Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2018 i The English Garden

Julia Watson A former editor of The English Garden and Homes and Gardens, Julia now lives and gardens near Loch Tummel in Perthshire. She visits the remarkable garden at Drummond Castle on page 26. James Alexander-Sinclair James is a garden designer, lecturer, writer, broadcaster, judge and a member of the RHS Council. He visits Pensthorpe’s Millennium Garden on a frosty winter’s day on page 42. Ray Cox Ray has been a garden photographer for 16 years and his family has run the renowned Glendoick nursery for three generations. His photos of Drummond Castle (p26) and colourful sorbus (p65) feature in this issue.…

Scottish Highlands The gardens at Ardtornish have been sculpted from a rocky hillside and boast extensive views looking south-west along Loch Aline to the hills of the Isle of Mull. Much of the land here is covered by native birch, alongside extensive planting of exotic species under mature larch, fir and pine trees. Emmeline and Hugh Smith bought Ardtornish in 1930, adding acers, hoheria, eucryphia, sorbus, berberis, rhododendrons and roses. Their keen interest in the garden is continued with enthusiasm today by their daughter Faith and her family. Ardtornish, By Lochaline, Morvern PA80 5UZ. Open for Scotland’s Gardens Scheme, 1 January-31 December, 10am-6pm. Adult £4; children free. Dogs are welcome but must be kept on the lead. Visit scotlandsgardens.org  for more information.…

If you want to go big and fabulous with home décor, there’s no better time to do it than Christmas. Don’t be put off by the scarcity of winter flowers – here, florist Rachel Siegfried of Green & Gorgeous explains how to make a seasonal vase arrangement that will put the Christmas tree to shame. You will need A vase Chicken wire Five woody branches Fresh flowers Dried flowers and grasses Flowering bulbs Method 1 Use a small ball of chicken wire instead of floral foam to anchor the arrangement; it’s easy to handle and eco-friendly. 2 Start with woody branches, such as eucalyptus, sloe or snowberry. Use an odd number and beware of overcrowding – five branches is sufficient. 3 Add your chosen flowers, but take care not to…

One of the most beautiful sights of winter are the stark, tawny, architectural heads of dried-out teasels. Historically, the prickly tips of fuller’s teasel were used for raising nap on woollen cloth, hence the verb ‘to teasel’, meaning to carry out the process of fulling. The Romans also referred to teasel as ‘Venus’s basin’ due to the trough-like leaf formations located at its base. In folklore, the rainwater that collects here is believed to have healing properties.…

• Mulch vegetable gardens with rotted manure and dig them over before Christmas, to allow time for the frost to break up the soil gradually. Don’t try to break it up yourself. • This is a good time for edging lawns. The frost means you’ll get a much cleaner cut. • Keep yew columns in shape by running wires round them a foot apart, taking care to turn stray wires inwards so you don’t clip them with shears. • Cut back herbaceous planting and mulch around perennials and roses. Fork between the plants first for drainage – it opens up the soil and encourages worms to come up and take the mulch back down. • Leave seedheads on lavender for winter protection; don’t deadhead until spring. • To prevent wind…

• We treat dogwoods with a combination of pruning ideas. Some of them are cut down to the base annually for more colour and drama; others are part-pruned, which means some of the stems will flower during the summer months. • Use green fleece rather than white to protect your frost-sensitive plants and pots – it will blend in much better in the winter light. • We prune our roses early on in the winter since it helps with wind rock and also because it’s a job that you can just get on with straight away rather than waiting until February. • Wherever possible, bring your garden furniture indoors over the winter months. This will help to preserve it and keep it clear of the dreaded green algae. But make…

With their flaming foliage and colourful berries, sorbus make for wonderfully ornamental trees at this time of year. The genus is a large one, with around 135 varied species ranging from deciduous small shrubs to large trees, most of which are easy to cultivate. For autumn colour that lasts into early winter, sorbus, which includes the whitebeams and the mountain ashes (also known as rowans), are well-worth growing – although it’s the cultivars with white, pink and yellow berries that retain their fruit for longer. Greedy blackbirds can strip a tree with ripe red or orange berries in just a day or two. Whitebeams have rounded or oval leaves, mostly with silvery undersides, which are at their most attractive in spring. Those commonly known as mountain ashes have fern-like, pinnate…

