THE ENGLISH
MARCH 2016 ForA everyone R who loves beautiful DEN gardens www.theenglishgarden.co.ukSARAH G RAVEN’S SWEET PEA OFFER
THE SEASON STARTS HERE INSTANT CHARM Emerging bulbs and Creative containers beautiful blossom for colour now
FIRST TO FLOWER Carol Klein picks Expert advice her favourite for exquisite early perennials camellias
Spring essentials £4.20 l Best gardens for MAGNOLIAS l CITY CHIC in a small London plot l Sow seeds of HARDY ANNUALS l SPRING PRUNING masterclass
Cover8 - MAR.indd 1 21/01/2016 11:53 The NaTioNal TrusT GreeNhouse ColleCTioN
www.alitex.co.uk 01730 826900 CONTRIBUTORS
Carol Klein Carol is a television broadcaster, author and former nurserywoman, who Welcome... has a cottage garden at her home in Devon. She picks her favourite opeful signs of spring are always appreciated; this year we early spring perennials on page 77. have been able to enjoy plenty of them early, thanks to such H mild winter weather. I spotted daffodils blooming during the first week of January in a park, and primroses in my garden were out the week after, well ahead of their normal schedule. Some plants will forever be associated with spring in our combined gardening consciousness, despite the fast-forwarding effects of unusually warm weather. So this issue features gardens that are full of daffodils, including the former home of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Robert Clark Mother, St Paul’s Walden Bury in Hertfordshire and Dunham Massey Robert is editor of the in Cheshire, where camellias also join in the show. The earliest species Literary Encyclopedia and an expert on tulips bring colour to The Old Rectory garden in Dorset, while in 18th-century garden history and Jane Hampshire, Little Court is painted purple by a wash of crocus. Austen. He explores historic St Paul’s The distinctions between the seasons may be growing unclear, but Walden Bury March will always be the month with which I associate these flowers, on page 26. marking the start of spring and the season of gardening ahead.
Clare Foggett, Editor
Vanessa Berridge Vanessa was launch editor of The English DIGITAL Garden. Now a PLATFORMS freelance writer on ON THE Download The English gardens, gardening COVER Garden app free for and heritage, she Bright daffodils and phone and tablet explores the gardens cherry blossom from iTunes, for STUART BLACK/GETTY/ROBERT HARDING WORLD IMAGERY; CHRISTOPHER DRAKE CHRISTOPHER IMAGERY; HARDING WORLD BLACK/GETTY/ROBERT STUART of The Old Rectory in epitomise the iPhones, and Google
IMAGE IMAGE Dorset on page 34. pleasures of spring. Play, for Android.
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 3
Ed's Letter - MAR.indd 3 22/01/2016 10:37 Rural Workwear & Accessories. Handmade in Norfolk, England.
www.carriercompany.co.uk +44 (0)1328 820699 Church Farm House, Wighton, Norfolk, NR23 1AL, UK For everyone who loves beautiful gardens WWW.THEENGLISHGARDEN.CO.UK
Tel: +44 (0)20 7349 3700 Fax: +44 (0)20 7349 3701 The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd, Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London SW3 3TQ Email: [email protected] Website: www.theenglishgarden.co.uk
EDITORIAL Editor Clare Foggett Deputy Editor Greg Loades Art Editor Jeremy Bird Production Editor Vivienne Hambly Editorial Assistant Gabriella Dyson
ADVERTISING Advertisement Manager Carly Bell: Tel: +44 (0)20 7349 3733 [email protected] Sales Executives Daniela Rizzo: Tel: +44 (0)20 7349 3700 [email protected] Casey Barton: Tel +44 (0)20 7349 3735 [email protected] Advertisement Director Lyndal Beeton Advertising Production allpointsmedia.co.uk
PUBLISHING Managing Director Paul Dobson Deputy Managing Director Steve Ross Commercial Director Vicki Gavin Publisher Camilla Akers-Douglas Subscriptions & Circulation William Delmont Brand Manager Chatty Dobson
ONLINE Digital Marketing Manager James Dobson Digital Product Manager Oliver Morley-Norris Digital Executive Scarlett Lill Digital Assistant Tam Hashim
PRODUCTION Reprographics Manager Neil Puttnam Printing William Gibbons Ltd, Willenhall, UK
The English Garden (UK issue) ISSN no 1361-2840. Printed in England.
SUBSCRIPTION ENQUIRIES 0844 848 8053
SUBSCRIPTION OFFICE SUBSCRIPTION RATES The English Garden, CDS UK £59.50 (13 issues) Global, Sovereign Park, Overseas £69.50 (13 issues) Market Harborough, Leicestershire LE16 9EF, NEWS DISTRIBUTION confounding perception UK. Tel: 0844 8488053. Seymour Distribution Ltd, Europe and Rest of World: 2 East Poultry Avenue, +44 (0)1858 438840. London EC1A 9PT, UK. Tel: +44 (0)20 7429 3667.
EXTERIORS | INTERIORS | BIG SPACES
© The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd 2015. All rights reserved. Text and pictures are copyright restricted and must not be reproduced without permission of the publishers. The information in The English Garden has been published in good faith and every effort +44 (0) 1235 859300 has been made to ensure its accuracy. However, where appropriate, you are advised to check prices, opening times and dates etc before making final arrangements. All liability www.davidharber.com for loss, disappointment, negligence or damage caused by reliance on the information within this publication is hereby excluded. The opinions expressed by the contributors of The English Garden are not necessarliy those of the publisher. www.chelseamagazines. com: Publishers of The English Home, Artists & Illustrators, Baby London, Baby Hampshire, Baby Surrey, Little London, BRITAIN, Discover Britain, Cruise International, Independent School Parent and associated Guides, Racecar Engineering, Classic Boat, Sailing Today and Yachts & Yachting.
005_EGUK_0316_.indd 3 22/01/2016 16:33 Flannel Panel - MAR.indd 5 21/01/2016 12:18 CONTENTS
Gardens
26 TAMING THE WILDERNESS History 62 CITY CHIC Mosaics and metallic and horticulture combine in the elements make neat work of a Queen Mother’s childhood garden. sophisticated north London garden.
34 SEASONAL SPLENDOUR At The Old Rectory in Netherbury, Dorset, Plants substance, structure and naturalistic planting make a noteworthy garden. 69 HARDY ANNUALS These jolly flowers offer a quick, impactful dose 42 CLOTHS OF HEAVEN During of colour, and can be sown now. the most tender of seasons, aconites and crocuses flower in 77 BELLES OF THE BALL Carol sublime profusion at Little Court. Klein considers some of the finest early flowering perennials, from the 48 A SPRING FEAST The season arrives humble primrose to treasures from at Dunham Massey in a burst of North America. colour from bulbs and camellias. 85 SPRING OPULENCE Timeless and 55 NOBLE BEAUTY New life has been an ideal specimen tree, magnolias breathed into the garden at Alswick offer splendid perfume and form in Hall by a dedicated pair. a range of appealing shades.
91 POTTED PLEASURES A good 69 Design arrangement of spring bulbs in containers is a simple but failsafe 14 PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS The way to perk up dull corners at this International Garden Photographer time of year. of the Year competition seeks the best images of plants and gardens. 97 PRUNING MASTERCLASS Sound advice from RHS Harlow Carr on the best way to prune shubs for peak condition. 48 Regulars 9 NEWS & EVENTS A guide to events, anniversaries and garden visits, plus garden news.
19 SHOPPING Notable sources of essential pruning equipment and inspired presents for Mother’s Day.
22 GARDEN PATHS An early introduction to plants informed the career choice of RHS Garden Wisley curator Matthew Pottage.
6 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
Contents - MAR.indd 6 22/01/2016 10:39 55 77
75 PLANT STORY The first Western accounts of the giant redwoods in the Sierra Nevada seemed stranger than fiction.
87 A NEW LEAF Extend the short-lived asparagus season with these tasty alternatives.
103 THE REVIEWER A selection of new book releases and an interview with Nigel Hewitt-Cooper. 87
114 LAST WORD Gardeners must live by their wits in March, believes Katherine Swift. 85 Offers 54 SUBSCRIPTION OFFER Subscribe and enjoy The English Garden every month.
74 EXCLUSIVE! Special reader discount on Sarah Raven’s sweet peas.
34
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 7
Contents - MAR.indd 7 22/01/2016 10:39 Choose this medal winning school for your garden design course
Inchbald graduates come out top at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show with four medals A high standard of teaching is central to our garden design school’s success and on which our reputation has been built over the past 40 years. Whether it’s a graduate, part time or online course you will receive guidance from the same high quality tutors. So whether you are aiming for a successful career in garden design or simply looking to improve your own garden you won’t fi nd a better established or more renowned school than the Inchbald.
Full time, part time or change of career time design courses S G In association with: IN 55 AT
YEARS CRE CAREER ESTABLISHED 1960
020 7630 9011 | [email protected] | www.inchbald.co.uk News Events Gabriella Dyson rounds up anniversary& celebrations, the best places to see magnolias and notable dates for the gardening diary
Floral Fix Bloombox Club is a new flowers-by-post service that delivers live plants directly to the door ready for planting. Opt for edible plant boxes from £35, or try a seasonal package, filled with pleasing, FIVE GARDENS FOR low-maintenance shrubs, from £60-£95 MAGNIFICENT MAGNOLIAS a package. See www. bloomboxclub.com With the arrival of spring, colourful magnolias Mapperton House, Dorset are bringing gardens to life across the land. DT8 3NR. Tel: 01308 862645; Here are five top places to see them www.mapperton.com
BORDE HILL CAERHAYS CASTLE HAROLD HILLIER GARDENS Borde Hill has been open Home to a National Collection Stroll along Magnolia Avenue to the public for 50 years. of Magnolias, Caerhays to see magnificent blossoms To celebrate, more than 50 is home to more than 40 in bloom and discover the varieties of magnolia have cultivars, including the pastel arresting Himalayan pink tulip been added to the existing pink ‘Caerhays Surprise’. trees with their unique, goblet- collection, which is currently Caerhays Castle, Saint Austell shaped flowers (above). on view. Spring in your Step PL26 6LY. Tel: 01872 501310; Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Borde Hill Garden, West Kew Gardens and www.caerhays.co.uk Hampshire SO51 0QA. Sussex RH16 1XP. Tel: 01444 Le Chameau have Tel: 01794 369317/318; 450326; www.bordehill.co.uk combined a mutual www.hilliergardens.org.uk love of the outdoors BATSFORD ARBORETUM with a special-edition MAPPERTON HOUSE Up to 100 magnolia cultivars range of Wellington Tucked away in the beautiful will flower in late March, boots. Each boot is Dorset countryside, these producing swathes of delicate lined with a distinctive gardens truly come to life in springtime flowers. Rhamnus frangula and spring, so take a streamside Batsford Arboretum, Malva rotundifolia print. stroll and explore the colourful Gloucestershire GL56 9AD. From £65, available to MATT PRINGLE; DOBBIES; DEREK ST ROMAINE PRINGLE; DOBBIES; DEREK ST MATT Magnolia walk. Entry is half Tel: 01386 701441; purchase from March.
IMAGES price in March. www.batsarb.co.uk www.lechameau.com
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 9
News and Events - MAR.indd 9 21/01/2016 11:38 NEWS & EVENTS Project Compton To mark 300 years since the birth of Capability Brown, Compton Verney will lead national celebrations with a flagship restoration project. Thanks to a £2.5 million Heritage Lottery Fund grant, the former country house will undertake actions to preserve and conserve Brown’s contributions to the 120 acres of Grade II-listed parkland on the site. As well as introducing a new visitor welcome centre – featuring materials on the history and ecology of the garden – Compton Verney will also host a series of Capability Brown-themed talks, led by Gary Webb, head of landscape and gardens on the estate. Currently closed for winter, Compton Verney re-opens on 19 March. See www.comptonverney.org.uk
Camellia Show To note the arrival of spring, Chiswick House and Gardens Trust will celebrate the camellia. Until Sunday 13 March, the conservatory at Chiswick House will be filled with the beautiful flowers and visitors will be able to buy their own blooms at a pop-up shop. Believed to house the oldest collection of camellias under glass in the West, the collection at Chiswick House is a national treasure, offering opportunity to discover historically important examples of the flower, such as ‘Middlemist Red’, thought to be one of only two of its kind in the world. A WORTHY CAUSE Visit www.chgt.org.uk for information. Kick-start the gardening season by taking part in horticulture’s answer to Children in Need: Garden RE-Leaf Day on Friday 18 March. Held in aid of families who spend time in children’s hospices, the nationwide event encourages gardeners to don their overalls and get their hands dirty for a good cause. Whether it is taking part in a 24-hour plant-a-thon or joining a designated RE-leaf hike, there are plenty of ways to get involved. Simply log-on to the website to register and discover unique fundraising ideas. See www.gardenreleaf.co.uk for details.
Capability in Clay Cast stone specialist Haddonstone has commissioned a one-of-a-kind bust of Capability Brown to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the esteemed landscape architect’s birth. The commemorative bust can be pre-ordered on the company’s website for £399 and is available in a variety of specialist finishes, from Bath stone to terracotta. For details of the full range, visit STUART THOMAS; JOHN FIELDING
www.haddonstone.com IMAGES
10 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
News and Events - MAR.indd 10 21/01/2016 11:42 Quality Garden Tours The Brightwater Collection No-one has a wider selection of well-paced, well planned, quality garden tours than Brightwater Holidays. In our new portfolio we have a wonderful range of escorted tours to the best gardens throughout the gardening world. Famous and grand gardens mix with small and private in all regions of the UK, continental Europe and exotic faraway lands. From private gardens in Orkney to hidden gardens in Cornwall and many more in between; formal gardens in the Loire to Alhambra Palace classic Italian gardens like Ninfa and La Mortella; Babylonstoren in South Africa to the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sri Lanka; the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto to Yunnan’s “Kingdom of Plants”. We cover the world of horticulture. Order your copy of our new 2016 brochure today along with our RHS Garden Holiday Brochure.
UK, EUROPEAN & WORLDWIDE GARDEN HOLIDAYS 2016/2017
Like minded travellers Linnaeus
Proudly operated by Quality Garden Tours 2016
including Arts, Archaeology andwww.brightwaterholidays.com Scenic Scottish Holidays
Proudly operated by Brightwater Holidays.
RHS Wisley
Brightwater Holidays Ltd Eden Park House, Cupar, Fife KY15 4HS www.brightwaterholidays.com [email protected] +44 (0) 1334 657155
Bramdean 5020
Untitled-42 1 20/11/2015 10:21 NEWS & EVENTS
CALENDAR
SPRING WALK AT £180 per person. KELMARSH Includes refreshments. 6 March, Northampton Tel: 01726 811911; Melt away the winter www.edenproject.com blues with a rejuvenating walk through the Grade LEARN TO MAKE II listed gardens at PRESERVES AT Kelmarsh Hall. Adult WALTHAM PLACE entry £3.50, children £2 16 March, Berkshire and under fives go free. Explore the traditional Refreshments available. skill of jam making with Tel: 01604 686543; Waltham Place’s Head www.kelmarsh.com Chef, Adrian Foster. Whether you use berries collected from From Plot to Plate hedgerows or a glut of The Edible Garden Show returns to its roots this year fruit from your garden, you will be shown how alongside the popular lifestyle event Good Life Live at to make a range of jams, Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire. jellies and fruit cordials. The show offers a range of exhibitors, celebrity 9.30am-4pm. £45 per speakers, interactive advice sessions and demonstrations person, which includes for creating healthy meals fresh from the garden. Past lunch and refreshments. Tel: 01628 825517; speakers include James Wong and Jonathan Moseley. www.walthamplace.com The show runs Friday 11 to Sunday 13 March. Adult tickets are £11 in advance, £5 for children (under fives PLANT HUNTERS FAIR free). See www.theediblegardenshow.co.uk BOTANIC DRAWING AT 20 March, Shropshire THE EDEN PROJECT Kick off this year’s 11-13 March, Cornwall plant fair season at Learn to create beautiful The Dearnford Lake botanical illustrations fair. Stroll around the on a three-day course picturesque lake and set in the wonderful buy a selection of surroundings of the colourful blooms to take Mediterranean Biome. home to your garden. Led by botanical artists Refreshments available. Ros Franklin and Mally Tel: 01948 258639; www. Francis, the course planthuntersfairs.co.uk is suitable for both beginners and improvers. DELIGHT IN DAHLIAS 26 March, West Sussex Andy Vernon, author of The Plant Lover’s Guide to Dahlias, will share his passion and knowledge NGS Snowdrop Festival for these dramatic and The National Gardens Scheme’s first ever Snowdrop Festival colourful plants in an will see more than 100 gardens open their gates to the public informative talk and throughout England and Wales this month. demonstration at West Discover gardens that have been transformed into brilliant Dean Gardens. 2-3pm. carpets of white and watch winter progress into spring across Booking is essential. the land, all the while taking comfort in the knowledge that part £25 per person. of all entry fees will go toward worthwhile charities such as
Tel: 01243 811301; Marie Curie and Carers Trust. NGS LITTLE CUMBRE
www.westdean.org.uk To find gardens open near you visit www.ngs.org.uk IMAGE
12 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
News and Events - MAR.indd 12 21/01/2016 11:42 To request a brochure please go to www.gartenart.co.uk or call 020 7183 3333.
“The water is amazing, it’s like Gartenart Swimming Ponds swimming in silk. We had a couple Unit 105 Screenworks, of dragonfl ies buzzing past us... you 22 Highbury Grove, defi nitely feel you’re one with nature. London N5 2EF There were lots of things we wanted 020 7183 3333 to do to the house but this was the www.gartenart.co.uk one thing that we felt everybody benefi ted from. Having the pond has made a big diff erence to the way we use the garden. We all love it.” Nigel & Mandy Keene Basingstoke
Untitled-96Gartenart English1 Garden full page advert v1.1.indd 1 21/11/201425/01/2016 23:25 12:51 International Garden Photographer of the Year
In association with The English Garden, this annual competition seeks the best images of plants and gardens from around the world
he overall winner of the International Garden Photographer of the Year 2016 competition is Richard Bloom for his shot of lupins at Lake Tekapo in the Wildflower Landscapes cateogory. “This picture is totally immersive and a joy to behold,” says judge Tyrone International Garden TMcGlinchey. “The eye is led to the horizon by the diagonals of the stream Photographer of the Year and the trees, with the cool blue notes in the foreground complemented by the Richard Bloom warmth of the rising ground in the distance.” Tekapo Lupins The winning photographs from 10 of the competition's 16 categories are "On the way to Lake Tekapo on the South also featured here. All the entries and winning images will be on display in an Island of New Zealand in early summer, the exhibition in the Nash Conservatory at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, from landscape, already amazing, was scattered 5 February to 13 March. Discounted admission is available for pre-paid groups with drifts of naturalised lupins, which gave it an almost psychedelic, wonderland feel. of 15 or more, visit www.kew.org/groups or phone 020 8332 5648. For more The banks of this stream were bristling with information about the competition or on how to enter, go to www.igpoty.com. masses of different coloured lupins, stretching toward the distant hills, giving the sense that they went on forever."
14 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
IGPOTY - MAR.indd 14 20/01/2016 12:40 Wildlife in the Garden Nicola Munro You Lookin’ at Me? “This robin was one of four that regularly visited my garden during autumn and winter. Typically nosy and bold, it would sing its heart out while I went out to tidy up, out to the car or the bins; it seemed to be there wherever I was.”
Trees, Woods and Forests James Woodend A Night to Remember “I’ve visited the Swedish Arctic a number of times in winter, looking for wildlife shots and of course, the Northern Lights. The boreal forest in winter is often covered in fluffy, powdery snow: a beautiful foreground to the amazing night-time displays.”
Portfolios Mandy Disher Full Circle “When the flowers have finished, seed cases and pods develop. I like the diversity of shapes and textures, from papery Lunaria and fragile Physalis, to prickly Dipsacus and sturdy Papaver.”
Greening the City Amanda Kleinman American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial “I enjoy visiting public gardens and parks to capture snapshots during quiet moments. I believe not many know of the existence of this memorial [in Washington DC], and given its beauty and importance, I wanted to tell the story as intended by its creators.”
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 15
IGPOTY - MAR.indd 15 20/01/2016 12:40 Beautiful Gardens Carole Drake Pigeon House at Dawn “April is a special time in the garden at Rousham House, Oxfordshire. Everything is fresh and newly minted. The Cornus, the blossom on the trained fruit tree and the crimson leaves all signal the beginning of the growing season. I was inspired by the balance of shapes, the perfect accompaniment to the breaking dawn and beautiful pearlescent light.”
Beauty of Plants Lesley Chalmers Yucca at Dusk “I was intrigued by the rarity and beauty of the white sand dunes at White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, United States. At sunset it was quiet and there was a glow from the dunes as they reflected the changing light and colour. This single plant was standing tall and in good condition – a triumphant achievement.”
Breathing Spaces Richard Hurst Mountain Views “The Vestrahorn is a stunning mountain just outside Hofn on a headland known as Stokksnes in south-east Iceland. I have seen many images of this location and have always been drawn to it.”
This category is sponsored by the National Trust.
16 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
IGPOTY - MAR.indd 16 21/01/2016 17:00 Bountiful Earth Xuejun Xia Picturesque Earth “The Yuanyang Terraces in Yunnan Province have over 2,000 years of history. They are both widely recognised and greatly cherished. The colours have a deep artistic quality and take on myriad shapes and outlines; the lowest section of the terrace resembles a galloping horse.”
Young Garden Photographer of the Year Will Jenkins (13) The Housing Estate "We were walking my golden retriever and the air was just buzzing with insects. When I looked closely at the tall yellow plants in the hedgerow, I realised they were crawling with hundreds of stripy caterpillars." Capability Brown Today Jude Gadd A Misty Sunrise in Chatsworth Park “This was taken on one of my favourite kind of mornings, with a hint of mist and some wonderful colours in the sky. I positioned myself right down by the water in order to fill the foreground with reflections. I wanted to include Chatsworth House as part of the picture's composition, but didn't want it to dominate the shot."
This category is sponsored by the National Trust.
