Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2019 i The English Garden

Noel Kingsbury Garden designer, lecturer and author Noel Kingsbury presents the last in his long-running ‘Plant Collectors’ series, on page 68, with a trip to see Tony Goode’s species crocus collection in Norfolk. Lynn Keddie Based in Somerset but travelling widely, Lynn has been a photographer for 20 year and also a painter of contemporary landscapes. Her photos of Avon Cottage are featured on page 43. Melissa Mabbitt Melissa trained as a gardener at Bodnant in north Wales before becoming a writer and editor, and is now a regular contributor to a variety of gardening publications. She heads to Crûg Farm Nursery on page 77.…

Staffordshire Award-winning Trentham Gardens has undergone a major programme of restoration, revealing the historic lakeside landscape that was designed by Capability Brown. The garden now features a vast new contemporary planting of annuals, perennials, trees and shrubs, plus extensive meadow schemes filled with wildflowers. During its January opening for the National Garden Scheme, Mark Porter, one of Trentham’s garden team, will guide visitors in exploring the varying textures, forms and winter tones of Tom Stuart-Smith’s incredible perennial plantings within the Italian Gardens. Wednesday 16 January 2019 from 10am. Admission £7. Light refreshments are available. Tel: 01782 646646; trentham.co.uk…

Surprisingly, this delicate white flower isn’t a UK native. Although originally thought to have been brought here by the Romans, it’s now understood to be an early 16th-century introduction. Snowdrops are traditionally associated with purity on account of their colour and early flowering, but they also bear darker connotations. The Victorians believed carrying snowdrops over the threshold would bring death to a household, perhaps because snowdrops often spring up in graveyards.…

SARCOCOCCA CONFUSA Has glossy evergreen leaves and spicily perfumed flowers, whose tiny size belies their scent’s incredible strength. CALLICARPA ‘PROFUSION ’ Clusters of berries in an unreal shade of purple are produced by this large deciduous shrub in autumn. VIBURNUM X BODNANTENSE A superb shrub with fragrant flowers. Try ‘Dawn’ for dark-pink blooms or ‘Charles Lamont’ for pale-pink ones. RUSCUS ACULEATUS Sharply pointed leaves cover the branches of this evergreen shrub, which also bears scarlet berries in winter. GARRYA ELLIPTICA ‘JAMES ROOF’ The best garrya cultivar for long pendent tassels of flowers, borne throughout the winter months. ROSA ‘HERBSTFEUER’ Semi-double, dark-red blooms in summer, and occasionally autumn too, turn into glossy pear-shaped hips.…

AVON COTTAGE SITS ON THE BANKS OF the River Avon, which meanders through a chalkland valley from Amesbury towards Salisbury. This stretch of the river is lined with water meadows, painted by John Constable and written about by Thomas Hardy. Now part of our heritage, these meadows were once an ancient method of land management. Working examples are rare, so in 1971 the water-meadows at Lower Woodford were made a Site of Special Scientific Interest. It’s here that Sheila and Trevor Shepherd have lived for 40 years, bringing up their family of six in a timber-framed home that was built in 1536. “In those days, I had little time to garden because my hands were full looking after my family,” says Sheila. “I maintained the borders that were there when…

Bedecked with berries in winter and clothed in glossy leaves all year, hollies make a handsome garden addition. It is easy to imagine a time when, along with ivy, mistletoe and yew, they were the only evergreens gracing the English countryside, their presence in winter imbued with mysticism. Hollies are still symbols of Christmas, but their value in the garden shouldn’t be underestimated. Clip sprigs of their foliage to decorate the Christmas pudding or make a festive wreath, but also consider hollies’ year-round presence, their wildlife value – berries and predator-proof shelter for birds – the ability of variegated cultivars to light up dim corners and their amenability to being topiarised and you’ve got a fantastic all-round garden plant. At Highfield Hollies in Hampshire there are hollies in infinite variety…

Brighten gloomy days with this collection of early-spring species – it’s the perfect treat or a great starter pack to help you establish a spring garden. Each of these varieties is easy to establish and will go on to produce a beautiful display to welcome a new year. Cambo famously holds the National Snowdrop Collection within its charming walled gardens in Fife, Scotland, and each February, collection holder Lady Catherine Erskine hosts its National Snowdrop Festival, with tours and specialist snowdrop events. Cambo has been voted best supplier of ‘bulbs in the green’ and has put together this exclusive offer for readers of The English Garden. Buy all five varieties in the Heralds of Spring Collection for £45, and receive a gift of 10 FREE specialist snowdrops, Galanthus nivalis ‘Cambo…

AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND STONEFIELDS is the personal garden of Australian garden designer Paul Bangay. Situated in Victoria’s winelands, midway between Kyneton and Daylesford, the garden features a series of neatly defined terraces united by a formal rill. Drums, spheres and cubes of immaculately clipped box, interrupted by slender masts of cypress, make up a terrace close to the house, while elsewhere a white garden, modelled on Sissinghurst, and a profusion of roses bring softer touches to the design. Views of the landscape surrounding the garden are employed to create a sense of place and tie the garden to its rural locale. Tel: +61 3 9427 9545; stonefieldsthefarmhouse.com LAMBLEY maintains a reputation as one of Australia’s foremost nurseries and gardens to visit. Located in the Victoria Goldfields, its proprietors are…

“Our England is a garden, and such gardens are not made / By singing:-‘Oh, how beautiful’ and sitting in the shade.” ‘The Glory of the Garden’, Rudyard Kipling’s poem of 1921, celebrating gardens and England itself, was written from his beloved Bateman’s in Burwash. After a life spent first in India, latterly in America, Kipling in 1902 was looking for an English home. He found it here, in the beautiful Sussex High Weald. “England is a wonderful land… full of stupefying marvels and mysteries,” he enthused, embracing all that country living entailed. The Jacobean sandstone house occupied a stunning position surrounded by rolling hills, woodland and ancient hedgerows. Its 33 acres, which included a mill, eventually expanded to encompass a much larger estate. Writing to a friend, he admitted that…

You’ve written a series of Ten-Minute Gardener books. What is the concept behind them and what does this one focus on? It began with a column in The Daily Telegraph some years ago and developed into three books, on flowers, fruit and vegetables. They were very popular, although very difficult to put together because they’re laid out chronologically. I’m a hands-on gardener and I’m mostly known for writing about flowers, but in my twenties I spent five years working in vegetable research, so I’ve been growing vegetables all my life. I’m also a life-long organic gardener, who’s always grown as much of my food as I can, and I’ve always been a fruit grower as well. This new compilation focuses on growing fruit and vegetables. What…

• The quintessentially English garden at Clinton Lodge in East Sussex • Contemporary design results in a timeless garden in the South Downs • The classic Cotswolds country garden at Eastleach House • The ambitious new rose garden at Wynyard Hall in County Durham • A blend of cultivated and wild in a gorgeous Norfolk garden PLUS Create your own classic English garden with our guide to the elements they should include, and take advantage of the secret address books of the country’s top designers ON SALE 4 JANUARY Don’t miss out. Buy single copies or subscribe now at theenglishgarden.co.uk 01858 438854…

It’s January – the month of crisp new diaries with pristine blank pages, New Year’s resolutions and planning ahead. The weather is perfect for staying in, keeping warm and dreaming about your garden: what you’ll plant; what to sow; minor tweaks; major improvements. One part of our plots that often gets overlooked is the garden at the front of the house. Our special feature in this issue has lots of ideas and inspiration for improving first impressions of your home. The other thing January is great for is making travel plans. It’s hard to beat being in your own garden on a beautiful day, but being in somebody else’s amazing garden and seeing plants at their peak comes a close second. For those of you who want to explore Britain,…

• Check new trees and shrubs in the garden, paying particular attention to tree ties and stakes. Protect new additions from frost damage and brush off any snow. • Clean the greenhouse inside and out to ensure plants can make the most of winter’s weak light. Use a garden disinfectant on the inside walls and remember to scour the corners, too. • Strawberries potted up in August for forcing can be taken indoors now. If you have several plants, bring in half next month to stagger their fruiting season. • Some summer-flowering bedding plants, such as lobelia, pelargonium and snapdragons, benefit from an early sowing in January, as they need more time to grow.…

