Surprises and challenges

I have finally met someone who reads my blog. I was weeding in the gardens one day last month when a gentleman asked who it was who writes the blog. I owned up, as I haven’t met anyone who reads it before. The gentleman said that he had been following my writings for a few months, and was going to encourage others to read it too.
Hello Sir!

It is now almost the end of the season and the gardens are only open at weekends. We have been very busy for the last couple of days, removing dead trees, trimming overhanging branches and reordering some of the more untidy areas. A lot of work has been taking place on the South Border, near the portico. A large shrub has been pruned and tidied, a sickly pear has been removed and a conifer that had greatly outgrown its space has also gone. This last operation was very tricky, as the roots of the conifer were close to both the small ha ha wall, and a mains water pipe; but the JCB driver is very talented!

JCBs are very handy in a garden as large as ours. The digger driver turns our leaf heaps every year, and also removes large trees, bamboo or shrubs where necessary. This week he has also dug over the locations of 2 new beds that Mr Berkeley marked out in the copse. He saves us a lot of time!

Debbie had quite a suprise one early morning when she went to water the conservatory. To set the scene: the weather has been very warm for September and we haven’t yet put the windows back in the front of the conservatory. Debbie went in to water, and was moving about the pots, checking and watering when suddenly from only a few feet away a small muntjac jumped up from its hiding place between the pots, leapt through one of the open window spaces over the low wall, and dashed away across the new rose lawn! Debbie was suitably suprised.

Then one Saturday Debbie and I had the challenge of dealing with over 130 Hardy Plant Society members decending on the gardens, and being taken round on 6 guided tours. The group included Roy Lancaster, a well known and very knowledgable plantsman, who was so involved with the plants he saw that he very quickly dropped off one of my tours, taking about 8 people with him!

The borders are looking bright with asters at their flowering best and colchicum are lookng good (see pic, Colchicum Waterlily). However there is a little worry about how good the autumn colour is going to be. It appears that some leaves are drying out and going crisp before they turn a bright colour. We hope for the best.

Best Wishes

Kate