Welcome to the 10th Anniversary of our website
Thursday, February 28, 2019
Quite a different start to our Web News this month with an
overview as to how our Website came into being
In order to break up a lot of text, I have included some pics
from 2010 which I have never previously published, starting with
this one which captures one of the 2 coldest winters we have
experienced here
Until I retired from the office I had never owned a computer,
but in 2006 the time came to join the massed ranks of those who did
as I would no longer have access to my computer at work. It was
impossible to conceive how I would manage without one because
searching the Web and sending and receiving e mails had become part
of my everyday life. I did not find the technology easy, but I was
fortunate to have had excellent support from work colleagues. Once
they were no longer there I did have Edward(Ed), the son of our
friends Sylvia and Tony, who has his own IT business, to help and
advise me. He immediately set up a Web domain for Cilgwyn Lodge for
when I began our website! I had never considered the process
of what was involved with having one and I was quite daunted
at the prospect!
On reflection it did make sense because by that time we had been
opening for the National Garden Scheme, the gardens here since
2000. I also embarked in 2003 on the Gardening Talks circuit across
Wales and occasionally into England We were also having coach trips
from parts of Europe particularly Holland. A website made sense to
advertise all these.
Ed. set up a Website platform using the Umbraco template which I
have used ever since. The first publication was on 2 February 2010,
covering the month of January. In the introduction on launching it
I wrote what a great experience and a thrill it was to communicate
with people in this way and that I would aim to provide
monthly News updates on what what was happening in the
gardens, our horticultural lives and the wider world of the
countryside all around us. I did wonder however how I would be able
to do this when we were really busy in the garden but I am proud to
say that every month without fail, even when I was hospitalised for
several weeks in 2016, I have managed to keep faith with that
commitment.
Countryside views all around us
This is the former mansion house for which
Cilgwyn Lodge was the main entrance lodge. Our distant predecessors
were the Lloyd family who lived in the lodge from the early 1920's
and we were fortunate to meet Dai one of the large family of 10
children who lived in the lodge and all shared one upstairs
bedroom! We acquired some treasured photos from Dai, his daughter
Heather and other members of the family.
There was little that could be done in the garden
so Moira and I went on numerous walks including some local places
we had rarely visited. This is a walk alongside the River Towy,
Carmarthenshire's main river.
It is illuminating to reflect on all the News Items I have
written in the past 10 years, which provide a valuable diary of our
garden at all times of the year. from the early ones when I
was still "Learning my Trade!" to the latest ones. I did not
however for some time include pictures to illustrate the text. It
took me quite a while to learn how to do this, being slow in the
uptake in the world of IT!! (or just perhaps plain thick!) A
suitable excuse is that it was (and still is) also thanks to the
very slow Broadband speed we have here. Once I did include pics it
made a world of difference to the end product and as in Chinese
proverb it is said - "One picture is worth a thousand
words".
We have had 8 cats since we have lived here and
this was our largest one, a stray who came to stay. We called him
Bojo, a derivation from the name we gave him originally, Mr
Bojangles!
As the years have gone by it is clear to see how my style has
changed and I have to say i still really do enjoy writing the News
every month. If I look hard enough there is always something of
interest to write about and we hope that you will continue to visit
the News monthly. If you haven't previously done so you may find it
interesting to visit some of the earlier News items which are still
accessible by scrolling down the News Icon in the heading to the
webiste.
It generally takes me about 10 - 14 days, often late in the
evening or when the muse is with me, to slowly build the article,
to load all the pics, and attach the links to other websites. I
still can't believe at times that I am doing this now. Moira is my
proof reader and nothing escapes her keen eyes!
Pictures make a huge difference to capture the highlights of the
month. This months being the trips to the snowdrop gardens we
visited which are reported on later
Although I don't indulge in social media it is good to
communicate through our News bulletins with friends, fellow
gardeners, previous visitors to the gardens when we opened for the
NGS, or attended my talks. It is a source of regret that because of
my illness I am no longer able to deliver them. We are also aware
that other members of the public interested in gardening,
wildlife and countryside visit the site..Unlike some Blogs
that invite 2 way communications I have not embarked down this
road. We do however occassionally get e.mails from readers which we
feel comfortable with and are good to
have.
So please keep reading and tell you friends and family
about the website
Weather
This February the weather has been much different from that in
2010 when I wrote about frequent snow and severe temperatures down
to -16C on 2 occasions. This was a continuation from January which
was another exceptionally cold month. As a consequence of this,
there were no hellebores in flower and the snowdrops had only just
started to come into bloom.
This year we had hellebores in flower at Christmas and many
snowdrops were already in bloom. We did have sme snow and a couple
of cold nights which scarcely troubled the plants.