There are plants that are fast, and plants that are slow. Witch hazels, members of the hamamelis genus, are in the latter category: they’re relatively slow-growing, practically impossible to propagate from cuttings, and their seed takes two years to germinate. For these reasons they have to be propagated by grafting, meaning that they are more expensive than most garden shrubs. They also require patience… but oh, how rewarding! On a cold winter’s day, the scent of their strange little yellow or red-brown flowers can carry for many metres. It was their hardiness that first impressed National Collection Holder Chris Lane when he was an instructor at Hadlow College in Kent. “It was during the 1978-79 winter, a very cold one,” he recalls. “The temperature dropped to -19ºC for a couple…

ARBUTUS UNEDO These bright, edible fruits give rise to the common name of strawberry tree, but the winter foliage is just as appealing. EUONYMUS Choose variegated Euonymus fortunei ‘Emerald ‘n’ Gold’, ‘Emerald Gaiety’ or Euonymus japonicus ‘White Spire’. SARCOCOCCA HUMILIS Use the berries and fragrant flowers of this hardy shrub, which tolerates shade and adds structure in winter months. HEDERA HELIX ‘IVALACE’ This variety has glossy, crimped-edged leaves with long stems, making it perfect for use in Christmas wreaths. CAMELLIA X WILLIAMSII Small-leaved Williamsii varieties of camellia, such as ‘Jenefer Carlyon’, make an excellent foil for textured leaves. LAURUS NOBILIS Bay trees are a superb year-round source of fragrant leaves, which have culinary as well as decorative uses. SKIMMIA JAPONICA Varieties such as ‘Rubella’…

Helen and Vicky Tate met Pascale and Marie-Laure Gombault on a British Conifer Society tour of Ireland in 2014. Their instant connection led to a commercial collaboration between the two nurseries, with the Tates exchanging their prized Pinus montezumae ‘Sheffield Park’ with the Gombaults’ miniature ‘conifères Bijoux’, true miniature conifers, each in its own hand-thrown, terracotta pot. These petite specimens were an ingenious response to a gap in the Parisian market, where there was high demand for small, year-round, potted plants that could withstand balcony living. But their appeal has spread beyond that. Pascale and Marie-Laure now select more unusual, slow-growing conifer varieties to showcase, with top-work grafted onto more disease-resistant rootstock. Each is neatly clipped, to enhance its diminutive frame, and the frost-proof pots are filled with sufficient compost…

‘Rubine’ This heirloom variety bears purple sprouts that can be harvested from November to January. ‘Rubine’ has a traditional flavour and its colour intensifies in the cold. ‘Kalette’ The flavours of sprouts and kale combine in the frilly open florettes of this new hybrid. Larger companies, such as Thompson and Morgan, can supply seed. ‘Revenge’ AGM A stalwart F1 hybrid, which crops abundantly from vigorous, uniform plants that offer tightly packed, well-formed globes, with a good level of disease-resistance. ‘Maximus’ AGM This early-season hybrid was developed for commercial growers, and is the type most often seen in supermarkets. It produces heavy crops of smooth, tight sprouts.…

Pruning roses isn’t as complicated as many gardeners fear. A good general rule for all rose bushes is to cut them down by half in January or February, before buds burst. Although it seems drastic, the vigorous new stems that result (right) have much greater flowering potential. It also removes old stems that can harbour fungal disease. When roses are more mature, you can thin out some of the oldest stems, too, removing them at the base. Just be sure to complete the task before the buds open or the plant will have wasted its energy producing shoots that will be pruned away. Climbers and ramblers are slightly different. Tie in the strong new stems of climbers and remove older ones as necessary, pruning last year’s flowering shoots back to…

BAMBOO CLOCHES Made of bamboo woven into an open dome and available in 5 sizes. These attractive cloches protect plants and seeding from damage by animals, footballs, light frost and wind-chill. Fleece and newspaper can be used to cover the plants inside the cloches during periods of heavy frost. The micro climate inside the cloches promotes growth and allows rain through to the plants. GARDEN FRIENDS Made from thick aluminium that will not rust, and painted beautifully by hands on both sides. Cats, Chickens, Hens, Cockerels, Pheasants, Owls, etc. CANDLE LANTERNS Made from iron with rust resistant paint. All candle lanterns have a window which can be opened at the bak to place a night light candle on a tray within. www.giftsandgardens.com Gifts and Gardens, 32 Bourne Lane, Much Hadham,…

