Walled Garden Volunteers' Blog January 2025
/Hello! If you visited the museum before Christmas you may have spotted the Robins around the garden. For a brief moment we were tricked, being greeted by one friendly little Robin left in the Garden. It was lovely to see him, even though he isn’t ‘our’ real one and it cheered us up as we braced ourselves against the January cold.
Indoors at the Museum the staff have been very, very busy - as have we gardeners, as we prepare to open the doors again. For Gardener Volunteers, this is an important time of year, because – The Snowdrops are back!
Colossus (pictured), always one of the first snowdrops to emerge, was in flower before Christmas and we anticipated an early snowdrop season; but after the chill in early January all slowed down; other snowdrops in our collection are slowly catching up now.
Our Collection includes examples of the species snowdrops sold by the Giant Snowdrop Company of Hyde, Stroud, in the late 1950s and early 1960s – the first company ever to offer snowdrops to be sold by mail order. You can learn more about this at our special snowdrop event on 25th and 26th January.
Meantime, there has been plenty to do to prepare the Garden for this winter opening. The wintry weather made the Garden look beautiful, but the frost has held gardening tasks.
Happily, last week the frost melted, and it was time for action! There’s been plenty to do! …
We’ve cut down ferns and brambles – here’s Helen N in action, dressed for the cold; Geoff has repaired the Dye-Plant raised bed; we’ve removed barrow-loads of weeds and debris; rescued plants in pots from invaders…
Ruth tackled brambles and bedstraw while Nicola pruned a rambling rose and Cleo pruned the apple trees; others did many more tasks including some not shown here...the cutting of stalks, the tidying of potted plants, the cutting of the hedge, the sewing of new bunting!:
But there is always a welcomed break: Helen is glad of the chance to stand up from her weeding for a few minutes(!) And, in the warmth of the Pavilion, we admire Ruth’s dye work and Marion’s weaving, over tea, fruit cake with Wensleydale cheese, and leftover Christmas chocolates!
We are looking forward to seeing you at our weekend Snowdrop Celebrations. We shall be there in our scarves and woolly hats!
