The Gardens At Hever Castle

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The Gardens At Hever Castle

• Laura Sand
• Hort 4000

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Brief History of the Gardens

• William Waldorf Astor purchased Hever in 1903
• Had immediate plans for the gardens
• Completed from 1904 to 1908 by Joseph Cheal and
  Son with over 1,000 men
• Includes classical and naturalistic landscapes

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The Gardens

• Anne Boleyns Orchard
• Topiary and Maze
• Tudor Gardens
• The Rhododendron Avenue
• The Spring Garden
• Half Moon Pond Cascade Rockery
• The Italian Garden
• The Pompeiian Wall

• The Pergola Walk
• The Rose Garden
• The Blue Garden
• Two Sisters Pool Lawn
• The Sunday Walk
• Anne Boleyns Walk
• The Water Maze Sixteen Acre Island

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• What plants will we see
• Collections of plant material

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The Topiary and The Maze

• Both are formal garden elements from the
  Renaissance garden tradition.
• Taxus sp.
• Clipped once a year by hand in July
• Shapes include tables, chairs, and a crown
• Maze is 80 x 80 and 8 high, almost ¼ mile of
  pathway inside

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The Rhododendron Avenue

• Connects Castle to Anne Boleyns Walk
• Nature soil is ideal for rhododendrons
• Cultivars include Loders White, King George
  V Pearl Pink

• Common names
• Silver linden/lime

• Other Plants Include
• Tilia tomentosa
• Abies grandis
• Pinus sylvestris

• Giant fir

• Scots/Scotch pine

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The Spring Garden

• Located on a slope overlooking the maze, between
  the Rhododendron Avenue and Cascade Rockery
• Garden style is less formal, more naturalistic
  though neighbors a large area of turf

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The Spring Garden

• Common names
• Cherries, peaches, plums, apricots, almonds

• Plants Include
• Prunus sp
• Acer palmatum
• Cornus florida (rubra)
• Davidia involucrata
• Tilia laciniata

• Japanese maple

• Flowering dogwood (pink to pinkish red flowers)

• Dove-tree, Handkerchief tree, ghost tree

• Cut-leaf lime/linden

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Half-Moon Pond

• Located nearby The Spring Garden, on the way to
  the lake
• Formal beds at each end of the pond planted with
  roses
• Rosemary Rose
• Long lasting red and very fragrant

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The Italian Garden

• One of the larger central gardens
• Yew hedges, urns, fountains and columns some
  2,000 years old
• Collected by William while American Minister in
  Rome.
• Sunken Garden in the center sun loving and
  scented plants

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The Pompeiian Wall

• North side of Italian Garden
• Shelters Roman and Renaissance antiquities in
  stone and marble statues, busts, broken columns,
  cisterns, and vases
• Surrounded by shrubs, vines and annuals

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The Pompeiian Wall

• Common names
• Armand clematis

• Plants Include
• Clematis armandii
• Eucryphia glutinosa
• Lonicera sp.
• Stachyurus chinensis
• Edgeworthia chrysantha / papyrifera
• Solanum crispum
• Vitis sp.
• Agapanthus

• Nirrhe

• Honeysuckle

• Spiketail

• Paperbush

• Chilean potato tree

• Grape

• Lily of the Nile

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The Pergola Walk

• Southern wall of the Italian Garden
• The massive pergola structure supports trained
  vining and trailing plants
• Other woody and herbaceous plants fill in around
  the pergola

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The Pergola Walk

• Plants Include
• Hydrangea petiolaris / anomala
• Parthenocissus quinquefolia
• Malus sp.
• Meconopsis cambrica

• Common names
• Climbing hydrangea

• Virginia creeper

• crabapple

• Welsh poppy

• Clematis, wisteria, fruiting vines, honeysuckle,
  climbing roses, camellias, fuchsia, ferns,
  primulas, hosta, and astilbes

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Anne Boleyns Walk

• Two-thirds of the southern boundary
• Partly along the lake
• Contrasting backdrop for the formal gardens

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Anne Boleyns Walk

• Plants Include
• Magnolia acuminata
• Corylus purpurea / maxima
• Liquidamber sp.
• Sequoia sempervirens
• Fagus sp.

• Common names
• Cucumbertree magnolia

• Purple hazel/giant filbert

• Sweetgum

• Redwood

• Beech

• Limes/lindens, pines, etc

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The Water Maze Sixteen Acre Island

• The Water Maze on the island
• Hidden water jets
• Very popular with kids and on hot sunny days
• Many interesting water plants

• Island is between the River Eden and the lake,
  east of the Castle
• Created by soil from the lake excavation
• Many original trees lost in Great Storm of 1987.

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The Water Maze Sixteen Acre Island

• Common names
• Zebra grass

• Plants Include
• Scripus zebrinus
• Butomus umbellatus
• Caltha palustris
• Pterocarya fraxinifolia
• Zelkova serrata
• Sequoiadendron giganteum

• Flowering rush

• Marsh marigold

• Caucasian wingnut

• Japanese zelkova (Elm family)

• Big tree, Sierra redwood, Wellingtonia

• Limes, cedars, cobnuts, etc

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Any questions?
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References

• Dirr, Michael A. Manual of Woody Landscape
  Plants. 5th ed. Champagne, IL Stipes
  Publishing, 1998.
• Hever Castle Childhood Home of Anne Boleyn,
  website http//www.nellgavin.com/hever
• Hever Castle, visitor guide
• Hever Castle website http//www.hevercastle.co.uk
  /
• The Gardens at Hever Castle, visitor guide