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With over 2500 taxa there’s something to see throughout the year. The front garden In May, with clematis and roses. n February 1996 we left Gardening on heavy clay Ibehind about a 1/3-acre garden of light Bagshot sand with 2 small islets of clay, soil Keith and Lorna Ferguson not dissimilar to that at the tell us how they worked the soil, and the RHS Garden at Wisley some 2 miles away, and moved to that now thrive in it. north west Gloucestershire, to an 1850s Victorian farmhouse n o

s with 4.5 acres (fig. 1). u g

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e About a /2 acre of original F

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i garden lay to the front of the e K south-facing house; it had © been used as a market garden after World War II. By the time we arrived, a large area had been grassed over, but a vegetable plot, some shrub and herbaceous borders, and 60- year-old apple trees remained. The soil in this Old Garden has been cultivated over many years and is much more easily Fig. 1 Our garden is in a picturesque valley bottom immediately west of worked than that elsewhere. May Hill, at 860ft the highest point in Gloucestershire west of the River Severn. It’s half a mile up a single-track lane from the main road and our Behind the house was a 2-acre nearest neighbours are the original farming family who live across the plum, perry pear and cider lane in a modern bungalow near the farmyard. apple orchard and further 25 n acres of grazing with 7 large o s u g

150-year-old perry pear trees. r e F

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We set about making a new t i e K garden of about an acre, first removing, with the aid of our © farming neighbours’ JCB, 20 old Blaisdon plum trees (the local Gloucestershire plum), many already fallen over. We applied glyphosate to an area of grass which was later ploughed to make a new vegetable plot and edged with And the front garden in September. an L-shaped 50ft x 50ft yew hedge raised from cuttings; The nettles and brambles across the lane, and got this hedge is now 8ft tall and and overgrown hazels lining planting. The second bed provides invaluable shelter the east bank of the stream (fig. 3), a little better drained (fig. 2). were cleared, and we hastily but still with some stones dug two beds on the flat land remaining, became the home

above the stream to n o

We double dug and s accommodate some of the u g r

incorporated a lot of very e F

shade plants we had brought h t i

strawy manure, and heavily with us. The first was in deep, e K

mulched with good leaf heavy clay, and the second © mould every autumn. This was even more of a challenge has broken down the clay as rubble and hard core had and given an excellent been dumped, presumably to improve the drainage. growing medium for Asian However, we double dug and and North American incorporated a lot of very Fig. 2 Yew hedges give invaluable woodland/shade plants. strawy manure, available in shelter to the New Garden abundance from the farm vegetable plot.

Woodland/shade plants include: Polygonatum & cvs Epimedium species & cvs Maianthemum racemosum Jeffersonia diphylla Leucojum aestivum ‘Gravetye Giant’ Vancouveria , epimediums Cardamine (Dentaria ) species Fritillaria meleagris Prosartes (syn. Disporum ) smithii Tulipa sprengeri Arisarum proboscideum Primula in variety Helleborus x hybridus & H. cyclophyllus Hosta cvs Erythronium californicum ‘White Beauty’, Tellima grandiflorum EE. ‘Pagoda’, revolutum and tuolumnense Tiarella cordifolia Trillium kurabayashii, TT. albidum, rugelii , Aruncus dioicus discolor , erectum and cuneatum Cimicifuga Convallaria cvs Galanthus cvs

