October 2020

Below are several photographs and an update by Marion Hearfield (Garden Volunteer and Cowle Trustee).

The last two weeks of September were harvest time in the Walled Garden. Our apple trees - all local heritage varieties for baking, eating and cider-making - have produced some beautiful fruit this year. Sarah also picked a quince, and a football! The apples are now displayed on the pavilion terrace.

It was also time to cut the meadow and a big thanks to Francis and Dominic (pictured below), who volunteered to help us out by scything the area. Last Monday, Graham and Geoff raked it into heaps for Ann to barrow away. Geoff also cut the lawn that morning, ready for the Museum's very first Covid-secure event - the launch of Howard Beard's new book. Thanks to Abigail's careful planning this was a very successful gathering of invited members of Stroud Local History Society (the publishers) and old Friends of the Museum. The book is on sale in the Museum shop.

The great iris move has started too. Since one iris looks much like another at this time of year, Caroline and Ann made a map from earlier photographs, and each block has been carefully identified. Some plants have been put back in the same place, others are being moved to the new iris bed in the museum's courtyard, and the rest are being potted up for sale on the table next to the volunteers' shed. As of last Thursday (1st Oct) there were four varieties on sale; more will be added as clumps are lifted and split. The white borders are still looking lovely, and the autumn colours of the other beds glowed in the sunshine.

Marion H

September 2020

Below are several photographs taken by Marion Hearfield (Garden Volunteer and Cowle Trustee) last week in the Walled Garden. First, an from apology Marion - ‘my Kindle camera lens was grubby and I did not realise until part-way through taking photographs for you!’

The first photograph shows the results of a bulb-planting session in my back garden, where Alice came to help pot up 425 spring bulbs in five flavours. They will be on sale early in the new year.

But the walled garden had a week of drama in this season for wasps! Visitors to the Walled Garden in the past couple of weeks will have seen the warning signs - the willow tree that shades the plant holding bay was alarmingly full of wasps feeding on the honeydew created by huge aphids. We called in the expert and had reassuring words from Stratford Park contractor Mike McCrea that the Black Willow aphids would soon vanish now the wasps had arrived along with helpful ladybirds. Much more interesting to Mike was grey-brown damage on the willow's leaves - evidence of the smallest moths we have. So we keep the warning signs up in the expectation that the wasps will eventually clear off. Then another wasps nest was discovered in a flower-bed near the Summoner, so this time the Wasp Disposal Man came to deal with them.

In the rest of the garden we had new help on Monday from Sam, whom most of you will have seen behind the desk in Museum reception. Sam wants to learn a bit more about horticulture so it was only right that he started by weeding the pergola, then helped Susan to separate seeds from the old lavender cuttings. Geoff was very pleased with the compost that he had sieved from that covered box you saw earlier in the summer, and the gardeners started their autumn job of downsizing overgrown clumps (if any of you want some of that glorious schizostylis we already have some on the plant sale table, with many more now growing on for sale later). The hostas have taken a terrible slugging this year, so we have lifted them out of the beds and settled them into pots to make them less accessible. We hope next year's growth will look much better. The trimmed topiary has already put on new growth, the black willow up on the terrace has flourished, as have the tiny succulents tucked experimentally into very shallow dish of grit. And new tools are now in use - given to the walled gardeners by Lionel Walrond's nephew, delighted by the thought that Lionel's old-but-good spades, forks and hoes will continue to work for the museum

The garden is taking on its autumn colours and will continue to charm our visitors - one of whom this week had painted for the Secret Garden fundraising when the walled garden was still in the future. She was delighted to see the result.

Walled Garden - The Lost Season March-June 2020

Monday 23 March: After all the rain, and days spent weeding in the Garden, the Monday volunteers turned out in force to mulch the borders. We managed to cover almost all of them, planning to return on Weds 25th to complete the Bonkers Border. Thanks to the threat of Covid 19, it never happened. The Garden gates were locked. The Museum and Garden were now in Lockdown. The Gardeners were locked out!

