A Little Hope of Spring

January was a long month for us but I am so delighted to say that the tree planting has now been completed and what a great job the whole team have done, battling the elements to get over 4000 plants into the ground and to a very high standard also. Its amazing to look at the changing landscape and this was really shown to me when walking the previous years planting. We can only get excited by the growth these have put on and in turn look forward to seeing the newly planted areas do the same.

The landscape and biodiversity in these areas will hopefully flourish. We have planted a sprawling naturalised hedge to the front of the largest roundel which is 500m long and in places will be 3-4 meters deep when mature. This not only creates a warmth to the planted woodland strip behind but also will help create a wonderful corridor and home to the wildlife on the land which Jeremy our Wildlife & Biodiversity Officer is delighted with.

We have just finished planting up a formal boundary hedge to North Lodge which really finishes of the planting very nicely. This will be a maintained hedge which will hopefully be visually attractive. This hedge is planted up with, Beech, Field Rose, Guelder Rose, Holly, Hazel and Dogwood. I hope that this will provide year-round colour and interest and hopefully will establish quickly if the deer don’t bother with it too much.

There is no time to stay idle here as we are now restarting the work on the middle terrace and those other tasks in the garden. Lesley and Martin are busy pruning the roses and getting them looking very tidy and attractive for this year’s display of blooms. Its very hard not to get excited about seeing the Snowdrops and Snowflakes begin the wonderful show and remind us that things are hopefully beginning to extend and temperature rise. As I write this that is hard to believe this will ever happen though, windy stormy conditions have hit us, and it has not been pleasant. Things have been held up slightly, but we don’t let that stop us. we have been very lucky so far with very little damage which I hope is all we will get for the rest of the season, but it is very hard to predict.

The Middle Terrace edging is moving forward, and we have just completed the additional work of draining the pathways that run alongside the Croquet Lawn this hopefully will catch water on the pathways before it makes its way on the lawn. We have a long way to go till we are cutting the ribbon for the Middle Terrace, but it is nice to see things develop. We now look forward to tidying up of areas and planning for the alterations needed in beds and further cutting back and the lawn work to come. We are now seeing the days extend more and growth really start which make you think of the joy of what is yet to come. I hope that you can all start to enjoy the changing landscape and seeing your garden show the hidden surprises you forget were there just waiting for their chance to be part of this great time of year. Enjoy seeing all of this and more in the coming weeks.