Manor Heath Park Walled Garden In October

We last visited the walled garden at Manor Heath Park in Halifax in March 2014, you can read about that visit in my Garden Visiting In March - Part One post. The old Manor House was demolished in 1959 but the walled garden and other features still exist.

The walled garden used to be used to grow flowers, fruit and vegetables for the Manor House but it's now used to demonstrate different types of gardening techniques as well as bedding plant trials for Calderdale's parks.

I was a little worried when we first stepped through the gate, there seemed to be lots of plants well past their best and I thought we may have left it too late in the year to see the garden at its best.

I needn't have worried, whilst some plants have now finished flowering and are displaying seed heads, there are plenty more which are still blooming, and looking further in to the garden I could see it was still putting on a wonderful display.

I love how the garden is split in to different 'rooms', each with its own style of planting and each demonstrating a different gardening technique. If I remember correctly, this 'room' was planted up to give winter interest.

Plants can give just as much interest after they've finished flowering and though this clematis must have looked wonderful in bloom, just look how stunning it looks displaying its seed heads.

I defy anyone to walk past without stroking these silky strands.

There were roses still blooming away...

...but the agapanthus had finished flowering.

Though there's flat paths all around the garden, there's also other quirky ways to access each area. These type of features add lots of interest to a garden.

I'm a big fan of growing plants in pots so I was very interested in the container garden. As you can see, there's also plenty of places to stop for a little rest and quiet contemplation.

How cute is this? Recycling at its best.

Fruit doesn't feature heavily on the list of plants grown in the garden but there are apples to be found if you look carefully.

Here are some of the plants which caught my eye.

These are the trial beds which I spoke of earlier and there in the background is a bed packed full of dahlias.

A closer look at the dahlia bed. Some of the plants need deadheading but there's still lots of plants flowering their socks off.

So many different varieties, here's just a small selection of those planted here.

If you're ever in the Halifax area I can thoroughly recommend a visit to Manor Heath Park, not only does it have this wonderful walled garden but there's also the Jungle Experience. We didn't go inside this time but you can read about it in my Garden Visiting In March - Part Two post. It's such a well kept park and great for families as there's a wonderful playground, and a cafe too.