Knightshayes comes alive*

*(With apologies to Peter Frampton)

20/4/10 - 7 hours
I'm back at Knightshayes after a fortnight's break over the Easter holidays, and what a difference those two weeks have made. Before I went away the weather was atrocious and very little was out in the gardens, although some plants were hinting at things to come. But today the Church Path was a cacophony of colour, with azaleas, rhododendrons, scillas, wood anemones and many others all vying for visitors' attention. And there were plenty of visitors too, with plenty of questions being fired at us. I must have an approachable face because several visitors grabbed me to ask questions - the most popular one being how many people work in the gardens - a difficult one to answer at the moment, although apparently they have found a replacement for Paul (who left last Friday) and a new head gardener too. Change is afoot...

It was a beautiful scene in the gardens today, the sun shining down through the trees. I walked down to the shed with Claire, the newest volunteer, meeting Dave on the way down, who told us to grab trowels and hand forks and head for Church Path for some weeding. We met Jude and Lucy and headed off to find our patch, which was off to the right of the lawn at the end of Church Path.

The bed was in a sorry state, riddled with Phytophthora and hence many of the plants (mostly conifers) looked rather poorly, if not outright dead. A group of Mahonia fortunei had only two survivors as the others had been infected and died. Kaye thought it would probably best to propagate those conifers still showing signs of life and to then strip the bed clear of plants (except several Acers that seemed unaffected), mulch it and then replant with the propagated plants. The bed is also pretty dry because of the large trees nearby (and of course the recent run of sunny weather), making conditions less than ideal.

We weeded among the few plants that had survived, leaving in some lovely dark-leaved violets and a few other low-growing plants. It was hot and thirsty work as the trees' leaves haven't yet opened out, and so there was no sunbreak.

On the way up to lunch I took lots of photos of everything that's coming out, all of which are here. Here are some of my favourites:

London horticultural findings

Over the Easter weekend I went up to London to catch up with old friends and have a bit of time away from everything. On Sunday I met up with a bunch of folks at Kew Gardens, one of my favourite places in London. Being Easter Sunday, it was overrun with three-wheeler buggies and London's yummiest mummies, but we managed to escape all that by wandering around the bits furthest away from the main entrance, including some bits I'd not been to before.

I can still remember my first trip to Kew, aged 6 or so, although all I recall is the giant pagoda and me thinking it was really big (it still is). This time, however, things have changed a bit, although I am still a big kid and couldn't wait to have a go on the Rhizotron treetop walkway. As soon as I got up there, however, I'm afraid I went round pretty fast, as the walkway has an unnerving habit of moving in strong winds, of which there were no shortage today. Clinging on to the barriers, I peered over the side a few times but after a minor freakout I decided it was time to wander back down. I felt pretty proud of myself, especially as a few folks obviously got halfway up and then froze with fear. It was well worth the view, though I should think it's even better when the surrounding trees are in leaf.

We were disappointed by the waterlily lake (no waterlilies, obv the wrong time of year) and so headed over the lake via the Sackler bridge. I was quizzed on various horticultural things and managed to give some convincing (yet likely bobbins) answers, but was stumped (pardon the awful pun) when Daniel and Justin asked what level of classification a tree is in. They seemed to be under the impression that trees were a higher order, whereas I was trying to explain that a single genus could have trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants in it - trees are not an order in themselves. I wasn't very convinced by my answer, and nor were they.

After a spot of lunch (cake) we went round the glasshouses (brilliant) and the alpine house (brilliant) before a final trip to the waterlily house (again, no waterlilies) and the evolution house (not impressed). The alpine house was particularly great, with many things in full flower and beautifully displayed in pots and among rocks. In the Princess of Wales glasshouse the orchid displays were at maximum impact, and Charlie was amazed by the enormous catfish in the ponds.

On Monday I decided to have a wander round the Barbican, simply because it's one of my favourite places in London, on the off-chance that the conservatory was open. My luck was in, and after an aborted attempt to see the zebra finches playing guitar at the Curve Gallery (queue massive and static) I went up to the top floor and into this little bit of eden among the skyscrapers.

The conservatory is maintained by just two or three staff, but it's a big area with lots of tropical and sub-tropical plants crammed in according to their country of origin. They'd obviously just been watering, and as the sun was out it was hot and steamy. I have to assume that very few people know about this little oasis, as even on a bank holiday Monday it was almost empty - all the better to linger and enjoy the plants. On the upper level there is a dry room for cacti and succulents and orchids, again stuffed with as many plants as there is space for. I had to negotiate giant money trees, hanging baskets of Sedum morganianum and orchids in full flower to see everything on display, but it's well worth a visit. Sadly the photo on the left (taken with my rubbish phone camera) doesn't do it even anything approaching the justice it deserves!

Back outside the Barbican, I had a wander round the highwalks looking out over the gardens. It's all still fairly wintry, with little going on in residents' window boxes - those unfamiliar with the estate would have no idea that it's like the hanging gardens of Babylon in July. I then headed down to my old stamping ground around St Paul's, before passing by the Inner Temple gardens to see if they were open. Sadly they weren't, but I still managed a look through the gate before having a quick scoot around the Middle Temple and the lovely garden square there.

Things are awakening

30/3/10 (I didn't go up on 23/3)

Thick grey cloud hung over the Exe Valley as I drove up this morning, with the forecast promising yet more of the almost incessant rain we've been having this week. The cloud followed me all the way to Tiverton, and shortly after we all walked up to the magnolias to begin mulching, the heavens properly opened and dumped their load. We worked in it for a while but eventually had to retire to the Cedar House as the ground was so waterlogged we were doing more harm than good. We were covering the magnolias' bases with a different sort of mulch that was more like soil than anything else, and it was heavy going, especially with the added rainwater. We were all glad when breaktime came.

The magnolias (all Magnolia campbellii and cultivars) are all in bloom and looking incredible. Two have particularly dark pink flowers, which contrasted beautifully with the looming dark rainclouds behind. More rain followed, we took shelter again, and then when it cleared we moved over to mulch the aforementioned Hamamelis 'Pallida' and a smaller magnolia nearby, M. loebneri 'Leonard Messell', which is just about to flower. It's a shame I won't be there next week, as I'll probably miss quite a lot of the spring flowers.

That said, the snake's head fritillaries (Fritillaria meleagris) are beginning to flower on the slopes that have been so wonderfully full of Narcissus cyclamineus to date (they're still going strong). I've been holding on for the fritillaries and was finally rewarded for my wait today. Hopefully they will still be flowering in a fortnight's time when I'm back. The special Knightshayes dogtooth violets (Erythronium revolutum 'Knightshayes Pink' are also beginning to flower in the woodland, though they'll probably be in full swing next week too.

It really feels like spring is coming now, although it's still not quite here. I'm longing for the beech trees to come into leaf, as that's my favourite sight in springtime - lots of fresh, bright green leaves. Here's hoping the arboretum at Bicton has a few.

6.5 hours (had to leave early to finish landscape project)