Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2016 i Gardens Illustrated Magazine

I love watching the seasons unfold, but by February I have to admit that I’m eager for spring to come. What better way to spend your enforced time indoors than dreaming of what to grow in the coming year? I am delighted that landscape architect and designer Tom Stuart-Smith has written this year’s feature on his 100 Favourite Plants. He set himself the challenge of choosing only those that he had grown himself at home and kept to his self-imposed rule, bar just a couple of exceptions (Magnolia ‘David Clulow’ and Iris‘Benton Daphne’). Tom, who is renowned for his intelligent and beautifully executed designs, once said that being an “outsized specimen” himself (he’s six foot five) he has penchant for plants that grow tall and fast. Snowdrops are one of…

EXHIBITION Brazilian beauties Discover the breadth and beauty of Brazil’s exotic flora in Brazil: A Powerhouse of Plants, a new exhibition at Kew’s Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art that highlights the pioneering work of the late British explorer and botanical artist, Margaret Mee. Although the focus is paintings by Mee (including the selection shown above), the exhibition also includes works by contemporary Brazilian artists and old masters from Kew’s collection, including drawings by Sydney Parkinson of plants collected by the naturalist Joseph Banks on Cook’s first HMS Endeavour voyage in 1768–1771. 20 February – 29 August, kew.org SHORT STORY To the flowerbed Kew Gardens, a short story by Virginia Woolf, is set to charm a new generation of readers in a beautifully illustrated book from Kew Publishing. First published…

Iris histrioides ‘Halkis’ (Reticulata) I am always amazed that the delicate reticulate irises brave the late winter weather. This one is a relative newcomer to me and I grow it on a raised gritty bed above my heavy, waterlogged, clay soil. It has soft blue petals with purple falls and an exquisite bluish-purple stippling around a slender yellow beard. I find reticulate irises rarely persist for more than a few years on my site but they are relatively inexpensive to purchase and are such a welcome sight as the days lengthen and the new growing season is about to begin. Height 12cm. Growing conditions Well-drained soil in sun. Hardiness RHS H6, USDA 4a-9b. Origin Cultivar of Iris histrioides , which originates in Turkey. Season of interest Late winter. Corylus avellana…

Earliest gardening memory As a child I remember working extremely hard to cultivate giant radishes. Big they certainly were, their edibility was, however, questionable. First plant love Native trees: for climbing, burning, whittling and building with – I had a more or less feral, rural childhood. Who has inspired your career Without a serendipitous meeting with Christopher Lloyd and a cheeky request for a summer job at Great Dixter, I would probably not have gone into gardening as a profession. He taught me to love gardening with plants as a form of self-expression. Favourite landscape and garden Derek Jarman’s garden at Prospect Cottage, Dungeness, is perhaps the ultimate garden where house, garden and landscape seamlessly meld. Plus the Hubbard’s garden at Chilcombe, which has similarly strong ties into the wider…

Cecil Pinsent had the good fortune to find a powerful patron while in his early twenties. American art historian Bernard Berenson asked him to make a garden at Villa I Tatti near Florence (itatti.harvard.edu). Berenson was one of the many expatriates who adopted Italy as their cultural home. The Green Garden at I Tatti was Pinsent’s first attempt to recreate a garden in the early Renaissance style. His work there, which was on an incredibly steep site, enabled him to explore the monumental, pared-down formality that later became his trademark. The Berensons recommended Pinsent to Iris Origo’s mother, Lady Sybil Cutting, who had arrived in Florence in 1910 as a young widow. Expatriates liked villas with Medici connections and Lady Sybil had one of the greats – Villa Medici itself.…

“The natural world underpins everything. We can’t afford to lose a single species. Were we to lose it, we could never make another song thrush” Even a stinker of a cold can’t dampen Val Bourne’s exuberance. Fortified by Lemsip and her unstoppable enthusiasm, she is rushing me around her Cotswold garden, showing me her favourite plants and pressing into my hand seed of a plant I’ve admired. Val is a garden writer, lecturer and plant collector who, for the past 20 years, has been enthusing gardeners about the best plants to grow and how to grow them. Val’s parents were in the film industry and she grew up in west London in what she describes as a “bohemian” childhood. “The reason I started gardening was because as a small child…

