Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2022 i Gardens Illustrated Magazine

Much of gardening is about listening. In doing so we can tune in to our surroundings and better understand what's needed – be that whether we can hear the buzz of insects or the chirrup of birds, or listening to our own sensibilities and understanding what we might need to do to improve our wellbeing. It's also about garden designers listening to their clients and envisioning how a garden space might best be used. Designers Gavin McWilliam and Andrew Wilson were tasked with enlivening a tired 1960s garden for new owners. They wanted family space but also a greenhouse, kitchen garden and more manageable planting. On page 104, we drill down into the design decisions and considerations that were put in place to bring this garden back to life. We…

World of art A day out at Wakehurst, Kew's wild botanic garden in Sussex, is an opportunity to see a world of different habitats as varied as an American Prairie and Wetlands to a Himalayan Glade. This summer there is also the chance to explore the future of plants and food in worldwide communities through a programme of events entitled Nourish. Foremost are five newly commissioned outdoor art installations, specially created in response to Kew Science research projects. Among these is UK Young Arts of the Year nominee Malgorzata Lisiecka's reflection on the power of fungi with a 3D interactive sculpture (top left). A large-scale installation from Flea Folly Architects, The False Banana Pavilion (left), uses the African wild banana relative, Ensete ventricosum, to highlight its possible use as a…

DIG IN PLANTSPERSON'S FAVOURITES SALVIA ‘AMISTAD’ A beautiful and incredibly floriferous salvia that will continue flowering until the first frosts. It survives the winter at Gravetye, although benefits from autumn mulching for a little extra protection. Its winter skeleton will offer some structure, although it usually dies back to the ground and should be cut back hard in early spring. We take cuttings between July and August, overwintering in a cool greenhouse and find these make the best plants. After hardening off they can be planted as gaps open up. AGM*. Height and spread 1.2m x 50cm. Origin Garden (species South America). Conditions Moist but well-drained chalk, loam, sand; full sun in a sheltered spot. Best plants are produced by overwintering cuttings under glass. Hardiness RHS H3, USDA 9a-11†. Season…

Summer prune wisteria Tame these vigorous climbers by lightly trimming the long tendrils and foliage of current season's growth to tidy the appearance and neaten the habit. Deadhead spent flowers Continue to deadhead roses and annuals, such as cosmos and sweet peas, cutting back old flower stems to a strong bud or stem to improve the appearance and promote continuation of flowering. Clean insides of greenhouses, cold frames and polytunnels With most plants growing happily outside, now is a great time to clean and tidy the inside of your growing structures. Wash internal glazing and membranes, while cleaning and preserving timber and metal staging. List seeds for collection As flowers begin to produce seeds, get organised and list what seed you'd like to keep, as well as gathering paper bags…

Plants 1 Artemisia lactiflora Guizhou Group An upright perennial with purple feathery leaves. 1.2m x 60cm. RHS H7, USDA 3a-8b†. 2 Geranium Rozanne (= ‘Gerwat’) Reliable perennial with violet-blue flowers. 60cm x 80cm. AGM*. RHS H7, USDA 5a-8b. 3 Cleome hassleriana ‘Violet Queen’ Pink flowers on tall stems. 1.5m x 45cm. RHS H2. 4 Eutrochium purpureum Clump-forming perennial. 2.5m x 1m. RHS H7, USDA 4a-9b. 5 Veronicastrum virginicum ‘Fascination’ Spikes of lilac flowers held on statuesque stems. 1.2m x 40cm. RHS H7, USDA 3a-8b. 6 Phlox paniculata ‘Lilac Time’ Pretty lilac flower. 1m. RHS H7, USDA 4a-8b. 7 Nepeta racemosa ‘Walker's Low’ Silvery foliage with deep-blue flowers. 60cm x 50cm. AGM. RHS H7, USDA 4a-8b. 8 Hemerocallis ‘Stafford’ Burnt-orange/red flowers. 60cm x 45cm. AGM. RHS H6. *Holds an Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society.…

