Mottisfont Abbey Rose Gardens, Hampshire, UK | An outstanding National Trust romantic rose garden (18 of 20) | Traditional wide English flower border with early roses and companion planting

Mottisfont Abbey Rose Gardens, Hampshire, UK | An outstanding National Trust romantic rose garden (18 of 20) | Traditional wide English flower border with early roses and companion planting

Image by ukgardenphotos
Mottisfont Abbey Rose Gardens (National Trust), Hampshire, England:

Set in the walled gardens of an Augustinian Priory dating back to the 13th century, the rose garden at Mottisfont Abbey is the best romantic rose garden in the world!

Although there are other excellent rose gardens in the UK, such as the modern Royal National Rose Society’s (RNRS) rose gardens at St. Albans and the extensive rose gardens of the RHS at Rosemoor in Devon, the old fashioned roses at Mottisfont produce a truly remarkable spectacle when in full bloom.

These amazing gardens are filled with scent. The National Trust arranges late opening on several evenings in June so visitors get to sample the roses gorgeous perfume too. It’s a good time to visit as the large number of visitors is usually less in the evening and the roses scent fills the summer evening air. At its peak this garden really does provide visitors with a piece of ‘heaven on earth’. If you can only visit one rose garden in the UK, this is definitely the one to go for!

This photo shows traditional wide English flower border with early roses and companion planting such as blue campanulas, foxgloves and dianthus.

Details: Mottisfont Abbey Gardens contain the UK’s National Collection of old fashioned roses – with some varieties dating back hundreds of years. The collection contains ancient and historic roses such as alba and damask roses, gallicas, centifolias, rugosas, early china and hybrid perpetual roses, together with early tea and hybrid tea roses. There are also numerous climbers and ramblers covering the many pergolas and arches throughout the garden.

The companion planting is exceptionally well chosen too: with clematis scrambling through climbing roses and an imaginative under-planting of herbaceous perennials including peonies, poppies, foxgloves, campanulas, pinks, nepeta, lavender, foxtail lilies, alchemilla, etc. - all making for a brilliant display in the wide borders of the gardens.


Location: Mottisfont Abbey Gardens, Mottisfont, Near Romsey, Hampshire, UK. SO51 0LP

UK OS Map reference: SU327270


© 2012 ukgardenphotos

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Ascott House Gardens, Buckinghamshire, UK | National Trust gardens with an impressive traditional English herbaceous flower border (18 of 22)

Ascott House Gardens, Buckinghamshire, UK | National Trust gardens with an impressive traditional English herbaceous flower border (18 of 22)

Image by ukgardenphotos
Ascott House Gardens, Buckinghamshire, UK: The attractive gardens at Ascott House, a UK National Trust property in Buckinghamshire, England have an extensive mixture of formal, informal and natural garden features.

A visit to Ascott House provides a lot of variety and different types of garden environment. It is particularly impressive in spring time with massed plantings of spring bulbs as far as the eye can see. The wide herbaceous borders in summer are excellent too and all year interest is provided by the land art in the Lynn garden.

This photo is a view of the 'mirror' borders. This is a traditional high maintenance wide English flower border with tasteful herbaceous perennials and shrub roses.

Details Features range from fields of daffodils, narcissi and fritillaries beneath mature trees in spring; flowering meadows of tulips and spring bulbs; traditional English herbaceous borders with stunning planting in high summer; colorful bedding plant schemes surrounding impressive and grand fountains (such as the Venus and Cupid / Eros fountains by the famous American sculptor Thomas Waldo Story); a picturesque lily pond and thatched summerhouse; neatly clipped yew hedges and even a topiary sundial.

A relatively new feature of the garden is an innovative area devoted to ‘land art’ or ‘earth sculpture’ where mounds of earth and ditches (echoing the earth works of Iron Age Britain on the nearby Chiltern Hills) are planted with grasses, ornamental trees and combined with tasteful water features. The many shades of green are soothing to the eye and give this part of the garden (called the Lynn Garden) a very tranquil atmosphere.

Location: Ascot House, Wing, near Leighton Buzzard, Buckinghamshire, LU7 0PS, UK

UK OSGB Map Reference: OS165:SP891230

Links: A brief description of the house and gardens, together with opening details, is given on the National Trust, Ascott House website.

© 2011 ukgardenphotos

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