Tag Archives: Rhododendron

Many Happy Returns

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As the Trooping the Colour ceremony to celebrate Her Majesty The Queen’s official birthday is this weekend, I thought we should have a red, white and blue theme.

The most popular question today was, ‘What’s that big red bush?’, and thank goodness I knew the answer, ‘A rhododendron’. Declan, aged 8, who was among those who asked was an enthusiastic participant in the ’50 Things to Do’ activity that children (of all ages) enjoy when they come to Mount Stewart. He was mildly interested in the rhodie, but got a bit more pleasure from rolling down a really big hill and discovering what’s in a pond, and I could see his Mum wished she had put him in his wellies first. I gave him a sticker for his booklet and he went home happy.

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Next, a lovely tree peony in the Spanish Garden. Marco Polo described the flowers as ‘roses, big as cabbages’.

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As well as being the flower for your 12th wedding anniversary, the peony was declared in 1903 the national flower of China. It represents peace, stability, wealth and luck, however, in days gone by if you owned a gold tree peony that was the property of the Emperor, your luck ran out. A commoner in possession of this plant was put to death.

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In the Mairi Garden see the Loder’s White Rhododendron, named for Sir Edmund Loder (1849-1920) who developed the Loderi collection of rhodies. To keep the grass down in Leonardslee, his garden in West Sussex, he imported a herd of wallabies as ‘environmentally friendly mowing machines’, and they are still there.

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This little white perennial herb is rather inelegantly named the Pignut, Conopodium majus. The root resembles a chestnut and is edible, being considered yummy by badgers and pigs, hence the name. Sometimes called St Anthony’s nut, for Anthony the Great or Anthony of Padua, both patron saints of swineherds. It also appears in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, in a line by Caliban to Stephano, ‘.. I with my long nails will dig thee pignuts.’

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Now blue – this lovely standard ceanothus is the variety Italian Skies, which has won the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit. Based on rigorous testing by the RHS it will, ‘perform reliably in the garden’.  This award is only given to a select number of plants which are of good constitution, stable in form and colour and reasonably resistant to pests and diseases.

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The ‘blueness’ of the Mount Stewart hydrangeas impresses our visitors and it won’t be long now until they are in full flower. It is the national flower of the Azores and one island, Faial, is known as the blue island due to the vast number of hydrangeas lining the roadsides and forming hedges between fields.

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Happy Birthday Ma’am.

Ellen

Great Expectations

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First garden blog of the year and I am counting my blessings on such a lovely day. How lucky am I, first of all to have a beautiful drive through County Down’s answer to the Dark Hedges, and then to arrive in my ‘office’ at Mount Stewart, surrounded by spring colour of rhododendrons, tulips, lobster claw, camellias, primulas (you can see I’m not the Latin name expert) and the first swallows swooping around the North Portico.

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At last our weather forecasters have turned up the dry side of the stone, and with it a bit of softer air and even some heat. Just enough to start our plants ‘springing’ into life. Gunneras are about three feet high, the yuccas are in bud, and with azaleas and cherries and the odd pheasant joining the rhodies to create a wonderfully coloured backdrop to the grounds, cameras were out in force. Visitors today were from Austria, thrilled with the Congress of Vienna chairs, and from Australia, surprised to see our eucalyptus trees. Others from Oxfordshire, Kilrea and Bangor enjoyed the sunshine and warmth of the courtyard.

This morning, Head Gardener Neil inspired us all with his plans for this year’s planting. The invasive Rhododendron Ponticum has been culled and beds have been prepared to receive new plants from Alan’s nursery. Neil showed us the green leaves of the new Cardiocrinum Giganteum plants that had been grown from seed over the last five years. These will turn into huge 6ft high blooms and will look spectacular as only Giant Lilies can.

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Our hard-working gardeners have been planting like mad to fill the formal beds with all sorts of beautiful bloomers.

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Gemma and Joan, members of the Thursday Gang,  working hard doing a bit of weeding, making room for more plants. The Bothy Motto – see a space, plant a plant. I’m keeping an eye on our Columbian Oreopanax incisus growing to about 4ft tall, white flowers, Italian Garden, roll on summertime.

