Developing a Woodland Garden in mid Suffolk

Over the past month we have planted 27 bareroot Corylus avellana (Hazel) trees and 15 Ilex aquilfolium (Holly) trees to create an understorey in an existing coppice of mature oak and field maples.  Located in a garden in mid Suffolk on the edge of a small village it’s a peaceful spot surrounded by fields.  There’s a lot of rabbits and deer in the adjacent woods so we made tree guards for the new trees using 2cm gauge wire, using tree stakes and securing them with cable ties.  The trees were grown locally by a wonderful tree nursery called Rymer Trees specialising in 100% peat free cell grown trees.  All the trees arrived with beautifully developed healthy robust root systems which will mean that they should establish well and quickly. Eventually the hazel trees will create elegant vase-shaped coppiced stools and the hollies will provide evergreen interest as well as berries for the birds through the winter. 

Rymer Trees 100% peat free cell grown locally

A woodchip path will wind through the woodland and we have planted 7,000 bulbs either side of the pathway and throughout the woodland. 

7,000 bulbs from Gedney Bulbs in my hallway awaiting planting.

No pressure.

They are all native woodland bulbs that will naturalise creating a carpet throughout the woodland in years to come.  Snowdrops (Galanthus ikariae) will appear first in January / February.  This snowdrop is a native of the Aegean islands (also from Turkey and the Caucasus).  Beth Chatto in her book on the ‘Woodland Garden’ says: ‘To my delight this pretty snowdrop seeds itself around.’ So hopefully it will do the same in this Suffolk garden.  Eranthis hyemalis (aconites) will accompany the snowdrops from January to March with their cheerful yellow flowers.  These will be followed by Anemone nemerosa (wood anemone) white flowers sometimes flushed with pale pink.  We planted these as root cuttings, it’s amazing to think that those 3-5 cm lengths of root will produce such beautiful plants.  In April the Erythronium revolutum ‘White Beauty’ (dog tooth violets) will reveal their soft-cream lily-like flowers.  These come from the western states of North America where they grow in mountain woods and on meadow slopes, plentifully supplied with moisture in spring, even if they may be dried out later.  I’m hopeful that they will do well here as it tends to be very wet here in winter/ spring and then dries out over the summer period.  I like the leaves as much as the flowers with their mottled and marbled patterning. 

Only 5,000 to go, keep smiling!

Next we planted some winding ribbons of Hyacinthoides non-scripta the native British bluebells.  We planted 2000 Leucojum aestivum ‘Gravetye Giant’ these large bulbs will make hearty clumps of leaves (30-40 cm tall) topped with bell-like white flowers, a native of Europe and South West Asia, they also like moist conditions.  They will flower into May.  Then for a splash of pink in autumn we planted 2000 Cyclamen hederifolium, again the leaves are as beautiful as the flowers I think, with their intricate patterns.  There’s no way I could have planted so many bulbs on my own but in the cheerful company of Amanda Crabb and Lucy Smith we did it. 

Amanda Crabb and Lucy Smith thanks for all your help with the epic bulb planting.

Roll on spring.