Another in my series of ‘bees on things’ 😆 This time … bees on Tithonia ‘Torch’. 👍🐝🐝🌼 #bees #tithonia #gardening

Appreciating the little things today … and sharing the garden with them 🐝🐞😊 #gardener #gardening #insects

6:15 am. Trying to get some gardening work done before the heat kicks in again … even if it’s just watering! 🥵😮‍💨 #gardening

Hollyhocks looking fabulous in the verges of Overbury village at the moment. One of the few things that seems to be enjoying this heat! 🌸☀️🌼 #hollyhocks #alcearosea #horticulture

Planted up some more containers this morning. Mostly featuring: Salvia Amistad, White Lobelia, Plectranthus, Cerinthe Major, Osteospernum ‘Glistening White’ and Tradescantia Palida ‘Purple Heart’. #gardening #containerplanting #gardener

Stunning bee orchid, found in the wild area of the West Bank at Overbury Court last week. We get plenty of pyramidal orchids, which are still here, but it’s lovely to see the bee orchid as a welcome addition - I hope it proliferates some more. #beeorchid #wildorchids #gardening

Pretty pleased with the containers up at the house that I planted up this year. Antirrhinum ‘Black Prince’, Cinneraria & purple and white trailing petunias. They’re filling out nicely and the Antirrhinums are starting to flower now. #gardener #gardening #containerplanting

Not a bad harvest from the kitchen garden for the house today. Including artichoke heads, onions, rhubarb, broad beans, mixed lettuce, raspberries, tayberries and some cut flowers. #harvest #kitchengarden #gardening

First dahlias of the season in the kitchen garden 😍 #dahlia #dahlias #gardening

The bumblebees were playing a game of ‘how many of us can we fit on one cephalaria flower head’ today 😆 Even the hoverflies were starting to get involved. 😊 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🌼 #bees #garden #gardening

Sad, maybe … but I’m pretty pleased with the lettuces this year so far 😆🥬🥬🥬 #gardening #gardener #kitchengardening

Planting in the South Terrace beds this morning. Mostly including … Osteospermum, Cerinthe, White Dahlia, White Antirrhinum and Salvia Amistad. #gardening #gardener #summerplanting

Bee-eautiful dahlia in the cut flower bed of the kitchen garden today. 😍 🐝 #bee #dahlia #gardening

Found these beautiful ‘pom pom’ opium poppies growing kinda wild in a hidden part of the estate this afternoon. Wowsers! 😍 #gardening #poppies #estategardener

Lovely bees enjoying the lovely Cephalaria gigantea (Giant Scabious) in the Silver & Gold border today. #scabious #bees #gardening

Working in the relative shade of the grotto today, including working FROM the stream … aaaahhhh, nice on my feet! Handy for weeding the nettles that had crept in by the waters edge, without having to trample other plants. 😆 #gardening #gardeninglife #heatwave

Beautiful shot of a Drake Mackerel Mayfly, taken by one of my colleagues, Jon Hodder, today. On the vegetation at the edge of the pool up behind the house. #mayfly #nature #gardeninglife

Got the dahlias back in the ground this afternoon. They’re looking healthy after over-wintering indoors and then having some quality time in the polytunnel to give them a boost. Looking forward to some flowers soon, which will be used as cut flowers for the house. #dahlias #gardening #planting

Off to plant up some containers earlier today! Trailing petunia, antirrhinum ‘Royal Bride’, antirrhinum ‘Black Prince’ and Cineraria. #gardener #planting #containerplanting

Lots and lots and LOTS of planting this week of our new planting scheme for Kemerton Walk, designed by our Head Gardener Harry Green. Some help from the farm, office and forestry teams too. Now just to keep them watered and hope the plants settle in ok. #gardener #gardening #planting

Local ParkRun not on this morning, so decided to do a 5k through Berkeley Deer Park down the road. A Deer ParkRun I guess you could say! #berkeleydeerpark #running #saturday

Happy 100th birthday David Attenborough! I asked for this book for Christmas when I was eight years old. I’m now 53 and still have the book! Thank you for the many years of wonder and inspiration. Over-used, but you ARE a legend and a national treasure. ☺️

The Column Garden looking sweeeet in the sunshine yesterday. Wisteria, Bearded Iris and Alliums all purple and popping! 💜💜💜 #gardening #gardener

The less glamorous side of gardening … but very important … mulching. Readying these beds for a new planting scheme. A whole day of shovelling and wheelbarrowing! On the plus side, walked 17km today just doing my job … now need a lie down! 😆 #gardener #mulching #gardeningkeepsyoufit

Iris germanica time in the gardens this week … bearded Iris. Lovely. #irisgermanica #beardediris #gardening

A spot of Box clipping last week in the sunshine. Sadly we found one of the small Box cones had already been clipped by box moth caterpillar 😳 but everything else was untouched 👍 Some treatment duly applied and fingers crossed for a recovery on that one. #boxclipping #topiary #gardening

