Sue Le Feuvre

By UrbanDonkey

The harbour from Candie Gardens...

I've blipped Candie Gardens before but not with my super wide lens and probably not in colour. I have blipped it today because Dave shares pics of his amazing garden most days so I wanted him to know that although I don't have a garden of my own I do have access to a wonderful garden, more or less on my doorstep.
gov.gg says this about Candie Gardens
Candie Gardens are a green oasis set in the heart of St. Peter Port and the town's best floral attraction. , The upper lawns offer excellent panoramic views over the rooftops of St. Peter Port to the neighbouring islands.
Candie comprises the historic Upper and Lower Gardens (established in 1894), the Guernsey Museum and Art Gallery, and the Priaulx Library, named after the former owners of the house that it occupies. The Lower Gardens were sympathetically refurbished and restored in 1998/1999 and are a rare surviving example of a Victorian pleasure garden.
Visitors to the gardens can discover a wide variety of plants from all over the world. Guernsey's mild climate and Candie's sheltered position mean that less hardy varieties can be grown relatively easily. Specimen trees include a magnificent Copper Beech and an oriental Maidenhair tree (Ginkgo Biloba) with its beautiful fan-shaped leaves.
Striking geometric designs form the centre piece of the Lower Gardens, whilst elsewhere the plantings are more subtle, with herbaceous and fern borders. Each spring visitors can enjoy a display of old-fashioned varieties of Daffodils and Narcissi, many of which were grown commercially in Guernsey in the 19th century. A sub- tropical garden includes varieties such as the giant gunneras, fatsias, and tree ferns. The garden's three ponds provide an area for quiet reflection with their water lilies koi and goldfish, in.
A collection of South African Bulbs provided by the Guernsey Group of the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens can also be enjoyed during the spring, summer and autumn months. In October, one of Candie's restored historic greenhouses (dating c. 1792/93) hosts the annual Nerine Festival, which is one of the highlights in Guernsey's floral calendar. Here visitors can admire many of the Nerine Collection's 300 varieties, including Guernsey's own, Nerine Sarniensis.
The gardens also afford an important habitat for wildlife and are carefully managed to reflect this.

Comments
Sign in or get an account to comment.