• Hollyhocks grow best in a sunny position, in a range of growing media from well-drained fertile soil, to gravel paths and cracks in paving. Although they can grow well on exposed sites, some shelter can be beneficial to prevent them being rocked over in strong winds. • Hollyhocks are easily grown from seed. I treat them as biennials by sowing fresh seed each year during May or June. Sowing at this time of year gives them plenty of time to grow a substantial plant and a strong root system, both of which will be needed to produce those huge spires of flowers the following year. • If you have a spare patch of ground, the seed can be sown directly. However, if your garden is full, as is likely…

UNEARTHED: ON RACE AND ROOTS, AND HOW THE SOIL TAUGHT ME I BELONG by Claire Ratinon Chatto & Windus (Vintage), £16.99 ISBN 978-1784744472 A poetic and sometimes unsettling autobiography detailing how growing food helped redefine a personal relationship with the land. Reviewer Matthew Biggs is a plant expert, writer and broadcaster. Claire Ratinon is passionate about growing organic vegetables; it's in her soul. She has grown them for the Ottolenghi Restaurant, Rovi, written about them in The New Statesman and lectured at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. But it hasn't always been this way. This book documents the twists and turns in Claire's often turbulent life that led her to find an identity through gardening, as a Black woman. We are led through her childhood in London, life as a…

Becky Crowley Flower grower Becky explores the many variations of a cottage garden favourite, page 52. “It has been fascinating to study more closely one of my very favourite flowers: the hollyhock.” Joe Wainwright Joe photographs a beautiful walled garden in Wales, page 66. “It's always a joy to photograph Tom and Jenny's peaceful garden, with its rich and beautifully romantic planting.” Alice Vincent Alice begins a new monthly column on creating a garden from scratch, page 130. “This column feels like a new garden: I can't wait to dig in, sow seeds and watch it grow.” CONTRIBUTING EDITORS 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.…

PETAL POWER Just as the wedding season hits its summer peak, here's an uplifting opportunity to peek inside the fields of a Shropshire-based flower farm to see the delphiniums, cornflowers, sunflowers, calendula and wildflowers that go into making its petal confetti. Shropshire Petals, a fourth-generation family run flower farm, near Newport in Shropshire, grows flowers for drying, and to create its colourful, natural, completely biodegradable and eco-friendly confetti. This year it's throwing open its fields for a festival of flowers that will offer the chance to stroll among the blooms to see them growing at their peak, as well as enjoy good food, some family-friendly activities and the opportunity to buy your own freshly cut flower bouquet. 5-14 August, tickets cost £9.95. shropshireflowerfield.co.uk OPENING OUT Historic, Grade I-listed Crook Hall…

Be sure to check opening times. Some garden visits may need to be pre-booked Great Dixter needs little introduction in these pages, and is a place that has inspired generations of gardeners. During the lifetime of its owner Christopher Lloyd, it became one of the most adventurous, exciting and creative of gardens, and today his head gardener and close friend Fergus Garret continues to care for the garden with the same passion and energy. The intensive mixed borders and beautiful wildflower meadows are a constant source of inspiration, and Fergus is passionate about sharing his knowledge, meaning Dixter continues to be one of the leading places for training the next generation of gardeners. Northiam, Rye, East Sussex TN316PH. Tel 01797 252878, greatdixter.co.uk Not far from Dixter, the haunting beauty of…

With topiary someone can show you what to do, but nothing beats picking up a pair of shears and having a go First plant love A spider plant when I was about ten years old. I gave it a very short haircut, for no other reason than I wanted to see what happened. I think this may have been the start of my desire to shape plants. Who has inspired your career? Luciano Giubbilei, in particular a roof garden he designed for the Swiss private investment company Unigestion. He placed a series of green domes in a long curve, set against pale-grey gravel. The simplicity of the shape, with the effect of light and shadow playing on the form, really caught my attention. What did you do before gardening? I…

The past few years of working disruption have seen many reassess their working lives and reconsider their careers, something Vanessa Easlea, chair of the Working For Gardeners Association (WFGA) knows all about. “I used to work in investment banking covering Asia, and travelled a huge amount, so I could only garden at the weekends. I would go into work at 6.30am and come home at 6.30pm, but any spare moment I had I would sit in the trading room and think about roses.” The WFGA was once known as the Women's Farm and Garden Association, and is best known for helping women into professional horticulture, a career path traditionally dominated by men. Its flagship scheme is WRAGS or Work and Retrain as a Gardener Scheme (formerly Women Returners to Amenity…

