February has been a welcomed break after the consistent storms of January, and you can tell the garden feels grateful as it relaxes into what is almost spring.
Signs of the new season are showing up everywhere you look, from the yellows of the Daffodils and Acacias, to the pinks of Camellias, Magnolias and Rhododendrons.
If we are treating it by Cornish standards, spring has already arrived; it’s officially declared in the county once 6 Magnolia campbellii trees from the 14 great gardens each display 50 blooms – Trebah alone probably has enough flowers for all 6!
Catching that magnificent ball of highlighter pink against a (currently rare) bright blue sky is a natural wonder you shouldn’t miss.
Petry’s Path
Today (26th February) marks the first opening of the whole of Petry’s Path this year. The location of the path being so close to the windbreak and being in the direct path of storm Goretti meant that it was the worst hit area of the whole garden by far.
It has taken hours of work by the whole team; constant chainsawing, clearing, carrying logs, dragging brash, repairing paths, and pruning damaged shrubs, but finally we are full of pride to say that the opening of this path brings us back up to 100% of the garden being open again.
This month we have worked hard to remove the lumber of almost an entire Cupressus macrocarpa; for scale that’s the same tree as the beautiful giant by the entrance. It has been extremely physically demanding work to get this area looking tidy. If you walk down Petry’s Path just before the Amphitheatre, you’ll see the size of the chunks of the tree’s base still on the bank, along with its ginormous root plate, and you can see pretty much its exact fell path between the few shrubs left standing.
Along with the gardener’s muscle power, the tractors have had a serious workout too. Thankfully although lots of trees had fallen, almost everything was within an area close to being accessible with the tractor, which reduced Atleast some of the exertion; although carrying a log even 10 metres up a slope can feel quite difficult, especially if it’s your 20th that day!
Once all the wood was moved out and the trees were tidied, the final job was to re-lay the path.
If you were to walk down Petry’s now and look straight ahead, you would wonder if there was even a storm at all. Behind the scenes though which you can now see in glimpses, shows just how much devastation this area suffered, and allows you to imagine how it looked at the start of the year, as well as appreciating just how much work has gone in to the repair.
Badger Set Repair
Our extremely active sets along Badger’s Path are very loved by the gardeners, although sometimes these midnight explorers cause a bit of mischief to the path. A few times there have been set collapses under the path, leaving big holes to look right in to their tunnels. Although fascinating, we want to respect the badgers’ privacy, as after all it was their home first and so we have to spend some time carefully covering them back up. We do this by using a paving slab and some gravel to patch up the hole, keeping the badgers safe and hidden from humans. Next time you walk along there and you step on a paving slab, take a moment to imagine what might be happening below your feet.
Beach Clean Up
It wasn’t just the garden that was affected by the storms, the beach also took some big hits too. Large tides and strong wind caused a considerable amount of sand and debris to wash up against the boat house and on to the hardstanding picnic area. Thankfully we moved the picnic benches in advance or they might have gone for a swim in the Helford. Speaking of things floating in the estuary, a huge old tree managed to wash up and wedge itself on the beach, which had clearly been there a while. A home to barnacles and seaweed, it seemed to be thriving in its new watery habitat but we knew it wasn’t safe to let it return. Thankfully the helpful digger driver working along Petry’s took a break from logs in the garden to help with a log on the beach!
As for the rest of the beach, the team worked hard, removing tractor loads of salt-crusted debris, and scooped mountains of sand back to its natural place.
Wisteria Wisdom
February is the perfect time to prune mature Wisteria’s ready for a fantastic display in early summer. Our deputy Head Gardener has been pruning and training our big climber growing along the face of the house which always triumphs in its full sun position. Trimming back the long, creeping new shoots to 2 or 3 buds helps to redirect energy from continuing to grow and spread, and instead puts it into developing beautiful flowers for summer. Ours is carefully trained along wires and makes for a stunning display in the warmer months.
So as you can see, a very productive February indeed! Not only are all the paths now open but the flowers are beginning to slowly show themselves. It won’t be long until the storms of January and persistent rains of February are long forgotten and instead we are enjoying the sun on our faces and celebrating the m au colours of spring.
