Longstock water gardens

Last Saturday I went on the long awaited trip to Longstock Water Gardens. These are situated on the River Test near Stockbridge and are the creation of retailer John Spedan Lewis of John Lewis and Waitrose fame. Keen to create the gardens he had a phone line put in to the thatched summer house so that he could still be on hand to run his empire while creating his gardens. There is a good article from Dan Copper about the gardens here (Opening times and prices are now different, as Dan visited in June 2013) See here for current rates and opening hours.

Due to personal circumstances we visited on the last open weekend of the season and I would say that many of the floral displays were finished. A visit in Spring or Summer would be my suggestion.

Lewis diverted the river and created islands within the gardens which can be reached by small bridges. There were dahlias and lilies, verbena and more still in flower. I’m afraid that some of the plants I didn’t know the names of and couldn’t find the relevant name tags.

I don’t know what these were, the label that I photographed beside them turned out to be for a yellow variety of tick weed, which wasn’t flowering at this time of the year. (Alison has identified these as Liriope muscari)

A pretty palm or banana with dahlias growing underneath. (Jim says this is an Ensete maurelii or Ethiopian false banana)

There were plenty of cyclamen around the gardens.

Not sure what these were, but there were also some creamy ones.(And Jim knows what this one is too – an Astrantia)

A short drive or walk from the gardens is Longstock Park Nursery set in a walled garden, with tea rooms and a small farm shop, all worth a visit. Another good article about the gardens can be found here on The Garden Visitor Website.

Thank you for joining me for this #SixOnSaturday post. I hope that you enjoyed it. Jim is now our host for this gardening meme and you can find his blog here where you will be able to catch up with links from all the other folks who take part.

Happy gardening

Rosie

Link to Jim’s post for this week is here https://gardenruminations.co.uk/2022/11/05/six-on-saturday-5-11-2022/

I had great plans to bring you photos of a trip to Longstock Park Water Gardens in Hampshire, however, Covid has circled back to my household and the friend I was going with agreed it was best to postpone our trip. So I have had to scramble around my garden in search of six items for this week’s post instead.

First photo is of a lone Linum (Bright Eyes) flower. This is from a packet of seed that I bought very late in the season. I sprinkled a few seeds out in the flower bed to see if they would still germinate. The rest I will sow next Spring.

Second photo is of a mystery flower. This plant has been growing all summer, it is just over a foot tall, has multiple heads (and some mildew!) The foliage is dark green with small slender leaves. The one flower that has just opened is small, no more than 2cm in diameter and has propped itself on the Cordyline. The only plant which I have found which might be similar is Sneezewort, but I would welcome your thoughts.

My third photo is of my Squashes, they are slowly growing although one has disappeared and may have been eaten by the visiting badger.

I am going to try growing garlic over the winter. I couldn’t find any at the garden centre, so I am using one from the supermarket. Not ideal, but I shall give them a go. I am starting them off in a tray in the cold frame.

Fifth photo is of some of the Morning Glory, the drought has kept them from taking over the garden, but they are still putting on a last show.

Finally, I found that the harebells were still flowering behind the bushy Kolkwitzia.

Thank you for joining me for this #SixOnSaturday post. I hope that you enjoyed it. If you would like to know more about this hashtag, read founder Mr Propagator’s post here also find him on Twitter here.

Happy gardening

Rosie

Linky to the Prop’s post is here.