I’m very lucky here because I have a choice of several famous local gardens to visit. When we moved to Essex I knew I wanted to visit Beth Chatto’s garden because we used to live on heavy clay soil and I wasn’t used to gardening on gravel. I’d seen magazine articles about Beth Chatto’s gravel garden, had been smitten at the time, and thought it would be a good place to visit. I bought a season ticket and spent the whole year (and the next) visiting frequently, even in the winter. I like gardens in winter because you can see the bare bones, and Beth Chatto’s garden has very fine bones indeed. I particularly liked the silver birch which lights up the garden in winter.
I found a booklet about Hyde Hall in a charity shop, which described the place as it was when the Robinsons owned it. It sounded lovely so visited on my birthday one year. Matthew Wilson was curator at the time, and perhaps it was his influence I admired so much. There was a field of sunflowers, and a wild flower meadow and cornfield ablaze with colour because this was June. The garden was still redolent of the owners, still had a personal feel to it. I loved the Alpine House, but also loved the dry garden with its massive boulders... a Matthew Wilson project, I believe. So I joined the RHS so I could enjoy it in the same way as I enjoyed Beth Chatto’s. But things have changed. The Alpine House was deemed unsafe for the public and was removed. Hermione’s garden was also deemed unsafe and was out of bounds. That suited its air of mystery. Now it also has fallen victim to this “Improvement” or Doing-things-the-RHS-Way, with gabions of stone. All very architectural, but I fear Hermione has fled. I don’t like it, and I don’t feel so comfortable in Hyde Hall garden now. It has lost the personal touch, and the Matthew Wilson Effect is fading, to the garden’s detriment.
Glen Chantry is another superb garden, but has now closed to the public. I enjoyed that very much when it was open, particularly the rockery.
Wickham Place Farm is somewhere I should visit more often. In the spring it’s famous for its wisteria, and in the autumn there are masses of cyclamen in the woods. I used to work on Fridays when it’s open, and found it hard to get to, but this year I’ve managed to get there a couple of times, once to photograph the wisteria and bluebells, and once to photograph the paeonies, which were late due to the cold spring. Alas, that cold spring also ruined the wisteria flowers this year, which was a real shame. But hopefully next year the display will be of its usual stunning standard.
Paeonies at Wickham Place Farm
Rose at Wickham Place farm. This rose is growing on a wall and over an archway through that wall, so it's possible to look up at the roses. They are delightfully scented.
This April I went to Harrogate for a friend’s book launch, and while I was there I visited Harlow Carr for the first time. This was where Matthew Wilson had gone to when he left Hyde hall (lucky Harlow Carr) and I was amused to see his fingerprints on the garden. One item was a gazebo with an overcoat of cut logs, and another with dry stone cladding and a green roof. I just knew that was his handiwork. I think he has a creative and somewhat maverick genius for these things, and I really like his influence. Perhaps it’s just because his way of doing things vindicates my own approach and my own eccentric ways. Or maybe it’s a childlike pleasure of dens in the woods.
It was early in a late-starting season, so the garden was just burgeoning. The most spectacular plants, to my mind, were the skunk cabbages (Lysichiton americana). I have seen these at Beth Chatto’s (I even tried to grown one in my tiny garden.) But they need to be seen en masse and in context, ie waterside, to really appreciate them. And even then, I’m not sure the word “beautiful” can be applied.
My visits to
Beth Chatto’s petered out because of lack of time, especially in the summer, and until this year I restricted my visits to the winter months when she allows RHS members in for free. I nearly cried when I found that the foxglove tree (Paulonia tormentosa) had had to be felled as it had become unstable. I loved that tree. That was a couple of years ago now.
I decided to make more effort to visit Beth Chatto's gardens again this year, and rejoined for the year in June. Not only was this for the gardens, but I wanted to do some photography, and since she runs a competition for photographs taken in her garden, I thought I would feel welcome with my camera. I am acutely aware that photographers can be a pain in gardens, especially with tripod and other paraphernalia, so I asked if it was OK to use the tripod. In fact, I find the monopod of great value because it’s easier to get in close with just one foot to place carefully, though it has its drawbacks too.
Beth's island beds are bigger than my entire garden.
Golden Hop
In my own garden I can deadhead, tweak, push and prod things around to get the shot the way I want it (though sometimes I don’t notice that ugly dead leaf until afterwards. I couldn’t possibly do this in someone else’s garden. It can be frustrating not being able to get in close, but respecting someone else’s garden is paramount.
I love the eryngiums as a family, they look so metalic. Beth has some really interesting plants... look at this bud. Pity it's quite a sprawling plant because I would love this in my garden. I just don't have the room.
I had such a good day’s photography when I went, I returned the next day to take more shots of the flowers which I knew would be over before the week’s end. The weather forecast had promised some cloud cover, but it was rather sunny and the shadows harsh. However, the clouds came over from time to time, softening the light… I must have been the only one hoping for cloud.
I must go again. But then, I ought to photograph some of the flowers in my own garden. I have some super anthemis and jasione which are rapidly going over in this heat.
