Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2011/January 2012 | Page 87
GARDENING
Gardening
with Toby Beasley
Toby Beasley, head gardener at Osborne House, brings Island Life readers
up to date with what has been happening in the famous gardens – and
beyond - in his regular column.
Two significant things have happened
just recently. First of all I had to
speak at a conference in Germany and
secondly we have just completed the
replanting of the bedding display on
the terraces.
So what is so significant about me
talking at a conference? Well it was
held at Schloss Rosenau in Bavaria
where Prince Albert, the husband of
Queen Victoria, was born and spent
much of his childhood. His family’s
seat was in the Ehrenburg Palace in the
small town of Coburg and three miles
out of town is Rosenau, the summer
residence.
This is where Albert and his older
brother Ernst spent much of their time
and where many of Prince Albert’s
ideas for Osborne and in particular
the children’s garden at Swiss Cottage
came from. So a real treat for me.
Children’s gardens were much more
prevalent on the continent during
Albert’s childhood so it was only
natural that he was encouraged to look
after a small garden with his brother,
a model fort was also constructed of
ditches and banks, a bathing platform
was built to aid swimming in one of
the lakes and a Swiss Cottage was also
built in the grounds.
All of these elements were repeated
at Osborne to help educate his own
children. The Rosenau is now in the
care of the Bavarian Administration
of State Palaces, Gardens and Lakes
and while the castle and the gardens
immediately outside has largely been
restored to their former glory, much
of the garden has reverted back to
woodland and meadows.
It is now much more like a country
park and was being enjoyed by plenty
of dog walkers and cyclists. The
conference was all about gardens
within fortifications and luckily one
of the things to survive in the gardens
at the Rosenau is Prince Albert’s
childhood fort; it’s not as good as
Osborne’s one though!
Back to the work that we have
been doing at Osborne. We have just
completed changing the bedding
display. We started in mid-October
and completed planting in
mid-November. One of our quickest
changes ever!
Luckily the weather was with us. We
did get some very heavy rain at the end
of October but this served to water
in the wallflowers particularly well as
the soil was still very dry believe it or
not. But I think I am right in saying
that all the gardeners at Osborne really
don’t like planting the spring