Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2022 i Gardens Illustrated Magazine

January is the month for making a fresh start and looking to the future, with plans for the year ahead in the garden forming vividly in our minds. We stare out over our sleeping plots, trying to remember all the things we meant to make note of last summer, and set our imaginations free, dreaming up exciting new developments in design and planting. We may not always follow through on those grand plans made on dark winter nights by the fire, as we scour plant catalogues and enticing garden images, but the very act of stopping to look, reassess and get a wider perspective on our growing space, however big or small, can be a really valuable and enjoyable exercise. This issue we have plenty of ideas to help you…

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, will receive £15 million in government funding to support the digitisation of its herbarium and fungarium collections. Digitising the information held on the eight million plant and fungal specimens will mean it can be made available to researchers around the world, creating a valuable online resource. “These collections contain unparalleled data on a diverse range of plant and fungal species that will help scientists conserve nature and find solutions to some of the critical challenges facing humanity,” says Richard Deverell, director of Kew.…

Annuals and biennials 1 CALENDULA OFFICINALIS ‘INDIAN PRINCE’ Exuberant calendulas are indispensable in gardens of every size. This fine cultivar is burnt orange with a rich russet heart. Height (H) 75cm. Spread (S) 45cm. Conditions (C) Well-drained chalk, loam, sand; full sun to part shade. Season of Interest (SI) May – October. Hardiness Ratings (HR) RHS H5, USDA 2a-11† . 2 LUNARIA ANNUA ‘CORFU BLUE’ I love honesty for the contrast between boisterous cheer in spring and the later elegant papery seedpods. This cultivar is lovely in gardens, bringing a slightly more refined yet still spirited presence with rich purple stems, violet-blue flowers and purple-flushed, silver seedpods. AGM*. H 90cm. S 75cm. C Moist but well-drained soil; full sun to part shade. SI Spring. HR RHS H6. 3 PANICUM MILIACEUM…

When Ross Barbour came courting, he did so with snowdrops. He had, after all, amassed quite a lot of them. It had all started out fairly innocently, as is often the case with galanthophilia. At Ragley Hall in Warwickshire, where he was head gardener, there were lots of the common Galanthus nivalis growing in the hedgerows and ditches, so Ross started to lift and divide them to get more drifts. “Then I guess it was probably the Avon Bulb catalogue some time in the late 1990s that did it,” Ross admits. “They weren’t that expensive to begin with, so I started a collection.” Over the next ten years, his collection grew considerably, but this first love was about to be replaced by another. When Helen Picton, of Old Court Nurseries…

What Private garden that relies heavily on irrigation-free Mediterranean plants. Where Provence, France. Size Four acres. Soil Clayey loam. Climate Mediterranean. Hardiness zone USDA 9. In this Provençal garden, James has created a framed area, edged by olive trees and set against the backdrop of the Alpilles mountain range. The planting matrix is a pattern formed by plants such as cistus, artemisia, phlomis, rosemary and lavender, growing beneath a canopy of arbutus, Pistacia lentiscus and almond trees.…

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Charlotte Harris Charlotte suggests her 100 must-have plants, page 23. “It’s been a tough ask to narrow this down to just 100. I’ve aimed for a good mix of plants that are interesting, beautiful and hard-working.” Marianne Majerus Marianne photographs a London garden, page 54. “Visiting this garden by Tom Stuart-Smith was a delight; my favourite plants were at their freshest and greenest. A veritable bain de fraîcheur.” John Hoyland John learns about multi-stem trees, page 80. “Philip Nieuwoudt from New Wood Trees is an advocate of multi-stem trees and his enthusiasm made me want to consider one for my own garden.”…

Just when we think all is quiet within our gardens and the plant world in midwinter, a new landmark series from the BBC is here to remind us that there’s a lot more going on than we might think. Narrated by Sir David Attenborough, The Green Planet will air on BBC One early this year, and will unearth some unusual behaviour, emotional tales and surprising heroes from our mostly overlooked but interconnected plant kingdom. Using new developments in robotics, time-lapse and thermal cameras, this five-part series promises to reveal things that are usually invisible to the human eye, so we can witness the drama of the plant world unfold before us. Find out more at bbc.co.uk…

