Busy May

 

The most incredible May has just flashed by in a blur of rose petals. Wonderful warmth brought everything on very early, and the heavy wet of the preceding autumn has meant that all our settled perennial plants, shrubs and trees have been at their very strongest and best. The gardens have never looked so good, and our open day in support of the Shropshire Historic Churches Trust at the weekend was the first at which we didn’t hear the remark, “You’ve got your work cut out for you here…” Instead, the umbrella-clutching visitors ambled through the garden in a happy daze, seeing only things to admire. Lucky that they couldn’t see the bindweed roots, lurking just beneath the soil’s surface!

In cut flower news, word really seems to have got out that we specialise in old and rambling roses, and almost every order for the last month has included some of these very exciting varieties. The florists have made some spectacularly beautiful displays with the ramblers, which seem to be at their best when given space to show their elegant arching forms, as demonstrated magnificently by royal warrant-holding florist Shane Connolly during the Chelsea Flower Show week. The soil at Downton must have fairy dust in it, as the roses which we’ve planted there are already looking thoroughly established and huge, three years in, and after much summer picking by us. Completely magical.