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Longstock Park | |
---|---|
Location within Hampshire | |
OS grid reference | SU370387 |
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | STOCKBRIDGE |
Postcode district | SO20 |
Dialling code | 01264 |
Police | Hampshire and Isle of Wight |
Fire | Hampshire and Isle of Wight |
Ambulance | South Central |
UK Parliament | |
Longstock Park is in the civil parish of Longstock in the Test Valley district of Hampshire, England, and forms part of the Leckford Estate (1520 ha.), wholly owned by the John Lewis Partnership.
Formerly Longstock Manor, of medieval origins, the park was purchased by Sir Joshua East in 1849. On his death, the park passed to his sons Alfred and Arthur. In 1914, the park became the home of the Beddington family until 1945, when it was sold to John Spedan Lewis, founder of the John Lewis Partnership. Lewis lived at Longstock House throughout his retirement until his death in 1963, after which the house became a retreat for the company's executives. The park is today home to a retail horticultural emporium, the Longstock Park Nursery, and also accommodates an arboretum, woodland gardens and water gardens.
The nursery, initially a wholesale enterprise, was founded in 1958 with the appointment of James Duncan as Director of Gardening. A mist propagation house, one of the earliest of its kind, was built soon afterwards, and John Brooks hired as Propagator. The nursery is set in and around a brick and flint walled garden, and is home to collections of Buddleja and Clematis viticella (accredited with Plant Heritage under the National Plant Collection scheme) [1] [2] and the Gilchrist Collection of Penstemons. Immediately to the south is an 80 m herbaceous border; running parallel with it is a clematis and fruit tree archway, flanked by beds of Buddleja cultivars. The nursery and walled garden are open to the public throughout the year.
The water gardens comprise three hectares of woodland garden with lakes and interconnecting islands, declared 'the finest water gardens in the world' by the International Water Lily Society. The gardens were formed by accident; in 1870, Alfred and Arthur East, the owners of Longstock House, had gravel dredged from the banks of the River Test to construct a private road to their property, creating the lake in the process. After the Easts sold the property in 1914, Reginald Beddington, son of the new owner, elected to make an aesthetic feature of the lake.
The water gardens are usually open to the public on alternate weekends during the summer. An entrance fee is levied; no dogs except guide dogs are admitted.
The arboretum was begun in 1869, and now comprises 28 hectares of mature trees including a pinetum with many exotic conifers. The arboretum is opened to the public in concert with the water gardens.
The Park is near the town of Stockbridge, which lies 2.7 miles (3.5 km) to the south-west.
Clematis is a genus of about 380 species within the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. Their garden hybrids and cultivars have been popular among gardeners, beginning with Clematis 'Jackmanii', a garden staple since 1862; more cultivars are being produced constantly. They are mainly of Chinese and Japanese origin.
Bedgebury National Pinetum at Bedgebury, Kent, in the United Kingdom, is a recreational and conservational arboretum managed by Forestry England that was established as the National Conifer Collection in 1925 and is now recognised as the most complete collection of conifers on one site anywhere in the world. The collection has over 10,000 trees growing across 320 acres (1.3 km2), including rare, endangered and historically important specimens. Bedgebury National Pinetum conducts conservation work, is home to some 56 vulnerable or critically endangered species, and houses five National Plant Collections.
An arboretum is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees and shrubs of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, many modern arboreta are in botanical gardens as living collections of woody plants and are intended at least in part for scientific study.
The Birmingham Botanical Gardens are a 15-acre (6-hectare) botanical garden situated in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England. The gardens are located 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) south-west of Birmingham city centre at grid reference SP049854. Designed in 1829, the gardens are Grade II* listed in Historic Englands's Register of Parks and Gardens, and retain many original features and layout, which was designed by the landscape gardener and horticulturalist John Claudius Loudon. The site is notable for its range of glasshouses and gardens, which display a wide variety of plants and birds. Birmingham Botanical Gardens is managed by Birmingham Botanical and Horticultural Society, a registered charity. The gardens are open daily to the public with paid admission.
Westonbirt, The National Arboretum is an arboretum in Gloucestershire, England, about 3 miles (5 km) southwest of the town of Tetbury. Managed by Forestry England, it is perhaps the most important and widely known arboretum in the United Kingdom.
