japanese pagoda jan 2020 cropped

Standing tall

The Japanese garden now has its pagoda standing tall and the Salix Gracilistyla Mount Aso (Japanese pink pussy willow), magnolias and rhododendrons all have buds. It’s very exciting to see this garden developing and in 2020 the design will be streng ...

bty

Swampy sheds her gold

We believe this tree by the fishing lake, beyond the bottom of the Garden, is a marsh cypress (taxodium distichum), also known as a red cypress.  That sounds right doesn’t it? They are native to the South East of the USA, but are recognised as a goo ...

bty

Woodland clearance starts

We now have responsibility for the woodland next to the walled garden – it is very overgrown and uneven underfoot and we expect to find there trash from the second world war as well as more recent stuff as we start to clear it. A good start on anoth ...

dav

Hot, hot, hot

On the hottest July day on record, our plucky volunteers still got stuck in …watering of course, but also grass-cutting, weeding, deadheading and carting a load of manure to the Gardens. It’s got to be done!! The butterflies were enjoying the ...

dav

What a crowd!

It must have been our highest volunteer numbers yet – 27 plus a group of 10 from GSK. So we managed to get masses of jobs done as well as the obligatory watering, given how dry it has been. We were cutting down the now dead cow parsley; cutting off ...

sdr

Not a weedy thistle!

This “scotch thistle” (onopordum acanthium) was probably not planted deliberately but is quite a sight! They are said to top 2.5 metres if well fed….but this one has managed quite well without tlc!  Elsewhere we have been waging war on c ...

shield bug May 2019

Bugs, animals and flowers

The Gardens are blooming and looking fabulous; perfect for  Sunday’s Open Day, when we celebrate the nature in our Gardens. This shield bug was enjoying the sunshine on a rose leaf; the bumble bees were out in force, particularly enjoying the rosema ...

bty

Tranquillity

It was a lovely day, between cold weekends, so volunteers spread out across the Gardens, to hoe, weed & tidy-up while enjoying the tranquillity, birdsong and warmth in the sunshine. It is amazing how good the Gardens can look without rain. The blossom ...

bdr

The joys of Spring

Sunshine, flowers, company, a bit of manual work and coffee and cake – the joys of spring for our volunteers! Ruth, Valerie and Maggie got to enjoy it in the Italian garden where the autumn planted tulips are looking great. Others worked on the stum ...

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Japanese area is taking shape

Jacqueline and crew planted bamboo today, having planted shrubs and trees last week, and showed visitors from the U3A a detailed drawing of how the Japanese area will look when it matures. Peto’s inspiration is alive and well – but our moss ro ...

bty

We are blossoming!

It was a cold, windy day but there were sunny spells when it was warm in the Italian Garden and in other sheltered spots. And the early blossom on the trees shows spring is here! As we are returning more Japanese features to the Gardens, is there a case f ...

burst

Strictly pruning

Pruning beautifully in synch, even without music! A wide range of tasks were completed this week – here are a few of them. The compost bins in the walled kitchen garden were emptied into the new raised beds. Roger trimmed the lavender hedge along th ...