Wharf House Gardener

We’ve been opening our garden in support of the National Garden Scheme since 2018. This year, instead of opening for a single weekend, as we have in the past, we decided to open ‘by arrangement’ throughout the Summer. That decision was taken in September 2019. Little did we know what was about to happen!

When the pandemic hit in March, we assumed we would have no visitors at all this year. Sad for us but devastating for the charities which rely on the NGS for support. We were delighted then when, in early June, we were able to re-open the garden for private visits.

June was our busiest month for visitors. With very few other venues open and pent-up demand to get out of the house, we had visitors most days. We were told by many visitors that they chose a scheduled garden visit as being a particularly safe day out.

Sadly, we were not able to offer refreshments this year, which always add significantly to the funds we raise. Even so, with about 150 people through the gate over the last 3 months, we have raised about £700 for the nursing charities the NGS supports.

We’ve been enjoying a glorious couple of weeks of warm and dry weather recently, which has made us realise just how important late summer colour is in the garden. The second flush of roses is always vital in this respect in our garden but over recent years we’ve also made a concerted attempt to bring fresh vibrancy with Asters. We’ve long enjoyed floriferous classics like ‘Little Carlow’ and ‘Monch’ but we’ve recently discovered the dark stemmed beauty of ‘King’s College’ and ‘Winston Churchill’. A recent visit to the wonderful Old Court Nursery and the attached Picton Garden, introduced us to sheer range and versatility of asters and I confess, we got slightly carried away! I highly recommend a visit, as their garden will be at its peak right now. https://www.autumnasters.co.uk/