More than 200 objects are currently on display for the Fabergé in London: Romance to Revolution exhibition at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. Among them will be the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna’s Basket of Flowers Egg (right), on loan from the Queen’s Royal Collection. The exhibition, which focuses on the legendary Russian goldsmith Carl Fabergé and his international firm’s little-known London branch, brings together the largest collection of Imperial Easter Eggs seen in a generation. Flowers were a recurring theme in Fabergé’s work and his craftsmen worked directly from nature to ensure that each flower looked alive. The Basket of Flowers Egg was commissioned by Tsar Nicholas II as an Easter gift for his wife, Alexandra. Featuring mock orange, daisies, pansies, calla lilies, cornflowers, morning glories and oats, it is made…

Gardening sharpens your sense of looking and many great gardeners fed this into other creative outlets First plant love The peashooters my grandad made for me and my brothers using the naturally hollow stalk of a courgette and freshly podded peas from his veg patch. We could fire the peas at one another, then eat them afterwards. Have you always been a gardener? I studied fine art at university and worked in various jobs within the arts before I grew to adore gardening through my allotment. When I realised you could train as a professional horticulturist, I never looked back. Who are your horticultural heroes? Gardening sharpens your sense of looking, and many great gardeners symbiotically fed this into other creative outlets: writing, photography, film and art. I’m inspired by…

What A genus of around 180 species of deciduous or evergreen flowering shrubs in the Viburnaceae family. Common names include arrow wood, wayfaring tree and guelder rose. Origins Mainly in the Northern Hemisphere but extending to New Guinea and South America. Season Many have year-round interest, but spring, and April in particular, is a high point for the genus when most species are in flower. Size Can range in height from around 50-60cm up to almost 9m. Conditions Moist soils that don’t get too dry in the summer months. Many are very good on limy soils but prefer slightly acid soils. Hardiness Generally hardy in most of the UK, with an RHS hardiness rating of H5 to H6, and largely suitable for gardens in USDA zones 3a to 8b. Some…

Besides bold foreground planting, Tom has some core design principles to help bring a sense of space to small gardens Make sure the diagonal views across a garden are almost the most significant, so you’re not held in the tyranny of an axis. A central thoroughfare can lead to no usable space at all. Here, the connecting flights of steps are fairly peripheral to the layout, facilitating workable garden spaces. Avoid substantial level drops, to help a garden feel more relaxed. I try to never have level changes that are more than waist high, otherwise the whole scale starts to become something that doesn’t work well with planting in small spaces. A garden needs seasonal moments – the Cornus kousa display here is one of them. It can grow in…

Snowdrops are traditionally divided in the green, when they are still in growth, as they respond well to this treatment. It also has the added benefit that you can see what you are doing and is an easy way to bulk up your planting. “We do divide some clumps in the summer, when they are dormant,” says Ross. “Partly so we can twin scale them, but you really have to know where your clumps are planted, otherwise you’ll damage them trying to find them.” However, Ross believes that dividing in the green is essential because congested clumps are also more likely to become diseased or damaged. “If one gets disease in a tight clump, then they all go down quickly, so division also helps manage this. You can start a…

Everything is simply dried, then woven, stitched or tied,” says UK-based Japanese artist Kazuhito Takadoi, explaining – with characteristic understatement – the process behind his delicate, quietly poetic sculptures. Made from natural materials, the pieces can take several months to construct and include works such as Umbra (above right), a 1.55-metre-long, three-dimensional mesh of twigs now hanging in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Its pierced, organic shape is reminiscent of a Barbara Hepworth sculpture, but the way the piece gently floats, seemingly made out of a fragile network of trapped light and shade, is unique to Kazuhito. Umbra is made entirely out of short lengths of hawthorn that have been tied together with waxed linen twine. Kazuhito has created other pieces by stitching grasses, leaves and twigs together,…

WINTER GARDENS by Clare Foster and Andrew Montgomery Montgomery Press, £45 ISBN 978-1919650708 Handsome coffee-table tome with lyrical essays capturing the essence of winter. Captivating book for anyone interested in design, gardens or beauty. Reviewer Humaira Ikram is a garden designer. I am a master at tsundoku, the art of collecting books in a pile that you may never get around to reading. But Winter Gardens has avoided such a fate. After opening it I found it hard to extract myself. It’s a mix of emotive photographs in sepia and monochrome tones by Andrew Montgomery, surrounded by poetic and illuminating texts by writer Clare Foster. The book feels like a labour of love. It is impressive in its weight, size and the choice of paper and finish of the pages.…

