Trebah Garden’s hydrangeas bloom early after near-perfect summer

Three acres of blue, pink, purple and white take a bit of getting used to. Walk down into the lower valley at Trebah this month and the hydrangeas around Mallard Pond are already going full tilt, a few weeks ahead of where they would normally be.

Sunshine and rain in the right order

The garden, near Falmouth, puts the early bloom down to a near-perfect balance of sunshine and rainfall this year. The result is one of the most colourful and abundant hydrangea seasons Trebah has seen in recent years, with the valley garden now moving towards its peak summer spectacle.

The display sits at the bottom of the valley where the garden borders the Helford River. Reflections in the pond and a monet-esque bridge give the whole thing an impressionist look, and as the year goes on the pastels of summer fade into the vintage hues of autumn and winter.

Planted for Covent Garden

The hydrangeas are not a recent addition. They went in during the 1950s so that cut flowers could be sent up to the Covent Garden flower market in London. The same plants have been looked after ever since, pruned every winter by Trebah’s gardeners and volunteers.

Head Gardener Darren Dickey said the conditions had been close to ideal.

“This year’s conditions have been almost ideal, with just the right mix of sunshine and rain to encourage strong, healthy growth in our hydrangeas and produce this fantastic display,” he said. “The hydrangeas will now flower until winter, when we’ll include the dried flower heads in our natural Christmas display. A big thanks must go to the staff and volunteers who work so hard pruning the plants in the cold winter months so we can enjoy such impressive blooms in summer.”

What else is down there

Trebah Garden is a 26-acre sub-tropical valley garden with planting from around the world and a dramatic descent to its own private beach on the Helford. The hydrangeas are one of its main summer draws, and Darren’s flowering window runs right through to winter, when the dried heads get a second life indoors.