This is a unique opportunity to visit a beautiful, private, 3 acre garden set amidst the rolling Carmarthenshire hills on Sunday 5th July between 1 and 6 pm.

Surrounding the old stone house, watermill and goat shed, the garden has been developed over the last decade by Anne and Philip into a peaceful haven bounded by the loop of the stream you cross to arrive. Lush plantings of perennials and shrubs, many mature trees, colour themed borders, and meandering paths with viewpoints throughout, enticing visitors to wander and explore. There’s even a shady pool linking to a large productive vegetable plot, an orchard, and beyond are walks through nearly 20 acres of gently sloping meadows and woods which should be teeming with orchids, scabious, other diverse wildflowers and butterflies at this time of year. Come rain or shine, do visit and be inspired, and enjoy lots more including fabulous teas, raffles and book and plant stalls. This is one of the prettiest local private gardens we know in the area, so do come and enjoy a relaxing afternoon, and support a great cause.

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And finally an advance notice for any regular or occasional blog readers of a special event taking place at our Gelli Uchaf garden on Thursday October 22nd this year. We’re delighted that Dr. Noel Kingsbury has agreed to host one of his popular workshops here from 10 am. to 4 pm. This will be the only time that we open the garden to the public this year, and at a time when there is still much to see, (as these pictures from previous Octobers in the garden demonstrate) and it will provide the backdrop to Noel’s practical course, which he describes as follows:

For those who would like more information about Noel’s work and interests, he describes himself as a writer about gardening, garden designer, horticultural consultant and teacher. Being a much travelled garden writer, click here for a link to some of his many wonderfully written and illustrated books on a diverse range of gardening related topics. The workshop will be a fantastic opportunity to tap into the breadth of his knowledge gained from looking at garden planting and design from around the world over the last 2 decades.

During 1986-1993 Noel ran a nursery near Bristol, growing herbaceous plants and tender species suitable for conservatories. Undertaking a number of garden design projects during the 1990s, Noel began to explore the possibilities of growing plants in ‘artificial ecosystems’. The problem he recognised was:

“People were wanting wildflowers, but often had a hopelessly romantic notion of what that meant. The fact is that we (in Britain) have very few garden-worthy native plants, indeed we have a pretty restricted native flora anyway, so I began to be interested in combining natives and non-natives, in combinations which would require minimal intervention from the gardener”.

Realising that there was very little knowledge about such planting in Britain, Noel looked overseas to Brazil, the US, Germany and Holland in particular, to see what other countries were doing. A close association with planting ideas from Germany and Holland (with Piet Oudolf) has been a central part of Noel’s life ever since. The whole field of ‘ecological planting design’ also drew him into working with the department of landscape at Sheffield University, a world centre for the integration of ecology, landscape and horticulture. In 2009 Noel was awarded a doctorate for his research on long-term perennial planting at Sheffield University.

More about Noel can be found on his website www.noelkingsbury.com

So given my enthusiasm for photographing plants from a rabbit’s viewpoint, our use of native plants and an increasing tendency in our garden for multicultural intermingling planting, it’s an event to look forward to. It’s also really good value, if you compare it with similar events elsewhere, at a cost of £35 per person for the workshop, including morning and afternoon tea/coffee and biscuits/cakes. And this includes an NGS donation for visiting the garden.

You can bring your own packed lunch, or there is an option of a home-made soup and bread, plus pudding, lunch (including my infamous milk and treacle multigrain bread) for an additional £5.

There is a limit of 20 participants for this workshop, and there are now no places left, (as of 08/07/2015), but if you’d like to go on a reserve list, or are interested in any future workshops which we might hold, then do please get in touch via phone or email. It would be really lovely to welcome a few blog readers to see the garden in the green, visit a traditional Welsh longhouse and small holding, and share this workshop. If you’re coming from a distance we can suggest accommodation options, and other attractions in the area, as well as Noel’s lecture to the CGC the previous evening on

“Women, Men and Gardening”

Do we garden differently? An entertaining look at whether men and women garden differently? If so, how and why? A bit of gentle sociology illustrated with a variety of historical visual material.