Thursday, August 20, 2015

Visiting Old Hurlburt School Gardens

I've not made good use of the Hardy Plant Society open gardens book this season. There are pages and pages of member gardens open virtually every weekend from April until October, I've only visited a handful, and by that I mean 4, 3 of them on the same day...

This was our first stop that day, Old Hurlburt School Gardens - named for the historic school which (I believe) is now the owners home.

It was my birthday weekend and because of that I managed to cajole Andrew into joining with me to visit the gardens, which were a bit out of town. A drive in the "country"...sounds nice doesn't it? Lilies seemed to be a specialty, they were gorgeous.

And tall, and by the looks of their support, growing even taller.

Rosa glauca is another of those "if I had room" plants...

It does get big.

I wonder if it responds well to a hard cutting back, like a Cotinus?

The house, as seen from the back of the sizable veggie garden.

A long open lawn abuts the veggie garden, at one end of which is a platform....

That launches this swing on a cable. What a fun ride! (tempted, but I didn't try it)

A shady spot from which to view the bountiful harvest.

Some of which was for the eyes, rather than the stomach.

At the end a garden "shed" which looked more like a studio.

Blue was a constant through out the garden.

Another swing!

Erica arborea? Perhaps 'Albert's Gold'?

I asked the owner about it and she mentioned having learned how to prune it to control it's size.

I love it.

More!

Perhaps the original stairs to the school?

There was an adorable puppy in the garden. I imagine that fence is to keep him contained.

Is that a Fothergilla, the powdery blue number in front?

Blurry flower photo but I love the variegation.

Something you rarely see, a Roscoea...

And a huge one at that. Now I know why the one I had finally disappeared, I was growing it in too much shade.

Time to leave, bye bye cutie pie...

All material © 2009-2015 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

15 comments:

  1. The rose looks the sort that responds to being hacked back, go on give it a try :)

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  2. I love that shed/studio/greenhouse. What a lovely garden, thanks for sharing your photos of it.

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  3. Lots to love here, although I'm not too familiar with most of the plants you mentioned. I will say two things: 1) "Old Hurlburt" is a great name for a gardener 2) THAT is the type of "shed" I'm thinking of in my own garden. Love it!

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    1. Alan I have no doubt you could build a "shed" that would made that one look like an amateur effort (which it most certainly is not).

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  4. What a cute puppy and that shed is also very handsome! Love the variegated Tricyrtis!

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    1. That puppy (not knowing how good he had it there) seemed to want to come home with me.

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  5. Oh, it is interesting to know that they now live in an old school. The garden is interesting!

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    1. I've always wanted to live in a "once was" kind of space, wouldn't it be fun?

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  6. If I remember correctly I used to take out the biggest canes on my blue leafed rose to keep it in bounds. Had it in my first garden years ago and have been lusting for one more and more lately. Our Hardy Plant Society does two member garden tour nights each summer with 3-5 gardens open. Our group is big but widely scattered. Yours must be a substantial membership to have an open gardens booklet!

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    1. Thank you for the rose info! Yes, our Hardy Plant Society membership is down right amazing, we're lucky!

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  7. The more you cut back Rosa glauca, the bushier it gets, showing off the wonderful leaf color. You won't get flowers (which shouldn't bother you) and you won't get hips (which might). Hope you and Andrew got to spend some time visiting with Kathleen. She's a gem.

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    1. You know me well, I do love those hips! (what an odd thing to type). I did get to chat with Kathleen (gem is a good descriptor), Andrew on the other hand stayed in the car with the a/c and a riveting (only to him) episode of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. Truth be told I think he was a little on edge from me trying to figure out exactly where we were going and just needed a little alone time.

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    2. R spent quite a bit of time in the car when I invited him to join me in visiting Bob Hyland's garden. He and Andrew are both artistic guys...I don't get it.

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