Garden Visits: Glendale

March 6, 2012 · Filed under Barbados, garden visits · Tagged Barbados Horticultural Society, Chelsea Flower Show, flower arranging

Yes, I am back, hope you didn’t miss me too much, lol.  I know that you are waiting anxiously to hear all about my cruise, and I will fulfill your every desire, but first I have to let you know what I did before I left.

Lucky me, I got to visit one more garden for the Barbados Horticulture Society before the Open Garden program was finished for the season. For the season! Where has the time gone? Yikes, a side effect of getting old(er).

This was the garden of Mrs Audrey Thomas. Her garden overlooks the Rockley Golf Course and is a rainbow of colours.

  There are water features, a wall garden, a terraced flower garden and a Fernery.

The Wall

 is a mix of a succulents and flowering plants in an astonishing array of pots and baskets.

I could not imagine how many hours it would take to water all those pots, and I am sure that it is every day, the sun here can be so hot and pots dry out so fast. 

 This is such a great idea for an ‘older’ gardener,  able to garden at shoulder height, certainly is back saving and you can constantly add and move plants. These were my favourite, I love succulents,

And this one, I know I should know the name of this plant, but I am having a memory lapse, anyone else know it?

According to the Barbados Horticulture Society

 the Terrace Garden was referred to by Peter Seabrook as a “Chocolate Box Garden” when he filmed it for “Victory Garden” on PBS in Boston. 

The blaze of colour is created with annuals and shrubs.

Mrs Thomas is one of the main growers of the huge variety of beautiful and unusual foliage that has been packed and shipped for the Barbados exhibit at the Chelsea Flower Show in London for the past 23 years.  As I have said before,  Barbados is a constant winner at Chelsea, and have a record to be very proud of.

Look at the beautiful bougainvillea at the front of her house.

 Not only is are the leaves variegated, but some of the flowers are two-tone as well.

 And it is gorgeous against the blue of the pergola, really shows it off.

The Fernery

 is filled with a large number of shade loving plants.

 Look at these wall, I know I have seen those building materials before, just not sure what they are. 

 The plants are sheltered from the sun with a shade cloth roof.

Although there are two water features in the Fernery,

 I found this one fascinating.

 I had noticed a large number of metal pots around the garden, and I wondered where Mrs. Thomas had found them. Talking to one of the volunteers at the garden, I found out where they came from. At first I wasn’t sure if I should share the info. I wanted to design something at KG and astonish you with my brilliance. But, it might be many years before we are able to come across, and I couldn’t leave you hanging like that.  They are discs from a plow.

Genius, I am sure my father has an old one around somewhere…