So will it be open again next year???

glad the days went well. wish i lived closer or better still was retired so i could get over next year.
but well do a truley beautiful garden.

~hi there Barbara~thank you for a lovely day!
What were those pink/pale green/ cream trees again~poplars?
look forward to next year!
Arlene

Yes, poplars. Latin name? Oh, OK, if you insist. (hehe)

Populus x jackii 'Aurora'...they get coppiced hard back in early spring every two years.

LOL... How many times did I say that over the two days?? Several people wrote it all down!

Hi Arlene! :-)

it all looks lovely. glas u had a great time. we had great weather today. we had lots of visitors i'm shattered now. but we did have a lovely day.

Oh, Sandra! I know - it's very, very tiring! Glad you had a good day, though. :-)

Spritz I,ve really enjoyed reading all about your open days,If we weren,t so far apart I would have been wandering around your garden as well.Pleased everything went well for you and you certainly sound as though you enjoyed them .Good to see Henry taking part as well, now you can relax for a while and enjoy your garden before you start planning the next open days.Lovely photographs and well done with the fund raising......

~All the husbands deserve a vote of thanks for all the work they do,the driving ,the oohaing and aahing and buying plants etc.Well done guys!

Lovely blog Spritz and thank you again x

Sounds like it all went very well - congratulations. Great photos - glad to see Henry had such a good day. Patty is gorgeous and the populus is just lovely.

Congratulations on your lovely days. I'm sure you're looking forward to it all again next year - this time even MORE prepared now that you know what is needed. Wish I could have been there. :o))

I would gladly have kept throwing Henry's ball for him, but there was so much to see in your fantastic gardens. Thank you all for a brilliant day. :-)

glad everything went smoothly and the sun shone on you. great group pic

Congratulations Spritz on your successful open days...what a great amount to raise for the NGS! Have a good rest now...then start planning for next year...lol

Your garden looks fantastic Spritz and congratulations on your open day.I can only dream of having a lane and a field opposite my house! What was those large pink flowers in the middle of the plant stall? I can't decide if they are waterlies or Echinopsis. Great photos.

My friend propagates Epiphyllums - aren't they amazing? When I think of the little flowers on my one and only- 'Christmas Cactus', some of hers are plate-sized!

The field is not ours, it was lent by one person in the village and cut by our lovely farmer-neighbour who even moved his sheep out for the week!

Thanks everyone for the lovely comments.

Henry was an absolute angel-dog with all those people in HIS garden! (Apart from insisting on disappearing into the car-park field...twice! lol) Mind you, he was thoroughly spoilt and I'm sure quite a lot of bits of cake went his way!

aw Barbara, sounds like a fantastic time was had by everyone. the photos are great for us who couldnt manage to be there xx

Yes as Eileen says, lovely to see the photos for those of us who were not able to visit you.
I'm pleased you had good weather and lots of visitors. :o)

A lovely blog Spritz. I'm so glad that the weather was good for you and that you had a nice lot of visitors. Also good to know that you raised a goodly sum for charity. Time for a little rest now then back out to enjoy your beautiful garden for the rest of the year until you need to get ready for next years onslaught. Well done.

Glad all went well with your open days.....and that you raised a good amount for charity.....im sure it was all well worth the effort....

So gorgeous Spritz ...so good of you to open to the public like this and for Henry to allow it ..well now everyone should really feel so very honored for that!
You have done so beautiful a job and you cannot tell there was ever a cow through anywhere...much less a herd of them!
The only problem I have with your blog..? I cannot tell who is who in the group photo..the only one I am sure of is David...lol...names please...pretty please...~Cat

I'm glad all went well Spritz :o)

Glad it went well.
Quite a bit of money raised, well done you.
Oh and a big hello to everyone in the picture.

Well done Spritz , the garden photos are all fantastic ,, i,m so pleased the weather was kind to you that makes all the difference ..
What a lovely amount of money to have collected as well ..it makes it all worthwhile .........

What a fabulous garden you have, saw more photos on another blog as well. So glad it all went well and that you are going to do it again as now I really want to come and see it too! By the way what are the plants that everybody wanted to know the name of (first photo)?

