Wharf House Gardener

We are lucky enough to have a laburnum walk here.  It was planted by our predecessors and we think it is about 30 years old.  Right now, it’s an absolute mass of yellow blooms and when one walks through it, the sound of the bees buzzing, is really extraordinary.

The best place to view the avenue of laburnum is from the orchard, which is higher up, so one can look down on it.  And that’s the problem.  The previous owners didn’t prune the trees, so the blooms have moved progressively upwards.  Most pruning books advise against cutting into old laburnum wood and if we were to prune it, that’s what we’d have to do.  By necessity we have done some pruning.  The walk was marred by a network of old metal posts, that had long since lost their use and in getting rid of them, we had to cut out some old wood.  It looks as though those trees may have sprouted fresh new growth from lower down but we’re not completely sure why that is.  Our current thinking is to prune gradually, over a three year period but if anyone has any advice, we’d be very grateful to hear it.

We expected to be welcoming visitors to our garden here at Wharf House this Summer, as part of the National Garden Scheme.  For almost a century, the NGS has been raising money for nursing charities, by opening private gardens to the public.  We love having people visit our garden, just as we thoroughly enjoy visiting other people’s.  After all, there’s no better way to pick up ideas for one’s own garden than by visiting others.

Since it looks unlikely that we’ll be able to have visitors this year, we thought we might try making some short videos, showing different parts of our garden. We hope you enjoy them.

We had hoped to be welcoming visitors to Wharf House this year, as part of the National Garden Scheme. It’s never been more appropriate to raise money for nursing charities, as the NGS has been doing for almost a century but for obvious reasons, garden visiting may not happen at all this summer.  We love having visitors to our garden and chatting to them about what we’re doing here, just as we thoroughly enjoy visiting other people’s gardens.  We also subscribe to the theory that the best way of getting ideas for one’s own garden is by visiting others.  We have therefore decided to make some videos of our garden and to post links on here. Production values may not be the best but we hope to convey some sense of the atmosphere in our garden.

Our big Christmas project this year, was to rejuvenate a little island we have, in a stream running alongside the garden. We repaired the rather rickety bridge and after much debate, decided to clear and deck the island. We edged the island with old railway sleepers, leaving a marginal area, about 2 foot wide, around the decking. We’ve now planted-up the marginal area, choosing a mix of grasses, dwarf iris’ and a dwarf lysimachia.  They’re bound to be thuggish, so we’re resigned to some annual clearing. Finally, we must decide what to put on the decking itself. The debate is on-going! The photographs show rattan chairs and a couple of yet-to-be-planted pots. We’ll try a set of metal bistros tables and chairs as well. For the planters, ideally we want height, reddish foliage to stand out against the rhododendrons behind and plants that will tolerate shade. At the moment, we can’t get past acers but all ideas are welcome.

Whilst on holiday in Italy last year, we came across what we think is an old street drinking fountain, for sale in an antiques shop. We had long wanted a small, upright fountain to provide a focal point in one of the small courtyards in our garden. In the U.K. however, they are fiercely expensive. There was no price on the one in the shop in Italy so, more in hope than expectation but knowing that the Italians are not as wild about antiques as the Brits, we asked. It was about 1/4 of what one would expect to pay here. Shipping was also surprisingly cheap, so in July last year, it arrived in Shropshire, having made it safely all the way from Lake Como. The lorry was far too big to get down our drive and the fountain is made of solid stone. After much thought (and not a little swearing) we eventually got this Italian drinking fountain into our garden and we absolutely love it. It is perfect for the spot. Just as we had envisaged it. We drain and cover it for the winter and this weekend, we unwrapped, filled and switched on. And so, another step towards summer is taken and the garden looks and sounds that little bit better.

For the last few years, we’ve mulched all our flower beds. It’s a massive undertaking. We spread 12 tonnes of the stuff and it is, without doubt, the most tedious and back-breaking job of the year. But it’s also thoroughly worth it. We use semi-composted bark which has the great advantages of being comparatively light, free draining (the pile doesn’t therefore become heavy and soaking wet) and is even sweet-smelling. It adds structure to our heavy clay soil but best of all, it really suppresses weeds and that’s principally why we do it. A few weeks’ effort in Spring, saves us weeks of weeding the rest of the summer. Best of all, this year’s mulching is now done!

It’s all about the tulips here at the moment and has been for the last few weeks.  We bulk buy our tulips from Parker’s every year and when they’re over, I’m afraid we bin them. Past experience tells us that tulips are less reliable and less vigorous in subsequent years. I wish we didn’t have to buy new tulips every year. Are we buying the wrong varieties perhaps?

The recent milder weather has hastened the flowering of most of our hellebores.  After snowdrops, they are the first concerted burst of colour in our garden.  They do have a tendency to hold their lovely heads downwards but are well worth a bend down to turn their faces towards one.  We bought a batch of 12 tiny plugs last year, grew them on in the nursery bed through the summer and planted them out in the Autumn.  They’re all named varieties and include some absolute stunners.  The picture on the left shows ‘Double Ellen Purple’, which is amongst my favourites.  Sadly, the beauty on the right has lost its label and is therefore currently nameless!

Sadly, it’s not really Spring yet is it?  We’ve not yet even had St. Valetine’s Day but the ‘Spring Garden’ here at Wharf House is already beginning to perform.  This gorgeous double hellebore is ‘Double Ellen White’.  Hellebores are the most important plant in our garden at this time of the year, supplemented by drifts of snowdrops, a few clumps of early crocus and cyclamen.  Most of the hellebores are of the common, self-seeded pinky-mauve variety.  Last year though, we bought some named varieties, sold as tiny plugs, which we grew on in the nursery bed and planted out in the autumn. ‘Ellen’ is one of these purchases and it’s immensely satisfying to see her doing so well.