Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2016 i The English Garden

Carol Klein Carol is a television broadcaster, author and former nurserywoman, who has a cottage garden at her home in Devon. She picks her favourite early spring perennials on page 77. Robert Clark Robert is editor of the Literary Encyclopedia and an expert on 18th-century garden history and Jane Austen. He explores historic St Paul’s Walden Bury on page 26. Vanessa Berridge Vanessa was launch editor of The English Garden. Now a freelance writer on gardens, gardening and heritage, she explores the gardens of The Old Rectory in Dorset on page 34.…

• Do your winter tidying early to avoid standing on emerging bulb shoots. I remove as many leaves as possible, especially large and leathery ones, from beds with small bulbs. I put them in large leaf bins to rot down and return to the soil after a couple of years; the bulbs really appreciate it. • For the earliest displays, seek out warm south-facing areas. I am lucky to have well-drained terraces and slopes where I plant my earliest bulbs. With good drainage, species tulips thrive even in our increasingly wet springs. • Match naturalised bulbs to available grass. Small bulbs such as crocus and Narcissus cyclamineus and N. bulbocodium do best in weak grass under deciduous trees. In lush damp grass, I use larger narcissi and snake’s head fritillaries,…

NATURAL PATHS Log slices have been cut from a felled tree, and laid in the woodland border as ‘stepping stones’, to create a natural pathway, in keeping with the planting. Left untreated, they can become very slippery in winter, so it is best to cover each section with chickenwire for additional grip. FOCAL POINTS A glazed pot of Tulipa ‘Angélique’ is placed at a key point, creating a focal point. All round the garden, there are pots of various sizes, shapes and colours that are filled with seasonal displays. Some are placed to be seen from afar, drawing together surrounding planting, while others are tucked away, to be come upon unexpectedly. TRUSTY HELPER Before establishing a borehole, watering distant corners of the garden relied upon this old galvanised water cart,…

• Designer Sara Jane Rothwell at London Garden Designer, 16 Highgate West Hill, London N6 6NP. Tel: 07976 155 282; www.londongardendesigner.com • Garden built by Wootten Landscapes, Tel: 07887 847770. The company also sourced most of the materials used in the garden. • Corten steel supplied by contractor; try Glen Metals, www.glenmetals.co.uk. • Feature wall made using Cristallo Sfumature mosaic tiles from Trend, applied to a fibre cement board backing using flexible Mapei exterior adhesive. Tel: 0870 042 7450; www.trend-group.com/en_GB. • Seastone porcelain paving tiles in grey from Atlas Concorde www.atlasconcorde.it/en/collections/seastone. • Mortar planters on patio from Urbis, 30 Full Sutton Industrial Estate Full Sutton, York YO41 1HS. Tel: 01759 373839; www.urbisdesign.co.uk • Pleached trees supplied by Readyhedge, Court Gate Nursery, Station Road, Eckington, Pershore, Worcestershire, WR10 3BB. Tel: 01386…

How wondrous to be a spring flower. To be the first primrose in the hedgerow, the wood anemone that lifts its head and follows the spring sun across a caerulean sky. For gardeners, spring flowers have far more significance than those that take part in the midsummer melée, the cavalcade of June, July and August. Ironically, spring flowers are amongst the smallest in the year’s floral procession yet, because there is so little competition, they shine brilliantly. Their stage set, the end of winter’s darkness is austere but they are the jewels strewn over its sombre surface. In most cases they are Cinderellas; they have to dash to the spring ball in their best attire, flinging themselves into flower, setting seed, distributing it and retiring before the clock strikes twelve.…

‘ELIZABETH’ This is one of the most popular yellow-flowered magnolias, making a small, conical tree with exquisite, cup-shaped, fragrant, primrose-yellow flowers in April. These are 12.5cm long and open just before the leaves unfurl. This ensures these beautiful blooms really stand out on the tree. This variety has been awarded an RHS Award of Garden Merit in recognition of its wonderful, reliable flowering and how easy it is to grow. It is perfect for even the smallest garden, or for growing in large containers of soil-based compost. ‘Elizabeth’ prefers a well-drained soil and will eventually reach a height of 10m in 15-20 years. ‘BLACK TULIP’ Seductive, deep purple, goblet-shaped flowers on a tidy, compact, upright small tree make this a deservedly popular variety. This is the darkest and arguably the…

