Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2021 i The English Garden

Widget Finn Widget is a business journalist and garden writer. She recently downsized from a two-acre garden and is enjoying the challenge of gardening in miniature. She visits Feeringbury Manor on page 48. Bennet Smith Bennet divides his time between managing the Marianne Majerus Photo Library and garden photography, through which he aims to share his love of plants with others. His photos of Eagleswood are on page 59. Annaïck Guitteny Annaïck travels the UK and Europe – especially her home country of France – to photograph gardens and plants, and she also works on personal projects. Her images of autumn camellias appear on page 83.…

RHS Rosemoor Devon I’ve been involved with this garden’s design and planting since it was a bare field. It’s superb in every season, with magnificent plant collections. It’s the best big garden in the UK. Tel: 01805 624067; rhs.org.uk University of Bristol Botanic Garden Bristol I became a member of the botanic garden in 1972. Enjoy trails that explore plant evolution, big greenhouses and a sizeable collection of Mediterranean plants. Tel: 0117 4282041; botanic-garden.bristol.ac.uk…

NERINE BOWDENII Bubblegum-pink flowers are produced by this autumn-flowering bulb, which enjoys a sunny, sheltered spot. HYDRANGEA ‘ANNABELLE’ H. arborescens ‘Annabelle’ often produces its huge flowerheads into October. ACONITUM ‘ARENDSII’ Spires of hooded blue-purple flowers on this A. carmichaelii cultivar that reaches 1.5m tall. KIRENGESHOMA PALMATA A choice perennial for light shade, with pale yellow, shuttlecock-shaped flowers. ASTER ‘ ANDENKEN AN ALMA PÖTSCHKE’ This New England aster (now symphyotrichon) flowers vibrantly throughout autumn. HELIANTHUS ‘LEMON QUEEN’ Masses of yellow daisy flowers brighten up borders from August to autumn. 2m tall.…

ACER PSEUDOSIEBOLDIANUM The false Siebold’s maple bears sharply toothed, lobed leaves that take on fiery hues. ACER MICRANTHUM The small-leaved maple has green foliage that turns orange, gold and red, with interesting bark as it ages. ACER PALMATUM VAR. MATSUMURAE This Japanese maple has green foliage that turns to lovely shades of gold. ACER SIEBOLDIANUM Siebold’s maple has velvety mid-green foliage that turns gold, pink and then crimson. ACER PALMATUM ‘GINKO-SAN’ A small Japanese maple that offers bright pink foliage in spring and autumn. ACER CISSIFOLIUM The ivy-leaved maple has small, dark green, serrated-edged leaves that take on red and gold hues in autumn.…

“We have many trees and shrubs that contribute to the autumn show but the following are the most impressive,” says Mike. “The colour of the leaves lasts until December, then you can keep the colour going with remaining fruit and then with the stems of cornus and salix.” SEPTEMBER Parrotia persica Acer japonica ‘Vitifolium’ Cercidiphyllum japonicum Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Diane’ MID-OCTOBER Acer palmatum cultivars Cornus kousa ‘Miss Satomi’ Nyssa sylvatica Sorbus alnifolia Enkianthus chinensis Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Pallida’ MID-NOVEMBER Sorbus sargentiana Acer davidii Acer rubrum ‘October Glory’ Quercus palustris Quercus coccinea…

Our native rowan or mountain ash, Sorbus aucuparia, comes into its own at this time of year. A tidy subject for both urban streets and gardens great and small, it is fairly inconspicuous throughout summer, with neat, pinnate leaves, but in autumn it is resplendent in its seasonal finery. Orange-red berries arrive first, followed by fiery, burnished leaves that glow in low sun and make a great counterpoint to heavy autumn and winter skies. Perhaps it is a fitting plant for this time of year when Halloween and All Souls Day loom large. In folklore, S. aucuparia was grown to ward off witches and prevent the dead from rising from their graves. The berries remain in place long after the leaves fall. Sorbus aria, the common whitebeam, is another indigenous…

These days few gardeners put their garden ‘to bed’ for winter, as was common in the past. Milder winter weather, year-round planting, and the fact that many of us enjoy being outdoors during the colder months, mean we no longer batten down the hatches in autumn, retreat indoors, and emerge again in spring. Still, as autumn turns into winter, some things do need doing to get the garden ready. This quieter time of year is also a good opportunity to take stock, get organised and catch up on those jobs that get put off during busier times, plus any outstanding repairs. In many gardens that open to the public over spring and summer, closing the gates to visitors at the end of the autumn means there’s time to tackle larger…

