Marwood Gardens near Barnstaple, is one of my favourite places in the world. On Tuesday I visited this amazing hide away with Jimbles and the Garden Poet. We had quite an amusing drive over as Jamie and I tailed the dashing GP in his open topped car through the green Devon roads singing along to the Pixies and discussing the legacy of Courtney Love.
I've not been to visit at this time of year for quite a while and it was amazing to see so much in bloom, if a little disquieting. It's the funny spring we've had this year. In addition it was enjoyable to see the lushness and flowers coming this much further south and I hope that's what we've got to look forward to this year back in Edinburgh.
One of the revelations for me at Marwood was the Primulas. I've never been a massive fan and they always seem to me a bit of an after-thought. Used a Marwood as a garish and vibrant block of planting in the bottom of the valley they are extraordinary. Indeed the repeated sections of boggy planting at Marwood are truly beautiful right now with the punctuation of spiky and small headed yellow iris.
I say these colours are garish, however somehow they are tonally in keeping with the colours around them. Garish with love! In recent years, the dominant planting styles have been tapestry or drift planting. At Marwood, maybe because they have National collections of Astilbes and Magnolias, they plant in groups. It isn't a style I would utilise in my small patch of heaven, however there are advantages. You can see the individual plant and it's individual characteristics - upright stems, bright foliage etc, rather than losing the plant in one planting scheme. I think there is an argument for planting schemes that allow you to see the individuality of the plants within them, and I'll ruminate on that. I suppose the answer is probably less variety of plants and more recurring planting which provides more repetition, rather like the grouped planting here. Not sure I can commit to that.
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