Spring Update from the Gardens 2025
By Andrew Humphris, Head Gardener
Preparation for our spring opening at Easter starts early in the winter when we were still experiencing a huge amount of rain. Hard to believe now as we have had so little this spring.
It takes us about 3 months to cut all of the borders down and get them tidied and weeded. After this we do a lot of taking stock from the previous season and deciding what should be removed and replaced and what needs dividing to allow more space for other plants and give the existing plants more vigour.
There is not a single border that has been untouched in some way.
The display house has had it’s gravel replaced and all of the plants in here have been repotted. The Pelargonium collection has also been potted on and more cuttings taken.
Our major emphasis however has been on The Entrance border. This has been further cleared and the whole bed double dug to remove any remaining bindweed and roots that we could find.
We are now in the process of planting it with many plants now already in. We still have a little more to do and some tender plants to go in once the danger of frost has passed.
The theme for this bed will be as before with soft orange, yellow and blue colours with silver and purple foliage.
Our method of emptying beds and leaving fallow continues in our bid to eradicate bindweed throughout the garden. This year we have taken all the plants out of the Gold border and this will now be fallow for the next two years. The bindweed will be treated as and when necessary with the aim of planting it in the spring of 2027.
We are extremely excited about the year to come with lots of new planting to look forward to and the previously planted beds becoming more and more established.
It has been a glorious spring so far and we look forward to welcoming our visitors back to the garden.
