England's Gardens

Hampton Court Flower Show is under way and City College are entering a Tropical Garden display. This is the stand out plant of many of them. I will post images of others as well. This is called Medillina magnifica. These will be in hanging baskets hanging from a beautiful pergola in the design. The floor will be covered in Helxine (Mind Your Own Business) and will also be surrounded by a paisley pattern of Tradescantia and Coleus. Well, hopefully it will be on TV so hope you catch it. The college are certainly going for gold!

What a great idea! This Brighton garden shows how fruit trees don't just belong in orchards! This is a front garden in Brighton and I love the way these ornamental pears have been grown up railings in the garden, creating a delightful, modest, but delicate and ornate effect for the onlooker. And, I guess they can eat the pears too!

On a recent trip to Pluscarden Abbey in Elgin, Scotland, I took this picture of a wonderful arrangement of Hostas. I love this plant. Apparently, slugs absolutely love them, but if you can beat the slugs, or don't have a problem with them, this is a stunning plant for any border. Love it! They're so fresh.

I've been helping a Brighton priest in his garden recently and this is the latest installment in an ongoing renovation of the parish garden. We bought some green slate chippings and made a wood border creating a nice clash of angles in the garden. We hope to create a very lush green garden and maybe install a little water feature and some lighting. It's been a great way to get work experience on a proper project and really rewarding to see it developing so well.

Laburnums, out in full force at this time of year can creat a quite stunning look. I found this image on the BBC website and what an amazing archway of laburnums this is. I've never seen anything quite like it. The picture is taken at Bodnant Garden. Bodnant Garden is one of the most beautiful gardens in the UK, spanning some 80 acres and is situated above the River Conwy on ground sloping towards the west and looking across the valley towards the Snowdonia range.

I took a photo of this Peony (Paonia), in full bloom at this time of year in one of the Brighton gardens I had been passing recently. I love this plant.