How did you fare during Storm Éowyn? We lost one of our veteran Lime trees which has stood in the field to the West of the house for approximately 350 years. These beautiful trees have stood through many a storm over their lifetime and it is heartbreaking to see such an immense tree lying broken and smashed on the ground. The strong west-south-westerly gale was blowing directly into the great avenue of stately lime trees and on this occasion it was just too much. The tree already had a fungal infection called Kretzschmaria – the “brittle cinder” fungus. Initial infection is identified by the presence of light grey patches appearing on the bark, near the base of the tree but as the disease develops, the wood begins to crack and show large areas of blackened bark looking as though it has been burnt to a cinder. The tree loses structural strength and once weakened snaps at the base of the trunk and falls over. Really, the wind just helped our tree to fall sooner but knowing this doesn’t make it any easier to accept the loss of this magnificent giant tree. Let’s hope the others in the avenue have many years left in them.
Much of January 2025 has been quite calm and mild and it is always heartening to see the snowdrops begin to emerge through the barren soil. At first they are barely noticeable and then gradually, as the month progresses their spear-like grey-green spikes begin to push up through the thick layers of dead, autumn leaves that have been protecting the soil from the winter frosts. As the spikes get taller the pure white petals of the flower begin to peep through the protective leaves until one day you notice that they have broken free from their leafy casing and the perfectly formed, gleaming snowdrops are now dangling from their delicate stems. We are lucky that we have several areas where the snowdrops have been growing for many decades and so the flowers form large drifts like sheets of driven snow, hidden in secret corners and brightening up the dingy woodland floor. As a bonus, on a calm, sunny day the tear-drop shaped flowers splay their petals wide-open and, if you can get close enough, you might catch their amazing perfume. Just make sure that you’re not disturbing any hungry bees out for a first spring feed.
We have been pressing ahead with all our fruit pruning over the past few weeks. We started with the blackcurrant bushes this year as, alarmingly, just after New Year I noticed that some of the buds were swelling and might soon burst into growth as the weather had been SO mild. Thankfully it has cooled down a bit since then and they are behaving normally plus they are all pruned now and ready for the new season so, really, that is ‘job done’. Then we moved onto our apple trees. We have over eighty young trees and about a dozen older trees to prune so that is an ongoing task and will take us well into February. In the meantime we have completed our initial work on the shelter belt where we have been weeding around the trees and shrubs, (approximately 200 plants), clearing a large weed-free circle around each plant and then topping them with a generous spadeful of compost. These young trees and bushes were planted five years ago and are starting to turn into sturdy plants. Some of them are already over three meters tall and no longer need any stakes for support, but we still have to check them for possible deer and rabbit damage. Here is a photo, taken earlier in the winter, after a bout of freezing fog.
Finally, whilst all eyes are cast downwards straining to see the first bulbs and flowers emerge, don’t forget to look up from time to time, you never know what you might see!
Written by Margaret (photographed below). All images are also from Margaret unless otherwise stated. Margaret is the Head gardener and leads the Gardening team.