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 17
IGPOTY - MAR.indd 17 21/01/2016 17:01 www.andrewcrace.com
Lutyens and Edo Thrones Charles Over Wheelbarrow Seat Biddenham Curved Seat
Indian Lattice 2 Seater painted Pointing White Queen Anne 2 Seater painted Morning Blue Leagrave 3 Seater painted Bronze Store
Dior 3 Seater Hatfield 4 Seater painted Smoke Green Splayed Pedestal Table & Peacock Armchairs
Indian Lattice Sunlounger Hadham Refectory Table & Chinoiserie Chairs Combination Table
Traditional, Contemporary and Bespoke Interior & Garden Furniture. Made from hardwood Iroko or Oak
High Quality and Genuine British Products. Designed and individually Crafted and Made in Much Hadham, Hertfordshire, UK. Andrew Crace, 32 Bourne Lane, Much Hadham, Hertfordshire SG10 6ER, UK. Tel 01279 842685 www.andrewcrace.com
Untitled-111 1 15/01/2016 12:32 SHOPPING
SPRING PRUNING Make sure garden plants are in good shape for the year ahead with this helpful equipment
NO MORE THORNS RUSTIC APPEAL PROTECT SHARP BLADES Mens’ gauntlet, £29.95. Wooden handle pruner, Secateurs holder, £19.99. Tel: 01462 421836; £15. Tel: 0300 123 2025; Tel: 01344 578 811; www.gardendivas.co.uk shop.nationaltrust.org.uk www.waitrosegarden.com
KEEP SHRUBS TIDY GET ORGANISED DEAD HEADING Mini bypass lopper, Pruning bag, £35. Kew gardening scissors, £22.95. Tel: 0345 605 2505; Tel: 01379 871948; £11.95. Tel: 0345 604 9049; www.worm.co.uk oilyragfabrics.com www.johnlewis.com
A CUT ABOVE IDEAL FOR TOPIARY LOOK AFTER HANDS Orla Kiely secateurs, £25. Hand shears, £29. Mechanix ladies gloves, Tel: 0345 604 9049; Tel: 01844 217 060; £16. Tel: 0800 783 2202; www.johnlewis.com www.henandhammock.co.uk www.qualitygardentools.com
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 19
Shopping - MAR.indd 19 20/01/2016 12:12 NOW @ the pastel society
Sponsored by
Free entry with this
Image: Cheryl Culver PPS RBA Deep Valley Pines Deep Valley Image: Cheryl Culver PPS RBA voucher
The Pastel Society Annual Exhibition Over 250 contemporary works
23 February to 5 March 2016 The Mall, London SW1 DPWRSP FORVHVSPRQ¿QDOGD\ www.mallgalleries.org.uk
Untitled-14 1 15/12/2015 13:21 SHOPPING
MOTHER’S DAY GIFTS Gardening treats and green-fingered presents for Mothering Sunday this month
IT’S A WRAP PERFECT FOR SHOPPING COASTING ALONG Flowers, Fruit and Vegetables wrapping Tetbury shopping bag, Floral coasters, paper, £12.99. Tel: 020 7289 7100; £16. Tel: 0141 221 0724; £2.99 each. Tel: 020 7352 5656; www.pimpernelpress.com www.bluebellgray.com www.chelseagardener.com
HOT OFF THE PRESS HOME COMFORTS MAKE A NOTE Flower pressing kit, £12.99. Broom & Bee Sky cushion, Botanical notebooks, Tel: 01344 578 811; £52. Tel: 020 8465 9819; From £3.95. Tel: 07912 384651; www.waitrosegarden.com www.lornasyson.co.uk www.jenrowland.co.uk
BEDSIDE BOOK HELPING HANDS BOLD PRINT Beds and Borders by Simon Maughan Cabbage & Rabbit oven glove, Kaffe Fassett cosmetic bag, and Jane Courtier, £16.99. Tel: 01462 £26.95. Tel: 020 7831 2878; £18. Tel: 020 7483 8383; 421836; www.gardendivas.co.uk www.thornbackandpeel.co.uk www.kaffefassettfragrance.com
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 21
Shopping - MAR.indd 21 20/01/2016 12:12 GARDEN PATHS
The Constant Gardener Matthew Pottage left school at 16 to pursue a career in horticulture. Aged 29, he is the youngest ever curator of RHS Garden Wisley
’ve known since I was young that to something, then you won’t push yourself they are such a versatile and diverse group I wanted to work in horticulture. and the whole thing will be unrewarding. of plants. Some of them are quick growing When I was a child I used to fill my The person who has inspired me the most monsters that have managed to give all parents’ house with houseplants. is Alan Titchmarsh. I grew up watching conifers a bad press, but there are also I blame it on my grandma, whose Gardeners’ World on television and I really many good garden cultivars available. houseI was always full of plants. At connected with him. To this day I admire I have now been at Wisley for 10 years. school I rescued the houseplants in my him because he really loves his plants. Roy After I finished my diploma I worked as a schoolteacher’s classroom. Lancaster is also a stand-out inspirational gardener in the glasshouses for three years Horticulture is not something careers figure because he is such a detailed and and studied for a Master of Horticulture. advisors push you into but I am quite knowledgeable plantsman. I became a team leader in the woodland headstrong and I knew it was what I After I completed the diploma in York, I areas, then garden manager of hardy wanted to do. I left school at 16 and studied moved to RHS Wisley to study for the RHS ornamentals. I was then appointed deputy for a National Diploma in Horticulture at Diploma in Practical Horticulture. I have a curator before becoming curator in 2015. Bishop Burton College near York. great interest in conifers but of all the plant I love being out in the garden. Under my To all young people wanting a career collections I hoped to work with at Wisley, curatorship I plan to bolster the current in horticulture, I have one simple piece of I was put in the machinery department on plantsmanship, and add more ‘wow factor’ advice, and that is ‘you get out whatever my first day. I seem to remember spending to the gardens, including building on our you put in’. Don’t expect mind-blowing time painting a trailer. It was a useful winter borders to create a spectacle that results from your career if you spend all lesson though. Machinery is essential to rivals the winter garden at Anglesey Abbey. day clock-watching and putting in the maintaining the fabulous acres of Wisley. I want to turn every corner of Wisley into
minimum. If you do not want to give 100% I am an unashamed conifer fan because a treasure trove of plant interest. n RHS IMAGE GREG LOADES WORDS
22 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
Garden Paths - MAR VH.indd 22 19/01/2016 17:01 THE MOST INCLUSIVE LUXURY EXPERIENCE TM
EXCEEDING THE LOFTIEST EXPECTATIONS OF LUXURY
Chalk July 2016 in your diary because that’s the date the new ship from Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Seven Seas Explorer – heralded the most luxurious cruise ship in the world – sets sail on her inaugural season in the with 18 individual cooking stations where you Mediterranean. can learn to create scrumptious dishes under the guidance of expert chefs. And the Canyon It will be an exciting moment, the culmination of ARRIVING JULY 2016 Ranch SpaClub will feature a beautiful infi nity- years of planning by Regent Seven Seas inauura easo edged plunge pool! ea MONTE CARLO TO VENICE Cruises, a six-star company already well versed 20 July 2016 | 14-nights in the meaning of luxury. After all, this is the Naturally there is plenty of sumptuous cruise line that brought the world the fi rst accommodation to choose, from the spacious VENICE TO ROME 3 August 2016 | 10-nights all-suite, all-balcony ships and delivers truly all- entry-level Veranda Suites to Park Avenue- inclusive prices, from fl ights and transfers to styled Master Suites, all kitted out with the ROME TO LISBON drinks, gratuities, shore excursions, even Wi-Fi. quality fi ttings and furnishings you’d expect 13 August 2016 | 12-nights from the world’s most luxurious ship. Choose LISBON TO BARCELONA a suite at Penthouse level or above and you’ll 25 August 2016 | 10-nights be looked after by a private butler; opt for BARCELONA TO ROME a Concierge or higher suite and you’ll enjoy 4 September 2016 | 10-nights unlimited free wifi so you can keep in touch ROME TO VENICE with family and friends. Step outside your 14 September 2016 | 10-nights suite and you’ll fi nd many of Regent Seven VENICE TO MONTE CARLO Seas Cruises’ signature dining venues, but all 24 September 2016 | 10-nights featuring the spectacular new look and feel MONTE CARLO TO ATHENS that really sets this ship apart. 4 October 2016 | 8-nights There is certainly something to suit every taste, ATHENS TO VENICE from succulent steaks and Italian favourites 12 October 2016 | 10-nights to the delicious multi-course menus served in VENICE TO JERUSALEM the Compass Rose main dining room, the ever- 22 October 2016 | 11-nights popular Prime 7 steakhouse reminiscent of a JERUSALEM TO ROME London private members’ club plus, two further 2 November 2016 | 14-nights But the best just got even better. Seven Seas new speciality dining options, Chartreuse and ROME TO MIAMI Explorer might be another all-suite, all-balcony Pacifi c Rim. As befi ts a luxury ship, the 16 November 2016 | 16-nights restaurant has an open-seating policy so diners ship but in terms of personal space, and quality MIAMI ROUNDTRIP of materials and craftsmanship, she will be one are free to eat when and with whom they wish. 4 December 2016 | 14-nights of a kind, rivaling the best hotels in the world. The icing on the cake is that all dining, MIAMI ROUNDTRIP For those into numbers, at 56,000 tons, she including the specialty restaurants, is included 18 December 2016 | 10-nights holds just 750 passengers, which gives a space in the price. But then what else would you MIAMI TO LOS ANGELES ratio of 74.6, one of the highest in the industry. expect from the winning combination of a 28 December 2016 | 16-nights There are lots of amazing new features on Seven cruise on the world’s most luxurious ship with FARES START FROM £3,889pp Seas Explorer® including a Culinary Arts Kitchen the most-inclusive cruise line in the world.
® TO FIND OUT MORE SEVEN SEAS EXPLORER visit www.sevenseasexplorer.co.uk or www.rssc.com or call 02380 682174 THE MOST LUXURIOUS SHIP EVER BUILT ™
ENGLISH_HOME_UK_2016_January.indd 1 20/11/2015 09:05 EG81.qxp_Layout 1 20/01/2016 09:21 Page 1
Enjoy beautiful blooms all summer long...
David C.H. Austin
Untitled-23 2 20/01/2016 10:14 EG81.qxp_Layout 1 20/01/2016 09:21 Page 2
y planting David Austin’s English Roses over the next few weeks, you’ll be giving them plenty Bof time to establish in the garden before they burst into flower this summer. With their many petalled scented blooms, large array of colours and natural shrubby growth, they will complement both traditional and contemporary gardens
We’re offering readers of English Garden 15% OFF* every time you order with us before March 31st 2016. Visit: www.davidaustinroses.com Call: 01902 367300 Quote code EG8 1 ® * This offer excludes postage and packing and cannot be used in conjunction with any other David Austin Roses offer. DAVID AUSTIN
Untitled-23 3 20/01/2016 10:14 A wash of daffodils illuminates the Grade I-listed garden at this historic Hertfordshire estate.
TAMING THE WILDERNESS At the Queen Mother’s childhood home, history and horticulture combine in a rare surviving example of an 18th-century wilderness garden
WORDS ROBERT CLARK PHOTOGRAPHS MARIANNE MAJERUS
FEATURE - St Pauls Walden Bury.indd 26 21/01/2016 17:05 ST PAUL’S WALDEN BURY
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 27
FEATURE - St Pauls Walden Bury.indd 27 20/01/2016 12:44 his year we celebrate the tercentenary St Paul’s was laid out around 1720 by Edward Gilbert, a wealthy of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown’s birth, city man whose daughter married George Bowes, the owner of but should we be celebrating? In Jane Streatham Castle and Gibside in County Durham, and one of the Austen’s novels, Brown and his follower richest men in England. In 1767 his granddaughter, Mary Eleanor Humphry Repton provoke disdain. One Bowes, married John Lyon, the 9th Earl of Strathmore, founding of her contemporaries, Richard Payne the Bowes-Lyon dynasty that has cared for St Paul’s ever since. Knight, called Brown a ‘plodding genius’ Mary was a keen botanist who befriended Sir Joseph Banks and and derided his gardens as ‘impostors’ Daniel Solander, both of whom sailed with Captain James Cook Tgiven to ‘ostentatious vanity’. Knight did a very good sneer, but his on his epic voyage to discover Australia in 1768-71, collecting many arguments were sound – Brown’s landscapes derived from Claude of the plants we treasure today. Mary also entered a disastrous Lorrain’s paintings, fantasies of classical antiquity that did not second marriage with the spendthrift Andrew Robinson Stoney belong in either France or England. whose disgraceful conduct gave Thackeray the idea for his novel However, because Stowe gardens, where Brown trained, Barry Lyndon. Another famous descendant was Elizabeth, the was designed by Lord Cobham to typify English liberty – in Queen Mother, who grew up here in the early 1900s. contrast to French absolutism – so the Brownian style of large, At the time St Paul’s was being laid out, the pleasure grounds open deer parks with distant views of ponds, streams and classical around English country houses comprised mainly parterres of the buildings became politically defined as quintessentially English. kind we see at nearby Hatfield House, and some formal flower One consequence was the grubbing up of most of the marvellous gardens and mazes. But there was also a Renaissance tradition of formal gardens that until his time adorned English estates. Of ‘wilderness gardens’, woodlands cut through by avenues where these, Hertfordshire’s St Paul’s Walden Bury is one of only two or one could stroll in safety and meditate on nature, like Christ in the three surviving gems – gardens a bit French but also very English, wilderness. As British visitors brought ideas back from Versailles, gardens that are deeply interesting to walk around; shady, these wildernesses became more shapely, as one sees at St Paul’s sheltered, intriguing places. where an apron lawn, bounded on either side by avenues of
28 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
FEATURE - St Pauls Walden Bury.indd 28 20/01/2016 12:44 Left Regimental trees line the allée that leads to the Organ House. Below A statue of Hercules tops a stone plinth. Bottom left Wrought iron gates frame a view of the landscape beyond. Opposite Chamber’s Temple on the banks of the pond.
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 29
FEATURE - St Pauls Walden Bury.indd 29 20/01/2016 12:45 pleached limes, terminates at a pair of statues by Johan van der Nost and opens on to a patte d’oie (goose-foot) layout of three avenues, about 600 yards in length. These divide some 30 acres of apparently natural woodland into three large segments. The right- hand avenue looks towards the spire of the parish church, here used as an eye-catcher. The wide central avenue looks towards the Organ House, an octagonal neoclassical building erected in 1735. At St Paul’s an unusual delight is the way the garden is laid out across a small valley, the views rising up the other side, diminishing any tendency to monotony (always a problem with long avenues), and showing clearly the artifice involved in its construction, the avenues being formally hedged with beech. Between the hedges, what might look like natural woodland is carefully planted so that an understorey of trees and shrubs just behind the hedges Right Immaculately rises progressively to stately trees in their maintained beech centres, creating what contemporary hedges flank a ride designers called ‘tufts’ or ‘plumes’. Elm, from the house. lime, chestnut and oak were the trees of Bottom right Apple blossom and choice for this imposing role. Whilst such daffodils are a sure a garden may seem to have closely followed sign of spring. French ideas, the hedges and trees at Bottom middle Versailles were a uniform height of about Naturalised clumps of narcissus. 8m, making for overpowering green walls Bottom left Stepped and enormous green blocks with level tops. slope to the Rotunda.
30 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
FEATURE - St Pauls Walden Bury.indd 30 20/01/2016 12:45 The effect was considered absolutist. The hedges at St Paul’s being lower, the effect is much closer to natural woodland, more uneven and relaxed, therefore more English. The avenues and paths are not made of beaten earth or gravel, but of mowed grass, soft to the eye and mind. The dominant triangular arrangement is cut transversely by two further avenues, one which extends from the statue of Venus and Adonis to a statue of Diana, figures associated with hunting, nature and carnal love, and the other which extends from the neo-classical Copped Hall temple to a pond, presided over by the neo-classical Chamber’s Temple. Despite its Brownite appearance, this pond is very ancient, having formerly served as the carp pond for the Bishop of St. Albans. As in Versailles, the large wooded sections of the garden permit the creation of concealed garden rooms which supply the opportunity for intimate sociability. Often they are given classical ornamentation about which the learned can discourse. At St Paul’s the key garden room is known as the ‘Garden of the Running Footman’ after the statue which stands by its neat rectangular pond and which looks up a tiered slope towards another temple with statues of sphinxes to either side. Subtly restored by Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe in the 1930s, this room communicates a splendid early 18th century feel. The combined effect of avenues and rooms is lightly to bewilder, a little like the labyrinths and mazes to which they are cousins, an effect which is perfectly caught in Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park where Mary Crawford flirts with Edmund Bertram as they explore just such a wilderness. Such a garden invites exploration, but within defined limits. In a formal wilderness, SIR SIMON’S unlike in one of Brown’s gardens, liberty knows its bounds NOTES ON and responsibilities. HEDGES Again in contrast with France, plants were celebrated n All the hedges are in English woodland gardens. In 1704, Timothy Nourse cut once a year in late recommended “wild thyme, violets, primroses, cowslips, August or September daffodils, lilies of the valley, blue-bottles, daisies, with all kinds with a hand-held of flowers which grow wild in the fields and woods, and a motor trimmer. We judicious use of flowering shrubs and trees such as pyracantha, cut the tops first to lilac, syrix, almonds, plum, phillyrea to balance the winter give an immediate greens of yew and holly.” True to such suggestions, St Paul’s tidy up, with the sides again distinguishes its Englishness by judicious planting of following later. acers, camellias, magnolias, osmanthus and viburnum for n I coppice the trees seasonal interest; rhododendrons and bluebells, snowdrops, and shrubs behind the and hellebores adorn its wooded glades; in season candelabra hedges myself with primulas enrich its lawns, and huge drifts of daffodils surround a view to having a its pond. At whatever time of year one visits, the garden is mixture of deciduous arranged to delight and please. and evergreen species The Achilles heel of such a garden is the enormous task of and different textures. clipping and pruning, and the need for progressive replanting We always aim to as various species reach maturity. The survival of St Paul’s avoid the backs of is entirely due to the assiduous attention of the Bowes-Lyon the hedges being family, notably in the 1930s by Sir David Bowes-Lyon, President seen from the of the Royal Horticultural Society, who worked with Jellicoe serpentine paths. on all manner of improvements, especially in replacing its tired n As the hedges lose hornbeam hedges with the beech hedges we see today. Today, their shape over time, Sir David’s son, Sir Simon, and his wife Lady Caroline, continue we do a hard cut back the work of restocking and reshaping that such a garden of a small proportion demands. They open the garden each year for the National of the total every year. Gardens Scheme, and visits can be arranged by appointment.
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 31
FEATURE - St Pauls Walden Bury.indd 31 21/01/2016 17:05 ALSO IN THE AREA These gardens in Hertfordshire are also worth visiting
Shaw’s Corner was the country Wrest Park is one of the retreat of George Bernard greatest gardens of 18th Shaw for 44 years; a house century England, with 90 acres, not much visited but full of including woodland wilderness. atmosphere. Ayot St Lawrence Recently restored by English near Welwyn, Hertfordshire, Heritage. Silsoe, Bedfordshire AL6 9BX. www.nationaltrust. MK45 4HR. www.english- org.uk/shaws-corner heritage.org.uk
Jordan’s Mill Established by Hatfield House, one of the oat-growing family, the England’s greatest Renaissance heritage centre at Jordan’s palaces, was Elizabeth I’s Top An avenue of Mill boasts a lovely garden childhood home. Its extensive pollarded limes has a stark outline designed by Chelsea gold- and beautiful gardens feature before bursting bud. medallists Julie Toll and Ian 16th century parterres, Middle Drifts of Kitson. Holme Mills, Langford pleached lime avenues, a yew white-petalled Road, Broom, Bedfordshire, maze and woodland walks. daffodils and cherry blossom. SG18 9JY. Tel: 01767 603940. Hatfield AL9 5NQ. www. Bottom Aubrieta www.jordansmill.com hatfield-house.co.uk n brings a sudden splash of colour.
32 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
FEATURE - St Pauls Walden Bury.indd 32 20/01/2016 14:55 ALITAGS P L A N T L A B E L S www.alitags.com www.giftsandgardens.com Annual labelling is a thing of the past with Alitags. Simply write on Alitag aluminium labels with Alitag or HB pencil. The pencil Bamboo Cloches will react with our specially made aluminium tags and become permanent.
Alitag labels can also be punched with Alitag character punches & jig. Copper, Teak, Bamboo and Oak labels Wooden Keyrings : 95 Locations are also available. Made of bamboo woven into an open dome and available in 5 sizes plus a tunnel cloche. These attractive cloches protect plants and seeding from damageby animals, footballs, light frost and wind-chill. Fleece & newspaper can be used to cover the plants inside the cloches during periods of heavy frost. The micro climate 32 Bourne Lane, Much Hadham, Hertfordshire SG10 6ER inside the cloches promotes Hanging Wooden Signs : 70 Texts United Kingdom. Tel 01279 842685 www.alitags.com growth and allows rain through to the plants.
www.thebronzecollection.com
Wooden Doorstops
Pair of Mice : 10 cms high Cat Crouching & Sitting Up
Curled Crayfish 30 cms long
Hare 50 cms high Lion Mask 48 cms high
GARDEN FRIENDS. Made from aluminium that will not rust, and hand painted on both sides with a very resilient finish. Suitable for outdoor.
Wildboar 125 cms long
32 Bourne Lane, Much Hadham, Hertfordshire SG10 6ER, UK. Stone Pot, several sizes Topiary : Squirrel, Rabbit, Pig, etc Tel 01279 842685 www.thebronzecollection.com 32 Bourne Lane, Much Hadham, Hertfordshire SG10 6ER, UK. Tel 01279 842685
Untitled-111 1 15/01/2016 12:32 Daffodils and forget- me-nots clothe a bank, happy in the dappled shade cast by a ginkgo tree.
34 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
FEATURE The Old Rectory.indd 34 21/01/2016 09:41 THE OLD RECTORY
SEASONAL SPLENDOUR Long-term vision and a willingness to work with existing conditions have created a garden with substance, structure and naturalistic planting at The Old Rectory in Netherbury, Dorset
WORDS VANESSA BERRIDGE PHOTOGRAPHS HEATHER EDWARDS
FEATURE The Old Rectory.indd 35 21/01/2016 09:41 ad simon and amanda Mehigan realised the problem its dense pine plantation would pose, they might have thought twice about buying The Old Rectory. The couple moved to Netherbury Hin December 1994, but, apart from establishing a courtyard garden, did little else for 12 months while they got their bearings. They realised the 30-year-old pines that occupied about half the four-acre garden would have to go. “The trees had never been thinned. There was little else here when we came – just areas grassed over for ease of maintenance,” remembers Amanda. Apart from older Scots pines dotted around the garden, all the pines were removed in the winter of 1995/96. The tree-feller took away the trunks, but Simon and Amanda were left with the brush and the stumps. “Several garden contractors came round and scratched their heads hopelessly,” says Amanda. Eventually, the rubbish was buried under a large mound, Clockwise from top now the setting for an obelisk left Clipped box used a focal point. cones outside the The Mehigans then had a house set the scene; blank canvas with which to Narcissus ‘Pheasant’s Eye’; Tulipa whittallii; work, much of it sloping and perfect symmetry in terraced to the right of the the yew walk.
36 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
FEATURE The Old Rectory.indd 36 21/01/2016 09:41 Stone terraces beneath ancient yews contain pink Tulipa saxatilis and T. clusiana as well as erythroniums, anemones and hellebores.
FEATURE The Old Rectory.indd 37 21/01/2016 09:41 THE OLD RECTORY GARDEN NOTEBOOK Good structure and focal points give this Dorset garden year-round interest
CRENELLATED YEW FASTIGIATE HORNBEAMS When the Mehigans moved here, there was what Amanda “When we planted these hornbeams 18 years ago, they were so describes as “one squatty looking hedge” leading up to the small that we thought we needed to fill the gaps,” remembers adjacent parish church. “We decided to plant a crenallated Amanda. But the fastigiate hornbeams have filled up to form a avenue of yews to frame the church and reflect its tower,” she complete avenue. The Mehigans have raised the crowns to let explains. “The church is hidden from view, so you come across in light for bulbs, and have replaced unsatisfactory grass with this vista as if by chance.” Tiny yews were put in almost 20 gravel, building a stone plinth for a large pot at the centre of years ago, fed with bonemeal, and pruned every October. the avenue.
BOG GARDEN AND GOTHIC TOPIARY SUMMERHOUSE Mixed herbaceous planting, which only looked good in June, The Mehigans tracked down the maker of this summerhouse originally filled the bed near the drive, so Amanda planted having seen a Gothic example on a Whichford Pottery stand standard hollies in box platforms for greater formality and at the Chelsea Flower Show. They ordered one as a year-round longer interest. At the back of the house, the Mehigans planted focal point for the bog garden. “This is important in winter yew for the larger hedging and lower hedges of box to add when everything dies down,” says Amanda. “But it matters structure, especially in winter. “Our bays in the rose garden are even in summer because, apart from some ball-shaped willows now in the process of being turned into one pyramid you can and some blocks of planting, there is very little structure here.” walk through,” says Amanda.
