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Gardens to Gander ​​
​Here are some local gardens to visit:​
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​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​West Dean Gardens open Mon-Fri 09.30am - 5.00pm.
Sat-Sun 09.00am - 5.00pm
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The National Garden Scheme (NGS)
Look on their website and find a garden near you to visit.
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Woolbeding Gardens.
The gardens open again on Thursdays and Fridays only as from 24th April. Pre booking is required for everyone.
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Insector Clueso!
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The Asian Hornet has arrived in the UK, and hundreds of nests have been destroyed. However, it looks as though they have been the tip of the iceberg. They are avaricious insects that target most of our pollinators.
Our honey bees are at serious risk of their hives being invaded and the colonies being wiped out. These predators are smaller than the European Hornet, which is not a threat. The Asian Hornet can be identified by its yellow leg ends and a wide orange band towards the rear of its abdomen.
If you see one, please report it using the iPhone and Android ‘Asian Hornet Watch’ app. Alternatively, email: alertnonnative@ceh.ac.uk
please include a photo if you can do so safely.
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Weeders Digest
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Wall & Water Gardens - Gertrude Jekyll
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When a fellow garden club member recently acquired their new property — with a delightfully walled serene lily pond garden designed by Gertrude Jekyll — it seemed like the perfect time to return to Jekyll’s own wisdom on water in the garden.
Wall & Water Gardens is a timeless classic, written by one of the greatest garden designers of the English tradition. In its pages, Jekyll shares practical yet poetic guidance on designing dry-walled terraces, rock-gardens, stream gardens, ponds and marshy water features — and crucially, on selecting the right plants for water, marsh and alpine settings.
We recommend this book to anyone who loves the elegant marriage of stone, water and planting — If you’re curious about what kinds of aquatic or moisture-loving plants to try or how to balance structure and wildness around water, Jekyll’s book is still a deeply relevant, inspiring guide.
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​https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wall-Water-Gardens-Gertrude-Jekyll/dp/0881430021​
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Top gardening jobs for January ​​​​
Often the coldest month, January might be the middle of winter but as the days lengthen the garden starts to grow. Now is a great time to plan for the coming garden year and to order seeds and plants. Enjoy the fresh air on dry sunny days and check your winter protection; stakes, ties and supports are still working. Also, put food out for birds and leave some garden areas uncut for a little longer, to provide shelter for wildlife in your garden.
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Top gardening jobs this month:
1. Prune apple and pear trees
2. Clean pots and greenhouses ready for spring
3. Keep an eye on watering houseplants
4. Plan now to boost the winter fragrance in your garden
5. Inspect stored tubers of dahlia, begonia and canna for rot or
drying out
6. Keep an eye on figs and olives and guard against heavy frost by covering with sacking or old fleece​
7. Start forcing rhubarb
8. Plan your vegetable crop rotations for the coming season
9. Keep putting food and water out for hungry birds
10. Cut off hellebore leaves at the base to discourage black
spot disease and show off flowers
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Musings
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‘There is beauty in every January sunrise - a new day, and a new
opportunity to grow’
Unknown
‘This January, take it day by day, goal by goal, and you’ll be amazed by how you will go’
Unknown
‘In January, even the smallest ray of sunshine feels like a gift of hope’
Sarah Kelly
‘January is the quietest month in the garden. But just because it looks quiet doesn’t mean that nothing is happening.’
Rosalie Muller Wright.
‘Anyone who thinks gardening begins in spring and ends in the fall is missing the best part of the whole year; for gardening begins in January with the dream’.
Josephine Nuese
‘Never underestimate the healing power of a quiet moment in a winter garden’
Unknown
‘Happy the man whose year has been well spent,
Who looks before with hope, back with content’
John Askham
‘The gardening season officially begins on January 1st and ends
on December 31’
Marie Huston
‘What if winter were only there to make flowers bloom
and not to see them dying in summer heat?’
Unknown
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And finally............
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A garden Is not just a place; it is a conversation between the earth and the soul.