• If you don’t have a garden planted with fruit trees, you can replicate their wildlife-friendly benefits by laying out apple slices to feed the birds. • Resist the urge to dispose of fallen leaves, instead raking them into heaps to shelter resting amphibians. • Ensure your garden has a supply of clean water, whether that’s a small bird bath or a water feature on a grand scale. To prevent surfaces from glazing over in freezing weather, pour boiling water onto ice formations daily or leave a tennis ball floating on the water surface. Don’t smash ice that forms on ponds to break it up, since this can be harmful to fish. • Look to the RHS ‘Plants for Pollinators’ list to help you plan a mixed border for the…

THE SHORT DAYS AND DREARY WEATHER of winter can dampen the enthusiasm of all but the hardiest gardener. But if you plan carefully, winter can be a source of delight. Many excellent gardeners prefer this time of the year for its slow pace and fragile light, but to appreciate it you need more than a desolate lawn and bare borders to contemplate. Although there are thousands of books telling you how to plant for spring, summer and autumn, those about winter gardening are rare. Given that British winters can feel never-ending, it is surprising that we gardeners are effectively told not to bother for a quarter of the year. The best way to find inspiration is to get out there and see what is possible. Scampston in North Yorkshire is…

“I used to follow my grandfather around the garden,” recalls Tony Goode, reflecting on the start of his passion for gardening. “As a small boy you want quick results, which is what got me into bulbs – all that locked-up potential, like a firework!” As a young adult, Tony didn’t have much space so he focused on plants he could fit on his windowsill. He became hooked on crocus species and, on joining the Crocus Group of the Iris Society, he met another collector, David Stevens. Eventually David asked him to take the overflow from his own collection, so, along with plants from another retiring National Collection holder, Ray Cobb, Tony soon had some 500 species and varieties. Tony has now retired from his work as a betting shop manager…

Holly is a big, generous plant. One of the reasons it became unpopular was that after the war, all the hollies the Victorians had planted grew and grew into an awful shapeless mass because there were no gardeners left to come and clip it. You can cut holly right back and it will come back, and you can shape it how you want it. In olden times there was a myth that if you cut holly down you would have bad luck – I can’t imagine the reason behind that because it just springs back. Don’t prune when it’s frosty as that’s the only time the frost can get into it, especially if the plant is young. If a young holly with a late flush of growth gets hit by…

Email snowdrops@cambogardens.org.uk or call 01333 451050, quoting Snowdrop/TEGOffer. Alternatively, order by post, sending a cheque made payable to ‘Cambo Heritage Trust’ to The English Garden Snowdrop Offer, Cambo Gardens, Cambo Stables Visitor Centre, Kingsbarns, St Andrews, Fife KY10 2RQ. Clearly state your name, address and the plants you wish to order. T&Cs Calls are charged at your network’s standard rate. Lines are open 9am-5pm, Monday-Saturday. Bulbs in the green are dispatched from early February 2019. Offer is subject to availability. We are unable to acknowledge orders except where an item is unavailable. All products are purchased from, and your contract is with, Cambo. Offer closes 31 January 2018. We cannot supply outside the UK. Bulbs/corms that have been transplanted may take time to establish. We cannot guarantee flowering, but we…

Winter Snowdrops sparkle with frost; bare bones of landscape gardens are revealed; and cornus stems shine SNOWDROPS A carpet of snowdrops can lift the spirits on the dullest day. True galanthophiles will know the National Collection of Galanthus, held by Margaret and David MacLennan in Carlisle, Cumbria, where their stock of 1,300 cultivars is open to group viewing by appointment only. Tel: 01228 526440. Those with a more relaxed appreciation of these plants might head to Colesbourne Park, in Gloucestershire, where a woodland garden is clothed in white each year. Tel: 01242 870567; colesbournegardens.org.uk. Or visit the home of galanthophilia, Myddleton House in Enfield. The former residence of EA Bowles hosts the Ultimate Snowdrop Sale on 26 January and a snowdrop tour and coffee morning on 6 February. Find out…

The Wild Remedy by Emma Mitchell Michael O’ Mara Books, £14.99 Emma Mitchell is a designer-maker and illustrator with a background in zoology, also known as @silverpebble2 on social media platforms where her illustrations of rural excursions are followed by thousands. Less well-known is the fact that she has suffered from depression for 25 years. When her illness is at its most debilitating, Mitchell seldom leaves the house. Usually, though, she can find relief in the natural world, and The Wild Remedy diarises nature’s healing influence in her life. “For me, taking a daily walk among plants is as medicinal as any talking cure or pharmaceutical. Simply getting out of the house and seeing the blackthorn and limes… induces a response in me that I can only describe as a…

