Jacquetta Menzies Garden Design

Preparing for Ecobuild

2011-02-04T12:00:00.004Z

Its been a long dark winter, but now candlemass has passed and the sap is rising. I am in the throes of preparing to exhibit at Ecobuild A friend and colleague Catherine Thomas is sharing the pitch with me on the BALI stand, and we hope to make new contacts, in quality and quantity. It will be a great opportunity.

Manchester

2010-11-09T12:13:00.003Z

A soaring gateway to - nowhere very much now, not so when these magnificent warehouses and head offices were built in Manchester's Whitworth Steet.

High Peak Garden

2010-10-21T11:34:00.002+01:00

I made a return visit to plant some bulbs, but was thwarted by the frost. It made the planting look good though, the leaves of the Phlomis russeliana particularly. The woodland meadow is planted with Persicaria ampolexicaulis 'Firetail' Geranium psilostemon and Melica uniflora, with Narcissus poeticus recurvus.

Dead hedge

2010-10-18T17:03:00.003+01:00

A good example of creating a stock proof barrier in a rural setting, when a fence won't do. Posts are driven in with brushwood woven in between. Whips (small trees/shrubs) can be planted which will eventually grow into a hedge. This one at the Waulkmill, joins beautifully to a wicket gate and drystone wall.

Let's hear it for autumn

2010-10-12T11:48:00.002+01:00

Outside the Imperial War Museum in London is the Tibetan Peace Garden.
What could be cooler than white Japanese anemones and electric blue ceratostigma? The combination of flowering ivy and virginia creeper careering over a high wall is lush. Plenty pollen for the bees and colour for the eye until winter comes.

Trentham Gardens

2010-10-11T17:29:00.003+01:00

Piet Oudolf's planting at Trentham, Staffordshire: Creamy Selinum wallichianum, with cauliflowers of purple sedum, plumy grasses and some eupatorium hanging about at the back.

Last tomatoes

2010-10-07T14:15:00.003+01:00

Finally clearing out the greenhouse, here are the last ripe tomatoes of the season. Same number again of green ones! This year I grew Scottish Yellow and Mini Orange, both from the Heritage Seed Library, at Garden Organic. The Mini Orange has tended to mildew, even in the greenhouse. The Scottish Yellow has yielded well and looks good, but tastes better cooked. I got a great oven dried toms recipe from someone at our East Cheshire Organic group.

Staunton Harold

2010-08-09T14:56:00.003+01:00

Two different gates from Staunton Harold. You know you are going somewhere special when going through these. And two different faces, the angel from above the doorway of the seventeenth century church and the twenty-first century green man from the adjacent craft centre.

Saxon sculpture

2010-08-09T14:48:00.002+01:00

Two faces from the distant past give a Byzantine blessing. They can be seen at the church of St. Mary and St. Hardulph at Breedon on the Hill in Leicestershire. Incidently Breedon on the Hill means hillhill on the hill, each new invader to the area adding their own word for hill. It is a very lovely hill.

Garden matures

2010-08-03T19:39:00.002+01:00

One year after re-planting, this garden is beginning to fill out. The soil has a tendency to dry out, due to the competing root systems of existing mature trees and shrubs. However with careful mulching and feeding the underplanting is thriving.

St. Georges, Thornton Hough

2010-07-21T10:52:00.003+01:00

A bestiary in stone at St George's, Thornton Hough. Designed by J. Lomax Simpson in 1907 for W. H. Lever. 'A tour de force of the stone carver's art' say the Armstrongs in their handbook of 'The Arts and Crafts Movement in the North West of England'.

Vernon Park Stockport

2010-07-13T18:32:00.002+01:00

A Cheshire Gardens Trust visit to Vernon Park, Stockport's 'hidden gem'. Opened in 1858 it was restored with Lottery money in 2000.

Arley Hall Gardens

2010-07-08T15:03:00.004+01:00

A privileged evening guided tour with the head gardener of Arley Hall Gordon Baillie, prior to a planning meeting about the Cheshire Gardens Trust's stand at the Tatton Park Flower show. Gordon has done a great job, the whole garden but particularly the famous herbaceous borders. The walled kitchen gardens are looking immaculate.

