The Savill Garden is situated within Windsor Great Park. It was initially created by Sir Eric Savill between 1932 and 1939 for King George V and Queen Mary, and subsequently expanded several times. In 1951 King George VI commanded that its name should be changed from the Bog Garden to the Savill Garden and in 1955 Sir Eric was knighted.
Eric Savill (1895–1980) originally worked for his father's firm of chartered surveyors. He took the post of deputy surveyor at Windsor Great Park in 1930. Savill was promoted to deputy ranger in 1937, and Director of Forestry from 1958 until his retirement in 1970. He has given his name to a variety of Clematis montana, and also to Magnolia spengeri var spengeri Eric Savill; the pictures below show the "champion tree" of this variety located at the Savill Garden:
The gardens include a number of distinct areas including woodland, meadows, an orchard and a specialised New Zealand garden. It is a mixture of formal gardens for example the rose garden, the Golden Jubilee garden and more natural plantings such as in the bog garden, daffodil meadow and woodland areas.
Flowers
At the time of our visit azaleas and rhododendrons were very much apparent, especially (and unsurprisingly) in the Azalea Walks. Below, left to right and top to bottom:
- rhododendron yakushimanum x bureavii hydon velvet;
- rhododendron (sorry, not sure of details)
- rhododendron 'essex scarlet'x forrestii var repens 'Mannheim'
- rhododendron group
- rhododendron apricot sunrise
- bee visiting a rhododendron flower
There were plenty of other flowers as well. The top row below consists of irises, euphorbia and Astrantia Claret while the first flower in the second row is Weigela Praecox Variegata, the others I'm not sure about.
Water
A river with a couple of lakes flows through the garden, and smaller streams cross the Glades. There are water features in the Golden Jubilee Garden (pictured below) and the Queen Elizabeth Temperate House. It was a dull day when I visited but I still managed to capture some nice reflections:
Trees
I love trees: the shapes they make, their amazing trunks and varied bark, their outline as you look up into their canopy. Here are some from my visit:
Messing about with photos
The photos above are "as taken", but it's fun to mess around with colour enhancement and filters. Here are some I've messed about with: