SuburbanGaze

Whilst in the Yorkshire Dales recently on a family holiday, a garden visit was needed to enable us to spend some quality time together.  Further research gifted  Parcevall Hall Gardens  to us.  We found it listed in both the RHS partner gardens and GW 2-4-1 offer. We were glad of the buy one get one free offer.  For an additional fee you will be provided with a well presented booklet that maps the history of the 17C farmhouse up to present day when Parcevall Hall was developed from the addition of building works in the 1920s and the 1960s. The centre pages provide a double-page illustration of the building and garden and a prescribed walk that takes in all of the delight in  the garden up to the Tarn, around to the Red Border, up to Old Camellia Walk, taking in The Chapel Garden and Rose Garden, up to the Silver Wood, back down via the Rock Garden and onto the Terraces for the spectacular views. On the way in or out, dependa...

One aspect that attracted us to this garden when we were deciding to buy, was an arch that had formed naturally from two trees standing close to each other.  It was a pleasant feeling walking beneath them when no formal path existed and it seemed like the garden was directing us that way beneath the crossing branches. (Ignoring the 6ft high brambles, wild tangle of forsythia, grasses and nettles everywhere else).  Six years on and we have an informal grass pathway going through here past the wildlife pond and on to the boundary fence. Looking back through photographs there are none in existence of this magical place from that period to reminisce over, but those feelings remain and this part of the garden remains my favourite. Tree on left has failed to provide us with fruit/Tree on right has lovely large yellow fruit that convinces us it's a Victoria Plum Later, it transpired that these were two of a group of three plum trees.  Over the last 6...

A recent vacation to the Yorkshire Dales found me 80 meters above Malham Cove, having climbed 416 steps to reach a Limestone Pavement and then later, to Malham Tarn the highest lake in England. The Limestone Pavement was formed a very long time ago (12,000 years) from a melting glacier carried down the cliff-edge by a waterfall - i'm not going to pretend that I understand this process but I guess that limestone is a relatively soft material that can be eroded and weathered by chemicals found in water and ice.  A bit like when acid-rainwater damages brick-work on older buildings/places of worship.   Calling this a pavement is slightly misleading, we discovered a challenging walk across the space almost losing a foot and a shoe...(not me I hasten to add:)) Think crazy-paving with deep narrow crevices in-between each stone in place of the mortar.  The fact that it's relatively flat and of the same colour/material is probably it's only ...

June departed seeing me finishing the RHS L2 in Practical Horticulture.  I am now playing the waiting game to see if I passed.  The first of my free Saturdays involved a trip to Kew Gardens in London so the month had a special start. As my weekends have been freed up I have been able to spend more time in my own garden putting into practice some of what I have learn't. The seed collection cycle has already begun, with Lupins,  Anthriscus sylvestris 'Ravenswing' and  Angelica archangelica  to start. As the month has progressed the garden has increased in lushness and colour, plants are noticeably much larger than they were a year ago, filling much more of the space and softening the straight lines of the boundaries.  This is evident in the shady border with the  A canthus spinosus really filling out with giant foliage and multiple flower spikes - more than ever.   T he common and Russian valerians grown from seed...

In April of this year I started an Instagram account dedicated to all of the plants that provide me with nourishment.  My first few photographs below gave me an idea to explore pressing flowers again.  Something I hadn't done since the late 1970s. A couple of patient months later and the results are in. I am so happy with the finished product and proud of my work.  This is definitely something that I am going to explore further. This first one shows an unknown self-seeding Papaver with the delicate flower stems of Myosotis sylvatica.  I love how the colour of the Poppy has been retained and the blue of the Forget-me-not shines from the stark-white background. There are three different flowering plants crammed in here with the golden globe of Buddleja x weyeriana 'Sungold' living up to its name.  Geum 'Lady Stratheden' complimenting its companions and Lamprocapnos spectabilis 'Alba' revealing its delicate heart-shaped fl...

As June bids a farewell the garden is beginning to change again.  June saw every spectrum of green on display with the emergence of lush foliage and plants gaining height.   The promise of wall-to-wall orange looked hopeful when the Geum burst into life last month.  However, since deadheading them they appear to have ceased providing us with their little rays of sunshine which is a complete stark contrast to this time last year (and right through to November).  I guess gardening isn't an exact science and plants will always surprise you. That said, other borders are beginning to spring to life with the hint of colour from a primarily pastel pallet. We visited GW Live 2019 and were very restrained...just purchasing a selection of Hostas, Ferns and Allium bulbs.   As we say goodbye to the Blue-tits who have fledged and left their nest, we say a fond hello to the new population of frogs that appear to be all over the garden - which is great...

This has long been on my Bucket List and now I have ticked it off.  As I am not an eloquent writer I have instead added some pictures from my visit below, I hope you enjoy them.  The Great Broad Walk Borders The Hive The Secluded Garden Kew's Secret Garden The Alpine House and Rock Garden The Woodland Garden The Palm House The Temperate House