The Garden View

Tom Longridge, one of the garden team offers this seasonal viewpoint on the garden and parkland with some striking images......

The Ings with floodwater and frost 30.11.12

I love this time of year in the garden; the landscape really dominates and the light quality is amazing. The recent floodwaters have frozen over in places due to the plummeting temperatures, but the reward is the crisp frosty mornings with clear skies, allowing the sunlight to slant across the Ings (an old Yorkshire word meaning water meadow) to the south of the Hall, casting the trees in wonderful reflection in our temporary lake.

It is still worth looking out for the detail in the garden though, as a surprising number of plants are of interest even in December. The scabious on the South Border is determinedly holding on to its flower heads, and the rudbeckia’s delicate ray florets seem to be withstanding the frosts.

Scabiosa atropurpurea 'Black Knight' 30.11.12

Rudbeckia fulgida var deamii 30.11.12

Mahonia x media 'Charity' 01.12.12

Rather than holding on to late summer flowers some plants in the garden are just coming into their flowering season. The mahonias are starting to blossom in the Laundry Courtyard and Winter Corner, and many of the viburnums come into focus at this time of year. The evergreen Viburnum tinus is flowering and the deciduous Viburnum farreri has blossom on its bare branches. Flowering in winter might seem a risky strategy but despite what you might think there are enough hardy insects about to act as pollinators. These flowers are often scented to increase their attraction, such as the Christmas box (Sarcococca confusa) in the Winter Corner. It has a heady scent and its flowers are followed by black shiny berries.

We have undertaken a big revamp of the Italian Border recently. Many of the clumps of plants had spread beyond their allotted space and needed lifting, dividing, and replanting. Monarda ‘Cambridge Scarlet’ is one of the many that came in for this treatment. I am already anticipating the results next year. That’s one of the great things about gardening; there’s always something to look forward to.

Planting bulbs has been on the list for some time. It is one of those jobs that often gets delayed for various reasons, then suddenly the weather turns cold and you feel you may have missed your opportunity. The planting of the spring display in the West Formal garden has begun, with Tulip ‘Couleur Cardinal’, and primroses transplanted from their summer resting ground in the walled garden. The iris and crocus will have to wait till the ground thaws a little.

Other seasonal jobs include the annual cycle of pruning the fruit trees in the walled garden, to remove diseased wood, promote good fruiting and keep the trees in shape. It’s a finger numbing job on a cold day so a good pair of thermal gloves are a must.

 

Mark pruning the pear arch 30.11.12

The need to rake up fallen leaves can almost make you begrudge the deciduous trees, but the promise of a dark friable leaf mould makes the job worthwhile.

Winter can be a surprisingly busy time in the garden. Along with routine jobs like keeping the paths and roads accessible we tend to undertake a number of projects. The eastern half of the South Border is down for a big revamp (the western half was done this time last year), the brick edging on the Double Border needs re-setting, and there may be some major work done in the wilderness area near the playground, so come and see us sometime soon and see how we’re getting on. Open weekends throughout winter until February half term.

Best wishes for the Christmas season

From the Beningbrough Garden Team