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Monthly Archives: January 2019

January 8th 2019

09 Wednesday Jan 2019

Posted by muddygardenerblog in January, Monthly report, Winter

≈ 3 Comments

First day with any length of sunshine since Christmas day, and it felt weirdly like March as it was so mild, about 10 degrees.

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Garrya elliptica.

 

 Good to be back at work and time to burn off a few of those excess pounds by barrowing muck to spread on the garden, and it was big garden today so good exercise.

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Iris unguicularis

After being away for a couple of weeks I like to make a tour and see what has changed. We’ve really only had one or two proper frosts so far this winter so things are getting advanced already.

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Always a thrill to see the first snowdrops out, there are a lot more to come.

 

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Bergenia and Viburnham tinus putting on a good show.

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Nearly but not quite, Pulmonaria and hellebores still in bud.

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Even a great tit singing his ‘teacher teacher’ song.

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Of course things will change, there is already cold weather in the forecast. I don’t mind a bit of frost or snow, to set the seasons straight, kill a few pests and make everything look photogenic; as long as it doesn’t last too long.

Meanwhile I am enjoying the slightly longer day length and the promise of things to come.

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Looking Back

01 Tuesday Jan 2019

Posted by muddygardenerblog in January, July, November, Spring, Summer, Winter, Year

≈ 1 Comment

New year seems a good time to look back on the last twelve months of gardening. I started at Kenton Hall in January 2018 so this presents itself as a perfect opportunity to look at the changes over a year of extremes. Unfortunately I don’t have any of the snow as I didn’t go that week! The gardens of Kenton Hall provide a stunning location for weddings in the summer months and my job was to keep them up to standard.

January

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It seems so long ago! I can remember being very cold and the first day that I did here there was a heavy rainstorm. I could see it coming but it was my first day and I didn’t want to give up until it was raining badly enough. I got soaked through to the skin. So what was here was overgrown shrubs and herbaceous perennials. I love a challenge!

February

 

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Getting stuck in. Cutting back everything, perennials, grasses and shrubs, including evergreen ones as much as I dare, just so that I can see what is there.

April

 

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Things start greening up. The primroses look fabulous along the moat.

May

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The first wedding of the season was in May so lots of weeding in preparation, fortunately the owner does the hedging and grass as there is a lot of it. The house provides a stunning backdrop for photos, and the lupins came out, hurrah!

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July

 

 

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The beginning of the heatwave. The borders are full and the grass is just about hanging on. Flowering now Stipa gigantia, catmint, Achillea cloth of gold.

 

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August

 

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Still looking green, the main flower here was the almost complete bed of Japanese anemones but also shrubby potentilla and the grasses were looking good. I had been coming regularly, but not that frequently, mainly in the week before each wedding.

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October

 

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The wedding season had finished now, and I had started to cut back the finished flowers. A lot of plants were just getting to their best, especially the asters (michaelmas daisies) and fuchsia. The leaves were starting to fall off the trees at the back.

 

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November

 

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You can see that whereas mid afternoon in summer is still scorching hot, at the same time in November the shadows are really lengthening and the light is fading.

 

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The seedheads did look good in the golden sunlight, they are still there, and there were a few late flowers on the lupins having a second flush. Feeling a bit more in control of the square borders, I got a chance to work in the rose garden and found a Clematis cirrhosa ‘Freckles in full bloom.

December

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Almost full circle and back to a very wintry looking garden and a late flowering rose. January will start with less cutting back and shrub shaping to do than last year so maybe a chance to divide some of the perennials and make the beds more of a mix. At the moment there are big blocks of colour which look effective but then all die back at once.

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It goes without saying that I was easily distracted by the beautiful house and trying to get it in the pictures. There are also views over the surrounding countryside.

For wedding venue details and photos I would suggest the website, link in first paragraph, or the Instagram account @kentonhallestate.

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