I returned to Loseley Park this week, just 4 weeks after I was invited for a special tour of the garden and the changes to the garden were really quite amazing.  This time of year is a bit like that in the garden – if I ever go away on holiday in early summer I’m always amazed when I get back at how much the garden has come on in 1 or 2 weeks.

The scent in the rose garden was intoxicating this week, really gorgeous, but I was very surprised to see that many of the roses were coming to the end of their flowering period.  When I spoke to the Head Gardener, Burney, he said the whole garden was 3-4 weeks ahead of the usual flowering schedule and they have been working extra hard to keep up with tasks like deadheading the roses, which would not normally be taking place at the same time as planting out the annuals!

The succession planting at Loseley is really well executed.  As one plant finishes flowering, another emerges and takes the limelight.  In the flower garden at the moment, the colour scheme is predominantly yellow and blue – very summer!

Perhaps the most dramatic change was in the vegetable garden where the poppies were out in abundance, a real contrast to the white garden just through the clipped hedging, really striking and very gorgeous.

If you get the opportunity to visit Loseley this month then take the opportunity to do so, you won’t be disappointed.  For added interest, they are hosting a garden sculpture exhibition too at the moment, which I will give you a taster of in my next blog post.

(Photos: Lisa Cox)

SUMMER – JUNE/JULY/AUGUST Read more

If you’re a regular reader of my blog (and also Flowerona), then you’ll know that we’ve featured the RHS Chelsea Flower Show a lot over the past week or so! Read more

So you’ve been to the show and taken lots of pictures of the things that excited and inspired you, and then you returned home ready to tackle your own garden only to find yourself in a dilemma about where to start! How will you ever recreate some of the show garden magic in your own garden? Read more

Whether I’m visiting gardens, flower shows or simply walking around the countryside, I’m always looking for new planting combinations that work really well together.  Because of the challenging growing conditions this year (i.e. a hot, dry Spring) we saw different combinations of plants at Chelsea Flower Show this year. Read more

It’s the final day of the 2011 Chelsea Flower Show today.  The last visitors will be enjoying the show gardens, floral displays and the Great Pavillion and then later this afternoon the big plant sell-off will start, which in turn will cause chaos on the tube and trains as people attempt to get them home in one piece! Read more

I promised you some more highlights of the Chelsea Flower Show and I suspect that by now you have heard much talk about Diarmuid Gavin’s Garden which was certainly attracting lots of attention on Wednesday.  He designed the Irish Sky Garden for sponsors, Cork City Council and he earned himself a well deserved Gold medal. Read more

After being glued to the BBC coverage of the Cheslea Flower Show since Sunday I finally got to see everything in the flesh yesterday.  I always get there when the gates open so that I can take in the show gardens at my own pace without having to wait forever to have even the slightest chance of a front row seat and there was so much inspiration to wallow in yesterday that my early wake up call was a distant memory by the time I’d normally be making my mid-morning cup of coffee. Read more

I spent a very lovely afternoon last week with Rona Wheeldon of Flowerona at the Chelsea Physic Garden, a peaceful haven in that big City that we call London.  What a truly wonderful garden, full of history and interesting plants, not to mention the gorgeous cafe in which we not only indulged ourselves in a scrummy lunch, but also had to return for one of their magnificent cakes before we left! Read more

Yesterday I went through the same dilemma that I always have on the Sunday evening before the Chelsea Flower Show opens – do I watch the pre-show BBC programme to get a glimpse of what’s in store or do I keep my eyes closed until I arrive at the gate?  Well, last night I decided to watch and I have to say that it has got me very excited about what’s in store for my visit on Wednesday. Read more