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Fig. 3 Shady border with Trillium kurabayashii & T. albidum , and Fritillaria meleagris . for our woodland/shade new herbaceous border in the March when it was relatively plants including our then very grass adjacent to an existing dry, and plenty of well-rotted modest collection of border but separated by one manure worked in, and here snowdrops, erythroniums, of the two concrete paths. The we planted many of the hardy trilliums and doronicums. All herbaceous plants including have flourished and been Double-dug clay enriched our good clone of Veratrum added to. The species Crocus with well-rotted manure nigrum, VV. album ‘Lorna’s we’d brought were devoured also suits many hardy Green’ and album ‘Auvergne by endless numbers of field herbaceous plants White’. The veratrums thrived mice and voles which are still including : and have been divided and are a problem. Crocus Anthemis now a feature throughout the tommasinianus escaped the Phloxes garden. rodents’ attention and has Heleniums A delight of this part of seeded itself widely in the Aconitums Gloucestershire is the wild grass and even out into the Oriental poppies daffodils ( Narcissus orchard. The two beds are cut Asters pseudonarcissus ). Some were down every autumn and Veratrums scattered in the orchard and heavily mulched with good Ligularias pasture along with clumps of leaf mould which has given an Podophyllums cultivars planted by the excellent growing medium for previous owners. In our first Asian and North American Clematis year we marked all the ‘wild’ woodland/shade plants which Rodgersias daffodils on our property and have thrived over the 18 Aralias replanted them in late years, Tulipa sprengeri and Alliums summer on an area of about Fritillaria seeding freely out 1/8 acre heavily shaded with into the grass. existing borders in the old native deciduous trees – ash, However, in 1996 we still garden were choked with the , alder and hazel – on had many of the 900 items ubiquitous Ground Elder of heavy, wet clay but with a that we had brought with us gardens of this age. It was layer of leaf mould from years to get into the ground before eventually eliminated by of leaf drop. The narcissus the summer season. We clearing and hand-digging and have multiplied and self- turned our attention back to -picking rhizomes. The new seeded freely and make a fine the Old Garden, making a border was double dug in late ‘wild daffodil meadow’ (fig. 4) 27 n o leaf mould and strawy s u g r manure. We’ve found we can e F h

t grow Cardiocrinum with some i e K success and they are sheltered © from the wind by alders on the opposite farmland bank; CC. cathayanum , giganteum (cover) and cordatum have all produced flowers and we have now some dozens raised from seed and hope to get more than one or two flowering stems in a season. Chrysosplenium davidianum makes a good ground cover Fig. 4 Our ‘wild daffodil meadow’. and the cardiocrinums push

n through. As the ground has o s u become more worked with g r e F leaf mould we find that h t i e trilliums flourish, as do K

© astilbes, Disporum, Tellima, Tiarella, Aruncus dioicus and Cimicifuga species. Just recently Cypripedium formosanum has started to increase. We’ve found that a splendid for rich moisture-retentive clay is the eastern USA form of Trautvetteria carolinensis – that from eastern Asia, more Fig. 5 Rodgersia palmata , Actaea rubra and Ostrich Fern on the stream bank. common in the trade, is a n o to which we have added some miserable plant in s u g r clumps of deciduous native comparison. Candelabra e F

h ferns for summer and autumn primulas self-sow and persist t i e K

interest. Maintenance is and we have had seriously to © minimum, with one cutting a control the Ostrich Fern, year. The cultivated varieties Matteucia struthiopteris , which have been lined out as a seems to enjoy the wet clay. cutting border elsewhere. (Figs 5, 6 & 7) On the sloping Over the years, as we’ve stream banks we have a acquired new plants, we’ve number of spectacular species constructed two big borders of Ligularia including on ‘promontories’ into the LL . ’Zepter’ (fig. 8), vorobievii. stream and developed the japonica ‘Rising Sun’ and Fig. 6 Glaucidium palmatum – a stream banks where the soil fischeri . L. ‘Britt Marie choice woodlander. has been lightened with much Crawford’ is in one of the 28 n island beds of the New o s u g

Garden and its striking purple r e F

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foliage contrasts well with t i e K surrounding perennials. We have found them slug- © resistant and rabbit-proof. Rodgersia likewise, with R. pinnata ‘Crug Cardinal’ being an especially reliable flowerer. The different foliage shapes and colours of RR. pinnata, podophylla and aesculifolia provide interest throughout the summer. The North American woodland Diphylleia cymosa has made a Fig. 7 Rheum palmatum ‘Ferguson’s Red’ grows big in moist, heavy soil. splendid clump and its dark n blue berries on red pedicels of 2011. We’ve underplanted o s u g are very striking in autumn. them with snowdrops which r e F