Weeks passed. The MIP Gardeners all settled to projects in their own gardens. We swapped texts and emails and photos and sent each other advice on plants. Ruth set up a WhatsApp group for us, and then, Gardeners’ ‘Zoom’ meetings, where we ‘toured’ each other’s gardens, which were looking very good! Sarah sowed vegetable seeds; Cleo sowed seeds for bedding; Caroline began the mammoth task of cataloguing every plant in the Garden, advised by a local garden historian; and Geoff amazed us with stories of his 30yr old amaryllis, and his giant, two-storey high delphinium! And we fretted about the Walled Garden, as the sun came blazing down and the ground began to dry out. Some of us, on our ‘Boris Walk’, went into the Park and peered through the old iron gate at the orangery to report what we could see: Ruth took this photo through the gate It was agonising not to be allowed in; even worse for the few Over 70s in our gardening team who, due to restrictions, couldn’t even walk in the Park.

11 April, Easter Saturday. The Museum Manager and his son set up the hose and watered the Garden, sending photos; the tulips were all in flower and looking lovely! We posted the images on our gardeners’ Whats App, and emailed them to others; Cleo chose an image for the Walled Garden Instagram page; and Marion posted the first of the photos out to The Friends. During their routine checks on the Museum over the following weeks, Fran and Kevin sent new photographs. The colours in the Garden were wonderful, the new tulips gorgeous! But the Garden was still sizzling in the heat. Then, on 22nd April, while the Garden gently fried, the ‘leaky hose’ watering system was set up. Just in time……

We have beautiful photos of the Garden in April, emailed out to all the Friends by Marion. The euphorbias turned lime green; the meadow was pink with ragged robin and campion; lupins shot up; the Mediterranean border was a joy; blackbirds built a nest in the plant stall ‘holding bay’ racking, and soon there were five eggs. We all were cheered by the images. What a special place we have made, between us all. And then, in all their glory, the irises began to flower… with none of us there to enjoy them.

If you’d walked past the Museum at the end of April, you’ll have seen the wisteria, a mass of sweet-smelling purple; but inside the Walled Garden, a white-flowering version was stretching along the wall, almost dripping flowers. The plants were all enjoying the unusually hot weather. The Museum Manager recorded a short video of the tranquil Garden, with birdsong as the soundtrack and shared it on You Tube.

Monday 11 May - The Museum Manager began to risk assess access to the Garden for some garden volunteers, now all anxious that at a time of year when everything grows, the Garden had been left untended. Safety rules were drawn up, a rota devised, and on, and on..

Monday 18 May, nine weeks since Lockdown, all the Monday gardeners below the age of 70, one by one, came for a 25 minute ‘tour’ in turn to view the Garden. It looked lovely, better than we had dared hope. We sent the news back to the others - the Garden was OK! Work began on the 20th May. First, we watered, and watered, and watered. The earth was bone dry. Then close-up inspection revealed the results of lack of attention. Plants had survived the heat, but hadn’t grown as much as they should have done. The ivy-leaf hydrangea was in a sorry state. There were weeds….quite a lot of them! Plants had withered and died at the plant sale and plant holding bay. The Eryngium ‘Miss Willmott's’ Ghost’ had gone absolutely mad and filled the Stellata border with seedlings. Two people at a time were now allowed into the Garden, and to allow everyone to have a chance to be there - nine gardeners in all - we established a rota system, giving each person a 90 minute slot (too short, they all said, but at least they were in!). Ruth, having introduced most of us to Zoom, now instigated an online Doodle Poll to help us to keep track of who was coming in to work in the Garden, and when. A pair of blackbirds followed us about, indignant that we were daring to come into their garden! But they enjoyed our weeding and digging as we disturbed the worms for them! The bees didn’t mind our being there either. By the start of June, we had made headway. As Govt safety advice was updated, now we were allowed one extra person per session. The vegetable seedlings, protected from slugs by hundreds of crushed-up eggshells, were planted into a newly-manured bed at the pergola. The herb beds and raised beds have had a ‘makeover’ and growing well, our own organically produced edibles!

