A look back at 2025 with the garden team

It’s the end of the year already! It’s been jampacked full of gardening, fabulous interns and making changes to the garden. We’d love to share with you some of those special highlights here before we go for our well deserved Christmas break.

January

We returned wrapped up against the January cold to meet the frosty garden and began as we always do with pruning the vines. We continued cutting back the Woodland and Aster Walk, using the cut material to make bug snugs and habitat piles which we had started the previous year. We prioritised beds where bulbs were going to emerge, anticipating the signs of spring yet to come.

We began with big renovations on the Gravel Garden Drive, clearing out big shrubs, brambles and trees to open new views across the landscape. With help from Sean and the estate team, Ben and Ned, the tarmac was changed to gravel and the kiosk was taken down in preparation for a new entrance way. Finally, we lifted the crown of the bay tree in the scree giving it a much-needed refresh.

February

In February we had a big blitz of the Gravel Garden. Despite the grey, we pushed through, spending three good weeks weeding, cutting back, topping up the mulch and preparing for the new year. On rainy days we took care of Beth’s boat, sanding and varnishing it with its yearly fresh coat.

After the winter closure, we gladly welcomed visitors back to see the glorious white snowdrops peeping through the winter earth, with regular tours throughout the month with Steve and Marc.

Interns: Tommy Tonsberg

March

This month was a time for experimentation with the chop and drop method. This is where we cut back material, then chop it into small pieces to put back onto the beds. This allows the material to degrade straight onto the bed as a mulch, instead of taking it to compost. It also provides habitat for wildlife, which we love to see popping up everywhere.

Over at Chattowood, we did a winter cut back followed by additional planting of new areas over a couple of weeks. Back on site, we tried different pruning techniques of roses to encourage lots of flowers. At the end of March, we uncovered the gunneras to find the fleshy dragon tongue leaves unfurling after their winter protection.

Interns: Olivia Bright, Lewis Trevor, Niamh Anderson, Katie Wood

April

In April, we were joined by the wonderful Sybille DeCussy for 6 months. Then we had the arrival of the pigs! Our very cute workers got clearing areas of weeds on the new land ready for creating a meadow next year. After the hard landscaping of the drive was done, we planted up big shrubs, including cercis, arbutus and phillyrea.

In the Reservoir Garden, we planted gaps with perennials, while elsewhere we did a spring pruning of hydrangea, salix, and cornus. As the weather got warmer, we hopped in the pond to launch Beth’s boat ready for the year ahead.

Interns: Lily Blythe, Marlene Hoop

May

With warmer temperatures, it was weeds galore in May, so we got to weeding across the Gravel, Reservoir and Water Gardens. It was also time to get the tender agaves back in the Gravel Garden after their winter hibernation in the polytunnels.

We also had lots of fun doing a potted summer display of half hardys including salvia, plectranthus, pelargonium and fuchsia, bringing colour to the entrance of the garden.

Interns: Marlene Hoop

June

As we entered summer, we continued a cut and tidy the Gravel Garden, while in the wood we pruned early flowering spring shrubs. With Euphorbia wulfenii finished flowering, we cut their spent heads. We also pulled the biennial Smyrnium perfoliatum out after it finished flowering to reduce seeding.

It was time too for a Chelsea chop of asters and symphyotrichum. We also pruned the tree heather. We had our yearly team day out with fabulous visits to Myddleton House and the Plant Library at Serge Hill.

Interns: Benjamin Kempton, Saffron Hulme

July

After all the hot weather, we had a torrential downpour of 60mm of rain over one weekend. It temporarily flooded the garden for a day, but quickly soaked away. This was a welcome relief for the plants which had been thirsty for a while! Scott spent some time at Hampton Court with Surrounding Counties helping build their RHS show garden based around drought tolerant planting.

We went over to Chattowood to do a summer weed. We had the arrival of even more pigs and their popularity meant we carried out daily pig tours for visitors. The ponds were riddled with blanket weed, so we pulled that out. Lots of pruning happened, including of ageing cistus and ulex. Cathy collected the seed of Stipa tenuissima for the propagation team to grow more. To finish off we took out poppies and foxgloves which had finished flowering.  

Interns: Alfie Sidford, Freya Willitts.