Kit Kat our current cat of 6 years was most
insistent that he appeared this month, after Bojo had a mention. He
wasn't the least bit troubled by the snow
The most predominant weather feature was the warm spells we had
in several spells during the month. As it draws to close it has
been declared to be the 2nd warmest February month and there were 2
days when the highest temperature ever was recorded 21C, which I
also recorded here on digital and mercury thermometers
The only time there was any ice on the Paddock
Pond following 2 nights of - 8 C
at the beginning of the month
The weather stats make interesting
reading:-
There were 14 sunshine days, max 20C on 20th and 24th and
21C on 25th and 26th
Only 6 rain days! rainfall of 2.25" - in our normally wet part
of Wales
7 days of changeable weather
One day of snow cover on 1st
And 6 frosty nights min -8C on 2nd and 3rd
A February to remember.
Take a close look at the vegitation at the pond
edge which looks yellow but it isn't. It was the effect of sunshine
on the leaves - just unreal!. The ever changing sky is one of the
greatest free shows on earth.
Garden update
The fine weather was the perfect opportunity to complete cutting
back the borders and to cart taway all the brash.
Which then revealed a lot of weeds in active growth, especially our
old favourites bitter cress and lesser willow herb which are
our most common weeds As last year I sprayed them all with
glyphosate, avoiding the emerging ornamental perennials. It was
very effective within 3- 4 weeks. This was a far better outcome
than I was expecting because Glyphosate is stated
to only be effective from spring onwards. There was hardly any hand
weeding to do and by taking the weeds out early they did not have
the chance to flower and set seed, a particular problem with bitter
cress. It will substantially reduce our workload
if we have the same outcome this year.
The daffodils after being in bud for some weeks
responded to the warmth and are now romping away.
I have always been fan of narcissus cyclamineus hybrids
with familiar swept back perianth
This cultivar is "Rapture"
And this is the true species form
which was used in the crosses of all the cyclamineus group. Flowers
just 2 inches long.
"Jet Fire" is a deservedly popular form of the
Group
But "February Gold" living up to it's name is
always the first daffodil here to flower
To set off the tidy borders I made the first cut of the
lawns this year follwed by application of lawn feed which greened
up the lawns considerably after well timed heavy rain! Check
out the apple tree in the pic. I refer to it next.
In mid month thanks to our friends Liz and Paul who have a
small chain saw on an extentable pole, we we cut back our largest
Bramley apple tree which has only once before been pruned properly
in my time here. It had become too overbearing where it is
situated, taking light, valuable moisture and nutrients from
surrounding plants. And,as I experienced last autumn, it was
increasingly difficult to harvest the apples. All done in just over
4 hours!
In the tunnels seeds sown over the last month or so have
germinated well but unfortunately mice found them and chewed off
many of the recently emerged cotyledons before the
true leaves had a chance to form. Lettuce and dianthus seeds were
the worst affected; mouse traps are now in place, sothe seeds
lost have been re -sown and the situation has been
retrieved.
In order to avoid similar mishaps with the sweet pea
seedlings which rodents adore, all these pots are set on boards
resting on the crop bars of the large tunnel.
What's looking good?
Hellebores of course. Press me hard enough at this time
of year and I will confess to them being my all time favourite
plant. Until next month!
Top of the bill is the wonderful collection of over 330
hellebores, some of which are the result of seedlings becoming
established in the wilder areas of the garden: in the more
ornamental parts of the garden where we have some of our best
plants, the seed heads are ruthlessly cut off in summer before the
seed has chance to ripen and spread
Helen Ballard's beautiful "Ushba"
Farmyard Nurseries strain of
H.Hybridus
Eric Smithii cross "Mollys White" a recent
introduction
On the subject of hellebores we continue to acquire new forms of
inter species crosses arising from the crossing of 3 helleborus
species H. Niger, H. argutifolius and H. lividus the progeny of
which are categorised as X Ericsmithi, named after the man who made
the first crossings of them. There are also crosses of h.niger and
argutifolius called X nigercors; Niger and lividus called X
balladiae. , and finally argutifolius and lividus called X sternii.
It is all getting more and more difficult to understand or
remember! Whatever - does it really matter even to a hellebore geek
like me? Let us still enjoy them!
Another special group of these with highly marbled leaves coming
from the h. lividus in the cross, is classifed as Rodney Davey
Marbled Group, from the name of the breeder who sadly has now
retired. There are a number of commercial players in this newer
market including Frostkiss, Helleborus Gold Collection (HGC)
and Winter Angels. I understand that the plants for sale are
raised by tissue culture and are subject to Plant Breeders rights,
unlike most of the more common helleborus X hybridus (previoulsy
erroneously named as H. Orientalis), good forms which come
from carefully selected seed. Many purists stlil appear to prefer
this group for its range of colours and forms.
