We celebrated National Tree Planting week in December in style and no mistake. The Devon Gardens Trust very generously donated 21 half-standard hawthorns (crataegus prunifolia splendens) – really good quality trees and grown to almost full height. The delivery included all the necessary stakes and ties and Hi-Line’s Ben Smith very kindly delivered a huge pile of wood chips with which to mulch the new plantings. Local volunteers as well as people new to the gardens came from near and far armed with an impressive breadth of heritage gardening, arboricultural experience and enthusiasm to prepare the ground for the trees during the morning – digging 21 holes, sledge-hammering in 63 stakes and wheel-barrowing 21 loads of mulch from the top level of the gardens to the bottom level! The afternoon arrival of a large group of Shaldon School students with their parents for the mass planting (and alphabetical naming) capped a very good days gardening – thank you very much to everyone who helped.
The new avenue winds alongside the lower pathway of the Italian Garden and will soon provide year round interest to enhance the views over the roof tops and across the estuary.
More pictures after the break …
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