August

It was a busy month in August tidying through the Water Garden and cutting back plants which had flopped or outgrown their space. We worked in the Scree Garden deadheading flowers and weeding the steps and gravel. We also gave our rhododendrons a crown lift giving them a refresh.

We moved martagon lilies from a bed where they were getting lost, allowing them to shine at the front of the border. The Grassy Walk got a mow allowing pink swathes of cyclamen to pop through. We were edging grass across the site, giving more definition to our borders for the last of the summer season.

In the Reservoir Garden we decided it was time to do an evaluation of which plants were working, and what new schemes we could put in instead. We started collecting plants ready for planting come autumn. Finally, it was celebrations for Hannah who finished her apprenticeship and sadly departed us to go on adventures new in Australia.

Interns: Freya Willitts

September

In September as the weather began to cool down, we took the succulents into the greenhouse for winter protection. We thinned out bamboo across the garden, and also weeded the Water and the Reservoir Gardens. We planted up gaps on the Mediterranean slope, adding to existing drifts of oenothera, Stipa tenuissima and verbena.

Malin spent a week at the Dan Pearson Studio in London learning about their practices across different sites, from community gardens to large scale projects. In the garden we began bulb planting of Tulipa sylvestris in the wood as well as narcissus and camassia along the Grassy Walk. Finally we said goodbye to Sybille who was a great addition to our team and will be much missed!

Interns: Gabi Harkness, Lauren Boyd, Justin Farrow, Filip Ihrsen, Harry Thomas

October

With the season turning, it was time for the annual pumpkin carving and setting up a trail for families across the garden. We had an exciting visit from Gardeners World who came to film Chattowood. We did a lot of preparation for the cameras and the show had its airing in November. Afterwards we did a mass planting of 1,500 plants over a week with a great help from our interns. We also planted up the Gravel Garden drive with a green tapestry of epimedium, geranium, pulmonaria, vinca and tellima.

It was time for the annual celebration of our interns and we did a lot of preparation ready for the Working Day in the Reservoir Garden, making plans and prepping plants. Malin got busy making soup for 40 people! We had a wonderful time planting out new areas, making connections and eating lots of yummy food.

Interns: Marina Gemma, Emma Youngman, Nico Navarro, Inyaki Magno

November

We welcomed Mattie O’Callaghan as our garden trainee for the year who has come from gardening at the Garden Museum. We began with clearing up the pumpkins and composting them in a patch ready to self-seed for next year. As the weather began to get a lot colder, we dug out the agaves from the Gravel Garden to sit inside over winter.

We planted out new shrubs out in the Woodland and Reservoir Garden such as euonymous, ribes and sarcococca. We finished planting out bulbs of lily, scilla and narcissus, and Malin did the annual pot bulb display ready for spring colour.

We began a big project of renewing the Reservoir Garden where we strimmed, cut back and cleared the bulb bed which had got quite wild. We also put down mypex and bark in one area to suppress alkanet. This will be a temporary measure awaiting planting in future years.

Before it got too cold, we jumped in the pond to take Beth’s boat out, giving it a clean and storing it away for winter. We created teepees too for the gunneras, cutting dead material back and protecting young buds over winter, while creating architectural interest.

Cathy had a fab trip at Great Dixter to work with the team for a week and learn how they garden in a different way, while maintaining that connection between Beth Chatto and Christopher Lloyd. Finally, we began the winter cut back, starting in the Water Garden before it gets too wet in the damp areas.

Interns: Ed Jude

December

Keeping warm in the frosty mornings we began our next big project in one bed in the Reservoir Garden to open views across the garden and highlight the beauty of a majestic oak.

We did this by removing mature shrubs such as privet, acuba, conifer, cherry and laurel. All the material was added to our dead hedges and log piles, increasing opportunities to encourage wildlife.

We carried on with our winter cut back, using methods of chop and drop, and using the beautiful red foliage of the Taxodium distichum as a mulch. In the Woodland we cut back, but removed the material allowing early spring bulbs to pop through. To celebrate the end of the year, we gathered material to make wreaths together, a fun festive activity celebrating the beautiful foliage of the garden.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas as we sign off now for the year for lots of rest!

Malin, Scott, Cathy and Mattie