanks everyone for the very kind comments.
John, I'm afraid I am even less knowledgeable about rhododendrons than I am about debilitating skin diseases of the fresh water shrimps of Madagascar or the now lost, but once unique, silhouette collection of one-legged French and Russian ballet dancers amassed by Dame Louisa d' Angello of Minsk.
The plant was not labelled (Maggi will SURELY intervene with a suggestion or two - please) and the image was taken in very deep shade (under a canopy of other rhodo's) with my 'trusty' Nikon D80. It was truly a sumptuous red and a sizable plant. Hope the big rare plant sale went well (is there a great demand for 'big' rare plants in Canada - we make do with average ones)? :D :D :D
Greetings from a damp and pretty dismal East Lancashire.
Presenting a digital lecture to Whitworth Historical (NOT hysterical) Society in Whitworth Museum this evening, it will be the first time that I won't be the oldest thing at a venue!!!
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Can you tell me which rhododendron that is in FM25, the brilliant clear red?
The plant was not labelled (Maggi will SURELY intervene with a suggestion or two - please)
yes, here I am.... I can suggest 'Markeetas Prize' as a likely candidate.... very popular GOOD big red..... right flowering time ....seems possible...... nice upturned stamens, good colour, no calyx :-\
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Markeeta's Prize and Markeeta's Flame I can never keep them straight and have always bought the wrong one - the pink one.
Thanks Maggi.
Cliff - I guess one can rule out a host of dry, itchy, flaking disorders for those Madagascar shrimp?
johnw
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Cliff good to hear its still going.I went there 40 years ago to look at the orchids.My friend who worked for the parks department told me about them.They had a wonderful collection and it was the first time I had ever seen a tropical one. They had dozens in flower. It was a wonderful experience.
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Hope the big rare plant sale went well (is there a great demand for 'big' rare plants in Canada - we make do with average ones)? :D :D :D
Cliff
There wasn't a megaherb to be found at the sale. That "big rare" was a slip of the tongue, forgivable as I had just finished reading Derek Fell's book on Campbell Island - Land of The Blue Sunflower. What incredible plants there and the weather sounds like ours.
johnw
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A wonderful island John ... I have tried a few of the megaherbs here and had tentative success with several by treating them like Ranunculus glacialis and R. lyallii. I was trying them in enormous pots, but even these couldn't contain the roots and they succumbed eventually. I would love to try them again, this time in a 'controlled' bog area (if I was fortunate enough to have the space), but seeds are exceptionally hard to come by. Derek is a very interesting chap ... would love to hear a lecture by him.
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Cliff - Amazing you had them get to such a size, I've never heard of anyone getting them to that stage in the northern hemisphere. Did they grow like fiends and are any amenable to cultivation outdoors in the UK? Surely some of the Hebridean Islands? I suppose the Azores would be too hot.
johnw - off to our society's big public sale. The hit at the other sale was Vaccinium praestans - not exactly mega at 2 inches but can be horizontally when it gets going.
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Hi John,
I can remember that Anisitome latifolia and Stilbocarpa polaris (apologies for spellings from an aged memory) both outgrew very large pots and had enormous roots when I attempted to repot them, probably after three growing seasons if I remember correctly (this was a number of years ago), and I can remember writing to Derek at the time to tell him about my temporary success (he had contributed a wonderful article to the RHS Journal at that time). I also grew some magnificent Myosotis capitata at that time and I think I was one of the first people to exhibit this beautiful blue-purple myosotis at national shows. Why, oh why, can't I grow such things nowadays? They adore the perpetually damp, deep sphagnum conditions that are extremely hard to provide, especially in a pot. Never saw a flower on the big plants but the myosotis flowered profusely. Perhaps Peter Korn would be able to provide ideal conditions in Sweden if he could protect them from hard frosts? Lovely to be able to discuss these magnificent herbs once again, John.
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Derek at the time to tell him about my temporary success (he had contributed a wonderful article to the RHS Journal at that time)
Cliff - It's all coming back. It was that very RHS article that introduced me to those incredible plants. It was a very fine article with tantalizing photos.
Thanks for the details, you did well. An elderly friend used to say one should always take photos of one's triumphs and horticultural prowess. He had a huge photo and label collection!
johnw