Grapes September 2018

Pick of the week

These grapes on a pretty vine were revealed today in the Italian Garden when Jane removed the weeds in front of them. They have obviously enjoyed the long hot and dry summer! Today volunteers fanned out across the Gardens, picking up boughs brought down b ...

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What a glorious day

Today, nineteen volunteers enjoyed getting the Gardens ready for this Sunday’s Apple and Austin Open Day . By the end of the day, the lavender had been bagged and the jam labelled ready for the tombola. The Italian Garden was looking serene in the s ...

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A splash of dahlias

Dahlias need their own collective noun, so how about this one? Through the drought they were pretty, but now they are revived they look splendid in early autumn sunshine – hasn’t Sam done well! We made great strides today in tidying for the Ap ...

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The last picking of mulberries

And some reached the bowl too! We have had a really good crop this year, perhaps due to the hot weather, so there will be jam and jelly on the tombola stall this September. The early heavy rains after the drought brought down a stem of the trunk, probably ...

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Keep on smiling!

The sun continued to shine (will it ever stop?), as we looked back on the last year and celebrated all we had achieved, at the AGM, followed by the volunteers’ BBQ. Gary cooked the Prior’s Hall sausages and burgers to perfection, the salads we ...

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Bugs in the Gardens

We are counting our bugs…come and help us on our Open Day, Sunday 24 June, when we will have help on hand to identify them. This one, on fungi on a tree in the Glade, stumped us … it appears to be eating the fungi. Local expert, Jono Forgham, reckon ...

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Now that’s a tongue!

Variously called a Devil’s Tongue, Voodoo Lily, Dragon Lily or more properly Dracunculus Vulgaris, this one is very much at home in the Italian Garden! It is an oddity of a plant because it is pollinated by flies not bees. Its shape has given rise t ...

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Vegetables galore

Each week, Steve seems to plant more vegetables and don’t they look great!! Today, it was runner beans, to add to the maize, leeks, onions, chard, lettuce etc etc. The recent rains have also helped the soft fruit to swell, the fruit trees to put on ...

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Our blousy hanky

The Handkerchief Tree was looking magnificent today, with the hankies blowing in the breeze against a clear blue sky, with the Glade framed with the frothy white of cow parsley. Hopefully they will still be looking stunning for the Open Day on 20 May. A h ...

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Fresh growth

It is an exciting time of year at the Gardens – full of promise for the season ahead! Spring green is making way for summer colour, as we remove weeds and excess euphorbia and make way for fresh planting of additional helianthemums, kniphofia, geums ...