WINTER AT CLUNY

Red Squirrels

The Red Squirrels should be relatively easy to see over the winter months. In the morning they are very active around the feeders close to the car park and at the large Wellingtonia at the far end of the lawn (No 5). We supply them with peanuts, hazelnuts in their shells and pine nuts. As we go further into winter there is less for them to eat in the garden but in the afternoons they can frequently be seen digging up the bits and pieces they hid a few weeks previously! Away from the feeders, stopping, listening and quietly watching usually results in a squirrel being seen.

Cluny’s Trees

Visitors often say that it is at this time of year that the trees, particularly the conifers, stand out in the garden. Needless to say Cluny’s UK champion Wellingtonia or Sequoiadendron giganteum is always dominant but looks even more impressive after a fall of snow. The barks of various birches and cherries also stand out especially the Tibetan Cherry Prunus serrula var tibetica with its shiny red peeling bark, a number of examples of which can be seen throughout the garden. The Southern Beeches or Nothafagus species are well represented in the garden with a very twisted and lichen laden example of Nothafagus antartica or Antarctic Beech on the left between Nos 17 & 18.At the bottom of the garden past a carved birch seat is a Metasequoia glyptostroboides or Dawn Redwood. This species is described as a living fossil. It is a critically endangered species having only been discovered in China in 1941before which it was only known in fossils. It has an amazing twisted reddish trunk similar in many ways to its near relatives the American Redwoods. Not far past it there is a striking example of a Northern Chinese Red Birch Betula albo-sinensis var septentrionalis  (just before turning back up the hill) growing through a large Rhodendron loderii. It has peeling papery orange coloured bark. There are 2 or 3 fine examples of Abies procera or Noble Fir at the top of the garden and their girth at the age of 60 years is already impressive.

Cardiocrinum giganteum (Giant Himalayan Lilies)

The impressive looking dead stalks in the garden are the seed heads remaining from the flowering stalks of Giant Himalayan lilies which flowered in June-July. The pods ripen in December/January and each capsule begins to open gradually releasing seed when there is a breeze. The seed spreads around the garden but it will be about 7 years before a flowering sized bulb is produced. The stalks provide a different architectural interest to the garden throughout the year and visitors are always amazed that this plant is a bulb.

Winter Birds

There are many blackbirds, chaffinches, tits and robins feeding around the bird feeders. We have been provided with two large bags of eating apples and 4 apples disappear daily. Sparrowhawk, buzzards and jays are present most days and two male great spotted woodpeckers defend separate territories in and just outside the garden. There are plenty of bullfinches around, a few treecreepers and siskins while the local flock of long–tailed tits which feed on the fat blocks visit us frequently. Very vocal ravens and small skeins of locally wintering greylag geese fly over most days and there are still one or two fieldfares around.. Although starlings are resident in towns and cities along with additional birds in the winter from Europe, our breeding pair only visits in the late afternoon in the winter. The male sings his heart out for about quarter of an hour and occasionally checks out the nest box before flying off to roost possibly many miles from here. Other possible species at this time of year are lesser redpoll and brambling. 

Winter Work

Leaf collecting is an obvious priority at this time of year. We make copious amounts of leaf-mould which goes back onto the garden beds by way of a three year cycle. You will see various leaf mould containers around the garden operated on a 3 year cycle. There is also tree felling to be done as well as cutting back and thinning out of branches all of which are big on-going jobs and typical of a woodland garden. Some dead or dying wood is retained for the benefit of invertebrates and bird-life. Occasionally winter weather will bring down trees and large branches making our life more difficult but making the decision of which tree to take out next much easier! On wet days seed is packeted for postal sales in December and for sale in the garden during 2012. We also sow around 200 different species for our own purposes. As you go around you may see small cloches placed over certain plants of one particular group of Meconopsis. This is to shelter their rosettes from wet and subsequent freezing conditions which can destroy the plants. All other plants are left to the vagaries of nature and the weather although most have a covering of leaves to protect them.