Tulips at Arundle Castle

Arundel Castle Gardeners Plant 36,000 Spring Bulbs

Preparations for the winter months have begun in earnest at the Arundel Castle gardens with the planting of 36,000 spring bulbs. The garden team were assisted by the West Sussex Girl Guides who helped plant 2,000 tulips and crown imperials in the Collector Earl's Garden.

Head Gardener Martin Duncan stated: "It was great to see such enthusiasm from the Guides; we're looking forward to inviting them back to the Castle in the spring to see what they achieved as part of the Spring Tulip Extravaganza in April 2014."

Whilst keen horticulturalists will have to wait until early 2014 to see the new season blooms, the garden team are busy defending the gardens against the coming colder months.

In anticipation of the cold winter ahead, the garden team have begun to wrap up the less hardy subtropical plants such as the Butia Capitata (jelly palm), Musa Basjoo - (banana plants) and the stunning Dicksonia Antarctica (Tasmanian tree fern) with horticultural fleece which means the gardens will take on yet another new look. Tender perennials such as the Salvia Patens, Babylon Dahlias and Canna Lilies are lifted, divided and stored in the garden polytunnels, alongside a collection of Penstemon and Salvia cuttings.