04 February 2010 - Snow, Snowdrops and Hellebores

The snow has left us for now and we are taking advantage and tidying up as much as we can. I love this time of year as I wait excitedly for every emerging snowdrop.

There is always a worry that a special may fail to appear but so far we are looking good. As I look up through the woodland from my window I can see the spreading carpet taking on more white each day and areas that we divided last year are rewarding us with healthy white heads, stoically refusing to be bent by our very heavy snow fall.

The snow was lovely and breathtakingly beautiful for a while but lost its charm after a week when its inconvenience became more pressing. Even the children tired of snowmen and slides and were quite happy to return to school when it cleared.

Both the snowdrops and the hellebores are oblivious to the white stuff. It is just the gardeners that complain! I think that these two stars will synchronise beautifully this year and already the purple and white combinations look good enough to eat.

The usual early arrivals were on queue. Three ships, Faringdon Double, Peter Gatehouse, Colossus and Earliest of all began before Christmas and cheered us in the relentless demands of the festive season. But now the really absorbing time has started as the specials begin to reveal themselves.

Several of the favourites John Gray, Limetree, Lyn and the sandersii group are lovely in their early groups and I can see promising shoots on nearly everything else. I am really looking forward to Margaret Biddulph and Rosemary Burnham and of course 'Cerney' which is showing several shoots. I have a wish list this year for Yaffle, Vera Trum, Mr Blobby and Warley Longbow. Lets hope!

We have had two sad losses so far this year. Huggy my brother's huge, soppy Newfoundland left us last week and it will be an age before we stop stepping over her next to the Aga. And one of our ancient Beech trees fell and narrowly missed our courtyard wall. It really hurts when you loose a tree that has been around for around 250 years. I am looking at the other two companions with an anxious eye.

It may be registering 4 degrees but the sun is shining and the snowdrops are looking even more inviting and I really must go back out and tidy a little more.

posted by B Johnson @ Thursday, February 04, 2010   0 comments (Post a Comment)

05 June 2009 - Glorious weather, Goodbye Tom Cat

The weather is glorious and so hot that I have come in for a cool interlude before braving the greenhouse work that I have to do. England really is a green and pleasant land once the sun shines. However, some fussy plants are already showing signs of wilt and like farmers, we gardeners are never satisfied with current conditions! If it could arrange to rain overnight and back to summer loveliness in the day we would be more than happy.

The garden is filling with gorgeous colour and scents and every day brings more layers of flowers. The clematis are tumbling through the roses, which are opening in front of our eyes, and the oriental poppies are brazen in their colours but good enough to eat. Patty's plum and Honor remain my favourites but how wonderful is the black and white 'choir boy' and the pretty pink 'Prince Eugen'. I am sure that you could never wear the bright colours together but nature seems to get it right.

The tulips were a great success this year with the season apparently longer than before- just like the snowdrops that seemed to go on and on. Unfortunately, my subtle plan of pale mauve and pink in the knot garden was shattered by some mis-labelled bright yellow tulips that shocked the reverie from any observer. Never mind some enjoyed the gaiety of them all.

We have just finished digging up the tulips from the main areas and will manure ready for a changed design next year. These we will dry off and replant in the autumn if the mice leave us any. Any old leaves from bulbs in other borders have soon been covered by rapidly growing perennials.

Hardy geraniums are looking particularly good this year although we may need to cut them back earlier this time if the heat stays with us. They will soon come back to flower again at the end of the summer. We hope that these favourites will do well in France although since we have no soil to speak of yet we will have to be busy building up beds in our grand design before we can get to the exciting part of trying our selections of 'must have'.

We have made great progress at Saby and thanks to a lovely local plumbing firm are now fitted with bathrooms and radiators – no boiler yet as we cannot afford it but hot water and the place to bathe makes staying there in the summer a real proposition.

We have to sand the parquet flooring in the main room and that should be the end of really dirty jobs in this part of the house. Cannot wait to unpack boxes that have been over there for a year and more. We have some firm ideas for the outline of the garden but these will only be realised with a lot of wall and hedge work and tree planting. So much for a restful holiday!

Still in the meantime we have our best time in the garden to look forward to. The roses have started with fantastic displays from 'Banksia' both the single and double have been dripping with blooms and judging by the buds others are determined not to be outshone.

