Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Travel / Places to Visit => Topic started by: Diane Clement on April 03, 2007, 08:40:33 PM
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Last Saturday the two shows (Exeter/Hexham) were both a very long journey for me, so I ducked out and instead took a trip to Ashwood Nursery where the owner John Massey had his private garden open for visitors. It's a marvellous garden, in a lovely setting by the side of the Stafford-Worcester canal. The garden itself is a bit of a frost pocket and most winters has recorded temperatures several degrees lower than my garden, approx 8 miles away. John has, over the years, landscaped the garden with incredible sensitivity and artistry. Every year there is something new to see and lots of different little sections with planted treasures.
Here's just a flavour of some of the garden. First, the lake area with an excellent selection of planted conifers.
Lake
ditto
conifers
Abies lasiocarpa compacta
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And round the lake
Prunus Ko-jo no mai
Anemone pavonina
ditto
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What a lovely garden, thanks for sharing Diane. I don't suppose John Massey has any problems getting plants ;D
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Some bulbs now,
Tulipa humilis Eastern Star
Trillium rivale (or is it nivale?)
Muscari macrocarpon
Narcissus Ice Wings (a beautiful triandrus hyb)
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Ipheion seems to be flavour of the week (onion flavour ;D)
Ipheion Alberto Castello (I've probably spelled it wrong, as I always call it Abbott and Costello)
Ipheion Charlotte Bishop
Ipheion mix
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A favourite area of mine is by the canal, where John has developed a woodland area with stumps. It is lovely earlier in the year, when it is full of Primula vulgaris. But now, new treasures starting to show, Frit meleagris and Erythroniums.
Woodland glade
Primula dark blue hyb
Helleborus argutifolius (I think)
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And some more that caught my eye round the garden
Anemone x lipiensis
Primula blue hyb
Corydalis Beth Evans
Cyclamen pseudibericum
Cyclamen repandum
Erythronium Pagoda
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Under a winter dormant willow tree by the canal was an area of rough ground that caught my eye. A vivid patch of pink - Toothwort - a plant parasitic on willow, among others
Lathraea clandestina
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And just a final round up in the nursery itself. Can't go without showing a couple of hepaticas. And lastly, an Auricula theatre and floaters
Hepatica acutiloba
Hepatica americana
Auricula theatre
auriculas in a bucket
That's it!
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had the chance to look at the garden at snowdrop time but although John said to ask for him when we arrived the staff said he wasnt there. I guess that is the answer all the time. We had his private number but didnt use it. Next time I'll wrestle Mrs G's phone out of her hand! :D
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What a treat, Diane, thank you. You only live eight miles away? Got a spare room, have you? ;)
Such a well planned and beautifuully executed garden, a real joy.
The Trillium is rivale and Alberto is Castillo !
That patch of Cyclamen repandum is superb!
Can't believe how advanced some things are... Fritillaria meleagris, for example.
Just love the Lathraea clandestina... I am intrigued by these plants, Orobanches,Pedicularis and their like.
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Sorry to rain on the party but...
Last year Mary and I flew over to visit the famous, renowned and much-hyped garden and garden centre at Ashwood. As Diane has shown in her photographs, the garden is quite nice if quite immature in most of its planting; plants well separated for most effective display, though not for best garden effect. We went in search of the perfect hellebores, those so vaunted and praised hellebores for which Ashwood is famous. Well, lots of hellebores, lots of seedlings, but not many of the perfect hellebores I had been led to believe would be available there. A disappointment!
Advertising excellent, delivery very poor.
Now, in fairness, I have met others who were happy with their visit but I certainly was not.
Paddy
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Paddy this year was my third time there and have enjoyed it as much as the first. You must have been at the tail end of the sales? Give the nursery another go.
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No Mark,
We were there at a good time just disappointed with what was on offer. We felt it was a case of all hype and no substance.
Paddy
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Did you go to the Hellebore poly tunnels? Did you see the Hepaticas that are available?
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A wonderful selection of pics and plants Diane, many thanks. The Lathraea has always intrigued me too, after seeing it at Sissinghurst many years ago. It should be possible from seed on the right host plant?
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Interesting how Paddy was disappointed by his visit.... I have never been (yet: do you hear me, Diane???!!! ::)) ) but I know an awful lot of folks who have and who make what can only be described as pilgrimages to the place, where they take as much as they can either carry or afford back home with them, and do this as often as they can!!
Proves, I suppose, that you can't please all of the people..... etc etc! ;D
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We went in search of the perfect hellebores, those so vaunted and praised hellebores for which Ashwood is famous. Well, lots of hellebores, lots of seedlings, but not many of the perfect hellebores I had been led to believe would be available there. A disappointment!
Paddy, sorry you were disappointed with your visit. I have known others be disappointed not to find their perfect hellebore. One issue is that the "best" ones are sold very early in the season - sometimes at the winter RHS shows in London! If you go on a nursery tour (rather than a visit to John's garden) to see the breeding programme, I think you would see more than enough to satisfy! over the years, I have bought more hellebores from Ashwood than my garden can hold, and I think their quality does show in time - they always seem super plants to me and I love the display they make in January and this continues for many weeks.
Ho hum, it's a good job we're all different ... ;)
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had the chance to look at the garden at snowdrop time but although John said to ask for him when we arrived the staff said he wasnt there. I guess that is the answer all the time. We had his private number but didnt use it. Next time I'll wrestle Mrs G's phone out of her hand! :D
John IS usually around and is seen very frequently on the nursery, chatting to people. Try again Mark. And who is Mrs G?
