Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2017 i Gardens Illustrated Magazine

Who doesn’t enjoy dreaming of sunnier times and making holiday plans while in the midst of winter? As is our tradition, the January issue is dedicated to beautiful gardens around the globe as we travel – albeit vicariously – in search of remarkable places, plants and people. From a dreamy garden in Norfolk, complete with medieval moat, to a plant lover’s paradise in Tasmania, there’s a wealth of design and planting insights from accomplished garden makers. For those eager to start gardening again, gardener-cook Jojo Tulloh ensures you’re all set for spring by recommending her favourite seed suppliers, and designer Kristy Ramage and gardener Jacky Mills begin their three-part series on how to create garden structures – from little twiggy plant protectors to elaborate supports. And for planting ideas, Matthew…

MARCH 25-26 Gardens Illustrated Festival, UK. See page 8. gardensfestival.com APRIL 1-2 Great Dixter Spring Plant Fair, UK. International specialist nurseries.greatdixter.co.uk 20-23 Harrogate Spring Flower Show, UK. Celebrating spring planting.flowershow.org.uk 21-23 Les Fêtes des Plantes de Printemps, Château de Saint-Jean de Beauregard, France. Europe’s finest nurseries. domsaintjeanbeauregard.com 28-29 Powderham Castle Garden Festival, UK. Plant fair and talks.tobygardenfest.co.uk MAY 11-14 RHS Malvern Spring Festival, UK. Show gardens and plants. rhs.org.uk 12-14 Beervelde Garden Days, Belgium. Plants and artisans. parkvanbeervelde.be 19-21 Les Journées des Plantes, France. France’s premier event in its third year at Chantilly. domaine-de-courson.fr 23-27 RHS Chelsea Flower Show, UK. The UK’s leading garden show. rhs.org.uk JUNE 1-5 Bloom, Ireland. The largest garden festival in Ireland. bloominthepark.com 2-4 Gardening Scotland, UK. Garden inspiration. gardeningscotland.com 7-11 RHS…

“The difference between a good garden and a bad one is two weeks” In brief Name Hindringham Hall. What Private garden with a balance of formal and informal areas and 12th-century water features. Where Norfolk. Size Four acres. Climate Situated four miles from the north Norfolk coast the garden is frost free, and has several microclimates, depending on whether the area is sheltered or exposed, including hot, dry and boggy. Soil Alkaline with a pH of 7.5. Hardiness rating USDA 8. Norfolk has more than its fair share of quintessentially English manor houses, hidden away down remote country lanes, untouched by the passing of time. Sixteenth century Hindringham Hall is one of these, forming a mellow backdrop to the romantic garden created over 22 years by Lynda and Charles Tucker.…

“A super ash rooted at the edge of the pond is an amphitheatre for birds, and a dramatic weathervane. Ash branches are fluent, and when a good wind blows it is as if waves of wood are breaking over the water” Some years back we were in the habit of depositing the remains of the Friday night moules on to the compost heap, thus injecting, we reasoned, a useful shot of calcium into the nutrient chain. But the garden’s genius loci had other ideas. In the days that followed each dumping small clusters of mussel shells began to appear all over the shop. It wasn’t some random strewing. They were arranged in neat cairns at the foot of trees and tucked against shed walls like bowerbird displays. I’ve no idea…

Rosemary Alexander EGS* Designers are using shrubs and multi-stemmed trees to break up existing perennial borders, setting them out between other plants like furniture in a room, singly or in groups. Experiment with pruning to shape, and keep up with improved cultivars on offer, such as Choisya x dewitteana White Dazzler (=’Londaz’) or try Phillyrea instead of fungus-prone Buxus. Andrew Fisher Tomlin LCGD* It’s now almost impossible to predict seasonal weather patterns. Rather than being disorientated by this, plant specialists are embracing the opportunity being offered one year to the next by this variation and trying more unusual species, such as the evergreens Acacia pravissima and Westringia fruticosa, and using restios such as Baloskion tetraphyllum alongside traditional grasses. Hilary Thomas Horticulturist Very small gardens and roof terraces have become the…

THE BOTANICAL WALL CHART by Anna Laurent ILEX, £25 ISBN 978-1781573327 A collection of vintage botanical wall charts to celebrate how the humble teaching tool brought together art, science and education. VERTICAL GARDENS by Leigh Clapp and Hattie Klotz Reed New Holland, £16.99 ISBN 978-1742578798 Full of ideas and advice to help you turn bare garden spaces into living walls, including technical know-how and informative photography. HOW TO MAKE A GARDEN GROW by William Heath Robinson Bodleian Library Publishing, £9.99 ISBN 978-1851244553 A tongue-in-cheek guide to gardening, filled with amusing illustrations by the famous, eccentric cartoonist Heath Robinson. WILD FLOWERS OF BRITAIN MONTH BY MONTH by Margaret Erskine Wilson Merlin Unwin Books, £8.99 ISBN 978-1910723319 A pocket-sized collection of watercolour paintings depicting 1,000 British and Irish wildflowers. MY TINY INDOOR…

RICHARD MABEY Richard has written some 40 books, most recently The Cabaret of Plants: Botany and the Imagination. On page 50, his new series considers what might happen if the garden were a stage for an improvised drama, with other species having an equal role in the plot and casting. “I’ve set this series in our garden in Norfolk, whose stars include plant-based sculpture and autonomous slime-moulds.” ALICE PATTULLO Alice is an illustrator working in east London on commissioned works and her own limited-edition prints. Her work often explores British traditions, customs and folklore. She works with brush and ink, and cut and collaged painted textures. Turn to page 50 to see her work. “Richard Mabey describes his garden as an ‘open stage’, which I referenced in my illustration with…

In brief What Cool climate Australian garden. Where Neika, a small township 15km from Hobart, in Tasmania. Size Two acres of cultivated garden, within an eight-acre garden. Climate Positioned in sheltered forest valley with adequate rainfall, snow in winter but no severe frosts. Soil Basalt. Hardiness rating USDA 9b. “A garden is a moving piece of art; you have to grow plants to understand them” A garden filled with wonderful, thriving cool-climate plants is a rarity in Australia. Even more rare is that this beautiful garden has a small nursery attached and understandably, it’s the cause of many gardeners’ envy. However, it’s the location of this garden that offers the clue as to why it flourishes. In 1988 garden maker Sally Johannsohn and her husband, the nature writer Andrew Darby,…

In brief What Climbers, twiners or scrambling plants for ornamental display. Origins Tropical and warm temperate zones, worldwide, including the Americas and Mediterranean. Season Summer until the first frosts. Size Variable according to natural vigour and micro-climate. Conditions most require a sheltered, sunny location in moisture-retentive, free-draining soil. There is a small, select group of annual climbers that are too often overlooked, yet can bring subtle touches and welcome bursts of colour to brighten the garden in summer. Of the hardy annual climbers, sweet peas are the most popular. Cultivated by the Moors in Spain as early as 1450, sweet peas were introduced to the UK in the 17th century from seeds sent by the Sicilian monk Father Franciscus Cupani to the Netherlands in 1699. The mauve and maroon cultivar…

1 Iris ‘Jane Phillips’ A very vigorous bearded-type iris that needs sun and well-drained or dry soil. Broad grey-green, sword-shaped leaves give it structure after its brief, early summer glory. 1.2m. AGM*. RHS H7, USDA 3a-8b† . 2 Yucca gloriosa A sculptural plant known as the Spanish dagger, with spiky rosette of leaves. It normally grows to 1m tall and 1m across, but the flower spike can grow to 2m, or sometimes more, after several years of growth. Needs full sun, but will thrive in any well-drained soil, including poor stony ones. 2m. AGM. RHS H5, USDA 6a-10b. 3 Lavandula angustifolia Familiar low shrub, with highly aromatic evergreen foliage and purple, midsummer flowers. Needs full sun and well-drained soil. Will spread to around 80cm but prune after flowering to keep…

Materials for making structures Coppicing – periodically cutting a tree or shrub back to ground level – is an ancient woodland management practice that generates a great deal of fast-growing, sustainable timber. Woods such as willow (1), hazel, chestnut, beech and dogwood respond well to this treatment producing an abundance of straight, young growth that is ideal for making garden structures. Cut in the leafless days between November and March when the sap is down, the harvested stems – known as rods and withies – will stay flexible for many weeks if kept in a protected place, such as the base of a hedge. The looser ‘brush wood’ from the top of the rods (2) can simply be pushed into the ground as pea-sticks to make light-weight structures through which…

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1. RV ROGER LTD Traditional third generation nursery, growing a huge range of heritage roses, fruit trees and hardy nursery stock in the Vale of Pickering, North Yorkshire. Multiple RHS Gold Medal awards. Mail order available during the bare-root season (November-March). Plant Centre open all year round. rvroger.co.uk  | 01751 472226 2. TWELVE NUNNS Buy our winter-flowering ‘Harvington Hellebores’ now. Over 25 colours and forms to choose from. Plants are sent by post carefully packed and our top growing tips are enclosed. twelvenunns.co.uk  | 01778 590455 3. WOOTTENS OF WENHASTON Twenty five years’ experience growing and propagating high-quality herbaceous perennials as well as preserving many rare plant collections including Pelargoniums, Irises, Auriculas and Hemerocallis. Woottens offer a mail order or collection service, horticultural courses and border designs. woottensplants.com  | 01502…

FEBRUARY ISSUE • Rosemary Alexander chooses her top 100 plants • Dalemain Marmalade Awards and Festival • Create your own plant protection • The first of our four seasonal visits to Mary Keen’s Cotswold garden • 21 of the most beautiful camellias ON SALE 2 FEBRUARY Save money when you subscribe to the digital edition – see page 30. Also in selected Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Tesco stores, as well as WHSmith, and all good magazine retailers.…

RHS EXHIBITION New Year blooms Discover the work of the 19th-century watercolourist Caroline Maria Applebee (c1799-1854) in a new exhibition at the RHS Lindley Library. Pigments and Petals features a selection of some of the 300 paintings, of both native and exotic flowers, produced by this prolific amateur artist over the course of 40 years, among them this grouping of Dianthus caryophyllus. The free exhibition runs from 11 January – 10 March. rhs.org.uk READER OFFER Festival friend To get the new year off to a great gardening start, we are offering readers an exclusive deal on tickets to the Gardens Illustrated Festival, 25-26 March. This January, if you book a full-price ticket for one of the talks, you can get a 20 per cent discount on a second ticket for…

Clematis Avant-garde (=‘Evipo033’) I’m having a love affair with clematis as cut flowers. Delicate but robust, Avant-garde looks fully double with its central rosy-pink pompom of stamens backed by dark, velvety red petals, which recurve as they age. Trailing flower-covered stems add a wonderful touch of wild airiness to any arrangement and last happily in the vase. Height 2.5-3m from hard pruning in spring. Origin Sport of Clematis ‘Kermesina’. Growing conditions Sun or part shade. Hardiness USDA 4a-8b. Season of interest Late June to September. Baptisia x variicolor ‘Twilite’ Baptisia are long-lived, reliable perennials and I have several new cultivars on trial, which show great promise as long-term favourites. ‘Chocolate Chip’, a smoky purple-brown cultivar and ‘Twilite’, which has a violet-burgundy flower with a yellow keel, are two that I…

Earliest garden memory With my sisters in our local park – pretending ox-eye daisy flowers were fried eggs! Favourite planting style In gardens I like plantings where the gardener has edited the gardening palette to create a more striking version of the natural landscape. I don’t like over manipulation of the plant environment or the unnecessary hybridisation of the plants. Horticultural heroes Beth Chatto, who was largely self taught. She pioneered ‘ecological’ gardening as we now know it. This is beautifully demonstrated in her garden near Colchester in Essex. Starting from a blank canvas, she has created successful dynamic plantings in conditions of great habitat diversity. What are the problems facing gardeners today? Too many gardeners are treated as functionaries and rarely remunerated at a decent level. There are so…

1 Nectaroscordum siculum Known as the Sicilian honey garlic, this bulbous perennial is sometimes mistaken for fritillaries. Sally loves their subtle beauty with the drooping flowers. “Their soft colours look good with yellows and purples,” she says. 1.2m. RHS H5, USDA 5a-9b† . 2 Lobelia aberdarica An evergreen plant that increases gradually. Although Sally loves this African lobelia for its foliage, her favourite of these lobelias is the dramatic L. keniensis, from the cool mountains of Kenya. 3m. 3 Euphorbia griffithii ‘Fireglow’ Sally is a huge fan of all euphorbias, particularly the deciduous ones, but this one with its brilliant orange-red floral bracts in early summer, is one of her favourites. It looks good all year round in informal plantings. 75cm. RHS H7, USDA 4a-9b. 4 Pachystegia insignis This pretty…

“One ingredient that attracts professionals to a city is a well-designed public realm: public space that is useful, green and hip” He ought to be the most famous landscape architect in the world, as the man chiefly responsible for the key landscape intervention of the last half-century at least: the High Line, the linear park sited on a disused railway on Manhattan’s Lower West Side (Piet Oudolf was responsible for the planting, not the landscape design). But James Corner is no publicity seeker and his name is little known on this side of the Atlantic. It transpires he is also a little shy of personal questions. As a result, for the first 20 minutes of our interview, over breakfast at his London hotel, I can’t get a word in edgeways.…

A sourcebook of real gardens – selected by design sleuths at Gardenista – that have been created with love and attention to detail.Reviewer Annie Gatti is a garden writer and editor. GARDENISTA by Michelle Slatalla Photographs by Matthew Williams Artisan New York, £28.99 ISBN 978-1579656522 This is an image-rich collection of gardens that have featured on gardenista.com since the site’s inception in 2012. Stylish is the key word, and although some of the showcased gardens have been made with extravagantly sourced materials and furnishings, there are plenty of more modest elements to make this a useful read for anyone looking for design ideas. The editor’s aesthetic is towards relaxed planting, natural materials and salvaged objects. But there are also examples of manicured gardens, modernist spaces and exuberant desert planting in…

CRAZY HORSE TOOLS The Zig-Zag hoe with a double edged blade is a unique design made in three sizes. The blade allows for easy movement through the soil with less resistance. The long, shaped handle minimises back strain and feels comfortable in the hand. Made and hand-finished in the North West of England. This quality product will last a lifetime. Tel 015242 98882 Web crazyhorsetools.co.uk PERILLA Fabulously flattering, luxury, alpaca fur hats from online alpaca knitwear specialist Perilla. Alpaca are not killed for their fur. These gorgeous, deep-brimmed hats are unbelievably warm and lightweight. Great colour palette of Taupe, Champagne, Black, Chocolate Brown and Darkest Navy and come beautifully gift boxed. £225. A gorgeous range of really robust dry waxed and Harris Tweed hats. The hat shown is beautifully made…

Ours is a small house and one wisteria could smother a palace Fine winter days should be reserved for the pleasurable things. For me that means pruning, and the most satisfying delight in that line of work is pruning wisteria. To be cut back at this time is the one essential service that wisteria demands, and the books may say January or February, but if you let it slip to February you may let it fall through the fingers of that very short month as well and your wisteria will sulk and be lost to you, for a while at least. Every summer attention helps, of course, but, whether or not you had time for them, you absolutely have to make time for this, for it is the only way…