Sibylle Kreutzberger's Garden, Part II

Next stop on the tour was Sibylle Kreutzberger's garden located in the charming village of Condicote, in the Cotswolds. Sibylle Kreutzberger, and her friend Pam Schwerdt, were the head gardeners at Sissinghurst, initially hired by Vita Sackville-West.  After three decades of working at Sissinghurst, Pam and Sibylle retired to the Cotswolds and built a beautiful garden of their own. Of all the gardens I have visited, this garden is the one that suits me the best! I think it is the most intimate garden and it is a direct and personal reflection of Pam and Sibylle. The garden is small and there is no wasted space, and no "filler" plants, every inch is filled with something special. Sibylle told us that there were over a thousand different plants in the garden. Yes, please! The other truly magical thing about spending time in Sibylle's garden is spending time with Sibylle, who comes absolutely alive when talking about her plants. We admired everything and furiously scribbled down every plant name that rolled off her tongue.

When I visited this garden last March I admired the idea of 25 fabulous clematis vines, but in October I actually admired quite a few still in bloom, including this one, Clematis 'Arabella.'

And this one, Clematis 'General Sikorski'

Looking back at the house.

Beautiful light and exciting textures.

This bright spot of blue is willow gentian, Gentiana asclepiadea, and it is a plant I recently bought for myself. It has been really unhappy under my care, but I am hoping that someday it will look like this!

Fall blooming snowdrops! I did not catch the name of this particular Galanthus.

In this small garden, Sibylle has been very clever to plant many things together.  Here the crocus is coming up through the black mondo grass, while the yellow argyranthemum hangs in from behind.

The light catches this Alstromeria 'Apollo' just perfectly. 

Cyclamen purpurascens is a species cyclamen that is deliciously fragrant. We all got on our hands and knees to take in the scent.

In spring I was awestruck by how many bulbs Sibylle had artfully planted throughout her garden, and so many types I had never seen before or since. Of course, this was the case in the fall as well. Here is Sternbergia lutea bursting out from under the boxwood.