Moseley in Bloom Open Gardens 2012 - Day 1

Last weekend was Moseley in Bloom's Open Garden Days in the south of Birmingham. I've always fancied going but never got round to it, but this year I played the "It's Father's Day and daddy gets to do whatever he wants" card and made it to both days along with a mate from work. Despite the bad weather on Saturday the whole weekend was truly inspirational with some jaw dropping gardens and very friendly dedicated gardeners. Well done to you all! I took so many photos I'll make two posts. Here we go ...

Saturday tended to cover the gardens in north Moseley, which tend to be grander, as you can see!

 I thought this was a good idea, a large white-flowered clematis growing up through the deep purple of a black Elderberry, Sambucus nigra.

 This was a nice twist on the '3 stage' type of edging which is very popular at the moment. The idea is to add an extra layer of transition between paving and beds, but it can still look harsh if the paving is straight. This zig-zag effect breaks the lines up even more.

 The next garden had a dead cherry tree, but instead of cutting it down a local artist has carved shapes of animals into it. We counted at least 12!

 One theme that came out was the interesting range of ferns people are using these days. This is a young Japanese Painted Fern, Athyrium niponica.

 The third garden was created by a charming Italian lady keen on her philosophy. The lawn looked very different. There was very little grass in it, mainly moss and what the rest of us would call 'weeds'. I asked her about it and she said her philosophy on lawns had three aspects: if plants are happy and succeed then let them be; if it's low maintenance then it gives you time to do other things; and finally she's not a man so she doesn't care about having a perfect lawn!

 Moseley Buddhist Centre's garden was very tranquil as you would expect, but with some interesting sculptures made out of scrap iron.

 It's always impressive how much time and effort gardeners go to. This property is a converted coach house and was very well designed. Lots of sunken and raised areas that gave it more depth than the other expansive, flatter gardens.

 Another interesting fern. Kind of like a Maiden Hair but with very curly fronds. Haven't been able to identify it in the books yet...

 By now we were getting dizzy on cakes, tea and pollen, as were the bees...

Many of the older house had interesting outbuildings: old workshops, hot houses, stables, coach houses, servants quarters and even outside lavvies. Certainly gives them character... 

 Moseley has a private park and pool. The last time I was there I was 1, when mum used to take me round in the pushchair. Needless to say, I couldn't remember much about it, but there are some great specimen trees in there...

 Some of the gardens had recently had the makeover treatment, but despite the new feel to much of the landscaping the planting looked suprisingly mature.

We finished the day in Moor Green Allotments where to our great joy there was a clubhouse with a bar and even a restuarant! Sorry folks, your secret is out! Time to get my name on the waiting list... Next, Day 2.