Boston Flora

Tag: Hidcote

  • Monday, May 29 – Saturday, June 3 – Gardens of the Cotswolds

    This spring join the Royal Oak Foundation for a special garden tour in the Cotswolds. Dream of the English countryside, with gently rolling hills and picture-perfect traditional villages and you may well have a vision of the Cotswolds. Close to London and Oxford, yet still unspoiled, this sought-after area with its gorgeous gardens and royal connections is our destination for spring 2023.

    Staying at a luxurious historic inn in the charming village of Broadway, we will be shown famous and influential gardens such as Hidcote, now in the care of the National Trust and neighboring Kiftsgate, with its monumental rambling rose. We will also have special access to a number of secret private gardens where owners have created their own horticultural paradise.

    We can compare the design and planting of Tudor knot gardens, cottage gardens, organic gardens and walled gardens and admire features from romantic temples and grottoes to imaginative topiary and striking contemporary sculpture. A crowning highlight, subject to confirmation, will be a visit to Highgrove, the garden of His Majesty The King, a pioneer of organic gardening.

    Your tour will be accompanied by art historian and garden lover Rosalind Malandrinos who lives in the Cotswolds and is a guide at Sudeley Castle. For brochure and more information, visit HERE. The sign up deadline is January 27!

    Kiftsgate

  • The National Trust’s School of Gardening: Caring for Hedges

    Hidcote is an Arts and Crafts-inspired garden with intricately designed outdoor spaces in the rolling Cotswold hills.
    The garden is divided into a series of outdoor rooms, each with its own character. The formality of these rooms melts away as you move through the garden away from the house. An integral aspect of the design as laid out by the American, Major Lawrence Johnston in the early 1900s was the use of hedges to separate spaces. Visit Hidcote on video with Rebecca Bevan to learn hedge care from the experts. The five minute video is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCuT_Cx_dao

  • Wednesday, December 2, 2:00 pm – Kiftsgate Court Gardens: Three Generations of Women Gardeners Webinar

    In this December 2 illustrated webinar, current owners Anne and Johnny Chambers will tell their personal tale of Kiftsgate Court’s history and share their plans for the garden’s future. The program is presented by the Royal Oak Foundation, co-sponsored by The Colonial Dames of America, Washington Decorative Arts Forum, and the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, Southern California Chapter, and begins at 2 pm. $15 for sponsor members. $20 non-members.

    Kiftsgate Court is a family home and garden that has been loved and cultivated by the same family for over 100 years. Three generations of women gardeners have left their mark, each building on the family legacy.

    When Jack and Heather Muir bought Kiftsgate in 1919, Heather laid out the garden without any horticultural training. Instead of a lawn, she planted semi-formal beds of roses and other flowers, a tapestry hedge with a mix of beech, yew, and plain and variegated holly, and a rose border full of unusual varieties. Heather’s aesthetic favored the Arts & Crafts Movement, emphasizing perennials and Mediterranean plants chosen for their adaptability, including drought tolerant cistus, spiky agaves, and other Mediterranean style plantings. She was encouraged by her friend and next-door neighbor at Hidcote, Lawrence Johnston, as well as Vita Sackville-West, who planted the famous Kiftsgate Rose at Sissinghurst.

    Heather’s daughter, Diany Binny, continued the family gardening tradition during the 1950s. She designed paths, replanted borders with herbaceous plants, and re-fashioned the White Sunk Garden with a pool. Since the late 1980s, her daughter, Anne Chambers, and Anne’s husband, Johnny, have cultivated Kiftsgate. They introduced plants that flower year-round and added a water garden, a woodland, a tulip tree avenue, and an orchard. 

    Register at www.royal-oak.org. Use Discount Code BACKBAY20 to enjoy the Royal Oak member price ($15) when checking out.

  • Thursday, November 12, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm – Gardens of the Arts & Crafts Movement, Online

    Thursday, November 12, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm – Gardens of the Arts & Crafts Movement, Online

    Join the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, New England, on November 12 at 11 am for a Zoom webinar with Judith B. Tankard on Gardens of the Arts & Crafts Movement. Free with registration HERE.

    English gardens from the Arts & Crafts era are jewels of early 20th Century design. Part of the same design movement that flourished in Europe and North America between 1880 and 1920, these gardens emphasized medieval and romantic styles. Designed on an intimate scale, they blurred the distinction between indoors and outdoors, and emphasized the symbiotic nature of the house and garden as a unified landscape. Many contained a series of distinct outdoor ‘rooms’ often delineated by hedges and embellished with whimsical topiary. Most had lavish plantings of perennials, ornamental shrubs, bulbs, and annuals—all massed for color, textural effect, and seasonal impact. Small structures, such as pergolas, arbors, sundials, and other traditional ornaments produced storybook-like gardens that referenced Old English manor house surroundings of the 17th Century.


    In this illustrated lecture, Judith Tankard will give insight into the minds of the movement’s creative giants such as William Morris and Gertrude Jekyll, as well as lesser known designers such as Avray Tipping, Thomas Mawson, and Robert Lorimer. She will illustrate gorgeous National Trust gardens such as Hidcote, Standen, Snowshill Manor, Red House, and Kellie Castle, among others, and give visual tours of other stunning gardens, such as Hestercombe, Great Dixter, Gravetye Manor, and Munstead Wood. Tankard will show how these English models created a lasting impact on gardens across the pond, as American designers took inspiration from their British contemporaries.


