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- ...

Sept 2020

Warm not icy

The Hylotelephium spectabile in the Italian Garden are looking lovely in the autumn sunshine. It does seem strange that they are commonly known as “ice plant”.  Their succulent leaves, I suppose, being grey could be said to look icy. And we do ...

20200910_144641

Officially autumn!

It was a glorious day for the Trust’s AGM at the Gardens, sunny and warm. But it’s definitely autumn – the fungi are springing up and the pumpkins are ripening. And of course the Easton Countess apples are ripening, as we get ready for t ...

dav

Cutting out deadwood

The Philadelphus patch near Laburnam walk is said to have been planted by the Countess of Warwick and today was given tlc, so that it can provide a better show of flowers in June next year than they managed this year. The plants’ dead wood was remov ...

20200827_134653

A tidy champion

Ian, Phil and Ben have tidied up around our County Champion Acer Cappadocicum, also known as a Cappadocian Maple. These trees were originally native in Asia, from central Turkey through the Himalayas to South Western China. Ours is on the fringe of the Ga ...

20200822_081519

Stocking up

What a lovely Open Day we had last Sunday – we welcomed many first time visitors to the Gardens as well as regulars and the rain held off till nearly closing time. The Woodland Trust and Essex Wildlife Trust volunteers enjoyed talking to visitors to ...

20200806_112335

Another little stepping stone

Our next big restoration project will be the balustrading around the lilypond. But while we are putting the plans for that into place and fundraising for it, we have funded the laying of a few additional slabs to make it easier to cross from the restored ...

July 2020

A lovely quiet day

It started with an eye-to-eye with a small, young?, hare (it then then sped off past Daisy’s towards the treehouse). Then I spied a kingfisher zooming away from the Italian Garden (although we emptied the lily pond last year, a few small fish remain ...

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Veg aplenty

It was so lovely to greet our first visitors to the Gardens since lockdown eased and to have a good selection of veg on offer for them. Our volunteers enjoyed the opportunity to chat to the visitors as they explored the Gardens. Maybe the sun will also sh ...

20200625_120402

The battle against box moths

Box tree caterpillars can eat their way through all the leaves on box bushes/trees and there can be 2 or 3 caterpillar hatchings a year. The moths were first reported in Britain in 2007 and are now widespread in London and the South East, so we have been ...

20200618_115926

Prepping for wall building

Denny is all set now to rebuild the wall at the back of the kitchen garden with our old bricks, delivered to him by John, Sam and Stephen. It will really tidy up that corner. Perhaps it might also keep off more frosts and increase the warmth in that area? ...