Glorious Gardens from Above episode 14 – Hampshire: Christine Walkden flies above the green expanses of Hampshire, dropping in on two spectacular gardens.
At Mottisfont she meets a gardening veteran who’s handing over the reins to his young protegee, and at the Sir Harold Hillier Garden she learns about keeping it in the family. And she climbs into a pair of waders for some very unusual weeding.
Glorious Gardens from Above episode 14 – Hampshire
Mottisfont
In our walled gardens you’ll find deep herbaceous borders full of pretty floral colour and delicious scents. The huge plane trees, towering beeches and oaks that fringe the house are on the verge of turning to the soft yellows and russets of autumn.
The herbaceous borders lining the paths of our walled gardens are a seasonal highlight. Providing a wonderful floral colour palette right through until October, these borders showcase a huge variety of plants chosen for their structure, rich scent and eye-catching colours.
The planting is the result of an ambitious project to restore the borders back to the original design of horticulturalist Graham Stuart Thomas, who created them in 1972. Agapanthus, geraniums and peonies mingle with pinks, lilies and phlox, to name just a few.
Sir Harold Hillier Gardens
The Sir Harold Hillier Gardens is an arboretum comprising 72 hectares accommodating over 42,000 trees and shrubs in about 12,000 taxa, notably a collection of oaks, camellia, magnolia and rhododendron.
The Gardens are located 5 km (3 mi) northeast of the town of Romsey in Hampshire, England, and were formerly known simply as the Hillier Arboretum, founded by nurseryman Harold Hillier in June 1953 when he acquired Jermyns House and its grounds.
The arboretum was given to Hampshire County Council in 1977 to be managed as a charitable trust. Sir Harold Hillier was knighted in 1983, just two years before his death at age 80 in 1985.
The gardens were added to the Register of Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in England in 1997.
