Warmth and Generosity

This has been the driest summer we’ve experienced since starting our flower growing adventures, fourteen years ago. At this point in the year, the gardens are looking tired and thirsty, and some of the plants are suffering, with much smaller flowers on the hydrangeas, and slower growth in the dahlias. We don’t water the gardens apart from when planting things out into the ground, preferring to match the right plant to the right place, and to enrich the soil with thick mulches. At Downton, where the garden is more open and exposed, and the surface soil is drier than at Stokesay, the young perennial plants have struggled quite badly. But the roses, with their deep tap roots, have been amazing, hugely abundant with masses of lovely flowers and lush fresh leaves, and those which make hips seem to be doing that very generously too. Another flower which has thrived this year has been the lily, in particular the enormous variety, ‘Freya’, which has all but taken over one of the flower beds at Stokesay this year! Each year brings its own challenges and gifts. The excitement of growing and harvesting flowers increases as the seasons go by.