This is our favourite time of year as gardeners, especially at Houghton Lodge. There is so much to see and the gardens change so quickly from week to week. The fresh vibrant green of new leaves transforms and bursts into colour when the flowers bloom.
I’m particularly happy to see the irises again; when you visit make sure to smell the light lilac ones (Iris pallida), which smell like blueberries and bubblegum. Delicious!
Here are some of our gardening tips for May
How to trim wisteria
Timing – prune twice a year, in Jan-Feb and Jul-Aug
It is now a good time to summer prune new long ‘whippy bits’ back to about 6 buds/leaves. But make sure you do this after flowering. You can leave them but theydo then have a tendency to get in the way. If you don’t want to trm them, you can train to fill any gaps if necessary.
Pruning them back will stop the Wisteria from growing too big and getting tangled in your windows and guttering. By cutting it back you will also allow more space and light to the plant which will encourage healthy new growth.
At Houghton Lodge Gardens, we also trim wisteria in winter where we cut them back to about 2 buds to create flowering spurs. Pruning the plant in winter, when the plant is dormant, will clean up the plant ready for the new season.
Tips for growing peonies
Plant in March-April or October.
Flower May-June
Our peonies are well established in the walled garden. We don’t need to tend to them too much as they look after themselves – they are clearly very happy in their position.
Flowers are deadheaded throughout the flowering season to make everything nice and tidy (especially if we have a wedding in the garden!). We also make sure to cut them hard back in Autumn and mulch them well in winter.
Tip for planing peonies
If you are planting new peonies: don’t plant too deep or they won’t flower. Plant in rich well-drained soil, never plant in waterlogged soil and don’t over water new plants.
As the large flowers bloom, they do tend to get heavy and can droop. To help support the peonies in the walled garden, we have circular iron made by Darren Howard which provide support for our peonies.
You may have noticed that ants love peony buds – don’t panic! They won’t cause any harm, the buds are just very sweet before opening.
We hope to see you soon, we’ve been having some lovely chats with visitors recently and we can’t wait for the peony walk to bloom. It is very close to happening now.
Many Thanks
Cat
