Here are a few more photos from Shipley Open Gardens weekend. People seem to be moving towards planting schemes that can survive warm, dry weather, with good reason given the heatwaves and drought we've had in recent summers.
Nigella is commonly called 'love in a mist' and it does have a misty effect with the curious fronds around the sculptural flowers. Talking of sculpture, I spotted more hostas with attractive blue-green leaves splashed with bright yellow.
June seems to be the flowering season for another sculptural plant, the ornamental allium. Their showy, round flowerheads come in a variety of sizes and colours and they add height and colour to borders, and go on to develop attractive seedheads that last well into autumn. I noticed that bees and bugs love them.
Bugs also love these 'bug hotels':
Someone's cat was flaked out in the shade of a chair. Unfortunately the chair then got moved by an unsuspecting lady, which pinioned the cat to the ground! Fortunately it seemed it only caught its fur, as the cat didn't squeal and seemed unscathed. Another of its nine lives gone...!
Many of the gardens had small ponds, a good addition if you have the space, I'm sure, as they are both attractive and beneficial to wildlife. Most of the Open Gardens are relatively compact 'domestic' spaces - a small front garden and a slightly larger area to the rear of the house - and it always amazes me what a huge variety of plants, sheds, patios and seating areas people can pack into them.
I like touring small gardens like these. Often I've walked past such places regularly without suspecting the beauty to be found just behind the houses.
ReplyDeleteThe cat looks blissful.
ReplyDeleteThat is a very calm cat indeed. Such lovely gardens.
ReplyDeleteThe gardens were beautiful to see in these photos and that cat did look rather exhausted.
ReplyDelete