Aylsham Open Gardens 27 & 28 June

The Open Gardens team are looking forward to welcoming visitors during the last weekend of June to enjoy the opportunity of seeing 22 gardens in Aylsham.  The weather has been good and the roses are looking lovely.  All gardeners like visiting other people’s gardens for a variety of reasons.  Gardens provide the inspiration for floral design, sculpture, water and wildlife features.  Mostly we go to enjoy the surroundings, admire other people’s work and are even pleased to see a few weeds so we don’t get disheartened when we go home!  Of course there is also the chance of tea and cake!

You might be inspired to create a water feature at home if you do not already have one.  It will provide a new dimension to your garden, attracting wildlife, creating reflections, sound and movement.  It doesn’t have to be large.  Even a small amount of water can be important for wildlife.  I had a frog that lived in a bucket of water on my allotment for several years.  Of course you might want something more ornamental than an old bucket in your garden! 

A pond should have a shallow side for animals like birds and hedgehogs to drink and bathe.  In my straight sided pond I have a pond plant basket filled with large, rounded stones and pebbles part submerged at one corner so animals can get in and out.  Advice on creating ponds is widely available in books and online covering size, site, construction, safety and planting.  If you want wildlife such as frogs, newts and dragonflies you might have to forgo fish as they tend to eat tadpoles and insect larvae.  If you decide you would like fish they may need protection from herons.  Also, I have heard of otters taking fish from ornamental ponds even in Aylsham.

Wallace J. Nichols, a marine biologist, and author of Blue Mind, believes that we all have a “blue mind” and maintains, “that our brains are hardwired to react positively to water and that being near it can calm and connect us, increase innovation and insight, and even heal what’s broken.”

The pictures show water in some of Aylsham’s gardens that have been open to the public previously.  Come and have a look this year and see what’s new.