Garden details

Here are some details of plants that I found at York Gate garden. The purple flowers are honesty. My grandma used to grow them. They develop fascinating seedheads: flat, round and papery, that make interesting indoor arrangements. I think the butterfly I caught on my photo is either a small white or a large white! (I'm not much good on butterflies!) 

The veining in the honesty petals really shows up using my macro lens. Spanish bluebells made an interesting image too.  

I love the way the new growth on the conifers is such a very bright green. 

In the small, covered, work area that separates the main garden from the kitchen garden, they'd laid out a series of dried seed heads, old tools and other interesting little things that made good subjects for my camera... 

... as did a couple of 'still life' arrangements in the kitchen garden: an old copper kettle with a lovely patina and a large stoneware jar surrounded by ferns. 

Tulips

Tulips were in full flower at York Gate Gardens. Standing tall, they are a beautifully sculptural plant, but short-lived. I had some yellow ones in a container on my balcony, and they looked lovely for a couple of weeks but then the petals blew away. 

I took my macro lens, thinking I'd try some shots with a very shallow depth of field. It wasn't entirely successful as the point of focus has to be spot on and my elderly eyesight, coupled with the small LCD screen on my camera, means that's a bit hit and miss! I did manage to capture a couple of greenfly quite sharply! (below). There seem to be a lot about, perhaps because of the dry spring we've had. The front of my car and its windscreen have been covered with splattered insects and that hasn't happened for a few years. It used to be a big problem in the summer. 

York Gate garden

York Gate garden just happens to be situated behind Adel church, so the café there was a convenient spot for lunch for our camera club group. I took the opportunity to spend some time in the garden too. It is only one acre but so cleverly designed, in a series of linked 'rooms', that it feels much bigger. It originally belonged to the Spencer family who created and cared for it between 1951 and 1994, eventually opening it to the public at certain times. By the early 1980s, it was considered one of the best small gardens in the world. They then bequeathed it to Perennial, a charity that supports horticulturalists and gardeners. A few years ago the purchase of the adjacent property allowed for a larger café, with some meeting and function rooms and a car park. With a dedicated team of volunteers, it can now easily cope with more visitors and is able to open from April to October.    

Welsh poppies and other delights

Welsh poppies grow in abundance in my own tiny back garden and prolifically self-seed. I never planted any! They just arrived, springing up in the cracks between the paving stones and wherever they could find a little space. They all started out yellow but over the years some orange ones have crept in - and recently a few that are both orange and yellow, rather pretty. 

There were plenty at York Gate too, looking very attractive counterpointed by the blue forget-me-nots. I think the white flowers (above) are trilliums. 

I wanted to try some shots taken through a 'mist' of defocused flowers but I had difficulty finding a good spot to attempt that - added to which you really need a lens that opens up wider than mine does.  The allium below approximates to what I was trying to do. I'll have to get a bit more practice. 

Candelabra primulas by the pond looked pretty against the water, though it was tricky to get the right angle without trampling on the flower beds! 

York Gate vignettes

There's one area in York Gate Gardens that, as a photographer, I especially love. There are some old potting sheds that were part of the kitchen garden and are now just used for display, full of dried seed-heads, old wood, wicker baskets and other such wonderfully decorative items. The muted neutral colours and gorgeous textures provide ready-made 'still-life' compositions. 

York Gate flora

At around one acre, York Gate Garden is small compared to many gardens that are open to the public, but therein lies its charm. It feels intimate and, wandering through the various 'rooms' that interconnect, pleasing little vistas open up. Somehow too, you feel closer to the planting itself than you do at, say, Harlow Carr, which is vastly bigger. York Gate offers a wholly different experience. 

The view above is shot through a window in the potting shed, and shows just one of the several 'sculptural' focal points that are cleverly woven into the garden. On a different scale, a collection of potted plants on a wall offers colour and texture. 

I liked the little hanging bells of blossom on the tree/shrub below.  I had no idea what the tree was but I have since identified it as Enkianthus Campanulatus, native to Asia. 

The front wall of the house has an old wisteria with wonderfully twisted stems, which just happened to be in full bloom when I visited. The scent is heavenly. 

Magnolia seems to have lasted well this year. I'm sure it doesn't usually bloom at the same time as the rhododendrons. 

I have some of these (below) in my garden - astrantia. (At least I think that's what this is.) Mine are pale in colour but I liked this deep red. 

It must be peak season for alliums. These tall purple globes add interest to the borders: 

 

York Gate Garden

I recently met friends at York Gate Garden near Leeds. I've been before but not for a few years and, although the garden itself remains much the same, the property next door has been added and converted into a large and pleasant café (always part of the pleasure of visiting places like this!) The one-acre garden was originally created between 1951 and 1994 by the Spencer family, around their home. They bequeathed it to the horticultural charity Perennial, who now own and manage it. 

It is laid out in a series of interlinked 'rooms' and owes much to the Arts and Crafts Movement, with several sculptural pieces and lots of details and textures in the hard landscaping and the lush planting. Sadly we were just a little late for the tulips (which I remember were spectacular in past years) but there were plenty of flowers and lots of beautiful and varied foliage. 

There are straight, formal pathways as well as gentler, more meandering routes around different parts of the garden. 

There is a large pond (top photos) and a 'canal' pool with a fish-shaped fountain. 

I enjoyed just wandering about and, even though it was very busy with visitors, I did manage a few pictures without people photo-bombing.