Sunday 28 April 2013

Charity Opening Weekend

It was chilly but dry for our charity opening weekend, which traditionally happens on the last weekend of April.

Yesterday we were pleased to raise around £200 for Dorothy House Hospice, our local hospice which does such brilliant work for those facing life-threatening illness.  www.dorothyhouse.co.uk

Today was Gardeners' Sunday, when we raise money for the National Garden Scheme, commonly know as the Yellow Book.  It was the first truly busy day of the year, and around 100 people came to Iford, which meant we were able to raise over £400.

Thank you, hardy garden-visiting public!

Saturday 27 April 2013

Historic Rose Border construction underway

Last time we discussed the terrace area, but an important part of the Iford replant is the border behind the manor where Peto had originally intended a Rose garden.  Working with Robert Mattock we have designed a scheme which will bring some wonderful older forms of roses back to the garden at Iford.  These will run along the left (and in time, the right) of the lawn below.
As the cypress trees have suffered on the terraces (the last one shown in the photo above has now died and been removed, sadly), a rose garden will bring renewed interest to this corner of the garden and help to lead the eye through to the patio garden beyond.
A large laurel is removed from the corner of the patio garden.  It had grown well beyond its appropriate size and was starting to damage the wall below. 

A lot of ground work has to be done because we are on a rather 'mobile' hillside - clay layers within the ground mean that the ground slips slowly and inexorably toward the river - not good for structural walls!
 Hence, these concrete plinths which will form the fixings for the uprights up which the roses will grow.

Keep watching for more updates!

Thursday 25 April 2013

Miscanthus Harvest

The elephant grass, our bio-crop, was harvested this week.  Here's the machine in action...


Once it has dried out a bit, it will be baled and sent off to be co-fired with coal to generate electricity.

St Georgeous day

What a stunning day St George's day was!
The sun shone warmly and the house wore its finest red and white flag, but you have to look closely to spot it.
Britannia oversaw proceedings, in her regal lichen cloak.

Ah, the sweet scent of summer

Cities have their benefits, for sure. I cannot be alone, though, in deriving great satisfaction from the first smell of clean country air on returning from London.

Last night as I got out of the car I was almost knocked over by the powerful scent of the vibernum carlesii, standing just a few feet away. A powerful honeyed scent that just screams  "Summer is icumen in".

Monday 15 April 2013

Historic Replant Update

Today was a very important day for the gardens at Iford.  After much planning, deliberating, preparation and waiting (for the weather, mainly), the historic corrective replant has begun.
It is 45 years since Lanning Roper was asked to bring his experience to bear on Iford's gardens which were in need of significant work.  The brief was to produce a long-lasting planting scheme which could be easily maintained whilst providing colour through the summer months.  The legacy of Roper's successful work could be seen in many of the borders at Iford even in recent years.

But times move on and gardens change, as any living thing does.  What remain of Peto's earliest plants are now well over 100 years old.  The garden has evolved, as has the management, as these old forms (cherries in particular) succumb to old age and the planting schemes in the borders are therefore in need of a rethink.


New arrivals in the borders 

We approached Alison Jenkins with a view to redesigning the borders along the main terraces, and she has produced an exciting scheme which we will be implementing over the coming three years.  The key is to use plants which Peto would have had access to during his time here, or any modern form which is the equivalent thereof.  Where this isn't possible, the planting must be in keeping with Peto's critical ethos of balance.  What would he himself have chosen, were he in our shoes today?

“Old buildings or fragments of masonry carry one’s mind back to the past in a way that a garden of flowers only cannot do.  Gardens that are too stony are equally unsatisfactory; it is the combination of the two in just proportion which is the most satisfactory”


 X marks the spot
space is kept back for critical feature shrubs and plants

Over the winter the team has been preparing the borders, and whilst the cold weather has helped to sterilise the ground somewhat, it has held back our schedule for planting.  Today we got underway, and as the season progresses we will enjoy watching the borders as they evolve.