Rain, rain, come again

Well, for a "band of heavy showers moving through" I don't think that was really up to much.  We're very, very short of water and last night we can barely have had more than about 20 minutes of rain.  Oddly the river this morning is actually lower than it was yesterday, which raises in my mind questions about who might be extracting water upstream.  Just asking.

I wrote an article on the need to think about water management, both a local and national level, for www.thegoodwebguide.co.uk.  You can find it here:  http://bit.ly/HTjWxt

Seiridium cypresses removed; optimism for replacements

For a while the scourge of Seiridium cupressi has been affecting cypresses at Iford for some time.  We are by no means unusual, sadly.  All over the world cypress, thuja and similar 'soft' conifers are suffering.  It is a really depressing disease because this canker causes such rapid destruction (taking two years to all but kill some trees); and from the gardener's point of view, it is an ugly and very public demise too - sad for all concerned.


On the terraces at the back of the house four hearty cypress trees had stood for some fifteen years since they were put in as adolescents.  By now at well over twenty-five feet tall, the effect was one of drawing up the eye to the heavens, a reminder of Tuscany on a gloomy Tuesday which would raise a smile on even the grumpiest of visitor!


But after one had to be taken down last year, this winter a further two had to go, leaving just this remaining stalwart, toughing it out in the face of his limbs browning off and dying back.  He will, I fear, have short time also.

We have known this would probably be coming down the track, and for this reason have been trialling a number of different cypress forms to see which might be most resilient.  Over the past ten years that they have been being brought on, some have already perished in the cold, but this hardy specimen, and his friend across the path, have now replaced their unfortunate cousins.  


So the perpendicular optimism of the Italianate has its renaissance on the Iford terraces.  Let's hope both that an antidote will be found against Seiridium, and also that these two fine replacements will reach their full, towering maturity.

First day open for 2012 and weather concerns

Earlier in the week the warm spell turned cold, and our thoughts turned excitedly to the prospect of a drought-averting rainy spell.  So much for that!  The reality could not have been further from the forecasts, and Sunday 1st of April has been a glorious, warm spring day - in fact, the type every historic garden hopes for when opening their doors to the public.

The day started with a visit from Oliver Gerrish, @oligerrish if you are a Tweeter, who brought a couple of charming Americans to us - they are on an architectural tour of the UK and were visiting Iford as a part of their visit to Bath.

As the heat of the day began to strike, we were rushing around trying to find all the little essentials (such as car park signs) which had been hidden away safely over the winter, but which definitely needed digging out for the first day open.  The oven was hard at work creating cakes and dough was being hooked (? one uses a dough hook, after all!) ready to be made into scones.  Two o'clock arrived and a few minutes later the gates opened - just about on time, Peto's theatrical garden prepared for summer visiting once more.

I am very pleased to say that a steady flow of garden visitors came to see us; and the tearoom had a healthy first day, which bodes well for the season.  One man telephoned this morning to find out if we were open, explaining that he had been waiting all spring for us to open - very kind flattery, perhaps, but if he did in fact visit this afternoon, he had a good day for it!

But now it seems we are threatened with potentially quite a cold end to the coming week.  Heavy frost at this stage, especially if combined with a cold wind, will freeze-dry the wisteria buds, which are at their most delicate right now - that, for the wisteria fans, would be very sad indeed (although often it means that the second flowering in June is all the more splendid).

We live in uncertain times, weather-wise.  It doesn't help one jot, but I suspect it has been ever thus!

[Iford is next open on Tuesday April 3rd, 2pm]

Spring blossoms and green shoots

This weekend is a great time to visit Iford if you like cherry blossoms (and who doesn't?).  The lawns have been mown off for the first proper cut of the season, and our songbirds have been out and about making the most of the unseasonally warm weather.

This Sunday Iford opens for the first time in 2012, and we shall be opening fully throughout April on account of the increasingly early Spring.  The tearoom will also be open, so there's a warm cup of tea or an ice cream depending on the weather.

And whilst we're at it, cross your fingers for the replacement cypress trees which have gone in to replace those lost to the horrendous seiridium disease which is causing real problems for our cypresses.

New signs on A36 - thanks, (I think...?)

We're very grateful to whichever department of whichever bit of government has decided that our 'brown signs' needed upgrading on the A36.  They were quite small and now you shouldn't possibly be able to miss them, given their ENORMOUS size.

However, I wonder if the person putting them up considered the view for oncoming traffic from the Warminster direction?  Hmm... (admittedly, marginally better, but not much, if you are actually in the middle of the road, but I didn't fancy getting killed whilst taking the photo!)

Wisteria-watch 2

It is 25 March, so here's an update on the Wisteria.  The good news is that it looks like a varied picture insofar as timing is concerned, so more people will get a chance to enjoy the abundant blossom and magnificent scent.

We have the first frond about a week away on the front of the house (always the first to come out because of the South-West facing warm wall), but some of the buds in the freestanding wisteriae which are in colder parts of the garden have still barely formed buds (ETA for those, first week in May).  Here's the state of play, pictorially:

The vanguard: on the front of the manor:

 But not the whole thing, because it always starts at the tip and works back:

The casita wisteria, again with its back to a warm-ish wall, is coming along nicely.

But the freestanding wisteria around the lily pond is weeks away from being ready.

  Nevertheless, for anyone thinking that the second week in May will see the wisteria appearing, as has traditionally been the case, I suspect it will be too late by then.  Come in April, and get the best of both worlds: the blossoms in the first few weeks and the wisteria at the back end of the month.

What is with this weather?

The spring is arriving consistently early with an ongoing lack of rain and warm weather in the early months of the year.  Yesterday we were the same temperature as Phoenix, AZ.  Madness.

It is interesting to compare this year with last year, lest we forget what early really looks like.  Iford sits in something of a rain shadow, compared to surrounding valleys, due to the local topography.  By this time in 2011, we had had a very snowy winter with prolonged freezing temperatures and our plants were even more advanced than they are now.  Compare the images below.  Although we didn't get the snow this year, the cold was certainly present; but after an unusually wet spell from September through to December, we haven't had meaningful rain for three months.  Bear in mind that in a 'normal' year, we would expect this to flower in about a fortnight.

March 22, 2011:

 March 24, 2012:

I hope really hope that this is not the new "normal" and that we can return to temperate, Atlantic weather soon - farmers are already feeling the drought very badly, and gardeners in the south west will be questioning whether or not they should even bother to bed out this year, following two winters in a row which were record breakingly cold, with droughts in February and March.  In the Eastern counties we already have hosepipe bans in place with a view to ensuring that domestic water supplies will not be interrupted in the Summer.

Cross your fingers, folks, but it seems like we're becoming increasingly Mediterranean (only with colder winters...) which in theory would suit Peto's Anglo-Italianate design style; except that the winters will mean some serious thinking in terms of our planting scheme, maintenance schedule, materials used (limestone just flakes away in freezing damp conditions...).  Cypresses have been under attack from the Seiridium virus, and we have had to replace a number of near-mature trees this year;