Notes for visitors 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Cilgwyn Lodge Gardens open
for The National Gardens Scheme 2011
Notes for
Visitors
Croeso! Welcome to the Gardens and thanks
very much coming and for your support in our 12th year
of opening for the Scheme. Last year was a bumper year both for us
and the NGS. We raised over £3,200 from 667 visitors and £2.5
million was raised in England and Wales for the Scheme. The 2
largest beneficiaries were Marie Curie and Macmillan which each
received £550,000. The NGS is the biggest single sponsor of those
charities. For details of other beneficiaries please see the
notices posted around the Gardens.
What a garden year it has been. The coldest winter (albeit
condensed into just 6 weeks between the end of November and early
January) and the driest Spring we have encountered in our 35 years
here. Incidentally we believe we may have lived here longer than
anyone else since The Lodge was built in the early 1800's. We
consider ourselves incredibly lucky to have owned the Lodge and to
have enjoyed the beautiful countryside and some wonderful close
neighbours who all support us in one way or another - Diolch yn
fawr iawn.
Winter survivors. On the garden front because
of the extreme weather conditions (6 weeks of continuous night
frosts and a minimum of -18C on Christmas Eve and a drought during
April) it has been a particularly challenging year. We have
inevitably lost many plants as many of our visitors will have done,
especially woody plants, and gaps are still in evidence around the
gardens. Incredibly however herbaceous plants have fared much
better because of good drainage throughout the gardens, the
maturity of many plants and very little precipitation apart from
snow during the winter months. Some startling survivals have
included numerous plants considered to be challenging or borderline
hardy - lobelia tupa, impatiens tinctoria, cautleya spicata,
hedychiums, 15 species of arisaemas, some dahlias but not many and
most incredible of all, 4 definitely "tender" salvias including
s.grahamii, s. darcyii, s.involucrata and s.patens. We lost all our
penstemons, lavateras, cistus, buddleias, rosemary, and most of our
lavenders which do not fare well here.
The Koi Pond border looked empty in April but with much new
planting it has come back very well; roses now fufill the anchor
plant role, formerly the preserve of cistus and lavateras. They
have grown incredibly well and been lavished with fish,blood and
bone fertiliser and lashings of farmyard manure thanks to our
generous neighbour Ifor Roberts. Fortunately because we left the
pumps running all winter all fish in the House and Koi Ponds
survived.
The Paddock Pond.
This was frozen over for 6 weeks and when
if thawed it became clear that all our fish and most pond life had
died - poisoned by the rotting leaves from last autumn.. A very sad
day for us as the pond has been in existence for 17 years. Keith in
chest waders, even braved the icy cold in February to see if he
could find any signs of life to no avail, but within a few short
weeks the frogs were back, then a few toads and newts but not as
many as previous years. New generations seem secure however with
masses of spawn and latterly froglets all over the gardens. Careful
where you tread!! In April we made a bulk purchase of golden rudd
and mirror carp and it is great to see life and movement in the
pond again. We love our fish and its good to have them back
again.
Tender plants. At great expense, we heated both
polytunnels during the winter and wrapped the most tender plants in
horticultural fleece and although we couldn't keep frost out most
plants survived. Principal losses were cannas, some gingers and a
red banana. Everything else, kept very dry, survived and has given
a good show to date and the cuttings of tender and half hardy
plants we took in the autumn showed the value of having this back
up available. Many of these are available for sale in the
nursery.
Vegetables. The dry weather permitted a very
early start in the veg garden and we commenced planting the
potatoes on 22 March, another record. Harvesting began on 1 June
from the first early "Swift" which has cropped fantastically well
with large tubers for an early variety. Like many other gardeners
our first sowings of carrot, parsnip and beetroot in early April
failed, because of the dry weather, but as usually happens later
sowings have almost caught up the lost time and we have had some
great carrots and brassicas which enjoyed the rain in June (glad
something did!!). Early sowings of peas (we grow Hurst Green Shaft
sown at 2 weekly intervals from early April to mid June) fared very
well, but later sowings were plagued by mice and one row was
re-sown 3 times! Even many strategically placed mousetraps could
not keep pace with them.
Herbaceous Borders. The herbaceous
borders, for many visitors the highlight of the Gardens in summer,
have been back and forward with the weather. Some have been
substantially made over of in filled this year. In April when all
the blue meconopsis (Himalayan poppies) were in flower and the
bearded iris were budding, at least 3 weeks ahead of where they
should have been, we thought there may not be much for our visitors
to see. The cool and dull weather of late May and June has
slowed things down so there is still a lot to see. We keep adding
to the borders all the time- more plants means less weeds! Do
please look carefully into the borders because apart from the
obvious stars there are many others playing a supporting role that
can be easily overlooked. As always if you would like a plant named
please speak to Keith. Some may be available for sale in the
Nursery.
Plant propagation .Keith went crazy this year
with seed sowing to augment the many cuttings taken last Autumn..
He sowed over 300 varieties of seed from the Societies he belongs
to, garden gathered seed (try it - the freshest seed you will ever
have and the best results), reduced price seed packets from garden
centres and nurseries and favourite less well known seed companies
like Chiltern Seeds and Plantworld. All this has resulted in many
plants for sale. Some are unusual or rare including a wide range of
small pots at very low prices! Do not miss the Nursery and check
out too the polytunnels. Although these contain many of our stock
plants, if we have sufficient spare we may sell some of them but
please speak to Keith and do not remove any from the tunnels and
greenhouses.
Visitors. We have already had many Group visits
this summer with more to come later in the year-a total of 20
pre-booked visits from groups and tour companies in Wales, England
and Holland. With a good attendance on the Open Day on 24 July we
are hoping to exceed last years record total. Many of these visits
have arisen as the result of talks we have given to societies and
clubs across South and West Wales during the winter months on a
diverse range of gardening topics. Please visit our website at www.cilgwynlodge.co.uk for our current range of
talks and for general information about the gardens. We also
publish monthly news updates of activities and events in the
Gardens.
Finally we would like to thank all our helpers too numerous to
name individually, without whom it would be difficult to cater for
our visitors. They support us in so many ways: with teas, car
parking, plants sales, visitor reception and provision of fields
and other occasional areas for parking.
As a visitor, we want you to have a memorable visit, so please
take time to read notices in particular those concerning your
health and safety.
We hope you enjoy your visit to the Gardens and take away some
special memories and great plants from the Nursery.
Keith and Moira