Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2018 i The English Garden

Valerie McBride-Munroe Valerie is a garden writer and plant agony aunt based in West London, who has a special interest in developing novice gardeners’ skills. She visits Oakley House in Surrey on page 28. Jacky Hobbs Jacky is a writer, stylist and photographer with a passion for gardens and interiors. She loves entertaining and finding things in the garden to decorate the table. On page 93, she discovers how best to naturalise bulbs. Abigail Rex Abigail has been a garden photographer for 20 years, and enjoys working with her nine-year-old son out on her allotment. She photographs our cover-story garden, Broughton Grange, featured on page 20.…

Ashbourne, Derbyshire This formal Victorian-style garden has been developed over 20 years, and is set over just three-quarters of an acre. It started out as a simple vegetable garden, but now features 250 varieties of herbaceous perennials, over 180 hanging baskets and floral displays, and a range of fruit, including 35 varieties of apples in espalier and stepover forms. Visitors in October can enjoy apple tasting, with pruning demonstrations earlier in the year. All visitors receive a listing guide to match the plant labelling. Meynell Langley Trials Garden, Lodge Lane, Kirk Langley, Ashbourne, Derbyshire DE6 4NT. Open for the NGS on 7 October, 10am-4pm. Adult £4; children free. Refreshments available. Visit ngs.org.uk…

“Masses of trees were planted – Chris thinks there are more than 1,200 now” COMBINE HUGELY AMBITIOUS PLANS with a passion for gardening – and the results can’t fail to impress. Landscape gardeners Chris Neave and Jonathan Cartwright had a grand vision for the eight-acre plot surrounding their home in Saxby, Lincolnshire, that determination and a deep love of gardening has helped them realise. They built their home in 2000, on land belonging to Chris and his family: his great aunt had lived in a 1930s bungalow here, but that was pulled down and a new house built. The land around the house didn’t look too promising back then. “It was surrounded by rather poor grass paddocks, full of docks, thistles and nettles – not a pretty sight,” says Chris.…

• Garden design John Davies Landscape. Tel: 020 7732 9233; johndavieslandscape.co.uk • Contractor Hortus. Tel: 020 8297 9439; hortus-london.co.uk • Paving stone and gravel CED Stone. Tel: 01708 867237; cedstone.co.uk • Fencing Silva Timber. Tel: 0151 4953111 (north), 020 8150 8055 (south); silvatimber.co.uk • Dining table and benches Fermob, available from Hortus. Tel: 020 8297 9439; hortus-london.co.uk • Wall paint Maraschino Mocha 2 by Dulux. Tel: 0333 2227171; dulux.co.uk • Plants Hortus Loci. Tel: 01189 326487; hlplantcentre.co.uk • Lighting Greenlite. Tel: 07788 105037; greenliteltd.co.uk…

Plant euonymus for autumn interest as good-quality, three-litre, container-grown plants. Larger specimens of slow-growing varieties, such as Euonymus alatus ‘Compactus’, are a worthwhile investment. Although they grow happily in most soils, the addition of plenty of organic compost and slow-release fertiliser at the time of planting will aid establishment. Watering before and after planting is essential. Protect newly planted euonymus from deer and rabbits – they are prone to damage. Euonymus require little pruning if any. Pruning to control shape and size should be done in winter as soon as the fruits have disappeared, but avoid pruning in summer since this reduces fruiting potential.…

• Most winter squash belong to Cucurbita maxima, which includes larger pumpkins. Butternuts belong to C. moschata. Sow in spring for planting out after frosts, 60cm apart for bush types and 120cm apart for trailers. • Grow in fertile soil – they will happily clamber over a compost heap – and full sun. Keep well-watered, especially when fruit and flowers are developing. • Fruits may need to be supported above ground to prevent rotting and can be harvested when the leaves die back. Leave in situ to mature, but bring indoors before frosts. • Winter squash can be kept in cool conditions for about six months.…

