Weekly catch up with garden and propagation

This week in the Garden

with Cathy

We have had record breaking temperatures this week, so the main task has been to keep our cool! This has meant early starts for the team at 6.30am, with a visiting muntjac deer spotted wandering in the Gravel Garden while Malin was cleaning the benches! The pots are being watered and deadheaded regularly, and the pigs have had a lovely time in their wallow, cooling off in the heat.

Our intern Amelia has been joined this week by Josh who has recently finished his apprenticeship with Kew. It’s great having them both working with us.

We started off in the Reservoir Garden, pulling large weeds and thinning out Erigeron annuus which has self-seeded and taken over in places. We also chopped Salvia verticilliata ‘Purple Rain’ to the ground before it sets seed and to get a second flush of foliage and flowers. Where the Papaver somniferum have started to brown these are also pulled up to give other perennials space to grow. Elsewhere we continue to pull up the seed heads of arums and cut back perennials that have gone over, including a few massive Angelica archangelica.

 

 

 

 

On Beth’s Patio, a lovely shady retreat, we raised the branches of Magnolia soulangeana from the house and lifted them where they were growing into shrubs. The camellia on the wall also got a prune to reduce the height and spread. The whole patio got a weed and tidy up while the pruning jobs were completed.

Down the drive of the Gravel Garden, Josh and Amelia gave a regenerative prune to an overgrown philadephus, giving more light and space to new shrubs and perennials growing beneath. We weeded along the new planting here and cut back Tellima grandiflora ready for new foliage to emerge.

To test our knowledge of ornamental grasses we had an ident test of 14 from around the garden. See how many you can identify!

with Rob

The story of the week in the growing department belongs to the nursery, where wonderful changes have been occurring!

We are very fortunate to have a great number of 'Friends of the Garden' here at Beth Chatto's. For those who are unaware, this is the annual membership we offer, and we absolutely love welcoming familiar faces each week to our nursery, tearoom and shop, as well as the gardens. Our nursery, like our tearoom and shop is free to access, and it's a vital and important part of what we do as a department. We like to keep things fresh, exciting, and dynamic, especially so our returning faces have something new to enjoy. Therefore, this week, under the direction of Julia and Emily, a nursery makeover got under way!

Ben and Ned got busy with the chainsaw, orchestrating some room into the nursery for a striking set of display benches, which Emily and Annie have used to display some of our gorgeous plants! We, as plant lovers, adore nothing more than having a good chat with those who share our passions, so more shade cover seating and communal areas have also been added. We love it! And we hope those visiting us this summer love it too.

Mel, Tina, Kirsten and myself spent a blistering Tuesday cutting back and looking after our stock growing outside. To shield ourselves a little from the oppressive weather, a popup shelter was implemented, gifting a small respite from this heatwave. Whilst Jack and Kiran topped up their tans, picking our best plants for your orders. Olly has been helping out both Richard and Sean with lifting and dividing a whole host of incredible plants from our stockbeds and stock pots.

We were also extremely lucky to have both Amelia and Josh with us for a couple of days, spending time with the stock area team, and also our resident expert propagators, Emily and Debs! Amelia ventured out with Emily on a seed collecting haul, making sure not to forget our incredible stipas on their rounds!

It's been hot. It's been tough. At one point a small tear cascaded down my cheek. But we made it! A challenging, but truly wonderful week in the growing department at Beth's! We hope you're all staying cool and looking after yourselves as we face these harsh temperatures. We'll be here waiting with a terrific range of drought loving plants, when you're ready.

Until next time.