Garden Pics - Garden Photos

jenny n persian shield, originally uploaded by la fattina.

Flowers are nice but but I really love it when gardeners get creative with foliage. This foliage combination of creeping Jenny with Persian shield uses sharply contrasting colour and shape to really pop out and make a statement.

Japanese Garden, originally uploaded by deegs.

Biddulph Grange is a National Trust house and landscaped gardens, situated in Biddulph near Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. “Behind a gloomy Victorian shrubbery there’s a gloomy Victorian mansion, but behind that lurks one of the most extraordinary gardens in Britain…it contains whole continents, including China and Ancient Egypt - not to mention Italian terraces and a Scottish glen.

Biddulph Grange, originally uploaded by Mike Rollinger.

In the Egyptian part of the garden, “Two sphinxes guard the mastaba-like entrance to a tunnel, whose darkness is an invitation to explore. Deep inside is a bloody chamber (lit by a hidden window of red-coloured glass) in which squats the half-spooky, half-comic figure of the Ape of Thoth.”

Biddulph Grange, originally uploaded by kev747.

The true brilliance of Biddulph Grange “lies in the way that Cooke and Bateman hid the different areas of the garden from each other, using heaps of rocks and thickly planted shrubberies’ the design locks together as tightly as a jigsaw or a cross-section of the brain.” It contains “a series of Italianate terraces, connected by steps and enclosing small flower gardens’ at the bottom, long, buttressed hedges enclose a dahlia walk.”

Biddulph Grange, originally uploaded by quimby.

A Shady Spot, originally uploaded by ballycroy.

Keukenhof or the Garden of Europe is situated near Lisse, Netherlands, and is the world’s largest flower garden. According to the official website for the Keukenhof Park, there are approximately seven million flower bulbs planted every year.

Azalias at the Keukenhof, originally uploaded by ballycroy.

Keukenhof is located in South Holland between the towns of Hillegom and Lisse, south of Haarlem and southwest of Amsterdam. The garden idea was to have a flower exhibit where growers from all over the Netherlands and Europe could show off their hybrids which will help the Netherlands as it is the world’s largest exporter of flowers. Keukenhof has been the world’s largest flower garden for over fifty years.

White Tulips, originally uploaded by ballycroy.

Keukenhof is open annually from the last week of March to mid-May. The best time to view the tulips is around mid-April, depending on the weather.

Keukenhof, originally uploaded by dbaron.

Garden Lantern, originally uploaded by Gigapic.

This garden photo really shows the kind of tranquil setting that I would love to have in my backyard one day. I can hear the sound of the water trickling down through the rocks as it weaves through the colourful folliage in this lush Japanese garden. This picture makes it clear to me how moss growing on the stone lantern is a key element when it comes to designing a Japanese garden. These are the kind of small details that need not to be overlooked!

is it a ….. ?, originally uploaded by algo.

…and I don’t mean invasive. At least I hope not!

I usually prefer full garden photos, but this close-up is deserving of sharing. The forming buds on this magnolia bush are eerily resembling of an alien stick bug. I would have believed you if you told me it was a tropical insect species.

Middle Garden May, originally uploaded by Four Seasons Garden.

Tony and Marie Newton have nurtured this beautiful private English garden located just outside Birmingham to award winning status two years in a row. Their garden won last year’s Daily Mail National Garden Competition and in 2006 they grew to win Walsall in Bloom. Tony and Marie have many more lovely garden photos to share but this one featuring both pagoda and wooden foot bridge is my favourite. See more of the Four Seasons Garden at: www.fourseasonsgarden.co.uk