The new season will kick off on 1st March when we’ll be pruning the paniculatas and aroborescens.  They appreciate and flower much better after what seems like a drastic pruning.  If you want a copy of this year’s gardening timetable email us through the contacts page.   After a visit from Plant Heritage the parent group of all national collections and a discussion we had about the amount of space we would need to be a collection of all known hydrangeas, we decided, because we already have most of the cultivars, to have a National Collection (under the rules of Plant Heritage) of Hydrangea paniculata.  These are the ones with the cone shaped flowers and more bushy habit.  This will not stop us from collecting other significant, award winning and endangered hydrangeas.  We already have 24 different types of Hydrangea macrophylla Magical Series which we are trialling for the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS).  Some of these won’t make the retail grade so will go out of cultivation.  We’ll have them preserved in Darley Park.  We’ll continue with the labelling of all our cultivars, as well as the 19 different varieties of birch tree we have.  New shade giving trees are on order for the rest of the walled garden.  The Open Day is on Sunday, 7th August.  We’ll be there from 10am to 3pm with guided tours at 11am and 2pm.