On a pre-Easter trip up north this week the family Brown visited Ness Botanic Gardens on the Wirral. With Spring well under way there was lots to look at and some lovely planting combinations. this is a selection of the best bits, many of them bits I would dearly love to have in my garden (I can always dream!)
Brunnera macrophylla'Variegata'. (This put my small patch to shame!)
Cowslips and Pulmonaria 'Blue Ensign'. (I also have Pulmonaria envy, there were lots of different varieties all in great swathes, not like my modest group)
A beautiful unknown tree dripping with catkins.
Brilliant, varying and contrasting Euphorbias, some paired with unseasonal bright blue Lavenders.
Drifts of Anemones.
Delicate Epimediums - this one I had never seen before.
Spectacular Magnolias, some with tulip shaped flowers...
...and some with blooms over 12" across.
Carpets of Lamium in the woodlands.
Rich, dark leaved Violets.
Contrasting acid green flowers and bronze new leaves of the Acer Triflorum.
Explosions of Tree Peony buds.
Delicate, spidery white Daffodils.
An unknown Acer with red flowers and brightest green fringy new leaves.
The perfect Lutyens style seat, surrounded by a glorious Magnolia and carpeted with drifts of Anemone nemorosa (this spot definitely had my name all over it - I want one of these!)
Colour themed beds using foliage colour only - a lovely purple mix of Ajuga, Ophiopogon and Pittosporum, and a silver mix of Lavender, Senecio and Euphorbia 'Silver swan'.
The most delicate white Epimedium.
A gorgeous mix of Triliums with their deep red 'flames' and the purple leaved Ranunculus.
More Erithroniums in one place than I have ever seen before!
There was interesting sculpture too and a new potager in the early stages of development - these arches utilising the spaces over the walkways were a great idea.
And it wasn't all prettiness, there was serious research in conjunction with Liverpool University too. These tanks are all ponds that are being heated and studied in different ways to see how ponds and lakes (and the life within them) will be affected by global warming. There is also an extensive research weather station.
There was a less serious response to a fabulous Monkey Puzzle Tree by the teens - Monkey Puzzle moustache anyone?
The family gazed out from a folly, down over very impressive trailing Rosemary and Heathers to...
Lawns, herbaceous borders, the potager and alpine house, and beyond that the woodland garden and Pine walk. Lots to see and well worth a visit if you are in the Wirral or Chester area.
It's an independent garden so needs your support, and did a great job inspiring me with a whole new set of plans and ideas for my small plot!
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