As hundreds of gardens throw their doors open to the public for the National Gardens Scheme’s annual festival weekend in June, Hannah Stephenson looks at how visitors can make the most of horticultural days out at open gardens nationwide

WITH the prospect of warmer weather and beautiful blooms, many people will be making the most of the National Gardens Scheme festival weekend on June 4 and 5.

More than 400 gardens – from huge country piles to tiny horticultural havens – will be opening to the public through the scheme, which raises money for nursing and care charities.

Urban gardens, formal country areas, mazes, village and city ‘group gardens’, woodland walks and children’s gardens will all feature, along with a "Capability" Brown garden opening for the NGS.

If you’re planning a visit to an open garden on festival weekend or later in the year, NGS chief executive George Plumptre offers the following tips on how to get the best out of your visit:

  • Take a notebook and camera. Jot down ideas on colour matching, border combinations and plantings, as well as taking pictures of borders and pots which you can replicate at home.
  • Interested in a particular plant? Look for open gardens which house a National Collection of specific plants, from acer and agapanthus to dahlia, nepeta, hosta and penstemon. Nearly 80 gardens that open for the NGS are guardians of a Plant Heritage National Plant Collection which carries the NPC symbol in the NGS Gardens To Visit 2016 (The Yellow Book) directory, available from the website (www.ngs.org.uk)
  • Check out groups of gardens accessible with the purchase of one ticket. There may be up to a dozen gardens which open at the same time in the same town or village. Buy one ticket and visit as many as you like. In their entry online it will say "Group Opening" and "Combined Admission".
  • Some gardens are aimed at families and offer particular attractions for children, such as a nature trail, play area or a competition. Others will allow dogs.
  • Many gardens sell the plants they display. The owners may have grown a few extra to sell on their open day. Alternatively, a local nursery plant-seller will have a stall there. Plants tend to be cheaper than they are at garden centres.
  • Ask the owners for growing advice and tips. Some owners – especially those who have opened their garden "by arrangement" with larger groups such as gardening clubs or societies – offer tours. Most will be on hand to answer queries.
  • Consider what plants are going to be at their best when you visit. At the beginning of June many cottage garden favourites will be in full bloom including delphiniums, roses, peonies, aquilegias and flowering shrubs. If you want to see later-flowering plants such as dahlias, crocosmias, rudbeckias, asters and heleniums, you may choose to visit a garden which opens later in the summer.
  • Keen fruit and veg gardeners may opt to visit kitchen gardens which open their gates later in the year when things are coming into fruit. Groups of allotments open later in the season.
  • Make the most of sampling local produce such as honey and preserves which are often on sale, alongside the plants.

NGS open day participants also offer their own tips.

Geoff Stonebanks, of Driftwood, Sussex, suggests: “Talk to the owner of the garden about the history. My garden is coastal and has the opportunity to learn all the stories behind my family’s inherited plants, garden objets d’art, not forgetting Hector the tortoise.”

Julie Wise, owner of Rustling End Cottage, Hertfordshire, explains: “We have a lot of birds, amphibians, butterflies and moths visiting our garden which is in tune with nature. I record all of these and display the lists at our garden openings, including the variety of bird species nesting in the garden. We regularly receive visiting naturalists who are keen to chat about managing a garden for wildlife.”

  • To find details of all gardens opening near you, visit the NGS website www.ngs.org.uk or download the free NGS "GardenFinder" app.

BEST OF THE BUNCH: HEUCHERA

Darlington and Stockton Times:

ONCE grown for their stems of dainty flowers in pink or white which are a magnet for bees, heucheras have now become the must-have hardy perennial for their impressive foliage.

Thanks to a deluge of new cultivars, you can now get heucheras with leaf colours ranging from deep purple metallic hues to acid green.

Most grow up to 60cm and will sit happily at the front of borders, while small divisions can be used as foliage interest in containers.

The purple types look effective with silver foliage plants.

Heucheras like a well-drained but fertile soil in a sunny or lightly shaded spot. Divide them every three years or they’ll become woody.

Interesting varieties include H. ‘Lime marmalade’, which has acid green leaves, and H. ‘Palace purple’, which bears sprays of salmon pink flowers above shiny burgundy leaves and looks great in drifts with other foliage plants.

GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT: COURGETTES

Darlington and Stockton Times:

IT’S almost time to put those courgettes you’ve been keeping under cover in their final positions in the garden, once all danger of frost has passed.

They take up a lot of space, but if you can find room in a border or patio tub you should have a constant supply of tender courgettes throughout summer.

Prepare your planting hole, adding plenty of organic matter and leave a low mound, planting the plant into the top of the mound, to direct excess rain away from the base of the plant and help to prevent stem rot.

Water the plant thoroughly. If you’re planting in a border allow at least a metre between each plant and row. Keep the area well-weeded. If you’re planting in a container, make sure it’s big enough to hold 30 litres of compost.

Once flowering starts in July and August, give the plant a good soak plants weekly and feed them plants regularly with a dilute tomato feed. Pick fruits regularly to boost encourage cropping. Good varieties include "defender" and "sunburst", which has bright yellow flattened and scalloped fruits.

WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK

  • Tie in new shoots of autumn-fruiting raspberries as they continue to grow.
  • Sow alpine strawberries in a seedbed.
  • Take cuttings from fuchsias to provide a batch of young plants which should flower in autumn.
  • If dry conditions prevail, allow some grass clippings to remain over the lawn, which will provide a mulch to retain some moisture.
  • Plant out hardened off annuals when all danger of frost is over.
  • Continue to sow French and runner beans and erect supports for climbing beans.
  • Start to cut lawns with naturalised bulbs, making the first cut high.
  • Harden off aubergines, courgettes, peppers, pumpkins and tomatoes grown from seed before planting outside.
  • Water the vegetable patch regularly in dry weather.
  • Sow swede, beetroot, maincrop carrots, peas, radish, calabrese and cabbage.
  • Damp down the greenhouse regularly.