38 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
FEATURE The Old Rectory.indd 38 22/01/2016 09:28 delineate different areas. Amanda is currently turning four bay trees at the centre of the rose arches into a walk-through pyramid. A key feature is the bog garden, which comes into its own in spring and summer. A pond and rill were fashioned from what had been a muddy pool, and gravel paths, edged with stones, were laid through this area. Planting includes hellebores, primulas, irises, Leucojum vernum and species tulips, followed by rodgersias, gunneras and hostas. Balled willows give shape to the otherwise loose planting, while the Gothic summerhouse provides a central axis. A beautifully pruned Cornus controversa beside the pond survives the wet – just. house, but sitting well in the Dorset countryside. Top The garden is Amanda’s garden gets going early – almost too Another advantage was the soil – mainly green sand divided by clipped yew early, she bemoans. Her Galanthus elwesii ‘Mrs hedges and box spirals. with areas of rich clay. “It’s moist and crumbly,” says Above Species tulip Macnamara’, relied upon for January interest, had Amanda, “and doesn’t need much feeding.” Tulipa saxatilis flowers finished flowering by Christmas 2015. Nevertheless, They created year-round structure by planting early in spring. there is plenty to enjoy from February and March yew hedging to divide the garden into compartments onwards, as milder winters lead to earlier flowering and also to frame the view of the church next door. At the front and the possibility of naturalising tender species tulips, such as of the house, mophead hollies were set in diamonds of box, while, T. sprengeri, T. saxatilis and T. whittallii, all favourites of at the back, avenues of yew pyramids and fastigiate hornbeam Amanda’s. South-west facing and free-draining banks, as well as lead away from the house. The two avenues are separated by a terraced walls, are ideal for spring bulbs. Sloping woodland walks hornbeam arch. “Simon is very concerned with symmetry so he lined with scarlet oaks are carpeted with snowdrops, erythroniums, always aims to cut it so it’s symmetrical,” smiles Amanda. daffodils including Narcissus ‘Tête-à-Tête’, ‘Pheasant’s Eye’ and Clipped spirals of box and holly add further interest, and ‘Thalia’, and Anemone nemorosa ‘Robinsoniana’. These are
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 39
FEATURE The Old Rectory.indd 39 21/01/2016 09:42 AMANDA’S ADVICE ON CREATING EARLY SPRING INTEREST
n Do your winter tidying early to avoid standing on emerging bulb shoots. I remove as many leaves as possible, especially large and leathery ones, from beds with small bulbs. I put them in large leaf bins to rot down and return to the soil after a couple of years; the bulbs really appreciate it.
n For the earliest displays, seek out warm south-facing areas. I am lucky to have well- drained terraces and slopes where I plant my earliest bulbs. With good drainage, species tulips thrive even in our increasingly wet springs.
n Match naturalised bulbs to available grass. Small bulbs such as crocus and Narcissus cyclamineus and Top The view from the followed by Tulipa garden’s highest point. sprengeri and forget- N. bulbocodium do best in Azure-flowered Middle me-nots, although, to weak grass under deciduous Symphytum caucasicum. trees. In lush damp grass, I Bottom Daphne ‘Eternal Amanda’s chagrin, their use larger narcissi and snake’s Fragrance’. flowering seasons don’t always coincide. head fritillaries, and in really Woodland areas are planted with evergreen early damp areas camassia and spring shrubs and trees, such as Skimmia x confusa leucojum flourish, their ugly ‘Kew Green’ and Daphne x transatlantica ‘Eternal dying foliage lost in tall grass. Fragrance’. Magnolias do well here, too, and include n I have found crocus difficult M. salicifolia ‘Wada’s Memory’, M. x loebneri to naturalise and have even ‘Merrill’ and M. x l. ‘Leonard Messel’. tried planting in the green The Mehigans have made sense of their large thinking they might be less space with clever use of hedging and topiary, tasty to squirrels and mice and generous planting along banks and beneath than the dry corms. What woodland trees, balancing fierce symmetry with works is planting them under floral drifts. Textural changes are another joy: grids of wire set a couple of there are herringbone bricks with stone around the inches under the turf. terrace by the house, cobbles along the paths by the rose and clematis pergolas, and gravel and bark n Where bulbs are flourishing paths elsewhere. The garden flows, and bursts with in a good area for them, interest year round. n divide and spread them after flowering for a spectacular The Old Rectory, Netherbury, Beaminster, Dorset display. Do this while they are DT6 5NB is open for the National Gardens Scheme still in the green to get an idea on Sunday, 24 April, Tuesday, 26 April, Sunday, 22 of what they will look like the May and Tuesday, 24 May, 11am to 5pm. following year.
40 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
FEATURE The Old Rectory.indd 40 21/01/2016 09:43 MOROCCO Your erfect Gardens of Marrakech, Taroudannt & Atlas Mountains P 01 – 08 April 2016 Glasshouse D esigned especially for you...
PORTUGAL Spring Gardens around Lisbon and the Sintra Hills 11 – 17 April 2016
SICILY Spring Gardens from Taormina to Siracusa 28 April – 04 May 2016
Perfection is just a call away... www.griffi nglasshouses.com or call: 01962 772512 SUSAN WORNER TOURS Partnering NGS with our select range of free standing glasshouses www.susanwornertours.com • 01423 326 300 Garden, Wild Flower and Natural History Tours to France, Italy, Switzerland, Portugal, Morocco, South Africa and Namibia.
041_EGUK_0316_.indd 41 25/01/2016 14:05 CLOTHS OF HEAVEN Swathes of naturalised crocus, aconite and snowdrops clothe the garden at Little Court in Crawley, Hampshire, heralding the start of the most tender of seasons
WORDS GREG LOADES PHOTOGRAPHS MARIANNE MAJERUS
42 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JANUARY 2016
FEATURE Little Court.indd 42 22/01/2016 09:38 NORTHLITTLE GREENCOURT
atricia elkington prefers gardens to carry elements of both wit and wisdom in their design, and her garden at Little Court, in Crawley near Winchester, is the embodiment of that reasoned approach. “I hope everyone who visits the Pgarden feels more relaxed and happier when they have seen it than when they arrived,” she muses. For Patricia, once a county organiser of the National Gardens Scheme in Hampshire, wisdom is displayed in allowing plants that are suited to local conditions to occupy the lion’s share of the garden. The result is a garden that sparkles in the fledgling stages of spring. But of the three acres of garden at Little Court, it is the area around the old orchard that is most magnificent at this time. Here, plants are free to be themselves in a place that they love, rather than being introduced into an ill- suited environment. “I like to grow things that are happy where they are. If you try to grow plants that aren’t suited to the conditions they probably will not die, but they will just languish rather than increase.” The garden has been in Patricia’s family since the 1950s and Patricia has lived at Little Court since 1975, with her late husband Andrew initially, and it is where her four sons grew up. “When I was a child here we had a gardener called Lammas and I half-watched what he did and learnt a lot without realising,” Patricia recalls. The spectacular show of early spring blooms at Little Court is a gardener’s dream. Patricia says in part this is down to her mother’s influence on the garden. “My A grand yew mother was a flower arranger and liked to have plants topiary towers over that were good for picking. She sometimes said ‘there’s hundreds of early nothing in the garden to pick’; now I have tried to have spring blooms at Little Court. continuity, so the garden can be open for the National Gardens Scheme from February until September.” A winning combination of very free-draining soil – the garden lies on Hampshire chalk – and naturalised bulbs
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 43
FEATURE Little Court.indd 43 21/01/2016 14:51 has created swathes of flowers that blanket the ground. Winter aconites (Eranthis hyemalis) provide the boldest colour, with the muted purple of Crocus tommasinianus not far behind. Snowdrops, both wild and hybrids, and hellebores provide a subtler showpiece. This is followed by a succession of later bulbs, species tulips, scillas, many lungworts, and other early perennials that take over the flowering mantle as spring approaches. “We once had an American visitor who asked ‘why is your dirt a funny colour?’” Patricia recalls. Over time the pale grey chalk soil has been improved to a much deeper colour thanks to an annual mulch of garden compost and leaf mould around the beds, which is spread in winter before the bulbs are up. The winter aconites have had only a modest amount of division and encouragement, being naturally inclined to spread in this favourable patch of Hampshire. The greatest gathering of spring colour begins around the third week in February, courtesy of the plucky little Crocus tommasinianus, which turns the old orchard into a feast of early spring abundance, creating a stark but pleasing contrast with the ageing, dormant trunks of Victorian apple trees. The apple trees in the orchard include ‘Ribston Pippin’, ‘American Mother’, ‘Newton Wonder’. ‘Beauty of Kent’ and ‘Bramley’s Seedling’ and are, in Patricia’s mind, the making of the crocus. “They make majestic partners,” she says. Patricia remembers planting a packet of Crocus
44 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
FEATURE Little Court.indd 44 21/01/2016 14:51 tommasinianus bulbs with her mother in the 1950s and in the ensuing half-century, nature has taken its course to fill Little Court with early colour as seedling follows seedling. “It’s very naturalistic. I aim for people to think that it has all just happened.” And, with the exception of some light ‘editing’, it has – bulbs that emerge in paths are mown off. Aconites and crocus are left to self-seed, with the porous, chalky soil making the perfect growing medium for germinating seeds. The chalky soil has a pH of 7.5 and is ideal for the bulbs that Patricia likes to grow. “Winter aconites do not proliferate in acid soil,” she says. “The bulbs love the soil here, seeding and spreading by corms. They seed everywhere in May. If they were not growing in a place where they are encouraged to spread, they would be a nuisance.” Before the crocuses there is a golden display of aconites, which grow under the copper beech trees. “In the past I dug them up and split them to spread them out and it has created an absolute carpet. We started with maybe a square yard, and I wanted to create a yellow river of aconites from the small patch we had,” remembers Patricia. After the aconites flower the leaves make a very attractive if relatively short-lived ground cover plant, too. Finally, Tulipa sprengeri, in scarlet with contrasting green leaves is a favourite, taking over from the
Top left Rivers of crocus transform the orchard at the end of winter. Above Winter aconites come into flower soon after the crocus. Right Each snowdrop variety is grown in an isolated area so that different forms are easier to appreciate. Left Paths are mown in the crocus to create defined areas of colour.
FEATURE Little Court.indd 45 22/01/2016 10:36 LITTLE COURT NOTEBOOK Patricia Elkington’s light touch keeps this garden looking as though it has simply ‘happened’
THE ORCHARD BEDS AND BORDERS Delicate Crocus tommasinanus do well in the conditions Patricia achieves the maximum from her beds and borders, beneath Patricia’s collection of old apple trees. They are with a succession of plants to ensure colour and interest allowed to self-seed and so spread naturally beneath these throughout the year. Each year, they are given a generous gnarled living sculptures. Where paths are needed to frame mulch to boost nutrients and improve the texture of the thin focal points or lead the eye down the garden, the bulbs are Hampshire chalk soil. Spread in winter when most plants are simply mown through the grass, which keeps the plants in below ground, mulch is a fuss-free way to keep the soil in good defined areas, without losing the informal feel in this area. heart and support the demands of Patricia’s many plants.
EVERGREEN STRUCTURE THE CROCUSES As a counterpoint to the sheets of naturalised bulbs, clipped Natural drifts of crocuses like Patricia’s are easy to achieve. If evergreens such as box give the garden structure and stability. the bulbs are happy in the soil, they will self-seed and spread Box is shaped into balls and forms the back of a stone bench themselves, but a careful mowing regime is also necessary. The (pictured above). Patricia makes sure that plants have plenty of grass should not be cut until seed pods have formed and the space to promote air circulation and minimise pest and disease seed has been distributed. Likewise, the foliage of the plants problems. Elsewhere, a yew topiary started off in the 1950s has should be allowed to turn yellow and die back naturally before grown to momentous proportions over the past half century. it is mown away.
46 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
FEATURE Little Court.indd 46 21/01/2016 14:52 crocuses. “It is an unsung and underused tulip but it is exciting. It grows through beds of ground elder which shows how tough a plant it is, flowering at the end of May,” Patricia says. Box balls are used to punctuate sentences in the garden, making permanent full stops as a section of planting finishes and a new one begins. There has been no trouble with box blight to date, which Patricia puts down to having space between the plants, to allow air to circulate. The dominating evergreen yew is called ‘the snail’, and was started in the 1950s. “Originally it was called the Red Queen after the Queen in Alice Through the Looking Glass,” says Patricia. There is no ‘colour gap’ at Little Court. Once the crocus, aconites and snowdrops have bid farewell, it is time for fritillaries, narcissus and a labyrinth of naturalised cowslips. These then make way for summer wildflowers and herbaceous perennials, but whatever the time of year, Patricia’s humour and wisdom ensure this garden always entertains. n Above Aconites and crocus grow Little Court, Crawley, Winchester abundantly. SO21 2PU will be open on 21, 22, Left A treehouse 23 February, 28 March and on at the bottom of the garden hints other dates for the NGS. For more at Patricia’s wit. information visit www.ngs.org.uk
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 47
FEATURE Little Court.indd 47 21/01/2016 14:52 FEATURE Dunham Massey.indd 48 22/01/2016 09:22 DUNHAM MASSEY
A SPRING FEAST The finest bulbs, delicate woodland perennials and the best early flowering shrubs and trees combine in Dunham Massey’s beautiful winter garden
WORDS CLARE FOGGETT PHOTOGRAPHS CLIVE NICHOLS
t seven acres, it is the largest from tall Narcissus ‘Glen Clova’ with its bold, dark orange winter garden in the country, but trumpet, which appears in bountiful clumps through the grass, Dunham Massey’s superbly planted to dainty multi-headed ‘Tête-à-tête’. seasonal feast lasts well beyond the Emily Chandler, Dunham Massey’s head gardener for the coldest months. Once the garden’s past three-and-a-half years explains, “Daffodils are so reliable. carpets of snowdrops have faded, The ones that do very well for us are the ones that are good for later-flowering daffodils take over, naturalising. The cyclamineus types are good for that and will while a haze of bursting buds and keep coming back year after year. Our favourite is ‘Rapture’ and delicateA blossom softens the bare branches of the shrubs and trees we have a carpet of ‘Tête-à-tête’. We also have a delightful one that have provided structure and bright colour during winter. called ‘Pink Silk’ with a peach trumpet and white perianth – it’s Work first started on the winter garden in 2007 and, nearly nice to have a variety.” ten years on, it has well and truly bedded in. What was once an These cheerful bulbs are joined in their spring display by early impenetrable bramble thicket is now an integral part of this grand flowering perennials, including large clumps of palest yellow Cheshire estate, which includes the Grade I-listed Hall as well as primroses, their golden centres proving an irresistible lure for 190 acres of parkland with 700-year-old oaks and roaming deer. bees, and burnished ranunculus ‘Brazen Hussy’, with bright golden New wide paths were laid, to carry visitors through swathes of flowers held above dark maroon foliage. Primula vulgaris subsp. creative winter borders, the planting of which was designed with sibthorpii adds bright splashes of colour too, holding its large the help of plantsman Roy Lancaster. More than 1,600 shrubs, mauve flowers proud of its rosettes of crinkled leaves. trees and evergreens were selected for their colour, scent and “Our winter garden is quite different because it was woodland texture and now look perfectly at home beneath originally,” says Emily, “so it’s still a woodland venerable oaks and beech. space. So many winter gardens are in full sun, but Opposite, clockwise Bursts of colour are supplied by a procession from top Dunham here we can grow those choice woodland flowers of bulbs from the earliest snowdrops to magenta Massey’s Orangery, such as primulas and trilliums that need the sheltered Cyclamen coum and unseasonably vibrant Iris with its perfectly placed environment woodland brings.” reticulata. In March, large drifts of golden daffodils reflecting pool; Primula Alongside white-flowered Trillium erectum vulgaris subsp. sibthorpii; reliably supply sunny colour whatever the spring pink blossom of Prunus and wine-red T. grandiflorum, unusual Trillium weather brings. There are well over 70 cultivars, subhirtella ‘Fukubana’. kurabayashii thrives in the garden’s humus-rich
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 49
FEATURE Dunham Massey.indd 49 21/01/2016 17:02 soil and dappled shade, pushing up its reptilian in early spring. They’re fragrant and held in short Above Large patches mottled leaves in spring, from the centres of which pendent racemes, to be followed by fresh green of the spring snowflake, Leucojum vernum, carry burst dusky crimson-pink three-petalled flowers. Its hazel-like foliage. Ribes ‘White Icicle’ lives up to its on providing flowers curious blooms are closely rivaled by the widow iris, name, dripping with creamy-white flowers amid where earlier snowdrops I. tuberosa (sometimes known as Hermodactylus). a haze of green from buds bursting into verdant leaf. have faded. This plant’s strange flowers are emerald green Its relative, Ribes odoratum is quite different, with with black tips to their petals, perhaps earning it its clusters of small buttercup-yellow scented flowers on common name, but it needs time for the clumps of arching stems. “It does have quite a lax habit,” says rush-like foliage to bulk up. “It does seem to grow Emily, “and layers itself everywhere. It seems to root well here and we don’t have the best conditions for wherever it touches the ground, so we need to keep it it,” says Emily. “Our soil can be quite wet and irises in check every year, but it’s very unusual.” don’t like that – the fact that it’s still growing here is Chaenomeles cathayensis is a beautiful form of testament to it definitely being worth a try.” ornamental quince that deserves to be more widely Pale blue spring irises such as ‘Katharine grown. Its pink-flushed, white flowers are quite Hodgkin’ and ‘Sheila Ann Germaney’ are among similar to ‘Apple Blossom’ (more properly known Emily’s recommendations for late winter and early as ‘Moerloosei’), which may be easier to find, but spring interest in small gardens too. “A red-stemmed C. cathayensis is renowned for its super-sized cornus such as ‘Siberian Pearls’ is really easy to decorative fruits that follow the flowers. It is also grow and looks great underplanted with these much larger than the popular chaenomeles likely to iris,” she says. “Plant a summer flowering perennial be on sale in nurseries. Dunham Massey’s is 10 feet underneath as well and it wouldn’t be a wasted space tall with huge arching stems, too close to a path for during summer.” Emily’s liking (like all chaenomeles, it is very thorny). The same strategy of layered interest, with Trees are dotted throughout the garden, both early bulbs and perennials set off by spring shrubs, for their flowers and for their gleaming, glistening is employed at Dunham Massey too, albeit on a ornamental bark. Fat, furry buds of Magnolia larger scale. Primrose yellow flowers of Corylopsis stellata ‘Water Lily’ open in early spring to produce pauciflora subtly spangle this shrub’s leaf-free stems stand-out large white flowers, in contrast to the
50 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
FEATURE Dunham Massey.indd 50 20/01/2016 15:35 delicate pink blossom of Prunus subhirtella ‘Fukubana’, gracefully dangling from bare branches, and superb against a backdrop of clear spring sky. The polished trunk of Prunus rufa stands above primroses and ranunculus, its deep mahogany bark peppered with pale striations. The bark on older branches starts to slough away, catching the sun as it peels loose, while young shoots are covered with a fine, rust-coloured down. Hailing from the Himalayas, it’s very hardy. Prunus serrula is similar, with gleaming copper bark. “Prunus rufa is not quite the same colour as P. serrula but it’s another nice choice, slightly smaller and with shaggy bark that P. serrula doesn’t have, so it gives a different type of interest,” Emily says. Snake-bark maples such as Acer davidii ‘George Forrest’ add something different too, with green and white striped textural bark. And no winter garden would be complete without pristine silver birch, here Left Emily Chandler at Betula utilis var. jacquemontii ‘Doorenbos’, chosen work keeping daffodils for its poker-straight stems and brilliant white bark, deadheaded. complemented by the sea of snowdrops planted en Above Magnolia stellata masse below their trunks. ‘Water Lily’. Below right Starry yellow “This birch develops its white bark more quickly Ribes odoratum flowers. than other cultivars,” Emily explains, “and it’s been Below left Wide paths very healthy for us. We rarely have any disease cut through swathes of problems with them and the squirrels, which are border allowing easy admiration of shrubs very fond of birch bark, especially on young trees, bursting their buds. seem to leave that one alone.”
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 51
FEATURE Dunham Massey.indd 51 20/01/2016 15:36 CAMELLIAS AT DUNHAM MASSEY Head gardener Emily Chandler advises on keeping these spring stars performing
lossy evergreen camellias shine year-round, but even thaws frost too quickly and causes buds and flowers to brown. more so in spring, when their branches are decorated Ours are quite shaded, and grow well as an understorey shrub.” with beautifully ornate blooms. Dunham Massey’s “Camellias grow best in lime-free soil. Our soil at Dunham Gcamellia walk boasts selections of Camellia japonica. Massey is neutral so we’re lucky, but because it’s a sandy loam, This is a fine species to grow in the garden, its cultivars flowering we also have to feed quite a lot, with an ericaceous fertiliser, between mid and late spring and Camellia x williamsii, a hybrid as opposed to the alkaline chicken manure we use in the rest between C. japonica and C. saluenensis. Its cultivars tend to of the garden. flower more freely from a young age and are hardier, so are a “The plants here aren’t of an age yet where they might be superb choice for gardeners new to the genus. too big and need a prune back, so we check them over for “Our camellias have taken quite a long time to get going and any dead, diseased or dying stems and make sure they’re not last year was the first that they produced a really good display, showing signs of chlorosis – yellowing leaves that signify a feed so patience is key, don’t give up,” says Emily. “The other thing is needed. As with any early flowering shrub, if you need to that’s important when planting camellias is that they’re not given prune them do it directly after they flower, which will give them an east-facing position or catch the early morning sun, which a chance to form new growth that will bear next year’s buds.”
CAMELLIA X WILLIAMSII CAMELLIA JAPONICA CAMELLIA JAPONICA CAMELLIA JAPONICA ‘DONATION’ ‘KICK OFF’ ‘CARTER’S SUNBURST’ ‘GRAND SLAM’ Grow ‘Donation’ in dappled Large pink paeony-form Pale pink semi-double flowers Strong and upright growing, shade and its flowers will last flowers have deep pink stripes are rippled with raspberry. with semi-double flowers that longer and have a deeper pink and are borne in February and Upright, compact growth, boast a central boss of golden colour. Height up to 1.8m. March. Height: 2m. reaching 2.5m. anthers. Height: up to 1.5m.
CAMELLIA JAPONICA CAMELLIA ‘MIDNIGHT’ CAMELLIA X WILLIAMSII CAMELLIA X WILLIAMSII ‘NUCCIO’S JEWEL’ Deep red semi-double flowers ‘DEBBIE’ ‘WATER LILY’ The paeony form flowers of between February and April A vigorous variety producing Large, double rose-pink this cultivar are a blend of on a vigorous yet compact lots of rose-pink paeony form flowers on this upright- white and pink. It has slow, and neatly shaped plant. flowers from February to May. growing shrub. Height: bushy growth, reaching 1.5m. Height: up to 1.5m. Height: up to 1.8m. up to 1.8m.
52 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
FEATURE Dunham Massey.indd 52 20/01/2016 15:36 Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Acer Above Great carpets of tegmentosum ‘White Tigress’, which is struggling to daffodils turn Dunham Massey’s turf golden- thrive. “We think they have a bacterial canker let in yellow in March. through damage caused by the squirrels,” explains Right Chaenomeles Emily. “They are beautiful trees and were chosen by cathayensis in bloom. Roy Lancaster, but we need to find something new Below Fragrant flowers of Corylopsis pauciflora. because they are going downhill quite quickly.” “When the garden was first planted we needed quick impact so in some places it was a little overplanted,” Emily says. “We’re starting to thin those parts out now and thinking about how we’re going to manage the new spaces created. “Another priority is to plant better ground cover for the summer so we’re not plagued by weeds,” she adds. “It’s a lovely cool, green place to be in the summer and with it taking up more than a quarter of the garden here, it’s important that we don’t abandon it after May.” Ferns and other herbaceous ground cover plants are going in, which will die back in winter so the bulbs can come through. “It’s important that we have a quiet, calm space away from the rest of the garden, which can get quite busy. In summer, this garden is a tranquil oasis.” n
Dunham Massey, Altrincham, Cheshire WA14 4SJ. Tel: 0161 941 1025 or see www.nationaltrust.org.uk for more information.
FEATURE Dunham Massey.indd 53 20/01/2016 15:49 TEG Subs UK Mar16.indd 54 21/01/2016 13:10 ALSWICK HALL
NOBLE BEAUTY Once a regular haunt of Queen Elizabeth I, Alswick Hall, the home of Mike and Annie Johnson, is enfolded in a majestic five-acre garden recently brought to glorious new life
WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHS NICOLA STOCKEN
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 55
FEATURE Alswick Hall.indd 55 22/01/2016 09:55 here is a timeless quality to the view from Alswick Hall in early spring. As the parterre fills with tulips, a bank of daffodils glistening with dew separates the garden from pasture where sheep graze beneath trees silhouetted against freshly ploughed fields. Further afield, the earth undulates in soft brown furrows up the hillside, eventually Tmerging with the skyline. Owners Mike and Annie Johnson say they never tire of this view from their Grade II-listed home and its five acres of gardens because it changes with the seasons continually. It is a scene that has altered little during the four centuries that Alswick Hall has stood amid unspoilt farmland outside the market town of Buntingford, Hertfordshire. Once a favourite haunt of Queen Elizabeth I, by the 20th century the property needed extensive restoration. Since the millennium, the estate has been cared for by Mike and Annie, following the death of Mike’s father. “Although my father wasn’t a gardener, he had felt a strong duty of care, and kept the garden in very good condition,” explains Mike. Latterly, Annie and head gardener, David Austrin, have been the driving force behind the garden’s development, while Mike focuses on the surrounding farmland. “Farmers aren’t usually that enthused about gardens because, working with the soil all day, when they come home, they want to enjoy the garden, not work in it,” explains Annie. There are, however, great benefits to having a husband
56 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
FEATURE Alswick Hall.indd 56 20/01/2016 15:27 who is a farmer. “I can have compost by the tractor plants more daffodils but also divides congested clumps. load, or borrow a digger to plant new hedges and take Among her favourites is Narcissus ‘Paperwhite’. She down trees,” she says. As a result, Annie and David have also loves doubles such as ‘Sir Winston Churchill’ and undertaken a series of ambitious gardening projects that ‘Cheerfulness’, as well as ‘Actaea’, a resilient old include a woodland walk, a rose pergola, a 40-metre-long N. poeticus daffodil. herbaceous border, and a three-acre wildflower meadow. The gardens were largely established in the early 18th Having inherited a deep love of flowers from her century, but it wasn’t until the 1940s that the lily pond mother, Annie lost no time in establishing a wildflower and terraces were constructed, taming the natural slope meadow in the orchard and field between the shrubbery of the land. “The house must have been moated at some and a magnificent avenue of walnut trees. “Mike’s parents stage, but the pond is all that remains now,” Annie adds. had used it as a golf driving range, but transforming it Today, the water is pumped to create a waterfall at one into a wildflower meadow was not as simple as it sounds,” end, a peaceful spot where its sound is everpresent. “It’s she recalls. As if the eradication of persistent weeds such one of my favourite places to sit on warmer evenings when as dandelions and thistles wasn’t enough, there was the the dragonflies are hovering above the water, and the control of the coarse grasses that crowd out wildflowers swallows swoop to and fro.” to contend with too. Establishing The pond is maintained twice a year yellow rattle, a semi-parasitic annual when overgrown marginal plants such wildflower that lives off grasses was as reeds are cut back, a vital part of a helpful solution to the problem. ensuring the right balance of plants Their efforts have been rewarded: to block out some sunlight, provide now the wildflowers increase year on oxygen and use up excess nutrients year. “I found Dan Pearson’s work a that could otherwise foster algae great inspiration,” she adds. Annie growth. “The ecology of the pond is has also naturalised drifts of daffodils very fragile. We can’t top it up with beneath old trees and beside long tap water because chlorine encourages paths mown through the meadow. algae, but luckily we now have water “I like seeing daffodils growing in from our own borehole,” adds Annie. grass, in a natural habitat, so that The site is not without its challenges, once flowering is over, the grass not least the heavy clay soil that lengthens and hides the aftermath regularly kills plants. “Drainage is of yellowing leaves.” Each year she something we always have to consider
Top A stone planter with Tulipa ‘Snowstar’. Above Old lime trees hint at the age of the garden. Left Masses of Tulipa ‘Ollioules’ combined with forget-me-nots. Opposite from top Planting in front of the Long Barn; Tulipa ‘Red Shine’, with ‘Paul Scherer’ behind.
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 57
FEATURE Alswick Hall.indd 57 20/01/2016 15:29 before any new projects but at least the soil is rich in ALSWICK HALL nutrients – this is wheat-growing land.” Much of the garden is a frost pocket, so tender plants do not survive NOTEBOOK harsh winters, while prevailing winds are south-westerly. “This means the Jubilee Border can become a wind Paying attention to detail yields rewards tunnel, so firm staking is essential,” she notes. In 2012, the year of the Queen’s Jubilee, Annie and David created the 40-metre-long Jubilee Border, a grand name for a project that had rather humble beginnings. “It was designed very amateurishly on the dining room table, on a long piece of wallpaper lining paper onto which I stuck Post-it Notes, each with the name of a plant we particularly wanted to grow,” she explains. “I didn’t have much of an understanding of scale or the number of plants needed – that’s where the amateur gardener can really come unstuck.” Now planted, the border faces south and spans the length of the 17th-century brick barn. “I’d always felt it was crying out for a herbaceous border – the barn creates such a wonderful backdrop.” Fortunately, Annie’s sister-in law, Lucy Redman, is NATURAL PATHS TRUSTY HELPER a garden designer and could advise on the planting of Log slices have been cut from Before establishing a David Austin roses interspersed with foxgloves, achemilla, a felled tree, and laid in the borehole, watering distant delphiniums, lavender, heucheras, cardoons and hardy woodland border as ‘stepping corners of the garden relied geraniums. “It was incredibly satisfying, but made me stones’, to create a natural upon this old galvanised wish I’d taken a bit more interest in Latin at school. It pathway, in keeping with the water cart, and wherever a would be such a help with plant names now.” Finally, planting. Left untreated, they hose wouldn’t stretch, it was long drifts of two early flowering tulips were planted: can become very slippery in sure to be found. “It’s a lovely winter, so it is best to cover old thing, and wherever it each section with chickenwire comes to rest, it just blends for additional grip. into the garden,” says Annie.
FOCAL POINTS MADE TO ORDER A glazed pot of Tulipa The rose pergola was made ‘Angélique’ is placed at a key to Annie’s design. “The point, creating a focal point. lower bars are slightly closer All round the garden, there together, so that you have are pots of various sizes, something to really tie the shapes and colours that are roses into,” she explains. filled with seasonal displays. Ironwork features throughout Some are placed to be seen the garden, in the form of from afar, drawing together obelisks, a tree seat, plant surrounding planting, while supports and edging, all others are tucked away, to be crafted by Dominic Watts, come upon unexpectedly. see www.metallurgi.co.uk
58 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
FEATURE Alswick Hall.indd 58 20/01/2016 15:29 the exquisite purple-black ‘Paul Scherer’ and silver- washed ‘Apricot Beauty’. Both are left in the ground after flowering, and return the following year. “You just have to accept that the border goes through a scruffy stage before the herbaceous planting has grown sufficiently to hide the dying bulb foliage,” she adds. It is a different story in the four parterre beds in front of the house, where each year the tulips are lifted and replaced by dahlias. Most recently, Annie planted scores of Tulipa ‘Ollioules’, a beauty that opens with rose-red blooms fading to ivory white at the edges. Planted above forget-me-nots, the blooms create a spectacular, long-lasting display, and highlight a most satisfying aspect of gardening: the anticipation of seeing plans come to fruition. “You never really know how new plantings will turn out. You can be nicely surprised by some, and bitterly disappointed by others.” Failures include snake’s head fritillaries in the meadow, as well as rhododendrons and camellias. “We regularly holiday in Cornwall, and I have come to love camellias, but they struggle in our soil, so I now restrict them to pots.” Trebah garden in Cornwall is one of Annie’s favourite places to visit, Top Naturalised daffodils and she cannot resist bringing back plants, with mixed where the garden meets results. “So often they don’t grow as big and dramatic the Johnson’s farmland. here – gunnera is a typical example.” Imperial fritillaries, Top right Ornamental on the other hand, happily tower above pheasant’s tail cherry in blossom with pink tulips and box. grass (Anemanthele lessoniana) which hides the leggy Above Dainty blue bits at the base of the stems. Annie loves ornamental Chionodoxa luciliae. grasses for their softening, billowing effect, and they crop Left Tulipa ‘Blue Beauty’ up throughout the garden. Edging the drive is a blend of planted along the pergola, with Tulipa ‘Red pheasant’s tail grass with Narcissus ‘Geranium’, above a Shine’ in pots either side. sea of windflowers.
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 59
FEATURE Alswick Hall.indd 59 20/01/2016 15:30 ANNIE’S IDEAS FOR CREATING A BEAUTIFUL SPRING GARDEN
n Plant either daffodils or tulips in pots – we bring ours on in the cool greenhouse – to use to fill any gaps that unexpectedly open up in beds or borders. We dot any leftovers around the back door. Another project has been to create a woodland walk n When planning spring by opening up a winding path in the dense shrubbery bulb displays, make sure behind the main lawn. “I love the idea of paths that the bulbs are compatible wind through secret areas, where you can stroll along in terms of height, enjoying the plants or, on a hot day, sit on a bench in the flowering time and the shade taking in the scents and sights,” Annie says. She colour schemes you has already established clumps of cowslips, wood wish to create. forget-me-not, Brunnera macrophylla and blue n Decide early on if Corydalis flexuosa, intermingling with drifts of bulbs will be underplanted Chionodoxa luciliae. Then there are specimen trees, – with pansies, wallflowers silver birches, Prunus serrula var. tibetica and Acer or forget-me-nots, griseum, the paperbark maple, all planted specifically for example. to provide winter interest. n Sprinkle a fine layer of This is very much a garden with four seasons, and gravel on the surface of there is no mistaking winter’s restraint, or summer’s the soil in containers to abundance of roses. Autumn follows in a blaze of leaves prevent it splashing up and cactus dahlias, but nothing beats the freshness and in heavy rain. sense of renewal of spring as blossom, daffodils and tulips burst on the scene, set against a haze of green that grows in intensity as the days grow longer. “I love the myriad shades of green and clashing colours of tulips Top Euphorbias and and other spring bulbs, but best of all is being able to Tulipa ‘Spring Green’ among box topiary. pick bowls of sweet-smelling daffodils for the house, Middle Forget-me-nots and to give to family and friends.” n partner well with bulb. Bottom Heartening Alswick Hall, Buntingford, Hertfordshire SG9 QAA yellow trumpets are an eye-catching element of is open for the National Gardens Scheme on Sunday, Narcissus ‘Geranium’. 17 April, 12pm to 4.30pm. See www.alswickhall.co.uk
60 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
FEATURE Alswick Hall.indd 60 20/01/2016 15:30
Britain’s Finest Outdoor Furniture & Kitchens
Outdoor Kitchens | Dining Tables & Chairs Loungers | Benches | Outdoor Sofas
T: 01420 588444 www.gazeburvill.com E: [email protected]
English Garden Mar 16 half horiz Lifestyle.indd 1 20/01/2016 13:39
FREE DELIVERY QUOTE CODE: EG0316FD *
G U E A E RA N T
Arches • Pergolas • Gazebos • Bowers • Obelisks • Screens • Fruit Cages
* This promotional code is valid at www.agriframes.co.uk or over the phone to a member of our customer service team. Shop online: www.agriframes.co.uk Limited to one use per customer. Applies to standard delivery to mainland UK addresses only. Excludes bespoke items and installation service. We retain the right to cancel or amend a promotional offer at any time. Code is valid until 31/03/16. Tel: 0117 934 1790 Agriframes is part of the Group
Agriframes - English Garden - 202x129mm (20.01.16).indd 1 20/01/2016 10:40
061_EGUK_0316_.indd 61 25/01/2016 14:07 DESIGN GUIDE | LONDON GARDEN
62 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
Design Guide - MAR VH.indd 62 20/01/2016 17:08 City Chic Burnished steel and sleek mosaics have turned this small north London plot into a garden its owners can enjoy spending time in
WORDS VERONICA PEERLESS PHOTOGRAPHS MARIANNE MAJERUS
hen Emily Baty and her husband Cliff moved into their house in north London, they were keen to enjoy their outside space having Wpreviously lived in flats. The slippery decking and tired lawn weren’t very enticing, however, so Emily searched for a designer who could create a garden “with a look and feel that was a bit different”. Emily came across the portfolio of Sara Jane Rothwell and liked what she saw. “The gardens were simple and pretty but had different textures and materials,” she says. The pair met to discuss ideas; Sara Jane then collaborated with her employee, JoanMa Roig Ortiz, to come up with a design. Emily’s brief was simple: she wanted to make more of the 13m by 7m, north-facing garden. “We also wanted to lose the decking and replace it with something lighter and – this sounds a bit diva-ish – a solution to the boundary opposite the kitchen doors.” This boundary, according to Sara Jane, was the biggest challenge the designer faced: “It was made up of the brick wall of the neighbouring extension, a fence and some lead coping – all at different heights. It really needed unifying.” Inspired by the wallpaper she had spotted in Emily’s kitchen, Sarah came up with the idea of an outdoor feature wall.
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 63
Design Guide - MAR VH.indd 63 20/01/2016 17:08 DESIGN GUIDE | LONDON GARDEN
FACT FILE
n Designer Sara Jane Rothwell at London Garden Designer, 16 Highgate West Hill, London N6 6NP. Tel: 07976 155 282; www.londongardendesigner.com
n Garden built by Wootten Landscapes, Tel: 07887 847770. The company also sourced most of the materials used in the garden.
n Corten steel supplied by contractor; try Glen Metals, www.glenmetals.co.uk.
n Feature wall made using Cristallo Sfumature mosaic tiles from Trend, applied to a fibre cement board backing using flexible Mapei exterior adhesive. Tel: 0870 042 7450; www.trend-group. com/en_GB.
n Seastone porcelain paving tiles in grey from Atlas Concorde www.atlasconcorde. it/en/collections/seastone.
n Mortar planters on patio from Urbis, 30 Full Sutton Industrial Estate Full Sutton, York YO41 1HS. Tel: 01759 373839; www.urbisdesign.co.uk Above Pleached The resulting boundary, covered in beautiful mosaic liquidambar trees, n Pleached trees supplied by tiles, bounces light around, and complements the underplanted simply Readyhedge, Court Gate Nursery, Station with box cubes. new grey porcelain paving. “I didn’t think it would Road, Eckington, Pershore, Worcestershire, Below The existing fig be possible to create something so consistent and WR10 3BB. Tel: 01386 750585; won a reprieve and now attractive,” says Emily. casts beautiful shadows. www.readyhedgeltd.com Emily’s main wish – to enjoy the garden more – was resolved by putting a dining n Plants from The Palm Centre, Ham area in the back part of the Central Nursery, Ham Street, Ham, garden, the sunniest area. The Richmond, Surrey TW10 7HA. Cedec gravel in the top part of Tel: 020 8255 6191; the garden reflects the light. “We www.palmcentre.co.uk sat there a lot last summer,” says Emily. “It was nice to sit in the n Lighting installed by Garden Lighting shelter of the fig tree.” London, 10a High Road, Buckhurst Hill, The fig was already in the Essex IG9 5HP. Tel: 020 8505 6270; garden, and was initially going www.gardenlightinglondon.co.uk to be replaced with a multi- stemmed amelanchier. “But as n Manutti dining set on the patio from we cleared around it, we saw its Go Modern, 565 King’s Rd, London lovely shape,” says Sara Jane. “It SW6 2EB. Tel: 020 7731 9540; now casts beautiful shadows.” www.gomodern.co.uk Four photinias at the back of the garden were also kept, as were fences to the back and right. Coppery Corten steel is used
64 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
Design Guide - MAR VH.indd 64 20/01/2016 17:09 Above The dining area throughout the garden – on the risers, as vertical at the top of the garden panels on the fence and to clad retaining walls. “We benefits the most from use Corten a lot,” explains Sara Jane. “It’s such an the sun. Below Corten steel is amazing material. It’s like an art installation – it’s used throughout, tying constantly changing. It was grey when it first went in, the design together. and now it’s orange. It eventually goes deep purple.” The fiery tones of the Corten are echoed by the new ‘feature fence’, made of cedar, on the left- hand side of the garden, and the autumn colours of the seven pleached liquidambars to the right. Liquidambar styraciflua is one of Sara Jane’s favourite trees, and one that she does not get to plant very often, since free-standing specimens are too large for most London gardens. “The poor contractors had to go through the house with them. They weighed around 300 kilos each!” Sara Jane relished the opportunity to devise a planting plan for shade – her favourite type of planting – near the house. She included the copper- tinted Dryopteris erythrosora (“I use it a lot with Corten steel”), Hakonechloa macra and perennials for year-round interest. Initially, the pleached liquidambars were to be underplanted with a box hedge. “But the rootballs were so big that I opted for cubes.” Consequently, they are simply interplanted with Erigeron karvinskianus. Of the finished garden, Emily says: “We love it. It looks lovely, even on a horrid December day.” Sara Jane says that if a client is happy with a garden, she is happy, too. “I love the Corten, and the feature wall,” she says. “In every garden I try to introduce a new detail. It keeps us on our toes – it would be too easy to do the same stuff all the time.”
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 65
Design Guide - MAR VH.indd 65 20/01/2016 17:09 DESIGN GUIDE | LONDON GARDEN
Design Details Feature wall The 6m-long feature wall disguises an unattractive boundary. Sara Jane was keen to use some tiles by Trend; they were made to her specifications and are lighter at the top and darker at the bottom; some are decorated with gold leaf. They are cleverly attached to panels of cement fibre board (“rather like what you would use in a shower cubicle”) within timber frames – a practical and economical alternative to concrete blocks. A fence behind the wall was erected in the neighbour’s garden. Corten steel Corten steel is a “subtle and important feature” in many of Sara Jane’s gardens. “People don’t realise Japanese anemones, Erysimum ‘Bowles’s that it is also an economical material if it is from Mauve’ and Anemanthele lessoniana; evergreen the right source. My contractor has a good primary Trachelopspermum jasminoides covers the source and is able to cut out the middle men – the fence. Emily and her husband are not gardeners, importers, the place where it is cut et cetera – to keep so a gardener comes in every few weeks to keep the costs down.” the space looking good. Pleached trees Cedec gravel Pleached trees are ideal for London gardens – they A number of options were considered for the create privacy and don’t take up much planting dining area, including resin-bound gravel (only room. As long as the trees are deciduous, there is economical if installed over a large area) and no restriction on height. “I saw these liquidambars gravel on a honeycomb system (not comfortable at the nursery and fell in love,” says Sara Jane. Tree to walk on, or easy to move furniture on). stems and panels are available in different sizes; “Cedec gravel is cheaper than paving and is these have 1.5m clear stems and 1.5m panels. seamless, with no joins. It also works well around the fig tree, as it is free draining,” says Planting Sara Jane. “It is relatively low maintenance but Sara Jane loves finding plants for shade. Her does need to be used and walked on, otherwise contemporary planting scheme near the house it can get mossy.” includes her favourite fern, Dryopteris erythrosora, as well as Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae, Lighting Helleborus ‘Ashwood White’, Penstemon ‘Raven’, Sara Jane devised a lighting plan, which included Liriope muscari ‘Big Blue’, and two multi-stemmed spike spot uplighters to highlight the pleached trees amelanchiers for autumn colour. The sunniest part and photinias, a recessed uplighter for the fig tree of the garden is planted with Verbena bonariensis, and semi-recessed LED step lights. It was installed by a lighting specialist. Boundaries The existing fencing on the right-hand side and at the back of the garden were also kept and painted dark grey: “partly because of budget, partly because we wanted them to recede”. The left-hand fence, built by the contractor, was made using cedar of varying widths, to give it added texture and interest. It has contrasting vertical panels of Corten steel. Clockwise from top The mosaic feature wall helps make the garden Patio area feel part of the kitchen; The patio area is covered with porcelain tiles. young bronze fronds of Unlike, say, sandstone, they are non-porous, which Dryopteris erythrosora; Corten steel edged steps means there was no risk of staining from run-off to the lawn are lit with from the Corten steel risers. n LED lights.
66 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
Design Guide - MAR VH.indd 66 20/01/2016 17:09 SUPERIOR FOR GREAT STRIPES &
UK DESIGN & PERFECT BRITISH LAWN MANUFACTURE SINCE 1954 British Manufactured, premium quality cylinder mowers, ensuring the most precise cut and finish PRODUCTS Winning entry of the FOR EVERY GARDEN Allett 2015 Stripe competition
View our videos on You Tube
• FRUIT CAGES • RAISED BEDS & PLANTERS See website for full details of our • GREENHOUSES & EQUIPMENT extensive range of electric MADE• NETTING TO & MEASURE PROTECTION • & COMPOST BESPOKE BINS Tel: 01889 271503 & petrol driven cylinder Allett Mowers @Allett Mowers mowers including our DESIGN• WATER SERVICES BUTTS… PLUS AVAILABLE MORE Follow us on Facebook & Twitter for details soon to be complete lawn care system. released on how to enter the 2016 Stripe competition • FRUIT CAGES • RAISED BEDS & PLANTERS • ARCHES • PERGOLAS • OBELISKS & SUPPORTS • GREENHOUSES & EQUIPMENT • WATERING • NETTING & PROTECTION • COMPOSTING
telephone 01661 854 814 DESIGN & MANUFACTURE SINCE 1954 mobile 07778 662 966 mobile 07778 662 966 QUOTE email [email protected] email [email protected] 10%OFF SXADEG1 visit our website to find out more visit our website to find out more CALL 0333 400 1500 (local rate) www.sophiesgardens.co.uk Bradley Hall, Wylam, Northumberland, NE41 8JL VISIT www.harrodhorticultural.com
067_EGUK_0316_.indd 67 25/01/2016 17:04 Long established as the leader in all matters horticultural Longand established based at the as thehistoric leader Chelsea in all matters Physic Gardenhorticultural lland based at the historic Chelsea Physicll Garden ll BOOK NOW FOR SEPTEMBER 2015 BOOK NOW FOR JANUARY 2016 DIPLOMABOOK COURSES NOW FOR SEPTEMBER 2015 SPECIALISTDIPLOMAOne Year Good COURSES LECTURE Gardening WITH Diploma ALAN – An Planting STREET Design Coursen WINTEROneSeptember Year GoodSPRING 2015Gardening AND – June SUMMER Diploma 2016 –FLOWERING A Planting Design BULBS Course 10September CoversFebruary the 2015 2016 best – June 10.30amin planting 2016 – design1.15pm while training in the more Coversserious the aspectsbest in planting of horticultural design whiletechniques training (1 inday the a weekmore (Tues), 10serious 10am–3.15pm,WEEK aspects INTENSIVE of overhorticultural three GARDEN 10 techniques week terms). DESIGN (1 day a DIPLOMA week (Tues), January10am–3.15pm, – March over 2017 three BOOKING 10 week terms). NOW Covers10 WEEK all you need INTENSIVE to know in this GARDEN diverse subject, DESIGN including DIPLOMA TWO10January WEEK real design –INTENSIVE March projects 2016 and GARDEN CAD tuition. DESIGN DIPLOMA (3January daysCovers a –week Marchall you in school.10am–3.15pm 2016need to know in this plus diverse 2 days subject, homework) including CoversTWO all real you design need toprojects know inand this CAD diverse tuition. subject, (3 days including a week in school, DIPLOMATWO10am-3.15pm, real design COURSES projects plus 2 days and homework)CAD tuition. (3 days a week in school, One10am-3.15pm, Year Good plus Gardening 2 days homework) Diploma – A Planting Design Course © Marianne Majerus SeptemberGARDEN 2016 MAKERS – June 2017 DAY Garden of Rosemary Alexander,© Marianne Principal Majerus EGS CoversGARDENOctober the best 2015MAKERS in planting DAY design while training in the more GardenSandhillPlanting of Rosemary design Farmhouse, by EGS Alexander, graduate Hampshire Jo Thompson Principal EGS seriousOctober aspects 2015 of horticultural techniques. (1 day a week (Tues) Sandhill Farmhouse, Hampshire 10am–3.15pm,Distance Learning over threeCourses 10 -week study terms). anytime, anywhere in the world. Not sure which course is for you? Come along Not sure which course is for you? Come along Distance1-3 years Learning to complete. Courses - study anytime, anywhere in the world. to an Information Session to fi nd out more. to an Information Session to fi nd out more. DISTANCE1-3 years to complete. LEARNING COURSES GARDENGARDEN DESIGN DESIGN & CARING & CARING FOR FOR YOUR YOUR GARDEN GARDEN For full details, dates, prices visit our website For full details, dates, prices visit our website AGARDEN stepA step by stepby DESIGN step guide guide to designing& to CARING designing your FORyourown garden:own YOUR garden: drawing GARDEN drawing up up www.englishgardeningschool.co.uk A step by step guide to designing your own garden: drawing up plans,plans, hard hard landscaping, landscaping, site analysis,site analysis, planting planting etc. Taught etc. Taught through through www.englishgardeningschool.co.ukEmail: [email protected] plans, hard landscaping, site analysis, planting etc. Taught through a comprehensivea comprehensive course course book, book, with withprojects projects submitted submitted by post. by post. Email:Tel: [email protected] 020 7352 4347 Studya comprehensive anytime, anywhere course book,in the withworld. projects1-3 years submitted to complete by post. Tel: 020 7352 4347
The English Gardening School_B634393_2mg.indd 1 02/07/2015 17:03 The English Gardening School_B634393_2mg.inddWoodpecker 1 Joinery (UK) ltd 02/07/2015 17:03 “Putting the wood
back into Greenhouses” 100% British made
Manufacturers of High Quality British Hand Made Cedar Garden Buildings
Free Installation and Delivery to Mainland UK www.woodpecker-joinery.co.uk Tel:01889 562 610
068_EGUK_0316_.indd 68 25/01/2016 14:06 TOP 10 PLANTS
Hardy Annuals CALIFORNIAN POPPY Tongue-twisting Eschscholzia Sow these easy seeds now for quick impact and colour californica is mercifully easier 1to grow than to pronounce. olourful, quick growing and straightforward, hardy annuals offer an Lacy grey-green foliage forms a loose easy fix to fill gaps in young borders, an opportunity to ring the changes mound from which the flowers appear each year and a chance to experiment with new combinations. They are in the height of summer. When the sun simplicity itself to grow because they can all be sown directly into finely shines, their satin-sheened petals fling raked soil in spring. Watch for weed seedlings and if these appear, themselves open. The species (pictured Cit is a good indication the soil has warmed up enough for seeds to germinate. above) is bright satsuma orange, but Nearly all hardy annuals prefer full sun and well-drained soil, but they don’t need the there are many different cultivars soil to be particularly rich, which can lead to plants producing too much leafy growth available with flowers in creamy-white, at the expense of flowers. Sow in rows to distinguish hardy annual seedlings from the rose pink and fruity berry shades.
