Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2017 i Gardens Illustrated Magazine

This December issue of Gardens Illustrated is packed full of plants and plans to brighten winter days. Brightness in winter feels so important, whether in the gentle light of misty mornings, the soft, tilting glow of early evenings, or the bright excitement of making plans for the festivities ahead. Lime Cross Nursery’s practical guide to propagating conifers (page 60) is a new challenge for those who like a project, and on page 46 Bea Andrews, former head gardener at Sarah Raven’s cut-flower garden at Perch Hill, shares her ideas for home-made Christmas decorations. With winter walks very much in mind, we begin a new series on identifying trees on page 50. Knowing the difference between an oak and an ash or a beech and a hornbeam – even out of…

WINTER TRAIL Seeing the light The house and award-winning gardens at Forde Abbey, near Chard in Somerset, are always worth a visit, but this December they will be especially magical. As part of the White Christmas, after-dark, winter trail around the gardens, the long herbaceous borders will be illuminated for the first time, lighting up the house and champion trees. Inside the house, the Great Hall and Chapel will be decorated for the festivities, and you’ll also be able to warm up after the trail with a glass of mulled wine and a mince pie in the tea rooms. 7-10 December, 3.30-8pm. £10. Forde Abbey and Gardens, Chard, Somerset TA20 4LU. Tel 01460 221290, fordeabbey.co.uk HORTICULTURAL EXPERIENCE Just the tonic Take a horticultural tour of the Bombay Sapphire Distillery, at…

Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Jelena’ This is a lovely witch hazel for the winter garden. In December, ravelled trusses of dainty, ribbon-petaled flowers of yellow suffused with burnt orange are produced from stark, leafless twigs. The flowers, although small, are tolerant of winter weather and will continue well into January. The scent is good, and it is worth picking a sprig to bring indoors, although the flowers will not last long in the heat. ‘Jelena’ has exceptional autumn colour with leaves turning fiery red and orange. Plant in neutral to acidic soil that doesn’t get too dry in summer, and prune after flowering only when necessary. AGM*. Height 4m. Origin Garden origin. Conditions Any soil, neutral to acidic, not water logged. Hardiness RHS H5, USDA 5a-8b. Season Autumn and winter. Narcissus…

There is a rawness to gardening at this time of year. The wind bites and fingers stumble numbly over simple tasks. I often like the idea of winter gardening more than the reality but I still want to cook with something I’ve grown, even if it’s just a herb. Sage lives in a pot on the stone steps outside my kitchen door. Its soft, grey-green leaves are always good to stop and smell, and by frying them with butter you can use them to make the simplest of all sauces for stuffed pasta. Put the pasta (ravioli, tortellini or agnolotti) on to boil. Melt 100g of butter and fry with 16 sage leaves, let the butter caramelise and the solids separate but not burn and then add a ladleful of…

“We forget that what OvS was doing in the 1970s was truly shocking to people. It was a very bold gesture – and people were attracted to that” It’s a pretty standard interview question: so what was the garden you grew up with like? Lisa Delplace’s response initially sounds fairly standard, too: it was her mother who was the gardener at the family home on the outskirts of Detroit, where she created “the blowsiest ever border” with mop-headed hydrangeas, peonies and roses. But then, as an afterthought, Lisa mentions that in winter her father “turned the entire back yard into an ice hockey pitch”, pooling water evenly across the lawn, flattening out bumps and clearing snow. “My dad and brothers played hockey – our house became a nexus for all…

1 Pinus contorta ‘Chief Joseph’ This pine is relatively hard to get hold of but well worth the effort – its deep green foliage transforms into a glowing beacon of yellow in the winter months. 2.5m. AGM*. RHS H6, USDA 5a-9b† . 2 Cedrus libani ‘Blue Angel’ A narrow, upright yet weeping cedar with a bluish tinge and beautiful cones formed in spring and held for most of the year. Likes a sunny spot if possible. 3.5m. USDA 6a-9b. 3 Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Nana Gracilis’ Slightly reminiscent of a flamenco dancer’s ruffled skirts, this slow-growing tree is ideal for small gardens, and good in pots. 1m. AGM. RHS H7, USDA 5a-9b. 4 Cryptomeria japonica ‘Rein’s Dense Jade’ A much denser, faster growing tree than ‘Black Dragon’(see facing page) this has rich…

