St Hugh’s Gardens in Spring/Summer 2025 by Head Gardener, Ed Reid
Rotating plants which we are propagating in our greenhouse in spring can become a bit of a juggling act, however due to a very generous donation from an alumna, for which the team is most grateful, we have now procured and built a new polytunnel located adjacent to our greenhouse. This will allow for extra room during the busy spring period and for overwintering our tropical and tender plants.
At the rear of 85 and 87 Banbury Road we have planted the following trees around the boundary of the MCR lawn: Apricot, Plum, Cherry, Pear, Peach, Mulberry, Almond and Quince. As these trees mature, they will hopefully make the area a little more aesthetically pleasing and add interest.
During late summer and early autumn, we intend to increase the diversity of wildflowers in the woodland areas at the rear of the main lawn and along the Banbury Road boundary fence line. I the past we have had some invasive flowered garlic (Allium Paradoxum) in this area which tends to swamp all the other plants, and we have battled hard to reduce the plant by strimming it down as soon as it appears and also using a heavy mulch to suppress it from seeding.
Now that the area has been cleared, we have the opportunity to plant some woodland bulbs such as our native wild garlic (Allium ursinum) and Wood Anemone (Anemonoides nemorosa) back into the area, as well as native perennials and biennial’s such as wild strawberry (Fragaria vesca), Foxglove (Digitalis), Primrose (Primula vulgaris) and Red Campion (Silene dioica) which will also thrive in the shady woodland conditions.
One of our loquat trees located on the MGA boarders has surprisingly produced fruit this year, and having never eaten them before I am looking forward to sampling the fruits as they ripen.
