20th August 2023

Welcome,

Almost autumnal weather with warmth but heavy rain at times. The Runner beans love it and we are picking every day- along with the Courgettes. I hope there will be some left for you to buy at the gate when you leave- delicious.
The Sweet Peas are almost done but we are still picking beans, salad crops and beetroot. We have had some Sweet corn and the tomatoes are now ripening – especially in the Greenhouse. Lots of apples on the espaliers and blackberries, plums and apples in the orchard. Figs are ripening and we await the Pears.
The Greenhouse is busy- drying off the soaked onions, nurturing the cuttings and housing the tomato plants.
The Dell has its earliest cyclamen in flower and look out for the Colchicum or Autumn Crocus that have just appeared on the edge of the East Lawn inside the Moat.
The Bog Garden is enjoying the rain and the Ligularia and Zantedeschia are in flower. Thalia Dealbata is the name of the plant in the water with flowers of purple spikes. Water lilies have flourished this year helped by the absence of swans.
The shade and damp is being enjoyed by the hydrangea in the Water garden, also by the Zantedeschia whilst Toad Lilies are planted along the edge of the ditch- the six petalled flowers resemble the purple spotted Phalaenopsis orchids- quite special.
The Magnolia Grandiflora is in flower at the front of the Hall and the wonderful smell is from the repeat flowering Rose de Rescht- in the bed at the front of the Hall.
Oleander are in flower in the pots on the gravel at the bottom of the West Lawn and in the gravel the Californian Poppies, Geranium, Larkspur, Daisy and Verbena Bonariensis are all self sown.
The Wild Garden, with its old Mulberry tree has been cut and some wild white geraniums have colonised it

Stay healthy and good gardening
Lynda Tucker