The Yellow Book

Today was the last of my visits to gardens of the yellow book scheme, to Radcot House, near Faringdon. I so nearly didn't go as the black clouds strated rolling over - but I had watched it develop over the past few  years as I drove past, particularly the re-buiding of the Cotswold stone wall which took months and is such wonderful craftsmanship.

The garden today was everything it promised to be, with the structure defined by amazingly tall yew hedges,  a formal pond so long but in perfect proportions for the garden with seating at either end, and many flower beds -  all this punctuated with several pieces of contemporary sculpture. The planting however, shows what can be acheived in autumn with fantastic colour and structure still in the borders, you would never think it was late September. There were some wonderful examples of grasses with unusual perennials but my favourite plant of the day was Lobelia speciosa 'Tania' - still flowering with spikes of magenta against the purple hues of Panicum 'Heavy Metal'. I'll be adding this to my next article on plant combinations using grasses.

Mark it in your diaries for next year if you live in Oxfordshire.