November was a month of intensive clearance jobs. For most of the month the whole team worked together, moving through large areas of the garden, clearing weeds and cutting back anything that looked untidy. We began in the fernery at the bottom of the garden where we cut back and removed swathes of Blechnum capense (Palm-leaf Fern). Our garden curator Mike decided that the area would benefit from being opened up to expose a number of tree ferns planted in the area and to create space in which to plant new specimen ferns. The Blechnum (which had grown to around six feet in height) had not been cut back for about six years and was full of dead leaf litter. Cutting it back to just above the ground will have the effect of rejuvenating the plants, creating a low carpet of fresh new fronds that will sit attractively below the tree ferns.
Once we had finished clearing the fernery, I spent much of the following week trimming the large Eleagnus x reflexa (Silverberry/Oleaster) bushes below the Wollemi Lawn. I quickly decided that Eleagnus is my second least favourite hedging plant to deal with, (after Pyracantha) due to its incredibly interwoven growth and occasional long thorns, which left me with some lovely deep puncture wounds, sustained while attempting to unravel the impossibly tangled mess. In spite of this, the hedges do look far smarter now that the long leggy growth has been removed.
At the end of the month we continued with our major clearance work, moving progressively through the garden from the entrance to the crossroads below the Mediterranean Garden. Despite the fact that much of this area was only planted within the last couple of years, it was decided that many of the shrubs had outgrown the space and that the area would benefit from being replanted. Beginning at the garden entrance, we removed a number of large Argyranthemum frutescens ‘Canarii’ (Marguerites), Euryops pectinatus (Golden Daisy Bush) and Rosmarinus officinalis (Rosemary) bushes, before extensively weeding and digging over the beds. Moving further into the garden towards the crossroads, we spent more time cutting plants back, rather than removing them completely. This area is planted with an array of particularly fragrant plants including Coleonema pulchellum (Confetti Bush), Eriocephalus africanus (Cape Snowbush) and Pelargonium tomentosum (Peppermint Geranium), which gave off an amazing aroma as they were trimmed and pruned. Also planted in this area is a small collection of interesting rush and grass-like plants including Arunda donax (Giant Cane) and Baloskion tetraphyllum (Tassel Rope-rush) and these were cut back to just above the ground to regenerate. Around the crossroads themselves, we removed a significant amount of Aloe striatula (Hardy Aloe), a Grevillea rosmarinifolia (Rosemary Grevillea), and pruned and deadheaded a number of Protea cynaroides (King Protea) and Protea ‘Pink Ice’. Twisted through all of this was a mass of Osteospermum ‘Tresco Peggy’ (an unofficial local name given to this particular purple African Daisy, named after estate owner, Robert Dorrien-Smith’s mother), which was reduced quite significantly as it is relatively fast growing and will soon recolonise the area. All of this work created some large open areas of bare soil, which were then edged with young new Rosemary plants to create formality. The remainder of the planting should be carried out some time in early spring.
The Scilly Gardener 