There’s nothing like a visit to another garden to spark some ideas for new plants to grow, or new ways of growing them back at home. We’ve been going to Beningbrough Hall for so many years now – but I never get bored of visiting. There’s a playground there that kept the kids amused for hours when they were younger, walks around the grounds and woodland, and (my favourite part) a beautiful walled garden. A walled garden filled with all kinds of fruit, vegetables and herbs… perfect.
I came away from yesterday’s visit with a list of the plants that were attracting huge numbers of bees and butterflies. Some, like buddleja, nepeta and cosmos, I already have in the garden. But seeing them buzzing with bees has reminded me that it’s time to start taking cuttings of the best nectar-rich plants for adding to the garden next year. Then there were other bee favourites that I’ve been meaning to grow, and just need to find the right spot to plant them in. Globe artichokes fall into this category… next year there will definitely be a patch of them. They won’t be for eating, but will be left to produce big purple flowers – at Beningbrough the bumblebees were diving headfirst into them.
This summer there’s a corner of the walled garden that’s home to a Dig for Victory plot, a collection of wartime veg being grown as part of a range of displays and activities looking at how World War II affected life at the hall.
All of the vegetables growing in the victory garden are familiar favourites – potatoes, cabbages, turnips and beans among them. The plants all looked good and healthy, and I liked the plant labels, made from chunky sticks with a bit sliced off to make a flat surface to write on.
No doubt there will be more visits to Beningbrough Hall as the summer holidays go on – so we’ll be able to watch the progress in the victory garden, and with any luck find more ideas to use at home. Do you have a favourite garden to visit for inspiration?
Always wanted to do that with artichokes, too. We were in a restaurant some years back and there was an amazing vase of them in bloom on the bar…Stands to reason that they’d be good bee plants – they love all the other thistles!
I’m SO going to make markers like those…someday 😉
Making plant markers… like you don’t have enough to fill your days already! If I ever make some here, I’ll send a couple over for your garden!
I loved the markers too! Much nicer than almost anything else I’ve seen. I’ve just bought some Cardoons from the place I buy vegetable plants, but I didn’t dare tell them I was buying them for the flowers, not to eat!
Cardoons are, I think, more often grown as ornamentals than edibles over here – they are beautiful, what garden designers would refer to as ‘architectural’ plants.
Oh I do love a walled garden – there is one that we visit in Norfolk every time we go there at Wiveton Hall with a huge mulberry tree presiding over the fruit and veg and flowers – gorgeous. Love that picture of the bees on the artichokes. I have just done a post on my http://rosebankramblings.blogspot.com about the bees in the garden – click on and take a look.
There’s something about a walled garden – maybe it stems from being raised on ‘The Secret Garden’? Off to have a read of your post now, thanks for the link.
I too enjoy walking around walled kitchen gardens. So interesting to see how everything fits into place, using every spare space available. I’ve never eaten artichoke and just presumed that was all you did with them, now I know they are good for wildlife perhaps I need to take another look at these plants! 🙂
I grew artichokes for the kitchen once… so much hassle to prepare before eating – much easier to let them flower and have the bees enjoy them!
I love the artichokes on my allotment for the same reason, they are such beautiful plants, and as the flower opens and the colours emerge a joy to watch. and then the bees really can’t get enough of them. A delight – but big! Oh and blackfly like them too, unless you remember to spray with a weak washing up liquid solution – which I always seem to forget to do……
Ooh, I didn’t know about the blackfly… could be a problem, especially if we get another year like this one with so few ladybirds.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen their flowers before now. They are a beautiful plant, aren’t they?
Michael
They are just gorgeous, the bees were literally burrowing into the flower to get at the nectar. And prompted by your comment, I looked up the medicinal uses of globe artichoke – plenty of those too.
I’m very partial to a walled kitchen garden so this sounds lovely, and I love that pic of the globe artichoke flower. Gorgeous!
I dream of having a walled garden to work in, they’re such magical places.
I love English walled gardens too! There aren’t gardens open to the public here like in England, except for a few parks and botanical gardens. So I envy you having one nearby. I get inspiration by looking over people’s garden gates!
Viewing other people’s gardens from the gate is good too… one of the best things about train journeys is the chance to see allotment sites and gardens from the window as the train passes by!
Walled gardens are wonderful! Even when they are overgrown and disappointing, I still think they are special places. This one looks especially fine. Like you, I go around noting bee magnets on garden visits. There always seems to be something I haven’t considered growing for them before.
Those markers are great! I will be nicking that idea.
Potatoes and cabbage are favorites! Yum! Can’t wait to plant ours for fall. Also digging for potatoes to see if they were successful (or in our case this year, totally not) is so much fun! 🙂
I’m always impatient to dig up the first potatoes to see how they are doing!
I think that there will be lots of lovely flowers in the garden and I hope we get lots more sunshine to make the flowers grow.
So do I Jack!