May - June 2015 (Seven Acres)

Seven Acres
Department: Herbaceous

Photo 1: Watering in summer, Seven Acres.

This is a large area and is almost landscaped, it has two large lakes loved by visitors for feeding ducks, it has a small Japanese pagoda like building, it has large sweeping lawns which visitors like to sit on and have picnics in summer. It's a high profile area in terms of it being in front of the restaurant and cafe, is near the front of the garden and has main thoroughfare paths. It has a grandness about it because of its openness and large scale. It has long quite large gently winding paths, which service cars use and mums like to push their buggies around, but the road is incredibly dusty. There are key trees there like a Nyssa sylvatica 'Wisley Bonfire' which gives magnificent autumn colour, a large Cotinus coggyria and an incredibly shaped Prunus 'Shirotae' which shows off its pink blossoms in spring. A couple of trees have been lifted up (from Witan beach) with a tree spader and replanted here this year - a prunus and a birch. They do the winter walk here, cultivating masses of the same shrubs for winter stem interest like Cornus, Salix, Acer, Tilia and Rubus, some of the beds have mass planting of Hamamelis, almost treated like bedding and pruned back constantly to keep size and shape. The area consists of large beds around the lakes, on the edges of the Wild Garden, near the start of the Pinetum and also in front of the canteen and library. These also include the Grass Borders - one of the best bits of Wisley and an exotic garden bed that showcases more tender plants. They also look after the plants outside the restaurant.

During my time here I helped do mass planting of Erica (recycled from Top Terrace bedding), mulching, weeding tree circles, stooling and staking Eucalytus trees (gunnii types) outside the restaurant (also kept small in containers), and moved Agave into the Grass Borders - which was a spiky affair - attempts were made to make it easier by sticking polystyrene cubes on the spikes and it was best done carrying one by one with a sacktruck. They are having a Paeonia collection installed here too, as part of Trials.

Management of the area and tasks involved (some of this is lifted directly from Herbaceous's management guide):

Daily tasks
- Checking and clearing the overflow pipe on the large lake
- Sweeping the gravel back on to the grass beds
- Litter picking across the area
- Checking the birdfeeder
- Watering pots around the restaurant and Aberconway House

Spring (Mar - May)
- End of Mar/ beginning of April - winter stem cutback (we did this as a masterclass) - they are left as long as possible to just when buds are starting to break and swell, to keep stems as young shoots so as to maintain colour.
- End of March / beginning of April – cut back grass borders using brush/hedge cutters and by hand (similarly this is done as late as possible to when growth as started from the base). We did this as a masterclass also.
- Removal of winter protection in exotic beds – This task is weather (temperature) dependant so could vary by a couple of weeks but it is generally around mid-April.
- Fertilising winter stems
- Mulching- any areas that have been left un-mulched throughout the winter can be mulched any time during this season to help suppress weed growth during the summer
- Planting of the edible wall outside of cafe & restaurant - mid-May. These are plants that they have chosen the previous August to provide a long season of colour and interest around the restaurant area.
- Division of summer flowering perennials and grasses.
- Moving bulbs - if necessary e.g. if they no longer fit in with the plans for a particular bed, the best time to do this is in Spring just after flowering
- Application of residual herbicide on large tree circles and other large bare areas to reduce need to weed later in the year
- Planting of herbaceous plants and shrubs as the soil starts to warm up and ground is still moist.
- Also planting of half-hardies and plants from seed, these will also have been chosen the summer before for the Propagation team time to collect cuttings and germinate seeds.

Summer (June-August)
- Weeding- This can either be carried out in big group hits or by individuals walking around with the appropriate weeding tools looking specifically for large weeds and problem areas at front of beds that are most likely to be noticed.
- Hand weeding is backed up by the use of herbicides both contact and residual.
- Regular watering of new plants to help establish.
- As it gets hot checking and watering of pots and edible wall outside restaurant as part of daily morning tasks.
- Edging- This includes edges of beds and path edges either with edging shears or with a half-moon if the edge needs re-defining
Around the restaurant an edging machine is used to get a very crisp edge and to save time.
- Preparing half- hardy plants and seed list for the following year for prop.  A lot of the same plants are used year on year but it is a good time to review how well they performed.
- Planting- This may still be taking place during the first week of June
- Summer Pruning- this takes place during August and is the time to remove old flowered growth from shrubs such as Philadelphus and Deutzia. It is also a good time to check on shrubs that have had regenerative pruning from February previous and to tip back to encourage bushy, ripe growth before the winter.

Autumn (September-October)
- Leaf blowing and clearing - paths become cleared as part of daily morning checks inclu. wooden bridge by the small pond. Leaf clearing from beds can take place when the garden is open.
- Winter protection and removal of tender succulents. This task is again weather dependent but the 2nd-3rd week of October is around the right time. The winter protection includes wrapping the bananas in fleece and hessian, covering the Gunnera with their old leaves and cutting back and covering the cannas. The tender succulents include any that have been on display in the grass beds and around the restaurant area including Echeveria, Aeonium and Agave. These are taken to the propagation department for storage over winter.
- Cutting back of herbaceous perennials such as Hemerocallis, Kniphofia (hedgehog fashion except on K. northiae and K. caulescens) and peonies. This is done once the flowers have finished and the foliage shows natural signs of starting to die back.
- Maintenance of path bed edges- This is relevant to all bed edges that are in contact with a hard path. In this situation the edge of the bed is found and then the soil flicked up to create a sharp edge
- Division of summer flowering perennials
- Gradual clearance of edible wall outside restaurant as things start to go over. Replanting with the winter interest scheme
- Planting trees/ shrubs if necessary whilst it is moist and warm.
- Dividing of perennials such as Hemerocallis, Helleborus and Hosta and movement of Peonies if needed. 
- Planting spring flowering bulbs.


Winter (November- February)
- Continue with the cutting back of herbaceous material.
- Continue tree planting. Traditionally spring can be dry at Wisley so if possible all tree planting is carried out by end of February (dependent on the season/workloads planting may place into spring).
- As part of the morning checks to go round and check the paths to see if they are icy and slippery especially after wet weather and they are gritted if necessary.
- Removal of ivy by hand. Seven acres has had a problem with ivy in the beds over recent years. Although this may not need doing annually winter is a good time to check and continue work on it if necessary
- Regenerative pruning- This takes place around the beginning of February, the amount of work which is required in any one year will obviously depend on how much work has been done on shrubs in previous years
- Leaf clearing - any leaves which have been blown into beds and have formed thick layers over plants will need to be removed, this is also a good chance to remove acorns which could potentially cause lots of weeding in the future
- Starting mulching if there is no frost on the ground and before the new weeds have started to germinate
- Winter is an ideal time to carry out any major work such as bed Reduction or clearance of old / over-grown shrubs.