The monthly newsletter of —April 2021

Warm welcome back to our volunteers

After a break of nearly 3 months it’s great to be able to welcome back the garden volunteers. At such a busy time, the volunteers will help enormously maintaining the gardens. As we move into spring, with the milder and longer days the gardens really start to come to life, with buds bursting into growth and spring flowers adorning the estate. The garden team have been busy cutting the . This would normally be cut in January but with the maze being closed this has been delayed but the team have done a tremendous job (see right) We have been working in the , one of my favourite areas this time of the year, lots of blossom and early spring colour. Working our way through the beds, weeding, lifting and moving any plants that need to be, giving the bed a straight, clean edge always lifts the area. With the rose pruning now complete in the Rose Garden, we are removing the old mulch and renewing with an organic soil improver based on traditional farmyard manure. This will give better drainage and aeration whilst improving structure and fertility of the soil. Being peat free with a neutral pH, we will mulch to a depth of about 25mm and let the worms do their work. Anthony and Xanthe, along with ranger Josh have been doing some turf repairs down by the boat house, (see below) readying the area for when the boating operations can begin in April

Blossom watch around the gardens The fleeting beauty of blossom is something that is celebrated in Japan with the traditional custom of Hanami, meaning ‘flower viewing’. Seeing a tree full of blossom can lift spirits and give you a sense of well being. After such a long and difficult winter for many of us let us celebrate this spring with an abundance of beautiful blossom. Prunus cerasifera ‘Nigra’ (right) is a stunning tree that is seen by many of our visitors as they walk from the overflow car park. The masses of flowers are a delicate pink that bees adore. One of the best loved trees at Cliveden is Prunus ‘Shirotae’ (far right) near the conservatory café, visitors love to have a Photo under its honey-scented, blossom laden boughs.

Water Garden - Planting the new project bed The exciting news is we will be planting Prunus ‘Tai Haku’ the Great White Cherry in the new Water Garden project bed in the next few days along with the remainder of the first phase of trees and shrubs. Farewell and good luck The garden team are very sad to be saying goodbye to senior gardener Liam Busby. Liam has been a key member of the garden team for the past five years. Liam has many skills-machine maintenance, tractor work, turf maintenance. He is the man who has been responsible for making our compost for the past five years. Liam has been involved in many of the major projects here at Cliveden over the last few years-Dukes Garden, installing the path between the of Love and the Long Garden. Working on the new project bed in the Water Garden, doing a fantastic job with the digger removing the massive oak stump, not to mention installing the metal edge along the path alongside the new bed. And even in the last two weeks, renewing the path that runs towards Sybil near the amphitheatre. Liam came to us from Osborne House on the Isle of Wight where he had been a trainee on the Historic & Botanic Gardens Training Programme. I remember meeting Liam for the first time and thinking to myself ‘He only looks about twelve’! He did look young and he still does. Liam is a very keen and accomplished runner. When he started at Cliveden his best time for 5km was a sluggish 19m 52s, now its 16m 29s. He can run a marathon in 2hrs 42m 19s, nearly as fast as me! I’m proud to say Liam is moving on to take charge of a garden in Devon. I’m sure he will flourish and bloom and do a fantastic job. Below we can see Liam on one of his final garden tasks, cutting the Maze, along with some other highlights. Best wishes and good luck Liam.

Cherry blossom word search April is one of the busiest months in the Garden. We certainly need the longer days to get all the jobs done. A M A L L E T R I H B U S P : Make sure you’ve cleaned the C T M P I N K P C N I M U I thoroughly with hot soapy water to get rid of E E A T O R I H S O R I J N pests and disease and allow more light in, this is R O R I A T O H Y A Z N A K a hectic month for sowing both veg and flowers and you want a clean, pest free environment. A G Y A H R A G T K A E R P : Prepare beds by lightly forking over and apply S H O G S A C I A A N Z E E a layer of homemade compost, you can also I O H K U I K Z R S K N F R work in some general fertiliser such as pelleted O K I O Y G F U H I A A I F chicken manure. : Herbaceous border perennials can be lifted and K U A R H O K E O J N K S E divided, this will improve the vigour of plants E S T N O A S A R N I U A C and give you more plants for the garden. N A K M Z H G U N I P I R T : Penstemons that were left with tall growth for protection over winter can be cut down to a I I O U I A T H I R E O E I strong new shoot near ground level. M T K I K U N R H O T Y C O : maintenance is in full swing. Giving U I N R A S O H S H O G U N them their first cut if you didn't last month. K A M A N O G A W A K A T E Repair bare patches by scratching over with a rake and reseeding. You can lay new turf for instant effect but need to get the area prepared Amanogawa, Cerasifera, Gyoiko, Hokusai, Horinji, correctly, weed and stone free level ground is Kanzan, Kiku Zakura, Pink Perfection, Shirotae, Sho- ideal. You can aerate compacted areas with a gun, Shosar, Subhirtella, Tai Haku, Takasago, garden fork. Recutting a lawn edge to give a Umineko. crisp, sharp finish will make a real difference to your garden.

Compiled by Mark Lamb, Assistant Head Gardener © National Trust 2021