Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2021 i The English Garden

Jill Anderson Jill is a writer, author and award-winning designer, with a special interest in sustainability and organic gardening. She explores a productive early autumn garden in Godalming, Surrey, on page 42. Julie Skelton Surrey-based photographer Julie firmly believes in the mental and physical benefits of spending time in green spaces, and was delighted by the variety she found in the Godalming garden on page 42. Dianna Jazwinski Dianna is a garden photographer with an interest in exploring and photographing plants. She sells prints of her personal work at mybotanicalheart.com and her images of panicum feature on page 79.…

Hidcote Manor Gloucestershire Hidcote has inspired me since I was a young man. I used to visit it with my parents. It has several old Clematis viticella cultivars, some of which were almost lost to cultivation. Tel: 01386 438333; nationaltrust.org.uk Spetchley Park Gardens Worcester Spetchley is full of rare and unusual varieties, including some of the earliest plants that came into cultivation. I love searching for plants in the wild and this is a fascinating garden from a plant point of view. Tel: 01905 345106; spetchleygardens.co.uk…

Pick a signature colour and repeat it judiciously throughout the garden for cohesion – it can be bark, stems or leaves, as well as flowers. Wind the stems of climbing roses in circles when growing them against a wall: by breaking the plant’s natural vertical habit, you will encourage prolific flowering. Fight box blight by taking the best care possible of the soil around your plants. Use a good quality organic fertiliser and plenty of home-made compost. Crown-lift large shrubs such as osmanthus and Prunus lusitanica. You’ll open up lots of space for a range of choice shade-loving plants beneath them. Don’t be afraid to split up large beds and borders by using paths. A curving bark path will sit easily amid planting and makes maintenance much easier. Use large…

In general, British people like to cheer on the underdog, so it’s odd that so many gardeners dismiss certain shrubs that are, admittedly, less showy or attention-grabbing than others. Take cotoneaster, for example. If ever there was a plant tarred by the epithet ‘car park shrub’, it’s this humble yet hard-working shrub. But it has so much to offer in the garden, including tremendous benefits for wildlife, and colourful interest across the seasons. Arguably one of the best ones for gardens is Cotoneaster horizontalis. Yes, you’ll often see this low-growing species dutifully covering the ground in those kerbed areas of planting between parking bays, but use it with a bit more creativity and it can be a delight. In spring, small white flowers adored by bees are produced along branches…

“A large part of the joy of growing bulbs is the anticipation. You can have at least three weeks of foliage when you don’t mind that they’re not flowering yet,” says Angel. In borders, aim for variation in shape and texture as well as colour. With this in mind, she suggests crown imperials (Fritillaria imperialis) for drama, and tulips in different hues for a border full of jewel colours from March to May. Think also about perennial foliage that will be emerging at the same time as the spring bulbs and plant for contrast. Angel proposes Heuchera ‘Lime Rickey’, Thalictrum rochebrunianum, Euphorbia amygdaloides ‘Purpurea’ and Geum ‘Mai Tai’ as good spring companions. Put all the bulbs apart from the crown imperials into a wheelbarrow. Add a small jar of hot…

“If you want a flower meadow, a bulb meadow is good because you don’t need to worry about soil fertility,” explains Lady Ursula Chomeley, who conceived the compelling bulb planting in the Cedar Meadow at Easton Walled Gardens in Lincolnshire. It began simply, with aconites under trees and snowdrops in the turf. To these were added Narcissus ‘WP Milner’, ‘Actaea’ and ‘Pheasant’s Eye’. In time she included smaller ‘Tête-à-tête’ and ‘Snow Baby’, which flower between snowdrops and the first flush of larger daffodils. Across the quarter-acre meadow, narcissus are planted in swathes of roughly 10m x 3m. Blues are provided by scilla and Crocus tommasinianus. For tulips, Ursula is a fan of ‘Apeldoorn Elite’: “We use this every year; they’re cheap, cheery and they don’t confuse the eye,” she explains.…

Sometimes, the only option is a fence or wall. But if there’s ever the chance to plant a hedge instead, take it. Hedges have to be the most multifunctional, versatile and useful planted features you can include in a garden. At their simplest, they make a verdant boundary around a perimeter, but beyond that they can fulfil all manner of purposes: a home for wildlife, a design device, a chance to clip creatively or even grow food. In a small garden, opting to plant a hedge for a boundary, alongside or instead of a fence, might seem an excessive use of the space available. Clearly a fence will take up far less space. But most plants suitable for hedging can be pruned to constrain the hedge at a modest size…

