The Longest Day – June 21st 

Midsummer’s Day is nearly upon us, as the seasons begin to shift in the garden again.  After an incredibly dry period our weather changes and we have at last had very welcome rain and the garden has responded accordingly.  Our plants are now putting on growth and unfortunately the weeds have also benefitted!  We have spent quite a lot of time weeding again! 

The Peonies are stunning currently and as they finish their brief moment of glory, the Delphinium bed takes over.  The Delphiniums were kindly donated to us by the Delphinium Society and although some have required replacement over the years, the majority are still those originally planted.  This year we have underplanted the delphiniums with Eschscholzia Californica in orange and carmine to highlight the gorgeous blue hues of the delphinium flowers – do try to come along to see them before they finish! 

Our volunteers are vital to keeping the garden looking smart and we cannot thank them all enough. This week is Volunteers Week, so it is only fitting that we say a massive thank you to them all for helping us so much.  We are very lucky to have such a lovely team of people. 

With the arrival of the rain, we have been able to plant out bedding and the plants we have been propagating to improve the displays.  It is now safe to plant out our more tender plants so the Zinnias, Cannas and Tropicals have been added to the borders to impart an exotic feel!  The season of the Rose is approaching rapidly and our famous Roses on chains are covered in buds, we cannot wait for them to bloom soon!  

The Kitchen Garden is now producing crops. Our Broad Beans are being harvested and the peas are nearly ready!  Strawberries, Raspberries and Blueberries are all ripening in the fruit cage and the salads are being picked on a regular basis for the Chef to use in the Castle Kitchen and both our Cafés.  

Our Glasshouses are steadily being restocked and it is great to see the Pelargonium House returning to its previous glory.  We still have work to do to repair the damage the frost created but we are well on the way to them becoming a showpiece of the Gardens again. 

Our first Exclusive Garden Tour of the year takes place on Wednesday the 18th of June with limited places left, please do come along for one of our morning tours which run every month, to find out more about the gardens and the work we do here. We really do look forward to meeting you all!  

Discover our Exclusive JuneGarden Tour here