Trentham Gardens Tours

Planting design workshop 30th July 2011

2011-07-26T01:00:00.000-07:00

Sat July 30th - Planting Design. discover the secrets of planting design truly a black art

Meet 9 am at the Trentham Gardens Visitor Centre

Please wear suitable clothing and boots. Tools will be provided but feel free to bring along your own.

Visit the Trentham Gardens web site for details on how to book your place

Trentham Gardens Volunteer's Open Day 27th July

2011-07-26T00:48:00.000-07:00

Becoming a trentham gardens volunteer gives you the chance to work alongside a knowledgeable garden team, gain new skills and experience in horticulture and enjoy working within the wonderful surroundings of Trentham.

Who can become a garden volunteer? Anyone over the age of 16 can become a garden volunteer. You will need to be relatively fit and healthy.

How do I become a garden volunteer? If you are interested in volunteering please contact the Trentham Gardens visitor centre on 01782 646646 and leave your name and a contact number.Or simply come along to the open day.

How often do I have to volunteer?The garden team are grateful for any time you can give to volunteering be it half a day or a few days, either weekly or monthly.

To find out more come to the open day, assemble at the Trentham gardens visitor centre at 11 pm on Wednesday 27th July.

Trentham Garden Workshop this Saturday 25th June.

2011-06-21T00:45:00.000-07:00

Book now for the next workshop at Trentham Gardens this weekend starting a 9.00 am, meet at the Vistor Centre which is the entrance to the gardens.

The workshop this Saturday will be about stem cuttings of herbaceous perennials.Learn how to produce free plants. This is also a chance to take a bit of Trentham Gardens home with you.

Please wear suitable clothing and boots. Tools will be provided but feel free to bring along your own.

Visit the Trentham Gardens web site for details on how to book your place.

New Workshop Dates

2011-06-08T06:17:00.000-07:00

Announcing Garden Workshop dates for summer 2011.

Sat June 25th - Stem Cuttings of herbaceous perennials.Learn how to produce free plants
Sat July 30th - Planting Design. discover the secrets of planting design truly a black art.
Sat August 27th - Dividing Iris. Discover the secrets behind the successful Iris display at Trentham Italian Garden.
Sat Sept 24th – Autumn Lawn Maintenance learn how to put your worn out lawn to bed for the winter.
Sat Oct 22nd – Propagation of shrubs and fruit cane by hard wood cuttings.

Visit the Trentham Gardens website for booking details.

Naturalistic Beauty

2011-05-10T01:03:00.000-07:00

Now I might be biased because I spent the last three years working in and developing the Eastern Pleasure Garden here at Trentham Gardens in my role as garden supervisor, but there is a simple beauty in the the yellow and blue delight of the Iris sibirica and Trollius europaeus which are flowering in the Rivers of Grass at this time of year, that for me is a welcome sight from the usually spring flowering delights of azaleas and blue bell offerings that we are used to. The splash of pinky white flat headed Chaerophyillum hirstum adds a air of fluffiness's if there is such a world punctuated by the pink dots of Persicaria bistorta, which is both uplifting and smile worthy. Even the heads down must get to the playground traffic can`t help but stand a moment to take in the freshness before moving on. This naturalistic beauty heralds the start of the flowering season in the Eastern Pleasure Garden and is fast becoming a "must see" for horticulturist in the know. Another skillful execution in the naturalistic talents of Piet Oudolf

Turf Workshop Sat 7th May

2011-05-06T08:36:00.000-07:00

If you need to know more about the black art of Turf culture and have your very own beautiful weed free, green lawn that neighbours will hate you for, don`t forget to book a place on our Turf Workshop this Saturday 7th May, meet 9.00 am at the Trentham gardens visitors centre. Click Here for more info from the Trentham Gardens website

New show gardens at trentham

2011-03-29T23:20:00.000-07:00

Visitors have noticed a flurry of activity in the what was called the 100 ideas gardens area of late. The recent activity is the building of five!. Yes five! new show gardens.

PM Training are building a new winter garden which is quite modern with curved timber walls which will hold steel snowflakes and flickering, frosty fibre optic lights. Planting which will of course relate to the season of winters interesting highlights in the plant world.

