Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2018 i The English Garden

Lee Beel Lee is a professional photographer with more than 15 years’ experience. Based in north Lincolnshire, he travels across the UK working for clients such as the RHS. He photographs Hall Farm on page 37. George Plumptre George Plumptre is Chief Executive of the National Garden Scheme. A new edition of his book, The English Country House Garden, was published on 1 October. He visits Ramster in Surrey on page 46. Darryl Moore Darryl is an award-winning garden and landscape designer and writer, as well as the director of urban landscape organisation Cityscapes. He looks at Helen Elks-Smith’s design for an Epsom garden on page 60.…

Hertfordshire The 35-acre Beale Arboretum at West Lodge Park in Hadley Wood has opened for the National Garden Scheme for more than 30 years and boasts around 800 varieties of trees and shrubs. Visitors will see many trees, including conifers and oaks, plus maples and mountain ash displaying beautiful autumn colour. West Lodge also holds the National Collection of swamp cypress (taxodium): these knobbly rooted, water-loving deciduous conifers should have turned an autumnal shade of foxy red by now. West Lodge Park, Cockfosters Road, Hadley Wood, Hertfordshire EN4 0PY. Open for the NGS on 21 October, 1-4pm. Adult £5; children free. Refreshments available in the hotel. Visit ngs.org.uk for more information.…

Unlike acid-loving calluna and daboecia, winter and spring-flowering erica heathers (Erica carnea and E. darleyensis) will thrive on neutral to alkaline soil, so are a better choice for most gardens. They grow well in pots planted for winter interest, and make great evergreen groundcover in sunny spots: add spring bulbs such as snowdrops to extend the interest. Best of all, they are a rich source of nectar over the winter months, unlike calluna, which is known as a ‘bud bloomer’ because its buds never open.…

MARKS HALL, WEST OF COLCHESTER IN rural Essex, is a bit like a Russian doll: a 2,200-acre estate of woods and farmland wrapped around a 200-acre arboretum wrapped around a two-acre, 18th-century walled garden, each layer richly decorative in its own way. From the 800-year-old Honywood oak with its humongous 8.5m girth, to Brita von Schoenaich’s sleek, rhythmic 21st-century design within the walled garden, ancient and modern rub against each other here, as do trees from every part of the globe, planted in bold masses unlike anywhere else. Teaming with wildlife and with a colourful history that includes service as a World War II air force base, this is a place that has layer upon layer of fascinating stories to tell. Recorded in the Domesday Book, the Marks Hall estate…

BRILLIANT FLASHES OF INTENSE, FLAME- shaded foliage within the cool setting of ancient oak woodland is a beguiling proposition. At the garden of Ramster, hidden away in beautiful countryside on the edge of the Surrey Hills, such scenes have been nurtured by successive generations to produce a woodland garden that reaches an autumnal crescendo nearly as dramatic as its flowering peak in May and early June. Autumn garden visits are all about having the time for a relaxing walk, taking in the seasonal changes that are going on around you – always aware that as the days start to grow shorter, time for such enjoyment is limited and precious. The 20 acres of Ramster, with paths winding seemingly at random from one area to another, up and down slopes, from…

RUDBECKIA FULGIDA Obliging and easy-to-grow, this rudbeckia flowers from late summer into October and mild Novembers. DAHLIA ‘HOOTENANNY ’ Keep deadheading for more flowers until the first frost, at which point tubers should be lifted and protected. HELENIUM ‘SAHIN’S EARLY FLOWERER ’ Yellow-orange flowers are held on stiffly upright stems from midsummer until late in the season. ECHINACEA PURPUREA A central rust-coloured cone remains after the pink petals fall in autumn, to supply ongoing structural interest. LOBELIA SPECIOSA Never underestimate these lobelias for providing a hit of colour late in the season. Protect the crown of the plant with a dry mulch. ACTAEA SIMPLEX The Atropurpurea Group of actaea boast purple-green leaves and stems, topped by scented bottle-brush flowers of pink-tinged white.…

• Garden design Elks-Smith. Tel: 023 8178 2660; elks-smith.co.uk • Construction and maintenance Bowles & Wyer Contracts. Tel: 01296 662439; bowleswyer-contracts.co.uk • Yorkstone All Green. Tel: 01935 415560; allgreengroup.co.uk • Bricks Van De Moortel. Tel: 020 3633 2422; vandemoortelbricksandpavers.com • Pizza oven Four Grand Mere. Tel: +33 329 652053; fourgrandmere.com • Dry stone housing Richard Clegg. Tel: 07904 860135; richardclegg.co.uk • Table and chairs Barlow Tyrie Equinox. Various suppliers. • Sofas Gloster Havana. Tel: +49 4131 287530; gloster.com • Pear daybed Urban Garden Furniture. Tel: 01829 740194; urbangardenfurniture.co.uk • Fire Garpa. Tel: 01273 486 400; garpa.co.uk…