    Judith B Tankard is a landscape historian, award-winning author, and preservation consultant. She is the author of 10 illustrated books, including Ellen Shipman and the American Garden, winner of the 2019 J. B. Jackson Book Award. Her book, Beatrix Farrand: Private Gardens, Public Landscapes, was named an Honor Book for the 2010 Historic New England Book Prize. She taught at the Landscape Institute of Harvard University for twenty years. Judith is a Garden Conservancy Fellow, a Heritage Circle member of The Royal Oak Foundation, and a Stewardship Council member of The Cultural Landscape Foundation. She lives in Boston, is a member of The Garden Club of the Back Bay, and gardens on Martha’s Vineyard. www.judithtankard.com

    For information on other upcoming ICAA New England Chapter tours and lectures, please visit: www.classicist-ne.org/calendar

  • Tuesday, June 19, 9:00 am – 4:30 pm – Two Fabulous Gardens in Washington, Connecticut

    Visit two fabulous gardens in Washington, Connecticut in one day with Berkshire Botanical Garden: the beautiful, panoramic Highmeadows Garden (pictured), the private estate of fashion designer Linda Allard, and Hollister House, an American interpretation of such classic English gardens as Sissinghurst, Great Dixter and Hidcote. Linda Allard will provide a tour of her gardens at Highmeadows. A tour of Hollister House will be led by head gardener Krista Adams. The trip will take place Tuesday, June 19, from 9 – 4:30. $50 for BBG members, $65 for nonmembers. Participants should bring a lunch and dress for the weather. Transportation to and from BBG included in price and time. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/site-field-study-washington-connecticuts-two-fabulous-gardens

  • Saturday, February 23 – Berkshire Botanical Society Winter Lecture with Glyn Jones

    Glyn Jones of Hidcote will be this year’s lecturer at the Berkshire Botanical Garden, speaking about the highlights and low-lights of his time at the renowned National Trust site.  Hidcote Manor Garden is located at Hidcote Bartrim village, near Chipping Campden, in Gloucestershire, UK.  BBG member price $35, non members $42, and registration may be achieved on line at www.berkshirebotanical.org, or by calling 413-298-3926.  The time of the lecture has yet to be determined. Photo by Jason Ingram, from www.bbc.co.uk.

  • May, 2012 – The Gardens of England and the Chelsea Flower Show 2012

    May, 2012 – The Gardens of England and the Chelsea Flower Show 2012

    Peggy Coonley invites you to join her annual tour of  The Gardens of England and the Chelsea Flower Show 2012, a thoughtful itinerary  created for savvy women travelers who appreciate the culture of classic Britain.  You will visit notable beloved English gardens and The Royal Horticultural Society’s famous Chelsea Flower Show on RHS Member’s only day.  The itinerary is artfully arranged to include Sissinghurst in Kent and Hidcote in The Cotswolds, two of the world’s beloved gardens.  You will visit The Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew, take a docent led tour at Wisley, and relish your visit to Scotney Castle and Great Dixter.  We take Tea at The Ritz in London and attend the theatre.  Women who love to garden will be inspired by England’s pastoral beauty, history and the pure pleasure of taking time for tea.  Whether yours is a secret garden behind a wall, a wildflower meadow open to the sea or a courtyard plot in the urban landscape, you will be enchanted.  Serendipity Traveler takes time to savour classic British country living, the history and diverse landscapes of London, Kent, Bath and The Cotswolds. This trip is for women who appreciate the fine art of traveling well with a smaller group. For complete details please call Serendipity Traveler’s President, Peggy Coonley in Rockport, Mass. 978 879 7464 or reserve easily online at  www.serendipitytraveler.com.

  • Saturday, May 21 – Monday, May 30 – The Gardens of England and The Chelsea Flower Show

    Please join Peggy Coonley on her annual May visit to England and the Chelsea Flower Show 2011, a tour created for savvy women travelers who appreciate the culture of classic Britain, May 21 – 30, 2011. You will visit notable beloved English gardens and The Royal Horticultural Society’s infamous Chelsea Flower Show on Member’s Only day. The itinerary is thoughtfully arranged to include Sissinghurst in Kent and Hidcote in The Cotswolds, two of the world’s beloved gardens. You will visit The Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew, take a private tour at Wisley, and relish your visit to Scotney Castle (pictured below. )  Women who love to garden will be inspired by England’s pastoral beauty, history and the pure pleasure of taking time for tea. Whether yours is a secret garden behind a wall, a wildflower meadow open to the sea or a courtyard plot in the urban landscape, you will be enchanted. Serendipity Traveler take time to savour classic British country living, the history and diverse landscapes of London, Kent, Bath and The Cotswolds. This trip is for women who appreciate the fine art of traveling well with a small group. For complete details please call Serendipity Traveler’s President, Peggy Coonley in Rockport, Mass. 978 879 7464 or visit www.serendipitytraveler.com