At this time last year we had decided to visit Picton Garden and Old Court Nurseries in Worcestershire, in the last week of September. Unfortunately fate stepped in, as this was when the undergardener was rushed into hospital. Last week, a year later, we decided to make our belated visit to the garden and nursery to see the National Collection of Asters as I was wanting a couple for the border by the field.
National collection of Asters.
The National Collection itself was in a separate area of the garden. As soon as we turned into the car park, it all looked so familiar, I realised that we had been here before, about 17 yrs ago when we were on holiday in the Malvern area!
Colchicums.
We decided to visit the garden first, which had lots of late summer flowers and bulbs as well as the Asters. Here in the UK asters are also known as Michaelmas daisies as they flower round about the feast of St Michael on September 29th, today. Their botanical name has changed again, but for the purpose of this post, I will still call them Asters!
Hakonechloa.
I have never seen an Hakonechloa looking so good , it was easily 3ft in diametre, my little one that was only planted this spring won’t have enough room to spread. Decisions to be made, do I move it or the plants around it?!
Heliopsis.
The planting behind the asters set off the asters in front.
Asters with companions.
In this view there were dahlias and chrysanthemums in between the asters.
Catalpa bignonioides Aurea.
It was love at first sight when I spied the Catalpa in amongst the asters. I’m thinking it would look superb with dark blue agapanthus around it before the asters start flowering and with maybe some dark blue salvias for company.
Willow balls.
I was also very taken with these willow balls, dotted amongst the flowers. I’m thinking of all the red stemmed Cornus stems that I cut back each March, I’m sure I would have enough to make a few balls each year.
Aster Brilliant.
Autumn tints.
The Michaelmas fairy.
The willow sculpture was made by the same lady that made the willow balls. Love the circle of Ophiopogon planiscapus nigrescens.
Roscoe.
Comma butterfly.
Drinking deeply was this Comma butterfly on the Eupatorium maculatum Atropurpureum.
Layers in the borders.
All the best looking borders had at least 2 if not 3 groups of plants, one behind the other.
Golden Rod and asters.
Stunning borders, Sedum in the foreground.
Japanese anemone and asters.
The Japanese Anemone had flopped forward into the Aster, but don’t they look nice growing together.
Rudbekia, asters, golden rod and Eupatorium.
Aster Brightest and Best.
Aster Rose ? I can’t read the label!
Beautiful borders, whichever way we looked.
Crinum powellii
I need some late flowering bulbs in pots for the gravel garden at the back, this is giving me ideas!
Plants for sale!
Lots of asters for sale, but none of the ones that I had photographed, intending to buy. One little deep pink one came home with me and will be planted in the border by the field which will become my late summer border after I have split plants from various other parts of the garden.
It dawned on me while we were visiting, when we came 17 yrs ago, we visited I think in July when on holiday there, afterwards we parked on the Malvern Hills and had a good walk with views for miles around. The garden didn’t leave a lasting impression at the time because it is obviously planted up to be a late summer garden, I was far more impressed this time and was so glad to have seen it at the proper time of year!
What a sight! A shame though that they didn’t have more of the plants you wanted to buy; this so often happens when visiting gardens; I think it is bad marketing and they could make so much more money if they had enough of the plants that are at their best in the show gardens, wouldn’t happen in a garden centre would it? Christina
Yes, Christina, it was a beautiful sight, such wonderfully colourful borders at this time of year. Trying to find specific plants in a nursery that has a garden attached is increasingly difficult, it happens so frequently and I end up coming home and ordering the plants on line, their loss I’m afraid.
Oh, what a beautiful late summer display! Gorgeous photos too. I also like the look of those willow balls. Lovely to get inspiration from such a pretty garden. 🙂
It’s a lovely garden isn’t it Cathy, so much colour was wonderful to see.I usually get inspiration of some sort from all my garden visits, usually its connected to planting, but the balls should certainly be achievable and they would be free instead of £60 that was being charged!
