Spring colour

by | Apr 7, 2021 | everything

Acer palmatum ‘Wilson’s Pink Dwarf’ This was shimmering red in the distance and on coming closer emerged to be an acer. Of course good for spring colour!

Ready to Go!

by | Apr 2, 2021 | everything

Lavatera trimestris Sown early spring in a tray and pricked out into modules, now showing strong growth and healthy roots. This is ready to go into the garden and the light frosts lately won’t do any harm.

A fruit with a mesh cage

by | Dec 30, 2020 | everything, plants

Nicandra physalodes has flowered with lovely tubular blue flowers and now produced an intricate mesh cage containing the green-brownish seed. Nature’s light and delicate engineering work held up well to storm Bella and sleet showers.

Autumn Colours

by | Oct 21, 2020 | everything

Autumn painting: Leaves and moss on tarmac. Time to collect leaves as a resource for potting compost next year.

A massive flint stone wall

by | Jul 1, 2020 | everything

The longer you look at it the more interesting it gets: under the trained limes the wall is shaded but apparently also dry in recent weeks. The moss has turned brown and tiny ferns cling to it. Each miniature frond has the pinnate structure of a fern, but they are...

They’re open :-)

by | Jul 1, 2020 | everything

The walled garden and ice cream van were very busy. But even on a booked out day at Mottisfont there are empty spaces to enjoy the view.

Front Garden

by | Jan 24, 2020 | everything, gardens, plants

This is the rather smashing front garden of one of the horticulture classrooms at Sparsholt. It hides the classroom container well! Especially the Garrya elliptica squeezed behind the other shrubs is doing a great job at the moment, looking almost festive with long...