It's all in the design

Today saw the debut opening of a garden in Alfriston, East Sussex, not five miles from my home. It had featured on Gardener's World a few weeks ago, and also in The English Garden magazine, so I knew a little bit about it already. It's a newly constructed garden by well known designer Ian Kitson, designed to complement but not compete with a wonderful view of the Sussex Downs. The project took 8 months to complete, and involved the shifting of a lot of earth to create sunken areas and a large pond. The time and (great) expense were well worth it - the garden was stunning. My favourite area was probably the easiest to create - a beautiful wildflower meadow. The only drawback today was that due to its media coverage it was extremely busy - brilliant for the charity it was raising money for - but it made it a little tricky to get around at times and, worst of all, they sold out of cake! :-(

Storm Clouds Over Wisley

On Saturday we braved the weather and set off for Wisley, having decided to spend the weekend garden visiting as part of my 40th birthday celebrations. We managed to dodge the showers, resorting to lurking in the glasshouse for rather longer than usual as the heavens opened. When we ventured back outside, the storm clouds added drama to the planting around the glasshouse:

Here are some other pleasing views from Wisley this weekend:

The rose garden (above) was looking gorgeous, but the new rose garden is not open until 1st July. You can already walk along the main pathway but not through the planting.

Here's a preview...

Hey Good Looking!

I don't mean to blow my own trumpet, but I think my garden is looking pretty good at the moment. Things seem to be coming to a crescendo, which is good because I'm having a party on Sunday to celebrate a certain birthday, rhyming with naughty! Only problem is, rain is forecast! And if it does rain, sorry guests but you are still going to be marched out into the garden to have a look around! I haven't toiled in every spare moment for my endeavours to go unnoticed! But for those of you not invited, and for that many apologies, here are a few pics:

Rodmell Open Gardens

Braving the rain this afternoon we headed just five miles up the road to the village of Rodmell, which had 26 gardens open for charity today. The rain sadly kept some people away, but not us! It was rather lovely to walk in the rain, it's so long since we've had any decent precipitation. Some of the gardens prompted me to get the camera out, of course.

This garden had beautiful views over the rolling countryside.

Many of the gardens had  gorgeous displays of roses.

This attractive tree is a Portuguese Laurel.

I loved this arrangement of herbs in pots:

Monk's House (National Trust), former home of Leonard and Virginia Woolf,  was also open today.