Another Bank Holiday – they hurtle along at this time of year! More sunshine (‘though no rain which is starting to be something of a concern – the weather forecast talks of sun and a dearth of rain for a couple more weeks) and lots of breeze.
Ghillie has now become a sunbathing Labrador until he realises that he really is TOO HOT, throws me a reproachful stare and wanders off to a spot beneath the big hydrangea in the top garden. It is even too warm to chase rabbits or squirrels – life is not easy!
Strong winds at the beginning of the holiday brought much tree-fall as well as the loss of the crown of a spindly ash tree – Simon’s help and a chain saw was needed to clear up the mess and the tree now has a jagged trunk but looks a lot happier.
Of course the end of the month was to be zero hour for Ferns Lodge NGS garden and the opening for the National Garden Scheme. Everything is fab – the tree rhododendrons are now shedding their delicate pink flowers which form a carpet beneath them, the irises are flowering fit to bust and the figs are in full leaf.
Down in the bottom garden the new area is too dry. We now have an alarming amount of hose to get the shrubs some relief and evenings are spent wrestling with this python of green and yellow hue and then spending loads of time undoing all the kinks! After 4 lorry loads of wood chip manhandled over the area it does look good although I fear that are a couple more loads needed.
Of course the foxgloves are now to be seen everywhere and the ones down in the wood are the size of small trees and look fantastic. Next year they will be even better!
And then of course there are the bee… Recently a lot of them have taken to hanging out under the hive, a sign of swarming but John the bee man was unsure as one of the queen’s wings has been clipped so she can’t fly. There was no sign of a new queen. However, many stings later and much muttering (not surprised, these bees are super unfriendly these days) there is a second much smaller beehive and things seem to have settled down.
We have just heard that from 6th June limited openings for NGS gardens will be allowed – hooray. Ferns Lodge will be joining in if at all possible, and if not we will be open in 2021 for sure. If we can manage a pop up opening we will give lots of notice and I hope that you will come and join us – no tea and cakes I am afraid – but you can be assured of a very warm welcome as we put our best foot forward to raise as much cash as we can for the NGS. More news on this as we know more – there will be social distancing rules and stuff but…
Contact sue.grant@fernslodge.co.uk.