What’s looking good at RHS Bridgewater?

Lose yourself in the beautiful maze-like landscape of the Worsley Welcome Garden. Using the mathematical principles of Voronoi patterns found in nature, the garden’s layout resembles the spots of a giraffe and draws you into a journey of discovery. The gentle flow of the paths invites you to take in the sights, scents and sounds of beds filled with relaxed and romantic planting. Highlights in July include graceful Selinum wallichianum, Lythrum salicaria ‘Blush’, with its slender pale pink flower spikes attracting bees and butterflies, and the maroon bottle-brush flowers of Sanguisorba menziesii.

Packed full of colour and produce, the Kitchen Garden is in full swing this month. Salad crops, beetroots, peas and courgettes are ready to harvest – destined for use in the Bridgewater Café – and there is a profusion of flowers attracting pollinators and beneficial insects to the garden. Crops are grown in fun and creative ways, and we embrace a range of techniques, from traditional fruit training to no-dig and forest gardening, as well as potager-style-planting that combines vegetables, herbs, fruit and flowers, making the garden a great place to pick up ideas.

The Mediterranean section of the Paradise Garden reaches a climax in July, as fulsome foliage, exuberant flowers and high light levels create the maximum paradise effect. Floating discs of Achillea ‘Coronation Gold’ and the upright metallic spikes of Eryngium ‘Cobalt Star’ help transport you to warmer climes, alongside the dazzling violet-purple flower stems of Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’. Bleached, tawny grasses catch the morning and evening light, giving a golden, ethereal quality. Visitors often linger into the evening around the fountain seating area enjoying the serenity of the planting and soothing sound of water.

On a hot summer’s day, under the shade of woodland trees, listen to the cooling sound of the stream meandering through the Chinese Streamside Garden. The Classical Water Garden is starting to flourish, with shrubs filling out and the water ecosystem maturing. Flowers of the native waterlily Nymphaea alba adorn the main pool, and purple loosestrife and common reed (native to both China and the UK) pop up around the banks this month. If you’re lucky, you might see a frog or two in the cool, damp spots around the ponds and under the large leaves of hostas.

Seek out more shade in the tranquil setting of Middle Wood, where you can rest and take your time to watch nature on the forest bathing benches. You may catch a glimpse of a buzzard soaring on the thermals high above the trees, see nesting birds coming out of bird boxes or watch a tree creeper scurrying up a tree trunk looking for insects. A collection of ferns notable for their diversity and luxuriance enjoy the damp, shady conditions of Lower Middle Wood, and sculptural ‘dead’ hedges of woody material provide refuges for insects and small mammals.

Moon Bridge Water, our 1.4-acre lake, brims with life in summer. Its calm water and naturalistic planting combine to create a wonderfully soothing effect. As you walk around the perimeter, look out for swifts and house martins swooping across the water and adjacent Victoria Meadow, and damselflies and dragonflies zipping over the surface. In high summer, the breezy flower spires of Lythrum virgatum ‘Swirl’, Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Rosea’ and Salvia uliginosa create a haze of pink and sky-blue blooms.

Deliciously fragrant roses enhance the sensory appeal of the Paradise Garden, their heady scent transporting you to the warmer climes of traditional paradise gardens. Vigorous rambler Rosa ‘Veilchenblau’ is likely to catch your eye, with its vivid violet flowers adorning the garden’s walls. In the Bee and Butterfly Garden, discover a selection of roses irresistible to pollinators – roses with open flowers, such as pure white Rosa STARLIGHT SYMPHONY, offer easily accessible nectar to insects. In the Kitchen Garden, climbing roses scramble up striking towers that mimic the bothy chimney, and in Community Grow, Rosa STRAWBERRY HILL cloaks the pergola in pink, perfumed blooms.