It was 1942 and crime novelist Agatha Christie was in a reflective mood, musing on Greenway, the family holiday home situated on a promontory overlooking the river Dart. Writing to her second husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan, she mused: “I sat on the seat overlooking the house on the river… it looked very white and lovely – I get a kind of pang over its beauty – what excitement to possess it! I thought tonight, sitting there – it is the loveliest place in the world – it quite took my breath away.” She had bought the place in 1938, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd having cemented her reputation as a writer. Greenway was reachable only by narrow lane or boat and she was attracted by its seclusion and limited access,…

When did interest in snowdrops really take off? Jane: Soldiers returning from the Crimean War in 1856 brought back bulbs of Galanthus plicatus, the Crimean snowdrop. When it flowered, gardeners realised there was more to the genus than G. nivalis, the common snowdrop. Over the decades, keen collectors – galanthophiles as they are known – built up large collections of cultivars and variants. Jennifer: It hasn’t peaked yet – collectors will already pay hundreds of pounds for a single bulb! How did you become interested in galanthophilia and what persuaded you to write the book? Jennifer: In 2005 I gave a lecture on galanthophiles and have been researching their stories ever since. They are a fascinating group: excellent general gardeners, all with a sharp eye for a good plant. Jane:…

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…

The run-up to Christmas has to be one of my favourite times of year, filled with anticipation for the festivities ahead. As much as I look forward to it, though, I never seem to get any better at doing my Christmas shopping on time. If you’re like me, then I hope our guide to beautiful gifts for the gardeners in your lives helps you to get organised ahead of time. Meanwhile, there is plenty to admire in the garden – especially if you are a fan of topiary, which is in its element right now, or indeed any form of smart clipping. The icing on the cake is a light dusting of frost. Drummond Castle in Perthshire makes the point on a grand scale; Long Barn, Vita Sackville-West’s ‘starter garden’…

• Protect tender herbaceous perennials from frost by mulching around their bases with a thick layer of straw. Use wire netting to hold the straw in place. • For natural Christmas decorations, place the shoots of winter-flowering shrubs in water and keep in a cool place indoors. • Cut back ornamental grape vines to two buds before Christmas, to avoid pruning wounds bleeding. • Spray fruit trees, such as apples, cherries and plums, with a winter wash, to help control pests. • Rake up the last of the autumn leaves from your lawn to stop them killing the grass. • Bring hyacinth and daffodil bulbs into the warmth to encourage flowering over the Christmas period.…

• Some species of butterfly, including the colourful small tortoiseshell, may enter your home to hibernate over the winter. To pre-empt a butterfly waking prematurely when the central heating comes on, catch it, place it in a cardboard box in a cool place until it’s calm, then release into a shed, garage or unheated room to overwinter. • Leave nest-boxes in place, since they provide a place for smaller birds to roost over the winter. Robins, who begin their courtship in January, prefer open-fronted nest-boxes. • There are 2.5 million grey squirrels in the UK, compared to just 140,000 red squirrels. If these rare natives visit your garden, report the sighting to your local wildlife trust. Put out seeds and nuts for them, but only if you are sure there…

ASTILBE Beacons of brightness in summer, with plumes of frosted fluff in winter, astilbes grow best in moist soil. ECHINACEA Pensthorpe mix white and pink coneflower varieties for extra longevity. Both look wonderful glazed with frost. ERYNGIUM BOURGATII Very spiky and sculptural – like good gin, they are even better with a bit of ice. CALAMAGROSTIS BRACHYTRICHA A really good grass for a sunny spot, with greyish-pink feathery flowers.…

• There is a huge variety of sorbus to choose from and most are easy to cultivate. Sorbus aria (whitebeam) varieties are good on chalk, whereas S. aucuparia (rowan) are not – they are short-lived on chalk soils and much prefer acidic conditions. • Rowans are accommodating trees when it comes to underplanting, and the smaller varieties are perfect for incorporating into planting schemes. They also look good in small groups, and work well as stand-alone specimens. • Sorbus trees can be transplanted as bare-root, field-grown specimens from late autumn until early winter. • Container-grown stock is widely available at any time of the year. Good ground preparation and firm staking and tying are essential for establishment. Sorbus are members of the rosaceae family, so mycorrhizal fungi applied to the…