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In the meantime, our beautiful mauve-blue Susan rhodie will keep me happy, isn’t it gorgeous?

Ellen

Whistle while you work

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Wednesday 9 October 2013

James and Lyndon clearing out the bed on the West Terrace

James and Lyndon clearing out the bed on the West Terrace

This bed along the West Terrace had to be cleared out completely and all the Rhododendrons and Camellias taken out to make room for scaffolding for the on-going repairs to the house. What a job that was. One of the Rhododendrons was so big it took four gardeners to lift it onto the trailer. The smaller ones will be put into large pots and the larger ones will be planted out at the nursery until the bed becomes free.

All the Wednesday volunteers were here today which was just as well as there was a lot of work to do in the Sunk Garden. Two to a bed, we staked up plants blown down in the storm, dead headed, cut down plants that were over, trimmed the grass edges around the beds and filled dozens of barrow loads. I don’t know what the others did when they got home but I had my usual chocolate cake and fell asleep until 7.

Jill

Back to work!

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Wednesday 4 September 2013

The Wednesday team working on one of the cut flower beds

The Wednesday team working on one of the cut flower beds

It is great to be back working after a few months off. I missed the work and made up for it today.

A new project has been started at the nursery. There is an area of about 2 acres beside the glass houses, polytunnels and potting sheds. The area along the wall (right top corner) is going to be a nursery bed tor young Rhododendrons that have been propagated from seed or layers. Currently they are trying to lower the ph to ensure good growth. Plants in this area will be lined out and grown on for about 3 years.

Four beds like the one in the photo have been prepared and are going to be used for herbaceous plants for the formal gardens and cut flowers for the House, Reception and Events. Plants already planted are – Dianthus, Agapanthus, Heleniums, Delphiniums, Lupins and Ammi Majus. All these have been grown from seed in the greenhouse. Future plans are to plant out stock plants for production of cuttings and layers. There will also be a small area for growing on trees for planting out. Still lots of space for more ideas.

All the beds have been well composted so, as you can see from the photo, the weeds are thriving as well as the plants. It took six of us to weed one and a half beds, so only two and a half to go. As volunteer Wilf said, the volunteers will sort it.

Jill

Re-turfing in the Italian Garden

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Wednesday 3 April 2013

Italian Garden - Removing all the turf.


Italian Garden – Removing all the turf.

When I heard the plans for the complete re-turfing of the Italian Garden I was expecting a very disrupted garden. But as you can see everything was done very neatly with the minimum of disruption. It is such a big job that an external contractor, Sam Thompson, was brought in. All the turf has now been removed and stacked away for compost and most of the ground has been levelled. Drains have been put in with soak-aways going into the Peace Garden and the Lily Wood and on down to the stream. Pop-up sprinklers have been put in as the grass can get very dry with so many visitors. So come torrential rain or scorching sun the Italian Garden will be well covered.

It is going to take about two weeks to lay all the turf, all 2,800 sq metres of it. When it is finished it will be rolled, after a few days, to smooth out any bumps in the ground. Knowing Sam there won’t be a single bump to smooth out. It will take three to four weeks to settle and for the roots to take before visitors will be able to walk around. It is fascinating to watch experts at work and visitors can see what is going on from the Dodo Terrace, the Spanish Garden and the Lily Wood. Well worth a wander around.

Rhododendron ‘Shilsonii Group’


Rhododendron ‘Shilsonii Group’

After work I took a walk around the lake and spotted this rhododendron shimmering in the sun.

Jill

There’s no work like hard work!

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Wednesday 27 February 2013

The Chain Gang lifting stones (no, we didn’t have to break them) in the walled garden at the nursery. This very large, long bed has been rotovated, stones removed and is going to be used for planting out little Rhododendron plants which have been sown from seed. Patience will be a necessity.


The Chain Gang lifting stones (no, we didn’t have to break them) in the walled garden at the nursery. This very large, long bed has been rotovated, stones removed and is going to be used for planting out little Rhododendron plants which have been sown from seed. Patience will be a necessity.