15th June - Things were changing rapidly and now up to four people could work any one time. This made a huge difference! It was possible to have enough time to complete a task. Then from 22nd June, finally, our four Over-70s gardeners were able to join us. Hooray! Early July - The lawn is cut, the hedge is trimmed, the weeds are under control, the mulching continues, the sale plants are nearly ready, the front border of the Museum is rescued: huge amounts of energy have been expended. The Walled garden is now ready for human visitors again.

We, the gardeners, are all very grateful to Fran and to Marion for circulating photographs of the Garden during Lockdown, keeping in touch with all our Friends and supporters with positive news and beautiful images and so playing our part in the Museum’s online presence. We lost nearly a whole season in the Garden, but it was captured in these images. We feel very lucky to be back in our lovely Museum Secret Garden - and, as one volunteer said to me,"The Garden needed us; and we needed the Garden". We hope to see you all there, soon. The Walled Garden - which has now reached the notice of national organisations and specialist reporters - has its own Instagram account, started and regularly updated by Cleo Mussi, the garden's designer. So, if you enjoy Instagram or know others who do, visit http://www.instagram.com/walledgardenstroud

Winter 2020 in the Walled Garden

The Garden looked lovely for December 2019 - a bit frosty; dressed with stars by artist Corinne Hockley; the Christmas trees on display instead of hiding by the Shed and the pergola lights switched on. Then, with the Museum closed to the public for January 2020 rather than December, the Garden Volunteer Team were able to get going on tasks straightaway.

Peter Lead, the beekeeper and Buzz Club organiser, moved the hive a little further into the mead-ow, with the help of Geoff, John, Rob and Dave. The hive originally had been placed rather close to the wall, meaning that Buzz Club had limited space from which to view the bees. We covered the area beneath the hive with a membrane and then topped it with woodchip to make a defined standing area for our young Buzz Club beekeepers. The bees seem happy with our work - we managed not to upset them as we have not moved them very far at all.

The herb beds, which had been completely taken over by mint, are having a re-vamp by Sarah Parker with the help of new Gardening Volunteer, Nicola. They’ve removed bags full of mint roots, sifted the soil and a plan has been devised for ‘themed’ herbs.  One bed will have herbs said to be good for the lungs; one for the stomach and digestion; and the third, nearest the Shed, will become our ‘First Aid’ bed, with herbs for cuts and bruises. They are hoping to have the beds planted in the next few weeks. The beds are being laid out in a traditional manner with defined sections marked by stout canes.

Sarah also recycled some items set aside for the Skip in January. Bits of the old outdoor chess-board have now become gardening ‘kneelers’, and hula hoops are supporting the plastic which forms homemade protection for our winter salad vegetables.

The weekend of 8th/9th February was our first Snowdrop Celebration event in the Walled Garden in recognition of the Giant Snowdrop Company of Hyde, Stroud.  The Company offered rare varieties of snowdrops by mail order for the first time during the 1950s and early 60s. A special archive of materials featuring RHS medals, snowdrop catalogues, letters and photographs has been donated for the Museum Collection by the Mathias family and the family of Herbert Ransom, of the GSC.

Visitors were able to view these items on display in the Foyer, together with a small but very special collection of snowdrops in the Walled Garden representing those listed in the sales catalogues from the firm. In the Shed a more comprehensive collection of information sheets and press cuttings is now available for the Volunteers to assist with background knowledge to better serve the visitors to the garden. Mirrors on long handles were purchased to enable easier viewing of the markings inside the snowdrops flowers.

The event attracted many Galanthophiles eager to buy new snowdrops for their own collection from Chris Ireland-Jones of the internationally reknowned company Avon Bulbs. The Museum’s event was advertised on the back of the Avon catalogue alongside much bigger venues! The Stroud News and Journal published a two-page photo article thanks to photographer Simon Pizzey. There was an excellent talk by Jane Kilpatrick and Jennifer Harmer, co-authors of ‘The Galanthophiles’.  With a pop-up cafe, children’s trail, performance by Bill Jones, winter plants from The Nursery at Miserden and a lovely selection of goods in the Museum shop we gardeners were all very happy with our new venture. Even Storm Dennis didn’t deter visitors on the Sunday (Saturday had brought sunshine and blue skies and in the warmth outside the Pavilion you could have mistaken it for the South of France!).

