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Coton Manor - English Country Garden Page updated

pasleytyler@cotonmanor.com — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 10:28:51 UTC

Coton Manor - English Country Garden Page updated on 20th Oct 2011. Coton Manor Garden extends down from the 17th century manor house. It is characterised by old yew and holly hedges and many hebaceous borders packed with unusual plants. There are also specialist areas such as the water garden, woodland garden, herb garden and bog garden. The countryside garden leads down to a beautiful bluebell wood and wild flower meadow.

Shop online at Coton Manor Page updated

pasleytyler@cotonmanor.com — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 08:55:27 UTC

Shop online at Coton Manor Page updated on 11th Oct 2010.

Coton Manor Garden Diary - April/May 2010 posted

pasleytyler@cotonmanor.com — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:06:44 UTC

Coton Manor Garden Diary - April/May 2010 posted on 13th Jul 2010. Susie Pasley-Tyler

Things in the garden are looking very different from when I last wrote my diary at the end of February. I can never remember a better spring show than we have enjoyed during April. So many of the early plants that had been held back by the extremely cold weather have coincided with later flowering things which are appearing as scheduled. So, for example, at present in the garden we have both daffodils and bluebells flowering at the same time. It is extraordinary to see daffodils in flower at the end of April. Blossom on all the fruit trees is magnificent and the magnolias are full of flower and so far unscathed by frost.

Tulips are coming out in rather a hurry all at once, given the very warm weather of the past two weeks and everything is longing for rain which is being promised in the next few days. I don't normally water at this time of year, but I have been concerned about newly planted roses and shrubs and likewise herbaceous plants which have gone in recently in the current very dry conditions. Sadly, many of the beautiful woodland plants are not lasting as long as normal in the unusual heat. Erythroniums have gone over more quickly, trilliums are looking rather like they do in June and the wood anemones have had a wonderful but rather short flush of flower.

The orchards are currently a magical sight to behold - masses of cowslips, tulip sylvestris, pheasant's eye narcissus, fritillarias and shortly these will be joined by the blue of camassias, while overhead there is a canopy of cherry, pear and apple blossom. In the Water Garden yellow dominates the scene at present with Lysichiton americanus (skunk cabbage), Euphorbia palustris, Caltha palustris (marsh marigold), forsythia flowering rather later than usual and Fritillaria imperialis. Next on the scene here will be the glorious scented yellow azalea (Rhododendron luteum) and Primula japonica, together with the shuttlecock fern (Matteucia struthiopteris) amongst others. The wisteria on the house is just starting to come out and on the terrace and elsewhere in the garden the scented viburnums (juddii, carlesii etc.) are in flower.

The main job now is weeding! Unfortunately the garden thugs seem to have enjoyed the cold winter. Ground elder is very vigorous. We don't appear to have lost much surprisingly after the coldest winter on record for at least thirty years. Even our myrtle which looks brown is showing signs of shooting. We are looking forward to a wet day to persuade us to return to the polytunnel to continue the endless task of planting up this season's pots to go out after the last frost at the end of May. In the garden we are also now deadheading hellebores which are showing signs of going to seed. At this stage they look so much better with just the new foliage.

We are opening the bluebell wood from the beginning of May, although it may be a few days into May before the bluebells are in full bloom. Like everything else in the garden they will benefit from some rain. We shall look forward to seeing many of you during May to see the garden, the bluebells and the start of the Wildflower Meadow.

Coton Manor Garden Diary - March 2010 posted

pasleytyler@cotonmanor.com — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 12:56:06 UTC

Coton Manor Garden Diary - March 2010 posted on 13th Jul 2010. Susie Pasley-Tyler

When last writing just before Christmas I sounded quite pleased by the arrival of snow and the definition it gave to the structure of the garden, in the knowledge that I probably wouldn't be gardening much over Christmas and New Year and that by the time we started gardening in earnest in January it would have all disappeared. How wrong I was! In fact I couldn't see the point of writing a diary entry for January/February because so little has changed and our attempts at gardening have been somewhat frustrated by the dreadful weather. And now as I write at the end of February I have become sick and tired of snow, ice, frost, wet. We should now be open for Snowdrops and Hellebores, but have had to close after six days because of the snow. However, we have reopened today (Saturday 27th February) and will be open every day until Sunday 7th March to make up for the week lost to snow. And since, due to the extremely hard winter everything is about a month behind, perhaps in some ways it is better to have the extra week now that the snowdrops are mostly up and have started to open and the hellebores are raising themselves from the ground and beginning to flower. The aconites look wonderful (normally over by the end of January). I think there will be an amazing burst of flower once there is a hint of warm weather - perhaps in time for Easter at the beginning of April.

