We are proud of our close links with Native Sons of California; a leading edge US nursery with a passion for the use of native and regionally adapted plants in ornamental areas.
Rick Darke, one time curator of the internationally renowned Longwood Gardens in the USA, is widely respected as one of the world’s foremost experts on ornamental grasses and has authored one of the most important books on this subject.
The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. Details of most of their activities including the world famous Chelsea Flower Show and Hampton Court Palace Flower Show can be found here.
Plant Heritage is the world’s premier cultivated plant conservation group which runs the National Reference Collection Scheme.
Knoll Gardens is deeply indebted to Dianna Jazwinski for the generous use of her wonderful pictures on our website.
As we come to appreciate just how well grasses can perform in our gardens and the built environment there are more and more places where they can be seen; including many public spaces as well as private gardens. Here are just a few suggestions that might be helpful;
Sussex Prairies is an exciting 6-acre prairie garden planted in a naturalistic style using 30,000 plants in 600 different varieties and featuring a range of ornamental grasses.
The grass collection at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew is scientifically based but has been given a strong and very successful design aesthetic.
All four gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), have good collections of grasses that are chosen to reflect the individual gardens conditions. The new grass garden at RHS Wisley has an especially beautiful design layout.
Scampston Hall has the famed ‘Rivers of Grass’ molinia feature as well as some superb other plantings.
Hauser and Wirth in Somerset is the most recent Piet Oudolf planting and a great example of his approach to a meadow style planting.
Pensthorpe Natural Park in Norfolk has a Piet Oudolf planting that is especially effective from high summer onwards.
Cambo Gardens in Scotland is famed for its gardening style and effective use of grasses.
GARDENS AND WILDLIFE
Our associated charity, the Knoll Gardens Foundation, is dedicated to understanding more about the naturalistic style of gardening and its value to our gardens wildlife, using the gardens as a practical example and base for experimentation.
Part of this work is through wildlife surveys and we are especially grateful to the following organisations who generously give of their time, effort and expertise;
The Dorset Wildlife Trust is a very active and practical conservation body doing much valuable work to conserve native flora in Dorset. It is responsible for the Great Heath conservation project within which broad area sits Knoll Gardens.
The Bournemouth Natural Science Society (BNSS), who undertake regular night time surveys of moths found in the gardens.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) known and respected internationally for their work with our garden birds.
