Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2020 i Gardens Illustrated Magazine

In this issue of Gardens Illustrated we consider space. We have included the best small gardens that we have seen this year, each designed to optimise the available room in a small plot. From an urban sanctuary with a completely green palette designed by Charlotte Harris and Hugo Bugg to a tranquil gravel garden, there is plenty to inspire. In East Sussex is the garden of a contemporary art collector that has been thoughtfully landscaped around its art. Trees including Liriodendron tulipifera and Salix alba have been chosen expressly to attract bees, and a meadow in the form of a wildf lower labyrinth offers opportunities to walk through without trampling the f lowers. It is a space in which to become immersed as much as to view. On page 52…

Seasonal style Step out in French style with a pair of Le Chameau women’s wellies. The new Iris collection is inspired by nature and has a subtle palette, including these dusky blue (bleu clair) and cheerful pink (rose) shades. Handcrafted, the boots are lightweight but have a sturdy sole and more than 90 per cent of each boot is made from sustainable rubber. They’ve even received the royal seal of approval, with the Duchesses of Cambridge and Sussex both calling themselves fans. The boots cost £100, from lechameau.com Rosy forecast If you are thinking of planting a bare-root rose this autumn, you may want to consider the British Association of Rose Breeders’ newly crowned rose of 2021, Rosa Belle de Jour (= ‘Deljaupar’), a Floribunda rose from the French breeder…

For many people, August is traditionally the holiday month. Unfortunately for them, it also often seems to turn out to be a month of cloudy skies and lots – and lots – of rain. I have no need to look at a calendar to know when the schools have broken up. I simply look at the sky. Of course, for a gardener, rain is always welcome and, provided you have resisted the lure of a fortnight away somewhere damp and gloomy, this is the time to enjoy the vegetable garden at its productive peak, particularly if you are a fan of courgettes. Personally, I prefer to stay put in August and enjoy the fruits of my labours. While the emphasis this month is very much on harvesting – and eating…

I hope people will now value our parks, open spaces and wider landscape more. Earliest garden memory My grandparents’ garden just outside York, which had lots of roses, an orchard and a large vegetable garden. I weeded and deadheaded roses with Grannie and picked ‘White Transparent’ apples, which were my favourite. First plant love It became my ambition, after my first few months at Askham Bryan College to own or work with the best collection of begonias in the world. The variety of species fascinated me. Who has inspired your career the most Mr Henry Bird, my rural studies teacher at Joseph Rowntree Secondary Modern School, taught us how to whip-and-tongue graft fruit trees using wax and raffia when I was 14. It’s all down to him. Three worthwhile tips…

Down an unlikely side alley in south London lies a most enviable refuge: a fusion of tranquil informality and high concept rarely exhibited in city gardens. Lucid Lychnis coronaria and Salvia nemorosa ‘Amethyst’ tumble over Corten steel, while a lawn-cum-meadow, rich with bedstraw and buttercup, flows from a boundary of light-filtering trees and climbing shrubs. This serene landscape was conceived by garden designer Jane Brockbank, working with Craftworks (formerly John Smart Architects) to unite house and garden through angular patterns, bespoke vistas and, despite its limited size, contrasting zones. With the house – a once-derelict, unconsecrated chapel – progressively remodelled to include an open-plan living space, modern Gothic ceiling and eccentric nods to its ecclesiastical history, Jane had the opportunity to create a bold garden with textures, seasonal change and…

Thinking of foliage plants as just ‘green’ belies the many different shades there are to play with. For example, mind-your-own-business (Soleirolia soleirolii) is a bright, almost electric green; Stauntonia hexaphylla, a favourite climber of mine, is an appley green, while muehlenbeckia has a more brownish hue. When you're using just one colour, foliage texture and proportion take on a far greater importance. I think spheres of Taxus baccata, Hebe rakaiensis and Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Golf Ball’ look great together – the leaf sizes are similar but they provide both different shades and textures. Use evergreens for winter interest and structure, but make sure you have some summer flowers nearby. Evergreens can feel a bit dark in summer. Ferns are great plants for a green garden – they have so many different…

I’m an advocate of natural materials. Wood and stone underpin much of my work but I include metal in that list. You can dig it out of the ground, after all, although you have to mix a couple of metals together to make bronze and other alloys. Its look can certainly become ‘natural’. This is because it often oxidises, weathers and patinates bringing a warmth and richness to the finish. Metal is versatile. It can be fiercely modern or charmingly traditional and even rustic. You can fashion a tiny detail, such as a hinge or a water spout, or something vast like a monolithic wall. Its inherent strength and durability is fundamentally what makes it so useful. Corten steel is structural steel. It rusts on the outside and then stops…

RayCox Ray photographs the gardens of Balker Farmhouse in Scotland, page 44. “I had these on my ‘gardens to investigate’ list for a while but wasn’t expecting such striking planting.” Kendra Wilson Kendra visits a beautifully designed small London garden, page 60. “Harris Bugg’s approach to this urban front and back garden is a masterclass in the importance of quality in detail.” Tom Coward Tom shares the secrets of Gravetye’s borders, page 52. “Flower borders can be a challenge towards the end of summer, but with good planning this can be a climax of colour before autumn arrives.” James Basson James lives in the South of France where he runs Scape Design with his wife Helen, specialising in low-maintenance and dry gardens. He is a fervent advocate for creating sustainable…

FUCHSIA MAGELLANICA VAR. MYRTIFOLIA In the past I have sensed a reluctance among some gardeners to grow plants such as fuchsias, perhaps partly because they were once so commonly seen, even becoming naturalised in some Cornish hedgerows. To do so though is to miss out on some really reliable, late summer colour and, viewed without prejudice, quite simply, beautiful plants. Fuchsia magellanica, is the semi-wild species of the South West, but var. myrtifolia is neater, more compact and very floriferous, and appears to be just as winter hardy as any. Height 90cm-1.2m. Origin South America. Conditions Well-drained soil; full sun to part shade. Hardiness RHS H4, USDA 10a-11† . Season of interest All summer. HIBISCUS SINOSYRIACUS ‘AUTUMN SURPRISE’ Maybe I don’t get out as much as I used to, but…

If like me you are a salad obsessive, August is a time to rejoice as the peppery leaves sown last month start to appear. Rocket, mizuna and mustard greens will all add a most welcome zing to the salad bowl, and will keep cropping through the colder months. Growing aubergines is a new adventure for me, and one I am thoroughly enjoying. I find they work particularly well in pots in an enclosed space, such as a courtyard, where they benefit from the heat reflecting from walls and can be moved around to take advantage of the sunshine. I love to make a simple baba ganoush by grilling them until they are properly charred, then scooping out the flesh and blending with tahini, olive oil and garlic. But there can…

What Hardy herbaceous perennials belonging to the Rosaceae family. They have pinnate foliage with toothed leaflet margins and branched wiry stems with terminal clusters of burrs, nodding catkins or candle-like flowers in white, green, pink, red and plum. Commonly known as burnets, there are around 18 species and thousands of hybrids. Origins Exclusive to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. Season A long season of interest can be provided by this genus from early April until mid November. Size Varies from a few centimetres to 2.5m. Conditions Most grow in moist grasslands with a few species from drier limestone habitats. Hardiness Sanguisorbas are hardy perennials and ideal for UK gardens. Most have a hardiness rating of RHS H7 and are suitable for gardens in USDA zones 3a to 8b.…

1 Watsonia pillansii A clump-forming rhizomatous perennial from South Africa with sword-shaped leaves and intense orange flowers that are held in handsome spirals on strong, upright stems. Appreciative of full sun. 1m. RHS H3, USDA 9a-10b† . 2 Verbascum chaixii ‘Album’ A promiscuous and very hardy self-seeding perennial with a basal rosette of architectural leaves and scarcely branched stems tightly massed with white flowers that have an intense purple eye. 75cm. RHS H6, USDA 5a-8b. 3 Penstemon ‘Andenken an Friedrich Hahn’ An elegant and floriferous long-lived perennial from North America with a mass of bold gem-red tubular flowers from July to October. Requires well-drained soil. 80cm. AGM*. RHS H5, USDA 7a-9b. 4 Oenothera biennis This common evening primrose is a tall and showy biennial that self seeds and is always…

Gardens divided by formal hedges, walls or water, into what are generally called garden rooms, offer the chance to create a series of distinctive and unrelated planting styles. Zones can be a little more tricky to pull off, as the eye travels from one to the other unobstructed. “In a garden, you don’t want to have completely contrasting spaces in a long line,” explains Jane. “A garden wants to flow, so the zones have to speak the same language while shifting in colour and texture.” To achieve this Jane suggests selecting plants that have a naturalistic feel, such as loosestrife, euphorbias and grasses. “There’s nothing very hybridised in this garden,” she says. Repetition is also a good way to bring cohesion to a larger space. Jane has bookended this garden…

It is rare for a plant nursery to revolutionise the way we see a particular group of plants but William Dyson’s nursery, sitting in the beautifully romantic gardens of Great Comp near Sevenoaks in Kent, has done just that. Twenty-five years ago, when William took on the job of head gardener and nursery manager at Great Comp, salvias were either a bright-red bedding plant or a culinary herb. Now, thanks in great part to William’s knowledge, energy and enthusiasm the genus is widely grown and admired. William took over ownership of Great Comp’s plant nursery in 1995, selling mainly a mix of herbaceous plants that were growing in the garden. Magnolias, azaleas and rhododendrons are the backbone of the garden and at the time William wanted to bring more colour…

