Think you know Michaelmas Daisies?
Waterperry will make you think again as new versions of these colourful late-blooming Asters put on a kaleidoscopic display.
It’s in our diary every October. It’s the best garden for Michaelmas Daisies that we have visited and the long border outside their walled garden shows how much colour these plants can pump out in autumn.
It reminds you how many kinds of purple there are, but it also comes in white, fushias and pink. Many have bright yellow eyes.
There’s much more to Waterperry and we also enjoy it at other times of year. A swirling modern grassy border, a rose garden with mammoth wooden bowers, a vegetable garden, trial garden, formal pond, rejuvenated tranquil knot garden and two long borders. The veg garden is undergoing a makeover.
Star Plants
Miscanthus Sinensis
Autumn sun-filter
Its many varieties come in all heights, stand tall or arch over and the tassels can be silvery or pinky-brown
Rudbeckia Deamii
Bright yellow stars
Familiar black-eyed yellow stars start in July and still shine in October. Self-supporting too – a great rudbeckia
Aster King George
Michaelmas royalty
Pale violet petals with a yellow eye is a classic aster mix but more modern varieties avoid the bare legs
Leucanthemella
Tall October daisy
The variety, Serotina, is a popular and stately white daisy, easily reaching 1.5m at the back of the autumn border
Reasons to go
- An autumnal blast of colour like you wouldn’t believe
- Four long borders in very different styles
- Money is being spent – on the potager area especially, with a new viewing tower
- If you’re looking to buy… Michaelmas Daisies should first be seen in flower and profusion
- A range of attractions: two shops, a gallery, cafe and garden centre
- A long season of interest
In a nutshell
- Time to allow: 2-3 hours for its 8 acres
- Favourite area: Main border behind walled garden – an orgy of colour
- Best for: October colour
- Run by: independent
- Unusual for: its Michaelmas Daisies
- Good points: well maintained; new plans being invested in; labelling of plants; rarely crowded; lots to explore; close to M40
- Bad points: its rose garden is in need of a revamp; its alpine garden – even more so.
For the latest garden information, prices and opening times: