Highlights of the Garden

 

All Season interest.

Large colour themed island beds.

Formal and informal ponds.

Large limestone rock gardens, screes and troughs.

White garden.

Winter feature areas.

Ornamental vegetable garden [ Not open but visible to visitors ].

Looking across a corner of the vegetable gardens

Island Beds

Most of Glen Chantry is informally laid out with colour coordinated island beds filled with a mixture of trees, shrubs, roses and perennials. The latter are a particular feature of the garden and many thousands of different varieties are grown. It is the intention of the owners to display these in visually pleasing combinations with attention to the colour, shape, form and texture of the planting. These beds are underplanted with a wide selection of spring and autumn bulbs to extend the season of interest.

Bulbs

Bulbs are a particular interest of the owners. As well as the more usual Tulips and Narcissus, the garden has good displays of a wide variety of Erythronium, Fritillaria, Crocus, Anemone, Corydalis, Scilla, Trillium, Allium, Cyclamen, Colchicum, and other genera.

The White Garden

The well established white garden has a formal structure, but is informally planted. The garden is enclosed by rose festooned trellis and a green coniferous hedge giving it an intimate and romantic atmosphere. Two life size wire sculptured nuns by Suffolk artist Peter Lethbridge add serenity to this area.

Rock Gardens

The rock gardens at Glen Chantry are constructed of water worn limestone and tufa. They provide varied habitats for a wide variety of alpine plants and small bulbs and form an extensive feature at the front of the house. While many easy rock garden plants are grown to provide colour and impact, tufa rock, troughs and crevices provide niches for more demanding and specialised plants.

Ponds and the Damp Garden

Two informal ponds are linked by a long planting of Rodgeria, Hosta, Iris, Primula and other suitable genera. This area is underplanted with Wood Anemones, Fritillaria, Trillium, and Erythronium for spring effect. Three bridges across the planting give visitors the opportunity of viewing from different heights and aspects.

Grasses

A very wide selection of grasses feature as part of the general planting and also in prairie style borders where they are associated with Echinacea, Veronica, Veronicastrum, Aster and Sedum.

Spring

A wealth of spring bulbs feature in April and early May with the following genera being especially well represented. Corydalis, Chionodoxa, Erythronium, Anemone, Nemorosa selections, Trilliums, Fritillaria, Narcissus, Scilla, Tulipa, Alliums in variety form rivers of purple shades through large parts of the garden around the end of May and early June. The rock gardens are at their colourful best in April and May. Sue's collection of several hundred varieties of standard dwarf bearded Iris which are displayed in sleeper beds delight visitors at the end of April and the beginning of May. Magnolias give flowering tree and shrub interest.

Summer

The garden in its pomp with the colour themed island beds awash with large frothy drifts of perennials and shrub roses. Gold, white and pastel themed borders of pink, lavender and burgundy composed of old favourites and more unusual plants provide large, artistically planted swathes of colour. In August an extensive variety of grasses, later flowered Echinacea, Phlox, Rudbeckia and Veronicastrum provide strong structural shape and colour.

Autumn

In early September grasses and the later flowering perennials will be joined by the re-flowering of varieties trimmed after their earlier display as well as seed heads from the untrimmed. Our extensive collection of Sedum should be at their colourful and varied best. Swathes of Cyclamen hederifolium in a variety of flower and leaf colours enliven dry shady spots. Colchicum bring their fresh flowers to the early Autumn scene. Foliage plantings reach their peak in early Autumn.