It was my birthday a few weeks ago so we went to the Cotswolds for the weekend, spent the night in a lovely country hotel and then decided to meander around Blenheim Palace gardens on the Sunday.  I’ve been to Blenheim many times, but this is the first time I’ve ever had chance to look at the gardens.

The Blenheim Palace grounds were designed by Capability Brown in the 1760s but the more formal gardens were added by the 9th Duke of Marlborough in the 1920s, with help of the French Landscape Architect Achille Duchêne.

It took five years to build the Water Terraces which are very formal and reminiscent of the Parterre d’Eau at Versaille.  These are very formal gardens, but feel right with the dominating architecture of the palace.

The Italian Garden is the Duke’s private garden and can be seen by a public walkway.  Clipped box and yew forms the structure of this garden which is both formal and architectural.

I loved the formality of the garden but the parkland beyond was gorgeous too…

This is one of the least known awards, but it celebrates the exciting range of new plants that are launched at the show each year.

The twenty shortlisted entries are presented to a panel of over 100 RHS experts who when deciding on the winner take into account innovation, excellence, impact and appeal.

This year, the winning plant was the Mahonia eurybracteata subsp. ganpinensis ‘Soft Caress’.

It was introduced by the Dutch nursery Van Son & Koot and also featured in the show garden from SeeAbility.

This particular mahonia is an unusual form because its foliage is delicate and ferny, which brings a softness to the planting.

It’s a compact form with a maximum height and spread of 1m,  which makes it ideal for small gardens. And it would also work well in a large planter.

Like other mahonias, the highly scented flowers are bright yellow and appear from late autumn and last through the winter.  These are then followed by attractive blue berries.

Second place was awarded to Clematis ‘Lemon Dream’ which, for a spring-flowering clematis, has unusually large double flowers.

It’s very hardy and has a subtle grapefruit scent.  It was introduced by Thorncroft.

Third place was awarded to Tropaeolum ‘Fruit Salad’, introduced by last year’s winners Thompson and Morgan.

This compact, vigorous nasturtium trails or climbs and has fragrant, bicoloured flowers which are edible and have attractive serrated petals.

Which one is your favourite?

(Images: Rona Wheeldon for Flowerona, Telegraph)

A couple of weeks ago I spent the day in Kent with a friend on mine photographing wild flowers.  We attended a workshop run by local professional photographer Robert Canis who knew exactly where the best flowers were – we had a great time!

We started the day in a bluebell wood where there was an abundance of wild orchids too.  I was a bit disappointed with my close up shots of the orchids, but it was early in the day.  The image below I hope will at least give you a flavour of what we saw…

We were lucky with the weather which was warm and mostly overcast – apart from the hour we spent in an open field full of wild cowslips.  Of course any landscape photography is best on overcast days, but at least it wasn’t raining.

The next stop was another bluebell wood…

We had a go at producing a Monet style shot too – here’s my best one…

…and I couldn’t resist taking some pictures of the bracken…

I love ferns, especially under trees when they catch the light.

One of the highlights for me was being able to experiment with my wide angle lens which I brought some time ago to enable me to be able to get good shots of my smaller gardens.  Robert encouraged me to have some fun with it and here are the results…

Pretty cool don’t you think!?

The last two shots were taken in the last bluebell wood of the day with plenty of wood anemones too.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures – which is your favourite?

(Images: Lisa Cox)

I featured James  Doran-Webb’s work following last year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show and it was great to chat to him again this year.

I love his sculptures, they’re beautiful and dramatic and this year’s main exhibit was a family of lions in a tree.

Today I just wanted to share the pictures I took at the show but if you want to learn a bit more about James and his work you might want to read my previous blog post about his work or pop over to the James Doran-Webb website.  Enjoy…

Images: Lisa Cox

This garden was inspired by the plants, trees and wildlife that are under threat from pests, diseases and invasive non-native species which have had an impact of our gardens, woodlands and countryside.

Chris Beardshaw’s garden for Arthritis Research UK was stunning and the planting was just gorgeous.  I also loved the sculpture, especially the piece you see in the picture below.

This garden reflected the personal journey and emotions of someone with arthritis, from confusion and lack of understanding following diagnosis, to a point where they are informed about the disease and are able to manage their pain.

Kate Gould’s Gold Medal winning garden The Wasteland, represented a garden that had been created on a former industrial ground.  Some of the waste from the site’s industrial past was re-used in the garden.

I loved the innovative use of the bath as a seat and the sprung bed frame as an open screen.

The last main show garden I’m going to feature is the The Stoke on Trent’s Story of Transformation.

This garden was created to tell the story of Stoke on Trent’s transformation from it’s industrial past to it’s present incarnation as a modern and vibrant city.

I loved the colour palette of the planting – rich oranges, reds and purples.  And the living wall was absolutely stunning…

(Images: Lisa Cox)

I took a lot of images of the M&G Garden, Windows Through Time, which was designed and built by Roger Platts.

