Spring at Easton Walled Gardens

Pin It

This is a belated Easter post when I had a chance to see Easton Walled Gardens. I had hoped for some fine sunny weather but to no avail. At least we were spared the rain that has been blessing us for nearly a week and which stops me with finally moving sweet peas and broad beans from the cold frame to their spot in the garden.

This garden is very much a project in progress and it takes imagination to picture the mature planting at the peak of flowering. No imagination needed for this dosplay of hyacinths and hellebores.

 
Purple and white hyacinths look fresh and deep, the strappy foliage is from the snowdrops which have gone over by now.

  
The owners are encouraging children to play, so this swing in a tree proved to be popular with the little gardener.

These sculptures fascinated the little gardener more than the Easter egg hunt!
Don't they remind you of this Les Girafes design?

 
Large expanses of lawn framed by low and neatly clipped yew hedges lead to the kitchen garden.

Steep steps bordered by more yew trees lead down to a brook. Cross it and you enter an ancient yew tunnel in the middle of a walled orchard and formal rose garden.


It will be much better to return in June when the roses will be in bloom to fully appreciate the generous planting scheme. Each rose is planed in multiples to form a big (round) display. The design is by Michael Merriott of David Austin Roses, so prizes for guessing who supplied the roses...

I was intrigued by the unusual mulch: the spoils from sheep shearing. I don't know whether it performs any better than any conventional mulch and maybe it is a bit too early to tell; there was no-one on hand to ask.

I was happy to see that a range of lilac trees have been planted; judging by their youthful looks, this may be the first year they bloom.

You can see where a footpath has been mown; I presume that the rest of the grass will be allowed to grow into a meadow with an annual cut in August or so.

Uphill from the rose beds is the orchard, a fine mix of fruit trees, varieties of apples and pears mingle with more unusual mulberries.

 
Great care has been taken with staking, deer and rabbit guards and mulching to give the trees the best start.

I am a sucker for fan trained fruit, especially against a south facing wall and was particularly pleased to see this Prunus avium 'Early Rivers' which promises very dark and near black cherries in early July (if the late frosts don't get the better of the blooms).