Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2022 i The English Garden

Matt Rees-Warren Matt is a Somerset-based head gardener and author. His articles appear in national and international publications and his book, The Ecological Gardener, is out now. He visits a Wiltshire mill on page 56. Naomi Slade Naomi is a journalist and author specialising in gardening and the environment. Her newest book, Lilies (Pavilion) is available at naomislade.com. She chats to Joe Sharman about his arums on page 81. Carol Smith Carol is a writer, author and award-winning designer, with a passion for creating sustainable gardens and inspiring her clients. She talks about a visual approach to creating the winter garden on page 87.…

Queen Mary’s Garden London This rose garden in the heart of Regent’s Park is beautifully maintained by the Royal Parks team and is a pleasure to be in. The garden features a good variety of roses too. Tel: 0300 0612300; royalparks.org.uk Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park Northern Ireland Beautiful undulating parkland surrounds the City of Belfast International Rose Garden, where you can see roses being trialled, a walled garden and a Japanese-style garden. Tel: 028 9032 0202; belfastcity.gov.uk…

• Give apple and pear trees a winter prune. The aim is to remove about 10-20% of the tree’s oldest wood each winter. • Start the new year with a tidy greenhouse. Wash pots, clean the glass, scrub labels and sweep away debris so it’s ready for spring. • Put your Christmas tree through the shredder and use the results as a mulch for ericaceous plants, such as azaleas or blueberries. • Keep feeding birds when the weather is cold, and check they have plenty of water. • Continue to plant bareroot shrubs, roses and trees, provided the soil isn’t frozen or badly waterlogged. • Start forcing an established clump of rhubarb for an early, succulent crop.…

Packing a fragrant punch that belies the size of their tiny, inconspicuous flowers, these evergreen shrubs deliver an elegant look throughout the year. Also known as ‘sweet’, ‘winter’ or ‘Christmas’ box, sarcococca have small leathery leaves, and their clusters of aromatic flowers appear in winter or early spring. Not only will they delight passers by, they will also provide bumblebees and solitary bees with a dependable source of nectar at a time of year when it is generally scarce. From late summer onwards they develop glossy red, purple, or black berries that will often remain on the plant until the following winter. Sarcococca are perfect for creating gorgeous and fragrant winter displays in shaded areas of the garden. To make the most of their delicious scent, consider planting them close…

We need our winter gardens to be just as beautiful as summer gardens – and they can be. Wow-factor may be lacking in many gardens over winter, but never is it more appreciated than during these gloomy months. All too often cold weather, rain, lacklustre planting and bare soil discourage us from venturing outdoors, and we gaze out of the window at a blank space, yearning for the yellows, blues, and purples of spring bulbs as they proclaim the onset of a new gardening year. Just like us, gardens need to stay in shape over the winter months. Once the glorious kaleidoscope of summer colour has died down and the garden has settled into its off-season slumber, what shape remains in the garden in for winter appeal? Perhaps a couple…

Now that the world is gradually opening up again, opportunities for travel are burgeoning. If 2022 is the year you hope to book a memorable getaway, our guide to botanical holidays and garden tours could tempt you away from these shores. And if you’d rather stay at home for now, we’ve rounded up a selection of UK-based breaks for garden lovers as well. ACTIVITY HOLIDAYS Having spent the long months of the pandemic cooped up, feeling less active and doing less than normal, many of us want a little bit extra from our holidays than we did before. Lots of us took up a new hobby during 2020 and 2021, or rediscovered an old one, and a holiday incorporating a new pastime could be just the thing to improve those…

Light Rains Sometimes Fall by Lev Parikian Elliott & Thompson, £14.99 Gardeners, ever attuned to the weather, would probably agree that our four seasons, spring, summer, autumn and winter, are something of a blunt instrument when it comes to categorising the climatic year. Even that old idiom about the month of March – in like a lion, out like a lamb – points to the scope and complexity of our seasons. And now, with drier springs, damper summers and later frosts, established classifications often fall wide of the mark. In his new book, nature writer, birdwatcher and conductor Lev Parikian turns his thoughts to the 72 micro-seasons of the Japanese calendar, each lasting no longer than five or six days, and presents a British alternative based on the weather and…

