A Famous Garden

It was around twenty years ago that I visited the famous garden of Monet, the Impressionist artist, at Giverny in France. I went with a friend  as part of a short coach holiday that we both thoroughly enjoyed. But Monet’s Garden was the undoubted highlight of the trip. It was August and the lilies in the water garden area were in full bloom, while outside the house across the road the flower beds were a riot of colour. We both said we wanted to visit again at different times of the year.

I haven’t made it yet, and it’s looking less and less likely that I will. But yesterday I received an email with this photo of those water gardens with just a few lily buds beginning to show colour. My friend was there again, this time with the husband not yet in the picture all those years ago. I am envious, but grateful that she thought of me while she was there and was thoughtful enough to communicate that with me.

I don’t believe she will mind me sharing her photo of the place from which so much inspiration was drawn, producing paintings revered the world over. I have some old photos of it somewhere myself, but I'm not sure where to put my hands on them. 

Wordless Wednesday: Kingston Lacey's Japanese Garden

Bournemouth's Public Gardens

You can see by the tulips that it's been a couple of months since I took this photo. I was in the Lower Gardens in Bournemouth. This linear park starts by the sea and the entrance to the pier, and ends at the Square where most of the buses stop. I like to get off the bus and walk through them to the sea.

This week for the first time, I walked in the Upper Gardens, which go north from the Square, away from the sea. This park is less formal and an absolute delight. I cursed because I didn't have my camera. I'll make sure I remember it next time I go there.

I've discovered that you can walk for miles through these linear parks. Lots to look forward to not too far from my new home (well, it's one year on now since the move, but I'm still exploring.)

Quinta das Cruzes, Funchal, Madeira

I was looking for inspiration to find something to post about and decide to skim through my blog archive. It looks like I haven't posted anything about our holiday in Madeira, which was actually a wonderful break. You can actually read my article about it here.

One day we found the museum of Quinta das Cruzes in an 18th century mansion built on the site of the home of Zarco, who discovered the island in the 15th century and was its first Portuguese governor. It was surrounded by a beautiful garden, part of which was enhanced by stone ornaments and crosses. Perhaps that's how it got its name, which translates as the Mansion of the Crosses. Here's one of the ornaments, which looks like a royal coat of arms.



The mini-pic of me in the sidebar was taken in this garden. When we were there in October 2007, we were suffering from the heat and we found some lovely cool spots in the garden, like the one below.



I wonder how it fared in the February floods. The news pictures of water rushing down from the mountains were horrendous, as were the reports of loss of life. Tourism is the main industry there and the survivors must still be struggling to restore the beauty of Funchal and the rest of their enchanting island.

My Gardens

The gardens at my new house are going to be very different from the ones I have here. The one similarity is at the back where you step out onto a patio. But while here we then go up a couple of steps, there we'll be going down.

This is part of what I'll be leaving behind at the back.



And at the front.



But these can go with me...



because they are in a pot.

A Dedicated Gardener

You may remember this photo, which I posted here early last summer after visiting the walled garden of Mottisfont Abbey.

I’ve just discovered the name of the rose. It happened that, yesterday, I was catching up with some reading while sitting on the throne. In my National Trust magazine I suddenly came across a very similar photo that was unmistakably the same rose. It’s called ‘Graham Thomas’ after the consultant gardener who set up the rose collection there when the Trust took over the care of the walled garden in 1972.

The magazine ran a feature about the remarkable work of this man who died in 2003 at the ripe old age of 94. He became the first gardens adviser to the NT early in 1955 and twenty years later the Queen recognised his service by awarding him an OBE. He worked tirelessly at a wide variety of properties to restore, develop and conserve the gardens as they were meant to be viewed.

Thomas also wrote many horticultural books and illustrated them with his own drawings and paintings. Wikipaedia lists 13 of them. His work was his life and he told a colleague that he had never had time to marry (according to the magazine feature).

I’m actually quite proud of my photo. I think it’s just as good as the ones in the magazine and on Wikipaedia. But Shutterstock turned it down for having no commercial value.

PS I'll be away for the next few days and don't know if I will be able to post or drop my EC card. Back to normal next week.

We'd fully intended to visit the national collection of old English roses yesterday. I had been trying to get there in June when they are in their full glory. I wanted the experience and to take some pics to illustrate and article idea.

But it was not to be. Something came up and hubby had to work in the morning. The trip would have been too long a drive after that. We compromised and went to a nearer National Trust garden at Tintinhull. I took these pics there.