Early autumn is a great time to make some improvements in the garden. Chances are you will have been taking stock over the summer and if not making written notes, mental ones at least. Even if you haven’t, most plants bar spring bulbs are still in evidence and can be assessed now. Herbaceous plants may be dying back, but you can still see the extent of their coverage and, with a little imagination perhaps, their height and presence at their peak. As deciduous leaves colour and fall, there is a sense of something loved being dismantled. If we make dramatic interventions, we will merely add temporary upheaval to what is already a rapidly changing scene. The weather too is likely to be on our side: not too hot for the…

There’s something rather satisfying about foraging through hedgerows in search of seasonal sloes, rose hips, wild apples, hawthorn and blackberries. Autumn’s ripened berries are bursting with high levels of vitamin C and antioxidants and can be used to create naturally flavoured gins, jellies, chutney and jam – all for free. Forage responsibly, taking no more than you plan to consume, and wear stout boots and protective gloves to guard against vicious thorns and fruit-dyed fingers. Take secateurs to snip a few stems to use in arrangements and table decorations. SLOES Sloes are not to be rushed. For best results let them ripen on the bough and linger in the gin jar. Britain’s native blackthorn, Prunus spinosa, is prolific in our hedgerows and easily identified, bearing clouds of white spring blossom…

Would you consider this book to be a retrospective of John Brookes’ work? People keep asking me this, but John would never want people to look back at his work. He would say: ‘don’t ask me what I did then, ask me what I’m doing now’. He was the first designer to show a garden on Main Avenue at Chelsea, in 1962, aged 29. It was a garden associated with a townhouse and one of his first rooms outside. What he really wanted to talk about is what we’re doing now with design, where we’re going next, and where our responsibilities to the land, to the homeowner and to our environment lie. One of the reasons I wanted to put this book together was that so much of what he…

The journey of discovery in my new garden continues, with lots of surprises coming in the form of paths hidden by thickets of brambles and huge tree stumps revealed in my efforts to cut back overgrown ‘borders’ (I use the term loosely). There’s a lot of work ahead, and I was starting to feel just a little overwhelmed until I read Jim Cable’s feature on why autumn is the best time both to plan and plant (page 105). It provided just the impetus I needed to grab my spade – although at the moment the tool getting the most use is a heavy-duty mattock – and get back at it. I’ve rashly ordered bulbs and bare-root roses to incentivise my labours – now there’s a deadline! In the meantime, the…

DAHLIA ‘BISHOP OF AUCKLAND’ Single flowers with petals of crimson velvet above dark foliage and stems. DAPHNE ‘ETERNAL FRAGRANCE’ This superb daphne produces its scented blooms from April to October. ACONITUM CARMICHAELII ‘KELMSCOTT’ Tall spires of deep purple-blue hooded flowers reach between 1.2 and 1.8m. CANNA ‘BETHANY’ Tender cannas need winter protection, but this variety’s bold flowers and gold striped leaves are worth the effort. DAHLIA ‘GLORIE VAN HEEMSTEDE’ Waterlily flowers in clear, luminous yellow from midsummer onwards. ASARINA ‘SNOW WHITE’ Grow this half-hardy annual climber from seed sown under cover in spring; you may see it sold as lophospermum. COSMOS ‘PURITY’ This popular cosmos brings a welcome freshness to autumn’s rich tones, with its delicate…

A half-hour’s drive from Edinburgh, just outside the pretty village of Gifford, lies a remarkable garden, built around a historic farm steading. It occupies a particularly bucolic spot, located at the end of a long track and bordered to the east by beech woods, which in autumn turn glorious shades of yellow, orange and russet. These rich colours are echoed in the buildings themselves – a courtyard of old converted outbuildings built from weathered stone and mellow pantiles, with windows and gates painted in traditional hues of red iron oxide and deep forest green, and render enlivened by cheerful ochre limewash. Even on the chilliest of autumn days, the place seems to exude warmth, which comes both from the abundant planting and the many signs that it’s a well-loved family…

One of the best things about grasses is the lightness they bring to a planting scheme – an airy, breezy, swishy quality that works so well with mounds of late summer- and early autumn-flowering perennials. Out of all the grasses you can plant to obtain this effect, panicum is one of the lightest and airiest of all. These versatile grasses range in size, the smallest coming in at under one metre, the largest reaching two metres tall. But even at its tallest, panicum still manages to look delicate thanks to its slender leaves and feathery, transparent flowers. Its weightless appearance also makes it easy to integrate into planting, helping it weave effortlessly with any number of potential bedfellows. For proof of panicum’s many virtues, head to Sussex Prairie Garden, near…

Dolly tubs, the galvanised Victorian wash tubs now widely used as containers, make a striking focal point and will take 100 to 200 bulbs each. Arthur plants his tubs up using the ‘lasagne’ technique. For this, he positions late-flowering bulbs at the bottom of the container and early-flowering bulbs on top. “All my pots are planted up like this, with three layers of different bulbs. It’s a really efficient method of getting lots of different bulbs into your garden,” he explains. For each dolly tub, or similar-sized container of around 50cm tall and 40cm across, Arthur recommends using 40 tulips, 15-30 hyacinths, 50 crocuses and 50 irises, which will flower from February into late May. Scale the numbers down if you’re using smaller pots, or scale up for a large…