We thought we’d kick off the new year with style, and bring you a selection of gardens that have been designed by some of the country’s top designers. We visit Tom Stuart-Smith’s own garden, The Barn in Hertfordshire; a watery Wiltshire millside garden designed by Arne Maynard; Urchfont Manor, recently landscaped by Del Buono Gazerwitz; garden designer Alasdair Cameron’s home garden at Silver Street Farm; and lastly, Holm House in Suffolk, part of which was originally designed by Janey Auchincloss. On top of that, there’s expert advice on planting design with Carol Smith’s simple approach to creating more winter interest in your garden by using different plant shapes. So lots of inspiration if you’ve earmarked 2022 as the year your garden gets a stylish transformation! If that sounds a bit…

Melancholy: A New Anatomy at the Bodleian Libraries Until 20 March, Oxford Objects from the Bodleian’s collection are used to explore mental health therapies over the 400 years since the publication of Robert Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy. The display shows how Burton’s book anticipated modern research into the impact of green spaces on wellbeing, along with factors such as diet, sleep, faith and exercise. Coordinate your visit with a trip to the Oxford Botanic Garden, which is also celebrating its 400th anniversary year. bodleian.ox.ac.uk; obga.ox.ac.uk Launch of ‘John Ystumllyn’ Rose Harkness Roses has collaborated with We Too Built Britain, a campaign that tells the stories of underrepresented people in Britain, to launch a new rose named after an ethnic minority gardener from the 18th century. As a child, John Ystumllyn…

VERBENA HASTATA More refined than Verbena bonariensis, V. hastata adds branched, candelabra-like stems of tiny pinkish-purple flowers. SELINUM WALLICHIANUM Alasdair uses this wonderful umbellifer with strong stems and delicate fern-like foliage in almost every border. SALVIA MICROPHYLLA ‘CERRO POTOSÍ’ Vivid magenta flowers through summer and autumn on this aromatic shrub. TITHONIA ROTUNDIFOLIA This annual adds magnificent bright colour and height to a border, making it a fantastic statement plant. KNIPHOFIA UVARIA ‘FLAMENCO’ A stylish red hot poker that flowers from September throughout autumn. PENNISETUM ALOPECUROIDES ‘HAMELN’ Handsome green mounds in summer, with seedheads lasting deep into winter. PERSICARIA AMPLEXICAULIS ‘FIRETAIL’ Flowers from July to September to create a strong block of colour. GAURA LINDHEIMERI This breezy perennial flowers late, adding a lightness…

Gardening for health In a time that brought relentless challenge to so many, the capacity of gardens and gardening to improve health and wellbeing came to the fore. In balconies, parks and private gardens, green spaces have seldom been more appreciated. In GP surgeries, communal gardens offered staff relief from heavy patient loads. At the Chelsea and Westminster hospital in London, Jinny Blom, a former psychologist and psychotherapist, designed the Sky Garden, attached to a new ICU there. And at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, designer Robert Myers presented the Florence Nightingale Garden. Originally planned for 2020, the design took on particular relevance in 2021 and will find a permanent home at London’s St Thomas’ hospital in 2022. Also at the show, Arit Anderson designed the BBC One Show and…

Not many perennials do their thing in the off-season, but as the rest of the garden heads off to bed for winter, arums burst forth. Their fresh, vibrantly green leaves are a familiar sight in hedgerows and woodlands but, despite their evident charms and enormous potential, they are often overlooked in the garden. Native to the UK and Europe, arums are both elegant and dramatic. Their leaves are lush and crisply pointed and, once established, this supremely hardy plant is tolerant of both frost and demanding soil conditions. But a historic disregard for winter gardening, together with a somewhat scurrilous reputation for being invasive, has led to arums being neglected and ignored. Having collected arums for decades, Joe Sharman of Monksilver Nursery has a different perspective. “I realised, early in…

