Gardeners show off delights
Bank Holiday visitors get the chance to see three interesting gardens open this weekend – an exotic garden with a safari lodge, a professional designer's and a collection of rare plants.
Many visitors will choose the garden at Astley Towne House near Stourport-on-Severn to see how lush the exotic garden of Tim and Lesley Smith is after the rainy season.
The creation is interesting because it includes some lovely banana plants. Apart from the sub-tropical plantings there are dozens of dahlias and gingers in the borders which also have statues and sandstone columns rescued when St Michael's Church in Stourport was demolished.
Also open over the weekend – on Sunday and Monday – is Whit Lenge Gardens, where professional garden designer Keith Southall has created a three-acre garden around his family home. He has more than 800 varieties of trees, shrubs and perennial plants in the garden at Hartlebury, near Kidderminster. The garden, just off the A442 Droitwich Road, has several points of interest, including a twisted pillar pergola, a camomile lawn and waterfalls and pools.
For people in Staffordshire there is a peaceful half-acre creation with stunning views over the local countryside open in the Eccleshall area.
Susan and John Weston open Birch Trees at Copmere End, where they have created a plant enthusiasts' garden. They have many rare and unusual plants in their borders and are open on Sunday and Monday.
The plant-packed garden has been developed with the interests of wildlife firmly in mind.
Gardens open this weekend:
* Astley Towne House three miles out of Stourport-on-Severn on the B4196. Exotic garden with bananas and palms, a stumpery and safari lodge. Open Sunday, 1-5pm, admission £3, children free.
* Whit Lenge Gardens at Hartlebury, Kidderminster. The garden of professional landscape desginer Keith Southall with hundreds of plants. Open Sunday and Monday 10am-5pm, admission £2, children free.
* Birch Trees, Copmere End, Eccleshall, peaceful country garden with many rare and unusual plants. Open Sunday and Monday 1.30- 5.30pm, £2.50, children free.
