Bulbs Archives - The Green Door

May 292017 Tagged with English gardens, Hidcote, Kiftsgate, Tui Garden Products — 0 Responses

Cotswold Gardens – Hidcote and Kiftsgate

Hidcote and Kiftsgate gardens have always been my big favourites. I must have visited these wonderful garden at least ten times, but haven’t been for nearly TWENTY years. In the interim they have been busy adding new gardens and vistas. You can visit both in an afternoon with Kiftsgate opening at 11am and Hidcote not closing until 6pm. They are virtually next door to each other.

I’ll never forget seeing the Hidcote red border (pictured above) for the first time in my mid-twenties. The impact it made on me lives with me today. Enclosed behind high hedges there is nothing to draw the eye away from the intensity of the colour schemes created.

Red is always the last colour to appear in quantity in the garden so it was no surprise that the red border was full of promise, but not full of colour. All the rich golds and purples were still to show. Lucky for us we could colour in most of the patches as we are familiar with the foliage on show! Note the use of NZ red cabbage trees in the foreground.

What never fails to surprise me is the height they get in their borders. And yet again I go home vowing to manure the garden to death with Tui sheep pellets and rich compost this winter.

I’ve told Phil he needs to retire real quick while he’s still strong enough to wheel a heavily laden wheelbarrow down to the bottom garden and back. AND we need to get then digger in to deepen the pond!

May 292017 Tagged with Cotswolds, RHS gardens, Wisley — 0 Responses

Onto the Cotswolds and Wisley

Our original travel plans didn’t include England but as my brother’s tiny Philippine island was invaded by terrorists we had to quickly reschedule so as not to lose all our flights. This gave us six days to fill in and what better way than to call in to stay with the nephew in the Cotswolds! Late May is too early to see the gardens at their best, as we knew. It’s that time when most of the best of spring has finished and the best of summer has yet to bloom. However, we were not to be deterred of course and first stop was Wisley – so close to Heathrow too. Neither of us had been to England for nearly twenty years! Gosh the time has gone so fast. The Green Door has gobbled it up. Wisley was looking amazing – the borders so full with hints of the spectacular colour that was to come – just peeping through. The obvious winner was the new Allium Purple Rain. Phil just couldn’t get enough of it. It was a bit reminiscent of – “how many pictures of blue Gentians do you need”! The upright stems carrying the deep purple globes looked fabulous wherever we saw them – through purple foliage of Sage, through bright yellow flowers of Euphorbia. The key was to have foliage flowing around the stems so that when the Allium flowers were finished the garden wouldn’t be left with an unsightly gap.

May 292017 Tagged with gardens, hiking, Potes, Spain, walking — 0 Responses

North to Potes, Cantabria

From Montesinho, northern Portugal we moved through the rain to the mountains of Potes. We couldn’t complain as this was the first rain we had experienced in over a month.

From the sparse mountains of Montesinho, over the border just ten minutes away, we travelled through countryside that looked very much like Waiouru! Bare with only a few settlements and lots of gorse. This soon gave way to rivers and green hillsides.

After a hot meal en route we came across fields and fields of wild daffodils just below Riano. Not just little miniature alpine Daffs like we had seen on our hikes, but quite large ones similar to what we would grow in our gardens at home in New Zealand. How amazing. The rain didn’t keep us in the car long! I’m sure the locals thought we were completely mad – but then that wouldn’t be the first time.

Potes turned out to be all it said in the guide books. The perfect base for exploring the east side of the Picos. We were here four nights and could easily have stayed seven if the weather had been better. Luckily the next morning dawned fine, sunny and slightly warmer. We drove to the Fuente De chair lift just before 9am – it’s only 20mins drive from Potes – and found ourselves the only ones there apart from the staff. What a huge bonus. We were the first on the mountain and had it all to ourselves! Gentians greeted us the minute we left the buildings and by the time we had completed the short climb to the top the day was perfect and not a breath of wind. So, so, so lucky.

The next five hours were spent drifting down the mountainside tripping from one patch of alpine flowers to the next, occasionally taking a breath to enjoy the splendour of the soaring peaks around us.

May 292017 0 Responses

West to Somiedo

From one side of the Picos Mountains to the other. The grand granite peaks of the eastern side to the lush, wood covered mountains on the west. We moved on in search of more plants at slightly lower altitudes – or so we thought.

The road north and then east to Somiedo was absolutely gorgeous. From the grand and rather stark mountains of the Picos area we drove through lush valleys with cows and calves out enjoying the sunshine. Spain has a LOT of rivers. The wildflowers were covering the roadsides and many areas reminded us of England. Not the Spain we had experienced further south and an enormous contrast to our trip to Andalucia several years ago. Contrast – Otago to Cambridge, NZ. However – Cambridge with the Southen Alps thrown in.

We had chosen Pola de Somiedo as a base for the next four days. It proved to be perfect with many, many walks starting nearby. The whole Somiedo area is laced with walking tracks which are very well signposted. The largest village in the area with a good range of accomodation and restaurants/bars. Many weren’t open this early in the season – mid May – but enough to give us a bit of choice.

For us it was all about the plants we could find and this was the main reason for swapping locations. We had no idea that this valley was going to be so lush and beautiful with all the mountains of Potes, but heavily treed. Alpine lakes could easily be reached by car also. Wonderful!