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
Tuesday, 15 June 2010
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
The first real heat of the year
Amazing that just a few weeks ago we still had frosts overnight and only last week I was still wearing a warmish jacket. Today was in the high 20s and felt like it in the sunshine.
An early start today - in for 8am as I said I'd pick Kaye up from Tiverton Parkway this morning. After a quick cup of tea I began with tying in the new growth on the climbing rose that I made hazel hurdles for a few months back - it is covered in leaves and flower buds are starting to appear too. It is behind a beautiful tree peony with huge raspberry ripple flowers, which made access difficult, but I managed to tie in the new growth and make it all look a bit neater. Another hurdled rose was much further ahead and proved very difficult to tie in, plus there was little to tie it to against the wall, meaning it was a bit off-kilter.
At break we all sat out in the yard and chatted to Emma about what she'd been doing at Trentham and to Jude about her week at Stackpole in Wales last week, then went up to Hollies wood (again!) to finish off what we'd been doing last week. We were weeding around lots of green Cornus (sericea?) behind the rhodoendrons and hydrangeas, and were faced with plenty of creeping buttercup, elm seedlings, brambles and the odd stinging nettle. My gloves weren't up to much so I got stung a few times and plenty of scratches. I've reacted to something and my arms are covered in tiny bumps.
When the sun got too much we moved to a shady bed and got rid of sycamore seedlings (those things are prolific seeders) and daisies, before clearing a birch and a large beech of the epicormic shoots (aka suckers, watershoots) at the base of the trunk and then weeding around a tiny Monterey pine (Pinus radiata) and finding a replacement bamboo stick for the one I broke pulling the plastic guard out of the soil.
While I was searching for bamboo I was stopped by a couple wanting to know the identity of a small shrub with black and green leaves. I was pleased when I was able to tell them what it was - a Pittosporum - and they seemed chuffed to find out.
After lunch it was back up to the same spot to carry on weeding my pine, quite a task in the fearsome sunshine, and then I set about removing low-hanging branches on a couple of lime trees to enable visitors to see under them. In doing so I revealed a huge number of rather overgrown Rubus, some of which had grown up into the tree canopy, which made getting them out rather difficult. Plus I had crap gloves on and so the whole thing was painful and difficult. Once we'd cut them back to about 4ft they were much more manageable, but I am pretty sure I won't ever be planting them in any garden of mine, as they are more than a little vigorous...
Kaye said during the journey home that she'd let me know if any jobs came up at Overbeck's in the next year, as they'd have my name on them. Which is rather exciting...
8 hours
An early start today - in for 8am as I said I'd pick Kaye up from Tiverton Parkway this morning. After a quick cup of tea I began with tying in the new growth on the climbing rose that I made hazel hurdles for a few months back - it is covered in leaves and flower buds are starting to appear too. It is behind a beautiful tree peony with huge raspberry ripple flowers, which made access difficult, but I managed to tie in the new growth and make it all look a bit neater. Another hurdled rose was much further ahead and proved very difficult to tie in, plus there was little to tie it to against the wall, meaning it was a bit off-kilter.
At break we all sat out in the yard and chatted to Emma about what she'd been doing at Trentham and to Jude about her week at Stackpole in Wales last week, then went up to Hollies wood (again!) to finish off what we'd been doing last week. We were weeding around lots of green Cornus (sericea?) behind the rhodoendrons and hydrangeas, and were faced with plenty of creeping buttercup, elm seedlings, brambles and the odd stinging nettle. My gloves weren't up to much so I got stung a few times and plenty of scratches. I've reacted to something and my arms are covered in tiny bumps.
When the sun got too much we moved to a shady bed and got rid of sycamore seedlings (those things are prolific seeders) and daisies, before clearing a birch and a large beech of the epicormic shoots (aka suckers, watershoots) at the base of the trunk and then weeding around a tiny Monterey pine (Pinus radiata) and finding a replacement bamboo stick for the one I broke pulling the plastic guard out of the soil.
While I was searching for bamboo I was stopped by a couple wanting to know the identity of a small shrub with black and green leaves. I was pleased when I was able to tell them what it was - a Pittosporum - and they seemed chuffed to find out.
After lunch it was back up to the same spot to carry on weeding my pine, quite a task in the fearsome sunshine, and then I set about removing low-hanging branches on a couple of lime trees to enable visitors to see under them. In doing so I revealed a huge number of rather overgrown Rubus, some of which had grown up into the tree canopy, which made getting them out rather difficult. Plus I had crap gloves on and so the whole thing was painful and difficult. Once we'd cut them back to about 4ft they were much more manageable, but I am pretty sure I won't ever be planting them in any garden of mine, as they are more than a little vigorous...
Kaye said during the journey home that she'd let me know if any jobs came up at Overbeck's in the next year, as they'd have my name on them. Which is rather exciting...
8 hours
Friday, 21 May 2010
Spring in full swing
Things look a little different now to a few months ago. The trefoil beds are starting to come into flower, the terraces are bursting with green and the woods are full of azaleas, rhododendrons and trees finally in leaf.
The new ornamental gardener has started this week, and hasn't yet run screaming from the grounds, vowing never to return. Which is good. She's called Emma and is from Derbyshire, and is a thoroughly nice lass – it felt like she'd been there for ages even though she only started on Monday. We had a chat about how we both ended up where we are now - turns out she's worked at Hardwick Hall up near Sheff; I said I'd jump at the chance to work at Wentworth Castle and she agreed. Her background is training at Trentham and it was really interesting to hear how the gardens there have been completely restored/redone in just the past ten years.
