The green and rolling countryside of Worcestershire, England, is home to the cider apple orchards which surround the gardens of Pear Tree Cottage. They enjoy a sunny south westerly aspect with sweeping views across to Martley Hillside, Woodbury and Abberley clock tower. The Teme Valley lies just over the hill and, not far away, is the Herefordshire border. Although our climate is temperate, our seasons are often uncertain and always a challenge to a gardener! This began in 2010 & follows the weekly ups and downs of garden work chronicling both successes and failures but, above all, demonstrates the fun enjoyed by three people who regularly garden in all weathers

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19 October 2017

The Charm of an Indian Summer

Garden Helper!

Wild Honeysuckle
Head Gardener has been taking a few days off from her own garden and venturing down south to Cornwall. Gardening gloves did have a short outing whilst doing some minor graveside tidying but a local robin made work very difficult as he was either perched on the headstone or the tool box!! I suppose they're used to lots of tourists.

Colour in the hotel garden
A Cabbage White sipping from a Pink Campion

Talking of gardens, in Cornwall, there wasn't the same autumn livery as up here in Worcestershire. Many hydrangeas were still blooming down there and, given that it's mid-October, the hotel garden was certainly full of colour. When walking up to Nare Point, I counted 19 different species of wild flowers actually in flower - even Dog Violets and Honeysuckle!

Back home: it's cleaning out the greenhouse, unpacking and setting in place the heat mat for the geraniums, pruning the vine and getting things organised so that the lemon tree and the oleanders have somewhere to spend winter. As the atmosphere in the greenhouse is much more humid than the conservatory, hopefully, Red Spider Mites won't decimate the lemon this winter and that it will be warm enough for the many lemons to ripen a little.






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