Where curves are required, planks are steam bent, a process that involves heating them in a box to 100°C, giving the craftsman 30 seconds to bend them into a new shape Simon Burvill, managing director of garden furniture company Gaze Burvill, and I are standing outside the company workshop, contemplating the life of an oak tree. Beside us sits a pile of enormous oak boards, the raw material from which the furniture is made. Unlike wild oak, the oak from which these boards were made were nurtured under strict conditions: planted at careful intervals; protected from animals; shorn of their lower branches; and thinned out over decades, to give the strongest ones the space to reach for the sky. By the time they were felled they were aged between…

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1 HEVER CASTLE AND GARDENS WINTER WALKS Wrap up warm and blow away the cobwebs, walk off the Christmas pudding and take a stroll in the gardens where the warm bark of the redwood trees glows against the winter sky. On the way up to the Castle the yew topiary stands majestically and the Winter Garden displays attractive and interesting colours and structures. hevercastle.co.uk | 01732 865224 2 WOBURN ABBEY AND GARDENS With 28 acres of gardens, set in an extensive deer park Woburn Abbey and Gardens is a fantastic location for a winter walk. Enjoy stunning views throughout the parkland and gardens and take in many features designed by the great landscape designer Humphry Repton. Open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays throughout winter. woburnabbey.co.uk | Woburn, Bedfordshire MK17 9WA 3 HAM HOUSE…

In bareness ashes have a lithe vitality, a sinuous way of drawing with their branches against the sky The military grey of ash bark comes back into focus now the world is nearly monochrome again. The coal black buds already there, not as black as they will be in March, if we are to believe Tennyson, but black enough for admiration. Did the leaves fall, or were they pushed by the first swelling of their successors? A December morning, the sun bright enough to dazzle but not strong enough to dry the shine off the branches, is not a bad time to take a look, while bareness is a novelty still. While we still have ashes to look at, of course. We don’t yet know if they’ll go the way…

BEA ANDREWS Bea is a self-taught florist and runs a floral design studio in Sussex. She trained in horticulture and has worked with some of the UK’s best growers, and as head gardener at Sarah Raven’s cut-flower garden at Perch Hill. She celebrates Christmas with a range of festive displays on page 46. “I love working with seasonal foliage. Here I combine evergreens and succulents with flowers gathered throughout the year.” RICHARD BLOOM Richard was born into a gardening family and began photographing gardens over 20 years ago. His award-winning photographs appear in many UK and foreign garden and lifestyle magazines. On pages 36 and 68 he takes his camera along to two contrasting gardens in West Sussex and Norfolk. “The two gardens couldn’t have been more different, but both…

First plant love I felt very emotionally attached to the oversized willow tree in my parents’ small, suburban garden. I loved the swing built for me, and finding a natural and calming solitude by climbing up high into its branches and reeling in my rope ladder. How did you come to gardening as a career? I enjoyed the challenge and rewards of being an inner-city teacher for a few years. However, after I lost my father, much younger than I expected to, I realised how precious time is and decided to take a leap into training for the career I had previously only dreamt about. Favourite landscape Beyond my bias towards Kew, Benmore Botanic Garden in Scotland is a beautiful example of a brilliant plant collection curated without losing the…

Wall hanging A simple, natural design that uses fresh, scented evergreens, dried flowers, foliages and easy-care air plants that will make brilliant house plants after Christmas. Cymbidium orchids with their velvety petals and a long vase life create a luxurious feel. You’ll need • 1 hazel stick• 4 assorted twigs• 2 dried leafy oak twigs• 2 dried fern leaves• 1 length contorted willow• 2 rosemary sprigs• 8 Eucalyptus stems• 4 dried Hydrangea florets• 8 strands of Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides)• 9 orchid flowers from a Cymbidium stem• 6 small air plants (Tillandsia)• 2 small succulents (Echeveria)• 9 small, plastic flower tubes• 3-4 silk ribbons• Scissors, secateurs• Florist’s binding wire To make 1. Using a hazel stick of around 60cm as a frame, wire your assorted twigs (40-50cm) to it horizontally. I used silver birch, including some with a covering of lichen. Attach one of the silk…

An invitation to join a yoga class by the lake is not what you expect when visiting a plant nursery, but then Lime Cross Nursery, just outside Herstmonceux in East Sussex, has always done things a bit differently. In the 1940s Alan and Olive Tate moved from London and experimented with tobacco and pig farming, before settling on wallflowers. When business started to tail off 30 years later, their son, Jonathan, stepped in to help. This being the 1970s, the Leyland cypress was in its heyday, as were rockeries – the perfect place for a dwarf conifer – and Jonathan capitalised on the opportunity, converting the nursery to wholesale conifer production. “He became obsessed,” laughs his daughter Vicky. “For my sister Helen and me, all our earliest memories are of…

