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Private Notes
The first episode covers January and February. The frosts have not yet released their grip on the garden and the devastation of a hard winter is scattered all around. There is much to do; cutting back, preparing the soil and garlic planting. The first green shoots of the year begin to appear, as drifts of snowdrops carpet the woodland floor and hellebores reveal their ravishing colours. A local woodsman joins Carol to lay a native hedge. Slowly the first signs of spring appear.
March and April is a time of huge change in the garden, as the remnants of winter make way for the hope of spring. Carol is busy clearing away the last of the winter detritus to make way for waves of planting. There's pruning to be done and she sows the first seeds of the year. Snowdrops are replaced by celandines and violets, and along the lanes and hedgerows, primroses abound. A local hedge pruner, who has come to cloud-prune Carol's box hedge, finds his work interrupted as the lengthening days of April bring a nesting hedge-sparrow to the garden.
Plantswoman Carol Klein shares with us a year in her garden at Glebe Cottage in North Devon. In May and June everything in the garden is surging forwards, full of exuberance. Rather than sitting back to enjoy it all, Carol is planting out sweet peas, picking the first salad leaves and staking perennials. Blossom drips from the trees, the woodland garden is carpeted with bluebells, and primal ferns begin to unfold. Carol's opulent oriental poppies pop their hats in the early summer heat and as the welcome hum of insects returns to the garden, Carol and husband Neil take delivery of their first hive of honey bees.
In July and August, the horticulturist deadheads the roses and stakes plants to help keep the garden looking its best during the summer months, and savours the full blooms of geraniums and lilies. She creates colourful borders using cannas, ginger and dahlias, before visiting her local beach, Braunton Burrows, to seek out native sea holly, which she hopes to grow herself.
In September and October, the horticulturist harvests seeds and pricks out young plants to aid growth. She also prepares the garden for visitors to her Open Garden Scheme day, and enlists her daughters' help to decide on the future of a cankered apple tree.
Plantswoman Carol Klein shares with us a year in her garden at Glebe Cottage in North Devon. In November and December, the first frosts have struck. It's time to put away tender perennials, begin judicious cutting-back and sweep up the fallen leaves. The garden is laid bare but beauty is still found in the skeletal structures of fading plants. Holly, box and yew reveal their evergreen glory and the perfume of viburnum and mahonia tempt insects still bravely on the wing. In the Woodland Garden, under the leaf-litter, first snowdrops are already beginning to appear. As Carol plants her tulip bulbs, thoughts turn to spring.
It is summer and the garden is at its most abundant. The fragrance of lilies fills the air, and glorious colour abounds. To keep the garden at its best, there's deadheading to be done, plants to stake - and looking ahead, Carol begins to take cuttings of her favourite herbaceous perennials. Carol also sets to work in her hot borders to stage the hot tender exotics she has carefully grown on under cover. Cannas, gingers, and dahlias are all carefully planted and placed out to create a sizzling explosion of late summer colour. Summer would not be complete without a trip to the seaside. Carol takes a walk along the dunes of her local beach, Braunton Burrows, to seek out a plant she would dearly love to grow in her own garden, eryngium maritimum, our native sea holly.
Autumn brings a change of mood to the garden, rich smells of wood smoke and ripening fruits pervade the air. It is a busy time for Carol - there are seedlings to be pricked out, tidying up to be done, and harvest time means there is an abundance of seed to collect. Slugs and snails have ravaged the hot borders. Carol cuts back tattered foliage to reduce the damage just in time to open the garden to the public under the National Gardens Scheme. October sees the leaves on the trees turn to gold, russet, amber and scarlet. They will need to be raked when fallen, and there are tulip bulbs yet to plant - the garden is visibly going to sleep - winter is on its way.
Winter has come... harsh frosts have shattered Carol's tulip pots, and her brick paths are ruined. Carol takes shelter in the potting shed and prepares her garlic for spring planting. On finer days, she begins pruning late-flowering clematis, and when the thaw comes she begins a major re-vamp in the borders. As the long dark days pass, the first green shoots of the new year appear. First it is snowdrops in ones and twos, and then in drifts, carpeting the woodland floor. These are then followed by jewel-like hellebores. As winter slides into February, and whilst the trees and shrubs are still in their dormancy, a local woodsman arrives to lay Carol's native hedge.
It is spring and changes are afoot in the garden. Carol begins the season by clearing away the last of the winter debris. All pruning needs to be done before the end of March and she celebrates the new season by sowing her first seeds. An expert hedge pruner comes to cloud-prune Carol's box hedging but work is interrupted by a nesting hedge sparrow. Down in the woodland garden, snowdrops have given way to celandines, violets and primroses. In May, there is a surge of new growth. It is a time for cow parsley and blossom. Although the seedlings need pricking out, the frosts are now over and the garden's renewal is underway.
