Walled Garden Volunteers' Blog May 2026
/Last week, a visitor to the Garden said to me, ‘It looks different every time I come in!’ And so it does. The end of April and Easter brought hot sunshine, and the tulips faded quickly in the heat.
Planting a garden and maintaining it so that it there is always something new to enjoy, is quite a task. We follow Cleo Mussi’s original designs - with a few tweaks here and there now that we Gardeners have gained knowledge and experience ourselves.
On with the Show! The Garden is looking Bloomin’ lovely! The photo of the pond on the left, in sunshine, by Walled Garden Gardener Rosie… While on the right… Spot the difference!
It’s now the turn of the irises. We began with a few blue (and sometimes, white) irises from Cleo’s own garden in 2016. But today we have a fabulous collection, thanks to donations over the years from the gardens at Newnham College, Cambridge, and by a renowned garden designer based near Bath; and as of last year, the West and Midlands Iris Group created ‘Group Membership’ just for we Museum gardeners. Sue and Penny are our representatives at meetings and shows.
The cooler weather of the last week or so means that the blooms are lasting a little longer- though you may already have missed some of these beauties (photographs by Philippa):
Members of the Iris Society are helping us to identify our irises. We must act quickly, whilst the flowers are in bloom as once faded, one iris looks much the same as another! This year, Penny and Sue are marking each iris with a colour-coded tag, to continue to update our records. Being an ‘iris monitor’ is a tricky job!
Irises in the Walled Garden must earn their keep in the colour-coded borders, too- we have no dedicated Iris Beds. Instead, the flowers add to the overall effects in the Mediterranean, Bonkers and Purple Borders, (see the Borders plan on display at the entrance to the Walled Garden). There are more irises to see, of course, too many to include here!
Besides the irises, there are other Garden delights. After last month’s news of the bees, we must include them in this Blog. Here they are, feasting on blue Camassia flowers, and the white Wisteria, now safely fixed onto its new frame. (photographs by Nicola and Philippa).
Out of sight on a Monday, there is plenty to do in the Museum gardens. Here are some of us at the shed discussing tasks, and then getting on with putting in a new, porous hose and vegetable seedlings at the pergola, tending the herbs (with Geoff in the background, cutting the lawn), and doing some ’roaming weeding’ through the borders.
The vegetables are doing well. If you never venture beyond the main flower beds, come and explore, next time.
Photographs below show blueberries (in ericaceous soil), spectacular comfrey and vegetables growing under the pergola.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this Maytime edition of the Blog.