Sparkling pink and red, nerines continue to shine well after the summer gloss of the garden is burnished and spent. They flower throughout the autumn months, both outdoors and under glass, to brighten shortening days. And because there’s such a large array of cultivars, they can stretch the flowering season right through until Christmas. All species nerines, of which there are around 25, are native to Southern Africa. The vast majority are not considered to be hardy outdoors in the UK because they cannot tolerate frost or our wet winters. A couple of them are hardy, however, and the rest can be cultivated and enjoyed in pots, brought in for protection as necessary. Mid-pink Nerine bowdenii is hardy and is successfully grown in gardens across the country, typically en masse…

Is there any group of plants held in greater contempt by garden snobs than those that bear cones? Out of fashion for decades now, caricatured as monstrous, feud-inducing hedges or segregated in island beds with just heathers for company, conifers are ripe for reimagining. Yet dark, sculptural firs and spruces can inject a shot of spine-tingling Nordic noir into borders full of grasses and herbaceous perennials, while ground-hugging glaucous pines can bring the scent and feel of a hot Mediterranean hillside to a gravel garden. Conifers are fabulously varied in colour, texture and form: from luminous bluish greys through all hues of green to bright gold; from dense, knobbly spruces textured like scrubbing brushes to elegant pines, fringed in transparent veils of silky needles; from creeping ground huggers to soaring,…

“Aday away from Chartwell is a day wasted,” declared Winston Churchill, of a place that is still indelibly associated with this great British statesman and orator. In late 1921, Churchill first glimpsed the house and was immediately smitten by its location, perched on a hill near Westerham, and beguiled by phenomenal views from the garden, stretching far across the Weald of Kent. It would come to be a source of great solace. Born at Blenheim Palace in 1874 into the landed aristocracy, Churchill yearned for a majestic country retreat. As he drily admitted, “I’m easily satisfied with the very best,” and Chartwell represented this. “The site is the most beautiful and charming I have ever seen,” he said, such heady enthusiasm leading him to purchase it without first consulting his…

What prompted you to start looking at gardens in places of conflict? While living in Kabul as a foreign correspondent and photographer, I realised that images of conflict ceased to mean anything; we have become desensitised to the visual representation of war. So I started to look at representing war through something peaceful: gardens. I came to see that gardens are a metaphor for many things on a multitude of levels. In all, how many gardens did you visit? Over the course of seven years, there were around 150 gardens in Afghanistan, Ukraine, Gaza, Israel, the West Bank and Washington DC. Has there been an especially moving garden? I think it was Ramesh’s Garden in the old city of Kabul. I came across it in 2014 or 2015 but didn’t…

“We ventured into the spinney’s heart to find a delicious green glade, carpeted with ivy” Some years ago I dug out an old overgrown shrubbery and replaced it with native trees and shrubs. What I had in mind was not as grand as a wood, more a thick hedge with flowers and berries; a habitat for wildlife. I called it the spinney. The new planting consisted of three tiers, the first of which was a shrubby layer, including wild roses (R. rubiginosa and R. canina), guelder rose (Viburnum opulus, with big flat heads of white flowers followed by crimson berries), and spindle (Euonymus europaeus, with shocking-pink berries that split open to reveal vivid orange seeds). Next came a tier of small trees that included field maple (Acer campestre, with deep…

This year’s long hot summer has resulted in abundant autumn berries and fruit, spangling trees and shrubs with their vivid colour. At the same time, the marked switch to cooler autumnal days has meant many trees, such as maples and cherries, are developing their autumn leaf colour slightly earlier than normal. The answer to ensuring your garden stays as colourful as possible for as long as possible is to grow plants that encompass every autumn attribute – foliage, berries and flowers – and there’s lots of inspiration in this issue. Ramster, for example, in the Surrey Hills, is the place to go if you want to see the finest autumn leaf colour, while the walled garden at Holehird in the Lake District shelters a dizzying array of late-flowering perennials. As…

• Clear fallen leaves, especially from lawns where they will turn the grass yellow, and ponds where they can make the water murky. • Put grease bands around the trunks of apple trees to halt the progress of winter moths keen to lay their eggs in the branches. • Protect the crowns of borderline tender penstemons, garden chrysanthemums and verbena with a layer of mulch such as Strulch. • Keep mowing the lawn if temperatures remain mild into autumn and the grass continues to grow, but set the blades higher than in summer (around 4cm is ideal) to keep turf healthy. • November is the best month to plant tulip bulbs, when soil temperatures are lower and there is less risk of tulip fire.…