James Basson James lives in the South of France where he runs Scape Design, a practice specialising in low-maintenance and dry gardens. He is a fervent advocate for creating sustainable landscapes. The winner of four Chelsea Gold medals, he was awarded Best in Show in 2017. Fergus Garrett Fergus was appointed head gardener at Great Dixter by Christopher Lloyd in 1993. He is passionate about passing on his knowledge through student programmes at Dixter and worldwide lectures. He was awarded an RHS Associate of Honour in 2008 and an RHS Victoria Medal of Honour in 2019. Anna Pavord Anna’s books include her bestseller The Tulip and most recently Landskipping. For 30 years she was The Independent’s gardening correspondent. In 2000 the RHS awarded her the Veitch Memorial Medal. She lives…

The RHS Lindley Library in London houses one of the world’s largest collections of botanical prints, illustrations and plates. Its incredible archive has been delved into by decorative painting expert Annie Sloan, who has collaborated with the RHS on a range of decoupage paper kits (shown here is Mint taken from volume 1 of Regne Vegetal c. 1790-1820). The art of découpage – decorating furniture, objects and interiors with paper cut-outs sealed in place with varnish – was popular during Victorian times. Find the découpage kits, for £11.95, at anniesloan.com…

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As well as getting your tools cleaned, oiled and sharpened, this is an excellent time to get bigger machines, such as lawnmowers, serviced and ready for the season to come. Sort out your seeds (which, of course, you ordered in plenty of time). This will help you to determine whether anything is missing, and to make sure you sow everything at the right time. I use an old wine case and organise the seeds by month of sowing. This may be a slow time for gardeners, but slugs and snails never rest. Keeping crops tidy through regular picking will help, as will a sprinkle of organic slug pellets. If you’re venturing into the garden at this time of year, whether for weeding, picking or pruning, it’s well worth putting down…

• Burncoose Nurseries Gwennap, Redruth, Cornwall TR16 6BJ. Tel 01209 860316, burncoose.co.uk • Crûg Farm Plants Griffith’s Crossing, Caernarfon, Gwynedd LL55 1TU. Tel 01248 670232, crug-farm.co.uk • Larch Cottage Nurseries Melkinthorpe, Penrith, Cumbria CA10 2DR. Tel 01931 712767, larchcottage.co.uk • Pan-Global Plants The Walled Garden, Frampton Court, Frampton-on-Severn, Gloucestershire GL2 7EX. Tel 01452 741641, panglobalplants.com • Penwood Nurseries Penwood, Newbury, Berkshire RG20 9EW. Tel 01635 254366, penwoodnurseries.co.uk • RHS Garden Hyde Hall* Creephedge Lane, Chelmsford, Essex CM3 8ET. Tel 01245 402019, rhs.org.uk *National Collection holder.…

I LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT IT - I WANTED TO KNOW PLANTS’ NAMES AND WHY THEY GREW WHERE THEY DID When he left school at 16, gardener’s son Richard Ayres went and joined the Navy. “I was sick to the back teeth of gardening,” he says. “I wanted to do something totally different. But my eyesight wasn’t good enough and, after a year, they got rid of me.” Instead of a life below decks as a cook, Richard returned to Cambridgeshire and worked as a fenland farmer until he was headhunted. “My father was head gardener at Anglesey Abbey and the 1st Lord Fairhaven kept pestering him, asking: ‘Why doesn’t Richard come and work here?’ Eventually, he wrote me a letter.” Dressed in his best suit and clean shoes, Richard paid…

Focus on trees Designer Freddie Strickland Following the inconclusive outcome at COP26, we, as individuals, must take the lead on replenishing our gardens, streets, parks and land with trees. The loss of our green canopy is highlighted in the damning figures: just 13 per cent of the UK’s total land area has tree cover, compared to an EU average of 38 per cent. Those numbers hurt. A tree is not only a naturalsolution, carbon store, air purifier and habitat, but through considered design it can also bring balance, privacy and bucketloads of interest to a garden. Trendy is an understatement. With embarrassing government targets falling well short of what’s required, what can we do as individuals? Our often small and valuable outdoor spaces need to be aligned to a common…

The British may have introduced rabbits to Australia, but they have been forgiven by the many gardeners in the Southern Highlands who welcome other imports, such as David Austin Roses. The climate and soil have something to do with the enduring appeal of le style anglais; the region is high-altitude but the temperatures are moderate. Perfect for vineyards and olive groves. Brekkie time The Southern Highlands have a long tradition of offering rural respite from Sydney, being only an hour and a half away. The small but very bustling towns and villages that are scattered between the farms and national parks seem to be designed for pit stops, with one superlative café after another offering locally sourced ingredients transformed into a ‘brekkie’, lunch, or tea of dreams. Eateries to recommend…