Category: Uncategorised
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Winter pruning a Fig tree
An old fan trained fig tree, growing against the south facing wall of a Victorian coach house near Itton in Monmouthshire. February a good time for its annual winter prune. In the UK fig trees fruit on last year new growth, having formed pea like embryonic buds that are poised and raring to go for…
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Careers
A Career In Gardening? Either looking to expand your horticultural experience or looking for a new challenge, Gareth works in a collaborative way with other gardeners, tree surgeons, landscapers and designers in the region so is always happy to hear from people who might be considering a career in horticulture. A good opportunity to contribute…
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Potager Style Planting Scheme
Walled garden in Monmouthshire. Potager style planting scheme. Productive and ornamental with beans, tomatoes, salad, herbs and greens amongst a flowering herbaceous display. Rudbeckia ‘Hula Dancer’ looking good with the Veronicastrums amongst some strong Achillea ‘Walter Funcke’, Salvias and grasses. Should have been more assertive splitting up the clumps to develop a dotty matrix, but…
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Landscaping Meadow Options
The same annual flower mix as the year progressed (no grasses)
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Hedge Planting in the Usk Valley, Monmouthshire
Bare root hedging season progressing well. The Usk valley in Monmouthshire is a stunning landscape to be working in. This estate north of Usk features meadows, woodland and lake in the wider landscape. February 2020 we are planting a mixed native hedge alongside a paddock. The 5 acre field is managed for wildflowers. The 5…
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Garden Art
Garden sculpture in the Forest of Dean, not a bad setting whilst doing a late meadow cut. Some good Common-spotted Orchids dotted around the meadow as well.
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Avenue of Liquidamber
Planted last winter, coming into good autumn colour.
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Camassia leichtlinii naturalised in a meadow
Previously a routinely mown expanse of lawn. Developing areas with wildlfowers – these Wild Quamash (Camassia leichtlinii) planted last autumn looking good now.
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Planting a Tree Lined Avenue
Part of an on-going landscape design and restoration project we are working on near Bitton, South Gloucestershire. Within the 11 acre setting for the listed Victorian country house, a newly planted avenue of Liquidamber. After a year or more of scrub bashing, mowing paths through old meadows and bramble and generally getting to grips with…
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Bespoke Compost Bins
Form and function. Maybe I’m a bit over the top when it comes to compost bins but you cant deny what a thing a beauty this is (my own design). Always read the instructions.
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Dividing Snowdrops
Lifting and dividing Snowdrops on the green has proved pretty successful for us. This bank was only planted up last spring: Bees on an established clump:
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Renovating Yew Hedges
Unlike many evergreens, Yew, with its abundance of dormant buds sitting in wait within the old wood, responds well to cutting back beyond the existing canopy. The almost mythic propensity to regenerate itself, producing some of our oldest living specimens, thousands of years old. In spite of the best intentions of routinely trimming your Yew hedge,…
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Renovating a Neglected Lime Avenue
Edwards Garden Services is currently involved in the design, maintenance, restoration and renovation of a significant landscape overlooking the River Boyd at Bitton in South Gloucestershire. The awkward question of how to restore or renovate a neglected lime avenue has recently been tackled. Neglected lime avenues can be difficult to renovate as a good avenue of…
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Yew Hedges in a Victorian Garden
Edwards Garden Services has recently finished the hedge cutting of the complex of Yews at Barrow Court in North Somerset. The original hedges were planted in 1896, part of the formal layout of this Elizabethan inspired Victorian garden. Other Yew hedges on site are still the original plants and we have been involved in their…
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Welcome to Aust, a Forgotten Landscape.
A new base for Edwards Garden Services, the village of Aust in South Gloucestershire, a perfect home for Gareth balanced between his Bristol and Welsh roots. A village in the heart of the Lower Severn Vale, always associated with a route across the estuary, now an iconic Grade I listed building, otherwise known as the…