Grass Clippings
Around our grounds
I’m happy to report that it now feels like spring at the Club and the first trees have begun to unfurl their lush leaves. Trees sequence their break from hibernation and so for the next month or so, the different tree species will leap back to life, passing the baton from one tree to the next.
It’s been a frenetic time for the Course and Grounds Dept. Last weekend saw the Roehampton Club Ladies’ Gold Cup and Centenary Putter events on the course, this week two blocks of tennis courts have their winter Airhalls removed and stowed away and the croquet lawns revert to full size.
I can’t tell an untruth and say, ‘it feels like winter has just flown’ because it really hasn’t this year. It’s been a miserable and protracted season which has tested the wits and nerves of every turf manager I know. March slipped away last week with the reputation of being the wettest March in the last 30 years and has made the top ten ‘since records began’.
Even the events of last weekend were in jeopardy, given the predicted amount of rain that was due over the weekend. We were fortunate that the weather was kind on the day, and while other clubs in the area closed their doors, we managed to keep the course and the courts open. The aerification and remedial works that we do throughout each year has paid off. Ten years of fairway sand dressing have created drier surfaces for when the rain comes down like stair rods.
Last winter we had to protect the greens by using temporary greens on approaches when adverse conditions meant ice and the subsequent melt would have left them damaged. By keeping the sward content integral, we have more grass on the greens going into spring and fewer bare patches which would need to have been over sown and nurtured into life.
By protecting our greens, we go into the busy season in much better conditions than we could have hoped for. The restrictions applied during the winter now means everyone can enjoy the benefit of the course when the grass is actively growing. Grasses and trees are very similar to that extent. In the winter they are pretty much dormant and static but come the spring, lush grass springs forth and life begins again.
Grass Tennis Courts
We are also working hard to open most of our grass courts by 1st May. Courts 24 and 25 will not open until at least June because of the wear they suffered during the Airhall installation project. The other courts are growing fast and when they dry out, we will be cutting furiously to prepare them for May.
Natural Beauty Boundary Extension
Natural England says the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is to be considered for boundary expansion. Three other areas – the Chilterns, Cheshire Sandstone Ridge and Yorkshire Wolds – will be considered for greater protections, with potential to deliver over 40% of the additional 4,000 sqkm required to meet the UK’s commitment to protect 30% of our land by 2030.
Covering over a quarter of the county of Surrey the hills stretch across the North Downs from Farnham in the west to Oxted in the east, also including the Greensand Hills which rise in Haslemere and stretch east to Leith Hill, the highest point in Southeast England. With an extensive network of footpaths and bridleways, the area is well known to hikers and weekend walks who need to get away from the capital for a while. The hills embrace an amazing variety of countryside, from the rolling chalk downs of yew and box woodland and flower rich grasslands, to the acid heaths and woodland of the Greensand Hills that rise to form the highest point in south east England at Leith Hill.
Hampton Court Palace Tulip Celebration
Hampton Court Palace is to celebrate the long association with the famous Dutch tulip flower, first introduced in the British Isles in the 1630s. Former resident Queen Mary II, who ruled jointly with King William III, was a keen horticulturist and collected plants from across the globe to feature in their gardens at the Palace, including the prized tulip. Unique to Hampton Court Palace’s Tulip Festival is a selection of heirloom bulbs, displaying five centuries of historic cultivars in the Lower Orangery Garden. Visitors will have the chance to see rare tulips as they would have looked in William and Mary’s time, as well as other specialist historic varieties, thanks to a special relationship with Hortus Bulborum, in the Netherlands. Specially selected cultivars joining this year’s display, which are not commercially available. New for this year, 3,000 wine-toned tulips, including the aptly named ‘merlot’ variety, will flow from the steps and parapet of the iconic courtyard Wine Fountain, inspired by a similar one in a painting dating back to Henry VIII.
Head gardener Graham Dillamore said, ‘We’re so excited to welcome visitors back into our gardens at Hampton Court Palace with the return of our annual Tulip Festival this April our gardening team planted over 100,000 individual bulbs throughout the gardens and courtyards, with varieties spanning five centuries carefully selected to bloom in the spring. Now it’s all down to nature.’
Peter Bradburn, Course and Grounds Director