Our Gardens: Early Autumn 2026

t's green again, but only just. With the rain arriving in the last weeks of August and into the beginning of September, the grass is starting to come back. The long period of dry weather hasn’t been entirely forgotten by the gardens and sadly there are areas where the baking sun and lack of water have killed the grass off which will need reseeding. If you are in a similar situation at home, now is a good time to do this as, we hope, autumn will be a wetter season.

The herbaceous borders have come through the 63 days without rain remarkably well, a sign that the trickle hoses we put in place did their job. In other areas of the Gardens plants which are more susceptible to water loss haven’t fared quite so well. We will be replacing some like for like but will also take advantage of the situation to try new plants - as long as they fit the character of the display and our highly colour-themed borders.

It will be interesting to see which flowering plants now rush into bloom as conditions improve. We have already seen flag irises flowering on the Yellow Border well after their normal season. This is becoming increasingly common as the seasons shift around and sometimes seem to arrive all at once.

Developments in the Heraldic Garden stopped when the soil became as hard as concrete, but now we have begun cutting in the new beds and preparing for the vine planting later in the season. More details about the Heraldic Garden project can be found in the information shed, between the Visitor Entrance and the entrance to the formal Gardens.

Last winter several new apple trees were planted in the Orchard which we were understandably not keen to have to replace due to conditions caused by water loss. To help prevent this we installed tree bags, which are tied around the trunk and filled with water from a watering can. This method ensures a steady and slow release of water to the roots, even if it’s not quite as much water as the tree would ideally like, but it has meant that we have lost none of the trees that were planted in the winter.

This is not the case for some of the older trees in the parkland which have suffered over the summer. Most especially the dry weather has affected the sycamores, and I expect we will have some losses. Where possible, these will be left standing as they provide excellent wildlife habitat, unless they are in a dangerous or difficult location.

On a lighter final note, let me happily remind you that we will be running our first ever Apple Weekend this year on the 17th and 18th October. It is shaping up to be a great weekend celebrating the Orchard with apple pressing, apple-focused goodies provided by our chef, and apple games and activities for everyone to enjoy. Apples have been a feature of Penshurst Place for centuries, and it is great to be able to use those we have now, in a new way.

Tony Wiseman, Head Gardener,

September 2026