After a damp and dreary start to last month, as I sit writing this at the end of June it looks as if Summer is finally here now, which bodes well as we skip merrily into July. There’s no better place to spend a balmy Summer’s day than in a beautiful garden, and they don’t come much better than our 240 acres of Grade I listed gardens here at Leonardslee. While we’re often lauded for our Spring displays, and rightly so, the Summer months can be just as enjoyable here. Whether it’s taking a shady stroll through our woodland paths, marvelling at some of our historic trees, listening to the bird song or taking pictures of our fascinating flowering plants and stunning views, there’s something for everyone. If you’re a wildlife lover for instance, there is no better place for a stroll in July than down by the lakes where you’ll be able to catch the likes of dragonflies, damselflies and butterflies becoming more active as we shift into Summer gear. Read on for more…

July is also the month when one of Leonardslee’s feature shrubs should start to stake a claim for ‘star plant’. Although the Magnolias, Rhododendrons, Azaleas and Camellias have mostly had their moments in the spotlight for this year, now it’s the turn of the Hydrangeas. You’ll find them in many shades of pink, purple and white near the Crystal Palace entrance building, around the Rock Garden and below the Clocktower Courtyard for instance. However, we have plans afoot to plant a lot more Hydrangeas over the coming years in some of the further areas around the lakes to really boost the Summer interest there, so watch this space for more details.

Talking of new plants and planting schemes, as you wander around the top areas of the garden at the moment you’ll spot plenty of interesting new flowers and foliage to admire. Although only very recently planted and yet to fully establish, some of the highlights to look out for will include a purple and orange exotic scheme around the south and east sides of the mansion where the likes of Ensete ventricosum ‘Maurelii’ (Abyssinian Banana) and Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Amber Jubilee’ (Ninebark Shrub) will be drawing attention. Around the outskirts of the Rock Garden huge Echium pininana (Giant Viper’s Bugloss) and Salvia involucrata ‘Bethellii’ are two of my favourites to keep an eye out for. Inside the Rock Garden, Elliot from the garden team has been busy planting some new alpines and exotics such as Eucomis, Begonia grandis and Cestrum elegans which should all have July interest for example. Another of my team, Dan, has been creating some fantastic container displays around the cafes and welcome areas this year and they will be a riot of colour throughout the whole Summer so make sure you check those out.

The many Flowering Dogwood trees looked absolutely stunning here at Leonardslee during June, and despite the seasons being slightly early this year, all being well they’ll also be wowing our visitors during July too. We have well over 100 specimens and getting on for 40 different species and cultivars. Cornus kousa ‘Miss Satomi’ at the bottom of the main path from the entrance building is always a firm favourite for our visitors, but I also have a soft spot for ‘Eddie’s White Wonder’ as it was the first Dogwood I’d ever seen when I began my gardening apprenticeship at Sir Winston Churchill’s home in Kent many years ago. Here at Leonardslee, you’ll find it in various spots around the garden including at the Memorial Table.

As lovely as a British Summer can be, the hot weather isn’t without it’s challenges for the garden team however, as watering some of our plants becomes a priority. Some plants start to wilt when the amount of water they lose through their leaves (known as transpiration) is greater than the amount they can draw in from the soil through their roots. Established trees and shrubs and long-standing perennials should have an extensive root system to tap deeper water, but any newly planted specimens, such as those mentioned earlier, will need keeping an eye on. Dan’s pots and containers will also need regular watering as the volume of compost in them can only hold a limited amount of water.

Aside from the usual Summer cycle of mowing, edging, strimming and weeding, another key job for the garden team this month will be to get on top of some hard restoration pruning on some of the shrubs that were neglected during the ‘lost decade’ here at Leonardslee. As well as some restoration of the Camellias in Camellia Grove, which I talked about in this column previously, we’ll also be tackling some of our Rhododendrons and Azaleas this month. Warning - there are some Rhodos that won’t survive a hard prune, for example our smooth-barked Loderi collection. However, there are others which positively thrive from good haircut, for example Rhododendron luteum (actually an Azalea). This vigorous shrub obviously looks fantastic when the gardens are bathed in its fragrant yellow blooms, but it is very vigorous and needs to be tamed in some places. We’ll be concentrating on hitting it hard where it is either blocking views, swamping other plants, encroaching on paths or simply just getting too big for the space. Fear not though, it will be flowering again nicely next year!

So, as always, lots to see and do in the garden here at Leonardslee. There is something new to stumble upon somewhere every day so get out there and explore! I look forward to seeing you here during July…

Jamie Harris, Head Gardener