Nature is kind with its generous distribution of seeds. The aquilegia are stunning and so varied and the foxgloves and poppies are marching through the borders positioned far better than if I had planted them. We have been blessed with some of the many painted lady butterflies that have been blown our way and also the roman snails are plentiful and heading for Angus' French beans!

A lovely lady called Dorothy Pavey has been painting our garden and has an exhibition at Lower Slaughter Village Hall between 4th and 9th June. We are off to see her on Thursday. How exciting to see us on canvas.

We also have another charming lady called Caroline Sheldrick coming to meet our visitors in the herb garden where she will offer herbal teas and advice on medicinal plants on Wednesday 24th June. She is very well qualified and has a passion for her subject and will even have some plants for sale. Let us hope for sun and plenty of enthusiasts.

On a final sad note my wonderful cat Tom died quietly in his sleep after a life of affection and chocolate cake. I miss him every day but thanks to Kay I have a lovely blown up photograph of him in my bedroom. He loved the garden and enjoyed showing visitors round. He was particularly fond of those who shared their tea with him. Apologies to those who did not welcome his attentions but it was his garden after all!

posted by B Johnson @ Friday, June 05, 2009   2 comments (Post a Comment)

02 April 2009 - Goodbye snowdrops, hello everything else!

Well good bye snowdrops and hello just about everything else. It has been a wonderful year for snowdrops and we have had some lovely enthusiastic visitors.

I have had some favourite varieties. Three Ships that came before Christmas and stayed for 5 weeks, Comet that is such a healthy, huge addition, Margaret Biddulph that had to stay in a pot so that she could join us for dinner and Spindlestone Surprise that has to be the most satisfactory yellow. Merlin and George Elwes remain those that I could not do without and now that our display of Galatea has spread I can see its charm in a breeze.

I have been delighted to see the return of some I felt sure that I had lost. Deerslot and Virescens did nothing last year but have reappeared looking better and more. We have spent a couple of weeks making more drifts of named and ordinary nivalis and I cannot wait for next year!

Our new woodland walk has been a real improvement to that very scruffy and impenetrable part of the garden and many of the seedling hellebores we planted last year have flowered. In fact, along with snowdrops this has been a great year for hellebores as well. Let us hope that the tulips perform as well.

We are looking forward to our tulip festival but find it difficult to predict the best time. Purissima and Flaming Purissima are already out and looking fabulous against the top wall but most are only just showing flower shape and should make the end of April the best time. The garden is looking so pretty now with primula, pulmonaria and other early spring bulbs.

I realise how much I love the intense colours of Spring. The vibrant yellows of daffodil spreads and the rather vulgar, but warming, yellow of forsythia are set off by the blue of chinodoxa and scillas. We have banks of primroses taking over areas that once hosted snowdrops and they are backed by walls of hellebores.

Everywhere shoots are emerging and I only hope that we do not have too many repeats of the -3° on Monday night. Angus has planted his potatoes and broad beans and we have plugs of parsnips, carrots and onions ready to go in once the temperature starts to go up. My first tray of lettuce has been got at by an evil slug in the greenhouse and the parsley is looking rather erratically sown but the year is off to a good start and we are looking forward to the next seasons.

We spent a few weeks in France earlier in the year and have made great strides in turning the building site into a home. Amy has 4 walls and we now have wallpaper. That combined with working bathrooms makes the possibility of staying there in the summer quite likely. We have plans for the vegetable garden and hope to start the outline walls that will extend the main park this summer.

We are going back in a few weeks to see our orchids for the first time and indeed our rampant wisteria only glimpsed in photographs. The weather is in the 20s and no doubt the grass will be high and the hedges in need of a haircut but we have no problem with the challenge that our 'other' garden gives us just hope the knees and back are up to it!

Whilst we were away an energetic team moved in and reformed our pond. It has long been neglected and also sadly had no water in it. Now we have a beautiful scene under the biggest trees of the estate ready for new plantings. The whole exercise is very exciting and we hope nature will help us to develop this latest garden for visitors to enjoy.

Certainly the first to arrive seemed to appreciate the setting. Mr and Mrs Duck came flying in as the machines moved out!

posted by Barbara @ Thursday, April 02, 2009   1 comments (Post a Comment)

05 February 2009 - Snow and snowdrops

Since we are covered with snow and its freezing cold I think this is a good time to sit in the warm and write this! We spent a lovely and productive time in France. We have solved a plumber problem and have two new bathrooms to show for it and we learnt more or less to build a garden wall in the local style.