Garden centres stock small pots of bulbs in flower, making it quick and easy to create a cheerful basket that welcomes in spring. STEP 1: Narcissus ‘Tête-àtête’ is justifiably popular in baskets and containers – it is precisely the right size and multi-headed for lots of flowers. Gently remove from its pot and tease out the roots. As the plants are tall, position them near the centre of the basket. STEP 2: Fill around the edges with the rest of your plants, such as muscari for additional colour and both ivies and euonymus at the basket edge to trail downwards as they grow. STEP 3: Stipa tenuissima adds soft, wispy texture and goes in last at the very centre of the basket to arch outwards and add height…

Shakespeare’s Gardens By Jackie Bennett Frances Lincoln, £25 Anyone with an interest in history and literature will love this book, an insight into the gardens William Shakespeare would have spent time in during his life, as well as a study of gardening in the Elizabethan age. It is well-known that Shakespeare was interested in horticulture, weaving references to plants and flowers throughout his plays. But was it memories of roses at the cottage of his mother, Mary Arden, that inspired the famous ‘that which we call a rose By any other word would smell as sweet’ line in Romeo and Juliet? Or was he admiring the garden of Anne Hathaway, his wife, when he quilled Oberon’s description of Titania’s bower in A Midsummer Night’s Dream: wild thyme, oxlips, nodding violets,…

BLUEBELL ARBORETUM & NURSERY Specialists in hardy trees, shrubs and climbers including a huge selection of unusual and rare species and varieties. Expert advice is available from our helpful staff. The nursery is surrounded by a nine-acre woodland garden (RHS Partner Garden), and visitors are welcome all year round. Informative website & reliable mail order service if you would like plants delivered. Tel: +44 (0)1530 413700Email: sales@bluebellnursery.com  | Website: www.bluebellnursery.com Annwell Lane, Smisby, Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire LE65 2TA SPRING REACH NURSERY Spring Reach Nursery grows a fantastic range of clematis, trees, hedging, ferns, shrubs, fruit, perennials, roses, climbers and grasses. READY NOW Daphne Rebecca +Jacqueline Postill Rootballed Hedging and new season’s Roses and Fruit Visit one of Surrey’s finest nurseries – a gardener’s paradise! Just five…

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Glossy evergreen camellias shine year-round, but even more so in spring, when their branches are decorated with beautifully ornate blooms. Dunham Massey’s camellia walk boasts selections of Camellia japonica. This is a fine species to grow in the garden, its cultivars flowering between mid and late spring and Camellia x williamsii, a hybrid between C. japonica and C. saluenensis. Its cultivars tend to flower more freely from a young age and are hardier, so are a superb choice for gardeners new to the genus. “Our camellias have taken quite a long time to get going and last year was the first that they produced a really good display, so patience is key, don’t give up,” says Emily. “The other thing that’s important when planting camellias is that they’re not given…

• Plant either daffodils or tulips in pots – we bring ours on in the cool greenhouse – to use to fill any gaps that unexpectedly open up in beds or borders. We dot any leftovers around the back door. • When planning spring bulb displays, make sure the bulbs are compatible in terms of height, flowering time and the colour schemes you wish to create. • Decide early on if bulbs will be underplanted – with pansies, wallflowers or forget-me-nots, for example. • Sprinkle a fine layer of gravel on the surface of the soil in containers to prevent it splashing up in heavy rain.…

Some of our choicest spring flowers come from the woods of North America. Anemonella thalictroides, the rue anemone, is even daintier than our wood anemone and has leaves like a maidenhair fern. Sanguinaria canadensis or bloodroot is related to poppies and has a similar succulence. Its folded leaves look just like a scaled down version of Macleaya cordifolia. The single form is elegant but most gardeners are bewitched by the double form, Sanguinaria canadensis f. multiplex. At first glimpse Jeffersonia diphylla looks much like sanguinaria but it is actually a close cousin of mahonias and those all time spring favourites, the epimediums. Its Russian (or Manchurian) cousin, Jeffersonia dubia is a blue-flowered beauty and typifies the transient nature of so many of these spring plants. Podophyllum hexandrum or mayapple is…

Like most gardeners, I foster many romantic dreams for my garden: one of the most persistent is a vision of swags of honeysuckle twining through the trellis by my patio, the sweet trumpet blooms scenting the air and attracting my favourite pollinator, the hummingbird hawk moth. It hasn’t turned out that way. Last summer honeysuckles romped everywhere, frothing over fences and twining through shaggy hedgerows. Thriving on neglect, they seemed to taunt my own pathetic plant back home, although perhaps that was just my overactive imagination. My honeysuckle remained sullen and distinctly unfrothy for yet another year. It was plagued by blackfly, wizened with the distorted growth that comes from a heavy aphid infestation. So this winter I gave up, winkled it out and relocated it to the back of…