Carbon Gold Suppliers of Soil Association-approved organic biochar. Tel: 0117 244 0032; carbongold.com Charles Dowding Books, courses and workshops on all aspects of soil-conscious no-dig gardening, held in Somerset and online. charlesdowding.co.uk Dalefoot Composts Peat-free, premium organic composts using sustainable sources of wool and bracken. The range includes Lakeland Gold, which makes a good ‘clay-busting’ mulch. Tel: 01931 713281; dalefootcomposts.co.uk Garden Organic Support and information on all aspects of organic garden and soil health, with a demonstration garden near Coventry. Tel: 024 7630 3517; gardenorganic.org.uk Melcourt Makers of professional favourite peat-free SylvaGrow composts, such as SylvaGrow Farmyard, an organic matter-rich soil improver. Find stockists at melcourt.co.uk Pro-Grow Soil Association-certified organic soil conditioner made from green waste compost collected through household recycling and sold by the bag or in bulk. pro-grow.com…

‘We grow the kinds of roses which we like and which our customers like to buy, romantic, scented pillows of bloom mostly in pink, apricot, cream and plum.’ Behind the high brick walls of the old kitchen garden at Stokesay Court, Shropshire, Victoria and Barney Martin grow unashamedly old-fashioned roses and cottage garden flowers, which they supply to a starry list of professional florists. The florists come mostly for the roses and know the range is unsurpassed for its gentle colours and celebration of scent and form. One or two surprise stems of Rosa ‘Phyllis Bide’ with its ‘informal …ruffled blooms’ included in an order will not fail to add a subtle lift to a bridal bouquet. Victoria Martin has now written an intoxicating book, Favourite Roses for Cutting, sharing…

I have been thinking about soil a lot recently, namely, whether I should create areas for planting in my new garden using the no-dig technique. My default, old-school method would be to dig borders, but the idea of having fewer weeds to deal with is very appealing, and it would also be an excellent way to recycle packing boxes from the move (you lay cardboard on the ground and then cover it with heaps of compost). On page 97, Sue Bradley explores no-dig and other ways we can look after our soil, boost its health and make our gardening more climate-friendly: a win-win situation for everyone. It’s all made me quite envious of the autumnal gardens in this issue, with their well-established planting looking so beautiful as leaves on trees…

• Order bare-root fruit trees and bushes now; late autumn and winter is the ideal time of year to plant them. • Plant out winter bedding such as pansies and violas, heathers and cyclamen for colour in the garden over the coming season. • Lift dahlia tubers, begonias and gladiolus corms to store in a frost-free shed over the winter months. • In the vegetable garden, sow overwintering broad beans and peas outside, and net all brassicas if you haven’t done so already, to keep hungry birds away…

COTINUS ‘ROYAL PURPLE’ Purple leaves turn blood-red in autumn, and look wonderful backlit by the sun. KNIPHOFIA ‘TAWNY KING’ Cream pokers rise from mounds of strappy leaves, darkening as they age. MISCANTHUS ‘KLEINE FONTÄNE’ Long-lasting silky seedheads make this imposing 1.5m grass an enduring presence. ACTAEA ‘ WHITE PEARL’ An elegant late perennial with white bottle-brush flowers, which thrives in moist shade. LEUCANTHEMELLA SEROTINA Fresh white daisy flowers late into autumn on this large perennial, reaching 1.8m. MORINA LONGIFOLIA This prickly perennial bears spires of flowers that turn pink as they are pollinated.…

I call our soil ‘improved sandy loam’. It’s slightly acid and has been gardened for a long time. When we were putting back the topsoil in the burn garden, we conditioned it with Remin volcanic rock dust (reminscotland.com), and we use mulch liberally to help the soil retain its moisture. In the Burn Garden, Gavin Dallmeyer put in a load of stones at a spot by the path where he wanted to create a calm, plant-free space for people to stop and have a breather. It works. The Hardy Plant Society’s seed scheme is brilliant (available to HPS members, sign up at www.hardy-plant.org.uk hardy-plant.org.uk). I am especially glad to have acquired a lot of different hardy geraniums, such as Geranium robustum, which grows on the bank below the house. Even if…