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Podophyllum peltatum is slowly delight in the heavy clay with t i e K creeping while its Asian a little modification. In an area cousins PP. hexandrum, of stream not shaded by trees © versipelle and P. v. ’Spotty we have established Iris Dotty’ have striking fruit. All pseudacorus crosses as for the Butcher’s Broom, Ruscus example var. ‘Bastardii’, ‘Roy species, have grown well but Davidson’, ‘Tiger Brother’, Iris our favourite R. aculeatus ensata cvs and here Veratrum hermaphrodite form is a californicum and some of the steady grower making some older varieties of tall astilbes, 4 x 3ft in 10 years. It berries AA . Lilli Goos’, ‘Jo Ophurst’ well and surpasses R. a. ‘John and ‘Salland’ grow well. Fig. 8 Ligularias enjoy the clay. Redmond’ with us. Danae Here L. ‘Zepter’. - racemosa , much loved by The heavy clay soil means flower arrangers, flourishes there is usually a 2-3 year produces flowering stems and provides interest through wait until shrubs settle in occasionally and we have had the year. Herbaceous aralias a splendid clump of Amicia and then they grow do well, especially A. zygomeris which flowered well exceptionally rapidly. continentalis , making 10–12ft in September until the cold of in height with racemes of the recent winters has sadly white flowers followed by After a few years we found reduced it. Daphnes seem black berries. A. cordata is we needed more planting very happy throughout both smaller but grows well in space and extended further gardens: DD. odora, tangutica, partial shade. A. californica we into the orchard, and in the bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’, suspect needs more acid soil open area we made five island deciduous mezereum , green- and A. cachemirica, having beds which are mostly planted flowered laureola, pontica , and grown well for many years, as shrub borders. Ferula Pyrenean laureola subsp. left us in the very cold winter communis , the giant fennel, philippii as well as the lovely 29 n n o o s s u u g g r r e e F F

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Fig. 9 Camellia japonica ‘Adolphe Audusson’ is the only camellia to survive of more than 6 cultivars Fig. 10 The rose garden, underplanted with Nepeta , Alchemilla mollis tried. and lilies. selection laureola ‘Margaret means there is usually a 2-3 striking plant and not as Mathew’. DD. cneorum and year wait until shrubs settle in widely grown as it might be. tangutica Retusa Group grow and then they grow We put in a formal paved well in a more sheltered exceptionally rapidly. Virtually rose garden (fig. 10) planted “scree” bed near the house. all the Ericaceae have been with largely old shrub roses Calycanthus floridus raised found to be intolerant of the including ‘Constance Spry’, from seed collected in the neutral heavy clay and John Clare , ‘Roseraie de eastern USA make nice neat rhododendrons especially do l’ Hay’ and ‘Penelope’. shrubs and the Asian not thrive. However, Arbutus Turning to the herbaceous Sinocalycanthus has made unedo has made a 20ft tree plants that we grow mainly in good growth. The recently after a slow start. Much the the Old Garden, we first must planted hybrid x same can be said for most of mention two plants we found Sinocalycalycanthus raulstonii the well known acid lovers in the garden that are special, ‘Hartlage Wine’ is settling in. such as Eucryphia , though E. x There is a row of Zantedeschia A great favourite is Hydrangea nymansensis has made a 15ft aethopica across the vegetable quercifolia which colours so tree and is clothed with white patch some 45ft long well through autumn and cuplike flowers in August, and producing a mass of flowers winter to snowdrop time. Camellia japonica ‘Adolphe from June onwards and H. paniculata ‘Limelight’ Audusson’ (fig. 9) is happy occasional blooms on into makes a fine feature and is while other cultivars of the autumn. We described this and pruned hard each winter. All genus did not survive. All the gave it the cultivar name the Rosaceae seem to do well: species of Berberis we have ‘Glencoe’ after the house ( The ornamental cherries, crab attempted have done well and Hardy Plant Vol. 30 No.1). It apples and hawthorns we have a much admired loves the deep moisture- (notably Cratageus specimen of B. jamesiana with retentive soil and has been tanacetifolia ). The remarkable lemon yellow flowers hardy through the recent Andean Polylepis australis , followed by oblong winters and known in this with such lovely peeling bark, translucent pink-blushed fruit garden for 50 years. A clump has made 8 feet in 10 years on finally turning red. The of low growing Acanthus the most inhospitable and Patagonian B. valdiviana with spinosus was spotted by Bob unmodified heavy clay. evergreen foliage and sprays of Brown some years ago as it However, the heavy clay soil orange flowers in spring is a was totally mildew free when 30 n

o good reliable border plants and s u g

r Lychnis ‘Hill Grounds’ has e F

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t been reliable, hardy in winter i e K