• Book now for a study day on the work of Humphry Repton at Pentillie Castle, Cornwall, on 12 March. Led by Repton specialist Keir Davidson, the day will concentrate on the 18th-century landscape designer’s commissions in the Lower Tamar Valley, and includes a guided tour of the landscape at Pentillie. £85 per person, overnight package from £175. Tel 01579 350044, pentillie.co.uk • If you’re thinking about changing career to become a garden designer, then a new, one-day course at RHS Garden Wisley, Surrey, could be for you. Led by experts from the London College of Garden Design, the course takes place on 13 February and costs £110. Other new RHS courses, include, Making the Most of Winter Beauty, led by Noël Kingsbury at Wisley on 27 February, price £91,…

THE COMPANY OF TREES A YEAR IN A : LIFETIME’S QUEST by Thomas Pakenham Orion Books, £30 ISBN 978-02978666244 A year in the life of one of the tireless champions of trees, encompassing everything from travel to history and science. Reviewer Caroline Beck is a writer and radio producer. Writer Thomas Pakenham has extracted more from trees than an average timber merchant. His fascination started prosaically enough with a need to pay death duties on Tullynally, an Irish estate left to him in 1961 by his uncle. ‘I was up to my ears in debt… so I wooed my creditors with spiky blue-green Sitka spruce, elegant Lodgepole pines and acrid smelling thuyas.’ What began as a commercial relationship evolved into one of enthusiastic admiration not just for the many hundreds…

A selection of sublime favourites by one of the world’s most loved composers will be performed in Mozart Masterpieces including excerpts from The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro and the achingly beautiful Piano Concerto No. 21. The concert on Saturday 13 February at 7.30pm will be performed by the Mozart Festival Orchestra and star soloists including the exciting up-and-coming pianist Ji Liu. This will be followed on Saturday 27 February at 7.30pm by an all Beethoven concert by the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Bach Choir, which culminates with the impressive Ninth Symphony and its magnificent ‘Ode to Joy . The final concert in this prestigious season will be the Grand Organ Gala on Friday 4 March at 7.30pm. One of the UK’s most acclaimed organists, Stephen Disley, will perform…

TIMBER COLD FRAME Ideal for hardening off and protecting young and non-hardy plants, and for raising seedlings, plugs and cuttings. Two independently opening lids for easy ventilation and watering, with two height settings for each lid. 19mm thick frame for insulation, pressure treated to protect against rot. £75.95. Tel 01932 878570 Web organiccatalogue.com SHOEGARDEN Shoegarden is the home of Haflinger slippers and clogs made with natural materials. You can find the widest range of pure wool slippers and felt clogs in a variety of colours and styles for both men and women. The robust rubber sole makes them great for around your house and garden. Buy online with £5 OFF use code: GARDEN2 Tel 01223 244400 Web shoegarden.co.uk WHICHFORD POTTERY Inspired by William Morris’ Strawberry Thief textile design, this flowerpot…

• Seasonal highlights from Arne Maynard’s garden Allt-y-bela in Monmouthshire • New series: inspirational container displays – planting ideas for spring • How to create garden style on a budget • Plant Profile: trilliums ON SALE 2 MARCH Save money when you subscribe to the digital edition – see page 14. Also in selected Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Tesco stores, as well as WHSmith, and all good magazine retailers.…

Other months to come will disappoint you, but February has nothing except improvement to offer Any minute now, you think, there will be a crocus. More often than not you will be waiting until March, but you can’t help looking. I always loved this month of expectation in my childhood in Ireland, when February was the month that winter softened and the bottoms of ditches turned to living green. Here, in England, it is a harsher month by far, and for a long time I mourned the Irish February. I think I stopped when Christopher Lloyd pointed out to me that it was a very short month and that the sun set a whole hour later at the end of it than it had at the beginning. We may have…