IMAGE SHUTTERSTOCK IMAGE CLARE FOGGETT WORDS weed seedlings that are bound to emerge and to make hoeing to remove the weeds easy. Height: 45cm.
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 69
Top 10 plants - MAR VH.indd 69 20/01/2016 16:41 CENTAUREA ‘MAUVE BALL’ Annual cornflowers are among the easiest flowers to grow. Simply scatter 2 and wait to be rewarded with masses of their ruffled blooms. Bright blue varieties are the usual choice, so try something different with ‘Mauve Ball’ (from Chiltern Seeds, tel: 01491 824675; www.chilternseeds.co.uk), a pink- purple shade that would look lovely alongside lime green. In a cutting garden, sow cornflowers in a block with a cane at each corner and run string around the plants to stop them flopping.
BORAGE Star-shaped azure blue flowers top fuzzy stems on 3 this distinctive plant. Worth growing for their colour alone, the flowers are also edible and are most often frozen into ice cubes or used to decorate a jug of Pimm’s. Scatter them across summer salads to appreciate their subtle cucumber flavour. The bristly leaves are edible too, best wilted like spinach and used to make a sauce or stuffing for pasta.
CREPIS RUBRA Its flowers may look similar to a dandelion, 4 but this lovely species of hawk’s beard is no weed. Thriving in poor soil, its pale pink blooms are held above a rosette of lance- shaped, grey-green leaves. Like its lookalike, it does have a tendency to self-seed, but prompt deadheading will nip this in the bud. CHILTERNSEEDS; SHUTTERSTOCK CHILTERNSEEDS; IMAGES
70 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
Top 10 plants - MAR VH.indd 70 20/01/2016 16:42 TOP 10 PLANTS
LOVE-IN-A-MIST Evocatively named and distinctively flowered, most gardeners are 5 familiar with Nigella damascena and the enchanting inflated seed pods that follow the flowers. Its feathery foliage is excellent for filling gaps, and varieties are available in a range of colours, from the familiar blue, to pure white and pink. Leave the resilient seed heads in place to add interest in winter.
CALENDULA OFFICINALIS ‘PINK SURPRISE’ Say the word ‘marigold’ and the 6 colour that most often springs to mind is a strident orange. But there are subtler, prettier choices such as ‘Pink Surprise’ (from Chiltern Seeds), a muted shade of peach that would do well in a pastel-coloured border. Calendula self-seed with abandon, but are easily pulled up if they appear where they are not wanted, or pull them out the moment flowers fade to avoid the problem. CHILTERN SEEDS; SHUTTERSTOCK SEEDS; CHILTERN IMAGES
SALVIA HORMINUM Clary sage is on the cusp of being a ‘hardy’ annual, so 7 wait until spring has really warmed up before sowing, particularly if you are in a cold part of the country. Colourful bracts make this annual stand out, emerging from the top of each flower stem like the wings of perched butterflies. Sugar pink, purple or white, they have a long flowering period and last well as a cut flower too.
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 71
Top 10 plants - MAR VH.indd 71 20/01/2016 16:42 TOP 10 PLANTS
HELIANTHUS ‘ITALIAN WHITE’ Banish thoughts of looming giants, with metres of stalk 8 struggling to hold an over-sized flower upright – branching, multi-headed sunflowers are just right for the back of a border, and supply endless flowers for cutting, too. With manageable proportions, and daintier flowers in a stylish shade of palest lemon, ‘Italian White’ (from Chiltern Seeds), will steal the limelight, for all the right reasons.
CERINTHE MAJOR ‘PURPURASCENS’ Cerinthe has shot to fame in recent years, thanks to its popularity as a cut flower, 9 and it is the perfect ingredient to add to an informal posy of garden blooms. Spoon- shaped glaucous leaves soon emerge, producing a loose clump from which the flower stems appear. These curious blooms are largely made up of
colourful bracts, but look closely to see the flower SHUTTERSTOCK, ALAMY; IMAGES itself – a royal purple bell that hangs from the bottom of its protective sleeve of dusky blue.
AMMI MAJUS Another hardy annual beloved by flower arrangers, this statuesque 10 plant bears large umbels of tiny white flowers, like cow parsley, but with much more gusto. Architectural though it is, it brings lightness to planting schemes, its clouds of white the ideal partner for stocky, solid flowers such as zinnias and dahlias. Alternatively, send shooting spires of salvia or eremurus through it.
72 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
Top 10 plants - MAR VH.indd 72 20/01/2016 16:42 KIRKERKIRKER CULTURAL CULTURAL TOURS TOURS FORFOR DISCERNING DISCERNING TRAVELLERS TRAVELLERS KirkerKirker Holidays Holidays provide provide a rangea range of ofexpert-led expert-led escorted escorted holidays, holidays, with with fascinating fascinating itineraries itineraries designed designed for for those those with with an an interest interest in ingardens, gardens, history,history, art, art, archaeology, archaeology, architecture, architecture, and and music. music. We We also also arrange arrange individual individual short short breaks breaks and and tailor-made tailor-made holidays holidays to tocity city and and countryside countryside destinationsdestinations throughout throughout Europe Europe and and beyond. beyond. HOUSES,HOUSES, GARDENS GARDENS AND AND GALLERIES GALLERIES OF OF SUSSEX SUSSEX A AFIVE FIVE NIGHT NIGHT HOLIDAY HOLIDAY | 31| 31 JULY JULY 2016 2016 SussexSussex is homeis home to tosome some of ofthe the country’s country’s greatest greatest houses, houses, gardens gardens and and galleries galleries and and this this tour tour will will explore explore them them from from our our base base at atone one of ofKirker’s Kirker’s most most popularpopular hotels, hotels, Deans Deans Place Place in inthe the historic historic and and picturesque picturesque village village of Alfristonof Alfriston at atthe the foot foot of ofthe the South South Downs. Downs. OurOur holiday holiday will will include include a private a private visit visit to toFirle Firle Place, Place, seat seat of ofthe the 8th 8th Viscount Viscount Gage Gage who’s who’s family family have have lived lived here here for for moremore than than five five hundred hundred years. years. Stunningly Stunningly located located at theat the foot foot of theof the downs downs with with superb superb views, views, Firle Firle Place Place is is18th 18th centurycentury in inappearance. appearance. A dayA day will will be bededicated dedicated to totwo two houses, houses, both both of ofwhich which were were at atthe the epicentre epicentre of ofthe the worldworld of ofart art and and literature literature in inthe the first first half half of theof the twentieth twentieth century, century, Charleston Charleston Farmhouse Farmhouse and and Farley Farley Farmhouse.Farmhouse. Another Another day day will will focus focus on on two two of ofthe the world’s world’s greatest greatest gardens, gardens, Great Great Dixter, Dixter, designed designed by by LutyensLutyens and and made made internationally internationally famous famous by byChristopher Christopher Lloyd, Lloyd, and and Sissinghurst, Sissinghurst, the the garden garden created created by bythe the poet poet and and writer writer Vita Vita Sackville-West Sackville-West and and her her husband husband Harold Harold Nicolson. Nicolson.
PricePrice from from £996 £996 for for five five nights nights including including accommodation accommodation with with breakfast, breakfast, five five dinners, dinners, all allsightseeing, sightseeing, entranceentrance fees fees and and gratuities gratuities and and the the services services of ofthe the Kirker Kirker Tour Tour Lecturer. Lecturer.
SpeakSpeak to to an an expert expert or or request request a abrochure: brochure:
020020 7593 7593 2284 2284 quote quote code code GEG GEG www.kirkerholidays.comwww.kirkerholidays.com
073_EGUK_0316_.indd 73 22/01/2016 12:06 READER OFFER
ULTIMATE SWEET PEA
ONLY COLLECTION £18 FROM SARAH RAVEN NORMALLY £22.50 “Over the past 16 years, I have trialled more than 100 varieties of sweet pea with beautiful scent as the number one requirement. This collection comprises the best spring-sown seedlings which are pinched out for strong, long-flowering and highly productive plants.” - sarah raven
ULTIMATE SWEET PEA COLLECTION This is the ultimate selection of all the best long- stemmed, strongly scented varieties. It includes ‘Almost Black’, ‘Anniversary’, ‘Blue Velvet’, ‘Mrs Collier’, ‘Memories’ and ‘Prince Edward of York’. This selection of 24 seedlings (product code 510874-24) is available to readers of The English Garden for £18 (plus P&P). Regular cost £22.50. Seedlings will be dispatched from mid-March.
HOW TO ORDER Call 0345 0920283 and quote offer code TEG16MAR or order online at www.sarahraven.com and enter offer code TEG16MAR on your shopping basket page.
T&Cs Other items can be added to the same order. Your sweet peas will arrive from mid-March with full planting instructions. Collection flowers May-September, depending on time planted. Offer valid until 31 March 2016. Offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or discount. P&P of £4.95 payable on all orders. Payment taken at time of order.
Sarah Raven Offer - MAR.indd 74 21/01/2016 16:03 PLANT STORY Nature’s Giants How the tracking of a wounded animal led to the discovery of an iconic giant tree with proportions that had never been seen before
f all the plants that William Lobb (1809-64) introduced, the most When Augustus T Dowd described notable are two iconic trees: a giant redwood the monkey puzzle (Araucaria to colleagues, they araucana) and the giant redwood assumed he (OSequoiadendron giganteum). Lobb, a collector for was drunk. the legendary Veitch’s Nursery in Exeter, undertook three expeditions to the Americas, searching for seed from conifers popularised by collector David Douglas, and to find new species. In 1853 Lobb was invited to a meeting of the newly formed California Academy of Sciences, where Dr Albert Kellogg introduced Augustus T Dowd, a hunter employed by the Union Water Company at Murphy’s camp in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Dowd described how he tracked a wounded grizzly bear all day until it ended up in a grove of giant trees, the like of which he had never seen before. He was so distracted, the bear escaped. After the meeting, Lobb immediately left for the area, now known as Calaveras Grove. He wrote in The Gardeners’ Chronicle: “80-90 trees exist, all within a circuit of a mile, from 75-97 metres in height, 3-6 metres in diameter.” Lobb packed his bags with seeds from a fallen tree and two seedling plants. Risking the wrath of his employer, yet convinced of the treasure he had found, he cut short his collecting trip and sailed home to England. Within two weeks of his return, the tree had been named Wellingtonia gigantea by John Lindley, Professor of Botany at London University, for the first Duke, who had died the year before. Lindley wrote, “Wellington stands as high above his contemporaries, as the Californian tree above all the surrounding foresters.” The naming incurred the wrath of American botanists including Kellogg, outraged that their giant tree had been named for an English war hero by a botanist who had not even seen a living specimen. After years of disagreement, the name was changed by French botanists to Sequoiadendron – commemorating Sequoya, a Cherokee who gave
RBG KEW the tribe a written alphabet, allowing them to read A single plant was priced at two guineas, 12 plants and write for the first time. were 12 guineas. Later there was a special offer The first seedlings were soon advertised for sale. of ‘buy twelve get one free’ – perhaps the reason The Gardeners’ Chronicle, 25 February 1854 stated: avenues were planted with trees in multiples of 13. “Messrs Veitch & Son of Exeter and Chelsea Have After well over 150 years in cultivation, the giant MATTHEW BIGGS IMAGE much pleasure in stating that their seeds of this redwood is now emerging above the treeline in
WORDS magnificent Tree, are germinating satisfactorily.” British landscapes, and living up to its name. n
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 75
Plant Story - MAR VH.indd 75 19/01/2016 17:18 ‘Shopping‘Shopping‘Shopping Satisfaction’ Satisfaction’ Satisfaction’ MerchantMerchantMerchant IndependentIndependentIndependent feedback feedback feedbacksystem. system. system.ratingrating score:rating score: score: ReadRead all customerRead all customer all customerreviews reviews reviews on website.on website.on website. 4.94.9 /4.9 5 / 5 / 5
freefreef reedelivery delivery delivery to to uk to uk mainlanduk mainland mainland except except except h ighlandshighlands highlands and and and islands islands islands ForFor postFor post code post code exceptionscode exceptions exceptions please please please see see terms see terms terms and and conditions/shipping and conditions/shipping conditions/shipping and and handling and handling handling on onwebsite websiteon website
WithWith Withover over 25over 25 years 25years years experience experience experience, our, our in-house, our in-house in-house blend blend blend of ofbird birdof food bird food isfood madeis made is made withwith thewith the finest the finest finest ingredients. ingredients. ingredients. We Wepride Wepride prideourselves ourselves ourselves on onbeing onbeing beingthe the best the best atbest satisfyingat satisfying at satisfying allall of all ofyour ofyour yourwild wild wildbird bird andbird and petand pet food pet food foodneeds needs needs - at - atwholesale - wholesaleat wholesale prices! prices! prices!
In additionIn additionIn addition to ourto our tohome our home homeproduced produced produced wild wild wild underunder underthe the coupon thecoupon coupon code code section code section section at theat the at the birdbird seedbird seed mixes seed mixes mixesand and straight and straight straight seeds seeds ,seeds , , checkout.checkout.checkout. Earn Earn loyalty Earn loyalty loyalty points points points for for each foreach each wewe also wealso sell also sell a widesell a wide a range wide range rangeof suetof suet of and suet and and orderorder placed.order placed. placed. Points Points Points redeemable redeemable redeemable for for for fat fatproducts, products,fat products, mealworms mealworms mealworms, bird, bird feeders, bird feeders feeders, , ,cash cash discountcash discount discount on onsubsequent subsequenton subsequent orders. orders. orders. nestnest boxesnest boxes ,boxes bird, bird feeding, bird feeding feeding accessories accessories accessories (See(See terms(See terms termsand and conditions.) and conditions.) conditions.) andand a wideand a wide a variety wide variety variety of otherof other of petother pet foods petfoods .foods. . WeWe hope Wehope youhope you enjoy you enjoy shoppingenjoy shopping shopping FirstFirst timeFirst time buyers time buyers buyers will will receive will receive receive a 10% a 10% a 10% withwith uswith usat Kennedy. atus Kennedy. at Kennedy. discountdiscountdiscount by bysimply simplyby simply entering entering entering ‘NEW ‘NEW 10’‘NEW10’ 10’
FORFOR AFORll A llNE A NEllw wNE w CUCUsTOMERsCUTOMERsTOMERs ONs ON s ON FiRsTFiRsTFiRsT ORDER ORDER ORDER shopshopshop online: online: online: www.wildbirdfood.uk.com www.wildbirdfood.uk.com www.wildbirdfood.uk.com ENTERENTERENTER COUPON COUPON COUPON CODE CODE CODE oror phone orphone phone your your yourorder order order through through through on on 01778 on01778 01778342665 342665 342665 NEWNEWNEW1010 AT 10 ATCHECKOUT CHECKOUTAT CHECKOUT
74 Station74 Station74 Station Road, Road, DeepingRoad, Deeping Deeping St James,St James, St James, PE6 PE6 8RQ PE6 8RQ 8RQ [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] OpeningOpeningOpening hours: hours: hours: Mon-Fri: Mon-Fri: Mon-Fri: 8am-5pm 8am-5pm 8am-5pm Sat: Sat: 9am-3pm Sat: 9am-3pm 9am-3pm
076_EGUK_0316_.indd 76 25/01/2016 17:01 Plant Focus -MARVH.indd77
IMAGE ALAMY delicate blue flowers. blue delicate to reveal buds dove-grey ‘Robinsoniana’ opens Anemone nemorosa exquisitespecieswayallthe America fromNorth perennials,nativefromour hedgerow primrose to Klein Carol the Ball Belles of picks her favouritepicks her earlyflowering MARCH 2016 THEENGLISH GARDEN77 PLANT FOCUS PLANT 20/01/2016 16:18 PLANT FOCUS
ow wondrous to be a warmth of the soil below. spring flower. To be By the time the canopy fills in, blotting the first primrose in the out the sunshine, most have given their hedgerow, the wood all and are in the process of retiring anemone that lifts its underground or, at the very least, sitting Hhead and follows the spring sun across a it out on the sidelines until spring arrives caerulean sky. For gardeners, spring flowers once again. have far more significance than those that Primula vulgaris, our native primrose, take part in the midsummer melée, the is one of the first on the scene, its pale, cavalcade of June, July and August. pretty flowers with their egg-yolk centres Ironically, spring flowers are amongst the irresistible both to us and to the early smallest in the year’s floral procession yet, bees for which they provide succour after because there is so little competition, they the barren days of winter. Primroses are shine brilliantly. Their stage set, the end of essentially hedgerow plants and appreciate winter’s darkness is austere but they are the similar conditions in our gardens: humus- jewels strewn over its sombre surface. rich soil with lots of leaf mould and In most cases they are Cinderellas; they compost and dappled shade in summer. have to dash to the spring ball In the wild they can move in their best attire, flinging Above left Dusky outwards making new rosettes themselves into flower, setting Lamium orvala is and leaving old, woody crowns seed, distributing it and retiring a good partner to disintegrate. In the more for blue-flowered before the clock strikes twelve. pulmonaria. restricted milieu of our gardens The great majority of spring Above right Pretty they benefit from being divided flowers are woodlanders. While double Primula every few years, the clumps dug branches are bare overhead, ‘Lilacena Plena’ up and separated into individual Right Carol Klein, they take advantage of the extra planting trilliums in pieces, the unproductive centres light above and of the increasing her Devon garden. discarded and the divisions
78 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
Plant Focus - MAR VH.indd 78 20/01/2016 16:18 TREASURES FROM NORTH AMERICA
Some of our choicest spring flowers come from the woods of North America. Anemonella thalictroides, the rue anemone, is even daintier than our wood anemone and has leaves like a maidenhair fern. Sanguinaria canadensis or bloodroot is related to poppies and has a similar succulence. Its folded leaves look just like a scaled down version of Macleaya cordifolia. The single form is elegant but most gardeners are bewitched by the double form, Sanguinaria canadensis f. multiplex. At first glimpse Jeffersonia diphylla looks much like sanguinaria but it is Sanguinaria’s coveted double form. actually a close cousin of mahonias and those all time spring favourites, these exquisite plants. Conditions the epimediums. Its Russian (or here seem to suit them perfectly. Manchurian) cousin, Jeffersonia dubia Choose from the big, bright and is a blue-flowered beauty and typifies bold Erythronium tuolomense or the transient nature of so many of Erythronium ‘Pagoda’. If you favour replanted with their Above The bronze these spring plants. the dainty and delightful go for forms roots trimmed to leaves of Ranunculus Podophyllum hexandrum or of Erythronium californicum and ‘Brazen Hussy’ about the length contrast with its mayapple is another American Erythronium revolutum. of your palm. All buttercup flowers. relation of Jeffersonia. In recent Many gardeners are drawn to members of the years new Asiatic introductions of trilliums. Intriguing plants, they cover primrose clan benefit from this treatment, these impressive plants have hit the the gamut of garden expression be they modern polyanthus or some of the headlines, not least Podophyllum from Trillium chloropetalum, the dark highly desirable older varieties. hexandrum ‘Spotty Dotty’. and the dangerous, to immaculate ‘Gold Lace’ or ‘Silver Lace’ polyanthus Though in Europe and Asia we innocence, Trillium grandiflorum. seem to belong to another era with their have our own dog’s tooth violet, Once established they live long lives symmetrical heads of formal flowers and Erythronium dens-canis, America is and their appearance is always almost black petals neatly edged in yellow the place to see the widest range of a cause for vernal celebration. or white. Early florists, not the flower shop variety but miners and weavers, grew auriculas and gold-lace polyanthus for competition and show and to win prizes that included copper kettles. Their flowers had to reach very exacting standards. They may have looked perfect on the show bench, but it is in the garden they come into their own. Mingling among Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’, they make an entertaining combination, perhaps with some of the dinky yellow or white daffodils like ‘Hawera’ or ‘Petrel’, that abound as the polyanthus are flowering, to echo the lacing, be it gold or silver. A sprinkling of Bowles’ golden grass, Milium effusum ‘Aureum’ adds a light note, Bright Erythronium tuolomense Pure white Trillium grandiflorum or if you’re going down the black-and-white ALAMY; SHUTTERSTOCK; JONATHAN BUCKLEY JONATHAN SHUTTERSTOCK; ALAMY; route try wood melick (Melica uniflora),
IMAGES with green and white inflorescences.
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 79
Plant Focus - MAR VH.indd 79 20/01/2016 16:18 PLANT FOCUS
Ranunculus ficaria ‘Brazen Above left ‘Gold Hussy’ completes the conceit, Lace’ polyanthus have delicately with lacquered yellow petals edged petals. and bronze leaves that reflect Above right Large the blue spring sky. clumps of native Primula ‘Ingram’s Blue’ is Primula vulgaris are hard to beat. a favourite of mine but so, Left Silver-spotted too, are several of the old leaves of Pulmonaria Irish primulas, including ‘Majesté’. ‘Guinevere’ with dark leaves and pale lilac flowers, and the dainty polyanthus ‘Lady Greer’, with heads of pale cream flowers on slender stems rising from rosettes of rich green leaves. Joe Kennedy, a pioneering Irishman, fascinated by these old varieties, worked for years to produce plants that preserved the qualities of these antique primulas. His work has been recognised and made available to many gardeners through Pat FitzGerald who runs a wholesale nursery in County Kilkenny and now micropropagates thousands of plants derived from Kennedy’s breeding. For me, nothing holds a torch to some of the old varieties. There are double primulas galore nowadays but many appear ungainly compared to ‘Lilacina Plena’ or ‘Alba Plena’, both recorded 400 years ago in Gerard’s Herball. They have a tendency to flop but IMAGES GARDEN WORLD SHUTTERSTOCK;
that is part of their charm. Try ‘Lilacina Plena’ with IMAGES
80 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
Plant Focus - MAR VH.indd 80 20/01/2016 16:18 LCB SCULPTURE
PREMIER RANGE
- 2 5 Y E A R S -
Self taught sculptor using recycled horseshoes to create lifesize animals, garden sculptures and home wears. www.lcbsculpture.com ContactEnglish Louise: Garden [email protected] 16.pdf 1 19/01/2016 | 0788110375811:49 bulldogtools.co.uk
ID1812_QTR EnglishGarden Ad.indd The 1 only swing & bench maker15/01/2016 10:05
licensed by The RHS See us at Chelsea Flower Show 2016 Stand RHW369
C
M
Y
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K
Visit us online at sittingspiritually.co.uk or call us on 01297 443084
081_EGUK_0316_.indd 81 22/01/2016 12:17 PLANT FOCUS
Helleborus foetidus and pale blue or icy most seductive of spring flowers. There white pulmonarias. is an air of mystery about it, a hint of Lungworts, pulmonaria, push winter the underworld. To make the innocence into spring. They are one of the most and newness of pale and perfect spring straightforward of all spring flowers flowers even more so, we need a darker although not true Cinderellas in that undercurrent, a little drama and mystery to they buck the trend and don’t disappear offset all that pallid prettiness. underground as tree leaves start to unfurl. The dark crimson stems of Lamium Quite the opposite, since many of them orvala are clothed in rich viridian leaves are grown as much for their handsome in whorls, which protect hooded flowers foliage as for their welcoming flowers. of velvet-curtain rose. Every flower boasts They take their name from The Doctrine its own private landing pad for pollinating of Signatures, the Medieval practice which insects and a protruding hangar roof, used plants to treat ailments of the organs both further inducements to lure the they looked like. unsuspecting bee or hoverfly deep inside. The majority of pulmonarias have spotty Wood anemones embody spring. Our leaves though the most striking are the native plant is perfect but for collectors or cultivars with spots that join together to gardeners after more anemones in a wider make completely silver leaves. ‘Majesté’ is colour range and intriguing forms, sports perhaps the most famed. My own favourite have been singled out and increased and has plain dark green leaves with are available from specialist a hint of crimson on their reverse: Above left Ruffs of nurseries. Anemone nemorosa Pulmonaria ‘Blue Ensign’ has petals form Primula ‘Robinsoniana’ is a treasure. ‘Alba Plena’ flowers. larger than usual flowers of Large, elegant buds of dove grey Above right The richest ultramarine. It creates bluest of all the open to reveal chalices of purest a rich and lavish picture pulmonarias, ‘Blue azure, with a powder puff of alongside dark hellebores or Ensign’, also has golden stamens at their centre. larger blooms. surrounding Lamium orvala. A single anemone embodies the Right Dark-leaved
Few people grow this antique Primula essence of spring while a carpet ALAMY IMAGES, GARDEN WORLD IMAGES deadnettle, yet it is one of the ‘Guinevere’. of them guarantees its arrival. n
82 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
Plant Focus - MAR VH.indd 82 21/01/2016 15:34 ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE
Jacksons Venetian panels are used to dramatic effect in this stunning garden refurbishment by Brighton designer Dawn Banks - she says “I always use Jacksons Fencing because it provides the high quality contemporary effect required within my designs. The added benefit of the 25 year guarantee is very important when creating a beautiful space for clients. It is important, not only to use the highest quality material, but it is essential that they stay looking good and last for many years to come. A garden is an investment that grows and matures over time, so it is unthinkable to introduce a product that will perish or rot. By installing Jacksons I can be sure these integral parts of my design will stay looking great as the garden grows around it.
