WE DID IT!!!

This was way more than expected & certainly more than we dared hope for. Our beneficiaries include St. Richard's Hospice, Marie Curie, The Nora Parsons Day Centre, Wichenford Church & Memorial Hall and the Ladybird Trust. Once again - heartfelt thanks to all who made donations especially those who helped & laboured away behind the scenes. Give yourselves a BIG pat on the back & enjoy a well deserved rest! 

A more personal thank you goes to the team who helped at Pear Tree Cottage. You know who you are and we couldn't have done it without your generosity of spirit!

       

Flavours & Fruits + Fragrance & Flowers - all in one greenhouse!

This week and on one side of the greenhouse, Jasmines and Heliotropes are providing the scent whilst zonal Pelargoniums come up with the colour! It's a pleasure to walk into the greenhouse just to sniff the perfume in the air.

Meanwhile on the other side of the path, we have edibles in the form or tomatoes. The Tigerellas are just beginning to colour up whilst overhead, the grapes are swelling and ripening.  If only I could speed up the ripening process!

Now - just why is one label out of place?

Jasminum Sambac

When an expert visits.

 A few garden photos taken by a professional garden photographer: Ian Thwaites who visited Pear Tree Cottage back in May - when the garden looked very different with the limey fresh greens of spring. Right now, the garden is looking pretty parched and we really need rain. It's always so interesting to see what catches someone else's eye. 

Loads of Lovely Lavender

Preparations for yummy Lavender shortbread need to begin early! Lavender flowers have just been picked and bunched and are now drying ready for storage. The most tedious job is de-flowering the stalks when it has dried! Sometimes I make Lavender sugar as well as keeping the dried flowers for shortbread. 

This year, Chris suggested we leave some to self seed in the gravel by the summerhouse. Our Lavender came from a late customer/friend of Chris's and is known as Mrs. Slingby's Lavender! The flowers were all covered in 100's of bees and hover flies and not all enjoyed being displaced!

Enjoying our reclaimed view

On a glorious summer's day, we have been enjoying our view of Woodbury Hill once again.  It was exposed yesterday by the pollarding of a Tibetan cherry. A difficult decision but we believe that  the view is worth tolerating a rather bare tree for a while. Difficult to believe that the tree bottom left completely obscured the entire hill!

Woodbury Hill in the summer sunshine

The Joy of Jasmines

Jasminum officinale clotted cream

Jasminum trachelospermum Asiaticum

Jasminum Sambac

Got a but of a Jasmine thing going at the moment.  We have Jasmine officinale clotted cream in full flower on the trellis and in the greenhouse, we have a couple of Arabian Jasmines - Sambac (the one used as a perfume base) as if that wasn't enough perfume, we also have a Jasmine trachelospermum Asiaticum. 

Pity these pictures can't transmit their heavenly fragrance!

Operation Woodbury View

Tibetan cherry but no view

Woodbury looms into view

Over the years our perfect specimen of a Tibetan cherry (prunus serrula) had grown and grown AND GROWN.  It obscured the entire view of Woodbury Hill.  

For those who enjoy a little history: Woodbury Hill is the furthest point reached by the self claimed Prince of Wales: Owen Glendower (Owain Glyndwr) who, in 1405 brought his army to fight the English before retreating back to Wales. 

For years, we talked about, pondered over, discussed and debated possibilities. Tree or view?  View or tree?

Woodbury Hill & a pollarded Tibetan cherry!

Two years ago, we thinned the crown but it made no difference. Our view had gone. It was a plain choice - tree or view. The choice was so difficult because it was such a fine specimen and such a perfect shape. The view won and because we have planted so many trees in the garden, we consoled ourselves. The decision was made to pollard our precious Tibetan cherry.  Knowing what was on the cards - Chris arrived bright and early and we set to work! As the crown was rediced the sun came out and the hill loomed back into view.

We know we will have to tolerate a tree with no canopy for a while but we can now see over it once again. Its the age old problem of right tree in the wrong place.

Before the clear up

Triumphant Chris!

Having done the pollarding, there was a huge amount of brash on the lawn requiring a massive clear up and poor Chris managed to break a pair of ear defenders but....

Woodbury won the day!

Broken ear defenders.