A quick garden tour: The Circle Garden

 

Over the next few weeks I thought it would be a nice idea to introduce you to the different parts of the garden. The garden here at Duck Pools is made up of several very different areas, same may call them garden rooms.

This week i'm starting with what we call the circle garden. It is the midway point of the garden and features a large stone circle patio where one can stop and take a seat on the stone curved bench and watch the fish in the pond go about their business. The circular patio is surrounded by well-stocked borders and, obviously, the pond.

One enters the circle garden over a semi-circular cobble mosaic which features a stone ammonite and local stones encrusted with real fossils. A red gravel path then leads up past the pond on the right and the start of the main borders on the left.

Echinacea cultivar
 

 The stone bench offers a secluded place to stop and take the garden in. You can look back to the house overlooking the patio with all its pots and containers or you can look up to Monty's garden and surrounded flower borders.

The borders are filled with a mixture of plants. Herbaceous perennials, shrubs, bulbs and trees all play a part. There is a feature Acer campestre (Snake bark maple) with its bark marbled-white. Also, there is a large standard red robin which was full of bloom last year. After a few minutes sitting, you will see the resident blue tits and long tailed tits flitting to and fro.

Lush foliage flanks the path, offering interest before any flowers appear.

An aerial view of the circle garden. You can see the dividing trellis screen, clothed in Akebia quinata. On the right hand side is the golden pine. The pond iris foliage is just visible to the right.

I hope you've enjoyed all the circle garden has to offer. It does really feel like the heart of the garden; it feels like a destination to be reached. You stop, take a breather and continue to explore the garden...