Winter at Torre Abbey

Winter at Torre Abbey Gardens

e heated glasshouses at Torre Abbey are a real delight for visitors in winter and there’s always plenty to see throughout the gardens. Ali Marshall Head Gardener tells us how they keep it looking so good.

Winter in Torre Abbey Gardens is always a busy and interesting time, although not as pretty as I would like. I am always a bit envious of the crisp, elegant pictures I see in garden magazines and co ee table books, where skeletal structures, seedheads and bare branches are covered with sparkling frost. In our mild climate, frost is a rarity and much of the time a Torbay garden in winter is simply soggy. On the plus side we do not have to lift our dahlias, although we do mulch them well.

Having two plant collections in heated glasshouses means that there is always plenty of work to do even in poor weather. Winter is our time for cactus pruning, our least favourite task and one that requires a bit of creativity. Boiler suits and extra thick gloves are essential, but we also make use of old duvets and towels, litter pickers and even vacuum cleaners to limit the pain. In the main Palm House, it is time to prune back some of the summer’s growth. During the scorching summer we let the plants grow unchecked to provide extra shade but in winter light becomes the major factor. Our bougainvilleas are a case in point. Planted along the south windows they lter out the erce summer rays and ower wonderfully but need to be hard pruned soon to allow other plants to access whatever strength there is in the winter sun, and give us the chance to clean the windows, of course. It is also the case that pests congregate in the more congested areas where they are less likely to be disturbed so a good thinning out is necessary to disrupt their colonisation. We do have biological pest control and would not dream of using

chemicals, so we aim keep a sensible balance rather than the wholesale destruction of pest populations.

Given the size and maturity of our tropical and subtropical collection the most common question asked by visitors is about how we stop things going through the roof. It is a challenge and each year we need to use a sca old tower to top out several of the bigger trees and plants. e Norfolk Island Pine, the Avocado and the Strelitzia nicolai, the bigger cousin of the well-known Bird of Paradise, are the most regularly pruned and the quickest to recover. Down below, though, winter owers abound. African continent plants like Clivea and the already mentioned Bird of Paradise are often at their best in January and February. In fact, some of our Bird of Paradise had already come into ower by November. I do not really have an explanation for this. It is just something we have learned to accept and appreciate; tropical owers with their bright colour and intensity are a real tonic “ African continent plants like Clivea and the Bird of Paradise are often at their best in January and February.when it is cold and grey outside.

Although wet and windy, the autumn thus far has been rather warm, and outside of the glasshouses there is still a surprising amount of growth and owering. Most people are now aware that climate change is confusing and disruptive for many plants, so we have little choice but to accept and adapt our gardening techniques as a result. I have put away the gardening calendar wall chart in my o ce and am encouraging my team to work exibly. If perennials are still owering, we can leave them for a little while longer, especially as there still seem to be bees around. Having said that, there is still a schedule of sorts to keep to. Winter pruning in the gardens always starts with pruning the climbing roses in late autumn and ends with wisteria, apple and grapevine pruning just before spring arrives, so despite the roses continuing to ower we cannot put it o for too long or we simply will not have time to get round the entire garden. Working e ciently during the winter months is important to us, not just for the bene t of the garden itself, but because the Abbey continues to hold events and activities throughout the winter so we must keep the garden in good condition whilst also helping to make the season exciting and welcoming for visitors. We had a remarkably successful family Halloween activity with a spooky trail lit up at night; it was exceptionally popular. Clearly the garden team’s homemade zombies, witches and man-eating plants were the main draw. At the end of November is Winter Fest, our Christmas craft festival – an opportunity to highlight our plants for sale followed by a host of Christmas activities, including wreath-making workshops. Don’t miss our Christmas Around the World Exhibition, which runs until 24 December in the Spanish Barn. Loaned from the National Gallery, ‘Sensing the Unseen,’ is an interactive, multisensory exhibition running from 1 December to 31 January in the Spanish Barn. It’s based around the wonderful nativity scene painted in the sixteenth century by Jan Gossaert known as ‘Adoration of the Kings.’ I am already obsessed with trying to identify the plants in the painting as everything seems to have symbolic value. I cannot wait to get more involved. Full details of upcoming events and activities are available on the Torre Abbey website.   torre-abbey.org.uk

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