Here in the UK, our Hospices and palliative care facilities are mainly funded by charity. The NGS is a great contributer to those charities. I worked as a Hospice nurse for many years, and would like to thank everyone who either opens their garden, or is a paying visitor....I know exactly where that money goes, and what a huge difference it makes. Thankyou Spritz, and everyone who supported you xxx

Three cheers for Spritz. Hip, hip, hoorah! Perhaps I'll make it next year with a bit of planning - thank goodness for yours and others photos. I bet your glad to wind down now.

Wonderful setting and great the weather did its bit for you .. oh those flash floods must seem a distant memory on days like this quietly you must be so relieved everything went so well .

Sure after all this hard work will be nice to get your garden back would loved to have been there but my old Van arriving in clouds of smoke like the Dingles from Emmerdale might have lowered the tone lol

I'd better answer those questions, hadn't I!

The two photos of plants - the 'shrubs' are poplar trees which are coppiced hard back every two years - they grow back that beautiful colour, cream, pink and green. They are Populus x jackii 'Aurora'. The pink flowers are Phuopsis stylosa - they are thugs and I don't advise anyone to grow them!

The GOY members in the group photo from left to right are:

Andrearichter, Spritz (AKA me, lol), Arlene, Louise1 and David. The little girl is Andrea's daughter!

Bb - nobody would have minded your van - as long as it got you both here!

~we will have to have as many GOY members as possible next year~tell us the dates and we will be there!

He he you say that Spritz but could have been stuck with you for a while ! Can just here you now .. great to see on the open day but it is Christmas and we really need to ...

BUT, Bb - you are a gardener and I'd have been delighted to get you to help me dig my new bed! Hehe back to you! AND we do have a logshed which is quite comfortable, as it has a chair in it....

Oh well put like that and my special Somerset rates of only £50 an hour plus accommodation sure you d love to see me !

I would anyway...:-) :-) XXXXX

Bless you .. that was a joke honest cant imagine those rates in Yorkshire tough to get that a day lol doesnt look like you need much help as your garden already stunning .

Ho ho - when I start digging the new bed, I shall have poplar tree roots to cope with! I think husband realises that he will be called upon for assistance! Have you got a chainsaw? It might well be needed, Bb!

Hurry up, I DO need help! And, as usual, there will be lumps of rock in there. SIGH. I shall be saying...why did I ever start this??

I was so glad to see that your two open days went so well! I'd have loved to have visited your garden but having to rely on public transport or on foot makes going most places impossible.

I loved the photos .

Would have been lovely to see your garden, Spritz! And the sun shone for you both days...how lucky! AND the goY friends contingent...how wonderful! Would be nice if more gardeners decided to open their gardens for charity...I am constantly amazed at the sheer number of dedicated gardeners over there! Congratulations on your wonderful success! Woof Henry!

If I had visited I would probably have missed the group photo. I would have been doing a vanishing act by taking Henry for another walk if you had both let me. It is just as well really as David would probably not want to be mistaken for me! Now about all the visitor questions you mentioned in your blog - what were the answers? My only critiscism of your blog is that you should have taken and posted more great pictures of Henry who I notice was also missing for the group photo! Nevertheless I enjoyed my virtual visit - Well done.

Fantastic Spritz, congrats on the grand opening, and glad you had such a lovely 2 days... great to see group pic's of our friends :-) shame i could'nt be there,,,,never know maybe next year...hope so would be able to raid your geranium collection then would'nt i lol ;-)

Thanks Barbara...now I know everyone's names and which was who...have looked at lots of pic's now from yours to others from GOY..so nice...get to enjoy the rest of your summer just playing in your garden now with Henry..he must have enjoyed all the extra attention.

Cat, he was 'Angel-dog!' He just loved it all...and welcomed everyone...especially the ones who threw his ball or slipped him a bit of cake! lol.

Gf - I hardly saw him - he was off having such a good time, I asked where he was and he was lying on his back in the back garden having his tummy tickled...then I saw him looking soulfully upwards at a couple having tea. They gave in, of course.

I think I've answered all the questions??

