Butterflies at Hidcote

My project of raising and releasing butterflies in the garden at Hidcote has reached its end now, as the summer season draws to a close. I’m perhaps somewhat disappointed that the excitement is all over, and can’t help but ponder over how ‘my’ butterflies have progressed out there in the jolly rough world of birds and other toe-rags that should frankly stick to eating seeds and slugs!

Overall I released about 19 native butterflies into the garden, including this Comma above who is seen just after emerging from pupation. It has been gloriously good fun getting up close to these beautiful chaps, and revelling in the marvel that is metamorphosis! Fortunately some good feedback has been received from visitors and staff so we will be going for this again next year over the full duration of the summer. Combining with a moth trap and nectar-rich plantings down at the Bee Garden, it should be an interesting year for influencing and recording insect activity around the garden!

Yet more Plant House

I am very fond of this area of Hidcote, hence why I keep babbling on about it! Right now it is a glorious spot to sit and recline, or even wander about investigating what’s in bloom or where exactly that pleasant scent is omitting from. This interest will then last all the way into the cold winter months when again it becomes a haven, sealed from the damp outside with glorious, glorious piping pumping out life-giving warmth! This is definitely one of my favourite parts of the garden and I reserve the right to jabber on about it again at some point in the near future!

Fuchsia arborescens on the left just hitting its second bloom of the year, next to the ‘somewhat vigorous’ Dahlia imperialis

A honey bee drinking in the gramophone blooms of Brugmansia

Tibouchina urvilleana

A fantastic climber, Lophospermum erubescens, that can be grown as an annual from seed each year

Another vigorous chap that will do from seed each year, Thunbergia gregorii

Orange-eyed Susan

Winged friends

A meeting of minds on Eryngium giganteum

Gatekeeper feeding on Phlox paniculata ‘Pina Colada’

A friendly Meadow Brown (note the single white dot on the wing, the similar Gatekeeper has two)

Small Tortoiseshell

A very pretty Bombus on Lavandula angustifolia ‘Hidcote Giant’

Interesting moth, a Silver Y (positive mutterings have greeted my request for a moth trap, so we may soon get a chance to investigate these chaps in closer detail)

Comma making the most of V. bon

Blooms at Sissinghurst

Morina longifolia, spiky almost succulent looking leaves contrast with these marshmallow tinged flowers

The incredibly photogenic Osteopspernum ‘Whirligig’

Anemone x hybrida ‘Whirlwind’, seen flowering in the White Garden

Aster x frikartii ‘Monch’ being enjoyed by a Gatekeeper butterfly

Rosa ‘Golden Wings’

I’m somewhat swamped by college assignments at the minute so apologies for the intermittent posting.

An evening at Sissinghurst

‘Gallivanting’ is truth be told, the only way to describe my recent escapades in the South East! Not only did I drink in the great beauty of Great Dixter all day, but the evenings were peppered with glorious sunsets, moth trapping, street festivals in Hastings (including the Dixter veg stall!) and a delightful evening stroll around the resplendent gardens of Sissinghurst Castle! I journeyed here for the first time back in April for what turned out to be a golden week of spring glory, and it was a great joy to return here and poke about the place during the summer displays. As back in April, the Cottage Garden was for me the most beautiful area of Sissinghurst. The simple design of this garden, with the majority of the available space handed over to borders, combined against the backdrop of that beautiful brick cottage clad in a fine specimen of Rosa, is truly breathtaking. The planting here is packed tight, ranging from clumps of Achillea to delicate bedding out with Hibiscus trionum. The ‘hot’ planting scheme seems to compliment and be enhanced by the brick, and obviously shows up well against the Yew topiary! The copper tub that serves as a centrepiece is beauty itself. Living here in the manor at Hidcote is great fun, but I would certainly consider giving it up to live in that cottage, there is even a hive of wild bees living in the roof; perfect!

View from underneath the tower

Yew Walk

The tower seen from the recently mowed meadow

Dovecote in the meadow

Lime Walk

Cottage Garden shadows

Exquisite planting in the Cottage Garden