Comment The Garden, RHS Media, Churchgate, New Road, Peterborough PE1 1TT LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Mixed forecast for gardeners RHS / TIM SANDALL TIM / RHS See Editor of The Garden, Chris Young News p9 The weather is that spring frosts have reduced in number warmer springs and possibly colder never far from during the last four decades but are not winters. The result will, for example, cause many gardeners’ minds. Whether too hot in gone completely; early spring temperatures, unreliable cropping of top fruit, or re quire summer or too cold in winter; too dry in early on average, have been rising; and the increased vigilance for pests or diseases. spring or frustratingly wet in autumn, the frequency of extreme rainfall ‘events’ (as It also means that gardeners must refine inevitable relationship between gardening is now the word for any weather­related their appreciation of what growing conditions and weather has been forever thus. incident) is increasing. exist within their plot. Truly understanding Our changing climate affects us all; this So what does that mean for gardeners? microclimates in our gardens allows us level of change – or ‘volatility’ as meteoro­ In essence, more of the same from the to broaden the plant choice we have; to logists describe – is seemingly only going to varied, volatile British climate. Julia was extend the season of some plantings; and increase. During the second John MacLeod keen to stress that the predictions from use different parts of the outdoor space Annual Lecture (hosted by the RHS at the some at the turn of the millennium (that for different activities. Time­honoured end of last year) Met Office Chief Scientist UK gardeners would swap roses for cacti, of techniques such as ensuring good drainage Julia Slingo explained that our weather gardens without lawns) do not seem likely for lawns, planting trees or shrubs for conditions will be even more unpredictable. in the coming three or four decades. shade/protection, and continuing to Julia, an amateur gardener, confirmed many However, extremes of weather associated experiment with plants (to see if they cope things gardeners have suspected: that since with the UK climate will definitely increase, with a changing climate) have never been 1971 the growing season has lengthened; so we can expect more frequent flooding, more important. Whatever the weather. FROM THIS ISSUE FROM MY GARDEN JANE JANE S This once derelict EBIRE Of all things, they noticed what? steading is now Author: Helen Dillon, gardener and writer living in the Republic of Ireland home to a pristine I sometimes wonder if visitors to my garden look round the garden then said, ‘I see you’ve got a round with the sole intention of catching me out. weed problem up in that corner’. courtyard garden ‘How do you deal with mildew?’ asked one of my Would you believe it? You make a garden for last visitors of 2012. I muttered something about 41 years, fill it with nice plants, only for someone with topiary knots dry roots and wet foliage sometimes being the to come all the way from New York just to notice cause and she seemed fairly satisfied. the mildew, or from Newcastle simply to spot the and spirals that Moments later my eye fell on my most interest­ odd patch of weeds. are a dramatic ing new acquisition, Cosmos x Dahlia ‘Mexican Perhaps the most memorable comment was Black’ with deep crimson, chocolate­scented from a great plantsman and writer who I truly foil, especially flowers. Overnight, seemingly, it had been admired – Graham Stuart Thomas. He arrived dusted with pale grey powder. That visitor one day in late summer and after on a snowy is bound to see it, I thought – the best looking round remarked, ‘What good winters’ evening thing to do is to mention it before maintenance you have’. The she does. Sure enough, no sooner ultimate put­down, surely, as it Antoinette Galbraith: did I begin ‘The dahlia/cosmos implied that not only did I never do plant…’ than she interrupted, the garden myself, but also that Spirals in the snow RIGBY AMANDA N: O ‘Oh yes, covered in mildew…’. there was nothing whatsoever » Pages 40-43 Well, she would, wouldn’t she? of artistic merit deserving of ILLUSTRATI Another time a man went all comment. Must try harder… January 2013 | The Garden 13 CONTACT US Write to: The Garden, RHS Media, Churchgate, New Rd, Comment Peterborough PE1 1TT or email: [email protected] (please include your postal address). Letters on all gardening topics are welcome, but may be GENIUS OF PLANTS edited for publication. Letters Edelweiss RHS Vinery restoration with ‘Invicta’, which has proven Yes, garden centres can help MIK / amazes scientists E My attention was drawn to the to be immune for many years educate but perhaps the S Author: James Wong, botanist and garden designer L E item