Reasheath college students are building two show gardens details of which I hope to get later.

The allotment area which is so far the peoples favourite is been extended to include a shed which will show of tools of yesteryear and a chicken run.

Show gardens in the pipeline are a recycled garden and a time themed garden.

And just to prove spring is here a picture of spring bulbs and new growth in the Italian Garden.

New Web Site

2011-03-09T07:21:00.000-08:00

Besides conducting tours and workshops at Trentham gardens.
I am also a Garden Designer and Sound Installation Artist.

I have just finished updating my web site for August Garden Designs my design company please check it out Click Here. As well as garden design and build services for the domestic market the team and I design and build sensory gardens for schools and sound installations for public art commisions. On the web site you will see examples of work and some design options with costings. But of course if you need more info please contact me.

Trentham Garden Workshop this Saturday 12th March.

2011-03-09T07:01:00.000-08:00

The first garden workshop at Trentham Gardens is this weekend starting a 9.00 am, meet at the Vistor Centre which is the entrance to the gardens.

Full details Here

Please wear warm clothing and boots. Tools will be provided.

Monkey Dribble: Trentham Gardens Sound Wall back on line

2011-03-07T01:02:00.000-08:00

Monkey Dribble: Trentham Gardens Sound Wall back on line: "The sound wall at Trentham Gardens was powered down in January 2011 to allow software update and the development of new&nbsp..."

New beds to the rivers of grass.

2011-02-25T02:14:00.000-08:00

Visitors may have noticed new beds appearing during the last few months along the riverside path in east side of the garden. Work started on these beds in December last year and was my last project as Garden Supervisor at Trentham.

The purpose and design brief behind the new beds was to extend the rivers of grass further into the surrounding landscape. The beds which were created lake side in in 2009, were created with the same brief in mind.

The reason behind the brief was to bring the rivers of grass scheme more into context with the surrounding landscape. Visitors walking along each path will now feel like they are walking within the rivers of grass rather than along side it.

Planting to the new beds will echo the same scheme of two variety's of Molina with interspersed planting of Astrania, Iris, Astilbe and Bog Myrtle.

Garden Workshops Dates

2011-02-17T00:28:00.000-08:00

We have announced three garden workshops to start the 2011 gardening season off -

1. Propagation by division: Sat 12th March

2. Propagation by stem cuttings: Sat 9th April

3. Turf Maintenance. Sat 7th May

Check the Garden Workshop Page for more details and how to book.

The first date Propagation by Division will last approx 3 hrs starting at 9.00 am and will cover herbaceous perennial propagation by division, producing several plants out of one.
The day will start off with an introduction to the workshop theory and then working in the garden. Stout boots and gardening gloves are recommended for the day and also warm clothing.

One of those small jobs.

2011-02-16T05:13:00.000-08:00

Winter is the ideal time to do those little jobs which you hav`nt the time to get round to in the summer and here is a example of one of those small jobs that tend to get over looked in the shadow of ongoing major works in the main garden.

This is the timber bridge that spans the woodland stream sited in the west side of the garden. It was looking a bit sad for itself before this wonderful transformation which is a fine example of the workmanship that goes into even the smallest jobs in the garden.

This area of the garden is quite magical on a misty mornings walk or during the evenings when sat around a fire during one of the firepit evenings which are held nearby.

Whats happend here !!!.

2011-02-09T08:22:00.000-08:00

I was approaching two garden visitors standing staring at what was the Mediterranean Show Garden in the model garden area . When I heard the comment "What the hell happened to this !!". I must admit only a week ago it was a formal garden with white walls and tiled seating area and now there is soil and mud.

I replied, re-development !!.

I was informed earlier by the garden team that the Med Garden is to go and the Tropical Garden which is next door and it must be said more popular, is to be extended in to what was the Med Garden. The boggy area within the Tropical Garden is to be made larger and a formal tropical area is to be created. leading of from the existing Tropical Garden.

Old Tropical Garden

The Winter Show Garden is also in re-development and relocation when the final plans are ok`d I will update.

