Today we visited Prince Charles's garden at Highgrove. Ray went about 4
years ago but I'd never been. It was a 'special' visit in that it was a
group which had bid for entry in an auction at a Prince's Trust 'do' in
various parts of the UK and my son had done this and given it to us as a
present.
With one exception, I thought it was a terrific garden. The exception is an
archway with the busts of various people important to him on top of it. I
found it a bit macabre. The rest of it is thoughtfully planned and
beautifully executed, as one would hope and expect. What is special, I
think, is that it is indeed a private and personal garden designed by the
owner for the owner, with the help of others but with a lot of personal
input from him. The guide said repeatedly "The Prince wanted to plant such
and such here; the Prince decided to plant azaleas in huge pots because they
don't grow in the ground here; the Prince decided to turn this bit into the
arboretum etc. etc." So there isn't at all the feeling of going around a
garden designed to win the approbation of others. It's their garden and if
you don't like it, that's too bad. One thing I liked most particularly was
the fact that in front of one side of this really quite formal building
there is a garden which is a riot of e.g. Alchemilla mollis and fennel and
other country plants run mad with a pond in the middle of it all. Where
others might have matched the house with a formal planting or a parterre,
here there is a cottagey feel and it works very well, partly because it has
real charm and an aura of peace and partly because it's unexpected in such a
setting and so, underlines the personal preferences of its owners. On
another face of the house there is the black and white garden, originally
planted with lavender and roses. Here, the beds are formalised shapes but
the planting is anything but. It works extremely well, IMO.
The Atlantic cedar which he fell in love with when he bought the house had
to be felled although they tried for 7 years to save it. A large 'spire'
has been built on top of its stump and one sad, dead branch extends from the
base but - and here's the nice bit - on it hang several pagoda style bird
feeders. So even while the tree is dead and mourned I feel sure, it is
giving life and sustenance to birds, still.

The hedge Roy Strong planted all around the more formal part of the garden
is a real beauty with dipped tops to it and little windows in it too. And
in the arboretum we saw a tree I had never encountered before and now lust
after, a Fagus sylvatica 'Roseomarginata'. It is just *such* a pretty tree.

The walled veg. Garden is a work of art in itself and the apple tunnel is
really lovely, something I'd never seen before.

Our group was about 24, split up between 3 guides but we were told that on
normal visiting days they can get 12 groups through a day. Those guides are
volunteers and they must be very dedicated. We ended with champagne and
canapés in the Orchard Room which is dedicated to a long-serving and now
deceased member of the staff who was at Highgrove before Prince Charles
bought it but who remained there for many years after he became the owner.


Ray was very pleased to be singled out by one of the gardeners, the one in
charge of the Hosta collection. We were taken aside to be shown that a
Hosta 'Mr Big' which Ray had given the Prince after his first visit to
Highgrove, was still flourishing. We were most earnestly asked for any
details we could supply for this plant so that it could be added to their
database. This time, having noticed that Prince Charles often wears pinks in
his buttonholes, Ray took him 3 plants of Dianthus 'Green Lanes', a pink
that never went into commercial production but which was bred by Cecil
Wyatt, who lived not far from here, naming many of his pinks after Dartmoor
or Devon locations. Mr Wyatt gave D. 'Green Lanes' to Ray shortly before he
died and the short stems which prevented it from being a commercial
proposition will make it a perfect buttonhole!
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon