Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2016 i Gardens Illustrated Magazine

I first visited Malverleys just over four years ago, not long after head gardener Mat Reese began working there. I’ve been back a number of times since and it’s been wonderful to witness each new area unfolding. Driven by a passion for finding the very best plants, and a love of the English flower garden traditions, Mat has succeeded in creating a garden with an extraordinary style of its own. For me the best gardens are where great planting meets clever, understated design; where the attention to detail and ongoing care are uncompromising, yet the garden maker is confident enough to allow for a certain amount of happenstance. Many of the gardeners and designers that we feature have a passion, some might say obsession, for plants. Marina Christopher, whose nursery…

As well as its grandeur, Rebecca is also fascinated by the minutiae of nature and her sculptures are as much about the detail of individual flowers as their overall impact Rebecca Louise Law makes eye-catching, ethereal sculptures using cascades of fresh and drying cut flowers. It’s a technique she has invented herself, harnessing both her artistic and horticultural knowledge to create artworks with all the delicacy and breathtaking natural beauty of a wild-flower meadow. Rebecca studied fine art at Newcastle University where she tried out various natural materials before accidentally discovering the potential of flowers. “My father is a gardener and I went home one weekend and took a load of his dahlias back to college to experiment with,” she explains. Rebecca used the dahlias to create an installation exploring…

INSTALLATION Natural hive The Hive , an award-winning installation by Wolfgang Buttress, which was the centrepiece of the UK Pavilion at Milan Expo 2015, has a new temporary home at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The 17m-high, lattice-work structure that suggests a swarm of bees leaving a hive will be sited among meadow planting and form the focus of a programme of bee-related events. From 18 June, kew.org EXHIBITION Soaring walls Opening on 10 June, this summer’s Serpentine Pavilion is a soaring, pointed structure made of interlocking fibreglass bricks. Designed by Danish architects Bjarke Ingels Group, the walls form a cavern-like interior that by night will host the gallery’s Park Nights performances. This year it is joined by four contemporary summer houses, one by Berlin-based studio Barkow Leibinger, the other three…

JAPANESE MADE Niwaki Tripod Ladder (2.4m), £229, Niwaki, 0345 474 1041, niwaki.com CLASSIC STYLE Swingback Step Ladder in primrose (1.17m), £62, Hulley Heritage, 0114 272 1205, timberstepladders.co.uk MULTI-PURPOSE Two-way Combination Ladder (3.23m), £82, B&Q, diy.com FOLD AWAY Folding Step Ladder by Karl Malmvall (66cm), £278, Design House Stockholm, 01908 307020, panik-design.com FIRM BASE Telesteps Work Platform (88cm), £299.99, Homebase, 0345 077 8888, homebase.co.uk RUSTIC APPEAL Pluck Ladder (2.25m), 191, De Wiltfang, +31 (0)346 218 111, dewiltfang.nl ADJUSTABLE LEGS Platform Tripod Ladder (2.44m), £315, Henchman, 03333 444229, henchman.co.uk EXTENDABLE Titan Fibreglass Reform Ladder (4.12m), £158.33, Gardening Delights, 0117 330 2277, gardeningdelights.com HAND RAIL Ladder with Platform (1.22m), £199.99, Spring Chicken, 0800 980 3961, springchicken.co.uk…

Anna Pavord gives a thoughtful and deeply personal account of our changing attitudes to the wider landscape.Reviewer Ambra Edwards is a writer and garden historian. LANDSKIPPING: PAINTERS, PLOUGHMEN AND PLACES by Anna Pavord Bloomsbury, £20 ISBN 978-1408868911 Like Anna Pavord, I have chosen to live among the soft, enfolding hills of west Dorset. So perhaps it is inevitable that I should share some of her prejudices – a ‘need for land to go up and down if I’m to feel comfortable in it, a preference for the quietly pastoral over the thrillingly sublime. The book traces our changing relationship with landscape. The rapturous responses of the first landscape tourists, 18th-century painters and writers, are tellingly contrasted with the utilitarian approach of the agricultural improvers. We ride cheerily along with William…

• A contemporary take on a classic design in the Cotswolds• Cutting-edge plant combinations• Ideas for romantic summer containers• Sustainable and colourful planting in the heat of a Spanish summer ON SALE 22 JUNE Save money when you subscribe to the digital edition – see page 36. Also in selected Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Tesco stores, as well as WHSmith, and all good magazine retailers.…

STEPHANIE DONALDSON As well as being the author of many gardening books, Stephanie writes for Country Living and The Garden and blogs as The Enduring Gardener. She lives in Hastings and this month visits the garden at nearby Fairlight End – see page 44. “As someone who also has a hillside garden, I found plenty of inspiration and clever solutions when I visited Fairlight End ” CHRIS LANE Chris was trained in nursery stock production at Hadlow College, where he has subsequently worked as a lecturer. With a great interest in plant propagation, he now runs his own nursery and holds four National Plant Collections. Read his profile on Wisteria on page 66. “What a pleasure to write an article on wisteria. For me the excitement increases rapidly as flowering…

