Blushing Lucy is in full bloom in the Victorian Rose Garden and putting on a spectacular display.
Brian Dellamore with this year’s garlic crop pulled today, now curing under the extension to the handsome Garden Shed built by Keith Bateman last year.
The gardens of Government House always look spectacular – even with the occasional snowfall.
The massive viburnum hedge to the east of the Victorian Rose Garden has been a topic of conversation at the Garden Management Committee for some time. It was overgrown, diseased and rife with blackberry canes and other undesirables. Originally a shelter for the rose garden, it now blocked the view and the sunshine from the east.
This spring both the will and the funds were present and Bartlett Tree Experts were hired to cut it down and remove the extensive root system.
The area has been seeded with grass to provide better viewing access to both the Victorian Rose and Winter Gardens.
The early spring this year gave us the opportunity to perform some major renovations in the gardens at the very beginning of the gardening season. Change is always interesting so the Friends website will try to capture the before, the during and the after in a series of blog posts called Transitions.
On the southern edge of the Duck Pond between Rockland 1 and Pearkes Peak there were a couple of beds overgrown with hypericum, cottoneaster and a kolkwitzia. Besides being out of control and impinging on the path, they blocked the western view of the pond and the bamboo grove. A local family wished to donate a crab apple tree and this became the impetus to renovate the area.
The roots were mighty, but the team of Pearkes Peak gardeners were mightier and here is the result.
A couple of diminutive new residents were discovered this month in a Portuguese laurel in Pearkes Peak by the sharp eyes of Sharon Vermaning, Supervisor of that garden. The hummingbird nest measures about one and a half inches around (these condos are getting smaller all the time) and is populated by two tiny chicks whose long beaks can be seen poking out in the picture below.
And here is close-up shot from a slightly better angle (thanks to Sharon for holding the branch aside). Click on the pictures to see them in full size.