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…

Midwinter: I love that word. The deep velvety darkness, the frisson of cold air against your skin, the short days and long nights. Thick leather gloves and wheelbarrows full of rose prunings. Seeing the lights come on in the house as you finish your work outside, knowing there will be a fire and hot buttered toast inside. Taking time for just one last turn around the garden as night falls. “Threads of roots move through the darkness; compounds glide to and fro” There’s a sense of stasis: the leafless trees, the empty beds – the hedgehogs dreaming in their winter sleep, logs piled against the garden wall – everything poised on the cusp of the year, the hinge of the day. Hedges seem taller, darker, in the dusk, the garden…

Macramé Workshop 11 January, West Yorkshire This taster will introduce you to macramé, the art of textile-making through knots, giving you a chance to have a go at making a plant holder. Tickets £25. Tel: 01274 584400; saltairecrafthouse.com Picturing The Park 16 January, South Yorkshire Head to Cannon Hall Museum, Park and Gardens to take part in a morning of art making (right). All abilities welcome. Free admission. Tel: 01226 772002; cannon-hall.com Modern Floral Art 18 January, Cambridgeshire Bark, slate, paint and moss feature in this flower-arranging course with a focus on skills such as pinning and layering. Tickets £185. Tel: 01223 655661; thecambridgeflowerschool.co.uk Seasonal Flower Pressing 18 and 25 January, Cotswolds Explore the Daylesford estate and select your own blooms to press. Learn how to make pressed flower cards,…

ENSCONCED IN A PATCHWORK OF FIELDS and copses, this is a garden that stirs slowly as the first light penetrates a skirt of woodland and, glade by glade, reveals carpets of frosted snowdrops, golden aconites and silvered crocuses. The garden at The Old Rectory in Fawkham, Kent, was already known for its winter flowers, but present owners Christopher and Karin Proudfoot have increased their numbers to create a breathtaking show. “At first, I simply left well alone,” explains Karin. “It wasn’t until later that I began to see snowdrops as individuals, rather than just a wonderful display each winter.” The couple moved into the 19th-century Old Rectory in 1983. “The garden was neglected, with daffodils peeping above tangled grass, overgrown shrubs and hybrid tea roses that we removed,” Karin recalls.…

So often we see neglected front gardens, but to overlook them is a crying shame. Streets of houses swathed in climbers, with green, floriferous plots in front, make the world a prettier place. Aesthetics aside, a paved front garden does wildlife no favours, and where that paving is impermeable, it can contribute to the risk of flooding. Greening up these spaces contributes as much to the local – and wider – environment as it does the hearts of passers-by. A good front garden has to fulfil so many different functions. Not just a beautiful way to welcome visitors to the home, it often needs to accommodate cars, storage and, of course, the dreaded wheelie bins, not to mention all manner of recycling receptacles. Employ cunning design and clever storage solutions,…

In a tiny corner of North Wales, a nursery of rarities has become a mecca for plant lovers who crave the unusual. Crûg Farm Plants is a slice of exoticism nestled alongside the Menai Strait, a fascinating treasure trove of plants from Asia, the Americas and Russia, some offered for sale only from this one spot in the world. This small but renowned nursery belongs to Bleddyn and Sue Wynn-Jones, modern-day plant hunters who source intriguing plants from across the globe. But they haven’t always been plant hunters. Before starting the nursery, Crûg Farm was one of a few farms in the area owned by Bleddyn’s family, and he and Sue raised beef cattle there for over a decade. When farming became less economically viable they decided to diversify. “I…

The natural topography of Cornwall is unique. A long thin peninsula washed on all sides by the sea, no other county in the British Isles is quite so shaped by its coastal position and the prevailing weather that determines its mild, damp microclimate. Species that won’t grow anywhere else thrive here and, although the daily forecast is unpredictable, spring dependably arrives earlier and the growing season is warmer and longer than anywhere else in the UK. In the 19th century it was this favourable climate that saw Cornwall become a repository for the huge number of new and exotic plants that were arriving in England from around the world. Cornish landowners suddenly had the opportunity to build up important collections of the camellias, magnolias and rhododendrons that are now emblematic…