Thinking we would take advantage of the extra days made available for visits to Perch Hill, we chose the one for container planting. However, on the day it was the dahlias that stole the show and which we will remember!
Although rain was not forecast, we arrived to a little bit of a mizzle and a very grey sky – in the photographs this has tended to deaden the exuberant colours. We were knocked out by Penhill Watermelon, Geri Scott and the delicious Apricot Desire, but it would be impossible to choose one favourite out of all the lovely colours. Although some are critical of the Sarah Raven enterprise, there is no question that the gardens are beautifully styled. Of course, plants are labelled so that anything you see you will find on their website, but it is a commercial business. In fact, it is good to find a label so that you can identify what you are looking at! Salvias are everywhere, edging the herbaceous borders, in pots as well as mixed through the beds. These are such versatile plants.
Combinations of pelargoniums, coreopsis and tagetes in pots were fabulous.
And the planting combinations in the borders and the yards were typically exuberant
One of the areas at Perch Hill which is structured using wigwams of Thunbergia alata and Rhodochiton atrosanguineus at each corner. There is always something here which can be adapted to your own garden.
Vija
Charlton and Blackheath Amateur Horticultural Society 