A pink and cream flower of peony 'Bowl of Beauty'

Floral Favourites

Posted on by Ann Mackay

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Around here, villages and towns have ‘open gardens’ in the summer. That’s a day when they will have a number of gardens that are open to visitors in aid of local charities. It sometimes means a lot of walking and (even with the maps we’re given) there can be a bit of detective work to find the gardens. Despite that, it’s a fascinating exploration of other people’s gardens and a fun way to get to know the local area better.

You soon see what the favoured plants for the season are too. At this point in the year there were no surprises. Our latest garden walkabout demonstrated the unmatched popularity of roses, the most-loved flower in UK gardens. Other must-haves were irises, alliums and lavender – all expected garden staples for June. (And all plants that I grow too.)

Some of the most frequently-grown of the plants were ones that we don’t have in our own garden. We saw beautiful peonies in a number of the gardens we visited, all at their frilly best. It seems that the two familiar lovelies here (‘Bowl of Beauty’ above, and ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ below) are very much cherished by our local gardeners. It’s easy to see why, and it’s a great pleasure to be able to enjoy the sight of flowers that we would otherwise miss out on. (It may even push me to create a space for a peony or two here…)

A pink flower of Paeonia lactiflora 'Sarah Bernhardt'
A pink flower of Paeonia lactiflora ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ is not yet fully opened.
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Published by Ann Mackay

Photographer, mixed-media art adventurer and completely daft about plants.......

17 thoughts on “Floral Favourites”

  2. Not being a gardener, I wondered if alliums are as popular in American gardens as you say they are in Britain. I posed that question and received an AI response: “Yes, alliums are definitely gaining popularity in American gardens and landscaping. They are appreciated by gardeners for their beauty, versatility, and unique characteristics.”

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  3. Like quite a few other villages, our village has had to cancel this year because of soaring insurance costs. Such a shame. I’m not surprised that peonies are so popular, they are the very essence of June. Lovely photos.

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    1. Ah, I had noticed that a lot of villages were ‘resting’ on the open gardens list. I didn’t know that they had to insure, so that explains why a lot of villages have stopped. What a shame! I think that Colin and I will need to make the most of our chances to visit gardens this year…there might not be many in future. That is sad.

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  5. I always used to love the secret gardens of Ludlow, especially as I didn’t have a garden of my own there. They are good to see what grows locally and how people make the most of often quite small and challenging spaces. I don’t grow peonies either, but I do like them.

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    1. I love seeing how other gardeners have created lovely spaces, especially when I can learn something that helps me make more of my own garden. Sometimes the smallest gardens are the most inventive and the most inspiring – maybe having a small space makes you think more. (And you can afford the plants to fill them! 🙂 )

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  6. I don’t know if the same sort of open gardens are common here, but we do have something similar. Each year the Houston Garden Club, and probably other groups in other cities, have what’s called an Azalea Trail. The flowers are everywhere in spring, in an unbelievable number of colors, and some of the displays at historic homes, or at the homes of people who can afford to plant large numbers of them, are fantastic. It’s apparently one of the biggest tickets in town. I’ve never been on one of the tours, but just driving around the neighborhoods can be quite something.

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    1. That sounds like a spectacular thing to see! We don’t see a lot of rhododendrons or azaleas around here – something I miss from Scotland. Azaleas do have the most beautiful colours. 🙂

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    1. We will be visiting our favourite garden frequently – it’s not far away and we have a season ticket for it. But we had to forget the nearby village’s open gardens for this year because it was simply much too hot to be able to walk around them all. We’re longing for some cool rain right now!

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