Wildegoose Nursery formed part of our Herefordshire Garden Tour, although in fact it is in Shropshire, but it wasn't far from Moors Meadow, and it's a garden I have been wanting to visit for a while having read articles about Laura and Jack Willgoss, and met them at Rare Plant Fairs where their selection of plants is always varied and interesting.
Laura and Jack began converting the walled garden at Millichope Park in around 2015 into an experimental area where they propagate and trial plants and a prairie style planted garden in the form of different rooms. The resulting effect is stunningly beautiful; hard to convey in the photos I have taken
We visited in July and you can see the Allium sphaerocephalon were at their peak
As were the Phlox and Echinacea pallida which won't grow like that for me
Not immediately obvious why I took this photo of the path, but plants must have looked wonderful on either side
The Millichope Glasshouses are a story in themselves, there's lots about them on the website. Basically the curvilinear glasshouses were constructed in 1830s with an unusual curved metal frame. They had been disused since the 1950s and were in desperate need of repair to make them usable again. Firstly the back brick wall had to be rebuilt because cheap coal used to heat the greenhouses had badly damaged them. The iron framework had to be sandblasted, repaired and painted and the 12,500 panes of glass had to be put back in place using putty and not clips. The project was HLF and Country Houses Association funded. It was thought the curved glass made the glasshouses more efficient; it's lovely to see them restored and in use.
Above you can see the Persicaria and Monarda in flower I think
It was hard not to photograph the Crocosmia above and below, they were looking fabulous
And yet another Crocosmia below
The plant sales are excellent, with 90% of the plants propagated on site and there's a great cafe where we had a very tasty lunch.
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