Seasonal Garden Gallery for Munstead Wood
Whilst we are unable to welcome visitors, we still want to share some of the highlights that the garden at Munstead Wood offers and record the range of plants we are privileged enough to now have in our care, and that were part of Gertrude Jekyll’s original vision for her very own garden in Surrey.
Early Summer at Munstead Wood
May is another very special month in the garden at Munstead Wood. Early summer has offered up the most exceptional colour, assisted by plenty of rain and intermittent sunshine. Some roses have bloomed early to compete with the huge and mighty resident rhododendrons cascading high above our heads and the jewel-like plant treasures offered up in the Three-Corner Garden.
Azalea Copse
In the middle of the Woodland Garden there is a softly weaving avenue of over forty deciduous Azaleas. The Azaleas crowd around you as you walk through them, sharing a glorious perfume which hovers in the air, matched by a hum of happy bees hopping amongst the flowerheads.
As one plant goes over, there is another waiting in the wings to have their moment of glory and reveal the intensity of their colour amongst a rich array of what Jekyll described as ‘orange, copper, flame and scarlet-crimson’ with whites and yellows in the shadier parts.
The last days of May see hardy Azaleas in beauty. Any of them may be planted in company, for all their colours harmonise.
Rhododendrons
Gertrude Jekyll gave great thought to the planning and lay-out of the rhododendrons in her garden, using them to knit the areas of formal lawn and woodland together. She took time to visit a wide group of what she termed the ‘best nurseries’ to observe each plant’s ‘colouring, habit and time of blooming’ before selecting which she would plant and where. Jekyll felt that lilacs, purples, and whites were better in the shade, whereas the reds, scarlets and crimson deserved a space in the sun to best display their powerful colours.
Many of her original plants survive today and have grown to great heights. On the eastern side of the house a Rhododendron ‘Lodus-White’ towers over fifteen metres high and has a cave like quality when you stand under its vast canopy. Meanwhile the Green Walk becomes a tunnel of billowing pink and lilac blooms, which cast dappled shadows on the lawn below as they dance in the breeze.
Woodland Garden
Nearby and in great contrast to the colour of the Azalea Copse you will find quiet patches of shade, the bark of the silver birch and the tall stately foxgloves (Digitalis ‘Munstead-White’) offer a moment of refreshing cool white, soft green and silver repose.
The delicate bell flowers of lily of the valley and unfurling fronds of ferns add structural interest by your feet. This is a calm space before the burst of giant rhododendrons blooms which surround the Green Walk, in riotous pinks, reds and purples.
Garden Doorway Planting
When writing Wood and Garden which was published in 1899 Gertrude Jekyll wrote proudly about how the Mexican orange flower (Choiysa ternata) was ‘conspicuously beautiful during May..smothered in its white bloom so closely resembling orange-blossom'.
This May it has delivered in just the same way, framing the arched door and accompanied by lyrical drifts of purple wisteria draped on the top of the wall and contrasting with the sharp lines of the yuccas either side.
Three-Corner Garden
There is a large iconic wall that keeps the splendour of the Spring and Three-Corner Gardens hidden from sight. Once its arched wooden door is opened, waves of colour, texture and a breath-taking spring green are revealed which are both tender and bold at the same time.
Amongst the waves of tall planting are: apricot and lavender coloured lupins; bearded soft red and purple iris; architectural spears of angelica, euphorbia in abundance, red valerian and plump pink peonies of many tones. White foxgloves quietly stand guard amongst the colour, whilst pockets of purple veronica and alpine Sedum peek out from the garden walls.