Camassias looking 👌🏼 in the Old Kitchen Garden this morning whilst I was mowing. Beautiful. 😍 💜💜💜 #camassias #gardener #gardening

Planting salads out in the sun this afternoon. Mixed oriental lettuce, little gem and lollo rosso. Plenty more to go in tomorrow! #gardening #kitchengardening #saladplants

Lovely lovely lilac blooming in the Monday sunshine today 😍🌸🌸🌸 #lilac #gardening #gardener

Managed to bag the Record Store Day 2026 release from Feeder. Such a beautiful picture disc release with B-sides and remixes from the Comfort in Sound era. Fab.

The wisteria is wisteria-ing again! 😍😍 #wisteria #wisteriahysteria #gardening

A touch foggy and atmospheric at work this morning … but it’s ramping up to be a lovely Friday once that burns off. Happy Friday folks! #estategardener #fridayvibes #morning

All the recent seed sowing, pricking out and potting on has gone really well. Trouble is … we’re running out of space in the greenhouse now! 🤦🏻‍♂️🙄😆 #gardening #greenhouse #springseedlings

Another marathon seed sowing session today in the potting shed. Cucurbits this week - including pumpkins, squashes, courgettes, and cucumbers. Also in other categories some runner beans, kale, basil, sweetcorn, and spinach, as well as a few flowers including Ammi, tagetes and zinnia. Phew! 😮‍💨 🫘 🌱

Yellow and gold tulip-ness last week. 😍👍 #gardening #tulips #gardener

Spotted my first swallows of the year whizzing over the gardens at work today. Beautiful 😍

Tulips looking HOT in the Column Garden this week! 😍🔥🌷 #gardening #tulips #tulipa

We had the big guns and the small guns out for scarifying the lawns today. Big guns involved a PTO driven scarifier behind our tractor, and then a ride-on mower to suck up the mess. Small guns involved a petrol pedestrian scarifier and a good old rake to grab the mess!

Dicentra … known as the Bleeding Heart plant. I spotted this specimen, not in a garden, but by the side of a streamside footpath locally to where I live. It was near enough to a house that it may once have been part of their garden, but seemed to be finding its own way elsewhere. ☺️

Kerria japonica - Japanese Kerria or Japanese Rose. Merrily and sunnily rambling away in the grotto at the moment to add a splash of spring colour. #kerriajaponica #garden #gardening

The March / April seed sowing marathon is go! Pretty much did 8 hours of seed sowing today, including compost mixing and watering. 🌱 A range of flowers and veg including these shiny beans of the Dwarf French Bean ‘Cobra’. 🫘 One of my favourite gardening jobs! #gardening #gardener #seedsowing

I had a quiet word with the Crown Imperial Fritillaries last week, to ask them to make sure they were out for the forthcoming NGS Open Day on Sunday and they listened 🤣 • Fritillaria imperialis • #fritillariaimperialis #garden #gardening

Mostly mowing to R.E.M today … in the cold 🥶 This was the long slow trip to the compost and back to empty out the ride-on. 🙄 R.E.M really stands for ‘Really Exquisite Mowing’ … Michael Stipe was quite the gardener you know! 🤣😉 #gardener #mowing #wednesday

This coming Sunday, we’re open to the public in aid of the National Garden Scheme (Overbury Court isn’t ordinarily open to the public). If anyone is local-ish and fancies a day out in the Cotswolds, we’re located in between Tewkesbury and Evesham. #gardening #opengardens #nationalgardenscheme

Uh-oh … so, yesterday we had to give our sweet pea supports some skirts to try to protect the plants from the partridge that had been nibbling things overnight! 🤦🏻‍♂️ #gardening #gardener #kitchengarden

Full on hellebore love … such beautiful flowers. You just need to get down to their level to look - actually a little lower, below their nodding heads. 😆 #hellebore #gardening #gardener

Scout knots from 40 years ago came in handy for building sweet pea supports yesterday. 😆 Made from hazel sticks sourced on the estate. Planted the rest of the sweet peas this afternoon - looking forward to the colour and scent of the summer. #sweetpeas #gardening #gardener

Wonderful peach blossom started popping last week in the Old Kitchen Garden. Hopefully the pollinators will be busy to help give some lovely fruit this summer. #gardening #peachblossom #spring

Narcissus ‘Rip van Winkle’ … what do you think? Yay or nay? I’m a bit ‘nay’ … a little too punky, trying to be the new spiky haired cool kid on the block. Although, it was first introduced commercially in 1884, so not really a new kid. 🤷🏻‍♂️ #narcissus #daffodil #gardening

Pricking out and potting on of seedlings coming along a treat at the moment. Heading into a busy time in the potting shed and greenhouse 😊 #gardening