Suddenly we are able to see a shape to parts of the garden. We are clearing an area for vegetables that will be protected from the local boar by a picket fence on three sides and our new wall on the other. In the absence of any significant topsoil we are going to make raised beds with beams from the house and barn. We hope to persuade a local farmer to keep us topped up with manure and once I have found the french for topsoil we will try to buy some in.

Anything that can be composted will be added over time. Tree planting is high on the priority list and this will involve digging huge holes with a pickaxe that we fill with compost before planting. Everything we do will have to be backed up by watering hoses that our wells can hopefully supply. Most exciting was the appearance of our snowdrops. They were just showing patches as we left.

Not to worry as we returned to even greater patches of snowdrops here at Cerney Gardens. Galanthus ‘Three Ships’ came into flower before Christmas and looks vibrant, even now. Many of my specials are showing but have a couple of weeks before they are fully out. Although Limetree, Lynn and Colossus are looking lovely, even in the snow. There are signs of spring all over the garden – A few daffodils, heads of Hellebores and swelling buds.

But for now it is the snowdrop that rules. I used to dread this time of year until I discovered these white bells. Now it truly is as exciting as it gets as I wait to see old friends and hopefully to discover more. We have decided to sell some of the plants this year. That is if I can bear to let them go.

We have been working on our woodland walk and feel rather pleased with the results.
It is now possible to walk right through the back woods and we have planted more snowdrops and hellebores on the way. In time we will clear the areas of unwanted saplings, ivy and nettles and build up displays of woodland plantings.

For the moment we have a least one appreciative visitor – Skippy, our neighbours llama. He adores the ivy and brambles and has helped to tidy up difficult corners. We just hope he does not discover our roses.

On a final and rather sad note our wonderful peacock, Oscar, died recently. He had so much character and added enormously to our garden. He will be missed by many.

posted by B Johnson @ Thursday, February 05, 2009   0 comments (Post a Comment)

23 December 2008 - Christmas in the Garden

Christmas is just a few days away and as hard as we try to persuade the garden to go to sleep, then it busts into life! The snowdrops are popping into flower as quickly as we clear the leaves. The plicatus ‘Three ships’ is first but it will soon be joined by ‘Colossus’.

I used to dread the gloom of this time of year but now that I have caught the galanthophile bug I find it so exciting. Particularly this coming year when we play host to the Cottage Garden Society on the 21st February and I hope that our collection behave well and impress. I have every hope that our mystery snowdrop will be identified and might even thrill some!

We were very busy last Spring dividing as many clumps as we could and hopefully we have spread our drifts throughout the whole garden and woodland. We want visitors to take advantage of clement weather and come when they can. They should find our snowdrops in all corners and they are beautifully supported by nearly as many hellebores. We are also working on extending the woodland paths so that people can walk confident that they will avoid our pits and falls and even the few bramble patches. We may even get round to those if the weather stays dry and we get back from France.

We are spending the early part of January working on Saby. We are taking our long-suffering friend, Lucy with us hoping she may have a few bright plumbing ideas but also so that we can celebrate a new year in France as well as here. The weather is as cold there as here so I doubt that we will do many garden tasks but we are keen to see the bare bones of the garden so that we can begin to draw up future plans.

We hope to introduce rooms using a large variety of materials such as stone, wicker and as many hedging plants that will put up with the hot summers. Most likely we will begin decorating the bedrooms and find some way of putting in the bathrooms. But we will find time to enjoy wine, food and song with some lovely friends. We are even packing a murder mystery to bemuse our French friends.

When we get back the main drifts of nivalis should be well in flower and the year will have truly started. My mother and I are sure that it was lighter this afternoon and that thought makes me feel happy and optimistic.

We are more or less up to the mark on garden jobs and have only the seed order to sort out. We will certainly aim to be earlier in our sowing, as we were this year. The growing times seem to be changing and we have to take advantage of the warmer springs.

Tomorrow is a mix of fruit pruning, food shopping and present wrapping. Can’t wait!

posted by B Johnson @ Tuesday, December 23, 2008   0 comments (Post a Comment)