Latest News from the Garden
The sun shone and we were greeted by a sea of smiling faces as the families came into the garden full of anticipation for our tenth annual Family Wildlife Day on 25th June. You can read about all our fabulous experts and see more photographs here. Bird Ringing The first area to visit was the bird-ringing demonstration with Mark Lucas. He and his assistant had already placed mist nets in a quiet, private part of the garden, close to trees where birds are likely to fly through. Any birds trapped are quickly removed and put in little bags where they keep calm in the cool. Mark then took each of them out in turn, identifying the bird and explaining how to tell the age and sex. These details are then recorded along with their weight, a ring is put on their leg and they are released completely unharmed. The information…
I am always delighted to be contacted by gardening writers to talk about the garden, our plants and our ethos. So far this spring there have been three articles about Stillingfleet Lodge Gardens, which you can read by following the links. English Garden: Pulmonarias Back in March I was quoted in English Garden’s article Pulmonaria: a star plant for early spring. “Vanessa Cook, a former pulmonaria National Collection holder, discovered their seductive quality when her handful of plants grew into a collection of 150 varieties, inspiringly displayed in her garden at Stillingfleet Lodge, York.” In the rest of the article I talk about my favourite pulmonarias and how to grow them. Jack Wallington In April I was visited and interviewed by garden designer and award winning garden writer, Jack Wallington. What a joy it was to talk about the garden with Jack as we toured the garden and he took…
We are delighted to have won not one, but two awards in the last week, making us a multi-award winning business. It all started at a glittering ceremony at York Racecourse on 23rd March where members of Visit York gathered to celebrate the tourism venues across the York District. Much to Vanessa’s surprise Stillingfleet Lodge Gardens were announced as the winners in the Ethical, Responsible and Sustainable Business category. Fast forward to 28th March and an equally wonderful evening for the Selby District Business Awards at River Mills Ballroom where we won the award for Environmental Responsibility, repeating our victory of 2020. It is always an honour to be recognized in this way and we are grateful to all the hard work that is put in behind the scenes to make these events a success.
David Baker of the Butterfly Conservation, Yorkshire Branch first joined us in 2012 to trap moths to show to our visitors at our inaugural Wildlife Day. Since then he has returned regularly to record the moths that visit the garden, recording 110 micro species and 245 macros, some of them quite rare. The word “trap” alarms some people who associate the word with killing etc. However, no moths are harmed in these sessions and all are released after counting. On Wildlife Days the catches are displayed to interested parties during the day prior to release. You can read David’s full reports of trapping session here. He was accompanied on all the visits, unless noted otherwise, by David Laughlin. This page gives you the full report of moth trapping in 2022, we are pleased that new species, highlighted in bold, are still being recorded, with one new micro species and…
Stillingfleet Lodge Nurseries and Gardens hosted the Hardy Geranium Group’s (HGG) annual ‘Geranium Day’ on 11th June 2022. This is an account of the day by Alastair Hodge, the HGG’s newsletter editor. For more information on the HGG, please visit the ‘Meet us at special interest groups’ section of the Hardy Plant Society’s website here. “I awoke very early on Geranium Day and, unable to get back to sleep, went downstairs to make myself a cup of tea. While the kettle boiled I looked out of the window, and there at the edge of the patio was a small, exquisite bullfinch flying up and down again and again, hovering for a fraction of a second each time to peck the seeds out of some phaeum geraniums. “It’s going to be a good day”, I said to myself, and so it was. The weather was perfect: sunny and warm with a…
I was born in the autumn and I love everything about the season, Keats ‘Season of mellow fruitfulness’ seems to sum it up exactly and is one of the poems I remember from my schooldays. The garden is still full of colour in September. The trees are taking on their autumn tints and I feel every garden should try and make space for one tree or shrub with autumn colour. I especially like Cercidiphyllum japonicum ‘Boyd’s Dwarf’, it is a small tree with an umbrella shape, the leaves go wonderfully orange and red as well as smelling of burnt sugar. I see visitors walking past trying to discover where the scent is coming from! Parrotia persica is another tree or large shrub which turns yellow, orange and red, it also keeps its leaves until the end of November. It is a wide spreading shrub and too big for most gardens…
August is a difficult time in the garden, after the summer rush of roses and geraniums and before we enjoy the asters and autumn colour we need to look for plants which bridge the gap. Phlox fill the gap wonderfully. They come in so many colours from white through to scarlet and mauve, several have interesting foliage and they all are fragrant. I have several favourites. Phlox ‘Blue Paradise’ has violet-blue flowers and smells so delicious I have it planted just outside my kitchen door. Phlox ‘Mont Fuji’ has large heads of pure white flowers, I grow it next to the white rose ‘Iceberg’, making a fragrant group. Phlox ‘Starfire’ has dark foliage, scarlet flowers. Phlox ‘Monica Lynden-Bell’ (pictured) has the palest of pink flowers and is one with an especially strong scent. Several varieties have variegated foliage which looks good from early summer and prolongs the interest in the…
Visitors to the garden always love our free-range poultry and have so many questions to ask about our lovely flock. These are the birds you are likely to see in the garden this summer: Guinea Fowl We have always had guinea Fowl and they are useful in the garden as they are free-range, sleep in the trees and keep our pests under control. Pekin Bantams These are a delight in the garden, they have heavily feathered legs, so find it difficult to scratch in the soil. The lavender pekins have hatched 8 chicks this year from their small eggs. This is the black coloured pekin bantam. They live in the poultry run and sleep in a hut there. They put themselves to bed, so just need closing up. Bluebell Hens These are hybrid hens and lay eggs most of the year. They do damage if they get…
Wildlife Day 2022 was a warm June day, although we were a little worried by the wind. It was blowing leaflets around and required plenty of guy ropes to keep the marquees in place. One of the stars of the day was the whiskered bat which was in rehabilitation with the East Yorkshire Bat Group. Next to them in the marquee was the owl pellet dissection activity, which proved as popular as ever – we even had a vole on the stand (courtesy of Donald the cat) so that the children could see what the owls eat. With so many experts attending, our Wildlife Day is always a chance for us to see discover more about the wildlife that uses our garden. Here are some of the wildlife identified on the day: Bird-ringing area Greenfinch, blackcap, great tit, house sparrow, coal tit*, blackbird* and dunnock*. * these species included individual…
Our gardens are probably at their best in mid-summer. Thatched cottages draped with honeysuckle and roses epitomise the idea of England and summer. I love roses but was brought up in a garden where only Hybrid Tea roses were grown. My father used to prune then down to about 30cm and then cover the whole bed with muck, not an attractive sight! I have species roses in our meadow, all chosen with interesting hips, some like large gooseberries and others long and thin, a delight in October. On the house we have R. Alister Stella Grey which has tight pale-yellow buds fading to cream and looks good against our old brick. It also smells delicious, I cannot see any point in growing roses without a scent Also on the house we have old fashioned R. New Dawn, a soft pink and again very fragrant. If you have fences or pergolas…