PHOTO COMPETITION Capture the castle Beneath the imposing battlements of St Michael’s Mount off the Cornish coast is a unique garden that seems to cling to the island’s granite cliff face. As part of its Coastal Garden season, which runs until 1 July, the National Trust property is inviting visitors to post any images they take of the garden on its social media channels and enter the #seagarden competition. The season also includes talks and guided tours of the spectacular gardens which, although battered by salty winds, benefit from a microclimate tempered by the Gulf Stream, allowing succulents, palms and exotic plants such as Strelitzia reginae to grow happily. For details visit stmichaelsmount.co.uk ROSE FESTIVAL Blooming lovely Immerse yourself in the heady scent of midsummer roses, including the lovely white…

Sambucus nigra f. porphyrophylla ‘Thundercloud’ In early summer, sweetly fragrant, pale-pink flowers emerge from clusters of deep-red flower buds to the delight of insects and humans alike. This wonderful elder cultivar was spotted by plantsman Christopher Sanders as a sport on a branch of the purple-leaved cultivar ‘Guincho Purple’ at the Dorothy Clive Garden in Staffordshire. With the owner’s permission he successfully propagated some cuttings and it was released by Bridgemere Nurseries in 1997. AGM †  . Height 4m. Origin Sport of Sambucus nigra f. porphyrophylla ‘Guincho Purple. Growing conditions Most soils including alkaline. Hardiness RHS H6, USDA 4a-7b. Season of interest Spring to autumn. Linum narbonense For me, this is the choicest blue flax I have grown. It is not often seen in the trade and inferior plants,…

What is your earliest gardening memory? Abi Digging up plants from my parents’ garden aged seven and then trying to sell them back to them. Tom Growing weeds (rather unsuccessfully) in pots of garden soil at the age of eight. Who has inspired your career the most? Abi Rob and Rosy Hardy of Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants. I met them both when I was 15 years old and they invited me to spend two weeks at their nursery. Those two weeks made my mind up that running a nursery was what I wanted to do for a living. Tom Tim Smitt, who wrote back to me when I was 13 and the Lost Gardens of Heligan were in their infancy. The project really fired my imagination. Who are your horticultural…

In brief What Five species and two hybrid groups of vigorous, woody climbers with twining stems. Origins Most are found in Japan, but wisteria are also native to China and the USA. The three most commonly grown species in the UK are W. floribunda (Japanese wisteria), W. sinensis (Chinese wisteria) and W. brachybotrys (silky wisteria). Season Most flower April to June, but some can flower as late as July. Size Wisteria are strong-growing plants that can reach up to 20m, although their eventual size will largely be determined by the allotted space. Wisterias can be kept to a height of 2m if grown on a post. Conditions In the wild, wisteria are found in woodland areas with their…

• Nick Bailey, head gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden, will discuss his first show garden for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and share tips from his new book on colour in the garden. 2 June, 7pm, chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk • Join designer Xa Tollemache for a Garden Museum tour of three Suffolk gardens, including her own rose-filled gardens at Helmingham Hall and her design at Hill House. 16 June, £125 (Friends of the Museum, £95), gardenmuseum.org.uk • This year’s Gardeners’ World Live launches a new category of show gardens for small spaces. The five designs selected from the Association of Professional Landscapers’ Avenue Show Garden Competition include a wildlife-friendly garden for a downsizing couple. 16-19 June, bbcgardenersworldlive.com • Enjoy a rare opportunity to visit three inspiring Somerset gardens, including Stavordale Priory…

NATURES HAMPERS Natures Hampers is a family owned business in Sussex offering cruelty-free, beautifully packaged hampers. The hampers’ award-winning contents are carefully chosen, keeping in mind the company’s natural ethos. The range includes Gardener’s Hampers, with items selected to complement the English gardener’s life. Tel 01435 810099 Web natureshampers.com KADAI FIREBOWLS The authentic Indian Fire Bowl and BBQ in one – designed in England, handmade in India using thick steel to form a robust and versatile BBQ/Fire Bowl. Including high and low gothic stands, grills, tongs and brush from £214. See us at Chelsea Flower Show – stand RHW355, join us and fall in love with outdoor living. Tel 01694 771800 Web kadai.com BAKSAVER BARROW Take the strain out of moving heavy loads in the garden. Ergonomically designed, the Baksaver…

THE LIFE OF THE ROBIN by David Lack Pallas Athene, £9.99 ISBN 978-18436812055 The relatively unknown world of one of Britain’s favourite garden birds is revealed in this reissued natural history classic. THE FINEST GARDENS OF THE SOUTH EAST by Tony Russell Amberley Publishing, £15.99 ISBN 978-1445649788 A richly illustrated guide to some of the best gardens in southeast England. THE AROMATHERAPY GARDEN by Kathi Keville Timber Press, £17.99 ISBN 978-1604695496 How to combine scented plants to transform the garden into a restorative haven filled with healing aromas. GARDENS OF THE ITALIAN LAKES by Steven Desmond, photography by Marianne Majerus Frances Lincoln, £35 ISBN 978-0711236301 Discover the magnificent gardens located on the shores surrounding the Italian lakes. BOOK OFFER DETAILS Most featured books are available to readers at special rates.…

