We were hard at work in the Gardens as Glyn wandered in, attached to his coffee cup. “Is it Thursday?” he asked, looking confused – Thursday being the day when the volunteers normally meet. “Have I slept for four days?!” He peered bleerily around as he heard the scraping sound of metal on tarmac.
Glyn looked confused: “Have I slept for 4 days?”
John was busy cutting down a tree that had died. I was tidying up the wilting ox-eye daisies by the apple trees. And Harry Jones, Secretary of the Cowbridge Charter Trust who support our work financially, had kindly turned up for the second day to scrape the weeds off the paths. He’d brought his own tools with him – and his wife Barbara to sweep up after him.
Harry and Barbara did a sterling job of tidying the edges for us!
It was a hive of activity and Glyn felt obliged to help fill a green bag with some of the chopped wood. The best part, though, were the biscuits that Harry handed around.
The Old Hall Gardeners celebrated receiving the Green Flag award for 2023. Cake and Prosecco replaced the usual coffee and biscuits at break time, Thursday 21 July.
The second of the Ivy towers by the seats was demolished today. It will open up that area and allow us to see the flower bed which has been obscured for years.
John and Glyn discussing tactics, while Gwen tidied the far end of the Library bed.John and Glyn tackled the final stage of removing an Ivy tower by the seating area.
Just around the corner from them, Lyn was extracting weeds from the Library border. There was a mass of Marjoram which was taking over the whole bed! The plan is to make space for some scented roses and other fragrant plants.
Lyn showing us the long roots of Marjoram, which had been choking the other plants.Betty raking grass around the Judas tree.Sue tidying the pots, ready to be planted with summer flowers.Margaret was hiding in the bushes, clearing a space for bergenias to be planted.
There was a cool breeze in the air but the sun was shining brightly as I entered the Old Hall Gardens this morning.
The view across to the Library.The Woodland area.
I’d staggered across the road carrying bags of Daffodils-in-the-green to be planted around the edge of the Meadow. The hope is that these will settle in to provide a welcome display at the South Gate entrance next spring. There were 250 of them! The variety we’d chosen was the Tenby Daffodil, Narcissus obvallaris. This is the species that grows wild in South Wales, and is particularly suitable for planting in rough grass or meadows where it will ‘naturalise’ i.e. spread if left undisturbed and not dead-headed.
Bags of Tenby Daffodils – we managed to plant all 250 bulbs!
Another job that really had to be tackled today was to cut back the Willow near the compost area. We cut it back hard each spring so that it will grow fresh wood to provide some colour in the winter months. The leaves were starting to sprout so it was high time to trim it back to just one or two buds. It never ceases to amaze me how rapidly it fights back: the long shoots in the photograph are one year’s growth! Pamela was relishing the task, and was rightly pleased with her efforts when she managed to finish it in time for coffee in Happy Days!
The Willow towered above Pamela’s head – but she soon had it cut down to size!
Just around the corner from her, Julie and Sue (who limped in after a few weeks off with a bad knee) were continuing their battle with an Ivy tower. Its demolition is nearing completion and already the nearby Acer and Clematis have more space to breathe.
Julie and Sue were working hard on an Ivy tower. The red Acer behind them will be a bright feature now that we can see it!
Dick was another one with a knee problem and arrived propped up by a walking stick! I don’t know how he manages but he has greatly improved the bed along the east wall. He’s even created an ‘edge’, albeit slightly wiggly – but we agreed that it’s in keeping with the adjacent Meadow area.
John, meanwhile, was busy rescuing little Hellebore seedlings and potting them up. This was very successful with some that we’d rescued last year, which we’d planted out under the Magnolia tree. We plan to add these to the collection in the autumn, by which time the seedlings should have developed a strong root system.
It was beginning to feel like spring at last! The Easter weekend was just ahead of us but we still got a lot of work done between the few gardeners able to make it.
Up on the ramparts, Betty and Gwen made a start on cutting back the dead vegetation – lots of stalks and flower heads of Marjoram in particular. It’s amazing how much that has spread!
Betty and Gwen enjoying the sunshine.
Glyn tackled another Ivy tower, this time behind the seating area. These towers were erected about ten years ago, to obscure a “wasteland”. However, they are now obscuring a flower bed and, in particular, the stunning flowers of Quince which have been carefully trained by Richard Browning.
Glyn was delighted to expose the bright blossom of Quince that had been obscured by Ivy towers.
