Latest Garden Pictures

A selection of photos from the garden recently as we approach our open day on the 30th July

June Colour

The latest clematis to flower is Pangbourne Pink which is a dwarf variety and reliable.

Rosa mutabilis is another reliable plant with Kniphofia Rich Echoes complimenting it.Not sure what the weird allium is but small birds use it as a perch!

Our favourite water Lilly Texas Dawn is in full flower with all the warm weather.

Zantedschia aethiopica looking the best we have seen it, loves being in water.

In the foreground is Dianthus Brilliancy which is in its third year.

The BBC Calls!

Graham received an email on Monday from a production company working for the BBC. They wanted to film a garden and garden owner where there is plenty of wood/timber used in a garden for various purposes to use in a current gardening programme called "Garden Rescue" The programme goes out every afternoon at 15.45pm on BBC 1.

Graham spent about an hour speaking about various features in our garden and then the interviewer/camerman spent another 3 hours filming the garden. We suspect about 2 to 3 minutes will be used in a programme broadcast in late May/June. Also quite a bit of the filming will be used via the BBC archive on other editions of the programme as the interviewer was impressed with our range of features.

The use of modern technology meant Graham had a remote mike under his shirt with wifi unit tucked in his back pocket and also a mike on the camera. Gone are days when a full production crew turn up!

Our latest wood feature the pontoon became the core interest and Dean was also keen to film from the boat which gave Graham palpitations as it was the first time this year he had used it so rowing was a bit erratic!!

We await with interest as to how all the 4 hours spent in wonderfully bright sunshine will be edited and if the brief mention of our NGS open day will not be left on the cutting room floor!!

Duck Wars

Our resident brood of ducklings were joined today by another lot of 13! This usually causes much infighting but apart from a nose to nose confrontation of the mothers it has been mostly peaceful/

Pond Side Colour

It must be a record year for marsh marigolds (Caltha palustris) as they are full of flower. The bog bean(Menthyanthes trifoliata) is also in flower.

Today the reflections in the pond are excellent with nice fluffy clouds and little breeze to disturb the water

Tulip Time

All our tulips are in full bloom about two weeks early!

 Tulip Ballerina (orange) is doing well and its the 8th year its flowered so a good doer!

 Tulip Shirley is a favourite because it starts off pure white and gradually changes colour to a lilac ripple!

More shots with Fuji XT1

A few more close ups