….and now, after February rain, with the last snowdrops fading we are preparing for Spring.  This year, we’ve taken on the extra task of looking after the courtyard and the borders outside the old front door of the Mansion in the hope that the new planting will entice visitors through the gates and into the Museum and ‘back ‘garden. So far, this work has been undertaken despite the downpours!

Geoff has pollarded the willow by the Sheds; last year’s stalks and seedheads are now in our new, improved compost system; Marion’s plant ‘holding bay’ has had to be extended! The primroses are in flower and the tulip bulbs are sending up shoots…

Spring is almost here…..but, with winter still clinging on, the supply of kindling from the Monday Shed is still very much in demand!

The Walled Garden now has its own Instagram account! So, if you are into Instagram or know others who are visit www.instagram.com/walledgardenstroud

Autumn/Winter 2019

There’s been plenty of colour in the Walled Garden throughout the summer and now in the autumn, there’s still lots to see. We benefit from the glorious backdrop of the Stratford Park arboretum:  stand on the Garden lawn and look out beyond the walls, to the oaks and beeches, the cedars and hollies. Within the Walled Garden, Cleo Mussi’s planting scheme is delivering all-year round interest…something that is not easy to achieve. 

The pumpkins at the pergola have been much more successful this year, thanks to the help of Sarah Parker (and organic seaweed fertiliser!), including a group of knitters [pictured] lead by Sarah’s mum who created colourful knitted supports for the gourds. While still not as plentiful as Sarah would like, there were enough pumpkins and gourds to provide a Garden Trail at half term and a gloriously bright display at the Auricula Theatre, created by a teenage visitor with help from Garden Volunteer Caroline. We were able to add some of our own collection of heritage apples, too - our first real, though small, crop from the orchard.

Up on the bank below the hedgerow, there are the bright red stalks of the Cornus, red leaves of the Hydrangea Quercifolia, and some wonderful autumn chrysanthemums. As a contrast, the silver-grey Cotton Thistles make for a dramatic introduction to the Garden, surviving through the wind and rain, while up on the White border near the Pavilion, the Rubus and Miss Willmott’s Ghost are striking features as autumn sets in. 

Regular visitors will notice some activity at the Meadow. We’ve had an invasion of knapweed this summer, and whilst the sea of purple has looked lovely, the plant is now very dominant. We decided to experiment and take drastic action and have been hard at work digging out big, well-established knapweed clumps (with tough roots). We will re-seed some areas in a bid to balance the show of meadow flowers next year.

The dipping pond has had a ‘makeover’, too, with the addition of more, larger-leafed water lilies. The aim is to cover the surface of the pond, with the lily leaves and blooms, while the water beneath stays cool and fresh.

Currently we are working with the Collections Assistant, Fern, to create two new interpretation panels for the Garden, to be installed after the Museum’s Winter closure (opening times). Garden volunteers have contributed ideas and photographs for the panels, which will show a few images of the Walled Garden before it was opened to the public.

We had a good crop of runner beans again this summer, which along with soft fruit earlier in the season were sold at reception. The plums and Bramley apples, in contrast with the overwhelming crop of last year seem to have taken a year off maybe as ‘recovery’ or due to the seasonal weather conditions.

We have plans to try to produce more edible plants next year, and linked with this, we’ve begun a new regime for making compost, with the aim of producing enough to serve our needs in the Garden. Geoff has been busy sorting out the compost bays.

Meanwhile, Caroline collected flower seeds, which are available at the Museum, along with plants, some donated by visitors, but mostly from cuttings from the Walled Garden and prepared by Marion with her helpers. The men are busy chopping firewood, always welcome this time of year.

As cold weather approaches, we are leaving stalks and seed heads to add winter interest, for as long as they hold up to the wind and rain. Then there are bulbs to plant, shrubs to trim. The Bobbly border has had a preliminary ‘haircut’ from Cleo’s snippers; we have had to remove one of our Bay trees which was looking very unhappy; and there’s plenty of tidying up to do. Every Monday, the volunteer gardeners move in.