What is the premise of your new book? It is the first book about carnivorous plants written by an Englishman for 30 years and it is aimed at the complete beginner. Many people who buy these plants have never grown anything – they need guiding. Rather than concentrate on too many species which confuses people, I’ve gone back to the basics. It is a really practical guide. What inspired you to grow carnivorous plants? I’ve been growing them since I was seven and it is an obsession, but there isn’t much information out there. They’re sidelined and regarded as odd novelties. The point of the book is to show that you don’t need a greenhouse and heating; the plants can be grown in different locations – windowsills, conservatories, greenhouses, bog…

HEVER CASTLE & GARDENS Hever, Edenbridge, Kent TN8 7NG Tel: +44 (0)1732 865224 | Website: www.hevercastle.co.uk Follow a snowdrop trail through the grounds of Hever Castle, once the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, and enjoy the early blossoms of camellia and quince in the award-winning gardens. Meander along the paths for fabulous snowdrop displays and enjoy blankets of these delicate flowers alongside the double moat that surrounds the 700-year-old Castle. OPEN: 13-21 February 2016 (Daily), 24 February – 27 March (Wed – Sun). 10.30am – 4.30pm. Last entry 3pm, see website for other opening dates throughout the year. CAERHAYS CASTLE Caerhays Estate, Gorran, St Austell, Cornwall, PL26 6LY Tel: +44 (0)1872 501310 | Website: www.caerhays.co.uk The gardens at Caerhays Castle are a horticultural treasure trove. In…

“I adore calendars. They start the year full of delicious white space. But then in March I suddenly find I’m running out of time” March is a milestone of a month: four important calendar dates and two whole seasons whistling by in the space of a week. The spring equinox, marking the first day of Spring, on the 20th. Then Lady Day (which before the reform of the calendar was New Year’s Day), hard on its heels on the 25th. And then Easter Sunday and the start of British Summer Time, colliding on the 27th. It is a time of big skies and roaring weather; of the grand gesture – out with the old, in with the new – day longer than night for the first time since September; Old…

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• All the hedges are cut once a year in late August or September with a hand-held motor trimmer. We cut the tops first to give an immediate tidy up, with the sides following later. • I coppice the trees and shrubs behind the hedges myself with a view to having a mixture of deciduous and evergreen species and different textures. We always aim to avoid the backs of the hedges being seen from the serpentine paths. • As the hedges lose their shape over time, we do a hard cut back of a small proportion of the total every year.…

THERE IS A TIMELESS QUALITY TO THE VIEW from Alswick Hall in early spring. As the parterre fills with tulips, a bank of daffodils glistening with dew separates the garden from pasture where sheep graze beneath trees silhouetted against freshly ploughed fields. Further afield, the earth undulates in soft brown furrows up the hillside, eventually merging with the skyline. Owners Mike and Annie Johnson say they never tire of this view from their Grade II-listed home and its five acres of gardens because it changes with the seasons continually. It is a scene that has altered little during the four centuries that Alswick Hall has stood amid unspoilt farmland outside the market town of Buntingford, Hertfordshire. Once a favourite haunt of Queen Elizabeth I, by the 20th century the property…

Of all the plants that William Lobb (1809-64) introduced, the most notable are two iconic trees: the monkey puzzle (Araucaria araucana) and the giant redwood (Sequoiadendron giganteum). Lobb, a collector for the legendary Veitch’s Nursery in Exeter, undertook three expeditions to the Americas, searching for seed from conifers popularised by collector David Douglas, and to find new species. In 1853 Lobb was invited to a meeting of the newly formed California Academy of Sciences, where Dr Albert Kellogg introduced Augustus T Dowd, a hunter employed by the Union Water Company at Murphy’s camp in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Dowd described how he tracked a wounded grizzly bear all day until it ended up in a grove of giant trees, the like of which he had never seen before.…

The quickest way to an instant boost – for both gardener and garden – is a new container, planted with the best the season has to offer. At this time of year, spring-flowering bulbs are the stars of the show, and at the ideal proportion for baskets and pots, it’s hard to resist their charms and the chance to create new planting schemes and combinations in miniature. Nowadays, garden centres stock an increasing range of pot-grown bulbs in spring, either in or about to flower, so gardeners needn’t rely on bulbs planted in autumn. Once the display is over, they can go into the garden, to flower for years to come. GRAPE HYACINTHS Muscari, or grape hyacinths, are an excellent container bulb, but be sure to pick one of the…