Thursday 9th Dec 2010
A frustrating day because of the still-frozen ground. The first task of cutting back anemones and hellebore leaves was abandoned after an hour and a half because we couldn't feel our feet any longer. We tried planting ramsons in the forest garden but couldn't get the trowels more than a centimetre into the ground, if that. Later on the ground began to warm up and we finished off the cutting back, and then after lunch we headed up to Outdoor Med to pull out frost-hit osteospermums and pelargoniums. The pelargoniums had the most amazing scent when pulled - geranium oil, funnily enough - and it cut through the chilly air to give a most welcome faint hint of sunnier climes.
Friday 10th Dec
No frost! Visible relief on everyone's faces. Started off mulching the plane stairs before heading up to the compound to do some potting up of new bare-root plants. We collected far too much compost so deposited it on the forest garden and managed to plant a few ramsons while we were at it. Finished them after lunch and then headed off on a tour of the areas I'll be working on - a great range of plants so plenty of names to learn...
Monday, 13 December 2010
Saturday, 4 December 2010
What I'm doing at Eden
I am very pleased to report that I've just started part-time work at the Eden Project in Cornwall: two days a week on Thursdays and Fridays. I'll try to keep a record of what I do on each day to jog my memory for future CVs.
2/12/2010
First day and straight into mulching, which was very welcome given how cold it was (didn't get above freezing all day). Mulched Banrock and Adult Play.
3/12/2010
Started off with Julie cutting back frosted perennials that had died back in the spiral garden (an educational/sensory garden for kids, used by Eden's education department for teaching purposes). Hard frost last night so everything looking rather white. Ground totally frozen. Cutting back anjelica, mallows, ox-eye daisies, buddleias, but leaving teasels for the birds. Then down to the parallel steps to help Jamie with pleaching of London planes - cutting back new top growth. Wobbly ladders but good fun once I'd found my feet/balance.
2/12/2010
First day and straight into mulching, which was very welcome given how cold it was (didn't get above freezing all day). Mulched Banrock and Adult Play.
3/12/2010
Started off with Julie cutting back frosted perennials that had died back in the spiral garden (an educational/sensory garden for kids, used by Eden's education department for teaching purposes). Hard frost last night so everything looking rather white. Ground totally frozen. Cutting back anjelica, mallows, ox-eye daisies, buddleias, but leaving teasels for the birds. Then down to the parallel steps to help Jamie with pleaching of London planes - cutting back new top growth. Wobbly ladders but good fun once I'd found my feet/balance.
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
Eden nurseries continued
Been a bit slack on this front, so here goes:
Thursday 8th July:
Today I was posted up to the main site to help another Emma, who is head of temporary displays (anything that isn't permanent, funnily enough, both plant and non-plant), to clear her workshop. We were joined by Gill and Tiana - Gill formerly worked on the veg gardens (she gave us a talk back in November) and Tiana is a volunteer, originally from California. We spent the morning clearing out the workshop and getting everything shipshape (sorting plastic potatoes from plastic lemons and halloween props from christmas ones) and then after lunch we went for a wander up to an area of the outdoor biome that has been planted up with species from Chile and then on to the meadow areas to pick wildflowers for the Big Lunch press launch on Friday. Emma is clearly a forager and has an encyclopedic knowledge of wildflowers and other plants, fungi and all sorts. It was a fascinating and very fun afternoon - we stood at the top of the hill looking out to the sea and all thought we were pretty blooming lucky... Had a quick chat at lunch with Kevin - he was asking if I would be WWOOFing but I don't have time - maybe next year...
Friday 9th July
I got started weeding part of Steve's polytunnel this morning - a long and laborious task as it hasn't been done for ages, then Roger came over and asked if I would clear the Venlo greenhouse of some of the old plants, so I spent the rest of the morning and the afternoon organising pots and plants and composting the majority, though I did keep some (ok, about 20 plants) basil back to use for pesto etc. It all looked much better once I'd finished, though I felt a little guilty chucking all the plants on the compost - better than in the bin, I suppose. The horseflies were really going for me today - they seem to be concentrated around the compost heap, which was pretty unpleasant...
Monday 12 July
Planting goji berries - all 70 of 'em
Tuesday 13 July
Main site - cut flower beds with Emma, Gill and Tiana, Paolo Nutini's tourbus
Weds 14 July
Potting up plants from winter hanging baskets - hellebores, ivy, cyclamen, carex
Thurs 15 July
Hort Day at Golant Youth Hostel. Presentations on sustainable use of water, fertiliser, compost and suchlike; walk around field, cake aplenty; Kev says to start with his team on Monday as no sign of Paddy who's organising my rota!
