Trebah Gardens

The change that has occurred through Trebah gardens since my last post is phenomenal!
I have been studying the sub tropical habitats of Trebah gardens since december 2010 and visiting on regular occasions, at least once a week. 
I have concentrated on the beach path which runs from Trebah house, following the water streams and ponds to the sea that leads onto the Helford passage. 


Trebah has transformed into a summer wonder, bright garden flowers like iris's, primulas and rhododendrons are in full bloom, woodland foxgloves cover the clearings, hydrangeas are beginning to come into flower and of course the tropical gunneras and aurum lily's such as lily of the nile and the skunk cabbage are creating a spectacle within the gardens. 


The Gunnera Manicata has had the most dramatic change. In April we could see new growth had emerged. The new leaves appear on stout prickly stems and can grow to up to two meters in width making it a striking plant. The cone shaped panicle is the flower of the gunnera and can grow to 2ft high and 1ft wide. These first flowers have appeared with the leaves and develop very slowly changing from red to more mature brown. Now as you can see by the images below the gunnera have grown 8-10ft high with 2-ft panicles that are mainly the duller brown colour. Having spoken to the head gardener it is said that they are still not yet fully grown. Beneath the gunnera is a damp humid habitat that holds home to marsh marygolds, (caltha palustris) and buttercups, (ranunculus repens) and creatures such as the orb web spider (Larinioides sclopetarius), capturing their prey, mosquitos (Anopheles quadrimaculatus),


Images can be seen below. All images copyright to Abbi Hughes

Here are also some of the Landscape images I took whilst at the bottom of the garden around Mallard Pond. 

Mallard pond, as hinted in the name, is home to about three mallards, one male and two female. It also inhabits a vast number of multicoloured and sized japanese Koi Fish that the visitors are encouraged to feed. Around the edge the gardeners have planted hydrangeas, and bullrushes that you can find ladybirds, dragonflies and damselflies of red and blue as well as butterflies, namely peacock, and the eastern comma.


The hydrangea's in hydrangea valley are starting to burst into flower. This is unusually early but the sunny warm periods we have had lately have sped up their growth. The hydrangeas at trebah are usually of a white and blue colour. This is due to the acidic soil. If the soil was slightly alkaline we would get pink and red flowers, white flowers are not affected by the pH.

I hope you enjoy my images and I am determined to keep up my research on the gardens as I really enjoy the tranquil and peaceful situation with a large and exciting collection of flora and fauna in its varying habitats to photograph. 


I hope you enjoy my images! 


Thank you Abbi Hughes


Location : Trebah Gardens
Date: 14 May 2011
Time: 10pm - 3pm
Weather: Southerly warm and gentle winds, strong sunlight, occasional cloud covor.  
Map Reference: SW767273