Trentham – Gardens Seasonal Update 

An update from Trentham’s Head Gardener Luke Bartle

There seems to be a general feeling that in the Winter, gardening tasks are minimal. I have always disagreed with this, in fact its probably one of the busiest times of the year – especially at a gardens like Trentham. With shorter day lengths and more unpredictable weather (and thus ground conditions) we are very much watching the weather apps to plan our work.  

The forecast was certainly right over the past first weekend of December, with the devastation that Storm Darragh brought. We just about got over the snow in November – crushing the likes of the Floral Labyrinth herbaceous planting down (which normally stands up for those frosty picture perfect moment), to then have to deal with 65mph gusts through the Garden!  It’s a good job the proactive decision to close the gardens was made, to ensure staff and visitor safety. Most of the team who have worked here for many more years than I haven’t seen a storm and devastation like this. We have lost some significant trees in the gardens and wider estate. Whilst its all part of the natural cycle, it was very sad to see and deal with the fallen trees and branches. Given all the predictions in terms of weather patterns changing into the future, its vital that we respond in terms of managing and restocking. 

Coming to the end of the year, it’s always nice to reflect on the year go and a view to next year. In the gardens, we have made great strides in not only planning for future developments in 2025/26/27 of the garden, but also implementing change this year, in which we hope will bring a lot of joy to you in 2025. The David Austin Rose Border has been refreshed with a new rose and herbaceous scheme, new plantings down the East Lakeside by the Kingfisher Hide, and Bluebell Meadow had its first planting of bulbs.

Most significantly, we have started with phase 1 of our Italian Gardens: The Next Chapter Project. Working with Tom Stuart-Smith over the next few years, we will be removing, preparing the ground and replanting the beds. Tom summarises our joined up approach and design intentions below –

“The planting at Trentham suffered during the pandemic and much of the original diversity has disappeared. We are replanting it in three phases and the emphasis is going to be on very stable, long lived, colourful perennials which are more resilient to the vagaries of climate, dry summers and wet winters in particular, than was the original planting.

The upper beds will see a revival in species diversity, showcasing an exciting range of plants throughout the garden. For instance, we plan to incorporate 15 different varieties of Baptisia [False Indigo] across the beds. While Baptisia will serve as one of the main structural elements, other species will play a more dynamic role, bringing lightness and spontaneity to the planting. These include Atamantha turbith [Candy Carrot], Seseli hippomarathmum [Horse Fennel] , and Oenothera ‘Lemon Sunset’ [Evening Primose]. These plants will be encouraged to self-seed and establish themselves naturally among the bold, structural framework of the more dominant species. We will use 8 inches of coarse sand to plant into throughout the garden. This approach will help plants be more reliant to winter wet and summer drought while at the same time discouraging invasive weeds.

In total, 212 different plant varieties will be introduced to the upper beds, with further species introduced into the lower planting beds. This approach not only ensures Trentham remains a beautiful and innovative garden but also establishes it as a hub for education—inviting students, gardeners, and visitors from all backgrounds to learn about plants and their potential.” (Tom Stuart-Smith, November 2024)

The whole team and I are super excited to be starting this journey and to be very much building on Trentham’s rich legacy where we can put the Italian Garden back at the forefront of horticulture. As an off shoot to this, we are looking at the Upper Flower Garden too. Many of you may recall the box links that were in there, which were removed due to the sustainability of this and the impacts of the box moth caterpillar. In the New Year, we will be injecting some vibrancy to those beds with permanent planting to bring some structure and colour to those 6 flanking beds. As well as these exciting projects, the past couple of months has seen efforts gone in around the gardens with bulb planting. 20,000 bulbs have been planted into the Long Borders, 40,000 into the wider gardens and lakeside – very much building up our naturalising bulb content. This, as well as the 100’s of pots planted for our Bulb Festival, promises to be a fantastic display of spring bulbs. But as you can imagine, it has been a lot of work. We have been working with our Events team in the planning of making 2025 Bulb Festival a more interactive and engaging.

Like most large gardens this time of year, the main formal gardens have been taken over by a Winter Light Trail, and well a lot of wiring. As you can imagine, working around this and in service of this is top on our to do list at present. When you study horticulture, you are not taught how to plant bulbs round a bright and shining gingerbread house, or to do herbaceous cut back with a load of electric wires in the bed (don’t worry, extra Risk Assessments were carried out). Whilst events like this brings the team extra challenges and remedial works, it is great to see the gardens being enjoyed by the many 1000’s that are coming on the evening trails and the like. Let’s just hope for no more stormy weather disrupting this!

2024 has been a busy and hectic year for the Gardens Team. Great progress has been made in terms of projects and the planning of projects into the next few years. This wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for the support of our volunteers and various groups and colleges that come week in week out, of which we are very grateful for and look forward to working with them into 2025.

Things to look out for in the new year would be the West Lakeside, with the hellebores and snowdrops in the stumpery, and the hamamelis, daphnes and winter honeysuckles giving great early interest colour and interest. And of course, the many 1000s of early bulbs that will start to pop through the ground, giving great joy to those crispy late winter strolls.

If you ever want to know what we are doing in the gardens and why, please do ask one of the team. From all the Gardens Team at Trentham, we would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Look forward to seeing you in 2025, horticulturally it promises to be an exciting one!