Summer Update from the Gardens 2025
By Andrew Humphris, Head Gardener
It never ceases to amaze me how good the soil is here at Parham. We are on greensand and over the years it has had a lot of organic matter added to it. We planted the right hand side of the Entrance border at the end of March / beginning of April. Now in July, you would hardly be able to tell the difference in the two sides, even though the left hand side had been planted two years ago.
The soft yellow, orange and blue, backed by purple foliage is fitting together nicely.
The blue border goes from strength to strength with the plants now mingling together to form a tapestry of colour. The blues, whites and magenta colours making a really good effect.
The rose garden too is now in its second year and with the addition of the perennials to soften the edges, has brought the garden together. The first flowering is now over, but with careful dead heading the roses are having a really good second flush.
The Gold border was cleared last winter and the bindweed has now been treated twice this year and seems much reduced already. This bed will remain fallow for this year and next year to make sure the bed is completely clean before it is re-planted.
The very hot summer and warm dry spring has meant that a lot of plants are flowering earlier and going over quicker. During our re-planting process we plan to have colour in the borders for as long as possible, so even though some plants are going over many more are coming into flower which keeps the borders looking good right into autumn.
Our wide variety of plants is also attracting a wide variety of insects. With many different hoverflies, bees and butterflies to be seen in the garden. Our challenge is to adapt to our ever changing climate by finding and using plants that can adapt to these conditions whilst maintaining the feel and beauty of Parham.