Fri 16 July
Deliveries to main site with Steve - replacement plants for street, watering in afternoon - last day! Sayonara horseflies
Mon 19 July - Fri 23 July
Working with outdoor crops team. Weeding and harvesting in global gardens, weeding and harvesting in Cornish Crops, weeding and planting in Crops That Feed The World - sloping potatoes :) Trimming back Tagetes, feeding tomatoes with viscous black liquid, stocktaking herb garden under canopy, cutting down Allium giganteum, harvesting blackcurrants in the rain, pulling out Fiddlehead, biggest beetroot competition with Corin, plaiting shallots, planting up white border with Rosie (snapdragons and violas), watering in nemaslug, planting out chillis and aubergines under canopy with Kevin, shallot plaiting competition.
Mon 26 July - Fri 30 July
Mon-Wed in med biome with Rose and Shirley, feeding citrus trees, weeding beds, staking tomatoes, watering upstairs (covering cork pigs) and also orchard area (stinging nettles ouch). Tuesday afternoon with Emma and Jill, painting labels for display and popping out to play with Kevin's dogs, Thursday morning with Darren's team, cutting down Gunnera round the back of the Core and then weeding in spiral garden, thursday afternoon with Emma, Jill and Tiana, weeding cut flower garden and planting out various things. Friday all day with Darren's team, working in 'Japan' to clear Coltsfoot and other weeds, then a walk round the various areas with Jamie and Julie, off to Kevin's smallholding in the evening for a nosey.
Mon 2 Aug - Fri 6 Aug
Heligan! Mon-Wed with Carly in Flower Garden, weeding perennial beds and deadheading cosmos, cutting flowers for drying (Statice, Nigella, Gypsophila), potting up Erigeron. Thurs in productive garden with Carol, planting out rows of cabbages (Savoy 'Winter King' and 'Ormskirk', before collaring to ward off cabbage root fly. Knees knackered. Friday day off to finish freelancing.
Mon 9 Aug - Fri 13 Aug
Mon-Tue with Nicola in productive garden, thinning grapes in vinery while rain pelted down (see Heligan blog post http://www.lostgardensofheligan.blogspot.com/), digging up Antirrhinums to be replaced with Sweet Williams and Wallflowers, hoeing between rows of chard and beet seedlings (and the revelation that visitors have taken photos of Ren's arse). Collaring more cabbages. Weds with Carly in flower garden, collecting more flowers for drying and potting up rare heritage violas (accidentally squishing a wasp, thinking it was a horsefly). Back with Nicola on Thurs and Fri to take down old peas and the brash and pea sticks that supported them before Clive takes down the wires. Odd bits of weeding for Carly. Carly gave me a beautiful posy on my last day. Looking forward to going back in November!
Thursday 8th July:
Today I was posted up to the main site to help another Emma, who is head of temporary displays (anything that isn't permanent, funnily enough, both plant and non-plant), to clear her workshop. We were joined by Gill and Tiana - Gill formerly worked on the veg gardens (she gave us a talk back in November) and Tiana is a volunteer, originally from California. We spent the morning clearing out the workshop and getting everything shipshape (sorting plastic potatoes from plastic lemons and halloween props from christmas ones) and then after lunch we went for a wander up to an area of the outdoor biome that has been planted up with species from Chile and then on to the meadow areas to pick wildflowers for the Big Lunch press launch on Friday. Emma is clearly a forager and has an encyclopedic knowledge of wildflowers and other plants, fungi and all sorts. It was a fascinating and very fun afternoon - we stood at the top of the hill looking out to the sea and all thought we were pretty blooming lucky... Had a quick chat at lunch with Kevin - he was asking if I would be WWOOFing but I don't have time - maybe next year...
Friday 9th July
I got started weeding part of Steve's polytunnel this morning - a long and laborious task as it hasn't been done for ages, then Roger came over and asked if I would clear the Venlo greenhouse of some of the old plants, so I spent the rest of the morning and the afternoon organising pots and plants and composting the majority, though I did keep some (ok, about 20 plants) basil back to use for pesto etc. It all looked much better once I'd finished, though I felt a little guilty chucking all the plants on the compost - better than in the bin, I suppose. The horseflies were really going for me today - they seem to be concentrated around the compost heap, which was pretty unpleasant...
