Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2020 i The English Garden

Rebecca Bernstein Rebecca is a garden photographer who has been shooting some of the country’s most beautiful gardens for more than ten years – including the garden at Bath’s American Museum on page 20. Caroline Mardon Based in London, and previously a film stills photographer, Caroline now specialises in interiors and gardens and enjoys nothing more than admiring flowers through a lens. Her images of Norney Wood are on page 44. Zia Allaway Zia is an author, editor and journalist, who writes for magazines and newspapers. Her books include the RHS Practical Houseplant Book and RHS What Plant Where. She visits Norney Wood’s garden on page 44.…

Pocklington, Yorkshire Great drifts of double snowdrops, striking hellebores and lush green ferns surround this historic Grade II listed water mill, which is located one mile south of Pocklington in East Yorkshire. A mill stream, Pocklington Beck, flows through the two-acre gardens, which include orchards, woodland, herbaceous borders, a hen run, edible produce and greenhouses. Over the past 20 years, the owners have developed the garden on organic principles to encourage a range of wildlife. Devonshire Mill, Canal Lane, Pocklington, York, East Riding of Yorkshire YO42 1NN. Opens Sunday 16 February, 11am to 4.30pm. Refreshments include home-made teas. Admission: Adult: £4; Child: Free.…

British Baroque: Power and Illusion 4 February-19 April, London Tate Britain presents the first exhibition to focus on British baroque culture, with a section on baroque gardens. Tickets: £16; children £5. Tel: 020 7887 8888; tate.org.uk Valentine’s Dinner at Bodiam Castle 13-15 February, Kent Treat your valentine to a glass of fizz and a tour of the castle (right) followed by a three-course, candlelit dinner by the river. Tickets: £48. Tel: 0344 2491895; nationaltrust.org.uk Storytelling Evening 14 February, Somerset Hear stories and songs of love from storyteller Beth Webb and singer Dora Darling in the atmospheric Bishop’s Palace. Tickets: £15. Tel: 01749 988111; bishopspalace.org.uk Willowcraft Workshop 14 February, West Yorkshire Create woven willow hearts using the traditional craft of random weaving at the Palladian mansion of Nostell in Crofton. Beginners…

To prevent aphids attacking roses and dahlias without using chemicals, check plants every day or two and, if you aren’t too squeamish, run your fingers over the stems (you could wear rubber gloves) to squash them. Blanket weed in the formal ponds can be unsightly. The best treatment we have found is ‘Clover Leaf Blanket Answer’ (blanketanswer.com) which is completely safe for plants and wildlife. It works by turning the water milky, thereby reducing the light level in the pond, which kills the blanket weed. The water clears and the dead blanket weed sinks to the bottom. Our mantra for weeds is ‘weed before they seed’ – dig their roots out and hoe annuals regularly.…

There is always so much to do in the garden and when there’s a long list of tasks to get through, it’s all to easy to lose sight of the bigger picture: what are gardens for? Renowned landscape designers Thomas Church, who lived and worked in America, and John Brookes, who became a household name in Britain thanks to his best-selling books on garden design, both believed that gardens are for people – to enjoy. Gardens are outdoor living rooms, places to relax or to have fun entertaining friends, not just ornamental spaces requiring constant hard work. What has an American who never worked in Britain got to do with the way we garden today? Seeing gardens as outdoor living rooms is an idea that has come to the UK…

Plant at any time of the year in part sun or shade. They are unfussy about soil pH and will grow where other plants won’t. In poor or dry soil the leaves will be smaller, so consider enriching with well-rotted manure, compost or leaf mould. Once established they won’t need any additional watering, unless it’s very hot or dry. Powdery mildew problems are rare, but if a plant becomes affected, cut it down to 1 inch above ground and it should produce a new flush of leaves. Remove flower stems before they set seed if you don’t want them to spread around your garden. They are very promiscuous, and the seedlings won’t come true to the parent. Divide clumps in late August or early September if they become too large…

In late January and February, nothing lifts a gardener’s spirits in quite the same way as the annual appearance of snowdrops, so it’s no wonder that they inspire a host of festivals and garden openings, or that rarer snowdrop varieties have become an object of desire for collectors. Whether you’re in the market for a connoisseur bulb to cosset, or simply enjoy a reviving walk on a chilly day that takes in an impressive display, here’s our guide to all things galanthus. See snowdrops in profusion Knock your snowdrop socks off with the great swathes of naturalised snowdrops on display at larger gardens such as WELFORD PARK in Berkshire. Here, sheets of Galanthus nivalis shimmer in the winter light, carpeting the ground in the estate’s beech woods. Wednesday to Sunday,…

Of all the tools in a gardener’s shed, a pair of secateurs is probably the most personal: to lose a well-loved pair is almost to lose an extension of your hand. That secateurs are also one of the most indispensable garden tools in our collections is reflected in the great range of models for different functions now available to us. Yet beneath the branding and design, secateurs operate by one of two means. Bypass secateurs, by far the most common, comprise two sharp blades that slide past each other like a robust pair of scissors to make a swift, clean cut best for live material that must not be infected. By contrast, the blades of anvil secateurs meet one another, effectively crushing thicker, dead material where infection isn’t an issue.…