• Plant trees from November to March. We plant every tree into a metre square hole and don’t add anything so as not to ‘spoil’ the tree. This encourages roots to get out into open ground quickly. • Plant no deeper than the nursery level in the pot; slightly proud is better than too deep. • Attach small trees to a single stake with a rubber tree tie. For larger trees use two stakes, one either side of the root plate. Have the tie at one third of the height of the tree, fixed loosely enough to give the tree room to grow and move, encouraging roots to establish firmly. • Mulch with a two-inch layer of woodchip or other well-rotted organic matter, but keep the area immediately around the…

• Acer palmatum. The huge family of Japanese maples all produce a spectacular range of autumn hues. There are cultivars suitable for any size of garden. • Acer campestre. In contrast to its Japanese cousin, the field maple has been a feature of the English landscape for centuries. In autumn its shovel-shaped leaves turn a gorgeous buttery yellow. • Liquidambar styraciflua. Introduced from the United States in the 17th century these elegant trees produce spectacular autumn colour, often with the richness of old claret. • Cercidiphyllum japonicum. Distinctly rounded leaves turn in autumn to shades of brilliant yellow with occasional pink tints. • Parrotia persica. Often overlooked as an autumn star, the parrotias, which originate from Iran as their name suggests, are described by Hillier’s Manual as ‘one of the…

• Many varieties of hydrangeas do best in light dappled shade, since they are mainly woodland shrubs, although they can also thrive in full sun. Avoid planting them in a frost pocket or in exposed, windy sites. • New plants should be put into the ground with good compost or leafmould, and top-dressed annually with a handful of Growmore or ammonium sulphate. • Hydrangeas flower on the previous year’s wood, so cutting them back hard means no flowers the following season. But if they aren’t pruned, the shrub becomes overgrown and straggly, with fewer, smaller blooms. For the best display, cut a third of the old stems to the base and remove damaged shoots in February or March. On remaining stems, leave old flowerheads in place to protect buds from…

• All commonly available nerines should be planted with the neck of the bulb exposed above soil level. Nerines should never be mulched. • Use free-draining, sandy compost and water during the flowering and growing season. Otherwise keep the bulbs dry. • Nerines need summer heat to stimulate flower-bud formation, which requires summer glasshouse temperatures as high as 24-27°C. Plants at this stage are dormant and leafless and need to be kept warm and dry, but not baked. • At summer’s end, August to September, plants should be well watered to stimulate flower production, with regular watering commencing as soon as flowers or leaves start to appear. They may benefit from a high-potassium fertiliser such as tomato feed. Do not overwater, and allow to dry between waterings. • To reduce…

CRYPTOMERIA JAPONICA ‘RASEN’ This strange-looking, fast-growing, fastigiate Japanese cedar has soft needles that curl themselves around its twisting stems, hence its varietal name, meaning ‘barber’s pole’. CUPRESSUS CASHMERIANA The elegant Kashmir cypress has a narrowly pyramidal shape. Its graceful branches are hung with pendulous blue-grey foliage that looks almost luminous in soft light. ARAUCARIA ARAUCANA Monkey puzzle trees were beloved of the Victorians and are all too often seen in splendid isolation in front gardens. At Wisley they rub up against hedychiums, palms and Cryptomeria japonica ‘Araucarioides’. PINUS PATULA Also known as the Mexican yellow pine, this is another graceful conifer with silky, drooping, green needles up to 30cm in length, and reddish bark. It needs a sheltered site, as it can be frost tender until it has…

• Beetroot grow in most well-drained soils, but it pays to enrich the ground with compost or manure. • For a head start on the year, sow seed under cover from late February. In warmer months, from April to July, beetroot can be sown directly into the ground. Plant successionally to avoid a glut later in the year. • Plant plugs 10cm apart depending on the ultimate size of root desired; if planted further apart, the globes will be bigger. • Harvest beetroot about three months after sowing. Seedlings planted out from June onwards can be stored over winter. • Keep plants watered and net to protect from birds.…

‘Boltardy’ AGM Full-flavoured and a classic red colour, hardy ‘Boltardy’ is bolt-resistant and fares best sown early on in the year. ‘Burpees Golden’ With flesh that’s a dazzling shade of golden-yellow, this variety has non-staining, non-running juice. Ideal for salads. ‘Cheltenham Green Top’ AGM A heritage tap-root variety that was bred by AH Cook of Cheltenham. Expect slightly reduced germination rates. ‘Chioggia’ Concentric circles of pink and white define this sweet, toothsome variety. Stems are a deep shade of ruby red.…