See a mass planting of tissue cultured forms however and
I would contend that they do make a good impact because of their
height and in some cultivars a mix of unusual coloured
flowers with attractive leaves.
Marbled leaves in the Rodney Davey Group are a choice
feature for me
2 bowls of floated hellebores,
H. hybridus on the right with the wider range of colours but rarely
ever named unlike, the Eric Smithii group and others on the
left: names of some of them are "Moondance" "Penny's Pink". "Anna's
Red" "Reannas Purple" "Pink Beauty", " Angel Glow" and "Sallys
Shell" Available in many nurseries and garden centres.
Snowdrops are having a terrific time and beginning to bulk up
well as I have regularly transplanted them from larger clumps
elswhere in the garden.
The wild woodland garden almost at its peak at
this time of year
On the edge of the woodland at the month end this lovely
pale blue hepatica
Edgeworthia chrysantha
For years I have covetted this most beautiful highly scented
winter flowering shrub, but having in the past tried to grow it
from small plants, I have failed miserably to get it to flowering
size. It is a notoriously tricky plant to grow and place in the
garden, and like several other choice winter shrubs it is not hardy
in winters where frosts of -5C and above are regular occurrances.
It is a native of China and the Himalayas and was collected in the
mid 1800's by a Victorian plant hunter Michael Packenham
Edgeworth whom I must confess I had never previouly heard of. His
name of course is remembered in the plant.
Amazing what you learn when you research rare or unfamiliar
plants, and another feature of this plant is the family it belongs
to - the Thymelaeaceae, not a family I am familiar with, altough
the most common member is daphnes, but there is also a significant
amount of other, genus, species and
cultivars.
The highly scented flowers have been a bee magnet
in the warm weather
Wildlife and countryside
Lambing is now getting into its stride and fields are filling up
fast. It is such a cheery time of year and the youthful exubrance
of lambs is a joy to behold; one of the best indicators that spring
is on its way. Some ewes are yet to have their lambs and feeding
time is a popular event!
The pesky magpies are once again nest building in the tall fir
trees in the Paddock Garden. They often remind me of urban
terrorists with their machine gun cackle and taste for fledgeling
birds. Not a favourite bird of mine as you will have guessed!
The first celandines are opening, but frogs were conspicuous by
their absence throughout the month which was surprising
considering the relatively mild conditions and some rainy
evenings. I have only seen one toad which are usually later than
the frogs
Visits
What a busy month! 2 famous snowdrop gardens in Gloucestershire,
and the Llandysul Winter Gardening Weekend:- plant sales, talks
(snowdrops, hellebores and other subjects over the course of 3
days) -not that we attended them all.
.And our monthly HPS meeting featuring - you guessed it -
another talk on snowdrops! After months in the winter doldrums the
horticultural world has gone gloriously mad!!
Snowdrop Gardens
Painswick Rococo Gardens www.rococogarden.org.uk
A large 200 year old woodland garden is augmneted by recent
developments to create more visitor attractions over a longer
period of the year . There are some beautiful old garden
buildings in the Gothic style, which for us living in a Gothic
house was of great interest
Moira and Sylvia our long term friend with whom we
stayed
More posing from Sylvia and Moira with Tony hiding
behind a pillar. I never knew after nearly 50 years of knowing him
that he is camera shy!!
Huge drifts of winter aconites were a nice change
from snowdrops
Colesbourne Park www.colesbournegardens.org.uk
What an entrance - straight out of the parking
field and into this.
Useful labelling although not universal is
neverteless welcome. Care does however have to be exercised by
garden owners because thefts of rare and or expensive forms are not
unusual
The large lake is an intriguing presence not the
least because of the 3 colours it exhibits, especially the
aquamarine blue which only affects part of the lake. It is caused
by minute colloidal clay particles which reflect blue light
waves.
Snowdrops are everywhere, in this case forming a
white ring around the lake
Plant sales feature a good range of snowdrops from
the gardens
And what about one of these raritities? Check the
price carefully before you put your hand in the
pocket!!
"Green Tears" quite a change ot the many of the
white forms
There is a good range of other winter flowering plants
all over the gardens adding to the interest levels
It is a sensational garden lovingly tended by
generations of the Elwes family one that gave me a tingle up the
spine every time we turned a corner and has that comfortable lived
in feel that old family gardens like this have. Check the website
for open days during the rest of the year.
Winter Gardening Weekend
The woodland garden was beautifully planted with many
fine plants, especially this rarely encountered member of the
saxifraga family, chrysosplenium macrophyllum. We grow it here in
deep shade but it has never looked as good as this.
Farmyard Nurseries huge plant sales
area
An exceptionally long News to celebrate our 10th
anniversary of the website and we hope you have enjoyed it as we
all look forward to a good gardening year. Thanks for reading and
do please come back next month.
Keith and Moira