October 2024

by anne chambers

The garden is closed now and we look back on a successful but wet season which did affect visitor numbers.

Bulbs have arrived and are being planted and the rose border pruned and dug over. We have taken out quite a few old roses that are past their best and have ordered some new Peter Beales varieties to replace them.

The acers in the bluebell wood are a wonderful site with their gold and red leaves shining in the sunshine.  Its still very mild but there are a lot of berries on the trees so maybe a harsh winter to come.

I visited Cotswold Garden Flowers and listened to a talk from Bob Brown about nerines.  They have got a wonderful collection there, so many varieties and colours.  It is so good that nurserymen are willing to carry on these collections which otherwise would disappear, I know Exbury and Bramdean also have an enormous display of nerines.

We just have the nerine bowdenii in the garden which always brighten up a border at this time of year.

Leaves are falling and the clocks changing so autumn is really upon us and it is the time to take stock of all the jobs that we didn’t do in the summer.

September 2024

by anne chambers

A very wet end of the season and the garden is finally closed.   It has been difficult to keep it all looking good with high winds and torrential rain which in many parts of the country has caused severe flooding.

We were so lucky and escaped the rain by visiting the north west coast of Scotland where we had six heavenly blue sky days at the end of the month.  There is nowhere more beautiful when the weather is good and we managed to visit the island of Raasay just next door to Skye. Here a new distillery has been built and the community have reinstated the walled garden behind Raasay House.  It was beautifully kept and had a mass of vegetables and flowers which locals could come and pick at leisure.

We also visited a private garden overlooking the Arisaig peninsula towards the islands of Rum and Eigg, all on a steep hillside filled with specie rhododendrons and trees and shrubs suitable for the acid soil and harsh conditions.

Our garden has still got the asters and dahlias in flower and the kirengoshoma palmatum is much admired.  Now the enormous task of cutting back will begin and today daughter Clare and I planted some new additions on the steep banks which because of all the rain was much easier than normal.

August 2024

by anne chambers

We have just returned from a lovely family holiday in France.  We decided to drive to the south and on the way found ourselves close  to Villandry which we had never visited.  It was the perfect time to see the amazing vegetable/flower garden in all its glory.  They employ ten gardeners and plant out over one hundred thousand plants and vegetables each year.  A real labour of love but it was spectacular and well worth a visit.

Home now and the garden is really looking quite autumnal with the white anenomes full out and the lillies all over.  The gingers that I bought at the Dixter plant sale are in full flower but we will lift them just in case we have a hard winter.  All the dahlias that we have planted over the years are really worth while for September and give a good amount of colour to the borders.

Also the zauchenaria are looking good in the lower garden, very vivid orange but go well with the blue geraniums growing through them.  It is always difficult to keep the garden with interest at the end of the season but we have been planting more autumn flowering shrubs and perennials over the years to bridge the gap.

July 2024

by anne chambers

It has been a wet but wonderful summer for the garden with plentiful amounts of rain and as a result everything has grown superbly and flowered well.  However agapanthus and Japanese anenomes are already out which is earlier than usual and just hoping there will be enough to come into September.

I am delighted with some of the new additions to the garden which have been recently planted.  The sidalcea Mrs Borrowdale is a much darker pink than sidalcea loveliness and is definitely a good new addition.

Also berkheya circufolia which I bought at the Great Dixter plant fair is looking wonderful, papery white flowers on the spiky stems, a great new addition to the White sunk garden.

Then there are the sangisorbas, the lilac squirrel tails is my favorite as I am not so keen on the more common red varieities.

When I look back at our book of plant purchases over the years it is true that only a few stay the test of time but this makes it all the more worthwhile and exciting when there are success stories.

The dieramas in the White sunk garden are all out and making a magical display, they have seeded everywhere and we can never produce enough for sale as they go like hot cakes!

June 2024

by anne chambers

Its June and the summer has arrived with hot temperatures and no rain.  The garden is at its peak with the smell of philadelphus and roses  everywhere, especially Philadelphus Mexican Jewel which has the strongest scent.  It is rather a straggly shrub but the tiny flowers are so heavily scented it is well worth growing.

Roses are at their peak and have never looked better, the wonderful very old felicias roses weighed down with flowers and the rosa mundi hedge looking a picture.

The Kiftsgate rose is also early this year but is flowering better at the back of the border rather than in the main rose border.  I don’t think it liked the excessive wet and shade of the earlier part of the year.

We have just finished taking our 32 American ladies round Cotswold gardens, a glorious week with three gardens a day, all looking marvellous, and everyone adored their trip.

We are off to Corfu next week leaving the garden in the capable hands of our son, a first for us going away in June but a holiday break will  be much appreciated.

May 2024

by anne chambers

Chelsea has been and gone with a mixed reception and mixed weather.  Clare and I went on the Tuesday, very chilly but dry.  The show gardens on the whole I thought slightly unimpressive, except for Tom Stuart-Smiths NGS creation which had that wow factor and beautifully planned and planted.  We were lucky enough to be asked onto the garden so had a good look round including the wonderful wooden kitchen/hut with its amazing attention to detail. The floral marquee compared to past years seemed very empty with no tulip displays or small nurseries.

With all the rain the garden here has grown like topsy, some of the plants have loved the conditions including the beautiful cornus venus with its vast cream flowers dominating the wide border at the moment.

The roses are just starting to flower and rosa vanity up the dead magnolia is looking stunning, it’s a strong colour but matches the gladiolus byzantinus with its shocking pink hues.

The amsonia tabernaemonta,( which I forget where I bought), is quite a talking point with its large sky blue flowers.  This originates from America and is much more showy than the other amsonias in the garden.

June is just round the corner and we have our American ladies returning for a Cotswold garden trip so know we will be looking forward to a holiday by July!

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.