Can Anything Stop Slugs? by Guy Barter Mitchell Beazley, £14.99 As RHS chief horticultural advisor, Guy Barter has been asked his fair share of questions about gardening over the years, and “Can anything stop slugs?” is one that has emerged time and time again. As he points out, if there were a way to stop slugs in their tracks, we would have heard of it by now. Like so much gardening, he says, the answer is nuanced, and therein lies the pleasure of the pastime. If you grow hostas and lettuce, little will prevent slugs’ feasting; grow mainly shrubs, and these slimy pests won’t be a problem. From this introduction follows a host of considered, sensible answers to some of the most common gardening questions Barter has encountered since he…

SPRING REACH NURSERY Spring Reach Nursery grows a fantastic range of clematis, trees, hedging, ferns, shrubs, fruit, perennials, roses, climbers and grasses. WINTER WONDERS starring now Carex testacea, Hydrangea quercifolia Leucothoe ‘Scarletta’, Nandina ‘Pink Blush’. 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 ASHWOOD NURSERIES A traditional working nursery situated in the West Midlands. We specialise in Hellebores, Hardy Cyclamen, Salvias, Hepaticas, Hydrangeas, Lewisias, Dwarf Conifers, Snowdrops, Primula auriculas and offer many more choice plants. We feel Ashwood Nurseries is a plantsman’s paradise. Our mail order service sends plants, garden essentials and gifts to UK and EU destinations. Special events throughout the year. Please visit our website for…

Discovering the Real Repton 5 November, London Held at the Garden Museum, this full day of short but in-depth talks will shed light on the landscaper’s work (right). Tickets £78. Tel: 020 7401 8865; gardenmuseum.org.uk The Generous Gardener 7 November, Dorset Caroline Donald shares the stories behind celebrities’ private gardens, as featured in her new book, in this lecture at Sculpture by the Lakes. Tickets £15. Tel: 07720 637808; sculpturebythelakes.co.uk Box – does it have a future? 15 November, Surrey Box hedges and topiary are very popular, but increasingly threatened by pests and disease. Learn about research, care and alternatives on this course at RHS Wisley. £60. Tel: 020 31765830; rhs.org.uk No Dig Gardening 17 November, Cambridge Hear no-dig exponent Charles Dowding discuss how to create healthy soil, reduce weeds…

“Flowers and foliage appear at different times, making them easy to confuse” “There were two eminent botanists kneeling down, looking at the plants in flower, and one said: ‘I don’t think this is ‘Rosie Dawn’ you know’, and the other one said ‘well, that’s what you sold it to me as’”. So reports Alan Gray, holder of the National Collection of colchicums at East Ruston Old Vicarage Gardens in Norfolk. The story illustrates the fact that issues of naming are particularly problematic for this genus. Colchicums are often referred to as ‘autumn crocuses’, but they are not closely related. The plants bloom in autumn, without their leaves, which do not appear until spring. The foliage is completely unlike that of true crocuses, being very much larger, and the fact that…

• Mix conifers with other plants as you would with any other evergreen or deciduous shrub or tree and take advantage of their gorgeous textures and architectural shapes. • Plant in multiples rather than singly, preferably in threes and fives if there’s room, or repeat a single variety through a border to create rhythm. • Prune and shape creatively as you would other shrubs and trees, raising the crown of a plant or cloud pruning to reveal interesting bark. • Use strongly shaped conifers such as conical Picea glauca var. albertiana ‘Conica’, mound-forming Chamaecyparis lawsoniana ‘Green Globe’ or fastigiate Chamaecyparis lawsoniana ‘Wissel’s Saguaro’ as alternatives to clipped topiary and disease-and pest-prone box. • Grow annual climbers like Tropaeolum speciosum, the flame creeper, with its brilliant red tubular flowers turning into…

One of the most distinctive buildings at Kew Gardens is the Palm House, built in 1844 to house the many tropical species sent to England by Victorian planthunter-explorers. To wander through this tropical oasis in winter, surrounded by palms, cycads, creepers and climbers, coats, hats and scarves peeled off, is to escape from the leaden skies and frigid air outside and to imagine yourself in an altogether warmer climate. Few of us have the luxury of a conservatory on the scale of that palm house – nor, indeed, the staff to maintain it. But it is possible to create just a small haven of green in your own home conservatory. Provided the conditions are right, a host of plants from far-flung climes can be grown to offset the seemingly relentless…