April 2024

by anne chambers

We are now open although it has been a miserable April with rain and still very cold during the day.  However the garden is bursting into life and the bluebells are looking spectacular and hopefully will last for a longer period of time due to the chilly weather.

Just before we opened we had to have an emergency tree surgeon visit to take down an enormous very old radiata pine by the car park which had split down the middle.  This involved numerous people and a vast crane to transport the tree climber to the top  to dismantle the tree limb by limb.  Then a forestry lorry had to take away the very large pieces of wood so it was a big operation, but luckily all went well, but so sad to have lost such a beautiful tree.

The tree peonies are beginning to flower, and will continue for some time as there is a succession of different varieties.  So eye catching when in flower, and much commented on. We have therefore planted several intersectional peonies this year hoping they will add to our collection for the future.

We left seedlings of the purple honesty on the banks and now they are flowering and covering the area, quite an addition to the difficult situation and hoping they will seed again for the following years.  The hesperis which should also seed around does not seem to thrive in the same way.

May is just round the corner and our busy time ahead; it is always good to have a gentle start to the season to get us ready for the hectic summer period.

March 2024

by anne chambers

Still it keeps raining and the ground is still so wet and heavy, but we have begun to start planting to replace winter losses and add new plants bought over last year at various nurseries.

The magnolias however have been spectacular this year, no frost so they have flowered for weeks, such a welcome sight in early Spring.  Every village and town has different varieties but still my favourites are the pink forms.

Like most of the country we have had our fair share of potholes on the drive.  Philip has been filling them with tarmac and as always we have had two lorry loads of new gravel (where does it all go?) so hoping the drives will be less of a hazard for our visitors.

Unlike most years when we open there will be much more in flower as the mild damp weather has accelerated growth.  The viburnums will scent the air and particularly the stunning viburnum carlessii Diana which must be at least fifty years old.

We have been doing a great deal of nursery work, sowing seeds and repotting plants ready for the season, the stands are now down by the house and ready to be filled with some of this year’s offerings.

A week today we will open for the new season, it always is a thrill to see the first visitors arriving and our garden bursting into new life.

February 2024

by anne chambers

It has been a very mild but record-breaking wet February with floods all over the country.  However hardly any frost so snowdrops came and went with the daffodils now beginning to flower two weeks early.

Our last break away before re-opening and we did a northern tour staying in County Durham and visiting Raby Castle where the garden is undergoing a major restoration.   Luciano Giubbilei has redesigned the enormous walled garden which should reopen in May.  A vast project but very exciting and can’t wait to return to see the finished result. We also visited Bowes Museum, Bishop Auckland Castle, Durham Cathedral and also found an unexpectedly good nursery just next to Mickleton (in County Durham !).

The hellebores have been wonderful this year and the ones that I bought at Ashwood nursery last year all doing well.

 We have had a major prune of the vast magnolia delavayii up the house.  This was originally planted by my grandmother and has to be cut back every other year so that we can see out of the windows and doesn’t break in the wind or snow.

 We are very busy getting ready for our Easter opening, masses of potting up to do in the nursery and seeds have been sown and already germinating.

January 2024

BY ANNE CHAMBERS

Another year has arrived and luckily some dry weather.  We have emptied the water garden pond and Simon Allison’s team came to clean the philodendron leaves on site.  They are now gleaming in the winter sunshine and all that remains is to clear out all the fallen leaves and refill the pond.

We were in Cumberland last weekend, and I took the opportunity to visit Lowther Castle.  After decades of neglect the garden is being brought into the 21st century by Dan Pearson who has created a parterre in front of the ruins of the castle as well as a rose garden.  Here hundreds of David Austin roses have been planted with black wrought iron arches cleverly designed with steel thorns to mimic rose stems themselves.  A Japanese garden and rock garden are also being unearthed, an enormous ongoing project which was exciting to see.

We also stayed with Griselda Kerr at the Dower House in Melbourne, South Derbyshire. She is a keen gardener and author of ‘The Apprehensive Gardener’. Seeing her garden in mid winter was a special treat and the scent from her daphnes was wonderful.  There was also a beautiful clematis in full flower, c. Winter Beauty, much neater than clematis armandi and one I will search for. A special chance to see her garden in February for the NGS on Saturday and Sunday, 10th and 11th of February is well worth the effort. A marvellous iron birdcage/arbour has been erected recently in the garden and she insists plants won’t be grown up it. I wonder.

We are making progress in the garden and now tackling the endless pine needles on the banks and cutting over the lower garden.  My special foxglove seeds have germinated so hopefully spring cannot be far away.