Avon Bulbs Supplier of a wide range of bulbs, including unusual species such as disporum, cypripedium and ixiolirion. Tel: 01460 249060; avonbulbs.co.uk Bloms Bulbs Long-standing and award-winning supplier of top-quality bulbs. Tel: 01234 709099; bloms.co.uk Broadleigh Bulbs A leading propagator and provider of small bulbs. Tel: 01622 845990; broadleighbulbs.co.uk Dutch Grown Dutch company established in 1882 and now run by brothers Ben and Pete. dutchgrown.co.uk Farmer Gracy A good selection of regular bulbs as well as some more unusual varieties. Tel: 0330 8087304; farmergracy.co.uk J Parkers Good for larger and wholesale orders of popular bulbs. Tel: 0161 8481100; jparkers.co.uk Peter Nyssen Well-established supplier of crowd-pleasing varieties, with economies of scale. Tel: 0161 7474000; peternyssen.com Pottertons Nursery Specialists in dwarf bulbs, based in the North East. Tel: 01472 851714; pottertons.co.uk Sarah…

Glebe Farm Hedging Established in 1999, this wholesale and mail-order nursery grows and supplies bare-root hedging, native mixes, pot-grown hedging plants and instant mature hedges. Tel: 01206 323200; glebefarmhedging.co.uk @Hedgelover_ Follow this Instagram account for extremely satisfying videos of artful hedge and topiary pruning, plus hedging examples to inspire. Hedging UK Specialist growers of hedging plants at keen prices, available through mail order. Tel: 01704 827224; hedginguk.com Hopes Grove Nurseries Bare-root, potted and instant hedging are all stocked at this Kent nursery, which also delivers by mail order. Tel: 01580 765600; hopesgrovenurseries.co.uk Instant Hedges A good range of large hedging blocks, including hornbeam, beech, yew and thuja, plus troughs of ready-grown hedges including a native hedge mix. Tel: 01296 399585; instanthedges.co.uk Niwaki A large selection of razor-sharp Japanese shears and…

Residents of the UK, young and old alike, are being invited to ‘Plant a tree for the Jubilee’ this autumn as part of a huge project to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022. The Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC) is an initiative that aims to help the environment by planting trees sustainably and, in doing so, create a lasting legacy in honour of The Queen’s leadership of the nation over the past 70 years. The Queen and The Prince of Wales planted the first Jubilee tree, a Verdun oak, in the grounds of Windsor Castle earlier this year. Verdun oaks were first planted in the UK as memorials, following World War I, with acorns collected at the battlefield of Verdun. As Patron of the QGC, The Prince of Wales describes…

There are many single-track roads edged with mossy stone walls in Cumbria. But between Kirkby Lonsdale and Kendal, not far from the River Lune as it wends its way towards Lancaster, one route in particular leads to the workshop of wildlife sculptor Andrew Kay. The beauty of the region has long been celebrated. William Turner and John Ruskin immortalised the Lune valley at Kirkby Lonsdale in paintings and words, with Ruskin describing it as ‘one of the loveliest scenes in England’. Even today, the observant visitor, rounding moorland hills spangled with black-faced Swaledale sheep, may spot a red deer emerging from a distant wood, or note a buzzard gliding overhead, its wings moving minutely as it scans the ground for prey. At dusk, wild geese might honk, or a passing…

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 TEG2021). Tel: 01704 827224 or 07789 922457sales@hedginguk.com | www.hedginguk.comBoundary House Farm, Holmeswood Road, Holmeswood, Lancashire L40 1UA DAISY CLOUGH NURSERIES LTD A busy nursery in rural Lancashire, Daisy Clough specialises in a carefully selected range of over 700 perennials and grasses. Open seven days a week, the nursery also offers a good selection of shrubs, trees, container plants and fruit. Plenty of homegrown vegetable plants are available through spring and summer. A full plant list is available to view on our website. Our…

Raymond Evison The nurseryman and passionate plant hunter breeds clematis at his Guernsey nursery and is exhibiting at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show I left school at 15, after my headmaster said: “Evison, staying on is a waste of time.” My father was manager of what was then Treasures of Tenbury, a nursery with a four-acre garden at Burford House. I began edging the lawn there, which let me observe plants at different times of the year. Plantsman Percy Picton got me excited about clematis. He invited me to join him at Chelsea when I was a teenager, and after the show he would tell me about his work at Gravetye Manor and the clematis hybrids coming in from France. Slowly, I took over clematis at Treasures, and by 23…

