So many of you were interested in Tresco Abbey garden I have decided to show a bit more of the island.
- Borough Beach
Tresco is unique in that its habitat ranges from a windswept northern plateau with waved heath to sheltered bulb fields, wetland and lakes, to beautiful beaches backed by a sand dune system on the south coast.
- Tresco Island, Isles of Scilly
There are three Sites of Special Scientific Interest. They are the Castle Down , Great Pool and Pentle Bay. Castle Down is a SSSI for its waved maritime heath, its lichen flora, a breeding colony of Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) and for its geology. Great Pool is a SSSI because it is the largest area of fresh water in the islands and important for its breeding birds, and as a sheltering and feeding area for migrants.
- Pentle Bay
Pentle Bay is designated for the transition from a flora–rich sand dune system to lichen–rich heath.
The varied landscape means that there is a huge range of wild flowers everywhere on the island.
It is more or less possible to walk all over the island and the wild flowers are one of the attractions of these walks.
In places bracken has grown but this is often cut back to enable the wild flowers and wildlife to flourish.
Pentle Bay
Many of the paths are either sand or grass which further gives opportunities for wild flowers.
In many paces Agapanthus and Yarrow have colonised the sand dunes creating natural prairie like planting.
2017 wild flower tally
This year I decided to take photographs of the wild flowers as we identified them. Some of them you will recognise as garden flowers. These will be garden escapes but as they then go on to grow naturally they all add to the flower paradise.
Hover over the picture for the identification of the flowers or click on any one to display a full size image on a carousel.
And there were lots more that I could not identify!
Thanks also to Fiona and Chris Smith who helped me identify some of the flowers.
Cottage gardens
As well as the wild flowers many of the cottages have fantastic gardens.
Some impressive flowers for any front garden.
What a garden wall should look like!
Cromwell’s castle
There are many archaeological remains on the island which include neolithic burial mounds as well as recent history.
Block House Beach
But the beaches are a main attraction even though I would consider the beach to be crowded with more than two people on it!
Glebe House Garden
| 2017 Gardening Hours | ||
| Week beginning May 27th | Total 2017 to-date | Average per week |
| 16 | 587 | 20 |
The garden is terraced against a sheltered south facing slope. This is the middle terrace. Each terrace effectively has its own micro climate getting drier as you go up enabling different ranges of plants at each level.
Do not expect formal planting schemes or manicured borders. The garden is really about the plants.
In the lower parts of the gardens tree ferns from New Zealand and Australia flourish.
‘Gia’ by sculptor David Wynne and made from a block of multi-coloured South African marble.
Higher up the Neptune Steps.
The “Mediterranean Garden” with a water feature, based on an Agave, which was created by Cornish artist Tom Leaper in 1996. This is probably the most ‘designed’ part of the garden.
Glebe House Garden 