After visiting Hidcote last June we drove just across the road to another famous garden: Kiftsgate Court. Heather Muir began Kiftsgate around the same time as Hidcote, with advice from her neighbor Lawrence Johnston. Two more generations of women, Diany Binny and Anne Chambers, continued to develop the garden. Now 100 years old, the garden is still led by Anne, who writes a very informative blog on the Kiftsgate Web site.
It was my first visit to Kiftsgate, and there was much about it to enjoy. The roses, including the famously huge white ‘Kiftsgate,’ were incredible. I especially enjoyed some of the container plantings. In general, I found Kiftsgate to be a romantic plantsman’s garden and one I should like to visit again.
The ‘Kiftsgate’ rose, too large to make it into one photo, climbs the trees.