MHS members’ event
Cost: members £5, members’ guests £15
Travel: meet for the coach at the Library car park at 9.30am. We should arrive about 11am and will aim to leave about 3.30pm
Refreshments: there will be plenty of places to eat at the show.
Sign up: at the May and June meetings. Once you have paid you will be added to the list and we will let you know when the trip is open to guests.
Our visit is for their Flower Show with specialist plant nurseries, expert tips and mouth-watering food all to be enjoyed in the stunning summer surroundings of this Essex garden. There will be many artisans stands as well as different demonstrations. Hyde Hall has changed a lot since our last visit and it will be an exciting day.
Dry Garden at Hyde Hall. A garden for all seasons
It looks as though we are in for a dry summer, with a hose pipe ban again, so maybe it is time to consider what to plant in our gardens in the future. A t Hyde Hall there are acres of grounds and a "Beth Chatto" style Dry Garden.
More than 400 species of plants live in the Dry Garden, all originating from areas of low summer rainfall, including the Mediterranean, South Africa, South America, Australia and California. Some of the larger plants found here, including the yuccas, pre-date the Dry Garden but have been kept as they suit the conditions and planting scheme.
The garden is constructed of coarse-grained gabbro boulders and subsoil mounded over rubble. The topsoil was mixed with a high volume of sand and grit to provide the plants with a free-draining environment.
In spring, the space undulates with mounds of luminous, acid-yellow euphorbias, before building to a crescendo of riotous colour in summer. Orange and yellow-flowering California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) drift between plantings of Verbena bonariensis, Salvia nemorosa ‘Lubecca’ and Nepeta racemosa ‘Walker's Low’, while stately verbascums and echiums tower over the garden.
The fiery red flowers of Zauschneria californica provide fabulous autumn interest. And in winter, spent seedheads and grasses add a magical, ethereal quality to the space when dusted with frost or snow.