We have managed to garden most of the borders, but still have two to finish and it is currently difficult to get on the soil because everything is so wet. Hellebore leaves were cut back in early January and we have just finished cutting back epimedium leaves. I normally perform this task much earlier for fear of cutting off the new flowers, but there was no danger of that this time - they are barely visible, just emerging through the soil. I have also cut back a few old hepatica leaves. I try to leave on the better ones to give the flowers some protection. So we have been pruning and mucking roses, which takes a considerable time given the number of roses in the garden. And we have embarked on replanting pots of tender plants in the warm environment of the polytunnel. It is always a good feeling to get some of these done in February as we have so many pots, it takes a long time to work our way through them all, but I am reluctant to do too many at this stage as it is good to stagger this job, allowing some pots to peak before others. I don't want them all performing too early and then fading because the osmacote in the compost has been exhausted.

One of our next jobs will be to cut back the leaves of ferns, particularly the Hart's Tongue fern (phyllitis scolupendrium). I like to leave these in place as long as possible over winter because they provide good evergreen foliage, but there comes a point when they just look scruffy and have to go. We tend to leave the leaves of my favourite ferns - the polystichums - until April, by which time there is so much going on nobody notices their absence. Another job which we are normally thinking of about now is lifting and replanting groups of snowdrops. This is best done just as the flowers start to fade, while the plants are 'in the green', but I think we will need to wait for quite a while so as to enjoy their flowers before we can consider lifting and dividing them.

One of the major jobs at this time of year is to prune the wisteria. We cut off the long wandy pieces in August and now we have to prune the growth back to roughly two buds. Another job that takes a lot of time in March is mulching the borders with compost. We tend to use leaf mould in the woodland areas and our own compost on the beds elsewhere.

Normally, when we open at this time of year, we provide visitors with a list of what to look out for. But this year there is no point because three quarters of that list is not visible. The valiant wych hazel (hammamelis mollis) is flowering as normal. The orange flowered form 'Diane' has flowers but they have yet to open properly. Daphne bholua 'Jaqueline Postill' is flowering beautifully with its gloriously scented pink flowers and has been doing so throughout this cold period. Winter-flowering viburnums are less brave - lots of buds, but they go brown in the frost and Prunus subhirtella 'Autumnalis' is definitely not opening its buds yet. Skimmias are generously clad with red berries and Sarcococcas have masses of fairly inconspicuous but beautifully scented flowers. The winter aconites are really the stars of the show at present, along with the early hellebores - sternii 'Blackthorn Beauty and 'Winter Moonbeam' and H.argutifolius The first crocus and hepaticas are giving a hint of colour and so are one or two brave primulas, but that is about it.

While everything this year is late, the good thing is we have everything to look forward to. Nothing has yet gone over. Struggling to come out at present are the flowers of Cornus mas, normally a stalwart for February; likewise the scented flowers of Abeliophyllum distichum and so many more things which will explode into flower once there is a little warmth in the air. We shall just have to be patient - a gardener's lot!

Red Border Page updated

pasleytyler@cotonmanor.com — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:20:39 UTC

Red Border Page updated on 11th Nov 2009.

Free Wallpaper Page updated

pasleytyler@cotonmanor.com — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:49:11 UTC

Free Wallpaper Page updated on 26th Oct 2009.

Woodland Garden Page updated

pasleytyler@cotonmanor.com — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 16:38:04 UTC

Woodland Garden Page updated on 15th Aug 2009.

Water Garden Page updated

pasleytyler@cotonmanor.com — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 09:56:24 UTC

Water Garden Page updated on 14th Jul 2009.