What to see in the garden on your visit.
Home Wood:
The Sundial Garden is a blaze with some very interesting annuals and perennials including a good collection of Salvia’s, Dahlia’s, Fuchsia’s, Cuphea, Nicotiana, Ricinus, Agapanthus and the large leaves of a Paulownia tomentosa all enclosed by a large yew hedge and an old pergola smothered by an ancient Wisteria.
The Ponds & Cascades:
The Japanese Maples along the edge of the cascades are always worth a look and these lead down to the Middle Pond where Ligustrum lucidum ( Chinese Large-leaved Privet) is in full flower and close by is another interesting plant with huge leaves covering most of the island by middle Pond called Gunnera manicata (Industrial Rhubarb) a non edible plant with spiny stems. There are good clumps below Mrs Lionel’s Seat above the Top Pond and in the Bog and Board Walk areas of Yard Wood.
It’s always worth a visit to the View Point by the Arromanches Stone to take in the views of the Beaulieu river. Close by is a new planting of several New Zealand Olearia’s which are ideal for coastal sites. Many of these shrubs carry white daisy-like flowers.
The Herbaceous Border:
The Herbaceous Border always has something of interest Anemone’s, Penstemon, Rudbeckia, Aralia, Crocosmia’s, Miscanthus and many more. Look out for Yucca gloriosa with large ivory white flowers near the Chinese Paper-bark Maple (Acer griseum) a small tree with a very interesting bark.
The Hydrangea & Board Walk:
The Hydrangea’s along Hydrangea Walk are still worth a look with a wide variety of colour and flower shape. The Board Walk is in complete contrast and boasts plants from a Jurassic age and includes Dicksonia antarctica (Tree Ferns) Ginkgo, Wollemi Pine, Taxodium distichum (Swamp Cypress) lots of bamboo and interesting foliage plants.
American Garden:
One of my favourite plants is a small and relatively unknown group called Eucryphia’s. These small to large shrubs are one of the best flowering plants for summer. Just to the side of the Azalea Drive is affine clump of Eucryphia cordifolia (Ulmo) a species native to Chile and Argentine, which produce numerous white flowers over the summer and autumn.
Several interesting Fungi are now appearing in all sorts of places round the garden as the weather becomes cooler and damper.
If you have some spare time and enjoy gardening? Would you like to join our existing volunteers in helping to maintain the gardens in a very friendly atmosphere?
Then please contact: Vicky.Scott@exbury.co.uk or John.anderson@exbury.co.uk
John Anderson
Head Gardener.