Monday 12 July
Planting goji berries - all 70 of 'em
Tuesday 13 July
Main site - cut flower beds with Emma, Gill and Tiana, Paolo Nutini's tourbus
Weds 14 July
Potting up plants from winter hanging baskets - hellebores, ivy, cyclamen, carex
Thurs 15 July
Hort Day at Golant Youth Hostel. Presentations on sustainable use of water, fertiliser, compost and suchlike; walk around field, cake aplenty; Kev says to start with his team on Monday as no sign of Paddy who's organising my rota!
Fri 16 July
Deliveries to main site with Steve - replacement plants for street, watering in afternoon - last day! Sayonara horseflies
Mon 19 July - Fri 23 July
Working with outdoor crops team. Weeding and harvesting in global gardens, weeding and harvesting in Cornish Crops, weeding and planting in Crops That Feed The World - sloping potatoes :) Trimming back Tagetes, feeding tomatoes with viscous black liquid, stocktaking herb garden under canopy, cutting down Allium giganteum, harvesting blackcurrants in the rain, pulling out Fiddlehead, biggest beetroot competition with Corin, plaiting shallots, planting up white border with Rosie (snapdragons and violas), watering in nemaslug, planting out chillis and aubergines under canopy with Kevin, shallot plaiting competition.
Mon 26 July - Fri 30 July
Mon-Wed in med biome with Rose and Shirley, feeding citrus trees, weeding beds, staking tomatoes, watering upstairs (covering cork pigs) and also orchard area (stinging nettles ouch). Tuesday afternoon with Emma and Jill, painting labels for display and popping out to play with Kevin's dogs, Thursday morning with Darren's team, cutting down Gunnera round the back of the Core and then weeding in spiral garden, thursday afternoon with Emma, Jill and Tiana, weeding cut flower garden and planting out various things. Friday all day with Darren's team, working in 'Japan' to clear Coltsfoot and other weeds, then a walk round the various areas with Jamie and Julie, off to Kevin's smallholding in the evening for a nosey.
Mon 2 Aug - Fri 6 Aug
Heligan! Mon-Wed with Carly in Flower Garden, weeding perennial beds and deadheading cosmos, cutting flowers for drying (Statice, Nigella, Gypsophila), potting up Erigeron. Thurs in productive garden with Carol, planting out rows of cabbages (Savoy 'Winter King' and 'Ormskirk', before collaring to ward off cabbage root fly. Knees knackered. Friday day off to finish freelancing.
Mon 9 Aug - Fri 13 Aug
Mon-Tue with Nicola in productive garden, thinning grapes in vinery while rain pelted down (see Heligan blog post http://www.lostgardensofheligan.blogspot.com/), digging up Antirrhinums to be replaced with Sweet Williams and Wallflowers, hoeing between rows of chard and beet seedlings (and the revelation that visitors have taken photos of Ren's arse). Collaring more cabbages. Weds with Carly in flower garden, collecting more flowers for drying and potting up rare heritage violas (accidentally squishing a wasp, thinking it was a horsefly). Back with Nicola on Thurs and Fri to take down old peas and the brash and pea sticks that supported them before Clive takes down the wires. Odd bits of weeding for Carly. Carly gave me a beautiful posy on my last day. Looking forward to going back in November!
Wednesday, 7 July 2010
Pot on
Tuesday 6 July
This morning was more bamboo trimming and chatting with Steve. He had to head off early so I was tasked with doing the watering again. It's quite enjoyable, even though it takes ages, because a lot of the plants I'm watering are herbs and so the air is perfumed while you're watering - even nicer when the sun's out! Apparently I'm up at the main site on Thursday, helping out a lass called Emma (who showed us round the temperate biome back in January), so am to report up there for 10am.
Wednesday 7 July
With the bamboo trimming complete, Maureen asked me to sow various seeds that should have been done a few days ago. Michael showed me how to fill sweet pea trainers with compost (they are bottomless) but it took me more than a few goes to get the compost to stay put rather than dropping out of the bottom. Fresh, moist compost made it much easier, and into these I sowed chickpea seeds (far too many, as it turned out), and then went on to sow Lens (lentils), three types of squash, some Indigo and some beans. Once I finished I went to help Michael, and was tasked with potting on Salvia cuttings (got quite speedy at that) and then Steve brought over some Angelica plugs that needed potting on. I wasn't sure whether I had to remove the plant from the plug so I had a look at some other pots in the greenhouse and they all seemed to still be in the plug, so I left them as they were and potted them up. A huge long moth flew out of one of the pots (possibly an Orange Footman?), giving me a bit of a fright...
