5th April 2020

Everything is enjoying this lovely warm sunshine.

The later daffodils are beginning to flower and the early are dying back. With favourable weather they flower from February to the end of April and I now have 40 varieties. As I have some time this year, I am going through my daffodil catalogue to identify them. With 11 divisions I am having to identify by size of trumpet / goblet cup / flat eye / corona / split corona / perianth / petaloids / doubles / flateye / reflexed and that’s before we get into height and colour!! My Gold medal daffodil supplier has 400 varieties- I wonder which was the one Wordsworth immortalised in his ‘host of golden daffodils”?

The wild garden is a picture with a sea of blue and yellow. There are primroses and primula along with stunning blue anemone blanda and scilla. If you look carefully there are white, pink and mauve fritillaria and years of lifting and dividing has paid off with a 3ft wide border along the Moat of white Leucojum-the Spring snowflake. The vegetable garden is waking up and the potatoes are appearing through the soil and will need earthing up next week. Tomorrow we hope to have our first asparagus picking – butter at the ready.

The white swan seems to be settled on her nest and is surrounded by masses of bright yellow Caltha Palustis, or marsh marigold, which is benefitting from the high-water level in the Moat. A Mallard has had her first brood – 12 yesterday but I only saw 10 tonight and the Hebridean are still going strong – 10 lambs from 6 Ewes …and they are loving this weather.

Stay healthy and good gardening,
Lynda Tucker.

The start of Summertime and the warm weather had lulled me into thinking winter was over. Yesterday’s icy blasts have
brought me back to reality and I am keeping my fingers crossed for the sweet peas and onions that were planted out
last week.?? I am also mindful of the damage that can be done by putting a fork into a bed before the plants are
visible- patience is a definite virtue in a gardener.

Both yellow and red Cornus have had a hard prune and Delphinium and Paeonia are being staked whilst they are still
small and malleable. The Clematis are growing well after their March prune and getting tied in as they grow. A little
attention now pays huge dividends.

The daffodils are looking magnificent and there is a video on our Facebook page if you would like to see them.

One of the ewes gave birth to twins last week and the white Swans seem to be settled on the Moat. The Heron is a daily
visitor and the music from “Jaws” should be playing as the dastardly Cormorant swims around looking for fish.

Stay healthy and good gardening,
Lynda Tucker.

We regret that the gardens will not now open for the foreseeable future.

The National Trust tried opening their gardens last week and found it impossible to police visitor safe distances and their gardens are now closed. Very sadly we must follow suit and will not open on 1st April as we had hoped.

This is a sad time for us all- we had many garden groups already booked and were looking forward to opening the gates but this site has been cultivated since the 12th century, will still be here next year and if we are sensible so will we.

The vegetable garden is producing some lovely rhubarb and the first asparagus tips are poking through. We have covered an area with fleece warming it in preparation for the potato “Charlotte” which has chitted well. Sweet peas are ready to be planted and they are in the cold frame hardening off with onions and my special “Mummies” peas.

Elsewhere the garden is a mass of yellow with thousands of daffodils cheerily nodding in the cold sunshine. Photos are on our Facebook page. The hellebore are still flowering beautifully and their promiscuity has led to quite a range of colours. Talking of colours our early primula have incredibly strong eye catching colours but our lovely common primrose – Primula Vulgaris, is everywhere and one of the surest signs of the arrival of Spring.

Stay healthy and good gardening,
Lynda Tucker.

The garden is due to open on 1st April and at the moment we are still planning to open unless Government forbids.

For the month of APRIL the garden will be free to visitors and we hope they will benefit from the peace and beauty of this special place.

The danger spots we have identified will be the public lavatory and the coffee shop and regrettably they will remain closed.

Our concerns are for everyone’s well being – visitors as well as ourselves and our staff.

Our Facebook page will have a photographic record of what is happening in the garden at that moment and I will post a blog here on the website every week so that even if you cannot visit, you won’t miss out.

Stay healthy and good gardening,
Lynda Tucker.

We are super busy in the garden at the moment.

Apart from all the winter pruning about two weeks are needed for the work on the Nut Walk , a new bed has been installed in the daffodil area, the bog garden paths reinstated, and the Pleached Hornbeam have to be tied in and pruned. The oak supports for the roses in the Vegetable Garden need replacing and we are putting in a few more hedging plants etc etc.

The garden is full of colour at the moment with Mahonia, Witch hazel, Daphne, Prunus, Viburnum and of course the aconites and snowdrops. Photos of the garden are posted weekly on our Hindringham Hall facebook page -and do watch out for the Swan update.

I hope I have made enough excuses to explain why this area of the website is not being updated at the moment. The Gardens will open on Wednesday April 1st and from then on this site will contain the weekly blog advising garden Visitors on what is looking good
I hope you will return then.

Lynda Tucker

When the Gardens are open there will be regular updates on what is looking good in the Gardens.