Gardens & Car Parking
The wise gardener, although often tempted by the exotic, knows that it is wise to go along with nature and not keep fighting it. We have orientated our planting to plants that like a well drained soil, that does not require watering or heavy feeding and can withstand salty winds… which means plants with grey green or fleshy leaves.
See SENECIO bushes near the leisure centre, they have yellow daisy like flowers. ECHIUM that grow to 15 feet in 2 years get a lot of attention form visitors who have not seen them before, there are 37 varieties from the tiny viper bugloss that creeps along the ground to the blue spires of ECHIUM PININANA They also appear in bush form with as many as 50 blooms, Or if maltreated a PININANA can become multi trunked, in a variety of forms…we had one that looked like huge cobra. They come in shades of blue through pink to mau
ve and red. Being shallow rooted they sometimes take peculiar shapes. The tall ones have to be cut down in September but as they freely seed a succession is assured
In the past a very hard frost (approximately every 15 years) has kept the dracaena palms (Australia) from attaining more than 15 feet in height. Once frost has caught a palm, the single trunk is cut to the ground, but without fail springs up with multi trunks. However, palms with six trunks can be seen. No one knows what to expect (see example half way down the drive). In spring they produce huge clusters of creamy scented blossoms (pollen haters beware) and if left a fruit like that of hard dates occurs…it is wise to remove these as soon as flowers fade so as not to exhaust the tree The garden has shallow soil with outcrops of rocks, but the rocks forming the rockeries were probably stones removed when the foundations were dug, as we have found when extending the hotels facilities.
The original gardens were designed by Treseders of Truro who provided a plan down to the last blade of grass. There are still plants surviving from the original planting in 1923/4, when the house was built. The House originally had 4 acres of land which was divided the land into paddocks, a strawberry field, kitchen garden with 5 stone hedged plots, and a flower garden with lawn. 3 lean- too green houses were built to catch the sun and garden frames for propagation.
The signature of the Garrack is the BOSTON IVY, that now almost envelopes the hotel in summer. It was probably planted in 1924. The colour is a good indicator as to which wall gets the most sunshine. The colours change from green, through every shade of red, to near purple and where the sun does not penetrate one can find blond leaves. Boston ivy hangs onto the walls with small suckers, whilst not doing the paintwork any good, does not endanger the stonework. The small flowers and mini grapelike berries are insignificant.
Enjoy a 360° virtual tour of the Gardens.
Garden 360° Tour (will open up in pop-up) Javascript must be enabled to view pop-ups. [Java is available from www.java.com]
