Jo's News and Views No 12 December 2024

Hello Everyone 

I hope you have all enjoyed the festive season and are ready for a wander around the garden. It's not quite as spectacular as the Autumn colour in last month's issue. However I did find a few bare stems to share with you. 

On the drive is this splendid Phyllostachys nigra, black bamboo, photo 1. I will have to come back one sunny afternoon and see how it lights up in better conditions. In the Arboretum is this lovely Pinus montezumae 'Sheffield Park', photo 2. Chosen and planted by our very own Liz Macnicol to celebrate a special birthday. 

Walking round to the Hollow Lawn I stopped to admire the Viburnum farreri 'Candidissimum', photos 3 and 4. The flowers are exquisite and worth a close up, photo 5. Also here is this Morus alba, a White Mulberry. I don't think I've included this tree before so as I know the blossom is amazing this is your Winter photo and I will follow it up in Spring.

In the Kitchen garden I noticed that the Irises have been thinned out and replanted, photo 7. Sometimes this affects their flowering in the following year so I will watch their progress and share it with you. Also, in the photo is a Yucca thompsoniana. It makes me smile as I imagine someone hiding inside who is going to jump out and say 'boo' at any moment. Further along the path was this display of sprouts, photo 8. Always lovely to see them growing on their chunky stems. 

On the New River Lawn in the Winter bed was this inconspicuous shrub, photo 9. It is Chimonanthus praecox, or Wintersweet. It is covered in tiny yellow buds that open into highly fragrant cream tepals and then they reveal red almost purplish tepals in the centre, photo 10. Nearby, another shrub was beginning to open its flowers, photo 11, the Hamamelis x intermedia 'Diane'. The flowers on this shrub appear from mid-winter through to Spring and are like tiny red spiders with curly legs. Although, perhaps, that's not the best description for such pretty flowers, photo 12. As I am beside the Pond it seems only right to include it, photo 13 and then from the other side, photo 14. 

On the path back to the House is the charming Parrotia persica, the Persian ironwood tree, photo 15. This is another tree that opens its flowers on bare stems through Winter, photo 16. On the opposite side of the path is a Corylus avellana 'Contorta', photo 17. Every stem is twisted into corkscrew-like whorls, photo 18.

Then outside the courtyard we have the tree-mendous trio, photo 19. The trees are, left to right, Alnus cordata, an Italian alder, then two Tilia x europaea, Lime trees. The Lime tree in the centre has been lopped. I expect he asked for a trim and received a short back and sides instead. Hopefully, he'll bounce back. Finally, the Lime tree with its bountiful covering of mistletoe. 

I hope you have enjoyed this wander around the garden with me and I would like to wish you all a very Happy and Healthy 2025. 

Best Wishes 

Jo