Botanic 1

Last week saw the annual visit to Ventor Botanic Gardens. See references 1 and 2 for the previous two visits. What first struck me on this occasion was its relaxed feel. The gardens were very good, but they did not have the slightly forced & precious feel of Wisley. You didn't have Chelsea Flower Show or television garden pundits breathing down your neck.

The echium pininana was doing as well as ever, with both masses and outliers of the stuff. Some had even made it to neigbouring private gardens. Some visible in the snap left. They are also rather proud of their puyas, which I think included puya chilensis and puya spathacea, with the former being another plant with a very tall flower spike.

The hydrangea collection was in fine condition, surprising us, not for the first time, by being in the shade. I still think of them as being large flashy shrubs grown in full sunlight in seaside gardens.

The giant aloes which I like were still going strong, but they were in danger of being shaded out by palm trees. Shaded out despite the example set by the hydrangeas.

The hop garden did not look so clever. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to erect poles and lines but the hops themselves were not going that strongly. Now while I might have shifted the beer in the olden days and I did grow the odd hop myself in the allotment days, I cannot claim any special knowledge on that account: notwithstanding & nevertheless, I would have thought that there would have been more action by the middle of July. Looking back at reference 2, I clearly thought so back in 2013.

And while the gardens were not precious, the café was, being very full of its own organosity. However, while my lunch time sandwich was very prettily presented, the substantial slice of island reared ham in it was not that clever. Perhaps they are better with obscure brands of salad leaves than they are with flesh.

But that is to carp. The place as a whole is splendid and I am sure that if we lived on the island we would take out a season ticket, just as we do here in Epsom for Hampton Court.

Reference 1: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/ventnor-revisited.html.

Reference 2: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/ventnor-botanic-gardens.html.

Reference 3: http://www.botanic.co.uk/.