Latest News from the Garden

Pulmonarias come in to their own at this time of the year and the plant nursery has many varieties available for sale – all of which have been grown on in the garden here. If you want to know more about why I love pulmonarias so much this article has just been published in the spring newsletter of the Hardy Plant Society’s Pulmonaria group, which you can read here. The Pulmonaria Group visited the garden last summer, and you can read a report of their visit here The garden is now open to the public for the summer season and our pulmonarias are one of the spring highlights – if you are interested in buying them, have a look at the pulmonaria section of the plant catalogue here to get an idea of the range that we have in stock. If you are looking for recommendations, I list some of…

After a very busy winter, I am looking forward to welcoming visitors for the summer from 1st April. This means we will be open Good Friday and Easter weekend, so the perfect chance to enjoy a little bit of tranquility on a busy bank holiday. As you can see from the photos, the plant nursery is full of wonderful plants and The Rill has had a good spring clean! Over the winter we have also planted up a new rose bed, which you can read more about here. I am sure our regular visitors will love seeing this new bed grow and mature over the summer. As ever we have a series of workshops – we have just managed to book in willow-weaver Leilah Vyner for two days – the first being on the 28th April. Read on to find out more about our spring events. After the success of last year, I will…

Throughout the summer, I pick flowers from the garden to place on every table in the cafe. The summer of 2025, however, proved particularly challenging. While the sweet peas performed exceptionally well-covered in flowers for several weeks – they then stopped abruptly. The annuals, planted to bridge the gap before the autumn perennials emerged, struggled badly. With no ability to water the garden and increasingly hot, dry weather week after week, a significant flowering gap developed. Rose Bed To address this, we turned our attention to a small area of the garden that had once been used as display beds when we held the National Collection of Pulmonaria. More recently, it had become an unloved and weedy patch. From this, a new plan emerged: the creation of a dedicated rose bed. I have never grown large numbers of roses, so this felt like an opportunity to design an area specifically…

At Stillingfleet Lodge Nurseries, we take pride in nurturing a vibrant ecosystem that supports butterflies, bees, and various beneficial insects. In this blog we will share some tips on how to attract pollinators to your garden. Over fifty years ago, we made a commitment to gardening without pesticides or fungicides, and we were thrilled to see the positive impact on our insect population. Early on, we experienced some challenges, like an influx of greenfly, but as our bird population flourished—particularly the tits—nature found its balance. One key to attracting and supporting pollinators is planting a diverse range of plants. Our unique garden features woodland, meadow, and marginal plants alongside traditional herbaceous borders, providing a rich habitat for pollinators. Remember, single flowers are essential for these insects, as they are much more accessible than double or multi-petalled varieties. Recommended Plants for Pollinators To help you create a pollinator-friendly garden, here are…

We were delighted to host the Pulmonaria Group of the Hardy Plant Society in April 2025. Their visit was written up in the Pulmonaria Group Magazine and was accompanied by some stunning photographs that members took on the visit. Here is Angela Royle’s report of the visit to the garden: “On a beautiful spring day the Pulmonaria Group of the HPS gathered at Vanessa Cook’s lovely garden outside York. I had only been once before, on a Geranium Group visit, so later in the year. I remembered the layout, the wonderful sculptures as well as the exciting selection of plants. We were greeted by Vanessa who explained that an accident had affected her work in the garden, but it still looked lovely to me. She explained her work in identifying and propagating pulmonarias and that in her opinion there are really too many of them and unless they are sufficiently…

It is early autumn, so our summer season is drawing to a close: this coming weekend is our last weekend opening of the summer. We then close on Friday 26th September, so only four weekdays to come and visit, the 17th, 19th, 24th and 26th. There is plenty to see as the dry summer means that the garden is looking more autumnal than usual at this time of the year. There will be plenty of cakes in the tea room, plus an art exhibition and a selection of locally sourced gifts. Early autumn is a good time to plant perennials, and we still have a good selection in the plant nursery. Whilst we close for the summer next week, we have two bonus days of opening in October; ‘Create a Wildlife Haven’ as part of York Environment Festival on 1st October, then on 22nd October ‘Behind the Scenes in the…

Last month I was delighted to be asked by the local BBC to provide my tips on watering the garden during the recent dry period – and amazed that the snippet made it onto BBC Breakfast too! The reporter who visited the garden said that I was ‘the Mary Berry of gardening,’ which could be a compliment or could just be because of my white hair! We should also be in Gardener’s World Magazine in September, so look out for that. One of the results of this national coverage was that we had an excellent turn out for our Wildlife Day, with around 300 people visiting on the day. My thanks go to all the experts who once again gave their time for free to share their knowledge of wildlife. If you are on child care duties during the school holidays we have a nature spotters sheet available, which proves…

As the summer solstice approaches I am very pleased to say that the warm spring followed by the rain has taken the garden into full bloom. It is looking stunning and I highly recommend coming for a visit soon. Our flagship event – the annual Family Wildlife Day takes place on the 29th June and promises to be another exciting event with bug hunts, bee walks, snake handling, bird-ringing, owl pellet dissection and pond-dipping among the ever popular activities to be on offer. There is still time to buy one of our advance family tickets here for £18 (2 adults and up to 3 children), otherwise you can pay on the day – adults £8 and children £4. More details over on the website or follow the dedicated Facebook page here. But that is not the last of the events we have at the garden this summer read the full newsletter here for some of the highlights.

Well, what lovely weather we are having so far this year. It does of course mean that everything is very dry and we are busy watering plants in the nursery to keep them in good condition for you to plant on at home. As May approaches I am looking forward to leading the first Garden Walk of the summer on May 7th. I am getting around slowly after my accident, so it will be a steady stroll to see the highlights of the garden, which at this time of year includes our lovely wildflower meadow and Rosa banksiae (pictured) which is just coming out this week. Did you know that our meadow is a typical lowland hay meadow, ancient grassland that is perfect for pollinators? Join me on the 7th May to find out more. We are also busy working behind the scenes to organise our annual family wildlife day on 29th June, which will…