Ilex crenata ‘Carolina Upright’ Dense, upright and bushy with medium-sized glossy leaves, this holly looks like box, and can be clipped to shape. Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Tom Thumb’ Naturally forming globe-shaped bushes of deep maroon-black glossy foliage. Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’ Coppice yearly for shooting firework-like fans of scarlet stems that never fail to brighten up winter gardens. Juniperus chinensis ‘Stricta’ This slow-growing conifer will reach around 1.8m after ten years; its foliage turns bluer as the weather gets colder. Pinus heldreichii ‘Smidtii’ The slow-growing Bosnian pine starts out with a globose form but tends to become more columnar as it ages. Pennisetum ‘Little Bunny’ Fluffy flowerheads on arching stems glow in winter sunlight, while the clumps of strappy foliage dry to beige. Thuja occidentalis ‘Totem Smaragd’ A neat conifer that forms…

How did you come to be at Bressingham? My father, Alan Bloom, was born in 1906 and in 1946 he eventually moved into the nursery business that my grandfather had started – in 2026 we’ll mark its 100th anniversary. I was born in 1940 and I wasn’t really very interested in plants and gardening. When I left school at 18, I would have preferred, perhaps, to go to university, but I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I went abroad for four years instead, spending two of them in the United States where I ended up selling encyclopaedias in San Francisco. In 1962, my father asked me and my brother to come back to Bressingham to help out at the nursery. I was looking for something different because…

Philip Harkness The rose breeder and proprietor of Harkness Roses on the joys of creation and his pride in the company’s early move away from using chemicals The best aspect of my job is the moment when newly bred varieties begin to bloom. Every plant is unique, and it’s special to be the first person in the universe to gaze upon that particular combination of genes. Often the result isn’t particularly wonderful, but I live with great expectations. The hope and excitement always outweighs the disappointments. Rose breeding requires two key skills. First, a good understanding of each plant and the characteristics it will pass on helps when deciding on parent plant combinations. Second, it’s important to keep an open mind that is receptive to desirable qualities beyond personal taste.…

Fresh Start Everything you need to start planning and get organised for the gardening year ahead Little Treats Luxurious winter warmers and pick-me-ups to help you through the cold dark months ahead…

IRIS PSEUDACORUS This vigorous, moisture-loving native iris is the perfect choice for fringing such a large lake and grows in shallow water. ALLIUM ‘AMBASSADOR’ Bold globes of violet-purple May-June flowers are held on sturdy stems. Grow with perennials to hide its fading leaves. ROSA ‘ADÉLAÏDE D’ORLÉANS’ Ruffled palest pink blooms cover the stems of this rose in early summer. EASTERN BLUESTAR Perennial Amsonia tabernaemontana var. salicifolia has powder-blue flowers and slender foliage, thriving in partial shade. PAEONIA LACTIFLORA ‘SARAH BERNHARDT’ Just one of the herbaceous peonies Rebecca grows for cutting. IRIS ‘AMIGO’ Dark purple falls and violet standards offer the perfect contrast to golden beards on this sun-loving iris. AQUILEGIA ‘RUBY PORT’ An elegant granny’s bonnet with richly coloured flowers.…

Tough, perennial, low-growing and often brightly coloured, most alpines originate from mountainous regions but can also be found on sea cliffs and even in woodland. Cliff Booker has been involved in the Alpine Garden Society (AGS) since 1984. A distinguished exhibitor at AGS events, he specialises in growing and showing members of the Ranunculus family, but there is little about this diverse group of plants that doesn’t interest him. He recommends growing alpines in well-drained soil, giving them plenty of room for their roots and keeping them properly watered. Founded in 1929, the AGS is a registered charity promoting an interest in alpines and the conservation of their habitats. It is one of the largest specialist plant charities in the world and welcomes new members. For more information visit alpinegardensociety.net…