RECYCLED FACE LIFT Recycled materials are at the heart of an innovative façade for a remodelled, five-storey commercial building in the City of London. Designed by Red Squirrel Architects, the project at 20 Cousin Lane uses locally shredded aluminium cans re-cast into honeycomb screens that provide solar shading on part of the building and form a framework for planter boxes. On two elevations a living wall that uses compost made from recycled garden waste will create year-round interest from plants such as ferns, evergreen shrubs, bulbs and herbaceous perennials. A new green roof and a rooftop garden with trees in planters complete the planting. redsquirrelarchitects.com…

MODERN Milano Niagra Thermostatic Shower, £659.99, Big Bathroom Shop, 0345 122 7569, bigbathroomshop.co.uk EASY TO INSTALL Seletti Aquart Lux Outdoor Shower, £220, Made In Design, 020 7692 4001, madeindesign.co.uk STAINLESS STEEL Weltevree Serpentine Garden Shower, £255.90, Connox, 020 3880 0027, connox.co.uk NON SLIP BASE Solok Freestanding Outdoor Shower, £222.99, Wayfair, 0800 169 0423, wayfair.co.uk SCULPTURAL Röshults Garden Shower, £3,797, Connox, 020 3880 0027, connox.co.uk CURVED Fermob Pasaia Outdoor Shower, £870, Made In Design, 020 7692 4001, madeindesign.co.uk ADJUSTABLE Tradewinds Fieldshow’r, €351, Archiproducts, +39 080 554 3553, archiproducts.com ECO DESIGN Eucalyptus Wood and Steel Outdoor Shower, £116.99, Mano Mano, 01766 808005, manomano.co.uk CLASSIC Doumet Freestanding Outdoor Shower, £1,069.99, Wayfair, 0800 169 0423, wayfair.co.uk…

GROW YOUR OWN TEA by Christine Parks and Susan M Walcott, Timber Press, £18.99, ISBN 978-1604699319 In this helpful new title you can learn how to grow, cultivate and harvest white, green, oolong and (the nation’s favourite) black tea in your own garden. LILIAN SNELLING: THE RHODODENDRON AND PRIMULA DRAWINGS by HJ Noltie, RGBE Publications, £9.99, ISBN 978-1910877340 Snelling was one of the most important British botanical artists, and here her story and illustrations are deservedly brought to light. INTO THE TANGLED BANK by Lev Parikian, Elliott & Thompson Limited, £14.99, ISBN 978-1783965069 Lev Parikian ventures out on a quest to investigate how we as a nation interact with our natural surroundings, from our back gardens to the countryside. FUNGARIUM by Katie Scott and Ester Gaya for Royal Botanic Gardens,…

I’m often asked whether my dream is to open a shop selling houseplants, and the answer is always an emphatic no. I’d find it too hard to hand over plants without giving the purchaser a rather too intense grilling to make sure they weren’t playing fast and loose with the watering can. I’d also require anyone buying a plant from the prayer plant family to invest in a botanist’s hand lens. Prayer plants get their common name from their habit of folding their leaves up at night, like hands in prayer, and all belong to the Marantaceae family, which includes many species that have become the poster plants of the houseplant world in recent years: Maranta leuconeura, with its rabbit-track leaf blotches, Goeppertia orbifolia (formerly Calathea orbifolia) with its broad…

Recommended places to see seasonal plants at their best* * Be sure to check opening times and advice on possible travel restrictions in advance With August coinciding with the school holidays, it is now indelibly linked with thoughts of summer. At one time, however, it was considered to be the beginning of autumn and our gardens often have an autumnal feel to them at this time of year, especially if the weather has been dry and warm for any length of time. For many years, I assumed that the slight naturalness of seedheads and diminishing numbers of flowers was what most gardens were like in August, so it came as a bit of a shock when I did venture out to discover many small cottage gardens still bursting with colour.…

Keep sowing salad crops. A sowing every three or four weeks at this stage will see you into the early winter. You can thank me then. I like to do a late sowing of beetroot at around this time. There is still time for the roots to develop, and the leaves make a delicious – and colourful – addition to autumn and winter salads. This is also a great time to sow onion seed. It took me a while to find an onion that would do well in heavy clay soil, but now I have the answer: Allium cepa ‘White Lisbon’. I like to sow quite thickly, so that I can add the thinnings to my salads. There is still time to get summer and winter radishes into the ground…

What Private garden with views over family estate. Where East Sussex. Soil Heavy clay, naturally irrigated with underground springs. Size 12 acres. Climate Temperate, typical of the south of England. Hardiness zone USDA 9. In this part of the garden, an animated parterre of hardy perennials and grasses was designed by Marian Boswall Landscape Architects, to create a setting for a new orangery with a crenelated balcony above. Helianthus salicifolius jostles with Miscanthus sinensis ‘Kleine Silberspinne’ and adds mystery to the sculpture layout in summer.…

• Avondale Nursery Mill Hill, Baginton, Warwickshire CV8 3AG. Tel 07367 590620, avondalenursery.co.uk • RHS Garden Wisley Wisley Lane, Wisley, Woking, Surrey GU23 6QB. Tel 01483 224234, rhs.org.uk • Macplants Berrybank Nursery, 5 Boggs Holdings, Pencaitland, East Lothian EH34 5BA. Tel 01875 341179, macplants.co.uk • Marchants Hardy Plants 2 Marchants Cottages Mill Lane, Laughton, Lewes, East Sussex BN8 6AJ. Tel 01323 811737, marchantshardyplants.co.uk • Phoenix Perennial Plants Tel 01420 560695. Open by appointment only • Pineview Plants Pineview, 19 Windmill Hill, Wroxham Heath, Sevenoaks, Kent TN15 7SU. Tel 01732 882945, pineviewplants.co.uk • The Plant Specialist 7 Whitefield Lane, Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire HP16 0BH. Tel 1494 866650, theplantspecialist.co.uk • Sussex Prairie Garden Morlands Farm, Wheatsheaf Road,nr Henfield, West Sussex, BN5 9AT. Tel 01273 495902, sussexprairies.co.uk…

In 2010, at the age of 44, Arit Anderson moved from a flat in north London to the southwest of the city in search of riverside walks, a greener life and her very first garden. “I liked the idea of pottering around with plants after a hectic day in the office, although I had no idea what to do with it.” Today she is a familiar face on BBC Gardeners’ World and other programmes, with her own successful garden design practice, and plans to improve the environmental impact of the whole landscaping profession. “Design wasn’t part of a plan,” she says.“I have never even thought of myself as being artistic.” Born in London, Arit grew up in a lively, happy house in Hertforshire’s green belt, with four foster sisters and…

• Raised beds don’t have to be a choice between rustic-style sleepers or industrial Corten steel. They could pick up other elements in the garden – the patinated bronze used here complements the weathered wood of the pergola. • Smaller trees can add height without necessarily needing depth. These hornbeams and magnolias have rootballs of 1.1m and 2m respectively. Both are gently cut back twice a year to restrict growth. • A pergola adds essential height and can be used to add vertical planting. Left unplanted, as here, it looks modern and can support annuals in summer. • Planting against a house or wall, will also add height but if that’s not an option as was the case in this garden, then invest in good-looking, oversized pots for clipped evergreens.…

1 Salvia ‘Flower Child’ One of the smallest forms of S. microphylla. The candy-floss pink flowers appear from July to October. 40cm. RHS H5† . 2 Salvia concolor A massive plant with deep royal-blue flowers on flower spikes that can be 50cm long. 2.5m. RHS H4, USDA 8a-10b. 3 Salvia ‘Ping Pong’ A new introduction from William that he selected for its densely packed flower spikes and long flowering period. The flowers are deep pink and appear from early June to October. 1m. RHS H5. 4 Salvia ‘Phyllis’ Fancy’ Its white flowers, the texture of velvet, become suffused with purple as they age and are held in dark-violet calyces. It was discovered in UC Santa Cruz Arboretum & Botanic Garden. 2m. RHS H3. 5 Salvia ‘Amistad’ A spectacular tender perennial…

REWILD YOUR GARDEN: CREATE A HAVEN FOR BIRDS, BEES AND BUTTERFLIES by Frances Tophill Quercus Books, £15 ISBN 978-1529410259 An attractively illustrated book that makes a strong case for the idea – when it comes to biodiversity, at least – that a little less control goes a long way.Reviewer Natasha Goodfellow is a freelance garden writer and editor. When, in 2000, Isabella Tree and her husband Charlie Burrell downed tools and let nature take its course at their 3,500-acre estate in West Sussex, many observers thought they were mad. Twenty years on, with their land now teeming with life including rare species, such as purple emperor butterflies and turtle doves, they have kick-started a new appreciation for how wildlife, ecosystems and biodiversity can be not just conserved but restored. This…

SEPTEMBER ISSUE • Relaxed planting and contemporary style in a characterful small city garden • A joyfully eclectic garden surrounding a renovated modernist house in southwest London • Brilliant ideas for container planting that will make the most of early autumn’s colour palette • The best anemones from Scotland’s Elizabeth MacGregor Nursery ON SALE 16 SEPTEMBER Save money when you subscribe to the digital edition – see page 22. Also in selected Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Tesco stores, as well as WHSmith, and all good magazine retailers.…