Other news is that we are going to look after the border at the front of the Museum, by the old front door into the mansion. The Park team have kindly cleared the ground for us, ready for some new planting. So- Watch this Space!

Ann Taylor (and the other garden volunteers)

Summer 2019

What a dramatic entrance to the Walled Garden: four huge Cotton Thistles! Museum visitors who venture out into the garden just have to find out what else there is to see!

We promised that this third summer of the Garden would see it 'blossoming', and it is, just in time for Cleo Mussi's exhibition, ' Mussi's Herbal'. A visit to the exhibition must be followed by a viewing of Cleo's borders in the Garden.

The planting is filling out, with new additions to keep up the succession of interest. Clematis and roses are scrambling up the new metal obelisks. The beehive has all but disappeared into the meadow, now turning purple with knapweed. 

Now we know the areas which need extra attention - water, compost, supports. ... and where the slugs and snails live! We've had much - needed help from Sarah Parker this year: have you seen the squashes and courgettes at the pergola? The plants are thriving on her attention, our ‘natural’ slug defences, and the organic seaweed feed Sarah is giving them. Soon, Geoff will try the same treatment in the lawn.

Spend an hour in the Walled Garden and you'll meet all sorts of people. There are those who come with friends for a day out, discover the Museum and find there's so much to see that they will ‘have to come again, and bring other people’.

There are the family groups in the school holidays, looking for activities to enjoy. Recently, we met a lady who had been in the Garden with a school group in the very early days, when all we had was the new Pavilion, accessed via the side gate and the old steps, with bright orange fencing to keep us away from the mud, diggers and mess. 'That's all history now', she said, looking across the glorious borders from the Pavilion terrace.

Nowadays we are drawing the gardening fans, looking with expert eyes at the plants and the layout of the garden. They tell us they are visitors to other Garden properties and our Garden compares with the best they've seen'. How lovely!

Some pass on advice and suggestions, not realising that there is no ' Head Gardener', just a team of volunteers, working to an artist designer's vision.

But our greatest thrill and pleasure comes when visitors arrive at the Garden feeling tired, or troubled in some way. They tell us that, after a little while sitting in the Garden, they feel much better. The garden walls create a space separate from outside concerns, where there is time to sit, simply do nothing and get back in touch with the really important elements of life. We firmly believe in the Spirit of the Place and that is indeed a wonderful gift to be shared.

Ann Taylor & Caroline Dicker (garden volunteers)

Spring 2019

Walled Garden volunteers update, prepared by Ann Taylor.

This year the Walled Garden will be in its third Summer.  It’s April and already much has happened in the Walled Garden since Christmas. The winter has not been so cold as last year; just as well, as strong winds in January ripped the protective fleecing from the Bay and Olive trees (and tipped over the Auricula Theatre, requiring repairs by  volunteer Geoff).  

The snowdrops then appeared, a special collection to tell a new story in the Walled Garden, that of the Giant Snowdrop Company (GSC) of Hyde, Stroud. In the mid-1950s until the early 60s, Brigadier Mathias and his wife, Winifrede, with Arthur Ransom, established a mail- order business, selling snowdrops from their grounds at Hyde Lodge. The idea was a 'first'; never before had it been possible for ordinary people to purchase special varieties of snowdrops for their gardens, alongside  common snowdrop, Galanthus Nivalis.  The Walled Garden display showed some 15 varieties of snowdrops from the GSC catalogue (pictured), thanks to help from local Galanthophiles, writer Jane Kilpatrick and members of the Mathias and Ransom families. These families generously donated archive material to the Museum Collection, which was displayed in the foyer until the end of March.

The Meadow and Orchard is now protected by a smart new rope (pictured), allowing the wildflowers to grow undisturbed and the bees unhindered; the cowslips are in flower now, and the fritillaries have expanded across the slope; our pear trees and plums are in blossom, with the apple trees to follow. There's a quince now, too, donated by a neighbour in Uplands of one of our volunteers; and the Nursery at Miserden continues to support us with plants for sale. 

