July at the Castle

Rain, rain, rain, aaagh!


Even after the Game Fair was cancelled it continued to rain.  Martin and I arrived on Monday morning to find the rose garden decimated.  The fabulous colourful display we left three weeks ago was now just a brown mess mixed with an abundance weeds.

Many of the varieties suffered from something called rose balling.  This is when growing buds are subjected to rain followed by sunshine, the wet outer layer of petals become scorched and crispy. This constricts the bud inside, stops it from opening and gives the bloom a ball-like appearance - which looks horrible.  Luckily it is not fatal, just cut the rose back and be patient.  Most will flower again.


By Tuesday afternoon we had clipped all the box and Portuguese laurel lollipops, deadheaded all the roses, and tackled some of the weeds, when the sun came out for 6 minutes! I raced for the camera!

Portuguese laurel lollipops

At last the pots are starting to look something.....

By the time we made our way down to Spring gardens, the heavens opened again.  The views from the gardens are wonderful, but sadly all we could see were drenched contractors trying to dismantle marquees set up for the Game Fair.


The ground was so wet you can feel your boots squelching every step.  Mowing the lawns has been out of the question.  Most of the team have been strimming as much as they can.


But....... look at the terraces

 Thalictrum rochebruneanum

Sadly the sun refused to make another appearance.