With so many issues affecting climate and environment, and so much plastic in the world, is worrying about plastic in the garden going to do any good? The scale of the problem can seem overwhelming and our own plots tiny and irrelevant by contrast. But we’re a nation of garden lovers, millions of us spending a lot of time and money on gardening each year. If we each make one small change, there are so many of us that it all adds up to make a big difference. And the horticulture trade – a billion-pound industry – is changing with us. When did you start cutting back on plastic, and what motivated this? I began very gradually a few years ago. What prompted me to try to do more was…

This winter I have finally, to use an appropriately horticultural metaphor, grasped the nettle. We have just finished digging up and burning 150 metres of beloved box parterre: 1,000 plants of Buxus suffruticosa, made from cuttings no bigger than the top joint of my thumb 30 years ago when I first arrived at Morville, wrenched out and tossed on the bonfire. The box parterre was the glory of the garden: fresh, green and shapely no matter the weather or time of year; partnered with tulips and hyacinths in spring, orange trees and roses in summer and obelisks of yew and standards of holly all year round. But we had been fighting a losing battle with box blight. For many years we had a couple of pockets of Volutella blight, caused…

The gardens in this issue are a little bit different. They all bring together elements of old and new, and what better way to celebrate the New Year than by looking at gardens that seamlessly marry the best of the past with the exciting present? Take Lowther Castle in Cumbria, where Dan Pearson has masterminded a beautiful new garden around the remains of the castle’s walls and window arches, breathing new life into its intriguing ruins. In Sussex, Joe Perkins has turned the mostly blank canvas surrounding a 17th-century farmhouse into a colourful, flower-filled garden that’s contemporary yet enhances the period property. Likewise, Helen Elks-Smith has made a very modern home seem as if it was always meant to reside within the old walled garden in which it has been…

The purple or sometimes white, blooms of low-growing plant sweet violet (Viola odorata) are one of the first wildflowers to bloom each spring and are widespread across the UK. In medieval chivalry tales, sweet violets represent constancy and love. In legend, it’s believed to be impossible to smell sweet violet more than once – a belief stemming from the fact that sweet violets contain the chemical ionine, which can deaden the smell receptors once it’s been sniffed.…

In the woodland glades of Avon Bulbs’ nursery in Somerset, free-range snowdrops run amok in their shady pleasure ground, unwittingly spawning new generations of future gems as they promiscuously hybridise with one another. In the nursery itself, a vast array of meticulously labelled cultivars in pots line a procession of coldframes, destined for national and international snowdrop fairs where they’ll tempt visiting galanthophiles. A February visit here reveals a spectacular collection of some 250 coveted galanthus species and cultivars. Chris Ireland-Jones, owner of Avon Bulbs, bought the Bath-based nursery over 30 years ago, relocating it to an eight-acre former farm in South Petherton, Somerset, but at first the site didn’t really suit snowdrops at all. “Initially the clay soil was on the heavy side, not ideal for growing bulbs,” Chris…

“Are you sitting spiritually?” That is the question a friend of Martin Young asked one day when he saw him resting quietly on a garden swing seat. Martin, who had been meditating, sprang into action on hearing this and, in a eureka moment, ran inside to register the new domain name of the business he had recently begun. “I thought what a great name for a company – although some people assume we’re a Buddhist retreat!” Martin explains. That was in 2004. Since then, Sitting Spiritually has supplied rock stars and royalty with handmade wooden swing seats that are intended to be heirloom pieces handed down from one generation to the next. The origins of the company are more down-to-earth than its illustrious clientele suggests. Martin is a keen hobby…

• Order seed potatoes and chit them on a light windowsill so they have fat green shoots in time for planting. • Carry out winter pruning of wisteria, when the whippy growths shortened during summer are further reduced to just two or three buds. • Some deciduous grasses can be pruned now, before their new growth appears. Cut back calamagrostis and deschampsia, but leave pennisetum intact until April – their old growth protects the crown. • Add to snowdrop collections with new bulbs planted ‘in the green’ this month. • Plant lily bulbs in containers now to enjoy their scented flowers in summer. Use large pots and some soil-based compost for weight and stability.…

• Plant trees, hedges and shrubs while the garden is still in a dormant winter state. These will grow to be invaluable sources of shelter and food for wildlife in your garden. • Put up nestboxes for birds in good time for the fast-approaching mating season this spring. Any existing nestboxes should have the old nest material cleared out and be thoroughly cleaned with boiling water to kill fleas and parasites. • Cut down buddleia at the end of the month to encourage strong, new, flowering shoots to form. This shrub has the common name of ‘butterfly bush’, but moths, bees and other insects are also attracted by its nectar-rich blooms. • Invest in pots of early spring flowers, such as crocus, primrose and aconite. They’ll brighten up your garden…