High Peak Garden

2010-07-08T14:06:00.005+01:00

The planting has just been completed on this garden. My client had recently completed the renovation of the house and commissioned me to take on the gardens. The building of the project was delayed by the bad winter weather and did not start on site until early March. The bulk of the plants are small, 9cm pots, as the depth of soil is variable, the bedrock being just below the surface in some places. The site, at 220' faces into the prevailing westerly wind. An existing roofless stone barn was conserved and incorporated into the design, the drystone walls repaired and a new one built to make a raised bed. The sawn stone paving makes a contrast with the rough drystone walls. The contractor has made a really excellent job of all the stonework, paving and joinery. The small parking area was extended, levelled and the tarmac was replaced with gravel made of crushed local quarry waste. The fencing and trellis is woven oak to slow the wind speed rather than solid fencing which creates turbulence. The planting of heaths, birches and purple moor grass is designed to echo the adjoining moorland. There is a woodland meadow under the mature sycamore and birch, of Melic grass, with Persicaria 'Firetail' and Geranium psilostemon. In the deeper shade sweet cicely and sweet woodruff. There is a separate herb garden and a more traditional rose border. A raised pond with fountain is built against the barn, and visible from the house.

Poulton Hall Gardens

2010-07-08T13:45:00.003+01:00

The world of wonders at Poulton Hall. Created as a memorial to the scholar and author Roger Lancelyn Greenvby his wife June, the garden is full of sculptural references to the themes of his books. There is also a dramatic stainless steel sculpture by Sue Sharples called the Breeze of Life, which is dedicated to the memory of Roger and June's son Richard Lancelyn Green, also a notable scholar and author. The garden is open under the NGS, but this was a visit organised by the Cheshire Gardens Trust. I love the surreal way scale is used, from the huge steel sculpture to the little model Buddha.

New greenhouse, new garden

2010-07-08T11:55:00.003+01:00

My clients wanted to extend the season, particularly for growing salads and vegetables and chose a new Hartley Botanic greenhouse. Next problem, where to put it. Which is where I came in and rejigged the layout of the back garden. The design is as simple as possible with a moderate spoonful of Arts and Crafts. The build and planting was completed in October 2009. Challenges included a very wet summer and autumn combined with clay soil and a high water table. The contractor dealt with all the problems deftly. Some land drains were put in under the beds and lawn, leading to a new bog garden, planted with blueberries and camassia. Needles to say that at the moment everything is dry.

Bunbury garden revisited

2010-07-08T11:36:00.003+01:00

Compare these photos with the entry for 21 August 2009. The stone work and the quercus fencing is still looking immaculate. The drought has affected some of the hamemelis and hydrangeas, in spite of the amount of mulch applied, the sandy soil does not retain much moisture.

Small but perfectly formed

2010-07-08T11:14:00.003+01:00

Another of my projects; this back garden in Congleton was planted in March. The small lawn was replaced with planted terraces and the paved sitting area was enlarged to allow for table and chairs. The contractor painstakingly reused many of the existing clay pavers and mixed them in with the new. The prominent manhole cover has disappeared under a lovely birdbath designed and made by potter Gordon Cooke.

Quarry Bank Mill

2010-07-08T10:48:00.002+01:00

In the gardens of the Mill Owner's house at Quarry Bank Mill, Styal, wonderful rock textures

Boden Hall Gardens

2010-07-08T10:03:00.003+01:00

This private garden is open by appointment during June. See the entry in the Good Gardens Guide.

Sissinghurst

2010-07-08T09:51:00.003+01:00

It is very hard to do any sort of justice to this garden in photos. It lives up to its reputation. The National Trust has treated it well and lightly.

Derek Jarman's Garden

2010-07-08T09:27:00.002+01:00

The garden at Prospect Cottage, Dungeness. Although it is well maintained, there is a sadness, knowing the man who dreamed it, loved it and tended it is no longer there. Recommended book: 'Derek Jarman's Garden' with photos by Howard Sooley published by Thames and Hudson.

Lamb House Rye

2010-07-07T14:58:00.002+01:00

The garden at Lamb House, as featured in the Mapp and Lucia novels of E. F, Benson.

Rye Castle

2010-07-07T14:53:00.001+01:00

The new herb garden in the courtyard of Rye Castle.

Chelsea 2010

2010-07-07T14:18:00.004+01:00

My favourite garden at Chelsea this year. Kebony ASA designed by Darren Saines. All the planting is suitable for Norway, so would do ok in the North West of England.

