Bath's American Museum & Gardens becomes only RHS Partner Garden in Bristol & Bath area

The American Museum & Gardens has been selected to be a RHS Partner Garden for 2024 – the only RHS Partner Garden to visit in the Bath and Bristol area. Opening from 9 March, the first visitors can enjoy Daffodil Month in the gardens, when a cascade of 70,000 daffodils open between March and April.

RHS members will have free access to the gardens at selected times, which will be on Wednesdays when open, plus Thursdays from 9 March to 30 June, and from September to December 2024. This will apply to member 1 only for joint memberships, and an RHS card is required as proof of membership.

The gardens at the American Museum are truly unique to Somerset and the UK. Overlooking the Cotswoldsarea of outstanding natural beauty, the American Museum & Gardens is located on a hilltop with spectacular views over the Limpley Stoke Valley. Set in 125 acres of rolling green topography, the Grade II-listed gardens feature 2.5 acres of formal gardens, which were renovated in 2018 by US garden designers Oehme, van Sweden (OvS) – the American equivalent of Dutch designer Piet Oudolf.

The grounds include the New American Garden, the Mount Vernon Garden, and the Children’s Garden, as well as an arboretum and parkland. Named for OvS’ hallmark style, the New American Garden has sweeping lawns and vistas, and large garden vignettes that embrace the aesthetic of the American meadow, with a profusion of colour, texture and movement throughout the year. The borders are very beautiful and naturalistic, with a low-maintenance ethos.

Thousands of bulbs create a stunning spring show, celebrated with Daffodil Month in March – April, and Allium Month in June. During summer, wide swathes of prairie-style perennials, planted in bold blocks, create a dramatic display. Each of the 17 beds have a slightly different planting scheme, such as Rudbeckia, Acanthus and sedums. Planting is tied into the landscape with statuesque Liriodendron trees to provide height and catch the wind. Ornamental grasses are a key feature of the garden, with more than 30 cultivars uniting the expansive borders. In autumn, the prairie-style planting has beautiful colour and texture, along with a range of trees, among them several American specimens, in the garden and arboretum.

The Mount Vernon Garden is a reproduction of the 18th-century Upper Garden at George Washington’s estate in Virginia, with its shield shape, white picket fence, historic seed hut and planting. Updated in 2017, in response to a new interpretation of the historical plans, there are four box parterre, ornamental planting, fruit trees and productive edible borders. Remnants of the old Italianate-style manorial pleasure gardens and parkland, dating from the 1820s, can be seen within the grounds, including period features such as a grotto, balustrade and curtain walling, and ornamental stonework.