This is the loveliest place. So many nice pairing of plants and the overall borders are so tidy and colorful. The only aster I have is a thug so I’ve never wanted another, but I see there must be some choices that would work well for me. Glad you had a chance to see the garden and celebrate good health.
I have a wild aster that has seeded itself here in the Bee and Butterfly border, it is spreading too far, so gets pulled out most years, but keeps coming back. The bees really love it, so I can’t see me getting rid of it all. The cultivated asters seem to be much better behaved, I will just have to be sure that they don’t go to seed.
Great pictures! It’s nice to see how they did the layering in the borders. I have only one aster in my garden and was looking to get some more but mine’s flopping like crazy so decided against it. Seeing these make me want to go to the garden center and get some after all. The unreadable label could be aster Coombe Rosemary.
Thanks Elise, good to hear from you! I liked the layering too, it made a great difference. All the asters aren’t tall, there are quite a few shorter ones to choose from. Thanks for the help with the label, I wish I had written it down instead of relying on a photo!
I’m glad to read that you were able to make the visit this year Pauline. We have visited the Picton Gardens several times now usually during the same week as the Malvern Autumn Show. It’s such a great place to see late colour whether it’s flowers, shrubs or trees. I wonder if some of the stock for sale had been set aside for the show so perhaps there was less choice than usual.
That’s a good point Anna, about keeping plants for the Malvern Show, I didn’t think of that. The colourful borders were amazing, they looked really beautiful and I was very pleased that we managed to see them at last.
What a beautiful fall garden, I’m glad you had the chance to finally see it in it’s glory and glad you’re in so much better a place one year later!
This kind of garden must really lift the autumn spirits when you look about and see other spent and tired plants (that would well describe my own garden!) Odd that your asters are blooming at nearly the same time as ours yet the eupatorium around here has been over for nearly a month.
It is a wonderful garden Frank, we both enjoyed all the colour that was showing in the borders, it just shows that we mustn’t consider the garden finished in September/October. We have plenty of dying and dead flowers here, I must do some deadheading, so think that the border by the field should be my late flowering border to bring late colour into the garden. I think some plants respond to temperature and some to the length of daylight before they switch off, maybe that would explain the difference between our gardens.
There are some heavenly combinations there! What a lovely place to visit! I loved the willow balls, you must let us know how you get on making those! The Michaelmas fairy is stunning!xxx.
I agree Dina, there were some truly lovely combinations.
I have last years stems from the Cornus lying in the garden, but they are now too brittle. I will certainly try next March when I have my cutting session and they are still nice and bendy! I will let you know the result of my efforts!
Thank you for showing the wonderful garden at Picton Gardens. I have wanted to go and see their fabulous collection of Asters for a long time but it is a long way from here. Now I have had a look through your images. I love Michaelmas daisies, they really brighten up the September garden.
Glad you enjoyed it Chloris, it really is a beautiful garden at this time of year. They do sell on line, but only send out their plants in May, which I suppose they feel is the best time to plant them. I’m hoping that when I get mine sorted in the border by the field, they will give colour from September through October.
I have seen this garden featured on Gardener’s World and thought that it looks amazing. Your pictures confirm it. What a treat to finally pay at visit at the perfect time of year! I haven’t a single aster in my garden (a huge oversight) and this nursery/garden would have been terrific inspiration.
How amazing Jennifer that you are able to see Gardeners World. It was seeing it on TV that reminded me that we had intended visiting it last year, but weren’t able to, due to my husband’s illness, I’m so glad we made it this year. It is indeed a marvellous garden and I got so much inspiration from it for my border by the field which will become my late summer border.
What an amazing garden Picton is. I am so glad that you saw it at the perfect time of year. I would love to see it too… until then thanks for sharing your beautiful photos Pauline.
It is a super garden at this time of year Gillian, just what I was needing for inspiration!