Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2020 i Gardens Illustrated Magazine

In this issue of Gardens Illustrated , award-winning designer Andy Sturgeon considers the gentle interventions that gardeners can make to restore order. Andy found himself a ‘constant gardener’ in his own garden during lockdown, attentive to every leaf, an approach somewhat at odds to his usual style. Here, instead, he shares practical and sustainable ideas for keeping nature in balance, from creatively training trees to the rhythm of repeating plants. A sensitively planted and show garden at the RHS Flower Show Tatton Park in 2017 made garden designer Ula Maria one to watch. Thrillingly, three years on, the first of her work is coming to fruition. Her design for a small, city garden in east London, is a free and easy space. It has layered planting and differing textures using…

I love September. With its cool, misty mornings, warm, mellow days and everything in the garden reaching a peak of ripeness; it has a strong claim to being one of my favourite months of the year. The workload should be manageable this month too. The weeds are less vigorous, and with luck we will have some rain, so you can focus your energies on harvesting. This is the time of year when the freezer comes into its own. I like to stash away fruit ready for when I have time to make jam, and tomatoes to liven up winter stews. Remember, though, a freezer is not a dumping ground. My rule is that all fruit and veg should be used within three months, and that the freezer must be empty…

We are privileged caretakers, and should be taking care of what we’ve been given Earliest garden memory Lying on the flagstone garden path in the sunshine watching my Dad grow his runner beans, roses and sweet peas, while I was drawing pictures of flowers, dragons and castles. I went on to become an illustrator of children’s books. Horticultural heroes All of the unsung ones – all of the allotment holders, the volunteers, the back garden enthusiasts, the gardening club members, the triers and those who simply have a go at it… Gardeners who have no reward or recognition for their toils, they just do it for the absolute love of it. Worthwhile tips Garden with your eyes: look at what needs doing; look at what is working for you and…

STEELY BLUE SUMMER Soft blues and pinks are often far and few between come late summer. This soft and airy composition with the steel-blue Elymus magellanicus at its centre provides something a little unseasonal. Cascading, pink baby’s breath (Gypsophila ‘Rosenschleier’) and interweaving Salvia ‘Blue Note’ spill from the deep, stone bowl, standing out against the warm colours in the backdrop. A delicate combination. How to achieve the look Container and composition Stone planters are much more permanent than their terracotta counterparts and can add structure to focal points in the garden. This attractive stone bowl, topped with a square rim and placed on an old millstone, is a timeless feature. Filled with crocuses, species tulips and fritillaries in the spring, it is replanted in late May with this delicate combination.…

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All summer long, I can be seen enacting a madcap dance in my sun room: feather duster held aloft, trying to shoo a cloud of pollinators out through the French doors. I do love flying insects, from dainty parasitoid wasps to those furry dirigibles of the garden, the bumblebees, but I prefer them outside, not beating uselessly against the glass roof. If anyone can explain the transatlantic anomaly that means every North American home is fitted with fly screens as standard, while they are pretty much unheard of in the UK, I’d appreciate it. I take some small comfort in my discovery that some of the smaller flies that enter may end up taking an enforced break inside the flowers of the string of hearts (Ceropegia linearis subsp. woodii) that…

Natasha Goodfellow Natasha visits an Ula Maria-designed garden, page 72. “I love Ula’s use of materials in this garden – she’s made a small space feel really characterful and inviting.” Matt Collins Matt is impressed by a lush London garden, page 30. “This garden is totally in sync with the Modernist architecture of the house: airy palms, exotic evergreens and sunny perennials.” Dianna Jazwinski Dianna photographs this month’s plant profile, page 52. “This shoot enabled me to observe Hebe more closely and discover an understated beauty that deserves much more attention.” 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 landscapes. The winner of four Chelsea Gold…

GLADIOLUS OPPOSITIFLORUS ‘TEMBULAND’ It’s difficult to understand why species gladioli, such as this South African native (previously considered a subspecies), are hard to find in nurseries. Admittedly, many are quite small and rather frail, but there are also many taller species that are perfectly able to cope with the rigours of the open garden if they are given an open, sunny, reasonably sheltered and well-drained site. This one definitely falls into the latter category and its lovely, large, salmon-pink flowers, held on metre-high stems, is a delight every year. Once established, it can be left in the garden, protected with a mulch if necessary. Height 90cm-1m. Origin South Africa. Conditions Well-drained soil; full sun. Hardiness RHS H4, USDA 6a-9b† . Season of interest Late summer. BEGONIA GRANDIS SUBSP. EVANSIANA VAR.…

Check your brassicas. If they have grown well over the summer, they may be touching the netting you put over them now, leaving them vulnerable to attack from cabbage whites. Check the undersides of the leaves for the little yellow eggs, and make your cage of netting bigger. It’s worth investing a bit of time now as you will need the netting through the winter too, to keep the pigeons at bay. Parsnip foliage will be looking quite messy by now. I like to go through the rows and clean it up, both for aesthetic reasons and to make life harder for the slugs and snails that would otherwise shelter there. Keep removing foliage from tomatoes, so the maximum possible sunlight gets to them. In previous years, I have been…

On paper, hebes have a lot going for them – they are long f lowering, easy to grow, and evergreen. Nevertheless, despite their many qualities, they are not in fashion. Why this should be is rather puzzling; surely they deserve more recognition. Part of the reason might be that some designers have not yet found a place for neat domes of hebes in the naturalistic froth of perennials and grasses that currently dominates their work. Moreover, they have a reputation for being short-lived. There are signs, however, that the tide is starting to turn in their favour as dynamic breeders are starting to produce new cultivars, often with notable foliage. Hebes are the largest plant genus of New Zealand, where about 90 species are found. There the plant has evolved…

FLOWER: EXPLORING THE WORLD IN BLOOM This captivating catalogue of flowers, as depicted in art throughout the ages, also includes an insightful introduction from Tulip author Anna Pavord.Reviewer Katie Dutton is editorial assistant for Gardens Illustrated. by Phaidon Editors Phaidon, £39.95, ISBN 978-1838660857 Following the success of its book Plant: Exploring the Botanical World, Phaidon has now turned its focus to the world of flowers. The new title highlights flowers as a source of inspiration throughout history, art and culture; from ancient Islamic jewellery to contemporary digital flower shows. We have continuously found new, inventive uses for flowers, and though the flowers themselves have not changed greatly over the years, our fascination for them as subject has endured. Interestingly, as Anna Pavord points out in her introduction, early images of…

* Be sure to check opening times and advice on possible travel restrictions in advance September is normally one of my favourite months on so many levels. The weather is often still pleasantly warm but with softer, gentler light than in high summer. The golden light of the setting sun seems to be more noticeable at this time of year, and I have always felt that grasses backlit by such a lowering sun are capable of creating some magical effects. These still warm days coupled with the end of the school holidays and so with slightly quieter roads, make this perhaps the best time to visit gardens, especially those that feature grasses to see the various ways they can be used. The past 20 years have seen an increasing appreciation…

All those salad crops you sowed back in July should be thriving by now. The best way to keep them productive is to pick regularly, as this will stimulate new growth. I used to pick a few leaves from each plant, then one summer my friend’s son Edward came to help. Being a mathematician, he preferred a much more methodical approach, cutting each plant in turn down to the ground, and working his way down the row. The regrowth is much more even this way, so now I do the same. Thanks, Edward. The first apples and pears should be starting to ripen now. You can check when the fruit is ripe enough to eat by holding it in your hand and twisting gently. If it comes away easily, it’s…

What A genus of about 90 species of evergreen, long-flowering shrubs, some with coloured foliage that tend to form dense hummocks. Hebes were originally classified as species of Veronica , and more recent analysis has shown them to indeed be part of the Veronica genus where they may soon be moved back. Origins Most hebes originate in New Zealand with a few species scattered around the southern hemisphere. Season The flowering period is from midsummer to mid autumn, with most flowering between June and September. Size 40cm to 1.5m. Conditions Most hebes prefer poor, well-drained soil. They will withstand high winds and salt spray. Hardiness Although some hebes are hardy, others can suffer from frost damage to new shoots. Most have a hardiness rating of RHS H3 or RHS H4…

Alan Power has become, in many ways, the voice of National Trust gardens. He has worked for the Trust for 25 years, at two of its most iconic gardens, Stourhead and Mount Stewart, and for over a decade he spoke to BBC Radio 4 audiences every autumn with bulletins from Stourhead on the PM programme, describing the magical effect of the landscape changing day by day. This in turn led to presenting on Gardeners’ World and on the series Gardens In Time , treating viewers to a bird’s-eye view of Stowe (another 18th-century landscape garden) from the top of a colossal cedar; Alan trained as an arborist after studying horticulture, and first came to Stourhead in 1996 to survey and manage its collection of trees. ALAN HAS FELT HIS SPIRITS…

Gardening is fundamentally about the control of nature. We mow the lawn to keep it short. We let the Virginia creeper scramble up the house but we remove it from the gutters and don’t let it grow across the windows. Even the most naturalistic of perennial plantings is entirely our own contrivance, combining plants that would rarely rub shoulders in the wild. A hedge is not a hedge if it’s not kept under control. On a vast scale, the likes of ‘Capability’ Brown and Humphry Repton altered nature by digging lakes, making hills and planting woods simply to improve a view. The allées and clipped parterres of Britain’s palaces and stately homes were surely a demonstration of power and a mastery of the uncontrollable, but even in our relatively modest…

AMERICAN GARDENS by Monty Don and Derry Moore Prestel Publishing, £35 ISBN 978-3791386751 Monty Don and photographer Derry Moore travel across the USA tracing the histories of spaces that redefine the American garden. BEES AND THEIR KEEPERS by Lotte Möller, MacLehose Press, £20 ISBN 978-1529405262 Winner of Sweden’s Garden Book of the Year 2019, a charming look at the history of beekeeping, from myth and folklore to our practical relationship with bees. IWIGARA by Enrique Salmon Timber Press, £26.99 ISBN 978-1604698800 A beautiful catalogue of 80 North American plants, revered by indigenous peoples for thousands of years for their nourishing, healing and symbolic properties. PLANT THERAPY by Dr Katie Cooper Hardie Grant Books, £16.99 ISBN 978-1784883522 Psychologist Dr Cooper shares her research on how indoor plants help our mental health,…

OCTOBER ISSUE • Bold, contemporary design in a relaxed lakeside garden • How to propagate ferns • Discover the beautiful cut flowers grown among the ruins of an Augustinian priory • Find the most beautiful persicarias for autumn gardens • The best bulbs to plant now for pollinators • An Essex nursery garden designed to delight the senses • Wildlife-friendly planting in a small city garden ON SALE 14 OCTOBER Save money when you subscribe to the digital edition – see page 24. Also in selected Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Tesco stores, as well as WHSmith, and all good magazine retailers.…