Cornwall Gardens' Harvest Festival

From North coast to South coast the lavish greenery of Cornwall's gardens will turn to autumnal browns, oranges, golds and rich reds, even dark blues and dusky pinks, in an explosion of colour as the September and October harvest comes to fruition. In celebration, the Cornwall Gardens' Harvest Festival will run from 5 September to 31 October. Gardens will play host to a multitude of autumnal pursuits ranging from traditional pumpkin carving to brewing wine, lifting squashes and preserving the fruits of the season.

The leaves will be falling, but the air will still be warm, and combined with a myriad of scents and rich colours, it will make exploring Cornwall's garden space a sensory feast. From orchards of apples, pears and quinces at gardens like Trerice, near Newquay and Trewoofe House in Penzance, to the changing
colours of Antony Woodland's 100 acres of woodland gardens near Torpoint - it's a time for discovery, foraging and fecundity.

Gardeners will appreciate the mixed borders of bright red and blue salvias and asters at gardens like Hidden Valley, near Par, flowering cream hedychiums and purple tibouchina at Lanterns, on Restronguet Creek, the spectacle of white and blue hydrangeas in full bloom on the driveway to Bonython on the Lizard Peninsula, and viburnum betulifolium's clusters of red berries and acer's white berries at Marsh Villa. Visitors will also find a variety of unusual and exotic plants for sale at gardens and nurseries like the appropriately named Hardy Exotics.

For details about specific gardens and events in the Cornwall Gardens Project visit www.gardensofcornwall.com, or call: 01872 322800.

Laura Griffiths
Gardens of Cornwall
28th July 2005