Something close to a riot broke out when Julian and I tried to agree which of the books strewn over the table would go into this article. Five years ago when we moved to our current house, the removal men paled – they had never known such a houseful of books. Teachers and vicars liked books, they said, but we were something else. At about the same time, our friend, the painter and writer Matthew Rice, said that he was sad to discover that two years after he moved he no longer missed the books he had yet to unpack, because everything is on the internet nowadays. After much heated debate, however, we all revised our view on the subject. The internet is a wonderful tool, and a huge boon…

1 . BASILDON PARK Why not come and create new traditions at Basildon Park this festive season? Bring the whole family for a frosty, refreshing walk through the impressive parkland, have a wander round the beautifully decorated house or grab a warming hot chocolate or cup of tea in the tea room. basildonpark@nationaltrust.org.uk | 01491 672382 2 . HANBURY HALL The Babycham is popping, the Slade hits are dropping! Explore the hall dressed for an imagined 1980s Christmas party: a riot of colour, with bright lights, tacky baubles and tinsel galore! 2-23 December National Trust, Hanbury Hall, Worcestershire WR9 7EA. nationaltrust.org.uk/hanburyhall 3 . CHELSEA PHYSIC GARDEN Join us at our Christmas Fair on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 November. Discover the most extraordinary gift ideas from an unrivalled handpicked collection of…

TOUR LEADER Michael Marriott has worked at David Austin Roses, designing and advising, for the past 30 years. He is an expert on all matters relating to roses, from the extensive range of cultivars and types to successful growing. If you love the perfume of roses on an early summer’s day and have always longed to discover more of this vast and varied genus, this four-day tour will let you indulge in all things rose related. You’ll be welcomed into some wonderful gardens, not least of which is the outstanding David Austin show garden collection, plus a behind-the-scenes, private view of David Austin’s own garden. Austin’s expertise is world-renowned and his emphasis on roses with fragrance and old garden character has won him many devotees. Also featured on the tour…

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Grafting for commercial purposes takes years of experience but that’s not to say you can’t be successful at home. For best results, keep your equipment clean and remember that aftercare is just as important as the graft, if not more so. 1 In winter, while the plants are dormant, select your scion material for cutting. Choose fresh, healthy growth about 10-15cm long and the thickness of your little finger. Cut with clean, sharp secateurs. Place in a plastic bag to conserve moisture if not grafting immediately. 2 Clean your understock or rootstock (these can be bought separately and are generally seed-raised plants of the same genus that are around two years old). Remove the lower branches to make space for the graft and cut back heavy top growth to minimise…

A mature holly, shining in the winter sunshine is a wonderful sight. However, a fine specimen needs patience; hollies are long-lived shrubs that are going to take their time to reach maturity, regardless of your efforts as a gardener. Most are rangy juveniles with little appeal sitting on the bench in a garden centre. Given a good upbringing they grow into elegant, slim young trees, becoming broader and more important with age. Sadly, their determination to do things in their own time has led to their exclusion from some gardens. In our haste to see quick results hollies are often dismissed as too slow. However, for those prepared to plant for the future, these are some of the most rewarding evergreens in cultivation. My early experiences of holly did not…

I have got myself into a bit of a pickle. “What would you like to write about this month?” say the nice people at Gardens Illustrated . “How about potagers?” say I breezily. So here I am, hoist by my own petard, finding myself in the position of having to come up with a neat answer to the obvious question: when does a vegetable garden become a potager? Some may say one is considerably more pretentious than the other and others maintain that the former is something that should only be permitted in France. However, I think that they have two distinct identities and anyway, we should try to be as one with the French. They may be surly on occasions but they have generously given us many good things.…

1. WYKEHAM MATURE PLANTS Specialist grower of large trees, specimen shrubs and instant hedging for immediate impact. Specialist in screening for privacy and security. Yorkshire grown – hardiness guaranteed! Advisory services and delivery available. wykehammatureplants.co.uk | 01723 862406 2. KEN MUIR As a family business with over 50 years’ experience, we pride ourselves on providing only the highest quality fruit trees, soft fruits, canes and vines. Aiming to share knowledge and expertise in this rewarding area kenmuir.co.uk | 01255 830181 3. THORNCROFT CLEMATIS NURSERY With over 400 cultivars of clematis and other climbers, we grow high-quality plants, offer expert advice and an award-winning mail-order service. thorncroftclematis.co.uk | 01953 850407 4. WEASDALE NURSERIES LTD Hardy trees and shrubs from hardy beginnings at an elevation of 260m above sea-level. Ask for a copy of our…