[This post contains lots of photographs, just click on the photos to see a larger version. There are so many plants that we haven’t named them all (we don’t necessarily know every cultivar), but feel free to ask about them in the comments and we’ll do our best to answer!]
On the first day of July more than 50 CABAHS members and a few guests set off from Charlton House bright and early for a trip to RHS Hyde Hall in Essex.
As we arrived, a staff member advised us not to miss the Cottage Garden near the entrance. They were not wrong – the garden was as exuberant as I’ve ever seen it, with bursts of height and colour expressed in some beautifully grown species such as Clematis, hollyhocks, Dierama and Zinnia.
The Modern Country Garden next door was a slightly more formal affair, with great use made of grasses such as Pennisetum ‘Fairy Tails’ and Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’, against clipped Pyrus salicifolia (silver-leafed pear) and yew. all setting off swathes of colour from Helenium, Achillea etc.
The walk up to the higher areas of the gardens, whether via Birch Grove and the Winter Garden (still worth a visit even in high summer) or more directly through the Clover Hill Borders and/or the Australia & New Zealand Garden, led to the famous Dry Garden which was looking perfect in this hot weather, and alive with insects.
Most of us had a breather and some lunch in the restaurant, looking out on some beautiful planting in containers and borders surrounding the building – there were lots of exclamations to be heard. Then we headed out again to see areas we perhaps hadn’t got to before lunch – for instance the gaudy but impressive Floral Fantasia, Global Growth Vegetable Garden or the Rose Gardens and Herbaceous Border – or just to have a wander in the cooler, shadier areas such as the Robinson Garden, Upper and Lower Pond Gardens or the Woodland Garden.
and the Farmhouse Garden
All too soon it was time to visit the shop (I wish I’d taken a photograph of the impressive haul of plant treasures that came back to South London!) and wind our way back to Charlton, somewhat overheated but happy.
As always, we’re enormously grateful to Anna for all her work in organising the trip and looking after everyone on the day – Thanks Anna!
Ali H
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Charlton and Blackheath Amateur Horticultural Society 