ACER PALMATUM These small deciduous trees have a graceful habit. Young leaves are often colourful, and in autumn their hues are stupendous. Try ‘Osakazuki’. AMELANCHIER LAMARCKII This shrubby tree, which lends itself to being multi-stemmed, has it all: vivid new leaves; white early summer blossom; and bright autumn colour. CRATAEGUS ‘PRUNIFOLIA’ A great choice for tough spots, this ornamental hawthorn bears white flowers in May, followed by crimson autumn berries tucked between golden-orange leaves. BETULA UTILIS VAR. JACQUEMONTII Ghostly silver birch stems really stand out. Young trees have the brightest bark and ‘Doorenbos’ is wonderfully slender. CORNUS KOUSA ‘MISS SATOMI’ A small tree that’s smothered with pink-bracted flowers in early summer and has a lovely branching habit. Leaves turn golden-orange in autumn.…

Plant healthy, disease-free bulbs. Generally, the bigger the bulb the better the flower and subsequent lifespan. Randomly hand-scatter bulbs and plant them where they fall, if well-placed, avoiding rows, straight lines and overcrowding, which will reduce flowering potential. Mow the grass before planting so the bulbs are more obviously visible once scattered. Single plant bigger bulbs, such as daffodil and tulip cultivars, with a bulb planter. Remove a core of earth, insert the bulb nose-up, crumble the base of the plug and reinsert and firm to level it with surrounding grass. Smaller bulbs such as crocus, scilla and snowdrops can be planted together in larger holes, multiple fork holes or rugs of turf cut with a spade, lifted and peeled back before randomly sprinkling the bulbs. Loosen the soil lid…

Weird Plants by Chris Thorogood Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, £18 Some of the world’s most interesting plants are also the ugliest. Consider Hydnora africana, a parasitic plant smelling of faeces that attaches to the roots of certain euphorbia species so as to access their chlorophyll. Its yawning, red mouth, seemingly lined with needle-sharp teeth, appears on the cover of this new work from Chris Thorogood, head of science and public engagement at Oxford Botanic Garden and Harcourt Arboretum. Unsurprisingly, evolutionary genetics, including speciation of parasitic and carnivorous plants, is Thorogood’s speciality. This finely illustrated book is intended to draw attention to the range of plants that might be less than pleasant to observe or even to grow, but which nonetheless display fascinating evolutionary adaptation. There are pitcher plants and fungi;…

ROUSHAM HOUSE & GARDEN Rousham, Bicester, Oxfordshire OX25 4QU Tel: 01869 347110 | www.rousham.org Rousham represents the first phase of English landscape design, and remains almost as William Kent left it, one of the few gardens of this date to have escaped alteration. Many features which delighted 18th century visitors to Rousham are still in situ, such as the ponds and cascades in Venus’s Vale, the Cold Bath and seven-arched Praeneste, Townsend’s Building, the Temple of the Mill, and, on the skyline, a sham ruin known as the ‘Eyecatcher’. OPEN: Daily from 10am, last admission 4.30pm. BLUEBELL ARBORETUM AND NURSERY Annwell Lane, Smisby, Ashby de la Zouch, Derbyshire LE65 2TA Tel: 01530 413700 | www.bluebellnursery.com An enchanting, nine-acre woodland garden with many rare and unusual trees and shrubs on display!…

Turn your notions of the gardening calendar on their head: autumn is the real start of the gardening year, not spring! This is the best season not just for the spring-flowering bulbs we associate with planting at this time of year, but also perennials, shrubs and trees. Getting new plants in the ground now – the ideal time, offering the best chance of success – means they’ll be ready and raring to go next year. Autumn really is when it all begins: the perfect time to plan improvements and the start of big things to come. We have ideas to help you assess and improve borders on page 85, plus expert advice on naturalising spring bulbs (p93). But this issue isn’t all about planning ahead – there’s inspiration for October,…

• Start to move tender plants into the shelter of the greenhouse or conservatory. • October is a great time to establish new lawns from turf. At this time of year they won’t need much mowing, so the new grass can be left alone to establish. • Renovate old climbing roses by cutting back all the old woody stems to the base. Keep six or so young, vigorous ones and tie these in. • If you haven’t done so already, give deciduous hedges a final trim to keep them neat over winter. • Plant spring bedding in borders or pots for displays next year. Scented wallflowers, high-performing violas, hazy-blue forget-me-nots and primulas all make charming spring displays and team well with bulbs, too.…

