Weekly catch up with garden & propagation

Propagation Team

It's been a blustery week down in the growing department, with lots of seasonal jobs taking place.

Emily and Åsa have put together our annual pumpkin throne which we have to say is looking particularly autumnal and regal. Annie, Scott, Sean and Rob headed into the garden to set up some temporary pumpkin scarecrow displays as part of our pumpkin trail.

Elsewhere, Miya and Sean have been splitting geraniums.

One of these being G. 'Red Admiral', A strong, robust perennial with a long-flowering period. Large magenta flowers with black veining make this cranesbill a showstopper. 

Debbie has been busying taking cuttings of Lamium maculatum 'Beacon Silver’, L. ‘Pink Pewter' and L. 'White Nancy'. One of our favourites, 'Beacon Silver', makes very good cover in areas with cool soil and part shade. The leaves are totally silvered, apart from narrow green edging. A fun fact is it originated in a customer’s garden and was given to Beth in 1976. 

Garden Team

On Monday all staff gathered in the tearoom for our annual team meeting. It’s always great to hear what each department has been up to in the past twelve months and their highlights of 2025.

Preparations for half term involved pumpkin carving and making an autumnal display outside the Visitor Information Centre (VIC). Marina, who is spending a month with us as an intern, used her creative flair to arrange some lovely displays.

Storm Benjamin brought heavy rain and strong gusts of winds, though fortunately not as fierce as predicted. The golden larch, Pseudolarix amabilis below Beth’s house shed some of its needles in the blustery weather but still makes a wonderful feature in the Water Garden, and one of the swamp cypresses, Taxodium distichum, across the pond, has already turned a stunning shade of russet-brown.

The garden team has been gathering plants on the nursery, setting them aside for areas which need enhancing in the garden. Some of them will be planted on the bank below the Gravel Garden, which the team recently has cleared, and higher up in the shady part of the border which runs along the Gravel Garden drive.

We’ve also been very busy preparing for our intern reunion this Saturday. We’ve had so many lovely gardeners coming to spend a week or longer with us over the past few years. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone (or at least many of them) again. We’ll spend the day planting, socializing and enjoying some meals together.