Dear friend,
The beginning of a brand-new year awaits..the shortest day has passed, and I am longing to see the first signs of the brave snowdrops beginning to emerge as they never fail to brighten the dullest of winter days.
There’s a little tradition I have on 1st January. Armed with a whittled down list and a hot mug of tea, I order my new dahlias for the coming year. I always have this fear of missing out on growing a particular favourite that I’ve had my eye on since last summer! (I have a very exciting dahlia announcement below!) I then head into the garden for an hour or two, mostly pottering and prepping… little things.. nothing strenuous. I find just getting outside doing the smallest of things can feel a like a big achievement and spurs me on for the bigger things!
It’s been over a year now since we’ve embarked on any fairly big projects in the garden. Tom’s getting itchy feet, and is keen to get started on something we’ve been talking about for a while. This project will be a water feature, situated inside the Walled Garden. If you’d like to see more, Tom and I have started to document the planning of it over on my YouTube channel.
Introducing
THE LAUNDRY GARDEN JEWEL DAHLIA COLLECTION
in collaboration with Crocus
I have teamed up with Crocus to bring you my very first, hand chosen dahlia collection called ‘The Laundry Garden Jewel Dahlia Collection’. It includes some of my long standing favourites… ‘Spartacus’ which was one of the first dahlias I grew here.
If you are a dahlia fan, or might be interested in starting to grow them, I promise this collection won’t disappoint! I’m thrilled you are one of the first to hear about this, which gives you an exclusive opportunity to purchase before we start to really shout about them! I’ve also created a list of my top 20 dahlia favourites, that you can purchase individually.
Use code Jenny15
5 THINGS TO DO IN THE GARDEN
IN JANUARY
Over on the Genus blog, I’ll be sharing the five jobs we’re working on this month, things like pruning our apple trees, and cutting back the old leaves on hellebores before their flowers emerge.
JANUARY AT THE LAUNDRY RETREAT
Now is a perfect time to take a little break, to help blow away the cobwebs, reset and refresh the mind. You can enjoy the dark skies at night, and in the day wander through our woodland behind the roundhouse and enjoy the sea of emerging snowdrops!
See our winter offer of 5 nights for the price of 3! Click to find out more.
For bespoke gift vouchers, get in touch directly.
A LITTLE GIFT FROM ME TO YOU…
A screensaver from me to carry you through the winter months. Simply click on link to access the image, hold you finger and save to your photos. Upload as normal as your phone screen saver.
STAR PLANT OF THE MONTH
Salix gracilistyla ‘Mount Aso’ (Pink Pussy Willow)
Since we planted this show-stopping shrub five years ago, I get very excited when I start to see the tight buds appear on the long stems in December! Come January the buds break open to reveal a fuzzy pink catkin. They look wonderful in a vase as well as in the garden. Don’t be put off by its ultimate size, because this shrub can be coppiced (cut back in late winter after it has finished flowering and before it starts to bud with leaves) which helps to keep it to a manageable size!