In May I visited the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens near Romsey. The gardens, founded in 1953, cover 180 acres and include a number of different areas offering seasonal interest all year round. My visit started off with a walk through a wooded area to the Bog Garden, where bamboos are mixed with bold herbaceous perennials.
The Himalayan Valley next to the Bog Garden is lined with azaleas, rhododendrons
Next stop on my walk was the Magnolia Avenue via a visit to the Gurka Memorial Garden. The Gurka Memorial Garden was created in 1997 and includes a traditional Nepalese resting-place, the Chautara, which displays the regimental regiments. A chautara is a four-walled roofless structure for tired travellers to rest.
In the early 1960s a group of magnolias were planted to form an avenue running from the front of Jermyn’s House. The magnolias are complemented throughout the year by alpines and dwarf shrubs.
I had a stunning lunch in the Garden Restaurant at Jermyn’s House after which I needed a good walk so I headed off to the Rhododendron Woodlands. There are around 1,300 different types of rhododendrons with the gardens.
Back into the main gardens and I headed down the Centenary Border and the Wisteria / Peony border. The Centenary Board was originally planted in 1964 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the nursery. It was planted with alternating 22 yard bays, to reflect Sir Harold’s interest in cricket. It was decided in 2010 to develop a more suitable border and infrastructure to open up the border all year round. It is one of the longest double mixed borders in the country.
The wisteria border was planted in 2015 and there are 20 different varieties. The peony border shows around 70 different varieties of peony, although only a couple were in flower at the time of my visit.