Margaret’s first job was sweeping magnolia leaves off the path, which would be quite slippery as soon as the rain hits it. She later retreated to her favourite corner of the gardens, only to emerge for biscuit break.
Meanwhile John worked on the Woodland path, spreading several bags of wood chippings that he’d collected earlier in the week. We’re hoping that this will encourage people to keep to the path rather than charging across the spring flowers that we’ve planted. Besides, it looks so much better and inviting – and it wasn’t long before our visitors were tempted to use it.
The Woodland path.
Our efforts were rewarded by a visit from Easter Bunny!
We were lucky with the weather; it rained non-stop the following day, and the night before the pavements were flooded!
John had made a new slate sign for the Wood anemones now in flower, and the signs from last year – for the Fritillaries and Pasqueflower – were still good enough to use.John was testing out his idea for the design of a bird table to rest on the Mimosa.Glyn and John worked hard to remove some of the Marjoram that was taking over the bed by the Library.They dug three big holes where we are planning to plant some fragrant roses, and prepared the area with horticultural grit. I think they deserve a biscuit!Betty was determined to do her bit before having to rush off for a hospital check-up. I don’t know how she managed to clear the entire path! I’m not even sure she stayed for Biscuit Break.Beverly managed to finish cutting back all the dead foliage in the centre of the Pond. It’s a huge improvement – we can now see the bright yellow Marsh marigolds! She deserves a biscuit, too (actually, if she hadn’t turned up with the biscuit tin we wouldn’t have had any)
Beverly was bemoaning the fact that she had to use one of the new wheelbarrows! Why?? “I’d grown rather fond of the old one,” she explained wistfully: “It had drainage holes in it so the pond water could leak out.” But it was too battered even for her in the end, and one of the handles had come away as well. John, who is normally quite helpful, didn’t offer to drill holes in a new barrow.
The battered old wheelbarrow with “drainage holes”. It wasn’t long before the scrap metal merchant had whisked it away.Margaret, Pamela and Gwen finished pruning the Cornus.Gwen was busy sweeping up leaves and then gave our yard a spring-clean as well. Julie was doing a similarly meticulous job tending her Cyclamen.
I was weeding and tackled some of the Alkanet that tends to spread and take over an area. I was quite pleased with myself when I managed to extract the full length of a root – they usually break off.
The long black root of Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens). My shoe is there for scale: I couldn’t believe how far down the plant reaches in the soil!Richard was happy among the daffodils, where he was pruning the last of the Lavender shrubs. He only came down from the ramparts for a chocolate biscuit or two.
We were lucky with the weather on Thursday 23rd March: it was mild enough (just!) for Beverly to take the plunge for the first time this year. There is still a lot of brown vegetation in the middle of the pond to be cut back and it’s getting tricky now with the new growth coming through. We had started this in late autumn but for months it has been too cold to finish the job.
Beverly took to the water to cut back the dead vegetation in the middle of the Pond.
Something else that had died and needed to be cut back, sadly, was the Mimosa tree which had become a focus of attention in early spring with its glorious display of golden flowers. They are quite delicate trees and the long dry summer followed by severe frosts of recent months have put too great a strain on it. There was no life left and today we decided to cut it down.
Glyn offered to cut down the Mimosa. You can see by its split trunk that it has been struggling for some time.
We thought we’d leave the trunk for now, and there is talk of creating a bird table around it – another ‘little job’ for John!
But in the meantime, Glyn used it as a coffee-cup holder. “What do you mean I can’t leave my cup here? I’ve been doing all the work around here I’ll have you know!”
It was also time to cut back the Dogwoods, starting with the red ones (Cornus alba ‘sibirica’) which were already coming into leaf. I’ve written this up in detail in an earlier blog/article: basically we cut back last year’s growth to one or two buds so that we get strong, brightly coloured stems again for next winter.
Red Dogwoods to be cut back.There was plenty of activity with pruning and sawing and bagging up.
We’re thinking we should have a shredder instead of filling loads of bags each week for the Council to collect! We would then be able to compost a lot more of the garden waste ourselves.
And finally, you may have noticed the neatly cut grass in the above photos: the Council came to mow early this morning, for their first cut of the year.
The Council cut the grass for the first time this year – it looks so much better!
John has found a frame for our Certificate and put it on display by the main entrance into the Gardens.He’s also working on some new signs to put up: this one is to point out where Fritillaries are popping up in the Meadow.
Old Hall Gardens of Cowbridge 