• Choose a variety of different grasses for autumn colour and thread them through with autumn flowering perennials, such as asters, echinacea, eupatorium, monarda and veronicastrum. • Plant blocks of the same variety, six plants per square metre. • Allow plants in the prairie to naturally self-seed to create an organic, relaxed effect, but thin or weed out thugs to maintain visual balance. • When necessary, introduce additional clumps of colour and architecture. • The majority of prairie plants thrive on free-draining soils, so avoid conditions where winter wet and damp prevails. • In autumn, mulch plants with composted bark to repress weeds, retain moisture, and keep the area looking neat and tidy. • Divide and split grasses from autumn onwards to reduce the size of larger clumps and create…

• Plant nepeta and easy-to-grow poached egg plant, Limnanthes douglasii to encourage bees and hoverflies. • Water in the garden helps the toads who work so hard to keep the slugs at bay. • Growing green manures in rotational beds, wherever space and time allow, will boost plant nutrition: try Phacelia tanacetifolia, crimson clover and Hungarian grazing rye. The latter two are also good weed suppressants. • Use nematodes to effectively control pests without harming wildlife. We also use natural potassium-rich seaweed fertilisers for general plant nutrition. Wherever possible, we use leafmould to mulch the garden.…

The national collection of asters must be the one that has the longest pedigree. Old Court Nurseries was established by Ernest Ballard in 1906. He specialised in hybridising autumn-flowering North American asters, which are better known as Michaelmas daisies and were one of the most successful groups of perennials in the 20th century. Ballard’s manager, Percy Picton, eventually took over the business in 1956, and his son Paul after that. Now run by the third generation, Helen Picton and her husband Ross Barbour, the business is a rare survivor of the many hundreds of small nurseries that used to dot the country. The nursery has survived because it has adapted its core range of asters over the years. Michaelmas daisies themselves fell out of fashion in the late 20th century;…

‘Little Gem Rolet’ Otter Farm supplies seeds of these dark-green, golden-fleshed, cricket ball-sized squash. Halve and roast. ‘Sweet Dumpling’ AGM Green-and-cream speckled fruit on this squash reach 200-500g in weight, making them ideal for roasting. ‘Turks Turban’ Highly decorative with a distinctive shape, this trailing variety makes a fetching display. Flesh is vivid orange. ‘Uchiki Kuri’ A hubbard-type squash bearing about four medium-sized fruits of 1.5kg per plant, with a faint nutty flavour.…

PREPARATION Get started by digging over and loosening the soil, to the depth of the rootball and over a wide area. Most trees’ roots spread outwards rather than down, so three times the diameter of the rootball is a good idea. According to the RHS, square holes help roots penetrate more widely at their corners, and care should be taken to break up any compaction around the planting hole’s sides with a fork. If necessary, say on clay soil, you can improve the texture by adding a generous amount of well-rotted organic matter such as home-made compost. Avoid planting trees and shrubs into waterlogged or frozen soil, and soak the rootball for half an hour beforehand. PLANTING Remove your plants from their containers, or unwrap rootballed trees, then position the…

In gardening circles, partners Lucy Goffin and Graham Gough are perhaps best known as the owners of Marchants Hardy Plants, a nursery specialising in the kind of herbaceous perennials and ornamental grasses that are at the forefront of the New Perennial movement. Friendly with John Coke and Suzanne Lemieux at Bury Court, Hampshire, where gardens have been designed by Piet Oudolf and Christopher Bradley-Hole, the couple grow all their own stock and, in addition to the nursery, have created a garden that speaks to its South Downs location near Lewes in East Sussex. “Graham has come up with a garden that merges into the nature of the landscape,” says Lucy. “His sensitivity to that was very much at the beginning of us being here.” Lucy and Graham arrived at Marchants…

What was the motivation for At West Dean ? We wrote it to put on record what we’ve achieved at West Dean. To some extent, we felt that if ever we were to write a history of the garden, we could also present our story through the book, so we’ve explained the thinking behind what we’ve done here, too. There aren’t many plant names in the book, but that is not what it is about. How long did it take to write? I worked on it every weekend for three months and by the end I was exhausted and pleased to wave goodbye to it. Seeing the final product has made up for the blood, sweat and tears, however. What does a regular day at West Dean…