Nectar networks Keith Datchler OBE, retired farmer Having spent my entire working life in farming, several decades of it meadow-orientated, I did not think roadside verges would become a part of my life, but they have. I am a meadow nut – my wife says if I were cut in half, I would have the word ‘meadows’ written through me like letters in a stick of rock. Increasingly, the push to save existing meadows, and create more species-rich, biodiverse grassland, has gathered pace. Thank heavens – they are basic in the story of human life, in ways people are only beginning to understand. Wheat, barley, oats, rye, rice and maize, are all staples to our existence, and all types of grass. We need to feed ourselves, and farms and farmers…

From the greening power of seedbombs to the healing power of nature, the best of the rest of this month's books. LET'S WILDFLOWER THE WORLD by Josie Jeffery Leaping Hare Press, £16.99 ISBN 978-0711275393 Advice on starting your local green revolution through seedbombing and seed swapping, and creating your own seed bank. RHS THE LITTLE BOOK OF CACTI & SUCCULENTS by Sophie Collins Mitchell Beazeley, £14.99 ISBN 978-1784728342 A guide to growing and propagating these fascinating plants throughout the year, including plant profiles according to style and shape. THE YEW HEDGE by Martin Gardner Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, £20, ISBN 978-1910877425 The fascinating story of some remarkable native forests and heritage trees of the European yew (Taxus baccata), both in the UK and overseas. THE ULTIMATE FLOWER GARDENER'S GUIDE by…

GI Reader TOUR The tour starts with a visit to Holker Hall and its 24-acre garden, comprising yew hedging, rose garden and woodland with conifers from around the world. We travel on to The Lakeside Hotel on the southern shore of lake Windermere, our base for three nights. We'll also visit Levens Hall, which has the most famous topiary garden in England, installed between 1689 and 1712 by the Frenchman Guillaume Beaumont, gardener to King James II. There will be lots to see in the garden at Yewbarrow House overlooking Morecambe Bay, which has a walled kitchen garden, an Italian garden, gravel garden and sculpture garden, and we will also take a look at Dan Pearson’s recent project at Lowther Castle, where his design has reinterpreted the historic gardens. We…

Much like the previous month, July is a time of plenty in the garden and the borders are brimming with flowers. Given a deadhead, lupins and spring geraniums will be offering the last of their flowers, alongside other perennials such as campanulas, hemerocallis, monardas and phlox, all of which are in their prime. Many shrubs also throw their hat into the ring with cistus, hypericum and weigela all flowering profusely. I particularly love the hazy coral plumes of Cotinus ‘Grace’ and arching floral sprays of Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Diabolo’. Also joining the party are annuals including Cosmos sulphureus, Erigeron annuus and Nicotiana suaveolens. These will continue with gusto, bridging the August gap before the late summer perennials arrive. Like the borders, containers are in full flow and benefit from a little…

PLANT PROFILE What A short-lived perennial or biennial and a member of the Malvaceae (mallow) family. Origins Wild species of Alcea are native to Asia and Europe. Season From May to early October. Size Can grow up to 2.5m tall with a spread of between 40cm and 1m. Conditions Alcea grow best in a sunny position. They can grow in a range of growing media from well-drained fertile soil, to gravel paths and cracks in paving. Although they can grow well on exposed sites, some shelter can be beneficial to prevent them being rocked over in strong winds. Hardiness Hardy throughout the UK. Most have a hardiness rating of RHS H5 or USDA zones 3a-8b, although there is some variation. *Holds an Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural…

There is something very gently animated about Matt Somerville's Hampshire workshop. Around the edge chickens roam through flowering meads and long grass, and a little farther away, against a backdrop of beech trees swaying in the wind, is a group of tall, wooden sculptures that are distinctly alive in design. With their pointy hats and long ambling limbs these structures look as though they might march off through the meadows and into woods at any minute. But move a little closer, slow down and really look, and you see that they are alive in another, unexpected way, as swathes of bees alight and take flight. For these aren't really sculptures at all, but beehives made from hollowed-out logs and perched above head height so you can watch the bees without…