After lunch Michael asked me to pot up some Impatiens (which are apparently destined for the Core building, for the photosynthesis machine display!). First we cut large squares of fleece, then filled the pots halfway with hydroponic clay beads before popping the plants out of their pots, wrapping the fleece round their roots and then filling around the root ball with more beads and then giving them a good watering.
Afterwards I went up to the tropical greenhouse with Maureen and Michael to look at the air pots they were trialling. Maureen and Tim are growing balsa seedlings in normal 9cm pots and in these pots that allow the roots to grow down (rather than spiralling) and then be air-pruned (dehydrated), which then prompts the plant to send out secondary and tertiary roots, creating a better root ball. The air pot plants were smaller, but had better root formation.
Before heading home Maureen asked me to sort out the basil plants in the Venlo greenhouse so that volunteers can take them home tomorrow (apparently I am welcome to take some too :), so I battled with some indignant bees and moved everything around. Fingers crossed I'll be able to take a few of them home - there was sweet basil, purple basil, lemon basil and a curious curly-leaved one.
This morning was more bamboo trimming and chatting with Steve. He had to head off early so I was tasked with doing the watering again. It's quite enjoyable, even though it takes ages, because a lot of the plants I'm watering are herbs and so the air is perfumed while you're watering - even nicer when the sun's out! Apparently I'm up at the main site on Thursday, helping out a lass called Emma (who showed us round the temperate biome back in January), so am to report up there for 10am.
Wednesday 7 July
With the bamboo trimming complete, Maureen asked me to sow various seeds that should have been done a few days ago. Michael showed me how to fill sweet pea trainers with compost (they are bottomless) but it took me more than a few goes to get the compost to stay put rather than dropping out of the bottom. Fresh, moist compost made it much easier, and into these I sowed chickpea seeds (far too many, as it turned out), and then went on to sow Lens (lentils), three types of squash, some Indigo and some beans. Once I finished I went to help Michael, and was tasked with potting on Salvia cuttings (got quite speedy at that) and then Steve brought over some Angelica plugs that needed potting on. I wasn't sure whether I had to remove the plant from the plug so I had a look at some other pots in the greenhouse and they all seemed to still be in the plug, so I left them as they were and potted them up. A huge long moth flew out of one of the pots (possibly an Orange Footman?), giving me a bit of a fright...
After lunch Michael asked me to pot up some Impatiens (which are apparently destined for the Core building, for the photosynthesis machine display!). First we cut large squares of fleece, then filled the pots halfway with hydroponic clay beads before popping the plants out of their pots, wrapping the fleece round their roots and then filling around the root ball with more beads and then giving them a good watering.
Afterwards I went up to the tropical greenhouse with Maureen and Michael to look at the air pots they were trialling. Maureen and Tim are growing balsa seedlings in normal 9cm pots and in these pots that allow the roots to grow down (rather than spiralling) and then be air-pruned (dehydrated), which then prompts the plant to send out secondary and tertiary roots, creating a better root ball. The air pot plants were smaller, but had better root formation.
Before heading home Maureen asked me to sort out the basil plants in the Venlo greenhouse so that volunteers can take them home tomorrow (apparently I am welcome to take some too :), so I battled with some indignant bees and moved everything around. Fingers crossed I'll be able to take a few of them home - there was sweet basil, purple basil, lemon basil and a curious curly-leaved one.
Monday, 5 July 2010
Placement 2 begins: Eden nurseries
Friday 2 July 2010
After a bit of worry over not being able to contact Mark, who was helping me organise my placement, we finally spoke and he told me I would be starting at the Eden nurseries at Watering Lane rather than on the main site today, and so yesterday I met him at Eden and we drove over to meet Roger and the crew for a quick tour and a cuppa. Roger said to start at 8am today, and on arrival I was assigned to Tim, who runs the greenhouse that supplies plants to the humid tropical biome. He got me repotting various plants, including peace lilies and amorphophallus tubers, and then in the afternoon I trimmed the old pitchers from the various pitcher plants - some of which contained some rather grisly deceased insects. On clearing out some dead plants I lifted a pot and several red cockroaches scuttled out and back under cover - lovely.
