Once again our members, John and Judy Wilson, invited us to their garden. I visited the garden for the first time earlier this year to see the snowdrops and hellebores and what a difference three months can make! John very kindly handed us a list of plants to look out for on the day - I only missed a couple.

On entering through the front gate we were greeted with the sight and smell of Rosa ‘de l’Hay’ and bright Welsh poppies. Rosa ‘Maigold’ was in full flower climbing up the back of the house wall. Underneath the pergola a brugmansia in a large pot was flowering. Moving on to the vegetable garden Judy told me the side of the path had been planted for continuous flowering with the irises in leaf now to be followed later in the year with nerines. Wandering through the woodland area pathed with forest-bark were many mature specimens of shrubs and trees, for example Magnolia liliiflora, rhododendrons and Hydrangea quercifolia, some underplanted with the dainty pale yellow flowers of uvularia, Paris quadrifolia, disporum and the white-flowered nectaroscordum.

Rosa ‘de l’Hay’		Corydalis		Rubus ‘Benenden’

Leaving the woodland one enters the paddock which is still being developed, some new arrivals being halesia and Dipelta floribunda. This is bounded by some more mature specimens of Paulownia tomentosa covered in gorgeous blue flowers, Crinodendron hookerianum and Davidia involucrata (the beautiful Handerchief tree) just to name a couple of the many wonderful trees and shrubs - the list in this garden is endless. I loved the Iris confusa with its Bamboo-like stems, a specimen which John Simmons had brought back from Sichuan, China - one wonders just how many are left there now after the recent tragedy.

Paulownia tomentosa		Crinodendron hookerianum		Iris confusa

I just loved wandering around this garden once again and can’t wait to visit on another occasion at a different time of the year. Thank you John and Judy for being brilliant hosts and the refreshments were pretty marvellous too!