Like Bette Davis’s eyebrows in Now Voyager, camellias can be tamed Summer is not, you might think, the appropriate time of year to be talking about camellias, but bear with me. Glorious in their season, there aren’t many worth a glance by now, and that is their problem. They are, for the most part, more substance than character, and it is hard to justify the elbow room on that precious west-facing wall in a limited garden. As a beginning gardener I had an instant passion for them, and seem to remember buying three in my first big nursery splurge – somewhere down the back end of the King’s Road (it was also, not coincidentally, the first day I was ever set loose with a credit card). Later, while living in…

Chic and classic, frivolous or fantastic, it would be a joy to see buttonholes once again worn as daily accessories rather than just for weddings and occasional high days. You can simply pick a bloom from your garden – or vase, or hedgerow – or craft something extraordinary to show your personal style. Men used to wear flowers far more commonly. In the late 18th century fashionable chaps in England – known as macaronis because of the pasta they ate on their European Grand Tours – wore entire bouquets in miniature. Less flashy gentlemen often wore sprays of flowers as the frock coat emerged as general wear, its turned-down collar forming a lapel with an exposed buttonhole, and as bright costumes became more sober, the buttonhole flower became fashionable as…

1 Lilac and magenta. In the purple border, Salvia nemorosa ‘Amethyst’ and Geranium psilostemon form a gorgeous, long-flowering combination. The salvia grows 1m tall and has spikes of soft-lilac flowers on dark purple stems, which look wonderful with the geranium’s strong magenta flowers. This part of the garden room is a joy in summer, with Rosa Rhapsody in Blue (= ‘Frantasia’) and Thalictrum ‘Splendide. 2 Mauve and purple. In the front of the purple border, the pale-lilac flowers of Nepeta sibirica shine against the dark leaves of Sambucus nigra f. porphyrophylla ‘Eva. This elder, with its delicate, light-pink flowers in summer, is a key plant here in all seasons and Alie selects colours to complement it: pink tulips in spring, then astrantia, lunaria and the feathery spires of Pennisetum orientale…

“The garden was a revelation to me. I saw for the first time how Bingerden might be transformed and the green hedges and topiary surrounded with colour” As a young woman in the early 1950s Eugénie van Weede dreamed not of being a gardener but an actress, and came to school in Britain to learn her craft. With her elegant good looks, vivacity and humour, which persist today, it is easy to imagine the success she would have had on the stage, but the difficulties of post-war Europe denied her a moment in the limelight. Theatre’s loss was gardening’s gain, because Eugénie went on to create one of the Netherland’s most important gardens and to establish a showcase for specialist nurseries, inspiring and encouraging many nurserymen and fellow gardeners along…

1 Stewartia pseudocamellia Germans love camellias, however, they are not hardy in this part of the country and Stewartia is a good alternative. Gabriella and Isabelle love its flowers and its great shape. It ages beautifully with a distinctive bark and has stunning autumn colour. 10m. AGM*. RHS H5, USDA 5a-8b† . 2 Nepeta kubanica This is a well-behaved catmint that does not wander or self-seed, and has a great flower. In winter, the seedheads provide structure in a border. 1.2m. RHS H7, USDA 4a-8b. 3 Euphorbia seguieriana We’ve only recently discovered this hardy and incredibly long-flowering plant. It looks good in the front of a border with its needle-like foliage in chartreuse green. 50cm. USDA 6a-11b. 4 Eupatorium rugosum ‘Chocolate’ This is a fantastic foliage plant. At the end…

1 First sight I used photo collages and drawings to compose the designs for the Olympic gardens at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, in east London. These mood boards were invaluable in communicating our vision for communities of plants sourced from across the world and never before grown together in the UK on such a scale. This view is of the North American garden (co-designed with James Hitchmough) where prairie plants Echinacea pallida and Echinacea paradoxa dominate in early July. 2 Drawing the eye A collage of carefully selected images (photographs and drawings), such as this sketch I made for a new garden at the Chapel café in Abergavenny, can more easily capture the spirit of the design and be a more powerful way of communicating a design’s atmosphere than…

1 ABBOTSBURY SUBTROPICAL GARDENS A recent winner of the HHA/ Christie’s Garden of the Year Award and described by Alan Titchmarsh as ‘one of the finest gardens I have ever visited. Established in 1765 by the 1st Countess of Ilchester as a kitchen garden for her nearby castle. It has developed since then into a magnificent 30-acre tropical paradise with many exotic features including a Burma rope bridge. Address Bullers Way, Abbotsbury, Dorset DT3 4LA Tel 01305 871387 Web abbotsburygardens.co.uk 2 HEVER CASTLE Experience Hever Castle at the height of its summer beauty, with one of the finest displays of roses and summer blooms in the Garden of England. Hever in Boom (27 June -3 July) showcases the glorious gardens with free guided tours led by the gardening team and…