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Morton Hall Gardens

Head Gardener’s Journal

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Welcome to our Head Gardener’s Journal

In this monthly column, we will share technical aspects of our work and also keep you up to date about ongoing projects. If there is any topic you might want to hear more about, please ask during your next visit!

The Path of the Sun

Thanks to our unimpaired views to the west, we are blessed with spectacular sunsets. Equally amazing sunrises can be admired from higher levels of the house. Inspired by these spectacles, we decided to imitate the colour palette of dawn and dusk in our east- and west-facing long Kitchen Garden borders, consequently named “Sunrise” and “Sunset” Borders. 

Colour palettes of sunrise and sunset.

The sunrise and sunset colour schemes are most apparent in high summer when borders are brimming with flowers.

In the Sunrise Border, the colour palette is defined by Lilium speciosum ‘Black Beauty’, Clematis viticella ‘Emilia Plater’, Rosa ‘Falstaff’ and Salvias ‘Love and Wishes’ and ‘Wendy’s Wish’.
In the opposite Sunset Borders, Lilium henryi, heleniums ‘Moerheim Beauty’ and ‘Indian Summer’, Allium sphaerocephalon, Achillea ‘Terracotta’ and Heuchera ‘Plum Pudding’ carry the dusky colour scheme.

Earlier in the year, the colour schemes are carried by delphinium ‘Cupid’ Achillea neilreicherii and Lupinus ‘Persian slipper’ on the dawn side, juxtaposed by hemerocallis ‘American Revolution’ and ‘Lucille Lennington’, delphinium ‘Purple Velvet’ and Lupinus ‘Manhattan Lights’.