The joys of Spring at The Laundry Retreat

Speaking of Magnolia.. Our pair of M. ‘Stellata’ inside the walled garden gave a sparkling display, despite the snow and late frosts.

I’ve particularly enjoyed the daffodil and tulip cutting beds inside the walled garden. It’s been wonderful filling the house with the joys of spring!

Since my last post, I have been finding myself flitting between different areas of the garden. Not like me, usually I work through a whole border, then move onto the next. Now I tend to work in places that need my attention because there are bulbs underneath or plants that will flower early that need cutting back and weeds clearing from beneath. Each year brings a new challenge…

While I am inside the walled garden, let me show you something we have done.

.. on April 8th, we moved some yew that I didn’t feel was in the right place. I took these pictures standing in the south east corner of the walled garden. The yew will provide a division, and give a clearer feel of what will be in the next few years, a garden room, where you will be able to sit and pause for a moment..

It’s getting to a stage here where our projects are not just about the planting, to give any sort if impact in such a big area requires structures, and the scale of those structures has to suit the space they are in. We have to be realistic about this and design a project that works for us in cash terms as well as practicality. I could write another blog, that is entirely on our hopes and dreams for the garden.. maybe I will one day..

Moving onto April 19th and our ‘Willow weaving workshop’ with Sarah from Twigtwisters.

This great day was organised by a lovely lady (Wendy) in my garden group. We were all had a choice of making different items out of willow that had been soaked for several days to make it pliable. The day started with an interesting introduction and demonstration from Sarah, then we all set about making our different items. There were some chickens, a pheasant, a sphere, a wigwam and a couple of hares (see mine below). Luckily the weather was on our side, and we were able to work outside in the warm sunshine inside the walled garden. It was a day we all thoroughly enjoyed with the bonus of taking home what we had made. Thankyou Sarah, such talent, please checkout her website, you’ll be blown away!

Here’s an update on our progress on the Hall garden project, on April 25th Tom set about working on the cobbled path that leads to the back door. Here’s a series of pictures that lead us to the end result worth being proud of!

This took him 5 days with just one corner left to do. Poor man is starting to loose the will! But what an achievement and a massive difference it has made to the whole area.

The fruit trees that have been trained into a circle are called Malus ‘Evereste’. It has to be said that their blossom this year has been incredible!