Weekly catch up with garden & propagation

Propagation Team

with Rob

What a week we are having! Cuttings, seedlings and divisions are in full swing, and our plants already growing on are speedily placing down their roots, thanks to this period of warm clear skies.

In the week, we had Hope visiting us from Wisley, who spent a day with our expert propagators Debbie and Emily. It was amazing to have Hope's helping hand, especially with our seedlings. One beauty worked on was our horde of tiny Papaver cambricum, a British native perennial with pale green leaves and pretty cup-shaped lemon-yellow to orange flowers. They're fully hardy, give them a rich and fertile soil and they'll bring their own sunshine in the summer months.

We were also fortunate to have the wonderful Mattie join us over from the garden team for a couple of days. Mattie lent her expertise and finesse to our Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii seedlings. Euphorbias are a genus we adore here, and if you haven't seen last Friday's Gardeners' World, myself and Emily featured alongside Jamie Butterworth as we celebrated this incredible plant!

Elsewhere, Sean got lifting and potting some Roscoea x beesiana Gestreept Group. It's a hybrid between R. purpurea and R. cautleyoides. The flowers are mostly a pale creamy-yellow, with variable amounts of purple throat. Whilst, Debbie created some super cuttings of Oenothera lindheimeri 'Corrie's Gold', a plant she discovered, right here at Beth's!

If you're visiting BBC Gardeners’ World Spring Fair at Beaulieu, then please come and say hello to Annie and Sean who will be showcasing some of our plants across the bank holiday weekend. Our phenomenal, garden legend, Åsa Gregers-Warg will also be attending, and I might be biased, but you cannot help but feel truly inspired when listening to Åsa talk about our gardens.

Garden Team

with Scott

We've had a great week in the garden as friends old and new arrived to spend time working alongside the team.

Bernard Trainor visited us from California. He worked for Beth in 1989 spending a year in the garden and it's beens fascinating hearing stories from that time. Even more valuable has been discussing the garden with him, tapping into his vast plant knowledge and understanding of Californian landscapes that relate so closely to our own gravel garden.

We also welcomed Gordon as our intern for the week. He is currently on the Historic and Botanic Garden Training Programme (HBGT) as an apprentice Audley End House and Garden. It's been great having him work alongside us and discussing his love of buddleja!

We also welcomed back our pigs to continue their work on the new land. A few weeks ago we sowed a wildflower mix across the area they prepared last year which is beginning to germinate now. We are excited to see this whole space develop and you can too, as we run tours to see the pigs on weekdays.

In the garden we've split our time between the Water and Gravel Gardens. In the Water Garden we weeded the borders of creeping thistles, gallium (sticky willy) that clambers up, over and through over plants and occasional creeping buttercup. We also cut the border edges giving a crisp finishing touch.

In the Gravel Garden, Bernard cut back an atriplex that had outgrown it's space. We think he enjoyed himself! Meanwhile Gordon did a fantastic job pruning our Solanum laxum 'Creche du Pape'. This beautiful potato vine has masses of lovely blue and white flowers all summer. Perfect for a warm wall.