Hello everyone,

The longest month of the year – at least in my view – is now over. Evenings are drawing out to become lighter and hopefully the weather in February will be much kinder to us than in January.

Due to storm Goretti and pre-planned maintenance closures, we were shut in full or part for around 13 days in January. The damage to the garden here, and to other gardens, estates and areas of Cornwall has been well-documented. Hats off to the garden team and everyone else involved in the clear up operation here, it’s been seriously impressive. Gemma from the garden team has written an excellent piece on the ‘Digging Deep’ blog, well worth reading her description from the gardeners standpoint.

Darren mentioned in one of post-storm videos that we are now thinking, alongside other Cornish gardens, about what and how we plant to replace the trees we’ve lost in the context of our changing climate to best benefit the garden in the long term. We’ve also been contacted by a number of artists and furniture makers who are interested in using some of the lumber and we are considering how we can mill and use some onsite ourselves. The areas of the garden that storm Goretti has cleared for us also make us think about how we could use those spaces differently. Lots of opportunity to come.

On a different note, this year appears to be a very good year for snowdrops, now appearing in large number at the lower end of Petry’s Path on the bank providing a good sprinkle of white in that section of garden.

On the evening of 26 February we welcome gardener and broadcaster Chris Beardshaw for his talk, 100 Plants That Almost Changed the World. Tickets are selling well, but we still have a number available if you wish to book to join us in the Visitor Centre.

Don’t forget you can bring a friend for free to Trebah until 13 February. If you visit over the coming days please bear with us if there is work going on in the car park, we just need to repair a few surfaces before spring arrives and we become busier again.

Thanks as ever for your support as Trebah Members. We look forward to welcoming you again soon.

Best wishes, Jon
CEO, Trebah Garden