This green and pleasant land ( from the train )
Whether or not you prefer British garden piece of writing or the Stateside potpourri ( I just like just writing wherever it originates ) , you have to admit that the Brits do a middling safe line at the existent gardening part of it . We were just there , not on a garden go mind you , just an ordinary holiday , and originative gardening was everywhere , whether we were seeking it out or not .
Landscaping at the hotel ( Carbis Bay )
This green and pleasant land (from the train)
There are caveat , of course . The climate for gardening over there is just better . While we may not have prefer mid - sixties temps and frequent precipitation on an August holiday , I surmise the plant were loving it . With exceptions , you just do not see the rough extremes in either direction that US gardeners have under . And they have a much older gardening culture . I do n’t really begrudge any of this ; it ’s just a with child reason to visit .
Do n’t expect any verbal description and images from Sissinghurst , Great Dixter , or even Kew in this position . Except for Eden , which is a worldwide terminus , most of our visits were to historic , artistic , and/or architectural wonders . Along the room , we admired :
I did not take pictures of any of the ones I saw , so this is a the station at Newton St. Cyr in Devon , a 3rd place winner ( courtesy of Friends of Newton St. Cyres )
Landscaping at the hotel (Carbis Bay)
Rail place gardensOver here , we do like to put trains into gardens , but bloom into geartrain stations ? Not so much . It ’s a charming custom in the UK , begin with the commencement of gearing traveling in the mid - 19th century , but reaching its top in the mid - twentieth , when post managers often lived nearby and tended the garden . There are even competitions for the good station garden , many of which are now postulate maintenance of by volunteers . Not all stations have them , but most I saw did ; it ’s just another fun part of train travel there , which , with cabs , was our main mood of transfer .
Parking fortune gardensThis was below our hotel way in Carbis Bay , Cornwall , which was beautifully landscaped . There were three of these , and they ’re maybe not looking their unspoiled , but they break up what would be a rectangle of concrete used mainly for railway car . Are they even postulate , given the vista beyond them ? Maybe not , and that pass water the exploit more commendable .
There are a yoke of fuchsia specialist in our garden bloggers mathematical group ; how they must begrudge their British counterparts , who can grow them as hedges . I do n’t get it on who planted all the perennials and shrub along the paths we take the air between St. Ives and Carbis Bay , but every Clarence Day I admired the godforsaken maculation of acanthus , crocosmia , and fall clematis ( below ) we saw everywhere . Some of it would be considered to a fault aggressive , but I ’ll take these over our goutweed and celandine any day .
I did not take pictures of any of the ones I saw, so this is a the station at Newton St. Cyr in Devon, a 3rd place winner (courtesy of Friends of Newton St. Cyres)
Along the route
We did see real show gardens , notably at Hampton Court . And we loved the Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Garden in St. Ives . It ’s one of the best and most seamless combination of art and planting I ’ve seen .
Of course , the street of London were lined with gorgeous planters . I also enjoyed the unkempt grass in Hyde Park ( above ) . Lawn culture seems under control here , where environmental waste ( stress asking for a moldable bag ) seems much more under control condition . Though I loved acquire back to my own garden , derive back to more intelligence of environmental deregulation and loss of protections was not hearten . Oh , well . For another daytime .
Along the road
