A Walk in the gardens May 2007

The trees are in full leaf now and this has the effect of making parts of the garden quite dark. The Theatre, Triangle and Ash garden, where the school have their garden, are most affected by this.

There are still many Rhododendrons and Azaleas flowering despite the earliness of the season this year.
On the main drive the deciduous Azaleas are looking good, colours of all shades from yellow through orange to pink. On the south side of the drive you could meet up with Colonel Rogers and Beau Brummel (both Rhododendrons!). At the walled garden gate there is Rh Cowslip and inside the walled garden one of my favourites, Rh yakusimanum. It’s always smothered with flowers each year. Further up the border from the yakusimanum is Rh aberconwayi and tucked away in the border beside the gate to the viewpoint is Rh taggianum with one or two large white flowers. Leaning over the wall from Hugh’s border is Rh polyandrum. It is easily seen from inside the walled garden but to get its gorgeous fragrance one needs to get closer to it.
While there are plenty of Rhododendrons to see there are also many other plants in flower this month, including Ceonothus (walled Garden), Viburnum plicatum Mariesii with its flat flower head another Viburnum with balls of white flowers (on the drive near the gate into the walled garden), Crinodendron hookerianum (various places through out the garden), Buddleia salvafolia, Choisya Aztec Pearl (both in the north walled garden) and Illicium anisatum. Dianella tasmanica with its curious little purple flowers which will be followed in the autumn with deep blue berries is flowering in the south walled garden next to the Beschorneria yuccoides.
Paeonia woodwardii,  Paeonia lutea ludlowii (tree peony), Weigela (pink and red forms) Deutzia hybrida, Abutilon – various and Cordyline australis are all flowering this last one with a powerful scent.
I am a bit behind with the diary so I am going to continue immediately with June’s edition.

A Walk in the Gardens June 2007

The weather has been very variable this month with some nice sunny days but at the time of writing this it is cold and miserable. I am sitting writing this in the tea tent waiting for some customers! The tea tent opened in the first week of June and will be open until September. This year it is at the entrance to the gardens and the plant sales are also managed from here.
Another attraction in the gardens this month is a deer. It swam in from somewhere and has taken up residence in the gardens and made friends with a local cat. It’s even had its photo in the Campbeltown Courier, our local paper. If you want to know what type of deer it is look under wildlife on our forum. I haven’t actually seen the deer and wouldn’t know what type it was even if I had! It appears to be quite tame. Goodness knows how the garden cats, Cameron and Cheeky, view this invasion of their territory!!
The Rhododendrons are nearly past now but one or two are still hanging on. Rh Romany Chai, Auriel, griersonianum and Fabia are some of them. Kitty Cole, one of Sir James’ own hybrids named after his cook is flowering in the theatre garden. Another, which will have to be nameless as I don’t know what it is called and I couldn’t find a label, is growing on the walled walk beside the door into the north walled garden. It has white flowers and a lovely scent.
Many other shrubs and trees are flowering now among them various shrub roses. In the walled garden are Philadelphus Belle Etoile, Leptospermum Red Damask and Cytisus battandieri amongst others. There are many plants climbing on the walls that are not easily seen because of the shrubs in front of them but some Clematis have managed to get themselves seen. These include C. Nellie Moser, Vyvyan Pennell  and Madame le Coultre In the south walled garden on the back of the old stable block I found another clematis. I think it is C. macropetala. It has one small blue flower left on it but is covered with fluffy seed heads. It was far to wet to push through the other shrubs to look for a label! Hydrangea petiolaris is flowering in abundance. Many of the plants are self sown.
The cactus house is quite colourful with a number of plants flowering. Some of these are:- Chamaecereus silvestri, Notocactus arnostianus, Rebutia potosina,  Rebutia hybrids Apricot Ice and Celebration and Mammilaria ernestii.
The border next to the tomato house has been cleared and replanted With “New Exotics”. As I was dodging showers I didn’t have much time to investigate what these were but I did notice how much tidier the border looked and you can now actually see the wall!!
One or two other things that I know are happening just now in the gardens I will report next month as I haven’t had time to go and look at them yet.
WATCH THIS SPACE!