With more than 76 different varieties of Dahlia planted throughout the gardens, there really is no better place to see the flower this summer. Our gardening team will be giving talks and holding workshops on the flowers each day and there will be the opportunity to learn how to grow your own Dahlias at home.

Standard entry prices apply. For full details, call 01304 619 919.

Gates to the garden will reopen at 5:30 for this exclusive event. Join us on the Tea Room decking for a glass of wine as we wait for the sun to set, before being led round by our knowledgable gardening team who will share their knowledge of the various flowers in bloom.

Dusk tours are always extremely popular. Make sure you don’t miss out – reserve your space by calling us on
01304 619 919 today! Tickets cost £12 per person and include a glass of wine on the terrace.

Between March 26 and April 1, we expect more than 10,000 daffodils to be flowering from the 30 varieties planted this winter in The Secret Gardens.

Our friendly gardeners will be out in the grounds and on hand to give tips and advice on how to make your own daffodil display look its best.

After your trip, enjoy a slice of cake and a traditional cream tea in the new Tea Room and collect some souvenirs of your day from The Luxury Gift Shop.

Picture courtesy of Freefoto, Flickr.

December is the month of short days and cold nights. Slowly through the autumn the days have been getting shorter by roughly three minutes until the 22 December when the tide changes and the days begin to lengthen again. There are so many plants that respond to the shortening days and the cold weather and fewer are better or more well known than the dog wood family (Cornus spp). This versatile family includes natives to the British isles and there are not as many native trees and shrubs as you would think! Most are introductions by man; they are trees like (cornus controversa ‘variegata’), shrubs (cornus Alba), groundcover (cornus Canadensis) and a few woody based perennials. Many are grown for their showy flowers (not flowers at all but modified leaves called bracts) some for their variegated leaves or for autumn colours.

But the winter stems of these plants are the stars of the winter show for so many reasons, not least because they come in red but also yellow, orange, black, silvery/white or combinations of those colours.

Cornus Alba ‘sibirica’ has almost unbelievable red stems in winter and although most cornus’ look interesting in winter without leaves, some like this one stand out above the rest for not being too fussy where it grows. It copes with shade and poor conditions as well as heavy soils. The books will tell you it does best on rich neutral to acidic soil, but in our garden at The Salutation they cope well with dry poor conditions that are in places alkaline. Having said this, our soil is deep so I would not recommend them on thin soil with underlying chalk and you can’t prune them as hard but otherwise they do admirably. Now, if you want the best from the albas, cut them back annually to a desired height (you can even cut them to the floor) to encourage new growth which is the brightest red because as the stems age they lose the intensity of colour and that’s what you want from them. However, don’t do this till march. This species also has white flowers in the summer, often followed by white berries hence the ‘Alba’ in the name meaning white so have true year round interest.

Jobs this month

Start planning for the summer in your garden by making a wish list of plants you want to grow from seed catalogues. I can’t think of much better than being in front of an open fire looking and salivating over all the new plants I would like to have and how I might use them in combination together. It will help you remain enthusiastic about your garden even if you’re not brave (or stupid) enough to be out there.
Enjoy thinking more than doing your garden; remember the best gardens are the best gardens because their owners love them and that start in the way you think about gardening!

Known collectively as The English Country Garden, Paul’s installations will be  on show at six unique venues throughout the summer.

Comprising 12,000 individually hand-thrown ceramic blooms mounted on metal rods, Paul’s work celebrates the quintessentially-British love of flowers. Blooms are displayed in a manner that is both unique and impactful, and aims to provide an accessible way of viewing contemporary ceramic art.

His installation at The Secret Gardens features 1,000 tulips, and can be seen from May 2012.

For full details on Paul Cummins Ceramics, visit his website. And to read about his work in the news, check out this article in The Telegraph.

It’s been some time since I last updated my blog. It’s been a busy summer in the garden and we’ve had a real success with the stunning Long Border finally coming into full glory – but not without a lot of blood, sweat and tears in the process.

I’m going to update my blog on a monthly basis. Some months I’ll be busy scribbling my thoughts down for one of the office staff to type up (if they can read my handwriting of course!) and some months we’ll be recording video diaries. Stay tuned!

November

This month is when we start to get the real winter weather frosts and cold mornings start to be a regular occurrence. This brings some of the most spectacular autumnal colourings of trees and shrubs, and here at The Secret Gardens, we like to make sure during the restoration that as trees are removed, we give careful considerations to their replacements, ensuring they are the right tree or shrub for our soil type.

We also consider whether the eventual height and spread of the plant is appropriate for its location as there is nothing more upsetting than having to pay someone to remove a beautiful young plant specimen just because it has outgrown its allotted space and is still getting bigger. This can be because of a number of reasons but the most common is that the individual buying the plant does not realise just how big it’s going to get in 5-10 years.

Another consideration is that the tree/shrub has more than one season of interest, which is so important for plants in small gardens. Yes, we have three-and-a-half acres of space here at The Secret Gardens, but it is compartmentalised into ‘rooms’ which all have different themes/atmospheres, and each one is more likened to different sized back gardens than to an estate or park garden.

Parotia persica, the Persian ironwood (Hamamelidaceae), is one of those small garden trees with more than one season of interest; the autumn colours are of rich plum, orange and yellow, and are some of the best on any tree, but then as the tree ages the bark flakes off leaving a very pretty mottled look for the winter. In the late winter/early spring, small red flowers open from the old wood up and down the stems and branches. This is because it is related to the witch hazel that has this same curious characteristic.

Another great autumnal tree (and there are far more than I can mention here) is Amelanchier lamarckii. This small tree often needs no introduction – it is well known and deservedly so. In spring it produces creamy white flowers that are so prolific that it looks like a small snowstorm in the border (which, I imagine, is why one of its common names is the Snowy Mespilus), yet in the autumn, this delightful small tree takes on a vivid orange/red colour as the leaves begin to fall in a quite spectacular fashion.

So next time you’re out and about this month, don’t just tighten your jacket and walk head down – keep your chin up. It might be cold but there is more colour to see in the landscape than just flowers.

Jobs this month

Keep your garden looking its best year-round with these quick tips:

• Start planning your winter projects – this is a great time of year to be getting stuck into construction work (plus, it’ll keep you warm!)
• There is still time to plant bulbs if the ground is not frozen
• Don’t let leaves build up too much around plant crowns as they may rot them
• Clear your greenhouse and if you haven’t done so already move plants you want to protect from wet or cold inside

Budding gardeners and plant fans can grab a bargain in our plant sale, which starts on Monday October 31.

We are offering 50% off the price of ALL plants and flowers to make way for next year’s displays.

The plant sale will take place outside the Salutation Gift Shop, at the entrance to the gardens.

For more information, call The Secret Gardens on 01304 619 919.