Record year and bright future ahead for The Trentham Estate and Gardens, North Staffordshire

2011-02-02T00:43:00.000-08:00

Record year and bright future ahead for The Trentham Estate and Gardens, North Staffordshire

Above link to MidlandsBuisnessNews.co.uk is an article on the record numbers at Trentham Gardens in 2010 for 316,000 visitors compared to 216,000 in 2009, a 46% increase not including events visitors which were a extra 75,000.

An estimated 3m people visited the estate in 2010 taking in the other attractions such as the retail village and garden centre.

Barefoot Developments

2011-01-27T07:57:00.000-08:00

Work is continuing on developing the barefoot walk here at Trentham Gardens which is a very popular attraction for all the family. The introduction of new materials and designs on the walk are always popular with the garden team and garden visitors, but the downside is that the walk is closed during the winter months to enable the works to be carried out.

This winter the addition of design inspired large foot prints are included in a new section which will include a small diversion form the orignal route of the walk. I shall post more details later.

Diamond Move

2011-01-26T03:20:00.000-08:00

"Diamond" part of the "Carbon Rapture" exhibit by Graeme Jones of Keele University is now relocated to the north of the "Floral Labyrinth". The exhibit was sited during 2009/2010 in the Rivers of Grass scheme, where it received quite a lot of attention.

Originally the collection of exhibits which are "Carbon Rapture" were sited in the court yard of Burlington House home of Royal Society of Chemistry in London.

Diamond is the largest model of diamond in the world containing 31387 balls to represent the carbon atoms. The tetrahedral shape around each atom is very strong making diamond the hardest material known. A real diamond containing 31387 atoms would be less than one billionth of a carat, invisible to the eye and worth less than a penny.

In its new home the piece looks like its floating on the grass which is quite a pleasing effect and is a strong contrast against the background architecture which is the orangery and stable to the original Trentham Hall.

Living Wall is Revamped

2011-01-21T01:18:00.000-08:00

A Black Birch hedge which is the transition point or "living wall" betwixt the "Rivers of Grass" and "Floral Labyrinth" of the Piet Ouldof scheme at Trentham Gardens, is receiving attention from the gardening staff at the moment. The Birch had a crown lift late last year and this week the gardeners are working on the deschampsia and euphorbia under planting. The deschampsia was less "fluffy" last year which greatly impacted on the overall vision of this part of the scheme. The general consensus was that less light has been reaching the grass over the summer months when the birch is in full leaf hence the crown lift. The next job is to thin out the under planting in an attempt to reinvigorate and encourage more new growth to recreate that "fluffy" feel again.

Five Star Ladybird Hotel Built at Trentham Gardens

2011-01-19T05:56:00.000-08:00

The garden staff at trentham gardens are keen to encourage and practice organic gardening and to illustrate this the gardeners have created several ladybird houses set within the Dave Austin rose border. The desirable habitats are built from plastic drain pipes filled with garden canes and wrapped with dogwood twigs. Hopefully the ladybird houses will encourage overwintering ladybirds to shelter in a dry warm environment and be in the mood to make more ladybirds which in turn will feast on the unlucky aphids settling on the surrounding rose bushes.

Whats Happening in the Garden

2011-01-12T03:26:00.000-08:00

The gardening staff at Trentham are busy cutting back the entire herbaceous perennial planting throughout the garden this month. Once everything is cut back then the mulching begins. We use a fine composted bark mulch to smother the weeds and protect the plant crowns.

In addition to the cutting back and mulching the gardening staff are carrying out a renovation project on many of the upper beds in the Italian Garden to eradicate a couch grass problem. The selected beds are excavated to approx 80cm to remove the infested top soil and replace with clean top soil. then replanted.

I hope to post little insights of the garden calender here at Trentham Gardens on a regular basis so watch this space.

Start of a New Year

2011-01-06T03:42:00.000-08:00

Working on a new time table for gardening workshops here at Trentham Gardens.

Favourites are :-

Propagation of semi ripe and hardwood cuttings
Garden and Planting Design
Garden Survey
Turf Maintenance
Propagation by division of Herbaceous perennials
Seed Sowing
Design and fill seasonal hanging baskets

I will post dates and costs shortly.

I expect the first workshop will be propagation by division of herbaceous perennials. Using the plant material in the gardens the workshop will entail splitting and potting of existing stock giving you a chance to take a piece of Trentham Gardens home with you.