The Friends have purchased some sturdy but beautiful plant supports this Spring (pictured), which the volunteers have begun to put into position. No more frantic propping - up of flopping blooms with makeshift sticks and string! This summer, the gorgeous mass of colours will stand up to be seen!

 Cleo Mussi, the artist- gardener, is introducing more roses and clematis to the borders, too. At the Pavilion, we are experimenting with bamboo in our new galvanised planters, to try to create some natural shading for the summer months. Nothing much seems to be happening there, yet!

On a Monday when the Museum is closed and it is quiet(er!) the volunteers have chopped firewood, sowed seeds, cleared raised beds, dug in compost, written labels, planted, nursed the echiums, planned plants for the pergola, pruned trees, swept paths, weeded, cleaned the pond, moved plants with Cleo's guidance, divided them- and on Tuesdays, potted up some Walled Garden cuttings to offer for sale at the Friends stall at The Shed (“Volunteers' HQ”!) . Not forgetting time for tea and biscuits, of course.

What's next? The cheery yellow Spring bank with primroses and narcissi will fade soon, as will the bright white flowers of Magnolia Stellata on the top White Border... The hedgerow is green now, thetulips are in flower - and, look at the irises! They are just waiting to explode into bloom! I think this third summer, the Garden will look spectacular. We hope that visitors will take time to relax and breathe in the Garden, and enjoy it as much as we do.

Autumn/Winter 2018

Walled Garden volunteers update, prepared by Ann Taylor.

As I write this 'Walled Garden report', there's glorious colour in the Park. The Walled Garden is beautiful, and its setting in the park, with mature trees all around, makes it all the more special. No wonder the Garden is attracting inquiries as a wedding venue or christening party. Visitors appreciate the atmosphere in the Garden, which is also an inspiration for artists' and poets' workshops, and children's trails.

 Asters (Michaelmas daisies to me as I am still learning the 'proper' names of some of the plants) have given the Garden borders an autumn lift, the tall white flowers at the Pavilion pathway, magenta-pink in the Bonkers border, and various shades of purples elsewhere.

This year, Cleo Mussi chose chrysanthemums to add to the colours, from a specialist grower, Norwells of Nottingham. The plants have done very well, in spite of summer heat when they arrived as tiny shoots in need of water, and rescued by Caroline (Garden volunteer). The 'chrysanths' (see photo), mostly in the Bonkers border, have staggered flowering times: some are almost over now, while others are still in bud.  Cleo also added interest to the more shady slope below the hedge. There are the bright red stems of Cornus, which we'll leave for one more year's growth and then maintain at that height, plus several hydrangeas, red- leafed in the autumn, and the red stalks of the euphorbias. The sudden cold at the end of October flattened one or two plants overnight, but we've salvaged the stalks of the persicaria, also bright red.

In the raised beds, the purple sprouting broccoli and red cabbage are looking healthy, and we've managed a crop of summer salad vegetables too. There's always advice and interest from visitors about this part of the Garden - an important feature of the planting as it harks back to the original purpose of the garden.  The sweet peas along the pergola are an attraction too; several elderly visitors have said that the fragrance reminds them of past times. Caroline and I have both presented these visitors with a little posy as a gift.

We've had apples and plums in abundance this year - and recently, the Garden was the venue for Apple Day, a community event with Stroud Valleys Project. ' The Boys' : Geoff, John, Dave and Rob, have begun chopping kindling again. They've also carried out essential maintenance work on the gates and benches ready for the winter season. Geoff has made a new compost bin for food waste. We were offered a quince and fig tree by resident of Uplands, which proved an adventure, as the trees were large, and we had to send for reinforcements to get them back to the Garden! But both trees have survived.

Caroline's been very busy all summer, carefully and patiently collecting seed heads and with the assistance of Museum staff these are on sale in the Museum shop. Meanwhile, Marion has created a very smart ' plant holding area', preparing cuttings to offer for sale at the Shed stall.

We've been given a special iris, Iris unguicularis Walter Butt, which flowers in the winter (we hope). Walter Butt was a local plant collector who lived at Hyde Lodge at Chalford. We have more to tell of his work - look out for this in January.