Spritz - In your blog you said :- "I had question after question asked of me..what was that plant, did I have a gardener (?? – no – it’s ME) how many hours did I spend in the garden, were the weeping ash trees wisterias.... (hmmm!)....and especially – what are these?" So how many hours do you spend in your lovely garden and what are the common names of all your plants? lol

Hi, glad it went well, and if my sieve-brain doesn't let me down, I'll make a note of opening dates next year and try and come along.
What is the nearest town to you (don't wish to be rude, but
Shurton Ford may not be on my map - I'll check though).
Open gardens are such a lovely idea, and I'm glad there is such a thing.
As we were leaving N Germany, they had just started doing this in a very few places. Trouble was, they all opened on the same day quite far apart... not really the best plan, but perhaps someone over there's had that lightbulb moment by now. Lol.

The nearest town of any size is Bridgwater, about 9 miles away - I doubt if Shurton is on a large-scale map, we only have 51 houses and a pub!!

We may well stick to June...we haven't talked about it yet...what do other people think? The NGS forms have to be filled in about August I think.

I don't want to open in school holiday times, partly because people go away and partly because...well, the GOY members who came could tell you about certain visitors who were ...errr...not very well-behaved, shall we say! My face must have been a picture! Grrrrr.....

How very silly to open on the same day! Unbelievable!

spritzhenry,
wow, would have been nice to come down. let me know if you are open again this year. it would be nice to see what makes you tick and to say hi to henry.
on sunday we went to visit a local garden in the ngs yellow book.
it was junglejen's, only a little garden, but it was absolutely wonderful, i cannot begin to describe it. we were to feel so welcome, angie and i were there chatting for a couple of hours.
hope it was worth the effort.
take care, dave.

Sorry, Dave, but that's it for this year! We decided to try opening twice...we were both so tired after that so I think that it'll be the same next year as well.

I will make sure I post the dates as soon as they are decided. I am hoping that GOY members will come, either again, or plus other people! It was great to meet them.

Gf - you are very welcome to go to my 'garden' page and you can look at (most) of my plants for yourself! See you next week....LOL. As to how many hours I spend out there - well, I have to be dragged back in, so you'd better ask my husband, 'cos I lose all sense of time!

Love your pictures of the garden open house (and of Henry, of course) made me wish I lived across the pond so I could go!

WoW how have i missed this, Wouldn't mind but ive been waiting and looking for updates of your Open Day.. Phew, well what a Couple of days you had Spritz, you must be Extatic and Worn out at the same time. How Fantastic to meet other Goyers and your garden is Amazing, I didn't realise how big it was, Like a Country Estate and your Design and planting are Absoloutly Spot on, Love it all Spritz ,The stream, The Planting, The Lawns, Everything.. A Massive Well done to you your hub and Henry and all your helpers of course....Love Dee...

What a lovely comment, Dee! Thank you. It's a big garden, but not at all like a country estate - it's two-thirds of an acre. I find that quite enough to handle on my own.

It was an experience opening for the first time - I think we've learned a lot and will be more relaxed about it next year. (I hope!)

So, it was a school holiday? I can vouch for you, Spritz! That was when I asked if you had to take out your own indemnity insurance to open your garden to the public, lol!

Hope you get your hands on a copy of that lovely sketch done of your garden!

I stayed in nearby Bridgwater. The town centre is lovely, and the River Parrett is site of a tidal bore at certain times of the year. I also found, here, my perfect bowlplanter for the chocolatey brown aeoniums I got from GOY member Sandra back in October. :-)

No - the half-term holiday was the week before, David. I really don't know why those children who came weren't at school - I am sure that at least two are school age!

Yes, that lady said she'd send me a copy. It was so good, wasn't it!

Bridgwater has its moments. It was bombed in the war, so a lot of it is modern...and ugly, but the centre is a jewel.

Been looking every where 4 a Blog on your Wonderful Open days Spritz & its now 17th June @ 10.39pm that iv found it :) What a Super Few Days u had & Henry looks like he loved every minute 2 :) lol :)

I am surprised that you haven't fallen over them, Jacque! Arlene, Louise1, Jangue and David have all written them as well! You've got a lot of reading to do....hehe. Up all night tonight!

Yes, Henry had a fantastic time. I think he'd like visitors every day - especially to throw his ball for him and give him bits of cake - lol.

