I fell in love with some Nectaroscordum shown here amongst what I thought were penstemons but turned out to be gladioli.

This is the Mediterranean Garden, an area at the back of Beth Chatto's bungalow. Many of the plants here are found growing wild in the southern countries of Europe.

This gorgeous blue plant was one I brought home, its Veronica austriaca 'Kapitan' and the camera catches the colour perfectly.

Here is a view along two of the ponds, of which there are a total of five, with a nice rhododendron growing in the background.

What looked like a field of hostas from a distance, was, but we were not allowed in this part of the garden as it was cordoned off.

This Philadelpheus wafted its perfume across half the garden. It took me quite a while to track it's position down but it was well worth the hunt.

The flowers on this rhododendron looked as if they were upside down. It looked very different and a bit odd. I haven't been able to find out what it is called, any ideas?

These are Dactylorhiza orchids, this was the first time that I have seen orchids growing outside of a glasshouse, but since visiting the gardens I have seen a lot more, it seems to be the 'in plant' at the moment.

An 'in depth' look at a shuttlecock fern, there are a lot of them in the shady woodland area. I used this picture to produce the background for this, and a few others, of my web pages.

Some candelabra primulas, alongside are hostas, irises and ferns all enjoying the growing conditions provided by the shade and the stream.