Come and visit my garden at Ednovean Farm, in my final Garden diary entry for 2017 I’d like to make a roundup of the seasons. The Ednovean garden in the far south west of Cornwall that has become my friend, litmus of emotions, reflection of dreams and hard taskmaster. This blog will follow the year in the Ednovean Farm Garden, so enjoyed by our Bed and breakfast guests, just as 2017 draws to a close and I would like to wish you all a very happy New Year!!
The Garden at Ednovean Farm though 2017
2017 brought successes and failures to our garden as it mature. So it is time to take stock of the maturing garden!
We’ve had some gardening successes and failures this year as everybody does – success in finally changing the design of the Italian Garden by removing one long hedge to open up the interior and a failure in not understanding the voracious appetite of the garden rabbits for the new plants in the new formal garden. My dreams for this garden have swung between massed lavender (carefully sourced at a reasonable price from the car boot sale) and just as enthusiastically consumed by said bunnies, to visions of filling those borders with chic white Hydrangeas or perhaps flamboyant exotics. Half closed dreaming eyes are a good way to take stock of a garden after all!! So without further ado join me to journey through 2017 in the gardens here at Ednovean Farm.
The passage of Spring into Summer 2017
January
The joy of watching life return to the garden with spring bulbs bringing welcome joy to our days after the short Winter days around Christmas
Winter brings the white flash of a seagull’s wing against leaden skies and yet in the garden, spring is starting to stir as it comes back to life. Read more
February
We sent sometime on the framework of the formal Italian Garden, enjoying the time spent outdoors agian as the days grew warmer
We stole a march on summer this month in the garden, working intensely to prepare the Italian Garden ready for its role in a short period film pilot last weekend Read more
March
Spring seemed to be racing away from us because as is often said “spring comes early to Cornwall!” We vist the Sculpture gardens at Tremenherre just outside of Penzance
I finally understood the song “slow down you’re going to fast” as spring sped away from us this year in the garden. It felt that no sooner than the tide of Daffodils had spread across garden than their vibrant yellow blooms seemed almost to look far too bright as the intensity of the light increased with the lengthening days. Read more
April
Exciting days ahead as the garden develops towards its summer finery, a drought casts deep cracks through the earth and we steal away for inspiration at the gorgeous gardens of St Micheal’s Mount the iconic island within sight of our garden
The apple blossom forms a delicate pale pink froth over the once bare apple trees and the magnificent spears of the Echiums make an informal guard of swaying spires around the lawn. Read more
May
Valiant Echiums march through the borders and we suddenly realise we have to start a pruning programme if not to be totally overwhelmed by foliage!
The glorious month of May and nature has woven a silken thread thorough the garden spontaneous reclaiming the carefully planned spaces with flamboyant mischievously places flowers as though she chose to sprinkle a little fairy dust across the landscape. The sea has never glowed as blue as it has this May, to make a perfect backdrop to our days in the garden and we’ve been busy re ordering some of the spaces in the Italian Garden. Read more
The glorious Summer days
June
June brings the summer face to the garden and time to reflect on the long summer evenings
This month the magnificent Echiums that so intrigue our garden loving Bed and Breakfast guests, have started to fade, to be replaced by the emerging flowers of the ranks of Agapanthus that populate the garden. Read more
July
Ah July – the zenith of the gardens year with endless sunny days or at least long hours of daylight!
Ah the blousy days of summer – those hot July days that fades into long summer evening. July’s days so full of promises and long forgotten dreams that you hope they will go on for ever. This month the memories formed in the July garden will fill winter musings, as we sit by the fire, pull out a snugly throw and turn on the telly or find a good book. Read more
August
August brought the tall swaying grasses back into focus after the distraction of flowers and we visited the lush Tree Ferns at Trewidden Garden
As August drew to a close the vibrant, rust coloured Miscanthus seeds heads have emerged from their plump rounded clumps to straddle August the season leading into September, much as the Agapanthus did in July. Sadly the Agapanthus season is now spent for this year and it only remains to cut back the tall swaying seed heads as they finally shed their seeds. Read more
Autumns silent call
September
There was a hint of Autumn already travelling through the garden and yet the slow gin that we made then has only just been enjoyed now at Christmas time as a lasting memory of summer days spent
Ah goodbye September and with it the summer days as autumn calls and the year mellows. The autumn solstice – those mysterious harbingers of our year intoned by the weather men has passed us by and yet the life of the garden continues. Read more
October
Golden days of autumn with the first stirrings of the winter winds
The first brisk blow of autumn was the remnants of a distant hurricane and the second one was the inheritance of an Atlantic weather bomb within days of each other. Each gust brought with it its own brand of destruction and a perfect storm of palm leaves hurtling across our lawns to be patiently cleared up. Yet on other days the beautiful golden light of autumn lent a little bit of magic to the garden. Read more
November
The first hints of winter start to knock on the gardens calm and how grateful we are for the system of hedges that protect it now cocooned in its own little micro climate. We took an autumn pilgrimage to Trebah Gardens that we visited so many years ago when we first planed our garden
November has been a strange month for my garden diary, a month of days born as if on butterfly wings through the garden, swinging from soft tranquil days to dark dramatic skies before giving way to the final sting of winter. Read more
Winter days dawn
December
This brings me to my final entry yet to be written for the year. And this month what did I achieve – I cleared mountains of debris from the shelter belts and under estimated the shortening of the days or as Charles put it “It was dark so I thought you would come in!” For Christmas I decide to bring spring o our front door to welcome our Festive seasons Bed and Breakfast guests and planted white Hellebore and Hyacinths in time worn terracotta pots around the front door – I did plant the final bulbs under the food lights though so they were slightly skew-whiff but you know they have straightened themselves up beautifully over the last few days. What a forgiving place a garden can be with life of its own to travel through the seasons!!
Thank you for joining me this year and reading the diaries of Ednovean Farm’s Garden and lets anticipate the New year in the eternal life of the garden. Happy New Year!!
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