LOL Trust Henry 2 find the Cake Spritz he takes after me there lol ;) I have seen some Pics ect but iv been so busy in my own garden & catching up with everything else here on GOY i some how miss things im looking 4 :/ I wear Reading Glasses now so ud think i see things more wouldnt u ? lol :)

I know, Jacque. I just can't keep up with everyone any more. And even tho' the open garden bit is over, I have started a new project, and the garden doesn't look after itself, does it?

Your Right there Spritz :) So what u up 2 now ? A New Project u say ! :D

All will be revealed, Jacque! I am taking loads of before and during photos and of course some when it's completed!You know me - I can't sit still, I like having a project to get my teeth into - or should I say ...my fork!!

i look forward to seeing what u & fork have been up 2 Spritz :)

;-D

Wow what a lovely garden you have sprtiz. We open our garden in August for our village open gardens day - so now Im feeling very nervous as it not a patch on yours. I really dont think anyone will be asking us if we have a gardener as the multitudes of weeds and odd planting combinations say that all too well!

You are brave to do that, Ducky! How many gardens open in the village?

sounds really nice, by the way what is the blue starry balled plant? id love to travel there one day in the future, i hear the ciders supposed to be good there to so all sounds good to me,hope all your others are a success also

sorry read your comments and know what it is now

Thanks... that plant came out a strange colour in the photo - it is much pinker, really. It's called Phuopsis stylosa and it is a THUG!! .... I see you have found its name.... :-)

I'll post the dates for next year as soon as they are decided. It would be lovely to meet GOY members! Yes, there's zider in Zummerzet..lol.

Wonderful stuff. So pleased it all went well for you. Always a pleasure to see photos of your fantastic garden.

What a lovely thing to say! Thanks. :-)

I've enjoyed David's photos too Spritz - you have endless aspects, just perfect.

:-)

There are several blogs on GOY members' visits - Jangue came to the first open day and wrote one, then Louise1 wrote hers, followed by Arlene and David ...and me!

Rather a lot of my garden lately! I do hope you are not all thoroughly fed up with it :-(

I for one will never tire of your garden!

Thank you, Dawnsaunt. :-D

I don't get tired of it, personally, but it has featured quite a lot lately! LOL.

Spritz,
In answer to your question there are usually between 10 and 15 gardens open in the village - they range from the absolutely fabulous huge plots, formal rose beds, huge shrubberies, a milennium arboretum of about 1/2 acre, to some that are totally given over to veg, or rockeries, small gardens that are nearly all patio and raised beds for wheelchair access. People put out plant stalls, teas, bric a brac stalls,last year there was even a musical garden with chamber music being played live! The money raised by the Horticultural society is donated by them to various good causes. It is good fun last time we did it we got about 200 visitors through the day.

I hope it goes really well this year - it all sounds like good fun. Our nearest village doesn't do it, but one 3 miles away does, and we went last year - just as you say, so many different types and sizes of garden. We had a great time! :-) A lovely cream tea to finish the afternoon...what more could you ask for?

Looks like you all had a wondeful time ,your garden looks beautiful Spritz ,pity about that bunch of criminals lol

That was quick, Janette! Yes, it was fun to meet them all - and Jangue the week before! I had to keep my eye on them, though.

Thanks for the lovely comment. :-)

How refreshing to see your wonderful garden again, especially as we are now in the depths of winter.
Barbara, may I ask a question about your stunning Poplar Candicans? After seeing yours I bought one a couple of years ago, its probably about 4 feet tall now, a proper little tree, but I have to pollard? Is that right? Or are yours coppiced? It will soon be time to do something with it but I'm a bit apprehensive, if you could advice it would be much appreciated :-) Thanks, Dawn

Yes, they get cut back hard in early spring, Dawn. Having said that, I'm afraid ours haven't been, due to my illness...I am so pleased that you liked them enough to get your own!

Thank you Barbara, appreciate your reply. I was knocked out by the beauty of yours. Let's hope you get around to pruning yours soon, I suspect I've put a reminder on your list, take care and get well soon.

I think it's probably too late, Dawn, but never mind, they are lovely trees anyway. They still get the pretty leaf colouring, although not as intensely.

Mine is still dormant so I'll get it pruned soon. I look forward to seeing your future blogs and pics.