Missing Borde Hill

When my daughter was small we used to spend hours and hours at Borde Hill gardens; I think we must have visited every corner. The favourite spot was, of course, the old play area which was semi wild with tree-top walkways and rope walk. It was a bit of a death trap but the local kids all loved it. We would also spend hours roaming the gardens looking at plants and dibbling in the fountains, even in winter when the garden opened on an 'honesty box' system; we often had the place completely to ourselves!

That all stopped as the membership became more expensive and weekends were filled with football and we didn't go for years. I decided to re-join last year (although you can get in if you are an RHS member I later discovered) and I'm so glad I did! There have been so many positive changes - the planting is magnificent and the jungley Round Dell with the old banana plant has been transformed by garden designer Sophie Walker. They have also installed and amazing infinity box in the Long Dell.

The Infinity Box

Of course, Borde Hill is closed at the moment - just as I was rediscovering it! Luckily a friend who works there has sent me some pics so we can enjoy it virtually. They also have an excellent blog: bordehill.blogspot.com and you can follow them on Instagram. Enjoy!

 Beautiful yellow tulips in the Italian Garden

One of the many Peonies - this one is growing in shade!

Erigeron and Euphorbia growing in a sunny spot

This amazing thing is the flower of Melianthus major (Honey Bush)

Fritillaries enclosed by a neatly clipped box hedge

And finally … yes Borde Hill also suffers from bindweed! They have a cunning plan to train it up sticks and then paint the leaves with weedkiller. The idea is that it can be zapped without killing the surrounding plants. Clever stuff!