English Garden Notes: Bunny Guinness

Whilst living in England, I want to appreciate the English Garden 

as much as I can. Who knows what will come next. With that in mind

I have been busily filling up my English Garden Notebook.

I have a few more plants to pop into the garden today, thanks to Bunny.

Bunny Guinness is an English gardener I admire. 

I loved her creation at the recent Chelsea Flower Show, 

The M&G Garden. It was given the Silver Gilt Award.

In my mind it was all Gold.

She was inspired by the traditional kitchen garden, 

adding a modern spin into it. What I liked about her garden

were all the areas that could possibly and realistically 

be duplicated in a home garden. Maybe not quite as large 

and grand but there was something for everybody, 

right down to the simple row of terracotta pots on a garden wall.

She had it all:

Fruits, herbs, vegetables and flowers,

Raised beds with flowers and vegetables mixed together

All in perfect balance

Cabbages and beans alongside clematis and roses

Lavender and herbs for fragrance

Large terracotta pots filled with fruit trees

An upper glass deck framed by pleached trees 

A built in log fire with lots of space for entertaining

Long sweeping pathways of natural tile.

Calming water feature in the midst for all to enjoy, including the birds.

Sustainable garden features including raised beds built from willow 

 English Garden notes...of the very best kind.

From Bunny:

"The M&G Garden is a garden which you can live with and live from,

combining the practical with aesthetic and innovative garden design elements

that can sustain and nurture the modern gardener."

"Nurture the modern gardener" and so it does.

Her plantings included:

Bulbs:

Lily of the valley, tulips and lily 

Climbing roses:

Rambler and Worcester Rose

Shrub roses:

Tuscan Rose

Plants:

Clematis, Lavender, Loosestrife, 

Ornamental Thistle,

Wood Spurge, Sweet Rocket, 

Knautia Macedonia, Mathiesella

Tobacco Plant, Pelargonium, Perilla, 

Rosemary, Yew hedge

Trees:

 Lemon, Fig, Bay, Apple, 

Medlar, Pear and Pleached Lime 

Vegetables:

Courgette, Chard, Chilli pepper, Lettuce,

Mustard, Cabbage, Horned Melon, Squash, 

Red Spinach, Kale.

Red Perilla, Squash, Chard, Globe Artichoke, 

Beans- Runner, French Climbing, Broad and Dwarf French

Herbs:

Chives, Lemon Verbena, Dill Angelica, 

French Tarragon, Thorow-Wax, Chervil,

Fennel, Silver Mint, Ocimum Kilimandscharicum, 

Perilla-Purple Shiso, Parsley and Clary Sage

For up-to-date planting guide, and more information 

about M&G or 'The M&G Garden'

please visit: www.mandg.co.uk/2011garden

What you can not fully appreciate in my images is the 'floating deck'.

To appreciate the full garden view from all angles, see video, here. 

 More on the garden and Bunny's comments about creating the garden,  here. 

The videos are a fantastic way to enjoy the intricacies of this garden...in fact any garden.

Add a view out to sea and I will hang my hat for good!

I am tying into Diane @ The Tablescaper Seasonal Sunday meme today.

I joined in last summer and so enjoyed the journey I am back again!

Thank you Diane for creating a reason to celebrate the seasons :)

My 2010 Summer meme's:

 Summer Sundays and the Sea, here

Summer Sundays and Ina Garten, here

Summer Sundays, here

Summer Sundays and a Parade, here

Summer Sunday and Quiet, here

Summer Lovin and it tastes so good, here

Seasonal Sunday and a to do list, here

Image of Bunny Guinness here
Planting image from The M&G Garden handout
Seasonal Sundays here
all other images~me