July in the Gardens
By Caryn Hibbert
The month of July brings with it colour, sunshine and gloriously long, golden days. We are also feeling the heat and with temperatures soaring making work in the garden challenging, early morning starts for the gardeners are the order of the day. There is something very special about the first few hours after sunrise
Long rays of watery golden sunlight create a sparkling, dewy haze over the meadow grasses with their topping of diamond bright dew drops. Quiet and peaceful, before most have risen from their slumbers, the air is cool and fresh, filled with bird song
This morning I joined the barn owl as it silently hunted over the meadows; we have two nesting pairs both out well into the day to catch enough field mice, frogs and insects to feed their growing young. Herons and egrets were stalking the river banks, kites and buzzards soared high in the sky, and in the gardens the woodpeckers, black-birds, robins and song thrush happily welcomed the beginning of the new day.
This morning, down in the cutting gardens with Sophie, our florist, we picked graceful buddleias, where peacock butterflies fluttered a plenty, phlox of blue, pink, purples and white, first dahlia and gladioli, sunflowers, zinnia, sweet peas, cosmos, and the last glorious lilies.
It was a perfectly glorious start to the day with mowers and strimmers, indeed any machinery deemed far too intrusive in the precious silent early hours.
For the next few days we will enjoy these early starts and make a plan for hedge cutting, meadow mowing and more that will keep the team busy when the days ahead are we hope, not quite so scorching..