You can read the full story behind these customer projects, Jacksons Fencing the products that were used and see more photos News, topical treats and more... by logging on to your dedicated page Three of the best! February can be a grim month, but don’t despair – here are three of the best of our www.jacksons- customer projects with some photos of glorious gardens to inspire you to think of 2016 garden projects fencing.co.uk and to help get you through the cold winter months. [email protected] /lifestyle
You can almost feel the heat radiating off the gorgeous circular paving in Maureen Vinall’s The lovely garden belongs to Brian Hattersley. He saw the Retreat shelter at a show Jacksons garden designed by Earthstone Landscapes. One of the aims of the redesign was to make were attending and decided to incorporate it into the design for his new garden. He explained what was essentially quite a small garden appear more spacious. This was achieved by that he actually wanted something a bit larger than the standard Retreat shelter, so he’s terracing different levels within the garden using Jakwall to make flowerbeds that radiate adapted it to make a ‘one and a half’ sized one, see above. I think you will agree, it looks outwards and step upwards from a central round paved area. great, especially with the matching Venetian fencing.
To enter the free prize draw and be in with a chance to For info on any of Jacksons Win £300 win £300 of Jacksons vouchers simply log on to your products or brochures of Jacksons dedicated page, address below and follow the easy please call 0800 408 4733 instructions on how to enter. The draw closes 29.2.16. to talk to your local vouchers... To enter go to: www.jacksons-fencing.co.uk/lifestyle Jacksons Fencing Centre.
JACKSONS FENCING EG UK FEB16.indd 1 17/12/2015 15:38 084_EGUK_0316_.indd 84 RH 'Handbag'EnglishGardenhalf-page:Layout128/7/1517:40Page Mediterranean C THE WORLD’SLARGEST SELECTION O Mediterranean C THE WORLD’SLARGEST West Sussex,RH104QQ SELECTION O East Street,Turners Hill, T West Sussex,RH104QQ East Street,Turners Hill, VISIT U T ERR potsandpithoi.com VISIT U F ERR HAND THROWN
READY-SPACED, READY TO PLANT, READY WHEN YOU ARE. potsandpithoi.com ROST R F HAND THROWN
o oeifrain altdyon today call information, READYHEDGE more For ROST R 01342 ACOT 01342 nrdcn h eg nahandbag. a in hedge the Introducing ACOT S: TheBarns, S: TheBarns, 7 ESIST 7 ESIST 14793 afé N TA 14793 F afé N TA F C C ANT POTS ANT RETAN POTS ow O RETAN ow O TERRACOTTA POTS TERRACOTTA PRINCE OF WALES BY APPOINTMENT pen TERRACOTTA POTS TERRACOTTA PRINCE OF WALES BY APPOINTMENT SUPPLIER OF pen TO HRH THE HRH TO SUPPLIER OF TO HRH THE HRH TO
18 750585 01386 Email [email protected] rvisit or adigadplanting. and handling easier even for designed specially Readybags, unique our in ready-spaced available now is hedging instant Readyhedge www.readyhedge.com 22/01/2016 16:35 PLANT SWATCH
Spring Opulence Matthew Thomas from Frank P Matthews picks three magnolias from across the colour palette of these splendid trees
‘ELIZABETH’ ‘BLACK TULIP’ ‘JOLI POMPOM’ This is one of the most popular Seductive, deep purple, goblet- This variety is renowned for yellow-flowered magnolias, making shaped flowers on a tidy, compact, producing the most dazzling white a small, conical tree with exquisite, upright small tree make this a flowers of any magnolia. Its large, cup-shaped, fragrant, primrose-yellow deservedly popular variety. This is open flowers reach up to 10cm flowers in April. These are 12.5cm the darkest and arguably the most across. They have a pink-blushed long and open just before the leaves dramatic magnolia on the market clutch of stamens in the middle with unfurl. This ensures these beautiful and will produce flowers at an early a pronounced green stigma, both of blooms really stand out on the tree. age, often coming into bloom after which contrast beautifully with its This variety has been awarded an RHS just two or three years. Flowers pure white petals. It will perform best Award of Garden Merit in recognition tend to emerge in April and, as a in a sunny position sheltered from of its wonderful, reliable flowering bonus, occasionally a second flush of strong winds and will ultimately reach and how easy it is to grow. It is perfect blooms will appear towards the end a height of about 3.6m, making it ideal for even the smallest garden, or for of summer. It will grow comfortably for almost any garden. It is also very growing in large containers of soil- in heavy clay soils or lighter loam, good for growing in containers on the based compost. ‘Elizabeth’ prefers and is easy to look after, needing little patio. It is an unusual cross between a well-drained soil and will eventually maintenance. Black Tulip can reach white Magnolia ‘David Clulow’ and reach a height of 10m in 15-20 years. 4.5-6m in height and 1.8-3m in girth. creamy white, very hardy M. sprengeri This hybrid originated in New Zealand var. elongata. in the 1990s and is a cross between ‘Vulcan’ and ‘Iolanthe’.
ALAMY; FRANK P MATTHEWS ALAMY; IMAGES Find out more about magnolias at www.frankpmatthews.com
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 85
Plant Swatch - MAR VH.indd 85 21/01/2016 10:18 THE FIRST RAY OF SUNLIGHT LONG LUNCHES A MOMENT’S PEACE AND QUIET DRINKS WITH FRIENDS AN IMPROMPTU PARTY A NIGHT OF PUTTING THE WORLD TO RIGHTS
LIFE IS FULL OF GOOD TIMES, BUT THERE IS ONLY ONE BIOCLIMATIC PATIO COVER
Call Click Visit 01932 862473 landscaping.co.uk Cedar Nursery, Horsley Road, Cobham, KT11 3JX
Untitled-80 1 22/01/2016 14:19 A NEW LEAF Fresh, Tasty Shoots Jane Perrone hopes to melt away the winter blues by serving up some worthy alternatives to asparagus
ike most gardeners, I foster many romantic dreams for my garden: one of the most persistent is a vision of swags of honeysuckle twining through the trellis by my patio, the sweet trumpet Lblooms scenting the air and attracting my favourite pollinator, the hummingbird hawk moth. It hasn’t turned out that way. Last summer GROWING HOPS honeysuckles romped everywhere, frothing over Martin Crawford, fences and twining through shaggy hedgerows. Director of the Thriving on neglect, they seemed to taunt my own Agroforestry pathetic plant back home, although perhaps that Research Trust in was just my overactive imagination. My honeysuckle Dartington, Devon, remained sullen and distinctly unfrothy for yet provides expert another year. It was plagued by blackfly, wizened advice on growing with the distorted growth that comes from a heavy hops in Perennial aphid infestation. Vegetables (Green So this winter I gave up, winkled it out and Books, £14.95). relocated it to the back of the garden where it can Soil Hops grow in any romp about – or die. This is a prime spot, against reasonably moist and the west-facing wall of my office, and it deserves the well-drained soil. right plant. I pondered over a rose or a clematis, but Position Hops need in the end I wanted more bang for my buck and that something to climb or came in the form of a hop plant, which brings the clamber up, such as promise of something beautiful and edible. trellis, a shrub or tree. I am not a home brewer. My interest in hops Without support they (Humulus lupulus) comes from the reputation of will sprawl across the Tender hop its young shoots as a worthy alternative to one of ground. If you leave the Above shoots are a delicacy my favourite vegetables, asparagus. previous year’s stems in Europe. Try them I first became excited about the possibilities of intact, new shoots will in a delicate spring hop shoots as an ingredient when I read a story in climb up them. vegetable risotto. the Guardian that revealed hopscheuten – as they Harvesting New shoots are known in Belgium, where they are a popular appear early in spring, seasonal delicacy – sell for €1,000 a kilo, making and are usually cut at them the world’s most expensive vegetable. Jane soil level when 15-30cm above when it is at its brownest in midsummer. Grigson reports in her Vegetable Book that they are high, but they can be In the meantime, my asparagus needs can still be also considered a delicacy in France and Germany, cut off higher growth. fulfilled by other plants from my garden. The fresh while Elizabeth David conveys her delight at an You can cut repeatedly spring shoots of cottage garden favourites Solomon’s exquisite risotto di bruscandoli – the Venetian term for several weeks, but seal (Polygonatum x hybridum) can be eaten like for hop shoots – in her classic work An Omelette should finally allow asparagus, although the mature stems, flowers and and a Glass of Wine. some shoots to grow. berries are toxic so be sure to only harvest young I don’t have room for an asparagus bed in my Varieties Both brewing growth. Shoots of good King Henry (Chenopodium garden, so hops are the perfect solution. Once and ornamental hops bonus-henricus) can be harvested similarly, although the rhizome is established after being planted this can be used for edible I have to admit I prefer to leave this plant to leaf up. winter, I can feast on the shoots for a brief but shoots. Dwarf varieties Good King Henry is my all-time favourite cooked glorious couple of weeks in March or April. Then I’ll such as ‘First Gold’ and green: its flavour is superlative when wilted in a pan allow the final flush of shoots to surge up the trellis ‘Golden Tassels’ grow with a knob of butter and a twist of pepper. Some and perhaps even temporarily colonise the green roof to just 2.5m. readers may be squinting at the page, wondering
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 87
A New Leaf - MAR VH.indd 87 19/01/2016 17:24 A NEW LEAF
if I can really be talking about the same mouth- puckeringly bitter leaf they cooked, tasted and quickly jettisoned. The secret is to soak the leaves in salty water for an hour or two before cooking, which draws away all the bitterness. Try this: it may just change your mind about this plant. But back to asparagus substitutes. The other problem with asparagus is that it offers such a limited season. This is where some of the other Left Only the young alternatives come into their own. Last spring shoots of Solomon’s I sowed asparagus lettuce (Lactuca sativa var. seal are edible. augustana) and harvested the chunky stems all Below Celtuce or asparagus lettuce summer long. It starts off looking like a regular produces a chunky lettuce rosette, but before long it soars upward to stem for steaming. create a stem that can be cut and steamed just like asparagus – rather a novelty in July. You may know it by one of its other names, celtuce, although this is a misnomer suggesting, wrongly, some kind of celery-lettuce hybrid. Asparagus lettuce was originally bred in China
It starts off looking like a regular lettuce rosette, but before long soars upwards to create a stem you can cut
where it is known as wosun in Mandarin. enjoyed raw, boiled or fried in a tempura Sow in spring for harvests until September, and batter. Perennial vegetable expert Martin again in autumn for the earliest spring harvest next Crawford suggests the large leaved hostas year (find seed for it at Plants of Distinction, tel: such as Hosta sieboldiana. As the shoots 01449 711005; www.plantsofdistinction.co.uk). age, they become increasingly bitter. If you prefer a perennial plant, another I also like to pull up the stems of red asparagus-like vegetable also from the Asparagaceae valerian (Centranthus ruber) in late spring, family, is the hosta. Shoots are harvested at ground judging carefully where to snap the stem to level in spring before the spikes of tightly furled harvest just the tender tops. They are a worthy leaves begin to break apart. addition to a stir fry, and given this plant’s Hosta shoots have been eaten for centuries in invasive tendencies, it is a useful motivation to Japan, where they’re known as urui, and are usually keep them within bounds.
RECIPE: RISOTTO DI BRUSCANDOLI
Arianna Patron and Monica Cesarato run 1/2 finely chopped onion Add the wine and let it evaporate. Cook in Venice, offering Venetian cookery 1 glass dry white wine • Add the shoots and a ladle of broth. Stir, courses in the city itself. “Bruscandoli are 1 litre vegetable broth and let it evaporate. Keep adding a ladle found in the countryside and you can 2 knobs of butter at a time, waiting for the rice to absorb often see people wandering around the 1 tbsp Parmesan cheese the broth before adding the next one. fields gathering them,” says Monica. “In Olive oil • Keep stirring until the rice is cooked April the vegetable stalls of Rialto Bridge through (about 20 minutes). Turn off the are full of these plants, which you can use METHOD heat and add the butter and Parmesan. in soups, omelettes and pasta sauces.” • Rinse the hop shoots, remove the hard Stir, cover with a dry cloth to absorb stalks and chop finely. Place them in a pan steam and a lid. Rest for five minutes. Serves 4 with the olive oil and chopped onion. Fry To book a cookery course or for more
INGREDIENTS for a few minutes. Remove from the heat. information, visit www.cookinvenice.com CAMPBELL HELEN 300g bruscandoli • Melt a knob of butter in a pan. Add the or telephone 0203 514 0147 quoting ‘The 300g Arborio or Carnaroli rice rice, toast for one minute until translucent. English Garden’. n ILLUSTRATIONS
88 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
A New Leaf - MAR VH.indd 88 19/01/2016 17:24 GARDENING CLOTHES FOR KEEN GARDENERS www.jsgardens.co.uk Visit us at: www.genus.gs or call: 01285 740004 01905 381679 / 07930 576881
English-Garden.indd 3 06/08/2015 17:42
The Finest in British Outdoor Joinery Garden By Anthony Paul Garden By Designers and manufacturers of hardwood planters and garden furnishings. For more information email [email protected] or call 01608 683022 www.oxfordplanters.co.uk Other services include a bespoke joinery service for all interior & exterior design. All products manufactured in the Cotswolds using sustainable timber
089_EGUK_0316_.indd 89 22/01/2016 16:35 Both standard range and bespoke greenhouses To find out more and request a brochure : www.wggrace.co.uk or telephone 01647 252995
090_EGUK_0316_.indd 90 25/01/2016 11:24 SPRING CONTAINERS
Chionodoxa forbesii ‘Pink Giant’ is the star of this early spring show.
Potted Pleasures Never failing to lift the spirits, spring bulbs are ideal for creating cheering container planting schemes to usher in the new season
PHOTOGRAPHS NICOLA STOCKEN
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 91
Spring Containers - MAR VH.indd 91 20/01/2016 16:51 SPRING CONTAINERS
he quickest way to an instant boost – for both gardener and garden – is a new container, planted with the best the season has to offer. At this time of year, spring-flowering bulbs are the stars of the show, and at the ideal proportion for baskets and pots,T it’s hard to resist their charms and the chance to create new planting schemes and combinations in miniature. Nowadays, garden centres stock an increasing range of pot- grown bulbs in spring, either in or about to flower, so gardeners needn’t rely on bulbs planted in autumn. Once the display is over, they can go into the garden, to flower for years to come.
ALL THE BLUES There are so many dainty blue bulbs to pick from in spring, and most will pair together well to create a pretty vignette. The bobbly flowerheads of muscari are the perfect counterpoint to the ruffled petals of Iris ‘Katharine Hodgkin’ in baby blue. Use gritty, free-draining compost for these bulbs. Galanthus ‘Cowhouse Green’ brings light to the combination and echoes the white-washed wicker basket. Use a piece of plastic to line baskets used for planting, to help retain moisture and to stop the wicker rotting. Once planted, a layer of moss tucked around the plants gives a neat, professional finish.
PLANTING A SPRING BASKET Lift the spirits instantly with a colourful hanging basket that combines spring bulbs, foliage and trailing ivy
Garden centres stock small 1 GRAPE HYACINTHS pots of bulbs in flower, Muscari, or grape hyacinths, are an excellent container making it quick and easy bulb, but be sure to pick one of the choicer cultivars to create a cheerful basket rather than the invasive species, Muscari armeniacum, that welcomes in spring. which seeds and spreads offsets everywhere, and has STEP 1: Narcissus ‘Tête-à- sprawling, lax leaves. This powder blue variety is tête’ is justifiably popular Muscari ‘Cupido’, which is beautiful teamed with a pale in baskets and containers – turquoise glazed pot, and contrasting daffodils behind: it is precisely the right size Narcissus ‘Hawera’ with its dainty lemon-yellow flowers and multi-headed for lots and ‘Reggiae’, adding extra colour with pale peach- of flowers. Gently remove orange trumpet and white perianth. from its pot and tease out
92 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
Spring Containers - MAR VH.indd 92 20/01/2016 16:52 SUN-LOVING CROCUS Both crocuses and windflowers, here Crocus ‘Ruby Giant’ and Anemone blanda ‘White Splendour’, fling their petals open in spring sunshine, so position containers using these bulbs in a sunny location to enjoy their flowers to the full. This wooden box is the perfect home for them, lined with plastic to prolong its life, and dark purple Iris reticulata ‘Pixie’ to complete the picture. All are early to flower and can be bought as flowering plants in pots from nurseries.
RECYCLED CHIC Anything can be pressed into service to make a quirky container for small bulbs, such as this old copper kettle. Ipheion are just the right scale with their slender, strappy leaves (onion-scented when crushed, belying their membership of the allium family) and pretty, skyward-facing starry flowers. Choose from white, pink or blue cultivars such as the one used here, ‘Rolf Fiedler’. When using a recycled container, drill holes in the base before planting, to allow water to escape – waterlogging soon spells the end for most bulbs.
PLANTING A SPRING BASKET Lift the spirits instantly with a colourful hanging basket that combines spring bulbs, foliage and trailing ivy
2 the roots. As the plants are 3 and goes in last at the 4 tall, position them near very centre of the basket the centre of the basket. to arch outwards and add STEP 2: Fill around the height to the scheme. edges with the rest of your STEP 4: Water to settle plants, such as muscari both plants and compost for additional colour and in and hang in a sunny but both ivies and euonymus sheltered position. Baskets at the basket edge to trail dry quickly, so check for downwards as they grow. watering regularly and STEP 3: Stipa tenuissima deadhead as flowers fade adds soft, wispy texture to keep it looking tidy.
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 93
Spring Containers - MAR VH.indd 93 20/01/2016 16:53 SPRING CONTAINERS
LAYERS OF INTEREST Bulbs bought in flower from garden centre and nursery benches are often ahead of themselves, having been grown in the warmth and protection of a glasshouse, giving lots of choice for flowering combinations. Here, tulips and muscari are kept company by pulmonaria, Skimmia japonica and colourful violas. In autumn, plant dormant bulbs in layers in pots – BOLD & BRILLIANT largest at the bottom, small bulbs nearer the top – to create a staggered display of different sized plants, Go bold when choosing a single-bulb scheme, something flowering in succession. bright and brilliant such as Crocus ‘Ruby Giant’, with its rich red-tinged purple flowers. Select cultivars with larger flowers to deliver the impact required. Dutch crocus, with their large goblet-shaped flowers would work well for this; look for ‘King of the Striped’ with its intricately feathered petals of lavender and dark purple or the glorious sunny goblets of ‘Golden Yellow’. A topping of grit or gravel not only looks attractive, it will also stop rain splashing soil onto the flowers, too.
CLASSIC MONOCHROME One of the joys of bulbs is the great range of colours from which to choose, but sometimes a simple container of pure white is best. Anemone blanda ‘White Splendour’ in a vintage white bucket creates simple perfection. Other white- flowered bulbs that make good alternatives include Muscari ‘White Magic’, its closed buds tinged with cream, Narcissus ‘Pipit’, which has white trumpets and perianths that are the palest lemon imaginable, or Chionodoxa luciliae ‘Alba’, also known as glory of the snow. Later in spring, tulips such as ‘Calgary’ or ‘Purissima’ keep a white theme going strong.
94 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
Spring Containers - MAR VH.indd 94 22/01/2016 10:00 PROMOTION
THE ENGLISH GARDEN INSURANCE OFFER 10% discount More comprehensive cover for The English Garden and reduced premiums readers To help you protect your home and garden and save you money, The English Garden has negotiated preferential rates with leading insurance brokers SmithGreenfield. High Net Worth insurance cover can be very beneficial to readers whose homes are valued at over £250,000 or whose contents are worth more than £50,000
eaders of The English Garden may be able to save on their current insurance premiums and improve the extent of their cover by taking specialist High Net Worth insurance coverR through a specialist broker. High Net Worth policies may often be cheaper, as they are underwritten correctly. A standard insurer may assume that the more an individual owns, the greater the risk. The reality is that the people who own valuables take good care of them. The advantages of High Net Worth policies include worldwide ‘all risks’ contents cover, agreed value settlements on items of high worth, and restoration and depreciation cover for antiques and fine art. Garden plants, statues and furniture can be included at generous limits. The English Garden is delighted to offer readers access to effective and bespoke insurance through SmithGreenfield, who will provide confidential quotations, advice and information at no charge. Our readers will also benefit from a 10% discount.
YOUR SPECIAL BENEFITS
l Specialist cover for garden plants, furniture and statuary l Worldwide ‘all risks’ cover for all your possessions l Cover includes ‘new for old’ replacement l Prompt claims handling l Full accidental damage cover
For a free quote or more information, tel: 0844 8733919 or visit www.smithgreenfield.co.uk and go to the private clients’ page The English Garden insurance offer is administered by SmithGreenfield Services plc, who are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Insurance Ad.indd 95 18/01/2016 10:03 Untitled-122 1 30/10/2015 11:31 IN THE GARDEN
Pruning Masterclass Spring is a key time in the gardening calendar, when many favourite shrubs can be kept healthy and flowering well, thanks to a little judicious pruning
eep secateurs and loppers to hand during the garden’s Winter Walk. It is the time to pollard March – the busiest month for pruning. the bright stems of willows, cut back Cornus and Any pruning done after plants have burst rejuvenate mature specimens of early flowering into growth effectively wastes the energy shrubs such as scented Viburnum. Kthey spent producing those new shoots, so for plants Pruning in early spring is also a good idea in that need to be kept full of vigour such as roses and borders where shrubs are mixed with herbaceous shrubs grown for plentiful winter stems and early plants, to avoid damaging their emerging young flowers, the race is on to prune before buds burst. growth. The resulting prunings can also be recycled, Above Russell Watkins, At the Royal Horticultural Society’s garden at either woven into supports or twiggy branches from RHS Garden Harlow Carr, explains the Harlow Carr in north Yorkshire, horticulturist simply pushed into the ground around perennials to techniques for essential
JASON INGRAM JASON IMAGE Russell Watkins spends March pruning shrubs in help support lush summer growth. pruning in spring.
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 97
Pruning Masterclass.indd 97 20/01/2016 16:31 IN THE GARDEN
Pollarding willows “The trunks of our pollarded Salix are about waist high and each year we cut them back to the lowest bud possible, so really hard. It is to promote new growth which is the strongest colour, and we generally do it at the end of March or the beginning of April, depending on how cold it is. The trick is to do it before the leaves start to open out, then the colourful stems can be enjoyed for as long as possible and the plants have the full length of the season to grow back again,” Russell explains. “It’s important to prune Salix regularly 1 2 because their stems don’t keep their colour well. Cornus (dogwoods), on the other hand, keep their stem colour for up to three or four years so you can be more varied with the severity of their pruning without losing the effect: leave them for three years, do it every year or take out only half the stems.” “This is our pollards’ ninth winter and they are starting to decline in vigour. They are planted in groups of three and we’ve noticed that some are looking weaker than others, so we’re also going to stagger their pruning, only cutting the plants that look really vigorous back hard. Sometimes cutting them down every year can wear them out over time, so we’ll leave the less vigorous plants for 3 4 another year to grow and thicken up before 1. Use a pair of sharp secateurs for a clean cut, or loppers cutting them back hard again. The great for thicker stems. 2. Cut each coloured stem back to the thing about willow of course is that it can be knobbly ‘head’ of the pollard. 3. Work over the entire plant, until all the stems have been cut back. 4. Once complete, reproduced easily. Nine out of ten cuttings in only the trunk will remain, but growth will soon shoot the ground will root.” upwards when buds burst in warmer spring weather.
Trees and larger shrubs to pollard now
CATALPA BIGNONIOIDES SAMBUCUS NIGRA ACER NEGUNDO Cutting Catalpa back produces bigger Pollarding dark-leaved cultivars of This maple has pinnate leaves, splashed leaves and keeps a potentially large tree Sambucus such as ‘Eva’ and ‘Gerda’ with white and pink patches in the cultivar a much more manageable size. Choose keeps the shrubs small and produces the ‘Flamingo’, and particularly so on the ‘Aurea’ for vivid yellow foliage. deepest coloured leaves. young growth produced by pollarding.