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What a treat, Diane, thank you. You only live eight miles away?)
Yes, 8 miles, 20 minutes.
Got a spare room, have you? ;)
Of course, any time!
Such a well planned and beautifuully executed garden, a real joy.
Yes, I love it too.
Can't believe how advanced some things are... Fritillaria meleagris, for example.
Just love the Lathraea clandestina... I am intrigued by these plants, Orobanches,Pedicularis and their like.
Frit meleagris in my garden are just showing buds so only a couple of days from opening.
I have never been (yet: do you hear me, Diane???!!! ::)) )
I'm waiting for you ;D By the way, if you need any more tempting, they have THE BEST selection of home made cakes you will have ever seen :P :P :P
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We have a lovely morning here in Aberdeen and things are moving along nicely but it will still be quite a while before a lot of the things shown in Diane's photos are at that stage... but thisis all to the good, it extends my season of viewing pleasure!
I wasn't really going to plunk myslelf on Diane's doorstep for a visit , both to see Ashwoods and to view her plants at close quarters... until she mentioned the cakes... now I may be on the next train!! ;D
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I'll vouch for Aswood's cakes also
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Diane,
Many thanks for the lovely photographs. Despite saying that I was disappointed with my visit to Ashwood, I think this was most likely because it had been so hyped up as the pilgrimage destination for anybody keen on hellebores. They have a good garden centre and a good selection of plants. I did the tour of the propagation area, saw the hepaticas etc and actually, was most taken by the cyclamen. It's a good garden centre, not a great one. Re the hellebores - they have the most fabulous stock plants but one must remember that they don't sell plants which are identical to these but simply seedlings from these. There's a lot of pot luck involved.
On a positive note, I have found their plug plants, which are sent by mail order, very good value and grew to very good plants also.
Paddy
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The mid-anglian group AGS had a trip to Ashwoods on Sunday. John Massey himself was in China but the garden was looking good. Lovely sunny day which I'm certainly not complaining about but did make for difficult photography....
Here
Cyclamen house
Does anyone know this birch - beautiful peeling bark
Eranthis 'Pauline'
Eranthis 'Schwefelglanz'
Hamamelis x intermedia 'Sunburst' - attracted most attention of the witch hazels, there is more of a limey tint to the flower than you see here.
Hellebore - Ashwood's yellow hybrid
Galanthus elwesii - single bulb with yellow leaves
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Views of garden
Unlabelled crocus
And for conifer lovers Pinus strobus 'Green Twist'
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Perhaps Betula nigra Gail :)
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B. albosinensis?
The one I really want is the black barked one with white lenticels. John has them in his garden also
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Diane, thanks for the tour of Ashwood with your selection of photographs showing some lovely spring plants and plantings - Narcissus Ice Wings (a beautiful triandrus hyb) is my favourite but also the Prunus Ko-jo no mai is a wonderful specimen - is it the one with zig zag branches?
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Gail, thanks for your take on Ashwood, the trees look really interesting I love Betula with the peeling barks and Hamamelis x intermedia 'Sunburst' is a fabulous thing - did it smell?
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Gail, thanks for your take on Ashwood, the trees look really interesting I love Betula with the peeling barks and Hamamelis x intermedia 'Sunburst' is a fabulous thing - did it smell?
Sadly the scent on 'Sunburst' was very faint - it's hard to beat 'Pallida' for fragrance I think.
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John's Prunus Kojo-no-mai is the largest I have ever seen.
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Diane,
Thank you for the lovely introduction and photographs. You gave me some sort of idea of what to expect when visiting at the end of this March. I cann't wait...
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Thanks for the photos Gail, amazingly Chris Mole was saying today how much she had enjoyed the trip and lo and behold here are the photos!
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Alberto hasn't said - not to me anyway - but I would think his name is pronounced as CastEEyo. Yes?
Lovely kitty kat Vilma. :D
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Lesley I think you have posted in the wrong thread
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It was in response to Diane's Reply#4 and Maggi's Reply #10 on page 1 of this thread Mark. But admittedly things get a bit out of context when the response comes a few days later. :D
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It was in response to Diane's Reply#4 and Maggi's Reply #10 on page 1 of this thread Mark. But admittedly things get a bit out of context when the response comes a few days later. :D
And even more so a few years later ;D ;D (my original posting in this thread was in 2007)
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SRGC is timeless ;D ;D
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Doesn't time fly when you are enjoying yourself :P
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SRGC is timeless
ageless ;D 8)
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Lovely kitty kat Vilma. :D
Thankee, Lesley, I wish it was mine... ::) On second thought, I guess, I will eventually have to dig for the presentable photo of myself.
Regarding Ashwood post orders - I am very satisfied customer. Quick delivery (1st class mail), healthy looking plants (in my case, bare root hepatica plugs with leaves and flowers) and best of all, Ashwood seem to be rather generous as some specimen have 2 to 3 strong buds! Heaven, I'm in heaven!... ::) ::) ::)
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Lovely kitty kat Vilma. :D
Thankee, Lesley, I wish it was mine... ::)
So he was just one you found lying around? :)
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Lovely kitty kat Vilma. :D
Thankee, Lesley, I wish it was mine... ::)
So he was just one you found lying around? :)
I wish I wish I wish... ::) ::) ::) Who said it was a 'he'? ;)
Lets not kill the tread... Ashwood on my mind. I wonder how hard is it to get behind the scenes and have a wee peak at their greenhouses. I was told that you simply need to ask a member of staff to show you around? Is that as easy as it sounds... even on the busy weekends? Or one is luckier if one visits during the middle of the week?
Thank you :)