PRUNE & order fruit trees We will soon be pruning the fruit trees in the orchard at Iford Manor. It was the last day of September when we harvested the apples to be used in the making of our Iford Cider, and by now most of the leaves have dropped. This is also a good time to think about ordering new fruit trees for winter planting. Buy them as no more than a single stem, called a whip. Plant your young fruit whip in its permanent position as soon as you can after delivery or collection. If you are unable to do this, you can keep it in a cold but frost-free garage for a short period – remember that you shouldn’t plant when the soil is frozen or waterlogged.…

ALL PRICES ARE CORRECT AT TIME OF GOING TO PRESS.…

In February 2020, Andy Karavics took up the post of head gardener at Scampston Hall in North Yorkshire, where the Walled Garden is famed for perennial planting conceived by Piet Oudolf. Open to the public since 2005, the Walled Garden is in fact Oudolf’s largest commission in the UK. “Being around 20 years old, the planting isn’t as sharp as it used to be, so we started on a regeneration project last autumn,” explains Andy, who had previously worked at Sledmere House and Gardens. Key to the planting at Scampston is a mixture of shapes and textures that offer interest through the seasons, and here Andy selects ten plants that do a sterling job of fulfilling that brief. Scampston Walled Garden, Malton, North Yorkshire YO17 8NG. Tel: 01944 759111; scampston.co.uk…

When it comes to soil panicum don’t need anything special. Ours grow in ordinary garden soil – heavy clay improved with mulch and green waste – and they’re really happy. I suspect they probably wouldn’t grow quite as big on very sandy soil. Panicum prefer sun but you can get away with growing them in partial shade. At Le Jardin Plume in Normandy, there’s an acre of them growing under apple trees, which looks amazing. They’re really easy and we’ve never seen a pest or disease on them. They’re also well-behaved and don’t self-seed, apart from the annual ones. In the new year, normally around February or March, cut back or rake up all the old growth. You can use secateurs or just snap off the stems in your hands.…

Crocus Online garden shop offering containers in a wide selection of styles and materials. Tel: 01344 578000; crocus.co.uk Frome Reclamation Reclaimed Victorian coppers, clay pots and stone troughs. Tel: 01373 463919; fromerec.co.uk Garden Trading Timeless, practical designs for home and garden. Tel: 01993 845559; gardentrading.co.uk Lorfords Antiques Antique troughs, vats, urns and planters. Tel: 01666 505111; lorfordsantiques.com Nkuku Small- to medium containers, mainly in terracotta and brass. Tel: 0333 2400155; nkuku.com Violet Grey A handpicked collection of rare antique pots and planters in the French style. Tel: 01392 348318; violetgrey.co.uk Whichford Traditional terracotta planters that are handmade in Warwickshire. Tel: 01608 684416; whichfordpottery.com…

Planting Autumn and winter are the seasons to plant bare-root hedging. Get bare roots in the ground as soon as you can after plants arrive, but if the ground is wet or frozen, they can be temporarily heeled into compost to keep the roots moist while you wait for better conditions. Container-grown plants, or mature hedging that comes in troughs or bags, are also best planted in autumn and winter. They can go in the ground at other times, but closer attention will need to be paid to watering if they are planted in hotter, drier months. Prepare the ground in advance by removing any grass and weeds from the strip where the hedge is going. Dig a trench ready for the hedging plants – the soil mark on their…

The Eighth Wonder of the World: Exbury Gardens and the Rothschilds by Lionel de Rothschild and Francesca Murray Rowlins, Exbury Gardens, £30 Some 24,000 plants are recorded as growing at the Exbury Gardens, situated on the banks of the Beaulieu river in Hampshire. Of these, 13,000 are rhododendrons, a figure that points to the rich, 100-year-old history of this property, recorded here by Francesca Murray Rowlins, garden writer and historian, and Lionel de Rothschild, chairman of the Exbury Gardens Trust and grandson of Lionel Nathan de Rothschild (1882-1942), who bought Exbury in 1919. Gardening was in the blood of Lionel Nathan de Rothschild, who described himself as a “banker by hobby but a gardener by profession”. He, his wife Mariloo, and a constellation of gardeners, breeders and plant-hunter-explorers passionately developed…

How can we forget Ludwig Bemelman’s opening to the stories of Madeline? “In an old house in Paris that was covered in vines, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines …” We can imagine the elegant house draped in glossy Virginia creeper and we are drawn to its lush, settled feel. The idea of clothing a building with climbing plants is age old, but if you are starting afresh, it is worth considering the best climbers for your situation. I had a garden design assignment recently for an extension to an architecturally important 1950s house that had to be speedily hidden by planting to gain planning permission. So what are the best climbing plants to quickly soften a wall? Which Virginia creeper to use if you don’t want to…