Sun legend Peter Seabrook’s reveals his 10 favourite gardens to visit as he unveils display to mark our 50th anniversary
IT was made for Chelsea . . . but for the world to see it, the only way was to build it in Essex.
The Sun’s Gardening Editor Peter Seabrook designed a 12ft tall, 20ft wide floral pyramid to mark 50 years of Britain’s favourite newspaper.
It was to have been seen by millions during coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show but Covid forced the world-famous event to be cancelled last month.
Instead, until Sunday next week you can visit Peter’s perfect pyramid of blooms at the Royal Horticultural Society’s stunning gardens at Hyde Hall, near Colchester in Essex.
The amazing array of plants will later be dug into the ground in the Floral Fantasia area at Hyde Hall.
Our anniversary pyramid is packed with 20 new plant varieties, including five never-before-seen rudbeckias, which were due to be launched at Chelsea.
Peter’s persistence means The Sun is the only organisation to have built a Chelsea display and put it on show to the public.
Despite the pandemic, he persuaded growers worldwide to donate 10,000 plants to create our floral tribute to The Sun’s half century.
He says: “Doing something special to mark 50 years of The Sun was quite a challenge.
“We set out to have one of our popular pyramid displays, reaching for the roof in the Chelsea Show Great Pavilion, with the number 50 in golden Powerdaisy Sunny flowers across one face.
“Plant breeders from around the world came forward in support and plans were all in place in March.
“We’re not easily put down and were determined to continue, against all the odds.”
By good fortune we were able to build our fabulous display in what for the past year has been The Sun Gardening’s Golden Jubilee Garden in the Floral Fantasia area.
Peter says: “What I can promise visitors in the next few weeks are fabulous fragrances from 6ft high sweet peas and banks of sweetly perfumed garden pinks alongside groups of strongly scented roses.”
Hyde Hall was among the many great gardens that have just opened to the public after being closed by coronavirus.
Remarkably, visitor numbers were three times higher than the same period last year.
Here, Peter has picked his top of the plots to visit, with safe distancing in mind.
Be sure to check online which gardens are open and which have ticket-only entry and timed visits.
- Hear more from some of these gardens in Peter’s podcast, This Week In The Garden.
Great Dixter House and Gardens, Northiam, East Sussex
THE home of late gardening expert Christopher Lloyd is a mecca for gardeners around the world.
They visit to see its clipped topiary, the long border and wild flower meadow.
The steady innovation in plant combinations here set the fashion in gardening for years and is now continued in the hands of head gardener Fergus Garrett.
I make a point of always checking out the arrangement of pot- and container-grown flowering plants around the front door.
If you have no more than a square metre or two around your front door you will get inspiration here.
Harlow Carr, Harrogate, North Yorks
IT has one of the longest streamside plantings of candelabra primulas in the country – a beauty to behold in early summer.
The Alpine Zone garden at the top of the valley, with attractive views across to the woodland area, has a reputation second to none.
The kitchen garden includes plenty of blooms that are suitable for people who enjoy flower arranging.
RHS Rosemoor, Torrington, Devon
INCLUDES the Queen Mother’s Rose Garden, which features modern cultivars, and the shrub rose garden, which is packed with old traditional varieties.
I really love the fruit and vegetable garden, which is surrounded by wooded countryside, where those having a go at growing some of their own for the first time will find plenty of interest.
You will need time to explore all the meandering paths and find the Hot Garden, one of two colour-themed plantings.
The other, Cool Garden, has paler shades.
Bressingham Gardens, Norfolk
ITS 17 acres of gardens include the late Alan Bloom’s Dell Garden and Foggy Bottom, designed, planted and tended by his son Adrian.
This is a plant lover’s heaven, with masses of summer-flowering herbaceous perennial flowers, many bred and raised at Bressingham, near the market town of Diss.
Don’t miss Adrian’s Wood, with the 100ft redwoods he planted in 1965, and take a notebook to record good planting arrangements in Alan’s Island Beds and a camera to record the beautiful flint walls.
Aberglasney, Carmarthen
THIS is one of the finest Welsh gardens, with many features to explore.
It was made famous by the BBC TV series A Garden Lost In Time.
Go to the North Lawn to see thick trunks which form the ancient yew tunnel.
If there is a shower, pop into the Ninfarium and shelter in the glass atrium, built over ruined central rooms housing subtropical and exotic foliage plants.
Don’t miss the upper walled garden and lower walled kitchen garden to see fruit, vegetables and flowers for cutting, and for water lilies, the pool garden.
Birmingham Botanical Gardens
JUST a mile from the city centre, this 15-acre oasis of calm has plenty for you to see and do.
It has four greenhouses, including a tropical house with lily pond and subtropical house with orchids.
There’s also the National Collection of bonsai, including the 250-year-old Juniperus chinensis.
Plant buffs can check out their identifying skills on the 7,000 different specimens to be found here.
A £47,500 National Lottery Heritage Fund emergency donation has helped them through the lockdown.
Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Romsey, Hants
THE most important arboretum in Britain.
Its 180 acres feature 12,000 plants, 611 champion trees and 14 National Plant Collections, including the collection of poplars, called a populetum.
This council-run garden has the longest double, mixed perennial border in the country, which looks spectacular in summer.
Currently the peony border will be on song and children will love travelling across the wobbly bridge and Jurassic Gunnera boardwalk.
Accurately described as a garden for all seasons.
Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh
STAND on top of the rock garden and scan the city that stretches out before you.
I love the enormous beech hedge and long herbaceous border here, not to mention the palm house.
The Royal Botanic staff also look after three other significant Scottish gardens – Benmore in Argyll, Logan, near Stranraer, and Dawyck in Peebles.
Dawyck is worth a visit just for the blue poppies – meconopsis – plus the bluebells and ferns along the tumbling burn, as well as the azalea terrace, which is just about to bloom.
Bodnant Garden, near Colwyn Bay
ITS five terraces spread out over 80 acres looking across the Conwy Valley to the Carneddau Mountains of Snowdonia.
Every terrace is beautifully landscaped, one with a lily pond and others with bloom-filled herbaceous borders.
The famous Laburnum arched walk is spectacular in spring, as is the whole estate when clad in the yellows, oranges, and crimsons of autumn shades.
The Alnwick Garden, Northumberland
STAFF are preparing this magnificent garden in the grounds of Alnwick Castle, where Harry Potter was filmed, for opening on July 1. It will be well worth the wait.
The Duchess of Northumberland is the driving force behind the ambitious new garden with its dramatic grand water cascade and a 3,000-bush rose garden.
MOST READ IN NEWS
The spirit of Hogwarts is everywhere, including the Serpent Garden in the shape of a snake, the backdrop to seven water features.
In Poison Garden – the only one in the world – every plant can kill you.
The 100,000 visitors a year have to be guided around this gruesome area to make sure tragedy does not befall them.
- GOT a story? RING The Sun on 0207 782 4104 or WHATSAPP on 07423720250 or EMAIL [email protected]