FILIPENDULA RUBRA ‘VENUSTA’ Rose-pink flowers and vine-like leaves on a perennial that thrives in moist soil. ACANTHUS MOLLIS ‘RUE LEDAN’ A white and green version of this bristly perennial. Spikes can reach at least 1.2m tall. POTENTILLA ‘MISS WILLMOTT’ Pink flowers with a crimson eye above a mound of nicely groundcovering foliage. HEMEROCALLIS ‘HYPERION’ This daylily’s small, dainty flowers aren’t out of place in a naturalistic scheme. CIRSIUM RIVULARE ‘ATROPURPUREUM’ Flowering from June to September, this handsome thistle is highly sought after. SALVIA PRATENSIS ‘INDIGO’ Blue-purple flowers line up on upright airy spires; the foliage is aromatic too.…

IRIS ‘VOLTIGEUR’ A 1930s variety introduced by Ferdinand Cayeux, this iris has rosy purple standards and deep maroon falls. GERANIUM ‘ROZANNE’ Let this lax, hardy geranium thread its way through borders to cover the ground. ROSA ‘GERTRUDE JEKYLL’ This absolute classic with its magenta-pink flowers is often one of the earliest to bloom. IRIS ‘JANE PHILLIPS’ Ever popular for its scented, baby blue-lilac blooms, this bearded iris, with greyish foliage, is easy to find. ROSA ‘GENTLE HERMIONE’ Myrrh scented flowers on a David Austin-bred shrub rose with arching stems. ZANTEDESCHIA ‘CROWBOROUGH’ Spathes of pure white and arrow-shaped leaves on this moisture-loving perennial.…

Twenty-two years ago when Hew and Joanna Blair bought Leadervale House, their Georgian villa overlooking the Leader Valley in Berwickshire, Hew had no intention of gardening the one-acre walled garden at the foot of the slope by the River Leader. Previously used for schooling horses and grazing sheep, its walls were crumbling and the old, ivy-covered coach house, the most convenient point of entry to the garden, was totally derelict. Much better, thought Hew, to plant a garden close to the house. At first, this seemed like the obvious answer. Leadervale with its graceful stone steps and elegant Ionic portico creates a striking setting. It was built in 1780 by Sir James Wright, the last Royal Governor of the state of Georgia, in the parkland of the neighbouring mansion, Carolside,…

Pulmonarias are an often neglected gem, deserving of a place in your garden for the dainty, nectar-filled flowers they produce from late winter to spring, mounds of attractive foliage lasting for months, and their undemanding nature. Unfortunately, they have very little ‘pot presence’ and might not attract attention at your local nursery. Pulmonarias sulk in pots, where their leaves will remain small and unexciting, but once in the ground these fabulous plants will gain a new lease of life and start to reveal their charms. Pulmonarias are part of the borage family and have a long history of medicinal use. Under the ancient European doctrine of signatures, a plant’s characteristics were believed to indicate which part of the human body it could be used to treat. The spots on pulmonaria…

Plant all snowdrops, 10-15cm deep, in a cool, moist position with some spring sunshine but with drier summer shade. When bulk planting for mass effect or naturalising, buy and plant snowdrops in the green, whenever possible, from February. Plant immediately on receipt, at 10cm intervals, water in and protect from severe weather using leaves, bracken or horticultural fleece. Grow special snowdrops in extra-long pots. Avon Bulbs’ are delivered in biodegradable bags, and sent out first class for planting on the day of delivery. Or plant individual special plants into labelled aquatic pots filled with a soil-based potting medium and a little sharp sand. Plunge into the border to make them easily retrievable in summer for repotting. Lift and divide every 3-4 years in late spring as leaves turn yellow and…

Mulberry by Peter Coles Reaktion Books, £16 It is difficult to underestimate the influence of the mulberry tree on human history and how we arrived at where we are today. Mulberry bark cloth appears across the East and Southeast Asia; mulberry paper was developed by the Chinese; as the sole food of the silkworm, mulberries are behind all the silk produced in the world. Consider this last fact in view of the Silk Road and the inevitable exchange between East and West of cultural norms and new ideas, and it becomes clear that few plants have been as influential on human life as this modest tree. Author Peter Coles, a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Urban and Community Research at Goldsmiths, is a consummate researcher and engaging writer in…

• Lord Michael Heseltine’s magnolia collection at Thenford • Daffodils flower at Humbie Dean near East Lothian’s Lammermuir Hills • Bulbs and spring blooms at Parsonage Oasts in Kent • Blossom brings the trees and shrubs of Shropshire’s Hodnet Hall to life • The National Trust’s secret plant propagation headquarters PLUS Commissioning bespoke accessories for the garden; early-flowering iris; Rodney Davey’s marbled hellebores; our new ‘grow your own’ series from Babington House Don’t miss out. Buy single copies or subscribe now at theenglishgarden.co.uk 01858 438854…