The recent trend of Prairie gardens is all a bit too strongly tied in to the heavy duty use of grasses, a planting style that passes me by. Nevertheless I was curious to see what a Prairie garden in Sussex was all about as the owners Pauline & Paul McBride had twice taken the trouble to invite me to visit it. Furthermore it had been gathering rave reviews. I was curious !
On first impressions it looks like a field on a flat land surrounded by Oaks of good age, the body of which is a great swirl of blocks of perennials..no mature trees to speak of, no shrubs, conifers, bulbs...just perennials and grasses. Oh my gosh, was this my cup of tea ? Dominating the taller plantings was the ubiquitous Eupatorium, a plant that sports about the dreariest tone of purple you could wish to encounter, along with silvery purple plumes of Miscanthus in thick blocks.
Contrary to my foreboding what became a very satisfying first observation were the generous dimensions of the main drives, no chlostrauphobicly narrrow paths here, instead rather wide and expansive walks. Lovely..Space! Carving a sharp line through the whole garden is a broad avenue, longitudinally split with a narrow bed of an ornamental waist-high Grass edged in what looked like Alliums. The only sadness here was that neither end had an interesting point of focus, agricultural buildings one end and an inconsequential pile of old compost the other. No doubt this might get addressed in due course. [see 2nd comment] Perhaps a high cone of ground surrounded by a moat for viewing the swirling design might be considered.
The most delightful, in fact thoroughly exciting aspects of the garden are the huge swathes of brightly coloured perennials. A huge block of Orange Coneflower [Rudbeckia fulgida Goldstrum] was blasting a sunny floodlight of gold in one's face, quite irresistible to stand and admire, both from afar and at close quarters. Lavender purple Perovskias with fulsome skirts of pink Saponaria also charmed the eye not to mention the exotic drifts of Echinacea twinned with pink Astilbes or Phlox, and hot coppercoloured Heleniums as neighbours to red Persicaria. One could go on ...and on !
Enjoy the pictures, enjoy the lavishness of flowers, enjoy the riot of colour ! This place is a flower fest !
There is a feast of lovely gardens in Sussex and Kent that would make an exciting tour for anyone wanting a privately guided trip around this part of the UK. Please contact me if it sounds tantalizing..a stunning journey awaits you .
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4 comments:
Thanks for this, Adam: an interesting review - and there will be a review of this garden on the thinkingardens (www.thinkingardens.co.uk)website next week.
Hope to see you there! XXXX
Thank you for your review, Adam.
Point taken about piles of compost and agricultural buildings. The garden is still a work in progress and a focal point at the far end is on our "to do," list-budget permitting! Our buildings are no stately homes, it's true! This a garden for the common man, by the common man. A viewing platform is also on our wish list.
Best wishes from
Paul & Pauline McBride
In fact the common name for Rudbeckia is not Coneflower, Echinacea are Coneflowers, the Rudbeckias are cousins but probably their most popular common name is Black Eyed Susan. They are usually yellow and not orange, certainly the one mentioned in your blog is yellow. Jennie Maillard, Usual & Unusual Plants.
Jennie, thx for your comment but I have to take issue with your nomenclature. Echinacea is in fact Cone Flower whereas Rudbeckia is Coneflower. Furthermore Black-eyed Susan refers, strictly speaking, to Rudbeckia hirta.
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