Storm Hector’s exit stage left provided us with plenty to do – with tree fall and many, many wheel barrows of debris now waiting in the work area to be burnt.
Followed by Hector, we have seen some wind, but importantly, a couple of days of wonderful, glorious, very wet rain… You can almost hear the trees, plants and shrubs drinking deeply, and the grass is now turning from brown to a much more interesting green colour – all good!
Plants and shrubs still show the signs of the long period of dry weather but they are doing their best to put out one final display before the autumn is upon us.
On Thursday, the lovely tree rhododendron at the top of the big garden lost a large limb… Very sad. Too much rain and heavy foliage and of course he is of mature years. This is now cut back and we are hoping that a new limb will develop in time to help him to carry on putting out his wonderful display of gossamer pink flowers, with fantastic perfume, that once over, flutter to the ground to provide a pink carpet around him in the spring.
Next weekend there is something that we must do…. We must muster cakes, lovely helpers, signs and plants and open up the garden on the 24th and 25th.
Last weekend disappeared in a blur of cutting back, weeding, edges and handing out posters advertising the garden opening to all sorts of people – some of them not as massively interested in having a yellow poster in their window as Ghilllie and I expected. But all good!
I am afraid that I over promised on the salvia front – back to the drawing board for me to discover how best to make them root and thrive. We will have some baby foxgloves which, if cherished over this winter, will reward you with a lovely display either in 2020 or 2021. We also have geranium cuttings which are all over the garden and which I love for their cheerful colour, ability to put up with little water and propensity to crawl over everything in their way unless they are controlled.
Now that we are a 2 bee hive family we will be asking for some circumspection in their part of the garden. The colony is growing fast but our bees are not that keen on visitors and whilst no one has been stung yet, it has been made crystal clear by the guard bees that giving the hives a wide berth is definitely what they prefer.
Now we move from rain dance to sun dance and very much look forward to seeing you at the weekend.
Contact sue.grant@fernslodge.co.uk.