Gardening Friends day out to Coton Manor

Three of us set out last Wednesday to Coton Manor.  We had a lovely day out:  Liz, Myra and myself.  I so much enjoyed walking round with gardening friends, we went round together, admired plants, discussed plant associations, gardening possibilities, enjoyed the sunshine and fresh air....went searching for pretty flamingo feathers....

We started with a drink from the little cafe, and sat in the courtyard, having first admired a lovely bunch of clematis on the counter.  Yes I have been cutting clematis for years to put in vases.  Later I saw it again in the garden.  I have found the name written in my diary:  Clematis Huldine.

I love the way it holds up its blooms as that the light shines right through and from the underneath you can see the patterns of the veigning...

The garden is separated into smaller areas, each with huge interest, with planting for shady or sunny aspects which are inspirational.  The Manor itself with its warm mellow stone has interesting borders all around.  I love this little wall arrangement, with fountain on shady side.

The garden is on a sloping site which gives so many possibilities.

Water winds itself down, with the path bordered by a huge variety of interesting plants, including lovely ferns.  Sometimes the water is in shade, sometimes in full sun.

With a few water fowl, and some flamingos we went on a bit of a feather trail.  Myra wanted some for her sister who ties fishing flies, and me, just because I love love them.

I found this combination of heuchera and aster attractive, and will bear this in mind, when I do my autumn moving around of plants.

Generally the garden looked as if it was in full bloom, with lots of fresh herbaceous flowers, not 'nearly going over' as in my garden.  The staff and gardens were really informative, and one of the things they do is chop back hard, when about 80% flowering is achieved, and then things bounce back.

Here are a couple of plants I admired...this is Morinia longifolia

and Sedum Xenox stood up well and was a picture of perfection

So did we come back empty handed....certainly not.  The nursery was excellent....

They had neither of the above left, but I brought home a Lemon Verbena: Aloysia citriodora, Scabiosa Columbaria Moon Dance,  a compact plant bearing pale cream pincushion flowers, and Tulgaghia Vioacea variegata, which I had seen before.  There are two here which are not that hardy, so I shall overwinter them in the conservatory.