Hostas

We have a collection of about 1500 varieities, about half of which have now been planted out in the woodland areas. Many of these are not yet fully mature, but a growing number are and we think they are looking magnificent. We usually manage to keep the slugs and snails at bay until early August with regular spraying of garlic solution.

Bright colours

Mid-summer is a time for bright colours in the garden. These are on show at Freston House particularly in the gravel garden, where you will see mass plantings of crocosmia, kniphofia and achillea interspersed with drifts of grasses such as stipa tenuissima and the tennis court borders with their hemerocallis and alstroemeria.

The cottage garden is also full of colour at this point in the season. Lavender ‘Hidcote’ will be finishing its scented display but the fuchsia, penstemon geraniums and dahlias should all be in full bloom.

Finally, there is still some interest for summer visitors in the winter garden particularly, although now in leaf, the sliver stems of rubus cockburnianus and the near-white trunks of the himalayan birch (Betula utilis var. jacquemontii).

Iris – we have a collection of about 150 varieities of mainly Bearded but also Siberian, Dutch and other types of iris. Most of them flower in late spring.

Lupins – our relatively light soil and mild(ish) winters seem to suit lupins. They generally reward us with a spectacular late spring show of colour, particularly in the purple garden where they’re planted in drifts. We mainly have pink hybrids, but have started to experiment with other named varieties.

Peonies – often undervalued due to their short flowering season, their brief moment of late-spring glory is something to savour. We like the traditional rich ruby-red shades, which we’ve used in the cottage garden.

Flowering Cherries – no spring garden is complete without the blossom of at least one flowering cherry. As well as several of the traditional ‘Sato’ cherries (prunus serrulata), of which ‘Kazan’ is our favourite, we also grow some of the smaller prunus incisa varieties as medium-sized shrubs.

We have many other spring-flowering trees, shrubs and perennials including rhododendrons, laburnum, lilacs, a large planting of probably the earliest flowering rose (xanthina ‘Canary Bird’), choisyas, spirea, deutzias, the incredibly floriferous Pearlbush (exocharda x macrantha ‘The Bride’), aquilegia, several varieties of allium, campanulas, tradascantia, the semi-hardy zantedeshias and early-flowering clematis, including alpinas and, of course, montanas.

Other noteable year-round stalwarts in flower in the spring include osteospermum jucundum and several varieties of dianthus and geraniums.

Finally, late spring visitors can also see the winter garden at something close to its best. Although just in leaf, the bright red and yellow stems of the cornus ‘Sibirica’ and ‘Flaviramea’, the orange stems of the pollarded willows, the sliver stems of rubus cockburnianus and the near-white trunks of the himalayan birch (Betula utilis var. jacquemontii) can still be seen.