Tips for February

Keep glass clean in greenhouses, and regularly check that heaters are working.

Start to cut down and tidy herbaceous borders when the soil is not sticky. Epimediums and hellebores can have their old leaves removed so that the early flowers can be easily seen.

Keep off the lawns when frosty.

Order seed potatoes and start chitting them in a cool dry corner. (This means getting them to start sprouting, to give them a head start when they are planted).

The Garden Awake

Water was to be the theme again at the beginning of January. Mike and I went to check the conservatory boiler, and it was surrounded by a pool of water... the conservatory is warmed using heated water running through cast iron pipes. We had the terrible feeling that the system was breaking down.... until one of the gardeners, who shall remain nameless, remembered that he had left a tap on in the conservatory and the water had seeped through the wall. After turning the tap off the remaining water seeped away, and all were relieved!

A lot of work has been undertaken this month with the preparation of three new areas in the gardens: an extra bed in the copse, a cleared area and new bed at the top of the East Border, and a large bed up the drive that will be full of hollies and berberis. There should be plenty of interesting new plants and vistas to be admired over the coming season.

The gardens are beginning to wake from their winter slumber as the snowdrops are in bloom and early daffodils start to peep through the soil. There is a wintersweet, chimonanthus praecox, in the Stable Yard close to my front door. As I walk past in the early evening it gives out a most beautiful scent.

Unfortunately, we will be losing Richard, one of gardeners, in the middle of February as he is moving on to pastures new. We wish him all the best for the future.

Tips for Januaryt

Those seed and young plant catalogues have started to drop through the letterbox. An hour spent with a plant catalogue, a cup of tea, notebook and pencil is time well spent.

Check over all the garden tools, machinery and equipment, and send lawnmowers etc away for service, blade sharpening etc.

Use warmer days to walk round the garden, looking at the shape and structure of the plants, and planning any projects for next year.

Illuminated Success

The Illuminated Trail took up a considerable amount of time and energy in December, and now it is just a lovely memory. We have spoken to people who visited several times, and those that have decided to apply the theory of lighting trees to their own gardens! We are all hoping that the event will be repeated next year in an even more spectacular fashion.

The remains of the event... the flattened lawns and lawn edges, litter and lost property have been amazingly minimal considering that over 10,000 visitors walked the trail. However some areas do need a little repair, so January will be very busy. This, coupled with the fact that the gardens are open earlier than usual next year means that the gardeners will really have their work cut out to get ready.

Another tradition involving the gardeners is the decoration of the catholic chapel. We gather foliage from around the gardens and use it to create a backdrop for the crib which sits to one side of the alter rail. In front of the crib, a landscape of rocks and sand is built whilst down one side of the crib a swathe of chrysanthemums is placed.
Mahonia stems are woven between the alter rails, and at one time, swags of foliage were also constructed to hang along the length of the chapel. Construction of the swags would take a couple of weeks and required the hammering of supporting nails into the wall. However, since the chapel has been renovated, this practice has been dropped.

The snowdrops are just beginning to show through the grassy banks on the west border, and crocus will soon be up all along the long walk to the white bridge, and covering the bank at the front of the main house. We are currently concentrating our efforts on removing the leaves from these areas so that the flowers can come through unhindered. The collected leaves are piled up in 2 huge heaps to rot down into leaf mold. The leaf mold from 2 seasons ago is then applied to some of the borders as a thick mulch.

(The picture shows an acer palmatum Eddisbury, in the frost.)