Which Is Your Favourite Garden?

Hi All,

Thought I'd start a thread where we could have a chat about our favourite gardens, since I'm certainly not going to get any gardening done today due to the rain! I think it would be really interesting to include one in our own country and one abroad. Mine are Hidcote Manor Garden in England and The Garden of Ninfa in Italy, but I haven't visited either of them yet. Here are links to a couple of interesting documentaries about them...





So which are yours and have you visited them?

Nick

 

@Marley Farley Ah, Rosemoor! I keep meaning to look into what they grow there because they share my heavy clay soil and what does well there should hopefully do well here. Love the 'Rosemoor' geranium!

Geranium x magnificum 'Rosemoor' | purple cranesbill 'Rosemoor'/RHS Gardening

Hidcote seems like a tricky garden to explore thoroughly on one visit due to the high visitor number and narrow paths. Have never heard of Niagara Falls Gardens, but I'm intrigued now because they have a butterfly conservatory and I love butterflies!

Thanks for sharing your favourites, Marley!

Nick

 

I don't really visit gardens due to having no transport but there's one not far from me that I say every year I'll go there but never do due to the cost of the taxi's to get there and back ( probably around £20/25 ).

I can't put links up but have a look at......

Stone House Cottage Gardens, Worcestershire

It's rated in the top 50 in the UK.

 

https://www.shcn.co.uk/photographs

Wow, that place looks amazing, beautiful combinations of cool colours in many of those borders! Now I want to visit it too, @KFF!

Nick

 

Parcevall Hall garden,Scampston walled garden and Sledmere .

 

Thanks Nick for putting the piccys up

 

I forgot to say.....

I hope @ARMANDII doesn't mind, but I'd like to tag @Kon .

This is the sort of planting that we are talking about on your " Honeysuckle " thread Kon....... This is what we call cottage gardening, has no planning , just bung 'em in. Hope you get the idea.

 

I haven't really visited any but for harlow carr last year and dove cottage which has a nice naturist garden. I look on the NGS garden opening days often but I never seem to go just seem odd turning up at a strangers house paying to look at the garden. I've always wanted to go to wisley - sissinghurst and others down south .

They are building a new RHS garden near me Bridgewater about 20 miles away which I'll be attending

 

@ARMANDII Well, you really surprised me there with Arley Hall mate, it was the one I had never heard of and seems like the antithesis of your own style of gardening, so formal! Still scratching my head about how you pack so many plants in and still get them to thrive!

 

John Massey’s garden at Ashwood nurseries.

Superb plant combinations and meticulous planting

My kind of gardening

 

I love plants but I'm also an architectural historian so always tend to prefer gardens where you've got a formal structure and/ or interesting buildings to look at too.

I'll go for Kew Gardens in this country, for the plants and plantings, all the ace buildings scattered amongst them - the Palm House, the Pagoda, Kew Palace etc. etc. and other wonderful things like the Queen's Beasts outside the Palm House, and the Marianne North Gallery with its dense display of paintings - like being inside a Victorian seed catalogue. At the moment there are the fabulous Chihulys too: Chihuly: Reflections on nature | Kew The only thing that lets Kew down rather is the mediocre, expensive catering - take a picnic, or go to the Maids of Honour near Victoria Gate instead.

For abroad I'm going to plump for Villa d'Este in Tivoli: Villa d'Este - Wikipedia, near Rome - I went one spring on a sunny windy day, with the fountains playing and the spray blowing around and catching the sunlight. It really was the most magical experience!

Incidentally Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen goes back to 1843 and is named for the Italian one: Tivoli Gardens | Theme park | VisitCopenhagen They really are gardens, as well as a funfair, and most charming!