WELCOME TO THE LOST GARDENS OF HELIGAN NEWSLETTER

Although summer is drawing to an end, The Lost Gardens are still very much alive. After our very successful Gardening Celebration event, the gardening team have now returned to tending to the gardens ensuring their beauty and productivity.

After several months of hard work the Scented Garden is now complete and open to visitors! Carly and her team had the mammoth task of transforming this area to compliment the Sundial Garden for visitors to enjoy. The headstones from the Tremayne pet graveyard have been replaced under the tree (Sequoia sempervirens) and new turf has been laid to compliment the planting of the new borders. The borders include a mixture of evergreen and scented shrubs which are all period correct up to and including 1930’s. The beds at the front and to the right are fairly formal and contain a mixture of herbaceous perennial, roses and lavenders to create a soft transition from the Sundial garden.

When Carly’s team aren’t busy in the Scented Garden there is always plenty to be done in the Flower Garden.Sweet Peas have been removed and seeds saved to see if any have cross-bred. This area has now been double dug and improved with horse manure. The Dahlias which were obtained from the National Collection really are looking wonderful.
The Vegetable Garden greets visitors with a wealth of apples hanging from the apple arch. This month is very much a time of tidying, adding manure and, if the weather turns wet, indoor jobs such as shelling saved peas and beans. Also the counting and cleaning of spring bulbs, and the pruning of peaches.

Down in the Jungle the Desfontainia (look like holly with red and yellow tubular flowers) and Impatien tinctora are still flowering after 3 months adding vibrant splashes of colour throughout the Jungle. The Jungle team have been busy planting more bamboo throughout the Jungle over the last month and are very excited to begin work on a new pond side path at the end of September. This path will run into the middle of the Jungle from the Western Red Cedar down to the top of second pond across three stepping stones and up to the Giant Redwood. The team hope to have the path ready for visitors to enjoy at the beginning of 2012.

Further afield our artist in residence James Eddy is now at full throttle in the Lost Valley. His Charcoal sculpture named, Growth and Decay will be ready for its official launch in mid-October.

There are very few swallows around now; a sure sign that autumn is upon us! Wet, windy and dull days are on their way but so are the arrival of our winter visitors, such as Fieldfare, Redwing, Lapwing and hopefully the Kingfishers will return to fish the ponds of the Lost Valley and Jungle.  Wheatears have been spotted around the estate, which are always very nice to see.

We are in the process of establishing a new wetland/pond habitat close to Horsemoor Hide. The ponds are dug and we have started to collect clay from the surrounding fields to line the ponds. Running alongside the ponds will be a wild bird seed crop that will attract large numbers of finches including, Goldfinches, Linnets, Yellowhammer, Siskin and Brambling. There have been a few Quails flushed from the dense wildflowers and grasses but they prove very tricky to see, other than a fleeting glimpse!

Our barn Owls have now fledged but we may still get a few sightings of them returning to the nest site throughout the coming months. On a sad note, we had a Barn Owl brought to reception on the 13th September with a suspected broken wing; it wasn’t one of our Owls but unfortunately it died at the vets the following day.

We have had a sighting of an unusual moth down in the Lost Valley. A full story can be seen about this “Yellow-legged Clearwing moth” on the homepage at www.heliganwild.com

Our hay meadow in Horsemoor Hide has been cut for hay, so its appearance appears very bland compared to back in July, but it is all part of its annual cycle. 

For those of you who didn’t manage to see it; the Natural World programme “Heligan: Secrets of the Lost Gardens” was very well received, with plenty of very positive comments and I think I speak for everyone employed here, when I say I feel honoured to contribute to this amazing place.

21st September

Join Estate Warden Graham Bugg on this informative insight into Heligan’s butterfly population with this butterfly identification tour.

Meet at Horsemoor Hide at 2pm (Free to garden visitors)

Wednesday 12th October 2011 11am – 2pm.

In celebration of 21 years since the gardens were discovered, earlier this year The Lost Gardens of Heligan invited Cornish artist James Eddy to interpret the essence of the gardens and estate. We invite you all to join us for the revealing of the sculpture in the Lost Valley.

Please see the events pages of www.heligan.com over the forth coming weeks for further information.

Friday 21st ~ Sunday 30th October 10am – 5pm
Harvest time at The Lost Gardens of Heligan is an experience for all the senses. The fruits of Heligan’s productive year are beautifully presented in the annual Harvest Display; whilst the flavours are served in homemade, seasonal dishes in the Heligan Tearoom.

Every part of the estate is represented by its own unique offering to celebrate the diversity of Heligan’s produce.

(Free admission to the Heligan Harvest Display)

Earlier in the year we announced our first ever “Wildlife Photography Competition”.

Each month a new finalist is selected to have their image showcased in the Wildlife Gallery on www.heliganwild.com, all finalists will have their images judged by BBC wildlife cameraman Charlie Hamilton James with the overall winner receiving fantastic prizes worth over £1000!

As the year progresses, we are still seeing a fantastic quality of entries flooding in. If you would like to enter our Wildlife Photography Competition please see www.heliganwild.com for further details.
 

To celebrate Heligan’s 21st birthday, a four day gardening celebration took place between 7th-10th September. This celebration included walks, talks and demonstrations by special guests and Heligan’s own gardening team.Click here to see some of the highlights.

After 20 years as a hair dresser and then 15 as a holiday park booking supervisor near Pentewan, Deborah joined the Heligan team over two years ago and is very passionate about her role at The Lost Gardens. 

Deborah can be found in the Heligan Shop where her duties include helping our visitors where possible and to serve them at the tills. Also to ensure merchandise is displayed properly and stocks are maintained.

“I really love working here in the Heligan Shop. Just knowing that behind the shop walls are the 200 acres of fascinating and beautiful gardens is fantastic. I feel very lucky to work here and think that this must be one of the best places in Cornwall to work”.

Last year Deborah unfortunately lost her dad to cancer. Throughout Deborah’s dad’s illness, Macmillan Cancer Support gave daily care and support to him when he needed it most. To say a big thank you, on 12th November Deborah will be doing a sponsored sky dive over Perranporth, Cornwall. To make sure that the Macmillan get every penny of the sponsorship money raised, Deborah will be paying for the jump herself. If you are able to help Deborah meet her £850 target please click here to donate.

We hope you have enjoyed our newsletter.

If you have any comments please get in touch via our website contact page.