Today's tasks involved continuing the clear-out of the rhododendron beds near the magnolias in Hollies wood. Apparently lots of R. ponticum has been cleared and the intention is to clear the remaining rhodos at the front to create more space to plant more interesting stuff - there are already a few choice acers in there at the back, but they're hidden at the moment. There was a dead Sorbus with a nasty lean, so Dave set about taking down some branches; unfortunately Richard got a bit keen pulling them down and managed to make one fall on Phil's head, giving him a nasty gash. He seemed unfazed but an accident report was filled in all the same.
We finished a bit earlier than usual so I went for a walk around the grounds with my camera - still only one or two peonies out but hopefully next week will have a few more in flower, especially with the heat forecast. Emma said it's supposed to be hot from now until September. Fingers crossed!
The new ornamental gardener has started this week, and hasn't yet run screaming from the grounds, vowing never to return. Which is good. She's called Emma and is from Derbyshire, and is a thoroughly nice lass – it felt like she'd been there for ages even though she only started on Monday. We had a chat about how we both ended up where we are now - turns out she's worked at Hardwick Hall up near Sheff; I said I'd jump at the chance to work at Wentworth Castle and she agreed. Her background is training at Trentham and it was really interesting to hear how the gardens there have been completely restored/redone in just the past ten years.
Today's tasks involved continuing the clear-out of the rhododendron beds near the magnolias in Hollies wood. Apparently lots of R. ponticum has been cleared and the intention is to clear the remaining rhodos at the front to create more space to plant more interesting stuff - there are already a few choice acers in there at the back, but they're hidden at the moment. There was a dead Sorbus with a nasty lean, so Dave set about taking down some branches; unfortunately Richard got a bit keen pulling them down and managed to make one fall on Phil's head, giving him a nasty gash. He seemed unfazed but an accident report was filled in all the same.
We finished a bit earlier than usual so I went for a walk around the grounds with my camera - still only one or two peonies out but hopefully next week will have a few more in flower, especially with the heat forecast. Emma said it's supposed to be hot from now until September. Fingers crossed!
Monday, 17 May 2010
Update after a few weeks off
4/5/2010
There were loads of us today so we were divvied up into different areas and I was put in the conservatory and tasked with doing a bit of mulching to keep water in the soil. There was a particularly vicious plant that caught my leg every time I tried to get past it, so I was relieved when the mulch ran out. Afterwards Lucy and I filled up the phormium planters at each end of the lawn with more mulch, and then in the afternoon we headed back to the sloping areas we'd been working on a fortnight ago to keep on weeding. The beds are full of Acer seedlings so Andrew and I are planning to pot a few up and see how they turn out. Unfortunately the beds are also full of Phytophthera and so most of the conifers were struggling or dead. A climbing hydrangea was doing well, scrambling along the bed rather than climbing, so we cleared it of dead leaves and ivy. My fear of ticks hasn't gone away - apparently the trees down there are full of them so I debated wearing some sort of protective armour or tucking EVERYTHING in where possible.
11/5/2010
Today reminded me of what a great invention insect repellent is. The midges were out in force in the woods during the afternoon, making the work almost unbearable. We were working in the top woods, near the magnolias we mulched earlier this year, but this time we were de-weeding around Rhododendrons. Creeping buttercup was the main target, but there was plenty of hairy bittercress, plantain, wild strawberries and sticky stuff (my name, I know it goes under plenty of other names depending on the region) too.
Earlier in the day I'd started off in the conservatory, weeding and sorting out a corner with a particularly rampant vine. We weren't sure what the vine was but it has red tubular flowers with yellow tips, and the leaves and stems smell of vinegar when broken (as happened often - it's not a tough plant). They were crowding out a strelitzia that was also being slowly overtaken by self-seeded Geranium maderense, so we pulled them out and cut back the dead strelitzia leaves; hopefully it'll recover now it has some air and light. There was evidence of vine weevil grubs everywhere - echiums came up with little effort and revealed half-chewed roots and bases; most were growing new roots however so we put them back where we'd found them.
There were loads of us today so we were divvied up into different areas and I was put in the conservatory and tasked with doing a bit of mulching to keep water in the soil. There was a particularly vicious plant that caught my leg every time I tried to get past it, so I was relieved when the mulch ran out. Afterwards Lucy and I filled up the phormium planters at each end of the lawn with more mulch, and then in the afternoon we headed back to the sloping areas we'd been working on a fortnight ago to keep on weeding. The beds are full of Acer seedlings so Andrew and I are planning to pot a few up and see how they turn out. Unfortunately the beds are also full of Phytophthera and so most of the conifers were struggling or dead. A climbing hydrangea was doing well, scrambling along the bed rather than climbing, so we cleared it of dead leaves and ivy. My fear of ticks hasn't gone away - apparently the trees down there are full of them so I debated wearing some sort of protective armour or tucking EVERYTHING in where possible.
11/5/2010
Today reminded me of what a great invention insect repellent is. The midges were out in force in the woods during the afternoon, making the work almost unbearable. We were working in the top woods, near the magnolias we mulched earlier this year, but this time we were de-weeding around Rhododendrons. Creeping buttercup was the main target, but there was plenty of hairy bittercress, plantain, wild strawberries and sticky stuff (my name, I know it goes under plenty of other names depending on the region) too.
Earlier in the day I'd started off in the conservatory, weeding and sorting out a corner with a particularly rampant vine. We weren't sure what the vine was but it has red tubular flowers with yellow tips, and the leaves and stems smell of vinegar when broken (as happened often - it's not a tough plant). They were crowding out a strelitzia that was also being slowly overtaken by self-seeded Geranium maderense, so we pulled them out and cut back the dead strelitzia leaves; hopefully it'll recover now it has some air and light. There was evidence of vine weevil grubs everywhere - echiums came up with little effort and revealed half-chewed roots and bases; most were growing new roots however so we put them back where we'd found them.
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
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:
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:
Thursday, 8 April 2010
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.
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)
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)
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