April seems a along time ago now, the gardens were closed to the public as was the tea room ☹. We always look forward to Honesty opening, purely for the company you understand, not the coffee and the array of cakes that they bring!
But all has changed!!!! Happily we are open again, in a ‘socially distanced’ manner with one way systems within the walled and peacock garden. The feedback from our visitors has been really encouraging, saying how safe they feel.
It is so lovely to welcome old, new and many returning visitors after several years absence! We have so many complimentary comments and those visitors who have not visited the gardens for some years say that the gardens have improved immensely and it is for that reason we do what we do, creating an environment that is a pleasure for you to be in.
We transitioned from spring to midsummer in a blink of an eye, sadly the sweet peas, which have put on such a wonderful show and scent sensation have left us, but the cut flower beds, long border and veranda have taken over.
The cut flower beds are providing us with a fine selection of flowers. The boldest @visually’ are the dahlias, gladioli and delphiniums, but they are complimented by Cosmos bipinatus ‘purity’ – ‘candy stripe’ – ‘double Dutch white’ rudbeckia, helianthus annuis, euphorbia oblongata, ammi majus, ammi visnaga and salvia viridis ‘blue Monday’ has certainly captured many visitor’s interest, as has our achillea wild flower bed, which has displayed such a wonderful range of pastel colours. We are deadheading the achillea to hopefully get a second flush for later in the season.
New for 2020 are two flower beds in front of the east wall. These are intended to be Iris beds, and the majority of them will be planted this autumn. They are currently home to Iris ‘Jane Phillips’, a deep purple unnamed Iris and rose Perle d’Or and Archduc Joseph. Underplanted with gaura ‘whirling butterflies’, geum, grass molinea caerulea ‘transparent’, geranuim ‘Kashmir white’ and a lovely monarda (bee balm, bergamot) and didyma ‘lambada’ all which seem to like this baking hot position.
The Hosta bed, now in its 3rd year, is going from strength to strength (that means bigger and bigger), all seem to have survived and are un affected by slugs thanks to the heat wave and biological warfare i.e. Nematodes!!
This year we seem to be having a bumper fruit crop! The pear and apple trees are displaying an abundance of fruit and are allowing many fruit to fall, and we welcome visitors to ‘scrump’ wind falls. There are at least five different varieties of cooking apples and some of the pears are just ripening (pyrus mercer). Last year was a pretty barren year for fruit and I’m looking forward to tasting my favourite apple! I’m not saying which it is 😊.
Abruptly we seem to have come out of the heat wave that has been with us for what seems like an eternity and we welcome ‘reservedly’ the rain and cooler weather. With more moisture in the air, combined with the heat, now is the time to spray your box hedging: use a fungicide that specifically lists box blight as being effective against, or there are products from ‘Top Buxus’ which are available. Our box (buxus sempervirens) has recovered magnificently over the past 5 years from previous blight infection but can still get affected. A timely treatment can prevent the unsightly effects of box blight.
Houghton Lodge and Gardens is returning to a sense of normality, we look forward to welcoming you to our gardens but remember to book in advance for garden entry. Honesty will be only too pleased to provide you with tea and cake on the tea room terrace, where you can view the walled garden and perhaps decide to return for a longer visit.
