Head Gardener's Notes: Winter 2018/19

Its -3 in the garden as I’m writing this with a hard frost and snow on the ground, and whilst in the last week the Snowdrops that have bloomed on Church Terrace have been easy to spot in the sea of green grass, now alongside the widespread frost it appears they are hiding! Spring is on the way though, and with large late flowering Daffodil recently planted under the tulip tree in the Stable yard and smaller species Narcissi showing their leaves throughout the rest of the garden, the arrival of the new season is making itself felt even as winter gives us cold days.

The garden has not stood still this winter with the planting of 540 Times Roses in the flag garden now complete, allowing us to concentrate on the final part of the renovation; that being the Lavender beds which will have their gaps filled in with new plants this coming year.

After closing for the winter season at the end of October we took advantage of the mild conditions to rearrange some of the beds in the Jubilee walk, this is the first part of a renewal of the planting with the best of the old favourites being kept and new species being added. We are growing the majority of these from seed and they will be going in later in the year, so watch out for them when you come back to the garden!

Regular visitors  will notice the ongoing changes around the horse pond and lime walk which will soon create a new space that will include the picnic area. We will be adding to and changing the planting around the small pond for more colour interest and have cleared much of the dead plant life and reinstated the flow of water from Lancup Well to encourage more bird species to the pond.

We are planning for Glorious gardens weekend in June as we are putting on a workshop for hanging baskets and caring for Bonsai, as well as a guided tour and tea with yours truly! You can visit the What’s on pages from February to book these brilliant workshops!

See you all soon,

Tony Wiseman
Head Gardener