Roses
This year the roses at Ashburnham Place have been looking and smelling wonderful! It seems to have been a good year for roses generally, with displays exceeding expectations all over the country. I pruned the climbers and ramblers over the winter, with valued help from Kiri one of our local volunteers and they have certainly responded well this year. I think I will let them speak for themselves as it were by showing you some pictures taken a couple of weeks ago of some of my favourites. Of course, the pictures can’t do justice to the sweet scent of some of these – you’ll have to come and visit to experience that for yourselves!
This is Rosa Rambling Rector
This mix of roses
The first that greet you as you come onto the Front Terrace from the Orangery end
This one is at the other end of the Terrace, on the sidewall
This beauty is on the Wall by the gate into the Fountain area
Two new roses
One of the things I’m not sure of is the names of all the different roses that we have here so I have taken some pictures of each of them and will try and work out the varieties so that we can label them accurately. The two new roses, Rosa Spirit of Freedom and Rosa Generous Gardener that we planted on the two bare Orangery pillars have taken well and are flowering, they both have pink flowers and lovely scent.
During this season my team of local volunteers and I have been trying to keep up with the weeding in the Ornamental Gardens as well as planting out the summer bedding displays. I am about to embark on the pruning of all the Box hedging near the Orangery and the topiary on the Front Terrace, a time consuming but satisfying job as it all looks so smart once it’s done. Jim is busy in the Kitchen Garden, planting out new crops and harvesting some too – we have had a delicious crop of strawberries and bunches of sweet peas are proving popular at the Kitchen Garden Shop. Gordon has just finished constructing a new decking area at the swimming lake, which has been much appreciated already during the hot weather we’ve been having.
I hope your gardens are growing well despite the heat and lack of rainfall lately. Do stop and have a chat if you’re visiting
