A mixed bag of weather this week has left us all with rosy cheeks. Sunshine, rain, hail, sleet, gales and that's just in the last hour! There is little more irritating to a gardener than the ‘Gardeners Dance' where no sooner have you peeled off all your layers of warm clothing to avoid being boiled alive before the sun retreats, the heavens open and you're racing to put them all back on again off again on again! It's not all bad though, after a sharp shower the trees and shrubs are bejewelled with droplets of water that glisten in the sunshine.
The tulips in the whale border have shown tremendous growth with all the sunshine we've been getting.
Work continues on the landscaping of our new alpine house which now has several stone monoliths. Some planting has already started and these plants are already enjoying their new home.
The building of the new learning centre is about to start and in readiness the whole garden team have spent the last few days erecting a barrier fencing to enable us to relocate any newts that may be inside the building zone and prevent any others from entering. Over 400m of fencing has already been installed. Buckets sunken to ground level at regular intervals along the fence will help capture the newts so that they can be relocated nearby to other safer locations in the garden.
The mulching of the main borders is almost complete as is the majority of the lifting and dividing necessary to promote healthy growth. All the alliums are emerging and we eagerly anticipate their purple spectacle.
Andrew Chapman