We visited Ryton Organic Gardens last weekend. A Bee Festival was being held on the Saturday and Sunday - sadly, by the time we had decided which day we were going all the lectures, workshops and bee walks had been fully booked :( However, the Garden had lots of bee-related stalls and was full of different bee species and hopefully I will be going on a second Bee Walk with Steven Falk at Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens the weekend after this so all was not lost!
Ryton Gardens cover an area of 10 acres and are the home of the UK's leading organic growing charity (Garden Organic). There are many gardens each with a different theme. I have visited a couple of times before with a friend but earlier in the year.
There was a display on Biodynamic Gardening in the Reception area.
The herb garden in the right of this photo has around 200 different species of herb.
The World's largest flower pot!
Bees and hoverflies
The Kitchen and Allotment Garden which has companion planting and plenty of bee friendly plants.
These yellow daisy type flowers, which I have also seen in National Trust Gardens, were very very popular with the bees and hoverflies
The Biodynamic Garden
The Paradise Garden is a tribute to Geoff Hamilton and is divided into town and country gardens.
The Wildlife area had many features to encourage wildlife such as a log pile and bug hotel.
The Rose Garden which is planted with a mix of David Austin roses (by coincidence we passed his nurseries on our way to the Dower House at Morville recently) and herbaceous perennials to encourage biodiversity and reduce pest problems.
Murals in the Exotic Plant Garden
Even more ideas for bug hotels
B enjoyed looking round all the different types of compost bin
Low Maintenance Landscape
Apples in the Orchard
A lovely afternoon out even if I did miss the talks!. No cake this time as they had sold out!! but I did come home with another Verbena bonariensis. I did see some of those little pink/white daisies for sale that were covering so many walls in Devon. I really regret not buying a pot but B was hovering nearby and he is not happy if I but too many plants as he says we don't have room for any more. I am still trying to persuade him to get rid of the first big lawn (not needed now the children are grown up) and cover the area with lots of herbaceous borders and raised vegetable beds but as we are still considering moving it may well be a waste of time.
Apologies for the vast amounts of photos again - there will be fewer in the next couple of posts!
*D denotes photos taken by D with the Canon SX50HS
His bee photos were a lot better than mine which are heavily cropped as I had the 14-42mm lens on the camera.
