Early Summer 2024: Head Gardener's Notes

The maintenance loop begins in earnest as summer arrives, with hoeing, mowing and edging now taking the forefront of the maintenance rounds. These warm but wet days have been a replication of our greenhouse conditions and, as such, many of the flowers have bloomed earlier than usual. Unfortunately this means the weeds have been growing under greenhouse conditions too, and battling with them is taking up a fair amount of our time.

Elsewhere botrytis has caused damage to some of our roses and the peonies. Botrytis is relatively easy to spot in gardens as it covers flowers in a greenish/greyish fungal growth, or with similar coloured spots. The flowers generally die before they’re able to fully open and have to be removed. At Penshurst Place we treat the disease with copper, which is a really effective treatment that also doesn’t harm humans or insects.  In fact the gardens have been pesticide free for just over three years now, and we manage diseases and pests with safe, biological controls instead.

Coming into bloom soon will be the climbing and rambling roses which will appear over Coronation Walk gate, the Paved Garden archway, the Nut Garden trellis and along many of our historic walls. Later this season poppies will be planted in the Nut Garden and Orchard for a larger spring display in 2025, and we’ll be replacing much of the lavender in the Union Flag Garden to rejuvenate the blue in the design.

You may see us hard at work in the Heraldic Garden in the coming weeks as we work to reduce the planting to allow better air flow and better access to light for the remaining plants, which should mean they grow bigger!