This cute bee looks like it has huge eyes and long lashes…
At the end of July we visited Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens, just before we went to Abbotsbury Swannery, in a village near Weymouth in Dorset. Here are my pictures of the gardens…
In the 18th century walled garden at Abbotsbury
The gardens are all that remains of the summer residence of Elizabeth Fox-Strangways, 1st Countess of Ilchester, who built a mansion near here in the late 18th century. That was called Abbotsbury Castle and burned down in 1913. An attempt was made at reconstruction but no one ever lived in the flawed building and it was demolished in 1934. The remaining gardens had been constructed at the top of a sheltered valley nearby. After neglect between the world wars, the gardens have now been extended and are flourishing, and still owned by Elizabeth’s descendants.
Doorways in garden walls are always so intriguing…
Palm trees abound – I think this is Trachycarpus fortunei or Chusan Palm…
A beautiful shade of green but I can’t think what this plant is…
More palms – or perhaps huge Yucca elephantipes?
As well as palms, there are plenty of “real” trees…
A Eucalyptus of some sort…
…with wonderful shredded bark
This also looks Australian…
…but it’s Myrtus luma, from Chile
Distinctive leaves of the tulip tree or saddle-leaf tree, Liriodendron tulipifera, native to the eastern states of the USA…
Possibly an evergreen oak (Quercus ilex)?
A magnificent conifer…
Wherever there is shade there are ferns…
Hart’s tongue fern at the base of a tree…
Another fern growing in a gap in a tree…
There are so many plants from foreign shores…
Pods of New Zealand flax, Phormium tenax or something very similar…
More familiar when in fruit – Physalis alkekengi, the Chinese lantern plant…
Callistemon or bottlebrush plant, from South Africa or Australia?
I think these yellow flowers are Ligularia ‘Desdemona’…
Hemerocallis – daylily…
A true lily, possibly a Lilium longiflorium…
I’ve seen these leaves in other gardens and still can’t name them – are they Ficus carica, the common fig?
Gunnera manicata…
More Gunnera manicata…
Red bergamot – Monarda ‘Garden View Scarlet’
White Hydrangea…
Blue Hydrangea – is the soil acidic here?
Mahonia – possibly Mahonia media ‘Charity’, which I have in my own garden…
A lacquer-red Japanese bridge…
Blue Agapanthus…
Blue butterfly on white Agapanthus…
I think it’s a common blue, Polyommatus icarus…
This is loosestrife, Lysimachia punctata, and as the leaves are variegated, perhaps it is ‘Alexander’…
Fuchsia…
Strangely white-leaved Japanese aralia, possibly Fatsia japonica ‘Spider’s Web’?
…worth a closer look
Lovely Hostas in the shade…
Near here I heard a sound that vaguely rang a bell, but I couldn’t place it. Not a peacock’s squawk, maybe the laughing of an ape or bird. In Dorset? Then it became obvious. Of course! Kookaburras!
Bizarrely the Abbotsbury garden has a cage full of rescued kookaburras previously kept as pets. Beautiful birds…
Kookaburra, Dacelo novaeguineae, in a caged enclosure in Dorset…
Apparently the kookaburra is a carnivorous “tree kingfisher” native to eastern Australia.The common name is from guuguubarra, a word imitating the bird’s laughing call and coming from the sadly extinct Australian Wiradjuri language.
The Mediterranean Garden…
In a glade were a family of deer made of wicker or willow…
Under the trees were bronze sculptures, mostly female nudes, and all padlocked to their bases so metal thieves couldn’t take them away to melt down for scrap. Sad.
Black grass,
Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’…
Another ornamental grass…
This one may be Pennisetum villosum or feathertop grass…
And never forgetting to be on the lookout for lichen…
Lichen on a tree in Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens…
To see what the gardens are like in winter, you might visit this February post on Sarah’s Down by the Sea blog…
The Squirrelbasket 
Gorgeous photos (as always Pat). Unfortunately I can’t help you with your questions … I hope some of your readers will be able to.
Thanks for your kind comments (as always Shaz!)
Best wishes 🙂
the bottlebrush is Australian, but I’ll claim the Agapanthus for South Africa.
I must admit that until I looked it up I thought the bottlebrush was South African, too.
Sadly I can’t grow Agapanthus in my own garden. Not sunny enough, I think.
All the best 🙂
Beautiful photos that show what the gardens are really like, thank you. Did you take the walk up to the lookout over the coast? There are very good views to be had from there.
Sadly I missed that walk. Bit of a rushed tour (as always) – impatient companion!
I also missed the views of St Catherine’s Chapel from the gardens.
Best wishes 🙂
Lovely to share your walk around a stunning garden, thank you. Kookaburras are funny old birds aren’t they? I watched a demonstration at Paradise Park in cornall few year ago that illustrated how once a bird takes hold of a live snake it will not let go – thought you might like this link to it http://www.wildlifeincornwall.com/ !
Yes, funny but beautiful – I love that metallic turquoise sheen and their very big heads.
I’m not sure that link you gave was exactly the right one? Although it was interesting anyway. But from your description I found this video of the kookaburra you mentioned at Paradise park on YouTube… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W16r9nYG2iw – shame the poor thing was fooled by a rubber snake!
I really must get back to Cornwall out of season one day. I haven’t been there for “donkeys’ years”.
All the best 🙂