One House Nursery

2010-07-07T12:33:00.004+01:00

Amazing Anemone nemorosa 'Virescens' spotted at the open day at One House Nursery Rainow. Also Peter Rabbit by Claire de Ruiter sits happily in the rhubarb in the walled garden.

Henbury Hall Gardens

2010-07-07T12:11:00.004+01:00

A Cheshire Gardens Trust visit to Henbury Hall Gardens on 14th May. The view of the house from the sunken garden, the view of the lake framed by gorgeous azaleas and the oval window embrasure in the old walled garden.

courtyard garden

2010-07-07T11:56:00.003+01:00

Finished in the autumn of 2008, this garden is beginning to mature. The box hedge is now well established, ready for clipping this summer. The new paving of Kerridge stone is looking great, contrasting well with the recycled slabs and drystone walls. The photos were taken in early May, hence the tulips.

Pollarded planes

2010-07-07T09:43:00.002+01:00

Barcelona Pavillion

2010-07-07T09:33:00.003+01:00

The quality of the stone, the grace, the proportion, it is the Barcelona Pavilion designed by Mies Van der Rohe in 1929. That's 1929.

winter

2010-07-06T19:48:00.002+01:00

Snow

Caixa Forum, Madrid

2009-12-07T17:25:00.003Z

Herzog and de Meuron's CaxiaForum art Gallery framed by the lush green wall of Patrick Blanc.

Parque del Retiro, Madrid

2009-12-07T17:16:00.002Z

The drama of cloud pruning and the repetition of topiary against autumn foliage.

Jardines de Sabatini, Madrid

2009-12-07T17:07:00.003Z

A peaceful green space in Madrid. The formal neoclassical style is calming. Another example of topiary being rather companionable.

Edinburgh Botanic Gardenshttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

2009-10-27T09:20:00.003Z

The new John Hope Gateway and visitor centre at the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens. Designed by Edward Cullinan Architects. I love the form of the building and the way one can move through it into the gardens, the staircase particularly. Disappointingly the interior is very cluttered. Looking forward to the completion of the planting and pools. and the stonework being colonised by lichens and ferns.

Chatsworth Sculptures

2009-09-25T17:21:00.004+01:00

Sothebys 'Beyond Limits' exhibition at Chatsworth House. A selection of my favourites; Bernar Venet's 225.5 Arc x 5, Niki de Saint Phalle's Buddha, Guy Zagursky's Mirror against Mirror and Yayoi Kusama's Narcissus Garden.

Little Sparta

2009-09-16T09:06:00.005+01:00

A pool, a pool, a bridge, a bridge. Ian Hamilton Finlay's greatest work of art, the garden at Little Sparta.

Bunbury Garden

2009-08-21T12:25:00.003+01:00

This garden was completed in April 2009. It is my most sustainable garden so far. There is an english oak pergola, the paving is new Kerridge stone from Cheshire quarries and second hand flags, the gravel is eco-mix, made from recycled crushed brick, and the retaining walls are all built from red sandstone found on the site. All the trees and the majority of the shrubs were planted bare-rooted. There are Morello cherries, an apricot, apple trees underplanted with mint, blueberries, blackberries and rhubarb.

Tatton Show 09 - Visionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

2009-07-28T18:39:00.003+01:00

Marcus Green's 'Time'. Easily the best Visionary garden. The oak planks move like waves under the oak saplings.

Tatton Show 09

2009-07-28T18:29:00.004+01:00

The Lake District Bluebird Garden by Andrew Loudon and Janine Crimmins. I love the planed timber of the seats in contrast to the drystone walling.

Nature's Artistry - Autumn's Edge

2009-07-17T17:39:00.004+01:00

My favourite show garden at Future Gardens is Fiona Heron's. Satisfying details, elegant structure, original, simple and delightful.

Future Gardens

2009-07-16T17:40:00.005+01:00

Ivan Hicks's fantastic permanent garden at Butterfly World/Future Gardens in St Albans.

Hutton-in-the-Forest

2009-07-07T17:27:00.004+01:00

The walled garden at the delightful Hutton-in-the-Forest. Really exuberant planting with strict topiary, apples pruned to form boundaries and limes trained on steel frames to form arbours.

