Opulent Victorian colour for Witley Court's Easte Parterre

Spring planting now in full bloom

Although the word ‘wallflower’ is used to describe someone who wouldn’t want to draw attention to themselves, the colours of the summer bedding at Witley Court, near Worcester, certainly do draw the eye, with wallflowers, forget-me-nots, pansies and Victorian tulips creating a riot of colour in the East Parterre garden.

The East Parterre is part of Witley Court’s extensive grounds, which feature woodland and lakeside walks alongside a huge collection of rhododendrons, informal and formal gardens set around the ruins of a once-grand Victorian country house. The East Parterre was recreated and opened last year, following extensive archaeology into the garden to establish its original positioning and layout, and promises superb displays across the spring and summer as its two planting schemes come to floral fruition.

“We’ve planted a host of varieties that we know would have been used withinWitley Court’s garden, including Cloth of Gold and Orange Bedder wallflowers, forget-me-nots and purple pansies within the scrolled box borders of the East Parterre,” explains head gardener, Richard Squires. “We’ve also got three antique varieties of tulip: Colour Cardinal, Belona and Van der Neer, which are already looking superb and should remain in bloom for the next couple of weeks.”

One of the challenges of growing some of the antique varieties is their hardiness to different conditions of both weather and soil, and the gardening team atWitley Courthas turned to pot-grown plants to give the best displays of wallflowers. “The plants are slightly more expensive than field-grown varieties, but they tend to fail far less often, and their size is more consistent, which is a bonus for this kind of neat planting scheme, where plants often have to sit for far longer before they bloom than their summer replacements,” adds Richard.

The spring planting remains in place until early June, with the summer planting starting as the site’s rhododendrons start to flower. The floral focus returns to the East Parterre in July, when the summer bedding is at its best, featuring a range of pelagoniums, verbena vernosa and calfinaria should provide stunning colour.

Visitors toWitley Courtthis spring can also enjoy access to a historic path around the gardens that had been lost for decades. The woodland walk enables visitors to get closer to some of the rhododendrons not easily visible from the main paths, but thanks to help from a number of groups of volunteers, a hidden glade is now accessible from the main paths.

In May, there will also be a unique opportunity to seeWitley   Courtat twilight, as part of the Museums at Night initiative. On Friday 18 May, the site reopens from6.30pmto9.30pmfor spotlight talks by the site team.

Witley Courtis open daily from 10.00amto 5.00pm. Admission prices are £6.50 for adults, £5.90 for concessions and £3.90 for children, with a family ticket (two adults and up to three children) for £16.90. For more information, please call 01299 896636 or visit www.english-heritage.org.uk/witleycourt. You can also follow Witley Court & Gardens on Facebook.

ENDS

For further media information, please contact:

Jay Commins – PRO English Heritage (West Midlands)

Tel: 0113 251 5698

Mob: 07810 546567

Email: jay@fim.org.uk