Tim has grown some lotus (nelumbo) from seed and the first flower opened today - after only two years compared to the normal three, so he was really pleased. The flower regulates the temperature inside it, meaning it is slightly warmer when you stick your nose in. The flowers also close when the temperature cools or the sun goes in, although it didn't ever feel too cool in the greenhouse, which is incredibly humid. A good start to my placement; I really enjoyed myself today.
Monday 5 July
On arrival I was assigned to Steve, who got me pruning the dead bits off bamboos (phyllostachys) before he repotted them (which involved jumping on the pots to loosen them). After break I was assigned to watering his greenhouses and polytunnels, plus some lavenders that stay outside. He has to do this most days, especially in hot weather, as the plants can be wilting by the time he's finished if it's really hot and sunny. Some of the greenhouses have drip feed irrigation but otherwise it's all done manually with a long hose and a 'lance'. It took me the rest of the day to finish it, stopping almost exactly at home time, but it's actually quite an enjoyable job and I can see why Steve likes listening to his mp3 player as he works!
There are actually only four permanent full-time staff members - Roger, Tim, Steve and Maureen; the rest are part-time, volunteers or part of the Roots staff, a salad bag charity that employs disabled people, which is run out of one of the glasshouses. They're a cheery bunch, everyone having a good chat in the mess room at lunchtime.
After a bit of worry over not being able to contact Mark, who was helping me organise my placement, we finally spoke and he told me I would be starting at the Eden nurseries at Watering Lane rather than on the main site today, and so yesterday I met him at Eden and we drove over to meet Roger and the crew for a quick tour and a cuppa. Roger said to start at 8am today, and on arrival I was assigned to Tim, who runs the greenhouse that supplies plants to the humid tropical biome. He got me repotting various plants, including peace lilies and amorphophallus tubers, and then in the afternoon I trimmed the old pitchers from the various pitcher plants - some of which contained some rather grisly deceased insects. On clearing out some dead plants I lifted a pot and several red cockroaches scuttled out and back under cover - lovely.
Tim has grown some lotus (nelumbo) from seed and the first flower opened today - after only two years compared to the normal three, so he was really pleased. The flower regulates the temperature inside it, meaning it is slightly warmer when you stick your nose in. The flowers also close when the temperature cools or the sun goes in, although it didn't ever feel too cool in the greenhouse, which is incredibly humid. A good start to my placement; I really enjoyed myself today.
Monday 5 July
On arrival I was assigned to Steve, who got me pruning the dead bits off bamboos (phyllostachys) before he repotted them (which involved jumping on the pots to loosen them). After break I was assigned to watering his greenhouses and polytunnels, plus some lavenders that stay outside. He has to do this most days, especially in hot weather, as the plants can be wilting by the time he's finished if it's really hot and sunny. Some of the greenhouses have drip feed irrigation but otherwise it's all done manually with a long hose and a 'lance'. It took me the rest of the day to finish it, stopping almost exactly at home time, but it's actually quite an enjoyable job and I can see why Steve likes listening to his mp3 player as he works!
There are actually only four permanent full-time staff members - Roger, Tim, Steve and Maureen; the rest are part-time, volunteers or part of the Roots staff, a salad bag charity that employs disabled people, which is run out of one of the glasshouses. They're a cheery bunch, everyone having a good chat in the mess room at lunchtime.
Sunday, 27 June 2010
Last visit for a while
22/6/10
With hindsight it probably wasn't the best idea to spend the day before moving house weeding vast areas of gardens, but I had promised cake and thought I'd best deliver on that promise. Today's first task was to sort out the jungle behind the trefoil beds - after negotiating an overgrown bee-laden Phlomis - and de-weed the paths and beds. Afterwards we tidied up the beds around the stables and then did a bit of cosmetic work around the beds in front of the house. It was searingly hot in the sun so it was a relief when we went into the woods to weed the last remaining bit of Michael's Wood.
And hence to the cake! I was sorry to not have enough time to stay and take some final pictures before heading home to pack, but am looking forward to going back in September and hopefully working in the walled garden and nurseries.
7 hours - claimed all travel to date.