BUNNY GUINNESS Bunny has been designing gardens and commercial spaces for more than 40 years. As well as writing a weekly column in the Sunday Telegraph she has been a BBC Radio 4 Gardeners’ Question Time panellist for 16 years. On page 66 she suggests some great plants for hedging. “I love using hedges – they’re perfect for framing and creating spaces, but also add personality and shelter for wildlife” TOM STUART-SMITH Tom studied zoology at Cambridge before switching to landscape design. He has created gardens at Trentham, RHS Wisley, Windsor Castle and the Royal Academy of Arts, and is the winner of eight Chelsea gold medals. On page 37 he lists his 100 favourite plants. “I have chosen plants I grow in my own garden that I have lived…

1 AMSONIA HUBRICHTII PERENNIAL The flowers are an inky blue and very attractive but I grow this more for the foliage, which is fine and feathery and colours up a warm gold in autumn. Height (H) 1m. Spread (S) 1.2m. Growing conditions (C) Moist, well-drained soil; full sun/light shade. Season of interest (SI) Summer. Hardiness ratings (HR) USDA 5a-8b. 2 AMSONIA ORIENTALIS PERENNIAL Most amsonias are from the USA. This is from Turkey and a rather lowly and delicate looking thing, but it’s actually an immensely tough and useful filler. H 45cm. S 45cm. C Moist, well-drained soil; full sun/light shade. SI Summer. HR USDA 5a-8b. 3 ANEMONE NEMOROSA ‘ROBINSONIANA’ RHIZOME One of the supreme joys of spring. The flowers of palest blue with a touch of mauve held above…

1 Galanthus ‘Bess’ An early, easy and strong snowdrop with good green markings on the inner segments. 12cm. 2 G . ‘Lyn’ John admires this for its early flowering and for the fact that his wife Lyn found this G.‘Atkinsii’ variant locally. John is particularly attached to a plant with provenance. 20cm. 3 G . ‘Richard Ayres’ A handsome, early flowering double form that is named after the head gardener at Anglesey Abbey, from where so many good snowdrops have originated. 30cm. 4 G . nivalis ‘Anglesey Abbey’ Much loved by John for its provenance as well as for its broad, deep-green leaves and elegant flowers. Once known as G. lagodechianus, it is now firmly identified as an unusual variant of G. nivalis. Reproduces freely from seed. 12cm. 5 G…

1 Dividing lines This design by Swedish architects Wingårdhs shows how a traditional craft technique – in this case hurdle making – can be used in a contemporary manner; the hurdles are neatly framed within metal panels. The close repetition of the frames draws you in to explore the garden. 2 Standing stones Travel to slate-rich Snowdonia, in north Wales and you’ll see dramatic, sheets of slate linked together with wire to contain upland sheep. Here they demonstrate the powerful impact of repetition within a landscape. 3 Patterned paths Observing the patterns of old paving can often spark ideas; here in the entrance garden at Plas yn Rhiw, a National Trust manor house on Gwynedd’s Llyn Peninsula, in north Wales, cobblestones are laid as a uniform surface and only change…

‘THE PLANETARY GARDEN’ AND OTHER WRITINGS By Gilles ClémentPenn Press, £23ISBN 978-0812247121 The celebrated landscape architect sets out his environmental manifesto in this collection of essays. OFFER PRICE £20 NORWEGIAN WOOD By Lars MyttingMacLehose Press, £20ISBN 978-0857052551 A guide filled with knowledgeable, instructive advice on harvesting, stacking, storing and burning wood the Scandinavian way. OFFER PRICE £18 MICRO SHELTERS By Derek DiedricksenStorey Publishing, £12.99ISBN 978-1612123530 Fifty-nine creative ideas for outdoor structures that economise on space and make use of recycled and salvaged materials. OFFER PRICE £11.69 ARCADIAN VISIONS By Allan R RuffWindgather Press, £39.95ISBN 978-1909686663 A detailed look at pastoral influences, exploring the impact on landscape design and management by successive generations. OFFER PRICE £36.95 BOOK OFFER DETAILS Most featured books are available to readers at special rates. For details…

