Latest Posts
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Fabulous Autumn Colours
Blog
In many ways it has been a really wonderful autumn. The weather may not have always been perfect but we have seen some really quite fabulous colours since we started to get some cooler evenings in early October. Molinia Dauerstrahl for example (above) is now a wonderful warm honey brown that works so beautifully with the…
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A beautiful morning in the garden….
Blog
It was one of those truly wonderful mornings; where the light is good, the air is warm, there is no wind and the garden seems almost to purr with pleasure. Just too good not to take some pictures! One of my favourite views in the garden (below), at the bottom of the Long Walk, has Molinia…
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Looking good at the moment…..
Blog
Last weekends storm had the most amazing thunder and lightening I can recall that took out our internet for nearly a week; but it did also provide us with almost and inch and a half of rain (in 40 minutes!) and so the garden has been looking great this week. Persicaria polymorpha (above), has once again achieved…
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A New (not so) Giant Oatgrass
Blog
One of the real delights of being a specialist nursery is that we can come across some really wonderful new plants for UK gardens. While we do not have a formal breeding programme as such over the twenty one years that I have been at Knoll we have gradually worked on and refined our selection…
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Great Plants for Winter Structure
Flowering Perennials, Ornament Grasses
Now is probably the perfect time to think about plants that provide structure and interest in our gardens during the dark and chilly days of winter. With the cold wintry nights we have actually had some wonderful sunny days over the last few weeks, so there has been plenty of opportunity to walk around the…
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Autumnal Magic
Blog
It is a most beautiful time of year; and in spite of the recent wet and windy weather the garden is looking if anything more wonderful now as the temperatures gradually drop and the plants move day by day into their full autumn garb. Take for example the spindle trees whose incredibly shaped fruits are…
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My favourite month in the Garden
Blog
This just has to be about my favourite time in the garden…..and its not only because so many of the ornamental grasses are looking fabulous around now. Its also that the low warm sunshine of the early autumn bathes everything in a kind of warm glow that I find endlessly uplifting. Everything looks good and…
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Bee Aware !
Events, Garden
I am finding it a little difficult to believe that already a week has passed since our wonderfully successful event dedicated to Bees was held here at Knoll on the 16th August! The event was organised by our associated charity the Knoll Gardens Foundation and was supported by many other organisations and individuals who generously gave of their…
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Creating a Buzz
Flowering Perennials
Walking in the garden early this morning I was amazed by just how many bees there were already busy working away in the garden. As always they were attracted to the single flowers and it didnt seem to matter whether these plants were shrubs, perennials, natives or exotics; if they were flowering and had the…
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Size Matters
Ornament Grasses
Size does matter! At least it does when you have limited space in a garden or planting scheme and you need the right sized plant that wont outgrow its welcome. Take for example Pennisetum Short Stuff (above), a selection of the rather wonderful grass Pennisetum macrourum, and which was released by Knoll Gardens a few years back. Short…
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