Jo's July Tour

Hello Everyone

Well, shall I start with the weather?? I don't know about you but I don't like or deal with 38 degrees very well! The only good bit about it was when it finished and the rain came. As always the garden came through with the help of the dedicated gardeners. I have to say that you have to be dedicated to work in 38 degrees, don't you ?

So how is the garden looking? Beautiful as always. I'll start with the view from the Front Lawn looking towards Bowling Green Lawn, photo 1. The alstroemerias around the garden have looked stunning this year and have flowered for a long period. They seem so delicate but are much stronger than they look. The other side of the hedge is the Eremurus Border. A mix of alliums have been added to this area and they look lovely towering over the grasses, photo 2. It was thought that most of the eremurus had been lost so it was pleasing to find several of the plants flowering, photo 3.

More alstroemerias were waiting along the path beside the Sunken Lawn area, photo 4.

Walking past the Wisteria Bridge into the Kitchen Garden I paused to admire the fruit in the Peach House, photos 5 and 6. There has been an excellent crop of peaches and nectarines this year and Steph is understandably very proud of this. Outside the wildflowers planted in the border have put on a good show too, photo 7.

The fruit trees planted in the bed in front of the West Facing Wall are doing well, photo 8 and as you can see from this old photo featuring Mr Bowles, photo 9, the planting in this border is very close to the original.

Moving on to the lower area of the Kitchen Garden are the Cut Flower Beds. These have perennials in one bed and annuals planted in the other one. Photo 10 shows the annuals on 5th July and photo 11 was taken on 26th July. Careful watering has kept the display in tip top form. One of my favourites is the orange cosmos, photo 12. I've not seen these before as I think I'm more familiar with the white and pink varieties. Also enjoying the sunshine were the onions, seen here drying out before being collected for storage and the kitchen shop, photo 13.

Continuing my walk I had to stop and enjoy the Tulip Terrace, photos 14 and 15. It's always a pleasure to sit here for awhile and take in the beauty of the garden.

As the Broom Tree is flowering well this year despite the fact it's almost horizontal now, I thought you might be interested in a couple of now and then photos. Seen here in July 2013, photo 16 and July 2019, photo 17. The other comparison here is the Phellodendron and the Cedar Tree. In 2013 both were well below the roof of the house and now well above it. I'm sure you've noticed as well how hot that summer was too by the state of the grass.

An area I've not featured for a while is the Arboretum so I thought I'd include a guided tour of that area. Looking at the Arboretum from the car park I've started at the very left hand side. A dedicated team of volunteers look after the beds here, photo 18, which is a very pretty mix of plants, photo 19. The Arboretum stretches along the boundary down to the front gates. This is the view from the beds towards the front gates, photos 20 and 21. Almost at the end before you reach the bamboo is this large bed planted with wild flowers, photo 22. The insects love this area and it is always full of different species, none of which stayed still long enough for me to take a photo.

So finally back to the Pond Terrace, photo 23. As I've struggled to take a 'fauna photo' this month I've delved into my archives and found one of my favourite photos of the heron, photo 24. Seen here on its favourite perch at the top of the Scots Pine tree.

I hope you have enjoyed this wander around the garden with me.

Best Wishes