East Ruston Old Vicarage Gardens is a notable privately owned garden in the county of

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

East Ruston East Ruston is a village and a Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the England, English county of Norfolk. The village is located south-east of North Walsham and north-east of Norwich. History East Ruston's name is of Anglo-Saxon ori ...

Eastern England Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...

. The gardens were established in 1973 by Alan Gray and Graham Robeson, who have created a design which incorporates exuberant and innovative planting alongside a more traditional formal design. On an unpromising site, close to the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

and surrounded by arable prairie, the gardens are protected from harsh onshore wind by a shelter belt of

Monterey Pine ''Pinus radiata'' (synonym (taxonomy), syn. ''Pinus insignis''), the Monterey pine, insignis pine or radiata pine, is a species of pine native to the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California and Mexico (on Guadalupe Island and Ced ...

s which created a unique micro-climate. Exotic and unusual plants from around the world flourish alongside more hardy species. Notable are the tree ferns, succulents and palms which surround the house, as is the Californian 'Desert Wash', the Exotic Garden with a water sculpture and a large cornfield sown with a selection of native but now scarce 'weeds' such as

cornflower ''Centaurea cyanus'', commonly known as cornflower or bachelor's button (among other names), is an annual flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to Europe. In the past, it often grew as a weed in cornfields (in the broad sense of "co ...

poppy A poppy is a flowering plant in the subfamily Papaveroideae of the family Papaveraceae. Poppies are herbaceous plants, often grown for their colourful flowers. One species of poppy, '' Papaver somniferum'', is the source of the narcotic drug ...

and corn marigold. The gardens contain an interesting collection of sculptures by local artists as well as many architectural features.

External links

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Gardens in Norfolk Clergy houses in England Houses in Norfolk {{UK-garden-stub