Another hot day...

Another hot day…

An interesting (if not very taxing), session at Blickling this week. In the morning I worked with Norfolk Peter and Chris ‘bashing brambles’ along the main Temple walk. Cutting them out at ground level often involved scrambling amongst the rhododendrons and then hauling the extensive stems out of the bushes. Prickly work!

In amongst the rhodendrons…
after bramble bashing…
and some American Pokeweed nearby

I then joined the ladies in the Walled garden and did a bit of weeding around the Raised beds with their brightly coloured Zinnias. The heat was climbing…

Weeding in the Walled Garden

Weeding in the Walled Garden

After lunch Peter and I joined Gardener Ed and a team of Tree surgeons over in the Wilderness, where a couple of huge, but unsafe, trees (a Beech and Sycamore) had already been felled- I remember hearing the loud crashes earlier in the day.

Big trees brought to earth..
The second sycamore awaiting it’s fate
Man aloft…trimming back before the last cut…

Well we were there to help clear up the brashings once another sycamore (also infected with Honey fungus) was felled. It was fascinating watching one of the surgeons clamber up the tree and progressively rid it of all its side growth, to leave a tall (I estimate 80 feet) trunk, ready for the chop. Ed told me that the hand-held chain saw he used is digitally controlled, so it regulates the power it delivers in relation to the resistance it picks up in the sawing job in hand. It was impressive.

Well, did we clear up? No. Did we see the tree fall? No. Unfortunately we had to leave before the deed was done, but Ed told me later that it fell well, and that it was caught just in time as it’s inner wood was spongy and soft from the fungus….a few more lives saved!

Old School Gardener

Further Information:

Blickling Hall website

Blickling Hall Facebook page

A 360 degree tour of Blickling Hall

Old School Gardener

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