wet and cold. © candidissimum and A. consanguineum are very happy in the most inhospitable soil. On the edges of the concrete paths where there is some warmth, Pacific or Californian irises prosper. A great surprise is the way that dieramas, from the 12ft arching stems of D. pulcherrimum (fig. 13) hybrids to the more diminutive, red- flowered D. igneum , flourish Fig. 11 Acanthus spinosus Ferguson’s form. and seed themselves freely. mildew was rife in the but some clones of P. mascula Clematis in general all neighbouring borders where have grown well and flowered flourish on the heavy clay soil, another clone of the same regularly, while P. cambessedesii from the vigorous autumn- plant had foliage white with enjoys the protection and flowering CC. rehderiana and mildew. This has proved a warmth of the wall of the ‘Bill MacKenzie’ to the large- good clone and has been house. flowered hybrids which with named ‘Ferguson’s form’ The two main borders viticella cvs scramble over (fig. 11). We also found a (fig. 12) are underplanted with shrubs or on the boundary number of Paeonia lactiflora Allium hollandicum ‘Purple wall. C. ‘Praecox’ covers our hybrids flowering well, two of Sensation’ and A. giganteum, large oil tank and is cut back which have been identified as which multiply well and make very hard each winter. In the ‘Marie Crousse’ and ‘Felix an early show followed by early summer a fine form of Crousse’ and we have added aquilegias and oriental poppies C. koreana , raised from seed, is a number more, notably – PP . o. ‘Beauty of a delight scrambling through ‘Duchesse de Nemours’, Livermere’, ‘Fatima’, ‘Prinz roses. ‘Festiva Maxima’ and Eugen’ and ‘Effendi’ among To the north of the house ‘Madame Gaudichau’; they others. We tolerate ‘May there is a 90 x 60ft area of ‘car make a magnificent show in Queen’ for the wonderful park’ made up of a 12 inch or early summer and increase orange “tennis ball” effect. The more deep layer of stone steadily. P. mlokosewitschii is season continues with Phlox scalpings laid down by the exceptionally vigorous and paniculata cvs, the arching previous owners for standing seeds itself around if left. Sanguisorba tenuifolia var. alba for heavy vehicles. Here we P. ‘Avant Garde’ is a delight and its pink variant. have made holes in the stones and is worth growing for its Herbaceous Clematis around the edge, filled the foliage, while P. tenuifolia with heracleifolia ‘Cassandra’ is a holes with leaf mould and its rich red flowers has steadily finer form than C. tubulosa planted a variety of shrubs and increased. Some of the ‘Wyevale’ which we still find edged the planted area with Mediterranean species are less room for. Hemerocallis ‘Corky’ clumps of Anthemis punctata happy in the heavy cold clay, and H. ‘Golden Chimes’ make subsp. cupaniana and 31 n o s u g r e F h t i e K

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Fig. 12 Alliums, oriental poppies, aquilegias and Geranium sylvaticum in the Old Garden Eriophyllum lanatum. The Garden where the spring Ballyrogan Nurseries in Co. stone surface has gradually foliage does not intrude. Down, for example CC . greened over with self-sown C. aggripinum , a raffle prize ‘Fugue’ and x crocosmiiflora grasses and here hollyhocks won at the Surrey group HPS ‘Mephistopheles’, and clumps self-seed freely. nearly 40 years ago, makes a of different clones of Nerine For autumn, colchicums are splendid display under a bowdenii . Nerines thrive in soil exceptionally successful with specimen of Syringa vulgaris that has been slightly great patches of C. speciosum ‘Madame Lemoine’ in the Old lightened with grit and N. naturalised in the grass of the Garden. Also giving good ‘Zeal Giant’ is increasing well. new garden to many species autumn interest are asters, that Vegetables do extremely and cultivars grown under a wonderful Solidago rugosa well in the rich soil; few can be dessert pear cordon in the Old ‘Fireworks’, crocosmias from direct sown into the heavy clay but they’re easily n o s

u established when started in g r e

F modules or pots. Brassicas and h t i

e root vegetables, notably K

© celeriac, are especially easy, but outdoor tomatoes rarely thrive. We are enthusiastic about plants: a recent count took us to over 2500 taxa and there is always some interest throughout the year. The garden rarely looks manicured but in this heavy clay a lot of plants grow well without Fig. 13 A Dierama pulcherrimum seedling. attention.

Keith and Lorna Ferguson are retired professional botanists and life-long gardeners who have developed this new garden in west Gloucestershire over the past 18 years. The garden is open to HPS Members by appointment and to Gardening Groups by arrangement. See www.ebotany.co.uk

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