98 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
Pruning Masterclass.indd 98 20/01/2016 16:31 Pruning dogwoods “Leave Cornus (dogwood) pruning are over 12 months old they lose colour right to the last minute, just before the very quickly, so it really needs to be cut leaves burst,” advises Russell. “With back hard every year to get the fantastic Cornus, cut the stems back to the lowest bright colour. It definitely works, we’ve bud you possibly can. I sometimes cut tried and tested it. More so than other them right down to soil level to stop Cornus, ‘Midwinter Fire’ has a tendency them producing a knobbly, woody base to sucker and spread underground so, and when they’re mature, they send up each year that it is cut back, the base shoots from below ground.” becomes wider and it sends up more “The green, red and black-stemmed stems, whereas with some of the other cornus are very good at keeping their Cornus, all the stems come from just colour for a number of years, and you a single spot.” can be flexible with their pruning, “Each year after pruning, we mulch but if it is a brand new plant of any around the plants with a soil enricher variety, always leave it two years to get such as homemade compost. They established before pruning hard.” don’t need regular feeding, but our “There’s a huge misconception about older plants would benefit now from Cornus ‘Midwinter Fire’. Everyone a dressing of organic fertiliser such as thinks that because it’s smaller you have blood, fish and bone after pruning.” to be gentler, but once it is established “Cornus do prefer moist ground but you need to treat it as meanly as all the they will tolerate dry soil. However, if others,” Russell says. “If you they are in a drier spot, cut it down for one year then Right The brightest modify their pruning. left it for two, you would soon bark is on year-old Don’t cut them back stems, so Cornus realise that the colour is far are cut back to the hard each year, simply less impressive. Once its stems ground annually. tidy them up.”
WINTER WALK Harlow Carr’s Winter Walk is made up of colourful Cornus and vivid-stemmed willows, early flowering Parrotia, scented Viburnum, Sarcococca and Daphne and bulbs that burst into life as the season gets under way. With a newly extended area showcasing the best bark, berries and unusual bulbs, it is best visited between late February and early March when Cyclamen, winter aconites and irises are in full bloom. RHS Garden Harlow Carr, Crag Lane, Beckwithshaw, Harrogate HG3 1QB. See www.rhs.org.uk/harlowcarr
Left The Winter Walk at
JASON INGRAM; SHUTTERSTOCK; ALAMY INGRAM; SHUTTERSTOCK; JASON RHS Harlow Carr is kept vibrant with judicious
IMAGES IMAGES pruning.
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 99
Pruning Masterclass.indd 99 20/01/2016 16:31 IN THE GARDEN
Rejuvenating early flowering shrubs Thinning out older stems every year promotes new growth and keeps shrubs vigorous and flowering well, which is especially important for shrubs with valuable winter flowers such as Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Charles Lamont’. Old or neglected shrubs can be completely rejuvenated too, as Russell explains: “You can prune viburnums right down to the ground. As long as you don’t mind missing the flowers for one or two years, you can completely rejuvenate an overgrown specimen by taking all of its branches right down to the ground. It works really well.” “To keep a shrub in good shape and health, prune one third of its branches back to the base. 1 It will send up new branches from the ground so if you do this over three years, by the end of the three years you’ll have a younger, more vigorous, better flowering shrub. It will also be a more manageable size. This technique works on shrubs such as Viburnum, Forsythia and Ribes. Prune all three after they’ve flowered.”
1. Mature shrubs can be pruned back hard to promote a fresh supply of young, vigorous stems. 2. To avoid damaging the shrub, reduce the weight of large branches by cutting them back by two thirds first.3. Cut the remaining branch back to the base with a pruning saw. 2 3
Shrubs to prune now
SPRING FLOWERING LATE SUMMER FLOWERING LIGHT PRUNE ONLY Prune shrubs such as Lonicera, Ribes Prune shrubs that flower after mid- Shrubs that only need a light prune of and Forsythia (above) after flowering. summer (Buddleia, Perovskia, Fuchsia dead, dying or unwanted stems, such Next spring’s flowers will be produced and Spiraea) now to give new growth as witch hazels, holly and bay, can be on growth made this year. time to mature and produce flowers. pruned in early spring after flowering.
100 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
Pruning Masterclass.indd 100 20/01/2016 16:32 SPRING PRUNING FOR ROSES
Cut rose bushes back in spring to is required is for dead, damaged and outward-facing bud. improve their shape, vigour and diseased stems to be removed. 4. A shrub rose after pruning: stems flowering potential. The best time to have been pruned to create an prune is just before the leaf buds begin 1. Remove stems that are crossing into open-centred, rounded shrub that to burst, normally during February or the path of another, and cut damaged consists solely of strong, healthy, March. If pruning is put off until the stems back to strong, sturdy growth. disease-free stems. plants are in leaf, their new growth is Completely remove dead stems, too. 5. The reward for spring pruning is ‘wasted’ and flowering can be delayed. 2. Cut out shoots that are dying back, strong new growth that will produce Apply this method to all roses except cutting into fresh, green wood. an abundance of healthy flowers from climbers and ramblers, where all that 3. Make sloping cuts just above an June of the same year.
1 2
3
4 5 JASON INGRAM; SHUTTERSTOCK; DAVID AUSTIN ROSES AUSTIN DAVID SHUTTERSTOCK; INGRAM; JASON IMAGES
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 101
Pruning Masterclass.indd 101 20/01/2016 16:32 For our full range visit www.allwoods.net A genuine family run nursery with over 100 years of growing and supplying Garden Pinks & Carnations stocking over 500 different Doris Mr Wren kinds!! Also a unique & interesting collection of Pelargoniums, Fuchsias, Penstemons and other garden
plants all available by post!! Solo Mrs Sinkins
Tel: 01273 844229 Allwoods, London Road Hassocks, BN6 9NA
A rangeA range of beautiful of beautiful hand hand crafted crafted steel plant plant supports supports and and obelisks obelisks A rangeA range of beautifulof beautiful hand hand crafted crafted steel plantplant supports supports and and obelisks obelisks designeddesigned to provideto provide architectural architectural structure within within the the garden garden whilst whilst designedalsoalso to complimenting provide complimenting architectural and and enhancing structure the the within plants plants the features. features.garden whilst Laced Collection (10 plant pack) FREE Catalogue also complimenting and enhancing the plants features. just £24.95 C609 OUT NOW! Visit our website or telephone to request a brochure: Visit our website or telephone to request a brochure: Voucher code www.artisanplantsupports.co.uk Enjoy 10% off Email: [email protected] Tel: 01538 753128 EG1168 Woodside Farm, Clamgoose Lane Kingsley Moor, Staffordshire ST10 2EG Must be quoted at time of ordering. Expires 31/08/16 Email: [email protected] Tel: 01538 753128
Call us Learn more 01296 481220 osmouk.com
ProvenProvenProvenProvenProvenProvenProvenProven to to to to withstand towithstandto withstandto withstandto withstand withstand withstand withstand wind wind wind wind wind wind wind wind speedsspeedsspeedsspeedsspeedsspeedsspeedsspeeds in in in in excess in excess in excessin excess inexcess excess excess excess of of of of 140mph of 140mphof 140mphof 140mphof 140mph 140mph 140mph 140mph
NO MORE SLIP UPS!
ANTI-SLIP DECKING OIL: Highest quality top coat for wood decking 9 9 9 9 9 MICROPOROUS | NATURAL | SLIP-RESISTANT | OIL-BASED | HIGH COVERAGE
102_EGUK_0316_.indd 102 22/01/2016 12:23 NEW BOOKS The Reviewer A selection of the best garden writing to appear this month
Shakespeare’s Gardens The Botanical Treasury Plants, Beds and Borders By Jackie Bennett By Christopher Mills By Katie Rushworth Frances Lincoln, £25 Andre Deutsch Ltd, £35 Kyle Books, £16.99
Anyone with an interest in history and The excitement of discovering a new plant Pitched at new gardeners, television literature will love this book, an insight is almost tangible in this lavish collection of presenter Katie Rushworth’s book is into the gardens William Shakespeare plant histories. A delightful compendium essentially a guide to starting a garden would have spent time in during his life, of 40 plants from around the world, it tells from scratch, but with the emphasis placed as well as a study of gardening in the the story of each one through a fascinating firmly on the most fun and interesting Elizabethan age. mix of botanical illustrations, letters sent part: the borders. It is well-known that Shakespeare to Kew from plant hunters and reprinted All the basics are covered – assessing was interested in horticulture, weaving extracts from botanical periodicals. A your soil type and properly planning the references to plants and flowers throughout broad range of plants is included, from planting to limit regrets later – followed his plays. But was it memories of roses at dainty snakeshead fritillaries (Fritillaria by inspiration in the form of styles that the cottage of his mother, Mary Arden, meleagris) to the monstrous Titan arum could be adopted, such as Mediterranean, that inspired the famous ‘that which we (Amorphophallus titanium). a romantic cottage garden, a formal plot or call a rose By any other word would smell The book is laced with illuminating one for a family with children. Each style as sweet’ line in Romeo and Juliet? details such as a letter from Colonel Robert ends with a directory of plants that suit the Or was he admiring the garden of Anne Kyd, curator of Calcutta’s Botanic Garden theme, and planting plans cleverly show Hathaway, his wife, when he quilled sent to Joseph Banks in 1789. In it, Kyd that it is not simply the choice of plants, but Oberon’s description of Titania’s bower in explains that tea will not grow in Calcutta, how they are laid out and arranged that A Midsummer Night’s Dream: wild thyme, after Banks suggested that tea would make helps create the look. oxlips, nodding violets, luscious woodbine, a viable commercial crop for India. The Of course, the gardening doesn’t stop sweet musk-roses and eglantine. It is a later discovery of an indigenous camellia in once the borders have been planted, and tantalising thought, and one that makes Assam would eventually see India become the book moves on to maintaining and this book such a fascinating exploration of the world’s second largest tea producer. caring for all those plants, including a how gardens informed Shakespeare’s work. Drawing on the precious Kew archive, straightforward guide to propagation Interesting asides delve into the plants this offers a privileged view of some of the and pruning, techniques that can seem and fashions of the time – the craze for library’s top artefacts. Forty frame-worthy terrifying to those just starting out. And, mulberries, medicinal herbs. A helpful prints of featured plants are the icing on acknowledging that gardens aren’t merely chronology of plays at the back helps the the cake of this collection. borders, she briefly covers the rest of the reader work out what was written where. garden too: lawns, boundaries, water In all, the work offers sense of a man at The English Garden is giving away three features and lighting. home, perhaps pottering outside in the copies of The Botanical Treasury. For A sound present for those keen to garden garden, when he wasn’t busy with his quill. details visit www.theenglishgarden.co.uk but unsure of where to begin.
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 103
The Reviewer - MAR.indd 103 22/01/2016 10:41 PB_Oct_15_230mm_300mm_bleed.qxp_Layout 1 08/10/2015 11:11 Page 1
INSTANT HEDGES AND LARGE TREES Supplied and planted all year round
Before and after installation, taking less than a day to create a private garden Professional instant hedge and tree installers, with excellent customer satisfaction for over 30 years Practicality Brown create tree landscapes and green screens; from individual specimen trees and instant hedges for private gardens, to bespoke UK-wide projects for designers, architects and property developers.
We are proud to be the sole supplier of the Elveden Instant Hedge™, which is UK- grown to be mature and flat sided. We also sell other hedging products, large shrubs, topiary and semi-mature trees, root-balled and containerised. In fact everything to present a mature garden finish.
Call us to discuss your requirements; whether it’s for trees, topiary or hedges. We would be delighted to guide you around our nursery in Iver, Buckinghamshire to view our samples.
Beautiful topiary Trees for immediate impact PRACTICALITY BROWN LTD The Instant Landscape Specialists Swan Road, Iver, Bucks. SL0 9LA. Tel: 01753 652022 Email: [email protected] Find more information at: www.pracbrown.co.uk
Untitled-12 2 08/10/2015 11:46 NEW BOOKS Q&A Nigel Hewitt-Cooper sheds light on the fascinating world of carnivorous plants
Which plants make a good starting point? Consider the Venus fly trap. It is the one carnivorous plant everybody knows, but unfortunately it is the one that everyone kills – mostly with kindness. They are found all over the world so it is important to look at their natural habitats. They are North American and while they like being warm in summer, they need a cold rest over winter to survive. Try also Drosera capensis, a South African sundew common in cultivation but rare in the wild. It needs a sunny windowsill. One of the North American pitcher plants, such as Sarracenia flava, is also worthwhile. It is a large, vigorous plant with yellow flowers in spring.
What is your best piece of growing advice? There are three golden rules. Carnivorous plants need full sun as they are bog plants adapted to live in high light levels. They must be watered with rainwater because tap water will kill them. What is the premise of your new book? People think it is the chlorine, but it is the hardness It is the first book about carnivorous plants written that is problematic; if you live in a soft water area by an Englishman for 30 years and it is aimed at you might get away with it. Lastly, if they are the complete beginner. Many people who buy temperate, they need cold in winter. A Venus fly these plants have never grown anything – they trap will survive down to -10C in a cold greenhouse; need guiding. Rather than concentrate on too sarracenias -10C to -15C. In my nursery the pots many species which confuses people, I’ve gone can freeze solid in winter – treat them tough. back to the basics. It is a really practical guide. What might readers find surprising? What inspired you to grow carnivorous plants? These plants are worthy of a second look. I’ve I’ve been growing them since I was seven and it exhibited at flower shows for 20 years and people is an obsession, but there isn’t much information will often walk past the display saying they don’t out there. They’re sidelined and regarded as odd like the plants, but if you can get them to look novelties. The point of the book is to show that you closely they start to see the intrinsic beauty of the don’t need a greenhouse and heating; the plants plants and are quite often converted. can be grown in different locations – windowsills, conservatories, greenhouses, bog gardens – they Which carnivorous plants are your favourites? are really good all-rounders and they’re completely Sundews (Drosera spp.) are a favourite. I have the different: structural and striking. National Collection of drosera and what strikes me is the diversity within the genus. Temperate Why should more people grow them? species from this country and North America die They are fantastic and really different, and they right back to a tight resting bud in winter. Those are easy. They do a valuable job in conservatories; in South Africa grow in winter then die back to they are the perfect way to control flies and wasps. flesh roots. Australian ones are tuberous and die Everyone should grow them and everyone can. underground during the hot summer. I find the Carnivorous Plants I’ve had hardy species outside for years and they diversity and adaptations absolutely staggering. By Nigel Hewitt-Cooper grow extremely well. And they are beautiful. n Timber Press, £18
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 105
The Reviewer - MAR.indd 105 22/01/2016 09:57 EG0316 Astrantia_EG0316 Astrantia 25/01/2016 17:13 Page 1
Amazing Astrantia Thousands of star-shaped blooms rare | unusual | exciting from June to October
ONLY
Astrantia major Sunningdale Variegated £1.67EACH height 75cm (30”) Mature, bare root plants delivered in 14 days Astrantia major Primadonna height 1m (40”) Astrantia major rosea height 45-60cm (18-24”) Known as ‘Hattie’s Pincushion’, posies of tiny flowers are surrounded by ruff-like bracts, making sprays of intriguing star-like blooms from June to October. Perfect for injecting colour in an understated manner. Excellent as dried and cut flowers. Slug resistant, prefers moist, well-drained soil in part shade. Spread 30-45cm (12-18). Fully hardy perennials. To order visit hayloftplants.co.uk/eg or call 0844 335 1088
Order Code SEND THE COUPON BY FREEPOST TO Name Hayloft Plants, FREEPOST RTGR-JAGJ-JETG, EG0316 Pensham, Pershore WR10 3HB Address Please send me ITEM CODE PRICE QTY TOTAL Postcode 3 ASTRANTIA (1 of each pictured) BRAST03-EG0316 £10.00
Email* Tel 9 ASTRANTIA (3 of each pictured) BRAST09-EG0316 £15.00 POST & PACKING (UK) £4.95 I enclose Cheque/PO made payable to Hayloft Plants Ltd or please debit my Mastercard Visa Maestro account TOTAL DUE Card No. *By advising us of your email All orders will be address we will be able to send personally confirmed by Card expiry date Issue No Start Date CSV all of our special offers. Please return with a copy of our tick here if you prefer not to 2016 catalogue. receive offers other than Call 01386 554440 SignatureSignature from our company for your FREE catalogue.
HAYLOFT PLANTS, MANOR FARM NURSERY, PENSHAM, PERSHORE WORCESTERSHIRE WR10 3HB
Untitled-109 1 25/01/2016 17:29 Coming next issue in ON SALE 2 MARCH
Savour the Beginning of Spring
• Blossom at Shandy Hall, home of 18th-century novelist Laurence Sterne • Bulbs in profusion at horticulturist Rod Leeds’ Suffolk home • Azaleas and rhododendrons at Trelissick, Cornwall • Fresh foliage in heavenly spring shades • Early blooms and topiary at Little Malvern Court, Worcestershire
PLUS The 10 best spring-flowering alpines and a guide to glasshouse growing
IAN THWAITES; JASON INGRAM; SHUTTERSTOCK; ANDREA JONES INGRAM; SHUTTERSTOCK; JASON IAN THWAITES; Don’t miss out. Buy single copies or subscribe now at
IMAGES www.theenglishgarden.co.uk or call 01858 438854
MARCH 2016 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 107
CNM - MAR.indd 107 21/01/2016 14:07 ADVERTORIAL OUR GUIDE TO THE BEST OF BRITISH NURSERIES BLUEBELL ARBORETUM & NURSERY SPRING REACH NURSERY Specialists in hardy trees, shrubs Spring Reach Nursery grows a and climbers including a huge fantastic range of clematis, trees, selection of unusual and rare hedging, ferns, shrubs, fruit, species and varieties. Expert perennials, roses, climbers and advice is available from our grasses. READY NOW Daphne helpful staff. The nursery is Rebecca +Jacqueline Postill surrounded by a nine-acre Rootballed Hedging and new woodland garden (RHS Partner season’s Roses and Fruit Garden), and visitors are welcome Visit one of Surrey’s finest all year round. nurseries – a gardener’s paradise! Informative website & reliable Just five minutes from RHS Garden mail order service if you would Wisley – follow junction 10 off the like plants delivered. M25. Open Mon–Sat, 10am–5pm; and Sun, 10.30am–4.30pm.
Tel: +44 (0)1530 413700 Tel: +44 (0)1483 284769 Email: [email protected] | Website: www.bluebellnursery.com Email: [email protected] | Website: www.springreachnursery.co.uk Annwell Lane, Smisby, Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire LE65 2TA Spring Reach Nursery, Long Reach, Ockham, Surrey GU23 6PG
WOOTTENS PLANTS ASHWOOD NURSERIES Established for 25 years, Woottens A traditional working nursery situated is a traditional plant nursery in the West Midlands. We specialise in specialising in hardy perennials, Hellebores, Hardy Cyclamen, Salvias, with one of the largest collections Hepaticas, Hydrangeas, Lewisias, of irises in England, which is open Dwarf Conifers, Snowdrops, Primula for viewing every year. Woottens auriculas and offer many more choice also specialises in auriculas, plants. We feel Ashwood Nurseries is a pelargoniums, hemerocallis and plantsman’s paradise. Our mail order violas. Mail order and design service sends plants, garden essentials services. Qualified and passionate and gifts to UK and EU destinations. staff offering expert advice. Special events throughout the year. Gardens open April–October. Please visit our website for more Open days and events held details. Open Daily. Free colour throughout the year. Horticultural brochure quote ENGMAR16 courses running weekly. Tel: +44 (0)1502 478258 Tel: +44 (0)1384 401996 Email: [email protected] | Website: www.woottensplants.com Email: [email protected] | Website: www.ashwoodnurseries.com Woottens of Wenhaston Ltd, Wenhaston, Suffolk, IP19 9HD Ashwood Nurseries, Ashwood Lower Lane, Kingswinford, West Midlands DY6 0AE
WEASDALE NURSERIES DAISY CLOUGH NURSERIES LTD Since 1950, Weasdale Nurseries A family-run nursery in rural have been growing hardy trees Lancashire, Daisy Clough and shrubs on their site at 850ft specialises in a carefully selected elevation in the Howgill Fells, at range of over 600 perennials and the heart of beautiful Cumbria. grasses. Open seven days a week Specialising in mail-order from the for visitors, the nursery also grows outset, their careful packaging a good selection of garden worthy system has become legendary shrubs, along with container and guarantees safe arrival of the plants, vegetable plants and fruit. delicate contents anywhere in The 2016 plant list is available to Europe. Over 1,000 different plants download from the website. are listed online and in the Seeds, pots and sundries are comprehensive, illustrated and available in our new shop. highly-readable 128-page catalogue. Tel: +44 (0)1539 623246 Tel: +44 (0)1524 793104 Email: [email protected] | Website: www.weasdale.com Email: [email protected] | Website: www.daisyclough.com Weasdale Nurseries Ltd, Newbiggin on Lune, Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria CA17 4LX Daisy Clough Nurseries Ltd, Station Lane, Scorton, Preston, Lancashire PR3 1AN
BRITISH NURSERIES EGUK MAR16 SINGLE.indd 110 25/01/2016 10:00
PROMOTIONAL FEATURE SPRING SNOWDROPS ADMIRE CARPETS OF BEAUTIFUL EARLY BULBS AT THESE SPECTACULAR BRITISH GARDENS
HEVER CASTLE & GARDENS PROMOTIONAL FEATURE Hever, Edenbridge, Kent TN8 7NG Tel: +44 (0)1732 865224 | Website: www.hevercastle.co.uk Follow a snowdrop trail through the grounds of Hever Castle, once the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, and enjoy the early blossoms of camellia and quince in the award-winning gardens. Meander along the paths for fabulous snowdrop displays and enjoy blankets of these delicate flowersFOR alongside the double SPRING moat that surrounds the COLOUR 700-year-old Castle. OPEN: 13-21 February 2016 (Daily), 24 February – 27 March (WedFOR – Sun). AN 10.30am ENJOYABLE – 4.30pm. Last entry DAY 3pm, OUT THIS MONTH, VISIT THESE SPECTACULAR SPRING GARDENS see website for other opening dates throughout the year.
CAERHAYS CASTLE CAERHAYS CASTLE Caerhays Estate, Gorran, St Austell, Cornwall, PL26 6LY Caerhays Estate, Gorran, St Austell, Cornwall, PL26 6LY Tel: +44 (0)1872 501310 | Website: www.caerhays.co.uk Tel: 01872 501310 The gardens at Caerhays Castle are a horticultural treasure trove. In a sheltered valley on the south Cornish Email: [email protected] | www.caerhays.co.uk coast the 120 acres are a springtime paradise of glorious camellias, magnolias and rhododendrons towering The gardens at Caerhays Castle are a horticultural treasure trove. In a sheltered valley on the south Cornish coast the 120 acres are a springtime paradise of glorious camellias, magnolias and rhododendrons towering above carpets of delicate narcissi and primroses. The Magnolia Tea Rooms are open for refreshments and above carpets of delicate narcissi and primroses. The Magnolia Tea Rooms are open for refreshments and the gift shop in the courtyard stocks a varied selection of local and own-branded products. the gift shop in the courtyard stocks a varied selection of local and own-branded products. OPEN: Gardens open to the public 22nd February – 19th June (Daily), 10am – 5pm. OPEN: 16 February - 21 June daily 10am - 5pm
WELFORD PARK MYDDELTON HOUSE GARDENS Welford, Newbury, Berkshire, RG20 8HU Bulls Cross, Enfield, Middlesex, EN2 9HG Tel: +44 (0)1488 608691 | Website: www.welfordpark.co.uk Tel: 08456 770 600 | Email: [email protected] | www.visitleevalley.org.uk Is that a carpet of snow? No it is a carpet of snowdrops in the beech woods at WelfordMarvel Park. at Lovely the spectacular paths with selection winter of snowdrops on display at Myddelton House Gardens planting and lots of wilderness for wildlife along the banks of the River Lambourn takeand you discover to the themagnificent world of woodsEA Bowles, one of Britain’s most famous self-taught gardeners. with one of the most intense displays of Galanthus nivalis. There is also a formal garden with aAfter good you’ve selection explored of the eight acres of charming grounds, why not relax in the galanthus cultivars, and yellow aconites. Tea Rooms and Snowdrop gift shop. Bowles Tea Room? Garden entry is free. Visit website for more information. OPEN: Wednesday 3 February to Sunday 6 March 2016, (closed every Monday and Tuesday). 11am, last entry 4pm. OPEN: Daily from 10am-5pm or dusk if earlier.