MyGardenSchool is the world’s first online gardening school, offering certified gardening courses for enthusiasts and professional gardeners alike. Students can access world-class tutors and study whenever and wherever they like. There are 24 courses to choose from, whether you want to learn how to grow organic veg, design your own garden, create planting designs or find ways to attract more wildlife to your garden. All courses are taught by garden experts, such as John Brookes, MBE, Dr Noël Kingsbury and Andy McIndoe. And new for 2016 is the Scented Garden Expert – a four-week course that looks at the science behind scent and its powerful effect on us, as well as covering planting plans and plants to maximise scent. The tutor is Dr Rachel Petheram, gardener, florist and lecturer from…

Enjoy a carefully chosen selection of fine private gardens in this rural, quintessentially English area: Parsonage House, Corpusty Mill and Columbine Hall live up to their evocative names; meet garden designers Lady XaTollemache at Helmingham Hall and George Carter at Silverstone Farm. In fact, at all the gardens we visit there will be a special guided tour to learn the essentials of creating exceptional gardens. For two nights of our trip we are accommodated at the iconic Swan Hotel, a half-timbered, 15th-century building set in the heart of Lavenham, considered one of the country’s most beautiful medieval villages. This is a stylish, comfortable hotel with fine food and peaceful ambience. The following two nights are at Titchwell Manor Hotel, a small hotel on the north coast with views across wild…

I love planting hedges. These green garden walls can do so much. Dividing spaces, leading the eye, hiding neighbours and providing a magnificent backdrop for planting. They will lift and filter wind, helping to temper our more frequently occurring storms. Wildlife appreciates the safe, dense environment that the solid infrastructure provides too. When you decide you want to plant a hedge it helps to determine how you want it to work for you. Do you want an above-eye-level, solid, year-round evergreen presence or a low, mid-calf divider of spaces? Or a metre-high barrier that will hide paraphernalia but tempt you to explore further? The size you’re aiming for, the degree of formality and see-throughness you want are key factors, but it can be confusing. For example, yew (Taxus baccata –…

1 Blechnum penna-marina An evergreen ground cover with leathery fronds, used throughout the garden for its rosy pink new growth. 15cm. AGM*. RHS H4, USDA 6a-8b† . 2 Pyrrosia lingua “I saw pyrrosias growing wild when I was in Japan” says Pat. This felt fern grows happily in a small amount of gritty soil on the surface of rocks or stumps. 30cm. USDA 7b-10b. 3 Polystichum setiferum ‘Pulcherrimum Bevis’ A choice cultivar of the soft shield fern, these delicate evergreens look their best grouped together for impact. 40cm. AGM. RHS H6, USDA 4a-9b. 4 Polypodium vulgare ‘Elegantissimum’ “I was very lucky to bring this back from England with me” says Pat of this ruffled collector’s fern. Martin Rickard has the UK National Collection of polypodiums. 30cm. USDA 5a-8b. 5 Adiantum…

POP-UP INSTALLATION Floral art Last October floral designer Lisa Waud of Pot & Box created a lush and beautiful pop-up installation of American-grown flowers that attracted more than 3,000 visitors. The venue was a derelict house in Detroit, due for demolition, which she transformed with the help of 27 florists from across the USA into a work of art, with flowers and plants covering walls and ceilings and spilling out of windows. Lisa, along with others involved in the project, will be discussing its impact at Milwaukee Art Museum on 20 March, 1pm. You can find more informaton and see images of the project at her website theflower.house Point of new Grassy pyramidal roofs give the renovated Biesbosch Museum on a man-made island in Werkendam, southern Netherlands, a striking geometric…

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1 RODE HALL AND GARDENS Experience one of the UK’s finest Snowdrop Walks at Rode Hall & Gardens in Cheshire to mark the start of Spring. A beautiful end-of-winter walk for all the family with a wonderfully diverse landscape and over 70 varieties of snowdrops. Homemade light lunches and cream teas available. Sat 30 January-Sun 6 March, Tues-Sun 11am-4pm (Closed Mondays). ADDRESS Scholar Green, Cheshire ST7 3QP TEL 01270 873237 WEB rodehall.co.uk 2 HOPTON HALL Open every day from Monday 1 February to Sunday 6 March, from 10.30am with last entry at 4pm. £4 per adult, £2 children (6-16 years). Tea room open in the Hall serving light refreshments. Located in the heart of England in some of the most picturesque countryside that the United Kingdom has to offer, come…