There are few things more satisfying at Christmas than gathering armfuls of greenery to bring into the house to use as decoration. Gardeners tend to have a head start on this, for with a little creative thought there is a bounty of foliage to be had from most gardens, which will form the basis of garlands, wreaths and table decorations. Add to that a few well-chosen pieces – faux branches or berries, glossy and jewel-bright, a string of twinkling fairy lights, and a cluster of votives – and the setting for a memorable Christmas is complete: at little cost but with all the triumph of having created something yourself. TRADITIONAL PRACTICE It is of course holly, ivy and mistletoe that are most keenly associated with the festive season. Throughout the…

Think of roses and summer months spring to mind, when gardens are filled with their gorgeous colour and scent. In winter we couldn’t be further away from their flowering season, yet this is the best time of year to create new rose displays: it’s the start of bare-root season. Bare-root roses (those that are dug up from the nursery’s fields during dormancy and come without soil around their roots) are delivered from November onwards and can be planted throughout the winter. Now is the time to order for the widest choice of varieties and, come summer, the reward will be the most colourful, fragrant and quintessentially English garden flowers there are. If you are new to rose gardening, do not be put off by a perception that roses are complicated.…

Choose an open, sunny position and prepare the soil by digging in lots of well-rotted manure or compost to a depth of at least 40cm. Dig a large hole and work a handful of bonemeal into its base. You could also use a sachet of beneficial fungi such as Rootgrow – the mycorrhizal fungi that helps plants’ roots establish in the soil. Before planting, soak the roots of the rose in a bucket of water for 20-30 minutes. Also, check the roots over and prune off any damaged ones. The majority of roses are grafted onto a specially chosen rootstock. When planting, make sure the graft union (the join between the rose and its rootstock) is 5-7cm below soil level. This helps stop the rootstock putting out vigorous shoots (suckers).…

The group of plants known as annuals often divides opinion. There are some annual flowers that are all too often viewed with disdain: too gaudy, too municipal and perhaps too brash. But the full gamut of annuals is so broad, and they encompass so many colours and styles, that to take this view is to do them a disservice. What other plants let you experiment so freely and make such dramatic changes each year, while being so cost-effective and quick to prove what they can do? Growing from seed sown in spring and flowering in summer, nothing is faster than an annual. If you have a new garden and empty spaces to fill, they are a rapid and budget-friendly way to do it before more permanent planting goes in or…

RHS The Secrets of Great Botanists by Matthew Biggs Mitchell Beazley, £15.99 Domestic gardeners stand on the shoulders of early botanists and plant collectors. The specimens that we now take for granted – fuchsias, hydrangeas, camellias and countless others – have all been acquired by the hunter-adventurers of centuries gone by. The tradition continues today, with plant hunters such as Bleddyn and Sue Wynn-Jones of Crug Farm Plants regularly making forays into remote locations in search of undiscovered species. In The Secrets of Great Botanists, Matthew Biggs takes a close look at the contributions of these botanists to modern gardening. His book spans the gardening age, beginning with Pedanius Dioscorides (AD 40-90), the father of pharmacology, and concluding with Patrick Blanc (born 1953) to whom we can attribute the numerous…

We all know that the Christmas tree was introduced into this country from Germany by Prince Albert, don’t we? Not so, apparently. Victoria remembered Christmas trees as a child at court in the 1830s, the practice having been introduced at the end of the previous century by her grandmother Queen Charlotte, the German wife of George III. But it was Albert who made them fashionable. When a portrait of himself and Victoria with their children gathered around their Christmas tree appeared in The Illustrated London News in 1848, they became all the rage, the centrepiece of the new family-oriented Christmas we know today. “The larch was all green and rustling and resin-scented, the house filling with its aroma” But surely our affection for the tree is a symptom of our…