CHIPPENHAM PARK Chippenham, near Newmarket, Cambridgeshire CB7 5PT ABBOTSBURY SUBTROPICAL GARDENS Tel: +44 (0)1638 721416 | Website: www.chippenhamparkgardens.co.uk Buller’s Way, Abbotsbury, nr. Weymouth, Dorset DT3 4LA Chippenham Park offers more than 35 acres of spectacular woodland, lakes and formal gardens. In February, much of Tel: 44 (0)1305 871387 | Website: www.abbotsburygardens.co.uk the woodland walks are carpeted in a magnificent and abundant display of snowdrops and aconites, which have Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens on the Jurassic Coast near Weymouth in Dorset is considered one of naturalised themselves in vast numbers. A mass of hellebores, fiery dogwoods and exceptional trees help make this a the best in England - winner of the HHA/Christies Garden of the Year Award in 2012 and described truly inspirational time to visit. Homemade soups and pork hot dogs, tea, coffee and other refreshments are available by Alan Titchmarsh as ‘one of the finest gardens I have ever visited’. all day from a licensed tearoom. OPEN: Seven days a week from 10am, (except 20 December - 1 January). OPEN: 10am-4pm 13th-28th February, entry £5. See website for other opening dates throughout the year. Private tours by appointment - please call.
CHIPPENHAM PARK WATERPERRY GARDENS Chippenham, near Newmarket, Cambridgeshire CB7 5PT Waterperry, near Wheatley, Oxfordshire OX33 1JZ Tel: 01638 721416 | www.chippenhamparkgardens.co.uk Tel: +44 (0)1844 339254 | Email: [email protected] Chippenham | Website: Parkwww.waterperrygardens.co.uk offers more than 300 acres of spectacular woodland, lakes and formal gardens. In February, much of the woodland walks are carpeted in a magnificent and abundant display of snowdrops and aconites, Celebrate the first signs of spring with Snowdrop Weekends at Waterperry Gardenswhich have on naturalised 20/21 and themselves 27/28 February. in vast numbers. A mass of hellebores, fiery dogwoods and exceptional The ornamental gardens will be carpeted with more than 30 different varieties treesof snowdrop. help make this a truly inspirational time to visit. Homemade soups and pork hot dogs, tea, coffee A place to explore, relax, and shop in beautiful surroundings all year round. and other refreshments are available all day from a licensed tearoom. OPEN: January-March 10am-5pm, April-October 10am-5.30pm. Party bookings welcome OPEN:by arrangement. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 30 January until 1 March, 10am-4pm, entry £5. See website for other opening dates throughout the year. Private tours by appointment - please call.
RODE HALL & GARDENS
GARDENS TO VISIT EGUK MARCH16.indd 108 22/01/2016Scholar 16:30 Green, Cheshire ST7 3QP Tel: 01270 873237 | Email: [email protected] www.rodehall.co.uk Herald the onset of spring by visiting one of the North’s most spectacular snowdrop walks at Rode Hall & Gardens. With more than 70 varieties on show, the cascading swathes of snowdrops in the Old Wood are a sight to behold. Delightful tea rooms serving light lunches and cream teas alongside a gift shop selling snowdrops and related crafts all make for a wonderful day out. Group bookings welcome by appointment. OPEN: Snowdrop Walks 7 February - 8 March daily (except Mondays) 11am - 4pm. Garden open 1 April - 30 September on Wednesdays and bank holidays. advertorial
1 2 3
4 5 6
stemmed varieties! They make wonderful Mother’s Day the world’s most acclaimed living garden designer; presents, especially when accompanied by a lovely pot- Professional Planting Design with Hilary Thomas; and MOTHER’S DAY grown shrub rose. For these and many other useful and many more. With MyGardenSchool you get video stylish designs for supporting every type of plant, please tutorials, personal feedback from your tutor and you visit our website or phone for a brochure. All products are able to chat to your fellow classmates in your online garden made in England. classroom. Courses start from £120. Tel: +44 (0)1773 550495 E-mail: [email protected] essentials www.leanderplantsupports.co.uk www.my-garden-school.com 3 WHICHFORD POTTERY 5 PERFECT GIFT FOR Inspired by William Morris’ Strawberry Thief, this stylish MOTHER’S DAY... Don’t forget to treat your mother owerpot (26cm x 37cm) is handmade in Warwickshire Attractive gift for gardeners or anyone who has a back on Sunday 6 March with something by Whichford Pottery, makers of top quality, British, (or front) door! With over 25 unique designs to choose exciting for their garden. frostproof owerpots. Free delivery o er to mainland from we are sure that you will nd the perfect pair… UK (saving £29.50). £59.50 each or special price of Backdoorshoes® are lightweight, waterproof, easy to We have some great ideas here… £99 for a pair (saving a further £20) delivered to one slip on, comfortable and durable. Sizes range from 3-13 address. T&Cs apply. O er ends 31/03/16. Please adults and 13-3 for children. telephone to order. Tel: +44 (0)1202 232357 1 JENNY BELL CERAMICS Tel: +44 (0)1608 684416 www.backdoorshoes.co.uk Spring has truly sprung with Da odils, Birds & Animals www.whichfordpottery.com with their young on this beautiful Bone China Mug by 6 ARTISAN PLANT SUPPORTS artist Jennifer Bell. A great idea for Mother’s Day or just 4 to cheer yourself up on a dull dreary day. Choose from a MYGARDENSCHOOL A range of hand-crafted plant supports and obelisks, selection of wording or personalise (add £1) for an extra SELF SUFFICIENCY COURSE designed to provide architectural structure within the special gift. £11.50 plus postage, see other designs & Learn how to become self-su cient and grow your own garden, while also complimenting and enhancing the order from our website. food all year round with an online gardening course plant’s features. All ranges have a choice of nishes; Tel: +44 (0)1388 665757 from MyGardenSchool. This course, taught by leading including rusted, galvanised or powder-coated in a www.jennybell.co.uk garden journalist, Sally Nex takes you right through the choice of colours. Featured is our ever popular Tissington growing year. You will learn crop selection, managing support ideal for Peony or Rose support. Please call or your land and the best ways to avoid the so-called email for a brochure or visit our website. 2 LEANDER PLANT SUPPORTS ‘hungry gap’ in early spring. Other courses include Tel: +44 (0)1538 753128 Leander’s stunning Rose Baskets in rusted iron are Planting Design with Perennials with Dr Noel Kingsbury; Email: [email protected] perfect for supporting those beautiful but weak- Garden Design Secrets with John Brookes, MBE – www.artisanplantsupports.co.uk
Product ADVERTORIAL MAR16.indd 1 25/01/2016 15:41 FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT US AT Shop with us WWW.THEENGLISHGARDEN.CO.UK
ACCESSORIES SupportSupport wherewhere it’sit’s neededneeded PlantPlant Supports Supports (UK) (UK) Ltd Ltd have have the the largest largest range range of of Plant Plant FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT US AT SupportsSupports within within the the UK. UK. All All handmade handmade in in Tenbury Tenbury Wells, Wells, Shop withWorcestershire.Worcestershire. Made Made Support by by usGardeners Gardeners for for Gardeners. Gardeners.where WWW.THEENGLISHGARDEN.CO.UK Traditional Georgian style steel planters, window boxes and butts it’s needed Support where it’s neededPlant Supports (UK) Ltd have the largest range ACCESSORIESSupportSupport wherewhere it’sit’s neededneeded HEDGING AND TOPIARY PET SERVICES Plant Supports (UK) Ltd have the largest range of Plant of Plant Supports within the UK. PlantPlant Supports SupportsSupports (UK) (UK) Ltd Ltd within have have the the largestUK. largest All range handmaderange of of Plant Plant inAll Tenbury handmade Wells, in Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire. SupportsSupports within withinWorcestershire. the the UK. UK. All All handmade handmade Made inbyin Tenbury Tenbury Gardeners Wells, Wells, for Gardeners. Worcestershire.Worcestershire. Made Made by by Gardeners Gardeners for for Gardeners. Gardeners. Made by Gardeners for Gardeners. Support where it’s needed Plant Supports (UK) Ltd have the largest range of Plant Supports within the UK. All handmade in Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire. Made by Gardeners for Gardeners. HURDLES, CLIMBERS & BASKETSFor details or to order visit FOR CATALOGUE 020 8247 3700 WWW.CHAIRWORKS.INFOwww.plantsupports.co.uk [email protected] call 01584 781578 Plant supports (UK) Ltd. Skipperley, Rochford, Tenbury Wells, Worcs WR15 8SL Hand-crafted in England HEDGING PUBLISHERS 01299 827059 www.arthurjack.co.uk GREENHOUSES GLEBE FARM HEDGING The best barrow ever..... Over 100 varieties of field and pot grown hedge plants and young trees. Nationwide delivery. for advice or a catalogue contact us on t: 01206 323200 WEB SERVICES [email protected] hurdles, garden products and baskets The Smart Cart For catalogue 020 8247 3700 www.glebefarmhedging.co.uk 7 or 12 cu ft, nimble, light, WWW.chaIrWorks.InFo [email protected] ACCOMMODATION barrow lugging banished GREENHOUSES Glebe Farm, Langham, Colchester,Clare Essex House CO4 5PP EMAIL: forever – so tough, it will e: [email protected] a relaxing winter break, where cosy log fires, award winning be your friend for life food and magnificent views await you.
• Oct. 4th - Dec. 15th. Any 4-night break from £327.00pp D,B&B. www.smartcartsuk.com THE HEDGINGWinter Bird Offer SPECIALISTS from Nov. 1st includes a discount of 15%. t 07850 204714 Park Road, Grange-over-Sands, LA11 7HQ MACHINERYInspectors’ Choice Hotel SUPPLIERSTel. 015395 33026. www.clarehousehotel.co.uk To advertise in the GARDENING classified section of The English Garden
020 7349 3700 magazine please call 020 7349 3700 Contact TEL: us today for • ACCOMMODATION a copy of Clare House our 2016 Located Clareon the picturesque HouseClare coastline ofHouse Morecambe Bay, Brochure May we invite youMay to the wewithin coastal invite easy youresort toreach ofthe Grange coastalof the over Lakeresort Sands, District.of Grange within over easy Sands, within easy reach of the LakeRe-opening reachDistrict, of theand March Laketo stay 23rdDistrict, at our following andcomfortable to stay winter at hotel our refurbishment. comfortableoverlooking hotel overlooking Spring Specialthe picturesqueOffer, March coastlinethe 23rd-April picturesque of Morecambe 22nd, coastline any Bay. of 4-night Morecambe break Bay. from £332.00 Aprilpp D,B&B. 25th-July Book 3rdApril before Any 25th-July 4-night February 3rdbreak 15th Any from to4-night receive£361.00pp break 5% D,B&B.from off our £361.00pp Spring D,B&B.terms. ParkPark Road, Road, Grange-over-Sands, Grange-over-Sands,Park Road, LA11 Grange-over-Sands, 7HQ LA11 LA11 7HQ 7HQ For the PERFECT English Garden Inspectors’ Choice Hotel Inspectors’Tel.Tel. Choice 015395015395 Hotel 33026. 33026 www.clarehousehotel.co.ukTel.. 015395 www.clarehousehotel.co.uk 33026. www.clarehousehotel.co.uk Our Flat Bed Trailer range is ideal for so many tasks around the garden. Check out our website and brochure for details of our huge range of machinery. TO ADVERTISETO CLOTHING 01473 328272 | [email protected] | www.schsupplies.co.uk NURSERIES NURSERIES To advertise in Fruit Trees And Bushes the classified Fast and efficient Nationwide Delivery Service TO ADVERTISE CONTACT SARAH BURCH TEL: TO CONTACT +44 ADVERTISE (0) 1242 264772 EMAIL: [email protected] TO sectionADVERTISE of WITH US PLEASE CONTACT The English Garden magazine DEACON'S NURSERY pleaseSARAH call BURCH BUY ONE GET ONE FREE 020 7349 3700 ON SELECTED ITEMS Deacons Nursery (Dept EG), Godshill, or see our website Isle Of Wight PO38 3HW +44 (0) 1242 264772 Tel: 01983-840750 (24 hrs)/522243 www.theenglish [email protected] garden.co.uk www.theenglishgarden.co.uk www.deaconsnurseryfruits.co.uk EMAIL: [email protected]
Classifieds EGUK MAR16.indd 112 25/01/2016 15:44 FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT US AT WWW.THEENGLISHGARDEN.CO.UK Shop with us MOLE TRAPS SEED & PLANT SALES
Endorsed by The New Sprin 2016 Mole catching the Master Mole EasySet way Catchers in Catalogu OUT NOW! Mole Catchers Kit the UK From the makers of the revolutionary Choose Unwins for top quality varieties, fresh new EasySet Mole Trap. Everything you need for only £95.00 ideas for your garden and practical gardening tips. ✔ Bedding Plants – BUY ANY 2 packs and SAVE £2 per pack. EasySet Mole Trap ✔ BUY ANY 5 Seed packs and get the CHEAPEST FREE. Also sold separately: £17.50 each ✔ Young Plants – BUY ANY 2 single packs and GET 1 FREE. ✔ FREE TRIAL PACK of Envii Foundation, our NEW biological www.beagleproducts.com gardening product, with bedding plant orders. or call us on 01223 927216 Request your FREE Unwins Catalogue today TOADVERTISE PET SERVICES at unwins.co.uk or call 0844 573 8400 Having Dog Problems?Having Dog Problems?Monday-Friday 8.30am-6.30pm, Saturday-Sunday 9am-4pm. Calls cost 7p per minute plus your telephone company’s access charge. HavingDo You Need DogTo Problems?PACDOG Control System Do You Need To PADoCDOGYou Control Need ToSystem PACDOG Control System Do You Need To ExPAPACDOGpertsCDOG Ha Control veControltheSySo Systemstlutionem Fo Expertsr Do You Need To ExpertsDo You Ha Needve theToSolution For PACDOG Control InSy partnershipstem with our sister company Stop DogsDogs StrayingStraying FromFr Yourom Yo Propertyur YoPAHaveuCDOG the Control SolutionSyst Forem You Experts Have the Solution For Do You Need To ExpertsDo You Ha Needve theToSolution For ExPApertsCDOG Ha Controlve theSySostlutionem For HelpStopProperty withDo gsTraining,Stray Recalling From Your YoExpertsu ElectronicStop HaDovegs DogStrthe FenceayingSoFrlutionom YourFor You SUFFOLKSUFFOLK HERBSHERBS WorryingStop Do gsof FarmStray Stocking Fr etc.om Your You Experts Have the Solution For HelpProperty with Training, Recall ElectronicElectronicPrStopopertyDogsg DogFeStrnce Trainingaying FrSystemsom Your You • NeedStopHelpProperty To withDo CuregsTrStr Nuisanceaining,ayingRe FrBarking.caomll Your YoElectronicu BarkPrStopoperty ControllersDogsg FeStrnceaying From Your YoElectronicu Dog Fence Worrying of Farm Stock etc. ElectronicHelp withDog Training,aining SyRestecallms The most comprehensive TEL: Property 2016 WoHelpNeedrrying withTo CureofTraining,Fa NuisanceKeeprm StockRe YourcaBarking.ll et Dogc. Safe and VisibleBarkElectronic NightWoHelpPrCoopertyntrollersrrying withDoor gDayofTrFeaining,ainingFance Withrm Stock SyOurResteca Highll etmsc. Vis Electronic Dog TrFeainingnce Systems Help with Training, Recall Electronic Dog Fence catalogue ever WoNeedrryingTo Cureof Fa Nuisancerm StockDogBarking. et c.Collars, Leads andBarkElectronic LongWoHelpNeedControllersrrying Line withDoTo gCure TrainingofTraining,ainingFa Nuisancerm StockLeadsSyRestecaBarking.ll etmsc. BarkElectronicControllersDog TrFeainingnce Systems WoNeedrryingTo Cureof Fa NuisancermContact StockBarking. etc. us now forBarkElectronic salesWoNeedControllers rryingandDoTo gCure ofexpertTrainingFa Nuisancerm StockSy advice:steBarking. etmsc. BarkElectronicControllersDog Training Systems Need To Cure Nuisance Barking. Bark NeedControllersTo Cure Nuisance Barking. Bark Controllers 3700 7349 020 Keep Your Dog SaUKfe Freephone:and Visible Night 0800 or Day 028 With Ou 4325r High Vis Irl Low Call 1890 361 361 Keep YoDourgDo Collarg Sas,feLeandadsVi andsibleLo Nightng LineKe orepDayTrYoainingur WiDothgLeOuSaadsrfe HighandViVissible Night or Day With Our High Vis Keep Your Dog Safe and Visible NightKe orepDayYour WiDothgOuSarfe HighandViVissible Night or Day With Our High Vis Keep YoDourgDo Collarg Sas,feLeandadsVi andsibleLo Nightng Line or DayTrainingDo Wigth CollarLeOuadsrs, HighLeadsVisShop and at www.pacdog.co.ukLong Line Training Leads Dog Collars, Leads and Long LineKeepTrYoainingDourgDo CollargLeSaadss,feLeandadsVi andsibleLo Nightng Line or DayTraining WithLeOuadsr High Vis ContactDog Collar uss, nowLeadsfo andr saLolesng and LineexTrainingpertDog Collar advice:Leadss, Leads and Long Line Training Leads Contact us now for sales and exContactpert advice: us now for sales and expert advice: ContactUK usFr noweephone:for sa 0800les and02exContact8pert 4325 advice: us now for sales and expert advice: ContactUK usFr noweephone:for sa 0800les and02exContact8pert 4325UK advice: usFr noweephone:for sa 0800les and02ex8pert 4325 advice: UKIrlFreephone:Low Call 1890 0800 361028 361 4325UK Freephone: 0800 028 4325 UKIrlFreephone:Low Call 1890 0800 361028 361 4325UKIrlFreephone:Low Call 1890 0800 361028 361 4325 Request your free copy Irl Low Call 1890 361 361 Irl Low Call 1890 361 361 Irl Low CallShop 1890 361 at 361 www.pacdog.co.ukIrl Low Call 1890 361 361 www.kingsseeds.com | 01376570000 •
EMAIL: SEED & PLANT SALES SKINCARE 2016
DermaGuard [email protected] ExcellentThe most protection comprehensive for your hands against catalogue ever the damaging effects of soils, sap, water and all garden chemicals. Just one application of our lotion guarantees to protect for up to four hours – even when Plants of Distinction hands are wet. Safe for horticulture. Flower & Vegetable Seeds Collection 2016 250ml £6.50 • 500ml £12.00 POST FREE The Skin Care Company Ltd St Asaph LL17 0HH FREE Order Hotline: 0800 917 2219 REQUEST YOUR FREE CATALOGUE TODAY Secateurs, hedgeshears andwww.dermaguard.com the world’s fi nest www.plantsofdistinction.co.uk Tel: 01206 307999 pruning saws in superb, tempered JapaneseTOOLS steel Secateurs, hedgeshears and the world’s fi nest
Secateurs,pruning saws hedgeshears in superb, and tempered the world’sKST230 Japanese fi nest steel pruning saws in superb, tempered Japanese steel KST230 KST230
KST217 KST217 KST217 KST103 SilkySilky Fox Fox SawsSaws KST103 Silky Fox Saws KST103 Foxley Estate Offi ce, FoxleyFoxley Estate Estate Offi ce, Offi ce, Hayauchi Hayauchi Hayauchi490 ManselMansel Lacy, Lacy, 490 490 Mansel Lacy, HerefordHerefordHereford HR4 7HQHR4HR4 7HQ7HQ Tel: 01981Tel: 01981 590224 590224 PocketboyPocketboy 170 170 Tel: 01981 590224 Pocketboy 170 Fax: 01981Fax: 01981 590355 590355 Fax: 01981 590355 [email protected]@silkyfox.co.uk [email protected] VisitVisit silkyfox.co.uk silkyfox.co.uk to tofi nd fi ndyour your local local stockist stockist Visit silkyfox.co.uk to fi nd your local stockist
Classifieds EGUK MAR16.indd 113 25/01/2016 15:44 LAST WORD A Milestone Month The unpredictable nature of the weather in March means gardeners must live by their wits, as Katherine Swift explains
arch is a milestone of a month: four important calendar dates and two whole seasons whistling by in the space of a week. The spring equinox, Mmarking the first day of Spring, on the 20th. Then Lady Day (which before the reform of the calendar was New Year’s Day), hard on its heels on the 25th. And then Easter Sunday and the start of British Summer Time, colliding on the 27th. It is a time of big skies and roaring weather; of the grand gesture – out with the old, in with the new – day longer than night for the first time since September; Old King Winter banished: régime change. It is not for nothing that the conspirators chose the Ides of March to do away with Caesar. The ides (on the 15th) was one of three days each month from which the Romans calculated their dates. The others were the nones (on the 7th), and the kalends (coinciding with the new moon, on the 1st), which gives us our word followed by “Prune roses,” and “Lay turves,” ‘calendar’. each accompanied by black-and-white drawings I adore calendars. They start the year full of illustrating the appropriate technique. Every month I delicious white space through which the symbol would carefully copy the relevant instructions into a for the moon drifts, a plain circle alternately notebook, and duly tick off and date each task in red filling and emptying with ink like a small sea. But when completed. Looking at them now, I see that by then in March I suddenly find I’m running out of the end of March, the first vegetables and sweet peas time. The garden opens for the season at Easter. I adore would have been sown and early potatoes planted. Lists of things to do in the garden lengthen and I still have all those notebooks. At some point proliferate. Already I’m juggling priorities. What calendars. I started jotting down other observations in them, should I do first? What have I forgotten? They“ start too – a habit which, 30 years later, provided the When I began my first garden years ago in background to The Morville Hours, the book I a village near Oxford, the ground outside the the year full wrote about making my garden here in Shropshire. cottage was rich and black from 500 years of of delicious It is unlikely that anyone now would have such digging, and gritty with the accumulated silt of confidence in the predictability of the seasons. millennia of flooding. There were no flowers, just white space. Recent years have seen my garden snowbound at a large vegetable patch, old blackcurrants and an But then Easter, or waterlogged in April, too wet and claggy ancient ‘Blenheim Orange’ apple tree. to set foot on, let alone sow seeds in. Your Garden I knew nothing. How to begin? My Bible in March I Week by Week was first published in 1936, and became AGL Hellyer’s Your Garden Week remained in print into the 1980s (you can find copies by Week, loaned to me by a kind neighbour. suddenly online). A more up-to-date but less detailed version of Divided into sections for each week, it was find I’m the same sort of thing is the RHS Gardening Month headed with notes on the general work for by Month, published in 2011. Such books remain that month. March began with the instruction running out useful, but given our increasingly chaotic weather,
“Transplant and divide herbaceous perennials,” of time nowadays we have to learn to garden by our wits. n ALAMY PORTRAIT BEVERLEY FRY IMAGE
114 THE ENGLISH GARDEN MARCH 2016
Last Word - MAR VH.indd 114 21/01/2016 17:14 GB0731 The English Garden UK - Jan 2016 F-Page (230x300)_GB0731 The English Garden UK - Jan 2016 F-Page (230x300) 25/11/2015 16:49 Page 1
The RHS Collection Winter Sale
1 Save on the Greenhouse 2 Save on Staging & Shelving 3 Save on Installation Save with our comprehensive package options Finance available see our website for details Gabriel Ash Limited is a credit broker and not a lender. Credit is subject to application and status.
The only timber greenhouses gabriel ash endorsed by the RHS
FOR INFORMATION CALL 01829 271 890 OR VISIT www.gabrielash.com
Gabriel Ash Limited, Monument Farm, Farndon, Cheshire, CH3 6QP (COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER 3728768) act as a credit broker and not the lender. Gabriel Ash Limited only offer products from Barclays Partner Finance. Barclays Partner Finance is a trading name of Clydesdale Financial Services Limited a wholly owned subsidiary of Barclays Bank PLC. Clydesdale Financial Services Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (Financial Services Register number: 311753). Registered in England. Registered No. 2901725. Registered office: 1 Churchill Place, London E14 5HP.
Untitled-52 1 26/11/2015 09:46 HB1206 The English Garden UK - Feb 16 F/page (300x230mm)_HB1206 The English Garden UK Feb 16 (300x230mm) AW 16/12/2015 15:14 Page 1
WINTER SALE
For all our OFFERS call or click 0800 783 8083 www.hartley-botanic.co.uk Quoting Ref: EG THE FINEST GLASSHOUSES MONEY CAN BUY
Untitled-37 1 16/12/2015 15:46