Views, reports and travel tips from around the globe.
This is a postcard from the world of Ross Garden Tours
Perfectly trim
The level of horticulture in the two domes at Singapore’s Gardens By the Bay is extraordinary. In the Cloud Forest gardeners have to abseil down the ‘mountain’
to plant and trim the great walls of plants, and over in the Flower Dome the detailed attention to good looks is next level. We all marvelled at the
volunteer workers in the Australian section trimming the brown tips of lomandra with scissors! Robin Powell
Pass the cassis
Cassis was very popular on our tour to the French countryside. Better known as Ribena in Australia, Cassis is the taste of black currant berries (Ribes nigrum).
We enjoyed it as a liqueur, added to champagne to make a Kir Royale, and also as ice cream. Just outside Villandry Gardens, which were brimming with
late summer roses and vegetables, Kathleen and Margaret matched cassis with lavender. Perfect. Linda Ross
Pottering about
Mr. McGregor, the fictional character in Beatrix Potter’s books, was always trying to keep hungry rabbits out of his vegetable garden, and he couldn’t
keep us out of Beatrix Potter’s garden at her home Hill Top in Windermere. Jeanette couldn’t resist a photo with him - and all those gorgeous tuberous
begonias - even though she thought his beard looked a little like her husband’s! Colin Barlow
Dreams of India
I couldn’t help imagining myself as a maharini when we visited Amber Fort in Jaipur! All that opulence!Elephants, their trunks decorated with coloured
chalk, gather in the huge ceremonial courtyard after walking up to the fort on the hilltop. We wandered, marvelling, through ornate decorated doorways
into an inner courtyard where private meetings were one held in the exquisite Hall of Mirrors, near a beautiful ornamental garden. Can’t wait to see
it all again in February! Libby Cameron
Under the cherries
We had to pause beneath these gorgeous flowering cherries at Tulip Top Garden just outside Canberra. Each spring Bill and Pat Rhodin, with son Dallas and
daughter Molly, reveal a 10-acre masterpiece. Overhead are flowering cherries, peaches, plums and crabapples, while huge beds of spring bulbs -mainly
tulips and daffodils with annual pansies and Bellis - carpet the ground. It reminds me of Keukenhof in Holland: a remarkable achievement for such a
small team! Sandra Ross
