At the far end opened a glass door, through which I saw shrubs and a grass-plat, looking pleasant in the sunshine of the mild spring evening…. This was my first glimpse of the garden…. I saw in full the enclosed demesne…. It was a long, not very broad strip of cultured ground…. There was a sort of lawn, a parterre of rose-trees, some flower borders and, on the far side, a thickly-planted copse of lilacs, laburnums and acacias. It looked pleasant to me…so long a time had elapsed since I had seen a garden of any sort.”
Extract from Charlotte Brontë's ‘The Professor’
Well, we are now in the midst of summer and writing this around the summer solstice time. Looking at the garden it is hard to believe how it has grown and blossomed, particularly when comparing it to those largely bare February days when everything had died back and we were just waiting for the early spring bulbs to appear.
The growth this year seems to be more profuse than ever, perhaps due to a wet winter and early spring without too much by way of hard frost. Maybe even further helped by the nutrients added to the soil earlier in the year.
The roses are now beginning to emerge. Those catching most of the full sunlight first, such as in the flower beds by the library window (Anne’s Rose) and by the entrance gate. In the back garden we have Emily’s Rose in flower and the standard Charlotte’s Rose, the latter a little behind but, going by the buds, it will soon be over-laden in beautiful pale white/cream heads with a hint of pink colouring. We are also hoping for some extra new colours and species to emerge from a range of new additions recently added to the garden such as trailing lobelias, variegated sedum and astrantia, to name but a few. In addition, we have added some of our seed grown flowers too, such as foxgloves, rudbeckia and rose campion.
The weather is currently heating up and temperatures are currently in the mid-20s C, and with very little sign of rain in the forecast. No doubt by the time we go to publication the weather will have broken with a few storms around. However a watering rota between our merry band of gardeners has now started, recently spurred on as well by a new super-efficient hosepipe!
Work continues apace with our composting project which is increasing our recycling statistics and means less needs to be spent at the garden centre on fertilisers etc. Also work on improving the newly-laid lawn last summer has been taking place as the lawn did not over-winter very well but, with some TLC and some extra seeding, has now improved somewhat.
Finally, it is planned that, after missing two years, we will re-commence our annual “plant giveaway / garden donation” event outside the Bronte Parsonage shop on Sunday 7 August. Please come and visit the Parsonage, enjoy its gardens and maybe help yourself to some plants! We would love to see you.
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