It is a fifteen minute walk up to the nursery along the Jubilee Walk at the near side of the lake. There are quite a few very early flowering Rhododendron magnificum (up to 18 metres, so they truly are magnificum) and Rhododendron protistum (up to 10 metres) in full (pink) flower along this walk. Another very early flowering one on the path is R. Fulgarb, blood red flowers but due to its early flowering it is only suitable for sheltered gardens. We don’t meet a lot of visitors along this walk but it is well worth a visit.

Everything has started into growth in the greenhouse and polytunnels so we were potting on Fuschia ‘Leys unique’, Limonium sinuatum ‘Sky Blue’, Agaves ‘Americana’, Fascularia, and Sisyrinchium ‘Sapphire’ from one inch pots to two and three inch pots. It is very satisfying to see rows of re-potted plants at the end of the day.

Jill

Feeding the bonfire

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Wednesday 29 February 2012

Working under William’s instruction today. William is a Step Ahead student at Mount Stewart, having done his NVQ in gardening he is now working towards his RHS qualification. He studies one night a week and the rest of the time is spent at Mount Stewart. He will take two years to qualify in this system. He will be a Step Ahead student for six months and then he has to do the rest in his own time. He hopes to stay as a Volunteer at Mount Stewart until he qualifies.

William Dorrian feeding the bonfire

We were working with him on Rhododendron Hill clearing all the ponticum to help prevent the spread of Phytophthora ramorum if it ever strikes Mount Stewart (see Diary 5th Oct 2011.) Hollies, Guilder roses and hazels and some native trees – oak, beech and Spanish Oak will all be planted in this huge area in the autumn. We had two bonfires going all morning, it was very tempting just to sit and gaze into the flames but as you can see William set the pace.

Jill

There’s lots happening on Rhododendron Hill

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Wednesday 5 October 2011

There is a lot happening on Rhododendron Hill. There is concern about the spread of Phytophthora ramorum, or sudden oak death, in Northern Ireland. This is a fungus-like organism closely related to the organism that causes potato blight. In the UK it is found most commonly on shrubs such as Rhododendron, Viburnum and Camellia and Larch trees. Luckily there is no sign of it at Mount Stewart.

Norma and Wilf. I think it must have been the altitude on Rhododendron Hill that went to their heads!

Obviously everything is closely monitored and one of the things that Ian Marshall (Lead Gardener) is doing to help prevent the spread, if it does ever hit Mount Stewart, is to cut away the bottom two feet of foliage and remove leaf litter from all the rhododendrons on Rhododendron Hill. This is a high priority and a lot of volunteers have been helping Ian with this massive task in this very wide area. This is what some of us were doing today, very different from our usual jobs and very rewarding when we saw the piles of foliage we had dealt with.

Jill

Taiwania cryptomeroides – Taxodiaceae

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24 August 2011

(Rhododendron Hill)

One of my favourite plants – I love the weeping blue foliage – just as arresting in winter as it is in summer. This plant is on the 2000 Red List and is currently described as ‘vulnerable’. But two million years ago, this plant was distributed widely across Eurasia and North America. Today it is found in only a few places in Southern China, (mainly Yunnan), Taiwan and North Vietnam. One of the largest populations of around 100 trees is found in North Vietnam, where the wood is prized because of its durability to make coffins. It is threatened by loggers and forest fires. But there is hope. In 2002, a huge community of some 10,000 individuals was discovered in South Taiwan in an inaccessible mountain region, so I hope this stunning plant will be still found in the wild for many years.

Taiwania loves woodland edges or the shelter of a light canopy. It thrives in cool, leafy, water retentive soils which are fundamentally well drained. The better specimens enjoy some shade in a day, but it will grow in full sun. Taiwania is hardy in this part of Ireland and will survive unscathed in prolonged temperatures of -10oC.

We are trying to propagate this tree. Our specimen to date, has not set seed, (which is the easiest method), but we are trying cuttings. The ICCP, the International Conifer Conservation Programme have widely disseminated this tree in Ireland – I bought one for €15 from Future Forests down in west Cork. Watch out though, you must protect young trees from slugs and snails – they like nothing better than to chew the tender, juicy leader.

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Click here to learn more about the Taiwania cryptomeroides