Harcourt Arboretum is an arboretum owned and run by the University of Oxford. It is a satellite of the university's botanic garden in the city of Oxford, England. The arboretum itself is located six miles south of Oxford on the A4074 road, near the village of Nuneham Courtenay in Oxfordshire, and comprises some 150 acres. Professor Simon Hiscock is the Horti Praefectus (Director) of the botanic garden and arboretum.
The University of Guelph Arboretum is an arboretum organized by the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario. It was formally established in 1970 by the university and aims to conserve biodiversity and connect people with nature through teaching, research, and community outreach. The space is 165 hectares and is open throughout the year.
The Sir Harold Hillier Gardens is an arboretum comprising 72 hectares accommodating over 42,000 trees and shrubs in about 12,000 taxa, notably a collection of oaks, camellia, magnolia and rhododendron.
RHS Garden Rosemoor is a public display garden run by the Royal Horticultural Society in north Devon, England.
Buddleja auriculata is an evergreen shrub endemic to Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and South Africa, growing in montane fields and thickets at elevations of 600–2,000 m. First collected by W. J. Burchell in 1813, and named by Bentham, the date of its introduction to western cultivation is not known, however it was accorded the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit in 1923.
The Volčji Potok Arboretum was opened to the public in 1952. It originally formed part of the Souvan family estate in 1885, which was taken over by the University of Ljubljana in 1952 and legally declared a place of cultural and natural heritage of national importance. Now independent of the university, it is the most visited botanical garden in Slovenia and in recent years has become well known for its spring flower shows. The arboretum is primarily a botanical garden for woody plants, the only one in Slovenia.
Buddleja asiatica is a somewhat tender deciduous shrub native to a vast area of the East Indies, including India, Nepal, Bangladesh, China, Taiwan, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, New Guinea, and the Philippines, growing in open woodland at elevations < 2,800 m either as understorey scrub, or as a small tree. First described by Loureiro in 1790, B. asiatica was introduced to the UK in 1874, and accorded the RHS Award of Garden Merit in 1993. It is highly invasive in Hawaii, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Buddleja coriacea is a variable species endemic to the high Andes from the Cordillera Blanca in Peru to Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. It grows on dry to semi-humid rocky soils at elevations of 3,000–4,350 m, where temperatures range from −3° to 15° C. and the winds are both strong and persistent. The species was first named and described by Rémy in 1847.
Buddleja cordata is endemic to Mexico, growing along forest edges and water courses at elevations of 1500–3000 m; it has also naturalized in parts of Ethiopia. The species was first described and named by Kunth in 1818.
Buddleja forrestii is a deciduous shrub or small tree widely distributed from India to western China. First described by Diels in 1912, he named the species for plant hunter George Forrest, who discovered the plant in Yunnan in 1904 and introduced it to Western cultivation.
Buddleja marrubiifolia, commonly known as the woolly butterflybush, is a perennial shrub which is endemic to the Chihuahuan Desert from southern Texas to San Luis Potosí in Mexico, where it grows on limestone and gypsum soils in canyons and arroyos at elevations of 600 to 2,250 m elevation. The species was first named and described by George Bentham in 1846.
Buddleja stachyoides is the most widespread member of the genus in South America, endemic to woodland edges, roadsides and riversides in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Introduced to the UK as B. australis in 1822, when the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh grew it from seed received from a Russian source, the plant was described and renamed B. stachyoides by Chamisso and von Schlechtendal in 1827.
Buddleja × weyeriana is one of the more remarkable Buddleja hybrids, the first crossing of an Asiatic species with a South American. The hybrid was raised during the First World War by the eponymous Major William van de Weyer at his home, Smedmore House, at Corfe Castle, England. Van de Weyer was hoping to achieve an inflorescence the size of davidii with the colour of globosa, but met with only limited success.
Buddleja macrostachya is a large deciduous shrub or small tree with a vast distribution, from Xizang (Tibet) through western China, Bhutan, Sikkim, northern India, Bangladesh, Myanmar (Burma), to Thailand and Vietnam, growing in scrub on mountain slopes to an altitude of 3,200 m, and along rivers in forests. The species was named and described by Wallich ex Bentham in 1835.
Castlewellan Forest Park is located in the town of Castlewellan in County Down, Northern Ireland.