Of all the show gardens at this year’s show, I think this was the one that most people will be able to relate to because you could imagine it being transformed to a real garden somewhere.

The planting was really beautiful with huge clipped box to give structure and to anchor the perennials and lighter planting.

The garden celebrates the Centenary show, embracing both new and traditional features.  The modern metal sculpture at the front was very successfully mixed with plants that were popular in the 1900s.

Congratulations to Roger for being awarded a very well deserved Gold medal!

(Images: Lisa Cox)

The first is the Brewin Dolphin Garden, designed by Robert Myers Associates and built by Willerby Landscapes.  This is a modernist and geometric garden which brings class and sophistication whilst introducing native wild-life friendly plants.  This garden was awarded a Gold medal.

The B&Q Sentebale Forget-Me-Not garden, designed by Jinny Blom and built by Steve Swatton, has been getting a lot of media attention, but that has something to do with the fact that it was inspired by Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho’s charity Sentabale which helps vulnerbale children in Lesotho in Southern Africa.

This garden was awarded a Silver Guilt medal.

The final garden for today is the RBC Blue Water Roof Garden, designed by Nigel Dunnett and The Landscape Agency and built by Landform Consultants.  This garden represents an urban garden that integrates recreational space with innovative biodiversity and habitat features.

This garden was awarded a Gold medal.

(Images: Lisa Cox)

I had a great day at Chelsea today – lots of inspiring things to see and I’m looking forward to sharing them with you this week.

I’m going to start with a selection of images of the gardens I featured in my blog post on Friday…

The Telegraph Garden, designed by Christopher Bradley-Hole, was the first to really capture my attention.  I love the structure of the clipped hedges which were perfectly held together by the soft planting in between.

Adam Frost’s garden for Homebase “Sowing the seeds of change” was another really structured garden.  I loved the pergola covered seating area at the back of the garden and the iris and euphorbia planting combination…

The final garden for today is the Laurent Perrier garden designed by Ulf Nordfjell.  It had a contemporary feel to it with sawn paving and an architectural timber pergola arches with soft and frothy planting…..very much like the bubbles in a glass of champagne…

I hope you’ve enjoyed my first blog post about Chelsea 2013, I’ll be back with more over the next few days…

(Images: Lisa Cox for the Room Outside)

I’ve been so busy over the last few weeks that I haven’t really had chance to take much of the Chelsea buzz in, but today I had a brief look at the main show gardens and there are a few that I’m really looking forward to seeing next week.

The first is designed by Christopher Bradley-Hole for sponsor The Daily Telegraph.  This garden has been inspired by the English Landscape and the Japanese approach to  garden design.  I love the geometry of this garden, especially the topiary cubes, and I also love the idea of a colonnade of English green oak which has to be my favourite timber.

The second is the Homebase garden which has been designed by Adam Frost.  Adam’s 2012 garden “A Rural Muse” was one of my favourites so I have high hopes that his 2013 garden will be just as inspiring.

This year’s “Sowing the Seeds of Change” garden is designed with a modern family in mind and provides an environment in which nature and food come together with areas that support both floral and edible plants.  Another strong geometric design.

The final garden that looks most inspiring on paper is the Laurent Perrier Garden, designed by Ulf Nordfell.  This garden is a classic take on French and English style and I imagine the planting to be soft and frothy – I can’t wait to see it in the flesh.

I’ll look forward to sharing my thoughts on these three gardens next week.  Thankfully my camera, which has been out of action of a while, is now back in order so I hope to share some great pictures with you too.

If you’re visiting the show, I’d love to know which gardens you’re most looking forward to seeing?

Renowned for the wonderful scent of its white bell-shaped flowers, the plant blooms in our gardens in May and June. The flowers are then followed by red berries in the autumn.

Convallaria majalis is its Latin name. There is a variegated form called Convallaria majalis ‘Albostriata’ with striped creamy gold leaves.

There’s also a variety which has white flowers flushed with pink called Convallaria majalis var. rosea.

This fully hardy perennial flourishes in partial or complete shade in fertile, moist soil.

And it’s an excellent groundcover plant as it spreads to form a fragrant carpet of flowers and long, dark green leaves.

Be aware that lily of the valley prefers not to be moved once it’s got going. So it’s best to plant it and leave it alone.

Just over two years ago, this delicate bloom took centre stage at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

And due to its popularity as a wedding flower, it’s now generally available all year round at flower markets…although it can be a little pricey out of season.

So, if you’re looking to add a little fragrance to your garden in a shady area, why not consider introducing this beautiful plant?

P.S. Please be aware that lily of the valley is highly poisonous if ingested so  it’s not ideal for planting in your garden if you have small children.

(Images : Flickr/ptrix, Thompson & Morgan, Flickr/peganum,Flickr/Kalexanderson, Flickr/mwri)

Original content source: Garden Flowers: The exquisitely scented lily of the valley…