Blair Castle, Perthshire

2009-07-07T17:04:00.005+01:00

The walled garden at Blair Castle has been restored to its eighteenth century glory. Called the Hercules garden after the statue of the Farnese Hercules by John Cheere which still stands overlooking the garden where he was placed 250 years ago. The garden combines utility with beauty, having a series of pools running through the centre while the slopes are planted with fruit trees and there are mixed borders running round the walls.

The Hill House, Helensburgh

2009-07-07T16:50:00.001+01:00

The National Trust for Scotland has made a great job of laying out the garden to CRM's original sketches.

Culzean Castle, Ayrshire

2009-07-06T18:51:00.004+01:00

Views from the Walled Garden at the National Trust for Scotland's Culzean Castle: annual meadow in front of the gardener's cottage, apples trained over a steel pergola, dahlias in strict formation and the herbaceousl borders. And a sundial from the castle terraces.

Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute

2009-07-06T15:51:00.003+01:00

The trees are enormous at Mount Stuart due to a maritime climate. The lime avenue is overpowering and the Crinodendron hookerianum is among many shrubs in the 'Wee Garden' that have become the size of trees. The formal section of the Walled Garden is a 20th century addition by Rosemary Verey, plenty of work for the gardeners there.

Acorn Bank, Temple Sowerby

2009-07-06T14:29:00.003+01:00

A quince tree in the walled herb garden, a simple but lovely border in June and stone steps smothered with plants. All at the National Trust's garden at Acorn Bank.

New Green Roof

2009-06-07T12:46:00.003+01:00

Newly planted green roof on the small lean-to shed. An old trellis panel stops the soil washing away. The compost is half perlite half peat free potting compost. The roof is planted with two types of thyme, thrift, alchemilla, sedums, sempervivum and leptinella. It has required watering in the past few dry days while it gets established

Peover Hall

2009-06-06T15:25:00.002+01:00

Classic clipped hedges at Peover Hall Gardens.

Over Peover

2009-06-06T15:08:00.002+01:00

A Cheshire Gardens Trust visit to Jacquie Blakeley's garden in Over Peover. A soft rainy day in a tranquil space.

Green Roof Flourishes

2009-05-11T17:59:00.003+01:00

My garage roof, planted with alpine strawberries and the kitchen roof, planted with London Pride, campanula and festuca glauca, are both growing well with few weeds and are beginning to knit together to cover the growing medium.

Out of hibernation and into the countryside

2009-05-11T17:40:00.002+01:00

A wonderful day at One House Nursery. Open for the National Gardens Scheme, One House has a delightful woodland garden and a restored Walled Garden. Claire de Ruiter is currently artist in residence and is part of the Bollington Festival's Artists' Open Studios Trail.

Biodynamic Garden

2008-10-20T17:24:00.002+01:00

The first biodynamic garden open to the public, at Garden Organic, Ryton.

Garden Organic

2008-10-20T17:18:00.002+01:00

Apples and grapes, more bounty, at Garden Organic at Ryton.

Cheshire fruit farm

2008-10-20T17:07:00.002+01:00

Apples on an autumn day at Eddisbury Fruit Farm, Kelsall, Cheshire, taken during a Cheshire Gardens Trust visit.

Pruning as art

2008-10-20T16:54:00.004+01:00

Apples and pears as you have never seen them before. Museum garden at Castle Gaasbeek in Belgium.

Bailiff House at Gaasbeek

2008-10-20T16:35:00.002+01:00

Stunning and evocative modern take on a medieval Flemish parterre garden by landscape architect Erik Dhont at the Bailiff House at Gaasbeek, Belgium.

Ancient Orange trees

2008-09-29T17:57:00.003+01:00

In the Castle Gardens at Freyr on the Meuse in southern Belgium, rumoured to be among the oldest specimens in Europe. Is it true?

Green Roof

2008-09-15T20:11:00.003+01:00

The garage roof goes green. The plants are alpine strawberries which should send out runners and form an evergreen mat.

Forest Gardening Course

2008-08-20T08:58:00.003+01:00

Zanthoxylum schinifolium, the Szechuan pepper, a handsome, hardy small tree with peppercorn berries.

Forest Gardening Course

2008-08-20T08:55:00.003+01:00

Acacia dealbata with a hedge of Eleanus commutata in the background. Both supply nitrogen to the soil allowing neighbouring plants to thrive. The eleagnus allow has edible berries

Forest Gardening Course 16/17th August

2008-08-20T08:50:00.004+01:00

The Agroforestry Research Trust in Devon. The hedge of Eleagnus and Rubus tricolour serves as a windbreak as well as providing fruit.

