tulips apr 2020

Prinz Armin to cheer us

Sue planted these gorgeous tulips to provide colour for the April open day and they are blooming on schedule! The National Trust provide a lovely history of tulips on their website, charting their origin as wild flowers in Asia, through the Dutch Tulipman ...

cherry 9 april 2020

Sakura

This cherry blossom (sakura) is in the kitchen garden and cherries will soon be blossoming also in the Glade and Italian garden. Our local Trustees will enjoy their Hanami in isolation! Did you know that the Japanese tradition of ‘hanami’ (which translate ...

RAS 1 April 2020 1

New leaves

Spring is really evident now, with the euphorbia looking lovely, the perennials coming up and the lavender greening. Fortunately the weeds are not yet rampant and our local Trustees are looking after the Gardens well. The daffodils throughout the Gardens ...

bty

Undisturbed

Without volunteers or visitors the Gardens are at their most tranquil. The birds are singing to their hearts’ content without competition from vehicle noise, the woodpeckers are drumming and hoof prints indicate that the deer are still treating the ...

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Planting and weeding continues!

Volunteers worked across the Gardens, at a distance, getting lots of planting and weeding done. The new yews to replace the diseased yew hedge, were healed in and will be planted when the soil has dried out further. Lovely to see the daffodils and blossom ...

daffs March 2020

The joy of spring

Gardening, with fresh air and beauty, is the best tonic and we all loved it yesterday. The sun shone; daffodils were coming out all over the gardens; fruit trees in the walled kitchen garden were blossoming (the cherry plum and the peaches/nectarines); le ...

March 2020

Still laughing despite the weather!

We must all be mad, gardening on a cold, wet, early March day. But we got a lot done, putting new plants into all corners of the Gardens! Sam is bringing structure and more year-round interest by adding Miscanthus Sinensis at the back of the dahlia border ...

bty

Our national champion

Never mind the snow and the very wet Garden, our Easton Countess is on her way to becoming a national champion! The Tree Register keep a database of trees, which due to their height or girth are county or national champions. As the Easton Countess apple t ...

bty

What gorgeous sunshine!

It was spring-like this week, but final clearance in the top end of the walled kitchen garden is still hard-going, with bracken, brambles, nettles and dogwood to dig up as well as bricks to remove! Preparation of the dahlia border and raised beds was much ...

bty

We’re getting ready

well, nearly ready, for the snowdrop open days on 16 and 23 February. Spring cleaning of Daisy’s will be the last job on the list, but we are crossing off the rest: this week, painting the viewing platform at the bottom of the glade, next week finis ...

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 ...