I regularly follow Parham Gardens and head gardener Tom Brown @HeadGardenerTom on Twitter, so when not visiting the garden I manage to keep abreast of what they are doing. Each year Parham runs plant trials, and they are well worth a visit as it is a great way of making a note of ideas for the next year. I have an annual membership with a friend which has just run out, however remembering my Gardeners World magazine 2 for 1 admission card, we went on Sunday, especially to see their recent trial beds.
This year is the first year I have grown gladioli and was very proud of how successful they were. It was because of this I was really interested in other colours and making a note of the varieties I particularly liked for 2018.
It was with a strange sense of satisfaction to see that one of their trial gladioli was Peche Melba, the same variety as the one I grew this year. Mine were slightly paler than the trial ones but I suppose colours do change slightly from supplier to supplier.
Opposite is another trial bed with dahlias. I have fallen in love with dahlias this year and they really do seem to be back in fashion. I have decided to have pale colours of creams, apricots and soft pinks in 2018, rather than the dark reds and purples I grew this year. Despite the information board, unlike the gladioli bed with their numbered flowerpots, in order to find the name of the dahlias we found ourselves on our hands and knees looking for the plant labels. There were several I made a note of:
PEACH DELIGHT
GAY PRINCESS
PEARL OF HEEMSTEDE
The third trial bed is full of Zinnias, in an array of colours from the brightest of reds to lime green.
In keeping with my 2018 idea of a pink/peach palette I liked the above Zinnia but as there were so many of them I couldn't really work out from the blackboard board what this pink one was called.
The purple and silver borders where looking fabulous, I love this color combination, it is so soft and gentle on the eye.
Tom, the head gardener, has some very clever planting ideas, including the agapanthus growing in the Ammi Visnaga – I think it's Visnaga and not Majus – it was most effective anyway and another idea to take away with me.
The hot border was full of oranges and yellows, always a sight to behold.
Now, with apologies to Tom, I am going to be controversial here, regarding deadheading. My friend, a gardener by profession, and I had a bit of a heated discussion when we arrived at the long white border, full of Cosmos amongst other things. Personally I admit to having an obsession about deadheading and was disturbed to see so many Cosmos in need of deadheading and my fingers were just itching to get in there. He was saying that with a large garden such as Parham other things sometimes take priority and my argument was that at least one of the gardeners, or volunteers, must pass this border every day and if they stopped just for 5-10 minutes to daily deadhead, the job would be done without it building up and ending up looking uncared for. I don't know what others think – my friend walked off muttering something along the lines of "I'm glad I don't have to work for you"!!!
Although a regular visitor I often come across things I have not noticed before, either they are new or there is so much to look at I just hadn't seen them. I loved the curved flower beds placed along a low wall. Such simple planting which anyone with the smallest plot could copy which is a joy to see in a large garden with big borders bursting with plants. The pale pink zinnia and purple statice were a great combination.
I can't end a post about Parham without a mention of the glasshouse. Always full of interesting plants, and this delicate blue climber caught our eye. We hunted for a label but it was growing in amongst other plants we couldn't find out where the stem was so we're unable track down its name. However after tweeting a photo Tom Brown kindly came back with the answer – Plumbago 'cobalt blue'. Twitter is wonderful for gardening info and ideas.
During 2017 Parham is open in the afternoons (12:00 to 17:00) until the end of September on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Sundays & Bank Holidays. In October they are open on Sundays only. Please note that days and times may vary on special event days and so please always check the website before your visit.