RHS Garden Rosemoor

2008-08-20T08:14:00.003+01:00

You can warm you hands on the colour. Roger Webster's new garden at RHS Rosemoor, Devon.

Edinburgh

2008-08-05T20:17:00.005+01:00

Stimulating immersion in culture during Edinburgh visit. The amazing Landform Ueda by Charles Jenks in the grounds of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Tracey Emin's beautiful bird 'Roman Standard'. And the allotments at the Dean Gallery, on the wall at the back are Ian Hamilton Finlay's poems carved in stone.

Links Garden

2008-07-31T15:45:00.003+01:00

I complete the designs for this seaside garden in the Autumn of 2005 and it was planted up in Spring of 2006. The owners have kept it immaculate. Although the soil is pure sand and winds can be salt laden and gale force - it is right on the coast - the plants have thrived, even the vegetables.

Renovation of a mature garden

2008-07-31T15:24:00.002+01:00

Planting was completed in April, thanks to the rain it is looking lush.

Tatton Show snippets

2008-07-31T15:08:00.006+01:00

Couldn't resist adding this sanguisorba to my menzies plant collection. The superlambanana gets added bling. A good idea for an old piano from the Cheshire schools' contribution.

Setting up at Tatton

2008-07-22T20:08:00.004+01:00

The excitement builds at the RHS Tatton Flower Show: Chris Beardshaw oversees the finishing touches to his garden for Cheshire's Year of Gardens 08. My colleague on the Society of Garden Designers' stand waits to welcome visitors. Ed Bennis and friends pose for the camera at the Tales from a Chinese Garden

Arts and Crafts Garden

2008-07-10T20:05:00.002+01:00

One year after planting, it is beginning to take shape. My clients are very pleased and so am I.

Adlington Hall recce

2008-07-08T20:31:00.003+01:00

A stormy visit to Adlington Hall, with the head gardener and a colleague from the Cheshire Gardens Trust. We were preparing for the Trusts' visit to the gardens in September.

Prince William sets sail

2008-07-08T19:59:00.004+01:00

Narrow boat Prince William sets off from the Kings Ransom, Sale, with a roof garden of salads, herbs and edible flowers. Destination Nantwich Floating Garden Festival. I designed this for the Mersey Basin Campaign to celebrate World Environment Day 2008.

RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park - 23rd-27th July 2008

2008-06-17T20:14:00.000+01:00

2008 is the 10th anniversary of the RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park. I am hoping to be impressed by the creative talent this year. Its on from 23rd-27 July (website)

Shun the supermarkets and grow your own

2008-06-17T19:58:00.002+01:00

The rising cost of living is encouraging scores of people to start growing their own produce.
Gardeners are shunning the supermarkets in order to grow their own.

Recent figures from the Horticultural trades association show a 31% increase in the sales of vegetable seed to householders, and a corresponding 32% decline in the sale of flower seeds. We are also buying nearly twice as many seedlings and young edible plants like tomatoes and marrows, and are growing far more herbs than ever before.

The Royal Horticultural Society and seed companies back this up, saying that vegetable seeds sales are now outstripping flower seeds for the first time since the second world war!

Suttons, which sells nearly a third of all household vegetable seeds in the UK, said this week that there had been a massive increase in vegetable growing in Britain. "We are seeing a big move away from flower seeds to vegetables. There has been a dramatic rise in things like sales of onions and potatoes. Spuds in particular are nearly 60% up on last year, which was 20%-30% up on the year before," a spokesman said. This year the company expects a 30% increase in its sales of UK vegetable seeds.

Brits are also increasingly keeping chickens in their gardens in order to avoid the rocketing price of eggs, as a number of DIY chains reported a steep rise in the sales of chicken coops.

Carrie Pailthorpe, from Garden Organic, also encourages "growing your own" as the cheaper alternative to paying supermarket's ever-rising prices for staple products such as fruit and vegetables.

"Whether it's in an allotment, a small vegetable patch or just a few window boxes, the produce grown will certainly save pounds rather than pence," she added.

Demand for organic food rose sharply in 2006 to an estimated £1.937 billion, according to the Organic Centre for Wales.

It added that over the last ten years the area of land under organic management in the UK has increased ten-fold from 60,000 hectares in April 1997 to 619,783 hectares in 2007.