The Fire and Ice Garden is just south of our coffee corner. It is a small sheltered garden that we started in 2005. This garden bakes in the sun from 11.00 ‘o clock onwards in the summer.

The general idea of this garden is to provide a surprising splash of colour at the end of your tour round the gardens. The colours of the flowers and leaves here, various Hemerocallis, Rudbeckia fulgida, Berberis, Potentilla and Spiraea Gold Flame  are all bright red, orange and yellow, representing the flames, while the black leaves of Ophiopogon planescens “Nigrescens” represent the smoldering embers and Foeniculum vulgare purpurea represents the smoke. The white stones around the fountain are the ice blocks. 

Rudbeckia fulgida Goldsturm Potentilla Don Quichote Papaver orientalis Campsis radicans Hemerocallis Stafford Hemerocallis Night Beacon Hemerocallis Mabel Fuller Hemerocallis Golden Richies

In addition there are a number of unusual plants here such as:

• Albizia julibrissin, a tree which I have grown from seed brought back from China, with a bird of paradise like flower in the summer.
• Viburnum odoratissimum from southern Asia has shining leaves and a beautifully scented flower in late summer. This is a shrub which is usually only seen in very mild climates.
• Mahonia nepaulensis “Maharaja” is a special subtropical Mahonia.
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  Campsis radicans Mahonia nepaulensis Maharajah (1) Albizia julibrissin

Magnolia grandiflora and Sinocalycanthus sinensis can be found here. Campsis radicans “Flava” has taken over the storage shreds

Sinocalycanthus chinensis Calycanthus sinensis zaden Calycanthus sinensis zaaddoos Calycanthus sinensis zaaddoos

Magnolia grandiflora knop Magnolia grandiflora bloem Magnolia grandiflora zaaddoos)

Here are more photos of the development of the Fire and Ice Garden 

1 Clearing the area 2 Laying the paths 3 Building the fountain 4 constructing the fountain

Looking through the pergola Fire and Ice garden in the Summer The fountain In the Spring