Why Visit Winter Gardens?

**Winter Gardening Ideas: How To Look After Your Garden**: As the chilly nights draw-in make sure you follow these top tips on how to look after your garden over the winter with winter gardening ideas from Head Gardener **Claire Greenslade**. Cannas looking totally tropical on the Great Plat this summer **1. Lift tender plants**: Many tender species need...

**Happy new year! The new year has brought with it some beautiful flowers to brighten up the gloomy days. The following can all be found near the path as you walk through the Shrubbery: Above: Hamamelis commonly known as witch hazel has these spidery yellow flowers borne on bare stems. The flowers always remind me of curls of lemon rind! They prefer a sunny...

There’s little better than a butterfly fluttering past, a bee buzzing by or a dragonfly darting through when you’re pottering in the garden. You can make those chance encounters more likely by embracing wildlife gardening. Luckily, finding the balance between a wildlife garden and beautiful planting is easier than you might think. Here, we suggest five...

**Over the last couple of weeks the weather has been wet and wild! The gardens and car park especially have suffered from flooding and water damage meaning that all the gardeners have been busy cleaning up! In the Formal Gardens we have been lifting the cannas from the Great Plat. We have two types, the Canna musifolia are the tall ones on the outside beds...

Mindfulness appears to be all the rage these days — and for good reason. University of Oxford professor Willem Kuyken shares that this practice is about developing a greater sense of awareness that ultimately teaches one to be present in the moment with curiosity, kindness, and care. Many people practise mindfulness by doing a yoga session or listening to...

**Ok people, I know that the weather has been a bit challenging recently but it is time to shake off the winter blues with a trip to Hestercombe gardens. I know it's grey, I know it's raining but spring is springing and I'd hate you to miss it! Besides I read somewhere that a brisk walk in the fresh air is just the ticket for re focusing and re charging the...

Pruning has been the predominant task for the Formal Gardens team over the last couple of weeks, and its no surprise when you count the number of plants that need pruning during winter. We have seven wall trained figs, five big _Wisteria, _an orchard full of apple trees, not to mention hundreds of roses! Although all these different plants have their own...

**With autumn in full swing now we are certainly finding plenty to do in the gardens! Apart from the seemingly never ending task of leaf blowing and raking we have been chopping back all the Mexican daisies that grow in the walls. This reveals the beautiful stone work underneath and shows off the intricate structure of the Formal Garden. We also have some...

Winter is officially here, but before you chop all your foliage to the ground, think about the wildlife in your garden... The cold months last a long time if you’re a bird, a hedgehog, a deer or a rodent. Places to shelter are vital for the cold months, and food for them to eat gets more and more scarce. Some plants actually prefer it if you leave their...

Our autumn / winter events are all now online. This week is the **Confident Gardener** workshop - learn about how to prepare semi ripe cuttings with our Head Gardener Claire Reid.

"To me the sound of summer is the buzz of bees as they happily collect pollen from the plants. I have a real interest in pollinators and make sure that the plant centre stocks plants that encourage bees, butterflies and other insects. **Pollinators are important** Bees pollinate 3/4 of the world's most important crops. Sadly bee numbers have been...

I am probably speaking far to soon and I'm sure that the snowy cold weather will soon find its way over to us but in the garden there are already signs of new growth and spring. Look at this fabulous witch hazel flowering away in the shrubbery. The Hellebores are just starting to show their pretty faces and the first of the snowdrops are poking their heads...

So the late spring has in fact had quite an amazing affect on the garden as everything seems to have come at once. It's an awesome time in terms of colour and it's rare to admire irises, paeonies, roses, wisteria and cistus at the same time - I love it! It is like 3 months condensed into one. Gertrude Jekyll was a great colourist, it was one of her many...

**WELCOME TO WINTER WONDERLAND AT HESTERCOMBE!** - A sparkling winter woodland walk, skating, Father Christmas and 3 unique Carol concerts combine to make the festive season at Hestercombe exceptional._ For the first time, from November 30th until December 24th, from 4.30pm each evening (check website for exact times) an enchanting Winter Wonderland...

We all downed tools and went on a garden visit yesterday. Some may consider this a jolly but I think I have convinced everyone that it is a vital educational trip! And it is - we can all get a bit bogged down with whats going on in our own gardens and forget to look around us at our colleagues and competitors. So we boarded the mini bus and went to Prior...

**If you are visiting Hestercombe over the next couple of weeks (and you must) then make sure you head to the rotunda in the formal garden to 'smell spring'. The walls of the rotunda are covered in a deciduous shrub called Chimonanthus praecox, also known as Wintersweet. At this time of year it produces these small waxy flowers that look rather like a 1930's...

**Visitors will notice a new feature as they take the main drive towards Hestercombe House.**: Visitors will notice a new feature as they take the main drive towards Hestercombe House. A body of water currently awaits restoration to be transformed into an original Water Garden that formerly graced the estate. The Water Garden is situated in the parkland...

**From 1st June - the Gardens Shop and Plant Centre will open from 11a.m. to 5p.m. daily And in the Winter months they will be open from 11a.m. to 4.30p.m.**: **From 1st June - the Gardens Shop and Plant Centre will open from 11a.m. to 5p.m. daily** And in the Winter months they will be open from 11a.m. to 4.30p.m.

The snow has come down all morning and the gardens look lovely. Trees are all dressed up in white and the formal garden is etched out under a snowy covering. We will stay open all weekend as long as at least one of us can get in! The cafe is serving toastie treats with hot chocolate and soup being high up on chilly walkers list of favorites. Come along to...

**Today was the first of the Confident Gardener workshops at Hestercombe and we mastered apple pruning. Although very cold, we had dry weather and met a lovely bunch of people who had come to learn how to prune their trees at home. As with anything I am involved with, this also included a great deal of tea drinking and lots of general chat - about gardening...