Brenda Burg (Heirloom’s General Manager) and her husband Scott took their first trip abroad, visiting gardens with Bill Grant’s tour group this last summer. Here is their account of that trip.

Because this was our first trip overseas, we were recipients of quite a collection of "Tried and True Do’s and Don’ts"’: "Don’t eat the food on the plane no matter what, at least until your last meal before you land. "Make sure you eat everything they serve you". "Drink lots of water." "Don’t take off your shoes or you won’t get them back on." The best advise was of course from my mother [Louise Clements] who said "Wear elastic waist bands." I did and was so thankful, as we ate with adventure what we were given. My husband, Scott, did not wear elastic. He wore the ever-so-famous vest of one hundred pockets and carried the tripod, lenses, rain gear and film plus much more. Scott was the official photographer, methodically moving from one "good shot" to the next and I kept the photo log, a journal, Heirloom’s catalog, and the Combined Rose Book and held the parasol.

The first garden was Gravetye Manor in West Sussex. Not many roses were marked with their names. Panic hit us both as we wondered if all of the gardens would test our rose identification knowledge. Purple and white wisteria and a "pink rose" greeted us as we entered the formal drive. William Robinson built the mansion in 1884. He was the pioneer of the English Natural Garden. An extensive, well kept kitchen garden was walled in by brick. All fifteen of us on the tour enjoyed a very formal luncheon in the dining room.

In the afternoon we visited Nymans Garden in West Sussex, a National Trust Garden since 1954. It was created in 1890 and cared for continually by four generations of the Messel family. The garden is circular with roses growing on pillars. Alas, they were not in bloom.

The Culpepper Garden is at Leeds Castle. Our journal says, "Beautiful rose garden mixed with perennials. I was so excited and thrilled to be there I could hardly hold still." We were struck by the beautiful display of ‘Mme Gregoire Staechelin’, growing in the corner of an old brick building. A window was loosely surrounded by the draping pink blooms. The roses grew naturally to their full height without being "told" how to fit in.

Hever Castle was a garden mostly of hybrid teas, which were not blooming yet. A friendly face, ‘Zephrine Drouhin’, met us as we rounded a corner of the garden. It was growing densely on a corner brick wall in the warm sunshine. ‘Maigold’ and ‘Parkdirektor Riggers’ were used several times in different climbing applications, in tall pillars :with color bursting all around and along brick walls.

Clinton’s Lodge Garden in East Sussex was wonderful! Noel Collum, the owner, takes great pride in her garden and works very hard, along with others, to maintain it. The swimming pool garden was enclosed inside a brick wall with climbing roses all around. ‘Mine Alfred Carriere’ along with clematis surrounded the pool. I was impressed that Mrs. Collum knew most of the roses by name from a distance.

Bateman’s was the home of Rudyard Kipling, author of ‘The Jungle Book’ and the poem ‘If’ among other writings. ‘May Queen’ along with ‘White Wings’ was growing high up on a brick wall. They were neatly tacked up and looked freshly trimmed. The gardener said that it takes all of 15 persons on ladders and the ground working together to lift it off of its hooks and lower it to be trimmed and then lifted back up and carefully put into place.

Hazel LeRougetel gave us a tour of the Old Rectory, Trotton. She helped the owners, Captain John and Caroline Pillery, design the garden in stages. We enjoyed many herbaceous borders filled with beautiful colors. There were several David Austin English roses in this garden, such as ‘Graham Thomas’, ‘Sharifia Asma’ and ‘Pretty Jessica’. Roses surrounded the many gates and old doorways in this garden.

The Manor House in Upton Grey was designed by Gertrude Jekyll and restored by Rosemund Wallinger who knew the name of every plant in her garden. There were ramblers on swags and climbers along the walls of the large house. While we were there a camera crew was filming for the BBC Garden World Show.

Broadlands is a private garden in Dorset, which had many plants, trees, and roses. We sat by the large pond and admired ‘Mme Gregoire Staechelin’ with small white clematis on an arbor, draped over one another.

Heal House had many climbing rose varieties. One was ‘Maigold’ with a purple clematis ‘President’ climbing toward it on a pergola.

Time Trail Roses is a personal garden, displaying over one thousand roses in less than a half acre. This garden was full of roses planted chronologically according to their date of introduction. Hestercombe was a large garden with many different levels. A long pergola with many climbing and rambling roses, including ‘Paul’s Scarlet’. At the end of the long pergola was a round window looking out onto a green hillside full of grazing cows.

East Lambrook Manor was the place of our first Cream Tea. I thought that meant cream in your tea. We were in for a wonderful surprise. They served us scones with gobs of butter mixed with heavy cream, and when we bit into them they melted in our mouths. ‘Paul’s Himalayan Musk’ was dripping from a large tree. A new rose to us was ‘Verschuren’ growing in the shade. ‘Albertine’ grew alongside a brick building covering it with blooms.

Rosemoor had scads of roses, all marked! This garden displayed many David Austin English roses. The Garden House in Devon was to be our last garden on the tour. The grounds were many levels with two stone towers. ‘Dortmund’ was climbing on a stone wall and drew us in for a closer look. We rested on the bench under its rich red blooms and dark green, hollylike foliage. "Mom would have loved this", I wrote in our journal. Maybe she and I’ll be here together sometime. Of course, we’ll both be wearing elastic.