Our work in the garden at Shaw's Corner
- Last updated:
- 15 January 2025
Shaw's Corner's Senior Gardener and dedicated team of volunteers are always busy taking care of this special place. Find out about the work we do year round to look after, maintain and restore.
A year in the garden
October 2024
A month of transformation! As the public season comes to a close, this month marks the garden's busiest time.
This October, we:
- Refreshed the entrance borders through lifting and dividing. To simplify next year’s display, we reduced the variety of plants, creating deliberate clumps of the same species to better fill the space. Surplus plants were saved for potting and selling in 2025. We also removed overcrowded shrubs and mulched the refreshed beds while the soil temperatures were still warm, giving the borders a fresh start
- Begun transforming the mirror beds, which hadn’t been renovated since they were planted in 1996. Overrun with weeds like enchanter’s nightshade and ground elder, they required extensive care: the plants were dug out and their roots were cleaned, invasive weed roots were removed, the soil was consolitated and single-dug.
- Cleared the leaves!
November 2024
The garden during November is a lovely place to admire nature. The trees are alive with colour, the skies emit a golden glow morning and night, and the lawn gets painted with fungi. 2024 also brought a icy blast and named storm to challenge us!
Here's what our Senior Garderner was up to:
- Historic hedging plants were bought to be stored in our brand new quarantine area.
- Perennials in the mirror beds were lifted and divided to give them a chance to root before Spring. Some gaps were left to plant some choice delphiniums that we know Shaw was a fan of.
- Historic tulips were planted, some sourced from invoices dating back to 1921-1930. By planting when the soil cooled to 8°C, we’re protecting the bulbs from fungal disease and giving them the best start. This is sure to be a spectacualr spring-time display that is similar to what the Shaw's would have seen.
December 2024
December is a hit and miss month, with this year proving ultra tricky! Though mild, heavy rain and storms dampened the spirits.
This month, our Senior Gardener and his team of volunteers worked on:
- The second year of our historic hedge renovations, which sees them revert back to their historic dimensions and shaping.
- Ordering of bareroot hedging plants to fill gaps, create privacy and support wildlife, These bareroot hedging plants will fill gaps, enhance privacy, and support wildlife. This step has been years in the making—ensuring we only introduce historically authentic, peat-free, responsibly sourced plants to preserve the garden's heritage and ecosystem for everyone forever.
As we look towards 2025, we thank our volunteers who support our Senior Gardener. This yeat they dedicated an incredible 2,232 hours between them to transform the garden, and bring history back to life.
Conservation work
The gardens at Shaw's Corner are managed by a Lead Gardener and a dedicated group of volunteers.
As more information comes to light, a long-term project is underway to historically restore the garden back to how Bernard and Charlotte would have known it.
As they progress, you can read about the work here, and on our social channels. Keep checking back for more!