Jan 2021

A ray of sunshine

Despite the cold weather, there are a few signs of spring being on its way. The Mahonia is beautiful and sweet and the viburnam is also beginning to flower in the Japanese garden; a few primroses are flowering in the woodland; and bulbs are pushing up the ...

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A sunny Thursday at last

What a tonic it was, to enjoy sunshine and a little warmth in the Italian Garden and the walled kitchen garden this Thursday, after all the rain. The Gardens are very boggy and it has been impossible for Roger and team to re-lay the path by the gate. But ...

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The joy of working outdoors

Winter work at the Gardens is great when the weather allows for it. Last week it was just too wet. This week was cold, but we got a lot done. Ann, Valerie and Sue tidied the border by the gate, while Peter and Ann tidied around the top of the Italian gard ...

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Cold but beautiful

There have been a few frosty nights now, so it doesn’t seem so bad that Sam and Richard and Ann and Valerie were cutting down the dahlias and the border perennials for the winter. And this week we also did more planting, to give us even more to look ...

november 2020

A rose on the rise

Every dead tree is a loss, but we have left this dead elm standing as it may be a bat roost. It will soon be bursting with new life too, as the Madame Alfred Carriere rose that Steph, Sue and Clare planted at its base is a rampant climber. It is from a cu ...

daffs 2020

Planting a host of daffodils

Martin, Lyn, Peter and Ann planted hundreds of daffodils and Valerie and Ann planted tulips, as we look forward to 2021. Elsewhere, in the Glade we planted a himalayan birch in memory of Diana Creasey, to join the one planted for Brian. They are a small t ...

October 2020

Our favourite

Our scarlet oak is so photogenic, in autumn but also in spring, and this year it and other oaks, beeches and chestnuts have produced loads of fruit. A bountiful year such as this is known as a “mast year”, the last one was 2017. The Woodland T ...

yew hedge 2 Oct 2020

Perfect harmony

We like to think we form good teams at the Gardens… and here Tony, Martin and Roy are working in perfect harmony to level the soil around the base of the new yew hedge, ready for grass seeding by Richard. Sue is confident that the new hedge, which r ...

handkerchief cropped

A topsy turvy year

As we come towards the end of the season, with our final Open Day on Sunday 11 October, our plants keep reminding us what a strange year it has been. The handkerchief tree is a case in point – it scarcely flowered in the Spring, but is now flowering ...

town twinning

Dunmow twinners

Dunmow-Dourdan Town Twinning Association stalwarts enjoyed a socially distanced picnic at the Gardens this week in perfect weather. Hopefully in 2021 they will once again be able to entertain their guests from the mediaeval capital of Hurepoix in the Ile- ...