Ventnor Botanic Garden

Nearly the end of half term so teenager and I decided to have an expedition which included lunch. We headed south to Ventnor Botanic Garden, via Rookley and Whitwell (nice bendy country roads), paid the entrance fee and headed for 'Edulis', the restaurant in the gardens. Unfortunately their menu is not overly friendly for a picky teenager but she eventually decided on a ham sandwich, crisps and millionaire's shortbread, all of which met with satisfaction. I took a while to choose my meal as they all sounded yummy to me, and I eventually settled on the seafood linguine. Oh my goodness, this was yummy! Freshly caught local crab, mussels and king prawns in a nice sauce. Delish!

Once lunch was over we ambled around the gardens for an hour or so, having a good old natter and admiring the plants. The garden is on the site of a Victorian Tuberculosis hospital, and in a little valley which has a lovely, warm microclimate. Being close to the coast and the Gulf Stream helps too. Due to this, a wide variety of plants that would be too tender in many parts of the country can be grown here. Today the Echiums were at their peak, towering into the sky, ablaze with blue flowers and buzzing with bees. One of my favourite plants. Many other flowers were in bloom such as Sisyrinchium, Abutilon, Osteospermum, Allium, Syringa, Arum, and Rosa. I was particularly taken with the variety of bark textures on the many trees, and particularly liked a variety of Myrtus.

Once we had finished in the garden I perused the seed shop and bought several packets of wildflowers for my garden project. The botanic garden sells seed collected from it's own plants, as well as plants grown from cuttings from the garden, so you can get varieties of plants you wouldn't ordinarily find in a garden centre. Their gift shop is also very tempting, but today I mostly resisted the urge to buy lovely things!

Once we left we headed back towards Godshill and popped into Brownrigg Farm Shop to stock up on local produce - "Oil of Wight" anyone? - and then toddled off to Ryde for other supplies; I didn't drive my usual route and went via Ashey Road, and at one point came round a corner and down a hill to see a magnificent view before us which caused me to shriek "OH MY GOODNESS! We're so lucky to live here!".  Beautiful, beautiful Isle of Wight!

Echium flowers

Acer

Myrtus bark

Pelargonium

Allium (Chives)