Belvoir Castle - March 2012

Slightly delayed again with the blog!  But this time I have a good excuse.  Martin and I have been talking to the Duchess of Rutland and I’m thrilled to tell you we are now helping with the maintenance and replanting of the gardens at Belvoir Castle.  And what a wonderful opportunity.  For those who don’t know, the castle stands at the top of a very steep hill with the gardens falling away at varying angles – when I say falling away I am not exaggerating.  Sometimes I think crampons would make the job easier!

Taken from Knipton

The Duchess took us round the gardens giving us her ideas, future plans and long term goals.  After 4 hours of walking we had completed the tour and realized just what a mammoth task she has ahead of her, and us!

So here we are working in a place steeped in history, surrounded by amazing wildlife and following in the footsteps of Capability Brown.  Feet back on the ground and excitement aside; there is a lot to do. We always drive home making another long list of Jobs, to go with the other list.

There are a great team of workers at the castle who all seem to do every job under the sun.  As labour is now an expensive commodity for any business, the days of 40 gardeners are well gone.  This is especially hard at Belvoir as the steep terrain makes the use of machinery very difficult.

Our first project –  The Duchess's Garden – November 2011

This garden, also known as The Spring Garden, is situated some distance from the castle, but it is well worth the walk.  There is a long terraced bed full of peony’s, miscanthus, Crocosmia, Hemerocallis, snow drops, whitebells, and lots more that I am sure is still to come.  There is a wonderful summer house, called a root house which is made purely from tree roots with a thatched roof, situated on the top terrace looking across the gardens. 

The Root House

As Belvoir sits on acid soil, it leant itself to the popular Victorian choice of the Rhododendron ponticum, but over the years this plant has thrived taking over enormous areas of the estate.  Unfortunately this plant is responsible for the destruction of many native habitats leading to the loss of some indigenous animals.

Part of the Duchess’s grand plan was to clear the ponticum below the gardens creating a better environment and a magnificent long vista from the top terrace down to a new lake at the bottom.  This is now done and already the wildlife is returning, and also we are discovering some lovely old shrubs, which have been submerged for years.  Rhododendron mucronulatum, the first one I have ever seen – as you can see struggling a bit.  

As spring brings the deciduous trees to life we both look in wonder, as the wonderful Magnolia family leads the way.

Magnolia Stellata - which one - I am not sure yet....

So what have we been doing....  First we cleared last years debris from the terraces, this took Martin and I three days plus one helper just wheeling the rubbish away, and also a team of 13 volunteers to help us finish the job off – and that’s just one border! 

March 2012

Next stage – rediscovering and revealing a multitude of beautiful winding stone paths carefully built through various plantings of shrubs.  

Then we stumbled upon the old rockery.  Sadly mostly taken over by weeds, but again hidden gems were still fighting their corner.  Our task in this part of the garden was to rebuild the rockery and construct some steps from the spring gardens creating The Duchess’s new vista.  And just look how we did this .............

Also note the pouring rain!

As you can see nothing is done on a small scale. So read the next blog and see the finished rockery and vista to the lake.....

14th December 2011

I notice my first blog said I would regularly update my site!!  oops - 4 months later - a new blog.

Firstly, where are you followers!!


So what's been going on.  As the weather has been the complete opposite of last year, and relatively warm we have been planting up all our designs that have been under plan this year.  

October to November is a frantic time getting as many bulbs in as possible.   Bulbs are a gardeners great friend, they are not expensive, can add fabulous impact to a border and varieties can flower from early spring right through to November.  They are always a great surprise when they come, as you can bet your bottom dollar you have forgotten when you planted them!

In two gardens some extremely large trees were required, quite a learning curve here - if you are thinking of having a tree over 4-5', and it is a root ball, make sure you have some very strong men to help.  Bare root trees and shrubs are half price this time year, so it is a good time for making larger changes to your garden.  But do look after your back!

As the soil still has some warmth in it (until this week), it has been a great time to dig many herbaceous plants up and do some splitting and dividing.  We had a rather large herbaceous border to resurrect and re-create; we managed to divide 40 plants into 300 new individual plants - good value when you know what can and cant split - no need for journeys to the garden centre.

Well, off to cut the holly now for Christmas.  Happy Christmas everyone...

Carreg Dhu Garden - a hidden surprise!

Where is this garden I hear you ask?  On the Island of St Marys in the Scilly Isles.  Most people only hear of the gardens of Tresco when the Scilly Isles are mentioned, but this garden is well worth a visit too.  Carreg Dhu Garden is run by a small group of volunteers for the benefit of the local community, visitors and friends.  It was once an old disused quarry and was first created in 1986.

On a road leading to the Long Stone Terrace, you will find a small gate on the right which leads you onto a path lined with hemerocallis enticing you in.  There are many garden rooms with plants to suit their different locations; some lovely ferns in shady areas and of course the beautiful Agapanthus that adorn the Scilly Isles doted all around the sunny spots.  There were many tropical species that we cannot have on the mainland, of which some I have never come across.  The Phormium's looked enormous compared to my Lincolnshire specimens!

In the centre of the garden there is a small sign inviting you to volunteer if you wish.  Next to this is a bag of hand tools to help you with your task.  There are a couple of do's and don't's but generally you are welcome to lend a hand.

Martin and I were so taken by the garden and its concept, that we rolled our sleeves up and tackled some rather over zealous brambles; with the wild life keeping a constant vigil on our efforts; sunning themselves periodically.  After a couple of hours and some very scratched arms we felt we had let light into some overgrown areas.  It was great fun and enormously satisfying.

Have a look at the pictures and let me know what you think.  I would love to know if anyone else from the mainland has been there.

Carreg Dhu

Happy Gardening...

I've identified the tree!

It's a shrub called Staphylea, which I saw at Coton Manor.