What's Going on in the Garden this Month

What's Happening in August

It feels like Spring was only yesterday but here we are now in August.

The last few weeks have been kind to the garden with a generous amount of rain. Whilst none of us like the rain during summer, it‘s clearly noticeable that our lawns have greened up and our borders are full of happy plants in contrast to last years drought.

A border that was created in place of a large overgrown hedge on the main walkway from our carpark to the hotel is full of colour. Flowers such as rudbeckia, tithonia, gaura and zinnia line the path and the lilies are producing a beautiful scent. 

Our gardeners have noticed a huge increase in butterfly and bumblebee activity this year, which makes us extremely happy. 

And after our wisteria was given a very heavy prune in winter it has proven a great success. The display of flowers being the best in years, flowering twice and still pushing new buds out.

Here's a look at some of the tasks that our gardeners will be up to over the next few weeks.

•    Summer pruning our two wisterias. This is something that anyone with a wisteria should do to encourage flower buds to form rather than too much green growth. Prune back the new whippy growth to five or six leaves after it has flowered. 

•    Continuing deadheading. This is a simple but very important job. Removing flower heads that have dropped their petals and are starting to form seeds will help the plant to put its energy into producing more flowers, keeping your borders colourful and providing pollen for our garden insects all summer long. 

•    Watering potted plants and hanging baskets, whilst also feeding them once a week with liquid seaweed. 

•    Regular lawn mowing. With the risk of drought usually present at this time of the year it’s advisable to mow that little bit higher and to also allow the grass cuttings to fall to the ground rather than collect it in the catcher. This very quickly breaks down back into the soil and feeds the grass, keeping it healthier and greener for longer.

•    Seed collecting. This is something that we recommend for all gardeners and is something that you can also share with your neighbours, friends and family.

•    Cutting back hardy geraniums to encourage a flush of fresh foliage and flowers.

•    Cutting back the stems of herbaceous plants that have finished flowering, such as day lilies .

•    Taking cuttings from plants such as lavender, buddleia, fuchsia and pelargoniums.

Our gardeners are also now planning for next year, considering what has been a success this year in both our flower beds and the vegetable garden and what they might do different next time. This includes more thought out colour schemes and where to add more scent. They have noticed that certain vegetables have really struggled this year so are planning to incorporate plenty of organic matter, such as compost and manure, to the vegetable garden over the winter months to help boost next years food production.  

Our gardeners have been receiving a lot of wonderful comments from our guests and would like to thank you all for taking the time to appreciate their work.   

View Current Breaks & Offers