Lymm Jubilee Gardening Club

1. June 2020 Long Acre Garden, Bridgemere Garden Centre and The Dorothy Clive Garden

Long Acre Garden

This garden in the lovely Cheshire village of Bunbury opened for the first time in 2000. Margaret Bourne is an enthusiastic plantswoman, who has lived there for over 40 years and planned the garden before the house was built.

The garden of approximately one acre has borders with varied planting of trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants, many of which are unusual and rare.

There is a pool with resident frogs and newts supporting an area dedicated to moisture loving bog plants There is a concentration on foliage pattern and colour throughout the garden. The garden contains fruit cages. greenhouses and a conservatory.

Bridgemere Garden Centre

50 years ago, Bridgemere opened as a rose nursery.
Today, it is part of the Blue Diamond Group and is one of Britain's largest centres, selling a huge range of top-quality plants and gardening products.

We will have our lunch in the cafe and then either explore the six acres of award-winning show gardens or shop in the garden centre.

The Dorothy Clive Garden

The Dorothy Clive Garden is a charitable garden trust, set up by Colonel Harry Clive as a place of rest and continued horticultural education for the general public.
Located in glorious countryside on the North Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire borders, the garden is both formal and informal, hosting a network of paths that invite the visitor to explore and discover the intimacy and tranquility of the garden.

There are many areas of diverse interest within this 12 acre, hillside garden. These include a new winter garden, an edible woodland, a woodland quarry with waterfall, an alpine scree and pool, rose walk and amazing seasonal borders.

Additionally the garden has several notable collections of plants including: rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias, sarcococca and hydrangeas.

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2.October 11th The Lovell Quinta Arboretum

This trip is a self drive visit to The Lovell Quinta Arboretum for an afternoon tour with the curator.

This wonderful arboretum in Swettenham was the brainchild of Sir Bernard Lovell, created by him in the mid 1950's after he purchased the property in 1948.
In 1996 it passed into the hands of the Cheshire Wildlife Trust they then transferred it to Tatton Garden Society in late 2003.
Sir Bernard who is best known for his telescope at Jodrell Bank and his work with radar was very keen on plants and collected examples from far and wide including a number of the Eastern-bloc countries.
Shortly after 2003 and by a chance visit Rhoderic Taylor took over the management and curatorship and has been there to the present day.

The site is now home to a colourful range of plants including snowcrops in spring then the crocus and daffodils with the other trees and shrubs adding there seasonal attractions from early flowers to berries and autumn colour.
To help visitors most of the plants are labelled and with some there are 'QR 'codes for the visitors with the technology.
Currently the grass is being mown in different ways to encorage wild life and increase visitor interest.
A recent survey indicated use by 17 different species which shows its significance for different species.

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Lymm Jubilee Gardening Club

Trips

1. June 2020 Long Acre Garden, Bridgemere Garden Centre and The Dorothy Clive Garden

Long Acre Garden

Bridgemere Garden Centre

The Dorothy Clive Garden

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2.October 11th The Lovell Quinta Arboretum

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