Weekly catch up with garden & propagation

Propagation Team

Last week the propagation department saw things heating up, literally, as this mild spring took itself up a notch by a few degrees. It was a week where the creative juices were flowing and our passions for learning and teaching were fully embraced!

A highlight of the week was spending a moment with propagation expert Emily, who many of you will know from attending our propagation classes and is a sorceress of growing. Emily spent some time weaving her teaching magic upon Miya and Rob, showing them some of her seed collecting tips and tricks. It's these invaluable lessons which as budding horticulturists you hold onto dearly. The passing on of knowledge is something Emily champions each and every day, and we are all so grateful for this.

Elsewhere, our spring sale continued so Rob got to try his hand at creating a display to showcase some of the plants included in this promotion. Rob relied on Emily's advice, arranging in 3s, 5s and 7s, using contrasting foliage and heights. Alongside this advice, he decided to build from cooler colours on one side, to warmer tones on the other, small pops of flower like hidden jewels amongst a tapestry of foliage.

The stock bed team have been out weeding, whilst back in the tunnels and prop building, much potting, picking and packing have been on the go, with such future treasures as Vitis coignetiae, the crimson glory vine now putting down roots! This is a very vigorous climber, with heart-shaped leaves that turn to a scarlet in the autumn.

Vitis coignetiae

Garden Team

It has been a week of mixed weather, beautiful sunshine and very welcome rain showers too. We have been busy getting lots of jobs done across the Garden. This time of year is busy with lots of tasks to be ticked off the list! Luckily we have an extra intern with us for three weeks learning how we work (Benjamin who is a gardener in London).

We began with our first time this year removing blanket weed from the ponds. It hasn’t really got going yet but can grow 2 metres a day in length, so we got our waders on and removed it from the pond to hopefully get a head start on keeping it at bay.

The next job was another messy one...removing the flower heads of Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii. This plant looks fabulous in early spring with zingy green flower heads lighting up throughout the borders. When the plant sets seed the flower heads turn brown. We remove these at the base of the plant and leave the new green growth which will produce flowers next year. Euphorbia plants contain sap which leaks when they are cut, so we take care to wear long sleeves and place the heads in buckets. While we worked through the Gravel Garden working with euphorbia, we took the opportunity to weed and rake the leaves that drop through the year from the eucalyptus tree. This is an evergreen tree which sheds leaves throughout the year. We try and keep the gravel clear of leaf litter to stop an organic layer building up. Getting these jobs done creates a beautiful picture to stand back and admire when finished.

Ornamental grasses are looking especially good at the moment in the Gravel Garden. Stipa gigantea seed heads glisten gold, the delicate flower heads of Stipa tennuissima create movement in the borders, and Melica ciliata seed heads have a silver sheen in the sunlight.