When Sonia and Giles Coode-Adams moved to 15th-century Feeringbury Manor in 1978, the garden, according to Sonia, was a jungle: “There was nothing but brambles and rubbish and a rose bed at the top of the garden full of ground elder.” Undaunted, they set about creating a garden for all seasons, with jewel-like plantings of bulbs in spring, bold herbaceous summer beds and an arboretum that comes into its own in autumn. “Perhaps we should have worked out our ideas on paper and measured it all up at the start,” suggests Sonia, a former garden designer. “But while we were weeding a bed one day we thought that maybe a hedge would look nice here, and that’s how the garden grew – organically.” The ten-acre site is mainly south facing…

Briza maxima and other annual grasses such as Hordeum jubatum and Panicum ‘Frosted Explosion’ have beautiful light-catching flowerheads that dry brilliantly for autumn displays. Sow seed in mid-spring. Scabiosa stellata ‘Sternkugel’ bears palest mauve-blue summer flowers that change into papery spherical seedheads by autumn, when they can be picked and used fresh or left to dry. Nigella, or love-in-a-mist, is a familiar annual with its spidery blue flowers followed by puffed-up seedpods. Ring the changes by trying Nigella orientalis ‘Transformer’, which has yellow blooms. Opium poppies, varieties of Papaver somniferum, are easy to grow and are best sown directly onto the soil where you’d like them to flower. The ruffled blooms are followed by robust, plump seedheads in a pepper-pot shape. Wild carrot, Daucus carota, bears insect-attracting white umbellifer flowers…

Camellias are indelibly associated with spring, when in gardens across the country plump buds open into exquisite pink, red and white flowers among these shrubs’ glossy green leaves. The flowers are almost unreal in their perfection: layer on layer of petals flawlessly arranged, conjuring thoughts of the parts of the world camellias originated from: Japan, China and other countries in eastern and southern Asia. Yet these are not the easiest shrubs to grow. They prefer acid soil and all it takes is one ill-timed hard spring frost for your beautiful camellia to be turned into a mass of sad, brown petals. This is a compelling reason to consider the less widely known and grown autumn and winter-flowering camellias instead. According to Fiona Edmond, owner of Green Island Gardens in Essex,…

Alitex Top-quality, aluminium-frame greenhouses. Tel: 01730 826900; alitex.co.uk Bayliss Autovents A fuss-free way to keep the greenhouse well ventilated, all year round. Tel: 01335 342981; baylissautovents.co.uk Claverton Cloches Cast-iron, Victorian-style cloches. Tel: 07521 467371; clavertoncloches.com Dovetail Greenhouses Robust aluminium-frame greenhouses in a wide range of sizes. Tel: 0121 6731528; dovetailgreenhouses.co.uk Gabriel Ash A range of wooden, RHSendorsed greenhouses. Tel: 01242 662926; gabrielash.com The Greenhouse People Greenhouses in every style, plus accessories. Tel: 01782 385400; greenhousepeople.co.uk Hartley Botanic Premium aluminium-frame greenhouses in contemporary and traditional styles. Tel: 01457 819155; hartley-botanic.co.uk Keder Greenhouse Cost-effective polythene greenhouses, ideal for overwintering. Tel: 01386 49094; kedergreenhouse.co.uk Pure Greenhouses Modern frameless greenhouses. Tel: 0333 200 5833; puregreenhouse.co.uk White Cottage Greenhouses Traditional wooden greenhouses made using durable accoya. Tel: 01270 753826; whitecottage.co.uk Woodpecker Joinery Quality cedar greenhouses…

The Star-Nosed Mole by Isabel Bannerman Pimpernel Press, £20 Following the success of Scent Magic, a lyrical foray into the world of garden scents published in 2019, Isabel Bannerman presents an anthology of writing on the same topic. The garden designer and writer would have us appreciate that scent is life – and that it profoundly influences how we live. The very act of inhaling a scent involves absorbing its molecules, she points out, which is a romantic thought in some instances, less so in others. The book takes its name from the star-nosed mole, which has an acutely developed sense of smell, despite a life spent underground. Like perfumiers selecting notes for a signature creation, Isabel and her researcher, Violet Hudson, have collated a host of literary snippets here.…