Arums are adapted for growing under deciduous trees such as oak and beech, so pick a site with dappled light, enrich the soil with leafmould when planting, and mulch well. Joe says good woodland soil is ideal, but once arums are established, they are not fussy. Planting depth is unimportant because arums will move themselves to their preferred level. As the plant gets bigger, the oldest section rots away, leaving small tubers that grow on. While not necessarily invasive, they can be hard to get rid of, so ensure you plant them where they are wanted. Arums are fairly pest free, although pheasants can be a menace. The disease Erwinia carotovora was introduced with Zantedeschia aethiopica and causes unsightly brown spotting that is worse in wet years and on plants…

Bold and sculptural evergreen plants set the foundations for the design of the garden. We like whippet-thin Cupressus sempervirens ‘Pyramidalis’ and Phillyrea latifolia, which has a naturally architectural form, not dissimilar to a crown of broccoli! Topiarised forms of evergreen shrubs, such as standard or half-standard Elaeagnus x ebbingei or Taxus baccata and Viburnum tinus, which we grow in pillow and ball shapes, give gardens much-needed winter colour. Evergreens are undemanding, especially if you use a powerful, bold but simple palette. You also have a longer timeframe for clipping and shaping evergreens. They provide reliable consistency of texture and contrast and are a practical solution for screening. Some deciduous trees appear more striking in the winter than when they’re in leaf. We have some very exciting types of Niwaki cloud-pruned…

Boutique Retreats If you’re planning a tour of UK gardens and want somewhere special to stay, try Boutique Retreats’ range of luxury holiday cottages. Tel: 01872 553491; boutique-retreats.co.uk Contours Walking Holidays Contours will help you plan a self-guided walking holiday in the UK or Ireland, while taking care of luggage transfers and accommodation. Tel: 01629 821900; contours.co.uk Kirker Holidays Offering a wide variety of garden tours in Europe and further afield. In France, tours include gardens of the Cote d’Azur and Brittany. Tel: 020 7593 1899; kirkerholidays.com One Traveller If you’re travelling on your own, One Traveller specialises in holidays in the UK, Europe and further afield for mature single travellers, with no off-putting single supplements. Tel: 01760 722011; onetraveller.co.uk Perennial Special events, including day trips and longer breaks, raise…

SIENNA HOSTA Sienna Hosta are Chelsea gold medal winning specialist hosta growers with more than 1400 varieties for sale. A fast mail order service is provided with excellent plants. Sienna Hosta also exhibits at many flower shows across the country where you can also purchase plants. 15% OFF online orders for all English Garden readers with discount code - EGSH21 Tel: 01483 663160 nursery@siennahosta.co.uk | www.siennahosta.co.uk CHRISTMAS BOX Sarcococca hookeriana Winter Gem ‘Pmoore03’ During the winter this amazing new glossy evergreen is smothered by highly fragrant honey-scented white flowers; each emerging from deep red buds. These are followed by glossy black spherical fruits. Perfect for borders and containers, or as a low fragrant hedge, it will grow in most situations including dense shade and dry soil. It is an absolute…

“Scented shrubs that flower over winter will often pluck satisfyingly at your heartstrings” It’s five o’clock on a Wednesday afternoon in late February. Pale winter sunshine lingers over the unassuming front garden of my son’s singing teacher. As I open the gate I am swept away by an intoxicating lemony perfume. Dreamlike snatches of a clear seven-year-old voice dance out through the window: “And as we kissed and said goodnight … a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square.” The crazily inappropriate lyrics, the sweet, sentimental piano – but most of all this outrageously delicious perfume, make me want to cry. Could the low evergreen shrub by the path be the source of such a magical and transporting scent? That February afternoon was my first encounter with Daphne odora ‘Aureomarginata’ – forever…