The weather this week has warmed up, and is pretty typical
of April rather than May, it seems: sunshine and showers, or, as Scott said,
‘smiles and tears’. Not ideal for our
schedule of weeding and mowing: this is
becoming increasingly ad hoc!
Plant of the week has to be our still blooming Dicentra
superba, (Bleeding Heart), flowering in triste elegance in the central borders
of the Kitchen Garden. Its rich pink
looks lovely with the new leaves of the Heuchera ‘Palace Purple’. Also just coming into bloom are the
collection of azaleas outside the Chapel, many of them old specimens. Their scent is not apparent yet, but as they
open the air should be filled with their sweetness, particularly from the
yellow flowered Rhododendron luteum. One of my roles at Abbotsford is to
catalogue the plant material, old and new, and a big challenge will be
identifying the rhododendrons down the driveway, a task for which I think we
will need specialist help. Some of them
could be old, as the planting appears to follow the route of the new driveway,
realised in the 1850's by Scott’s granddaughter to compliment the new wing of
the house.
Another joy is the
blossom on the heritage apple varieties planted last year as an espalier. The trees are still very small, but the buds
of apple blossom are so prescient of the bounty later in the year. In association with the
apples we have planted a double row of Nepeta (Catmint), having divided both our stocks of the
N. racemosa and N. ‘Walkers Low’ in March.
The intention is to make the espalier, which stretches the breadth of
the Kitchen Garden, look even longer with the soft silvery blue tones of leaf
and flower, heralded at either end by the contrast of the richly coloured Rosa
Brother Cadfael.
Last week in a fleeting moment of sunshine and low winds, I
spotted two Grey Wagtails on the North Terrace lawn looking very smart, and a
red flash through the trees of a Great Spotted Woodpecker. All the colours on the estate are
brightening, with the beech trees coming into leaf, their young growth glowing across the muddy swell of the River Tweed, which has been in spate
for several days now. For a few days one
can see through the filmy growth of the young leaves to the structure
of the branches and boughs: a double delight.
We have borrowed some cattle from a local farmer who is a botanist, and
who is as keen as we are to see the already rich meadow flora of the Upper
Haugh increase in diversity. The young ones, six Aberdeen Angus in all, have
stayed close to the fence for the first 24 hours, with the four resident horses
standing nearby on the other side. There
has been little movement of either. A
curious contract whose development I will watch from the office window.