Christine Skelmersdale The owner of specialist nursery Broadleigh Bulbs is a photographer, writer and RHS consultant – but a passionate teacher first and foremost I trained to be a geography teacher, intending to follow my family into tertiary education, but married a horticulturist – so my life took a dramatic turn! In 2002 I was made an honorary fellow at Lancaster University and, in the speech I gave, I explained that my curious life has resulted in me teaching the parents of students rather than students themselves! I still think of myself as a teacher, whether I’m lecturing on plants or gardening, writing a book or an article, or showing off plants in my photography or at flower shows. For 12 years I advised on the garden at Rosemoor and…

Prune OLD ROSES When we refer to ‘old roses’, we mean all those that were bred before 1867 when the first Hybrid Tea, ‘La France’ appeared. They are divided up into several groups: Centifolias, Albas, Gallicas, Mosses, Damasks and Bourbons. We can also include more modern roses in the same category in so far as pruning is concerned. These include the Hybrid Musks, a group of roses bred in the 1920s and invaluable for their health, vigour, free flowering and scent, and the Hybrid Perpetuals, a fusion between the Bourbons and almost any other parent that came along. Unlike modern roses, unless judicious and skilled winter pruning is carried out, the blooms of all these old roses will be few and fleeting. The technique involves pulling the long supple wands…

It is Collingwood ‘Cherry’ Ingram who inspired much of Mike Darvill’s approach to gardening at Eagleswood, high on the Kent Downs. Cherry, a plant collector born in 1880 and renowned for his contribution to the survival of Japanese cherry species in their home country, was an avid gardener until his death in 1981. One day, a mutual friend of Cherry and Mike visited the plant collector at his home and found the elderly man sowing rhododendron seed, knowing it was unlikely he would live to see the specimens mature. “He took this view that you should forget your age and just do all the things you enjoy doing because they may very well become successful, and then you’ll be glad you did them,” explains Mike, now 83. “I thought that…

Set within Windsor Great Park, the Savill Garden covers 35 acres of interconnected spaces. The keeper of the gardens is John Anderson, who, in addition to the Savill Garden, has responsibility for Her Majesty’s private garden at Frogmore and the 250-acre Valley Gardens. He is a member of the RHS Woody Plant Committee, and in 2020 was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal by the RHS for his contributions to the advancement of science and practice of horticulture. At this time of year the Savill Garden is filled with autumn colour, plenty of it coming from shrubs that bear autumn berries. Here John suggests ten good varieties to try. The Savill Garden, Wick Lane, Englefield Green, Egham, Surrey TW20 0UJ. Tel: 01753 860222; windsorgreatpark.co.uk 1 Sarcococca confusa The sweet scent…

Textbooks say you should grow autumn camellias only in a sheltered spot, but Fiona says the common varieties you’ll find offered for sale tend to be the hardiest, and those in her garden have come through two winters when temperatures have dropped as low as -15°C. The most important thing for these shrubs is consistent moisture content in the soil, which should be moist but well-drained. It’s especially important that they don’t run out of water around July and August, because that’s when the flower buds form. Autumn-flowering camellias are happy growing in sun or shade, but Fiona says they flower much better if they have sun, and grows hers on the edges of her woodland plantings to ensure they get enough. In containers, Fiona doesn’t use ericaceous (acid) compost,…

Soil is the Cinderella of the garden: the quietly hard-working foundation for healthy plants and a weapon in the battle against climate change. This complex blend of minerals, humus, living organisms, gas and water has always been with us, yet we still have much to learn about what goes on beneath its surface and how best to look after it. Campaigners are calling for greater attention to be paid to soil health, with the government urged to consider it a national priority alongside clean air and water. Campaigners point to research that states the UK has lost 84% of its fertile topsoil since 1850, with what remains being destroyed at ten times the rate it is created. This not only affects gardeners and farmers, but also has an impact on…

Describe an early encounter with plants that played a part in setting you on your course. Every photograph of me as a child was taken in a garden. The earliest is one of me eating soil and gravel out of an 1980s concrete garden urn, then sitting on the lions at RHS Wisley, then harvesting raspberries in a fruit cage. I am very lucky to have spent my life in and around gardens – I suppose it’s only a surprise that I had to go through being a psychologist for so long before I came back to them. Grow and Gather is written in the form of a diary. What has keeping a journal brought to your garden practice? Everything. I am terrible for getting caught up in the rush…