With hindsight it probably wasn't the best idea to spend the day before moving house weeding vast areas of gardens, but I had promised cake and thought I'd best deliver on that promise. Today's first task was to sort out the jungle behind the trefoil beds - after negotiating an overgrown bee-laden Phlomis - and de-weed the paths and beds. Afterwards we tidied up the beds around the stables and then did a bit of cosmetic work around the beds in front of the house. It was searingly hot in the sun so it was a relief when we went into the woods to weed the last remaining bit of Michael's Wood.
And hence to the cake! I was sorry to not have enough time to stay and take some final pictures before heading home to pack, but am looking forward to going back in September and hopefully working in the walled garden and nurseries.
7 hours - claimed all travel to date.
Tuesday, 15 June 2010
Penultimate day in the garden in the woods...
Well, until after the summer, that is. As I'm going away to Cornwall for the summer, to do placements at the Eden Project and the Lost Gardens of Heligan, I am finishing at Knightshayes next week. Hopefully in the autumn I'll be doing some work in the walled gardens and in the nursery, which I'll sort out when we're back at college in September.
After a two-week break because of revision and exams, I was pleased to be back in the gardens and to see how much they'd changed in the space of three weeks. It seems like everything is racing to catch up with its growth after the prolonged winter, and so today all the plants were taking over, especially on the terraces and in the alpine beds. The former were full of greenery, with the roses I trained looking a bit hidden behind swathes of Lychnis. I weeded out a fair bit of Oxalis from around the lovely apricot peony (past its best, sadly) and then had a wander along the terraces to see if the other peonies were still out (yes to double pink and a white one) before morning break.
We were a diminished team today - just Claire and I as volunteers. I met the new head gardener, Ed, who is a talker. He barely paused for breath during break but has lots of ideas so should be a good influence on the garden, if he doesn't get overwhelmed by everything that needs to be done. After break we went to work on Lady Amory's Patch, an apt name for a large unloved bed that hasn't seen any maintenance for a year or so. It was full of weeds and leaves that had been blown in there, and was overrun with geums and columbines and a few sadly deceased specimen plants that must have succumbed to drought or cold or both. We spent the rest of the day there and managed to make a fair difference just by clearing the leaves, but afterwards it was possible to see some really lovely plants, such as a tiny round-leaved Salix (possibly x boydii?) and a large red-stemmed Salix fargesii, not to mention some spectacular purple orchids (possibly Dactylorhiza purpurella) just about to come into flower.
Ben asked me to get some seedheads of Erythronium revolutum 'Knightshayes Pink' so Kaye gave me the nod and I headed up to the woods after we finished to surreptitiously pluck a few seedheads. A slow amble back down through the gardens (there is a beautiful red Paeonia suffruticosa out and still flowering, a gorgeous dark burgundy) was a lovely end to a rather enjoyable day.
7 hours
After a two-week break because of revision and exams, I was pleased to be back in the gardens and to see how much they'd changed in the space of three weeks. It seems like everything is racing to catch up with its growth after the prolonged winter, and so today all the plants were taking over, especially on the terraces and in the alpine beds. The former were full of greenery, with the roses I trained looking a bit hidden behind swathes of Lychnis. I weeded out a fair bit of Oxalis from around the lovely apricot peony (past its best, sadly) and then had a wander along the terraces to see if the other peonies were still out (yes to double pink and a white one) before morning break.
We were a diminished team today - just Claire and I as volunteers. I met the new head gardener, Ed, who is a talker. He barely paused for breath during break but has lots of ideas so should be a good influence on the garden, if he doesn't get overwhelmed by everything that needs to be done. After break we went to work on Lady Amory's Patch, an apt name for a large unloved bed that hasn't seen any maintenance for a year or so. It was full of weeds and leaves that had been blown in there, and was overrun with geums and columbines and a few sadly deceased specimen plants that must have succumbed to drought or cold or both. We spent the rest of the day there and managed to make a fair difference just by clearing the leaves, but afterwards it was possible to see some really lovely plants, such as a tiny round-leaved Salix (possibly x boydii?) and a large red-stemmed Salix fargesii, not to mention some spectacular purple orchids (possibly Dactylorhiza purpurella) just about to come into flower.
Ben asked me to get some seedheads of Erythronium revolutum 'Knightshayes Pink' so Kaye gave me the nod and I headed up to the woods after we finished to surreptitiously pluck a few seedheads. A slow amble back down through the gardens (there is a beautiful red Paeonia suffruticosa out and still flowering, a gorgeous dark burgundy) was a lovely end to a rather enjoyable day.
7 hours
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