Cherry Blossom Fills and then Falls.

‘The air is mild and we are surrounded by the sounds and movements of spring. The caddis flies are hatching and the trout rise and flop back under the mirrored water’s surface. A deer’s white rump is seen bounding over the fence at the top of the garden by Shadow: the hours hand – an infrequent visitor. Cherry blossom fills and then falls and is replaced by the creaminess of hawthorn and its sticky perfume.The starry white flowers of wild garlic and delicate blues of forget-me-not crowd each other out. And in the tree canopy above the bright green light zings.

The weather has generally held good but by the end of the month there is a turn again to wetter days. Work proceeds apace – the Kailyard has been planted out and tended. All of the hedges have been trimmed and the pathways cleared of newly impinging or overhanging growth. Grass cutting and strimming also just about keeps up with regrowth. The ponds and waterways have all been weeded and the system kept running and levels topped up – particularly to the always mysteriously disappearing Temple pond. The stepping stones in the middle and upper ponds have been de-mossed to make for less precarious passage.

In the loch for the first time this year we are using a system of boat and underwater cutters to clear the bulk of the Canadian pondweed – it seems successful, but still there is the laborious and time consuming job of pulling in by hand all the cut waste and piling it up hidden in the surrounding undergrowth to decay away.

The bottom pond in the English Parkland has also been pumped out from a heavy build up of silt – again this makes a good job and the water is now clear and free flowing but the pumped out silt has made a bit of a mess in the lower areas of the garden – mostly out of sight, but a couple of patches need to recover quickly so that there is no visible scarring of the landscape. 

More works are cleaned – the Diana / Artemis bridge and the buried Capital in the woodland. The area around See Poussin / Hear Lorrain has been opened up and the planting revised.

One further last surprising movement of note – the item of time sundial – T/IM/E – on the side of the house was found fallen – its old securing just weathered away. Luckily it was cushioned on its way down by a topiary box ball underneath so it suffered no damage. It has now been glued back securely in place.’

George Gilliland, May 2017