SPRING REACH NURSERY Spring Reach Nursery grows a fantastic range of clematis, trees, hedging, ferns, shrubs, fruit, perennials, roses, climbers and grasses. STARRING NOW Carex testacea, Liquidambers, Pennisetum ‘Hameln’, Panicum ‘Rehbraun’ and Muhlenbergia capillaris. Visit one of Surrey’s finest nurseries – a gardener’s paradise! Just five minutes from RHS Garden Wisley. Tel: 01483 284769 info@springreachnursery.co.uk|www.springreachnursery.co.uk Spring Reach Nursery, Long Reach, Ockham, Surrey GU23 6PG HEDGING UK Hedging UK are specialist growers of quality hedging plants. Plants are available to purchase at wholesale prices across the UK through our mail order service. Buy direct from the grower, delivered direct to your door. Readers of The English Garden get a 5% discount (quote TEG2018). Tel: 01704 827224 or 07789 922457 sales@hedginguk.com | www.hedginguk.comBoundary House Farm, Holmeswood Road, Holmeswood, Lancashire L40 1UA ASHWOOD…

Photographing Autumn Berries and Fruits 5-7 October, West Sussex Discover how natural light affects close-up and still-life shots, and learn how to take well-composed photos at West Dean. Tickets £264. Tel: 01243 818219; westdean.org.uk Botanical Art Surgery 14 October, London Meet Kew’s top botanical illustrators, who will answer your questions and give practical advice. Admission included in garden entry. Tel: 020 8332 5655; kew.org Going Digital: Creative Landscapes 14 October, Sussex Develop your photography skills in the beautiful gardens at Borde Hill, with views over the Sussex Weald and the Ouse Valley. Tickets £75. Tel: 01444 450326; bordehill.co.uk The Enchanted Garden 20 October – 27 January, London This exhibition at the William Morris Gallery (right) features works from the Pre-Raphaelites onwards. Free admission. Tel: 020 8496 4390; wmgallery.org.uk Edward Burne-Jones…

• Ornamental grasses can be divided into two groups: deciduous and evergreen. Deciduous genera include miscanthus, pennisetum and panicum. Evergreens include carex, festuca and anemanthele. • Deciduous grasses renew themselves from the base each year. Through winter, their dead leaves provide a habitat for invertebrates and look glorious coated with frost. Cut to ground level in March or April when the worst of the frosts have passed. • Leave evergreen grasses alone unless they need tidying up, in which case cut them when they are in active growth in spring or early summer. Old foliage can be teased out by hand or with a rake, but if a plant looks very tired, cut the whole thing back by half to stimulate lots of new shoots. • Grasses vary in terms…

Autumn is often the most colourful season in the garden, and one of the longest as foliage tints and fruits develop over the course of many weeks. There are many trees and shrubs that are renowned for their autumn displays: liquidambar and acer for foliage colour; sorbus and pyracantha for berries – to name but a few. But it’s euonymus that really catch the eye, both for their unusual leaf colour and for their fascinating fruits. Perhaps because we tend to think of them simply as useful evergreens for hedging and groundcover, euonymus may not be an automatic first choice when selecting shrubs specifically for autumn. The variegated forms of Euonymus fortunei and Euonymus japonicus are so widely planted that they are always the members of the genus that spring…

Uplifting, and somehow always surprising, are the myriad bulbs that erupt to smother lawn, orchard, meadow, woodland glade or hedgerow in spring. Carpets of golden aconites, drifts of snowdrops and dazzling pools of bright blue scilla bring instant springtime joy. Daffodils dance around orchard trees, crocuses squawk from lawns, while snake’s head fritillaries nod their chequered Tiffany lamp-like heads, lighting up meadow grassland. Naturalised drifts of bulbs can be brilliantly staged to mimic nature itself. This is relatively easy to achieve if you plant the bulbs now, in autumn. Such drifts are almost always self-sufficient, reliable, pollinator-friendly and they will usually thrive in more under-used or difficult areas of the garden. The best results are achieved by mirroring nature and choosing the bulbs that are best suited to your garden’s…

I have always found the transition from June to July particularly trying. When the dewy freshness of foxgloves and roses starts to evaporate in the late-summer heat, I find it hard to stay positive: I have too many roses (almost all of them only once-flowering), and there’s a long gap before the agapanthus come to rescue me from the blues. I used to joke that this was when I had my annual nervous breakdown – and this year the transition was like falling off a cliff. But as the drought deepened, the mercury stuck at 29°C, the veronicastrum drooped and the michaelmas daisies dried to a crisp, salvation came from a curious quarter: it was the vegetable garden that saved me. Specifically, the winter squashes and courgettes, with their gorgeous…