about the restoration of the now. They are excellent croppers, industry as a whole – and Croscosmia ‘Lucifer’. IG H Whether in schmaltzy songs or twee Alpine folk art, to most of vinery at Fulham Palace (News, although viciously thorny. writers – should be doing more us ‘edelweiss’ conjures up images of anything but satellites and Oct 2012, p9). In the 1960s I was Ken Thompson, Sheffield to get the message across. supercars. But, believe it or not, this dainty montane wild flower granted permission to reside at Louise Johnson, Burford (Leontopodium alpinum) may help revolutionise everything Fulham Palace to carry out an Autumn planting Garden Company, Oxfordshire from international communications to energy prices. ornithological study in the Nigel Colborn suggests that it Growing high in the Alps at altitudes up to 3,000m (10,000ft) the delicate tissues of these now-familiar garden plants are grounds, as part of a wider study is perhaps the fault of garden Y E Finding a balance RHS L exposed to a constant barrage of intense ultraviolet (UV) es of birds in the local area. The centres that we may have lost Lia Leendertz’s column on her TIM / radiation, yet seem immune to its cell-damaging effects. kitchen garden (now walled), the autumn planting habit ‘temporary’ garden (Comment, Geranium Rozanne (‘Gerwat’) is S NDY W NDY ANDALL E A few years ago Belgian investigators looked into the plant’s was one of the focal areas for (Comment, Oct 2012, p21). Oct 2012, p19) reminds me of a popular choice in Mary Keen’s ‘Desert Island Flowers’ game. Cyclamen hederifolium. ability to survive these conditions. What they discovered was to finding passing migrants in the The financial reality is that the saying, ‘We plant trees not W / RHS shock them – for the woolly fuzz that covers the whole plant, grounds, and it was here that I gardening is a seasonal activity for ourselves, but for future including the silver-white, leaf-like bracts that surround their first saw a lesser whitethroat. and, without diversification, generations’. On the whole, things tend to Gardeners’ game ✤ I agree with Mary – Geranium flowers, is actually made up of millions of peculiar hollow I look forward to seeing the garden centres like ours would My failing is planting too soon, work out, but perhaps I need Mary Keen’s game (‘Desert Rozanne (‘Gerwat’) was the first filaments. The filaments themselves are covered in infinitesimally results of the restoration project. find it hard to survive. Yes, we sell overwhelmed by my vision of to join forces with a Leendertz- Island Flowers’; Comment, Nov plant I thought of, too. After small fibres measuring only about 180 millionths of a millimetre in Peter J Strangeman, Hampshire Christmas baubles, but we are the garden to come. Each time style gardener in order to 2012, p23) sounds awful. Only that, I have Dahlia ‘Bishop of diameter. So tiny are these nano structures that they are the same also the largest independent I move, I vow not to plant until produce the ideal hybrid which eight plants? I go along with Llandaff’, and Hemerocallis size as the wavelength of UV light, creating a fleece-like barrier that absorbs virtually all the damaging rays before they reach the Disease resistance stockist of David Austin roses the hard landscaping, shrubs and has the perfect blend of Geranium psilostemon, and I ‘Frans Hals’ for its striking plant’s cells. And the most exciting news? Scientists found they In October you recommended and our plantaria has one of the trees are in, but with the arrival resolution and sympathy that like Croscosmia ‘Lucifer’ but flowers. Next, Cyclamen could make synthetic copies of these using glass optical fibres. gooseberries ‘Leveller’ and most extensive selections of of autumn a bulb-planting Christopher Lloyd once I would also pick Hemerocallis hederifolium, which invades The potential applications for this plant-inspired technology ‘Invicta’ for good disease plants in the country (75 percent instinct overwhelms me and advocated in garden design. lilioasphodelus. Pride of place every corner of my garden – in stretch much further than skin creams and sunglasses. It is not resistance (RHS Advice, of which are grown in the UK). I rush to the garden centre. Emma Spary, Cambridgeshire goes to Alstroemeria – a September passers-by admire only living tissues that get p24). My ‘Leveller’ In a recent survey 51 percent versatile plant in a range of them. I would choose Stipa damaged by UV light but all manner of technological / TGC / bushes were killed of people thought that colours and heights, with a gigantea if grasses are allowed, E by American spring bulbs needed ‘…like clusters of milk chocolate curls succession of flowers over a long as well as Nerine bowdenii, a materials, from industrial paints MAIN O gooseberry to be planted in period.