Dorset Walled Garden

03/03/2026

Busy Spring times.
Herbaceous supports starting to go in.
Sweet pea structures and rose domes made by Jay Davey () who is running our herbaceous supports course this month.
Planning planting positions with bamboo sticks for visualising
Roses on structures, greening up@at different paces
Long overdue hard prune of the eleagnus
Winter project underway in the swimming pool garden
Planting snowdrops with my new gardening companion, but not forgetting my old gardening companion seen here in the walled garden, drinking at the fountain yesterday, 16yo!
Mulching and propagation also underway, Devils bit scabious to be planted next.
Spring at !

02/02/2026

We have, over the last 54 hours, welcomed 24 people here for two of our very popular courses:

First of all, the reconvening of the 'Gardening through the Seasons' Course group, for the 3rd gathering of this popular 5 day course through the gardening year.

It was great to feel the enthusiasm of the group meeting up together again, as the group gels and becomes more familiar with each other - aswell as sharing their gardening trials and challenges (and successes!) over coffee, lunch and tea, between lectures and demonstrations. It was bitterly cold today, so after demonstrating jobs and various pruning methods in the garden, we were treated to another informative lecture inside. Everyone left with a sense of urgency, clutching a long list of things to do, plan ahead for and much to contemplate.

Prior to this, our very first Saturday course brought together another wonderful mix — experienced professional gardeners alongside those simply eager to learn. They gathered here to explore the world of roses, guided through their history, character, and care, and the careful art of pruning to keep them flourishing year after year.

We never take for granted the lovely people who find their way to our courses. Always curious, friendly and enthusiastic, the attendees are what make these days so rewarding for all of us.

07/01/2026

6th January.
Twelfth day of Christmas.
Beautiful start to the day.

It has been wonderful to have this glorious sunny weather as we return to work in the garden and appreciate the dry weather for rose pruning. It has been fun visualising how they will look and sit within the border and the rhythm they will bring to the border. Some of the more recently planted roses have put on quite a bit of growth this year, so we cannot wait to see what they will add to the mix!

We have pruned several roses in the main borders these last two days once the frost had thawed. We pruned old historic roses and more modern roses (David Austin):

Nuits de Young
Constance Spry
Charles de Mills
Royal Jubilee
Anais Segalas
Felicite et Perpetue
Reine des Violettes
William Lobb
Comte de Chambord
Celsiana
Violacea
The Fairy
Ancient Mariner
Laneii
Maitre d'Ecole
Hippolyte
Royal Jubilee
Rose de Rescht

Many more to do...!

02/10/2025

It's a wonderful year for rose hips!
Such a bonus to have these sparkly red additions to our walls, gates etc all around the garden. I appreciate them more every year and particularly as we have to start cutting the remaining herbaceous colour back, already now. Cutting back before the first frosts allows us to lift, divide and reposition as we work through the borders and we can then be ready to start pruning our roses in November as we have close to 400 roses in the garden, so we need a good chunk of time for this big winter job!

11/09/2025

We are delighted to have Jenny Barnes - - coming to teach her unique and very attractive method of rose pruning here on Monday, 24th November (to book, click on link in bio or go directly to our website’s Events pages)

Jenny’s method has evolved since she first learnt this sculptural method of pruning at Asthall Manor, another Bannerman garden. She has further developed this method in her roles as Head Gardener at some of the finest gardens, and this method which has now become a phenomenon known as ‘niffing’ !

Come and learn the art of ‘niffing’ to then create these wonderful structures at home in your own borders, on walls or up trees! There will be plenty of material for Jenny to demonstrate on here in the garden, we have over 120 varieties of roses and close to 400 in number!

Places are limited so I would suggest you book asap to guarantee your place on this course! Link in bio.

11/09/2025

Now that our newsletter has been sent to our subscribers, I am able to announce that we have Jenny Barnes () coming to teach her unique method of rose pruning here in our garden. Jenny will demonstrate her very own method of pruning ramblers, climbers and shrub roses, setting this course apart from courses focussing purely on shrub roses. There will be plenty of material for Jenny to work with, given that we have over 120 varieties of roses and close to 400 in number!

Jenny’s method of pruning brings art to borders, or walls, or even to roses scrambling up trees! As you can see in these photographs, there are many different possibilities for using these methods, bringing sculpture to your garden during the rather bare months of winter in your garden.

Come and learn the techniques of ‘niffing’ - the method that has become a phenomenon in the world of horticulture. This is a wonderful day dedicated entirely to this method. The day will follow our usual routine of coffee on arrival with (still warm!) freshly baked cookies, a talk from Jenny, with demonstrations to follow. After the morning of demonstrations, we shall pause for a two course, seasonal lunch before heading out again for further demonstrations and coming in for tea and cake at the end of the day.

Limited places are now available to book at this link:
https://www.dorsetwalledgarden.co.uk/event-details/rose-pruning-with-jenny-barnes-the-art-of-niffing or at our link in bio taking you to our website

Further courses to increase and develop your horticultural skills are available on our website, at this link: https://www.dorsetwalledgarden.co.uk/floristryworkshopsandevents - or at our link in bio above

11/09/2025

29/08/2025

We are coming to the end of August and to the end of the season...earlier than usual, but it is evident that it has been a tough season for many plants. It is interesting to see which plants remain unphased by the lack of rain and which have suffered badly, or even died. Either way, it's soon going to be time to put the garden to bed, bit by bit! With yew balls, box balls, lavender mounds, hornbeam and yew hedges, and pleached lime trees all clipped and trimmed, it is time to focus on the smaller details in the garden now, not forgetting planning. Does anyone else wonder when it might be time to sit back and relax?

On that note, I think it could be time to plan our bulb order! Have you ordered yours?

04/08/2025

Rosa Perennial Blue - coming back into bloom now, a wonderful repeat-flowering rose. I love how it adorns the gate welcoming you into the walled garden. Thank you for this beautiful photograph, Eva x
📷

03/08/2025

Have you divided your iris? Troy is shown here, teaching the course group how to divide iris and this is the time to do it if you haven't already done so!

This is one of very many skills Troy teaches on the 'Gardening through the Seasons' course due to commence again in September.

Details of our courses are on the website, some are close to full now - however a couple of places remain on our Gardening through the Seasons course. This runs over 5 days between September 2025 and May 2026, plus an online session and gardening diaries will be shared during this time. Further details on the website.