Sissinghurst in June

A June trip to Sissinghurst. The Irises were beautiful, the meadow area looking wild and enticing to bees and other insects. There was a sea of Aquilegia, many different colours all mixed together.

I picked up a red Achillea and a violet Erysimum for myself, from the plant shop, they are also now selling vegetables from the vegetable plot and so we had Sissinghurst carrots for tea.

Mutation

Either it was a prank from the 1st of the month...or a strange (but beautiful) mutation. A lick of red pigment across a single petal of just one of these tulips, in Sissinghurst. I promise it's not a photoshop trick! Amazing isn't it?

Sissinghurst: Spring Flowers

Easter Monday...another visit to a castle!

Spring at Sissinghurst, there are many flowers you can see for a short period of time...before the hotter colours of the summer flowers erupt into the gardens. If you visit now you can see hellebores, snakeheads, daffy down dillies, snow drops, lungworts (good for bees!), tulips, primroses...there are lots more but these are favourites I saw when I was there.

There are lots of images in the post here...but thought it would be nice for Sissinghurst fans who live further away to be able to have a virtual visit!!)

Spring at Sissinghurst

The first visit to Sissinghurst for 2010. I had not been so early on in the year before and it was really interesting to see the gardens. How plants had been tended to and cut back as well as all the beautiful spring flowers. The orchard is looking great...with daffy down dillies and snakeheads in bloom and loads of bees buzzing about working hard to make the Sissinghurst honey you can buy there.

Can't wait to go back soon to see how it is changing and to see the vegetable garden which is open May-Sept.

Red and Blue...

Violet...

The White Garden

"This garden is probably the most famous of the separate gardens at
Sissinghurst. It was started in 1950 by replanting the garden to the east of the
Priest's House, retaining the original layout but fusing a color scheme of
silver and white: focusing on plants with gray or white foliage and flowers of
mainly white, but with touches of yellow. It is unclear what inspired Vita to
create this monochromatic garden. Through her writings we know she had been
thinking about creating a white garden for at least a decade. Although other
white gardens in England (such as the phlox garden at Hidcote) predated this
one, they did not seem to have an influence on the development of the White
Garden at Sissinghurst. Some speculate that she was inspired by descriptions of
white gardens from hundreds of years earlier in Moghul India."

http://www.hort.wisc.edu/mastergardener/Features/botgardens/sissinghurst/sissinghurst.htm

Bees

This image shows the Beehives at Sissinghurst, you can pick up some honey made by the bees from the gift shop and the vegetables grown in the vegetable plot will be used to feed visitors in the restaurant. http://sissinghurstandfrittendennews.thisiskent.co.uk/2009/04/sissinghurst-vegetable-garden-soon-to.html

The vegetable garden has 50 volunteers working alongside two full and two part time members of staff, this year they are growing 140 different types of vegetables. When I visited many of the plants were still quite young, so I hope to return in a month or so to see the progress and of course take some more photographs.

Sissinghurst gardens

Battle In Vain

Battle In Vain

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Richard_of_York_gave_battle_in_vain