Seasonal Scenes

Asturias couldn’t be more different from the stereotype of Spain advertised in a thousand holiday brochures. The hills are green all year round; the mountain tops are covered in snow even in summer; dry stone walls divide the fields; the local drink is cider, not wine; wooden clogs are still worn in rural areas for chasing after cows in muddy fields; and the rain in Spain definitely falls here, despite what songs will have you believe.

We didn’t come here with the aim of gardening, but now I’m an advocate for why more people should consider Asturias the perfect gardening destination.

Here at La Corolla, 1000ft/300mtrs above sea level, there are four distinct seasons, about 40 inches/100 cms of rain spread more or less evenly throughout the year, temperatures rarely go above 90F/32C in summer or below 25F/-4C in winter, there is very little wind and the growing season is easily one to two months longer than in most of Britain.

All of which helps to explain the phenomenal growth rates we’ve seen over the past 10 years and our decision to grow the widest variety of plants we can possibly get away with.

Spring

Unless we’ve spent the winter wisely, Spring can overwhelm the garden with the speed of its arrival and the sheer exuberance of the plants at the first sign of real warmth and increasing sunlight.

A south-facing hillside with light soil warms up incredibly quickly and everything starts pushing out tender new growth weeks before gardens in the valley below have even thought of waking up. A nerve-wracking time, praying there’s no late frost on its way.

Most of the species roses are putting on a show by late April/early May with the old roses hitting their peak a couple of weeks later. The herbaceous border is in full swing, the orchard is covered in blossom and the air is alive with the sound of buzzing. It’s when the garden feels most alive and when I absolutely refuse to be anywhere else.

Summer

Every summer is different. One year can be surprisingly cool and wet, the next can see a record-breaking heatwave and drought (2021 vs. 2022).

More even than winter, this can be the season that really tests the resilience of the planting in each section of the garden. No matter what the conditions though, the grasses seem to sail through every time, bulking up steadily to reach their fullest by August. Hydrangeas and agapanthus exude flower power. The promise of fruit is there in the orchard and there’s always the shade of the American Woodland to take refuge in.

Autumn

Perhaps the busiest time of the entire gardening year at La Corolla. With the first light frost not expected until the end of November, if not much later, plants are still putting on growth, getting their second wind after the trials of summer. The sensible ones will be preparing for winter, while some will insist on putting on a show until the bitter end.

We’ll be dealing with the hedges, gathering leaves for the leaf bins, deciding how much to cut back now and how much to leave until later. Constantly evaluating how tidy or loose we want the garden to be. The effort we expend now is time saved in the spring.

Or then again, we might just end up looking outwards to watch the sea of mist gradually rise out of the valley and cover the hillside in dew.

Winter

Christmas Day can see us working outdoors in t-shirts, or sitting by a roaring fire looking out at a foot of snow threatening to flatten anything evergreen.

At some point though the garden will definitely slow down. Roses are pruned early on, grasses that are destined to collapse are cut back, canopies are lifted, and runaway successes are tamed.

An early warm spell will spur the bulk of the magnolias into flower by the end of February; the grevilleas provide a feast for any bees still active; and the euphorbias put on their best architectural swagger.

And before we’ve quite caught our breath, the whole garden is itching to get going all over again.