Woodcut Christmas cards 16 Nov, Kent Learn to design, cut and print beautiful woodcut cards at this workshop led by professional printmaker Will Dyke at Knole Park. £85. Tel: 01732 462100; nationaltrust.org.uk Christmas Glow at Wisley 1 Dec-2 Jan, Surrey Follow an illuminated festive trail past floating lights and giant glowing flowers to the Woodland Realm, where you’ll find elves, reindeer and a tree made of poinsettias. Tel: 01483 224234; rhs.org.uk/wisley The Newburgh Priory Christmas Fair 29 Nov-1 Dec, Yorkshire Find unique Christmas gifts, create wreaths and gingerbread houses and enjoy locally sourced food (right). Tickets from £5. Tel: 01347 868372; newburghpriory.co.uk Hot Pot Pottery Christmas Fayre 8-9 & 11 Dec, Gloucestershire Browse local artists’ work or paint your own pottery, with festive nibbles on offer and a cosy woodburner.…

• All borders are cut back and weeded from October to December to provide a head start in the spring. • A layer of mulch is applied just before Christmas, when all the leaves have been cleared and the weather is usually still quite mild. This avoids sealing the cold in the ground and lets subsequent frosts break down the mulch. • Group 3 clematis and roses are pruned in February. In a very hard winter it may be advisable to postpone clematis pruning until March to avoid frost damage. • After Christmas, hazel is coppiced in the woods and the branches are brought up in trailer loads. They are used as supports for roses, clematis and tall perennials. The branches are woven into elegant sculptural shapes that lend interest…

• When gathering foliage for festive arrangements, always cut the stem at an angle above a leaf node. Doing so allows water to flow more freely up the stem than if it were cut below. • Flowers such as hydrangeas and roses may droop if an air bubble in the stem stops water moving up. Avoid this by trimming an inch off stems and cutting at an angle to aid water flow. • Remove all leaves that aren’t actually necessary to the overall look of an arrangement. This way, water will be able to reach the flowerhead more easily and won’t be wasted on supporting unnecessary foliage. • Keep vases scrupulously clean to prevent a build-up of bacteria, which will shorten the life of cut material. Change the water regularly.…

Conifers bring untold magic and nostalgia to the home or garden, particularly around Christmas when their outstretched, needle-clad limbs are imbued with resinous scent. Sisters Vicky and Helen Tate offer a variety of fascinating trees at their specialist conifer nursery, Lime Cross in Herstmonceux, East Sussex, where they are busy preparing for their seasonal festivities. Christmas lunches are served throughout December, while Helen hosts festive tastings of locally sourced organic wines. There’s also carol singing and Christmas tree decorating competitions. The traditional wreath-making workshop begins with a forage for ingredients in the nursery’s woodland and pinetum, where armfuls of boughs, cones and other natural ingredients are gathered. Alongside the seasonal range of traditional pre-cut Christmas trees, is a year-round selection of conifers with far greater longevity. The sisters have amassed…

‘MORTIMER SACKLER’ has lovely dark foliage, dark stems and very few thorns; it’s very different to the average rose. Michael Marriott, David Austin Roses ‘SUPER TROUPER’ is amazing. It’s so bright and vibrant, it really sharpens up people’s gardens in an ‘in your face’ way. Elizabeth Sawday, Apuldram Roses ‘CHANDOS BEAUTY’ has such a lovely fragrance and beautifully shaped buds that are equally beautiful opening out. Alison Cunningham, Pococks Roses ‘LOVESTRUCK’ is such a healthy variety, flowering until really late in the season – and it was 2018’s Rose of the Year. Colin Dickson, Dickson Roses ‘EIRENE’ was launched to mark 100 years since the end of World War I and as my granddad was a veteran, it’s my choice. Diana Woodman, Fryers Roses ‘ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS’ is such a good…

Apuldram Roses Tel: 01243 785769; apuldramroses.co.uk C&K Jones Tel: 01829 740663; jonestherose.co.uk David Austin Roses Tel: 01902 376300; davidaustinroses.com Dickson Roses Tel: 028 9181 2206; dickson-roses.co.uk Fryers Roses Tel: 01565 755455; fryersroses.co.uk Harkness Roses Tel: 01462 420402; roses.co.uk Peter Beales Tel: 01953 454707; classicroses.co.uk Pococks Roses Tel: 01794 367500; garden-roses.co.uk Trevor White Roses Tel: 01603 755135; trevorwhiteroses.co.uk…