What I’m looking forward to this summer
We asked some garden lovers what the coming months might hold . . .
I will be visiting Warley Place. Most gardeners have heard the story of Ellen Wilmott scattering the seeds of a prickly Sea Holly, Eryngium giganteum ‘Miss Willmott’s Ghost’, while visiting friends. Miss Willmott was a celebrated and respected name in horticulture; she won the prestigious Victoria Medal of Honour in 1897. Her gardening passion amounted to a mania and she dissipated her fortune financing botanical exhibitions and developing evermore ambitious and extravagant schemes for her 30-acre garden at Warley Place in Essex. She grew over 100,000 varieties of plants and employed over 100 gardeners. As she grew older, she became ever more cantankerous and eccentric. She booby-trapped her daffodils and carried a gun around with her to protect her plants. The house was demolished and Warley Place now belongs to Essex Wildlife Trust. Miss Willmott’s ghost lingers on and there is still an air of magic in this historic garden even though it is now a wilderness. Elizabeth Wells, Chair, East Anglian Garden Group. Blog
www.thebloominggarden.wordpress.com
I love the spring and summer in Suffolk. My favourite tree is the magnolia, I love their huge flowers that herald the start of the season. I would love one in our garden if space allowed but luckily my neighbours have a well established tree that we can admire from our patio! Bressingham Gardens is on my ‘must visit’ list this year, Adrian Bloom has created a river of
Spring is just round the corner, and the garden visiting season is about to begin. As a nation we take great delight in nosing around other people’s gardens, finding inspiration and the odd weed to reassure ourselves that few gardens are perfect. The much-loved NGS ‘Yellow Book’ lists thousands of private gardens open to the public and raised £2.5m last year for charity. Garden owners also open their gates in aid of The Red Cross and numerous local good causes. I have a wish-list of gardens to see this year, some for the first time but others which are familiar. At Rushbrooke Lucy Redman’s plantswoman’s garden is a perennial delight, and this summer she and husband Dominic are developing the Celtic Racetrack, a 20m. woven metal water feature planted with alpines. Unmissable! Widget Finn
www.ngs.org.uk www.redcross.org.uk www.lucyredman.org.uk Widget Finn’s garden will be open in aid of charity on 18th June 6-9pm and at other times by arrangement. Details: 01449 736358. On Facebook as Smallwood Farmhouse Garden.
National Garden Scheme gardens open in Mid and West Suffolk this spring/summer MAY 10TH - SUNDAY
MARCH 29th - SUNDAY
Great Thurlow Hall, Great Thurlow, Haverhill - Garden open for NGS 2.00.p.m. - 5.00.p.m. - Admission £4 children free - Homemade teas
APRIL 12TH - SUNDAY
Bays Farm, Forward Green, Earl Stonham IP14 5HU - Garden open for NGS from 2.00.p.m. - 5.30.p.m. - Admission £3.50 children free - Homemade teas The Beeches, Grove Road, Walsham-le- Willows IP31 3AD - Garden open for NGS from 2.00.p.m. - 5.00.p.m. Admission £4 children free - teas
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Bays Farm, Forward Green, Earl Stonham IP14 5HU - Garden open for NGS from 2.00.p.m. - 5.30.p.m. - Admission £3.50 children free - Homemade teas Columbine Hall, Gipping Road, Stowup- land IP14 4AT - Garden open for NGS 2.30.p.m. -
6.00.pm - Admission £4 children free - Homemade teas Moat House, Little Saxham, Bury St. Edmunds IP29 5LE - Garden open for NGS from 2.00.p.m. - 6.00.p.m. - Admis- sion £4 children free - homemade teas Street Farm, North Street, Freckenham IP28 8HY - Garden open for NGS from 11.00.a.m. - 5.00p.m. - Admission £4
children free - Homemade teas
MAY 17TH - SUNDAY 22 Melford Road, Sudbury CO10 1LS - Garden open for NGS from 11.00.a.m. - 5.00.p.m. - Admission £3.50 children free - Light refreshments
MAY 24TH - SUNDAY
Lavenham Hall, Hall Road, Lavenham CO10 9QX - Garden open for NGS 11.00.a.m. - 5.00.p.m. - Admission £4 children free
MAY 25TH - MONDAY Trinity House, Rectory Gardens, Beyton
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