As you may already know, I volunteer for the National Garden Scheme. On Friday, a fellow volunteer and I set out to photograph four gardens in Radnorshire. Three out of four of the gardens are new to the NGS, so we wanted to make sure we had some good quality photos on file.
While landscape and wide-angle shots are more useful for advertising the gardens, I thought I would show you a handful of the close-ups I took, as well as some shots of the wildlife frequenting the gardens.
There were a couple of cats at the first garden and they both took to following us around for some fuss. I tickled the belly of one and was swiftly then reminded that not all cats are like mine and that it’s a “no go” area for many cats!
NGS gardens are great places to visit. You never know what you might see! They have a wide variety of plants. I often come home inspired by the gardens and wanting to buy more plants (some gardens have plants for sale too). Many of the gardens are in rural locations (usually accessible via a narrow lane and up a hill, at least here in Mid Wales, anyway!), while others are situated in towns and villages. Some are big (running into many acres) and others are small but pack a lot in. There’s certainly a lot of inspiration available for your own garden.
If you live in or visit England or Wales, I would certainly recommend a visit to an NGS garden. Just check the National Garden Scheme website to see what gardens will be open in your area.
33 Comments
Alan Rolfe
Some really beautiful flowers there. As regards the cats, it’s often a case of “look but don’t touch”.
Carol
Such a beautiful post – love all the flowers
Sheld
I can tell that if I ever visit the place I need a LOT of time to just take in the sights of all the flowers!
Eastside Cats
Mother Nature is really putting on a show!
And that cat…what a glorious kitty!
Most of the Eastside Cats allow belly pets, but when they are sleeping!
Sweetie prefers to have her belly rubbed when she’s standing on all four paws.
For a former feral, being able to pet her is a happy thing for me.
Yvonne (@Fiction_Books)
What some amazing pictures, a great showcase for the gardens you support. We have quite a few gardens which are part of the scheme down here and as we live so close to the county borders, we are spoiled for choice between Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire and Hampshire.
I hope that you manage to get to go to some of the gardens as a visitor, rather than a voluntary worker, mind you getting to take all those lovely pictures uninterrupted must be a great bonus! 🙂
Nikki
I do, but I always take some form of camera anyway! 😀
Somewhere in Ireland
The flowers are absolutely beautiful. Love the bees busy at work. Cats can be fussy when it comes to petting them. 🙂 Have a nice week.
Bijoux
A beautiful variety of current blooms! We have lots of foxglove on our property.
Shybiker
Wow! Great photos. I love flowers and gardens; you illustrate why. Good post.
LL Cool Joe
Very beautiful selection of photos. I love the macro shots.
Haha gotta love cats and their attitude.
Barbara Lofgren
So many lovely pictures – really looks like summer.
Kris P
That Buddleia is gorgeous. I wish we had something like the UK’s National Garden Scheme. The US has a National Garden Conservancy that schedules open gardens but it seems to be largely focused in the eastern parts of the country. For kicks, I just looked at the Conservancy’s bookings for Los Angeles, California. The site popped up just 2 openings for the entire state of California (one of which was 350 miles away) – and both had been cancelled.
lisl
I have so enjoyed the flower pictures you have shared, and your choice, too. I see the bees have been very busy
Anca
Wonderful pictures, including of the “wildlife”. I will have to check the website for details on nearby gardens. Hopefully these will have friendly cats too. 🙂
Susan
What beautiful photos – thank you so much for spending your day off taking them. As you say photos are what bring visitors to our gardens – I can’t wait to see some more. I love volunteering with you for our amazing nursing and caring charity. Huge thank you.
Johanna Bradley
Good to know the scheme is up and running again. We spent many happy hours at NGS gardens.
Jo
Wonderful photos, especially the bees.
Lady Fi
Wow – stunning!
Lisa
Wow, you’ve taken some stunning photos, Nikki, I love all the roses and foxgloves – as well as the feline wildlife!
Caz / InvisiblyMe
You and the other volunteer did an amazing job of photographing the gardens – so beautiful! There are so many pretty, intriguing flowers to look at, and you’ve captured the bee brilliantly well. Did you take the photos with a digital camera, like a DSLR?
Nikki
Yes, these were taken with my Olympus E-M10 Mark III and 14-150mm lens. It’s a Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera which is smaller/lighter than a DSLR.
Ann
Your garden photographs are stunning, Nikki! I love how you captured the bees going about their business, but my absolute favourite is the Buddleia!
Volunteering for the National Garden Scheme sounds like a wonderful thing to do! xxx
Kelly
Gorgeous photos, as always. I really like the foxgloves. I had to laugh about the cat. All my “grandcats” will bite if their bellies are tickled.
Anabel @ The Glasgow Gallivanter
Absolutely gorgeous! Scotland has a similar scheme: one of the last things we did before everything shut down last year was visit a couple of gardens that were open for snowdrops.
Jude
Another lovely piece Nikki in praise of a great organisation which I often think is a well kept secret!!
Lovely day out too
jeanie
This garden is fabulous — such gorgeous colors and beauty. And they certainly picked the right person to do the photography! Every photo is a gem, Nikki. Do you know how good you are? It makes me want to get a ticket today!
soma @ InkTorrents.com
It must have been an amazing day visiting and photographing gorgeous gardens. Beautiful photos of flowers and “wildlife.”
-Soma
CherryPie
Your photos are beautiful. I always love to visit a good garden.
Diana Studer
I wish I could. A well loved open garden is a delight!
Tilly
Love the photos, cute kitty
Aimsy
Wow! You have taken some amazing shots of the flowers, and the lovely cat that came along for the visit! Such a beautiful garden!
Thanks for sharing your visit 🙂
Aimsy xoxo
Aimsy’s Antics
Mariann Yip
These are some really gorgeous nature photos. Love all the flowers.
Thank you so much for sharing these pretty and colorful pictures.
jessicabookworm
Stunning photos as always, Nikki! And you brave soul trying to rub a cat’s belly, even my own cat only lets me do that now and again.