Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2022 i The English Garden

Greg Loades Greg is a freelance writer and editor, and author of The Modern Cottage Garden, published by Timber Press. His second book is due for release in 2023. He explores Timber Hill and its camellias on page 54. Sussie Bell Photographer Sussie loves working outside, capturing gardens, nature and light. “I was very grateful to capture the Thyme vegetable garden with its wonderful richness and morning mists – it was magical,” she says. Andy McIndoe Garden consultant and designer Andy has 40 years’ experience in retail and production horticulture. A lecturer, writer and broadcaster, he was awarded the RHS Veitch Memorial Medal in 2017. He picks choice daphnes on p71.…

Stone House Cottage Garden and Nursery Worcestershire Louisa Arbuthnott does everything herself, from running the nursery to maintaining the garden. She has an incredible range of plants and a magic touch. Tel: 07817 921146; shcn.co.uk Gresgarth Hall Lancashire The situation of this Lake District garden is amazing, with the river Lune running right through it. Arabella Lennox-Boyd’s formal planting near the house gradually becomes wilder as the garden spreads into the hills. Tel: 01524 771838; arabellalennoxboyd.com…

• Prune bush roses before buds burst and they put on too much growth. Remove dead or dying stems first, then cut the rest back by one third or a half. • Sets of shallots and onions can be started into growth in module trays. Early varieties of potato can also be planted this month. • Start mowing the lawn as and when grass begins to grow again, with the mower blades set high to begin with. • From late March, evergreen shrubs can be moved into a new position if they’re growing in the wrong place. Wait until April if soil is wet or frozen, or if you garden in colder parts of the country. • Once snowdrop flowers have faded, lift and divide clumps to increase stocks and…

IRIS ‘HARMONY’ This early-flowering reticulata iris is a lovely choice for containers or the fronts of borders and grows to 15cm tall. PRIMULA VULGARIS The dainty pale cream flowers and crinkly leaves of primroses reliably push through the lawn each spring. CAMELLIAS Jane’s father planted camellias to celebrate special occasions; many were transplanted from her parents’ house. NARCISSUS PSEUDONARCISSUS This species perfectly recreates the natural look a woodland garden needs. SCILLA LUCILIAE Also known as ‘glory of the snow’ for its pretty March flowers. Plant the bulbs in drifts under trees and shrubs in autumn. FRITILLARIA MELEAGRIS Preferring damper soils, these delicate bulbs are best suited to planting in moist meadows or woodland fringes. ERYTHRONIUM DENS-CANIS The pretty dog’s tooth violets in the rockery came from a friend’s…

NARCISSUS PSEUDONARCISSUS Dainty wild daffodils are often the first to flower in the long grass of the Wild Garden. NARCISSUS LOBULARIS Lent lily daffodils are a variable species with yellow trumpets and twisted petals. ‘WHITE LADY’ This sweetly scented heritage daffodil, features a small lemon-yellow cup and pristine white petals. ‘PROFESSOR EINSTEIN’ Fragrant flowers comprising white petals and a large, dark orange cup stand 45cm tall. ‘UNSURPASSABLE’ A medium-sized trumpet daffodil with huge golden yellow flowers; a good variety to grow for cutting. ‘FALCONET’ A very fragrant, multi-headed golden yellow Tazetta daffodil with a small orange cup and an Award of Garden Merit.…

Autumn is the ideal time to sow hardy annuals, but if you missed that opportunity, all is not lost. As days warm and lengthen, you can start seed in trays or, more simply, sow directly outdoors in a prepared bed. Seed sown now will flower from midsummer. Georgie Newbery, owner of Common Farm Flowers and author of The Flower Farmer’s Year has decades of experience of growing and arranging flowers and advises choosing flowers that will fulfil particular functions in a display: “It’s important to consider more than just ease of propagating,” she explains. Here she picks ten good hardy annuals that serve different purposes. Common Farm Flowers, Barrow Lane, Charlton Musgrove, Somerset BA9 8HN. Tel: 01963 32883; commonfarmflowers.com 1 Lavatera trimestris Lavatera, or annual tree mallow, offers large,…

Few things in spring are as delightful as the simple beauty of the primrose (Primula vulgaris), whether their pale yellow blooms are scattered on a roadside verge, woodland edge, or in the garden. These pretty little perennials reliably produce their flowers from March, and are another sure sign that spring is picking up pace. Small they may be, but primroses are also versatile plants. Garden centres have plenty to choose from to enliven spring containers, with flowers in various colours: deep purples, vibrant pinks and apricots. Apricot-coloured primroses are often sweetly scented – try potting up a few for the greenhouse. These ‘bedding’ primroses are descended from Primula vulgaris, the varying colours and often striped petals being achieved through selection and breeding with other species to create Primula x polyantha…

Settled into a fold of the Cotswolds and laid out beside a water meadow on the River Leach, where cuckoos herald spring and Black Welsh Mountain sheep graze freely, a kitchen garden is tended in all weathers by a small, dedicated staff. Chefs come down here in the mornings to select the finishing touches for their intensely seasonal menus, and in summer a florist gathers armfuls of flowers from the cutting garden to display in guest bedrooms. Serried ranks of vegetables march in and out through the year: at first broad beans and hardy leaves, then lettuces, peas and new potatoes. By midsummer, beans of all kinds scale wigwams and squash sprawl on the ground in a tangle of prickly stems and swelling fruits. In autumn crab apples turn golden,…

A Greener Life by Jack Wallington Orion, £19.99 Jack Wallington’s easy, approachable style won him plaudits for his 2019 book, Wild About Weeds: Garden Design with Rebel Plants. He brings this same character to A Greener Life as he presents environmentally friendly approaches to gardening with an intimacy borne of personal experience. Describing himself as an ecological gardener, Wallington has created over 70 gardens with regenerative, wildlife-friendly planting at their heart. He wasn’t always a designer, however. He discovered his vocation while looking after his own 5m x 6m patio garden, which became the springboard for his decision to retrain in horticulture with the RHS and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. His environmental concerns grew in tandem. “Coming home each time to our garden, I soon realised that the only…

What does sustainability mean for home gardeners? What sort of thinking does it involve? It’s important to understand what will make you happy. Think about what you enjoy and have more of that and less of what you don’t enjoy. Think about the rhythms of the year and what energy you have when, so you can make sure the garden works in that way. Work with what the land wants to be. Look after the soil, by not poisoning it and by not poisoning yourself with petrol fumes and glyphosate. Have things that will do you good. You could have a herb garden, or you could just have an apple tree and really inhale the tree as you pass by. Who have been your influences in terms of your own…

I’m fairly sure I’ve mentioned my love of daffodils before on this page, and I’m happy to report that as another spring rolls around, it remains undimmed. So bringing you this issue, filled with gardens featuring my favourite herald of spring, has been a joy. In Kent, Hever Castle features opulent drifts of daffodils’ glowing flowers, while in the beautiful setting of Norfolk’s Hindringham Hall, their golden blooms are reflected in the still water of its medieval moat. Meanwhile, at Perrycroft in Herefordshire, wild daffodils form wonderfully natural meadows, as do daffodils and a variety of other dainty spring bulbs at Great Dixter. Just the ticket to hasten winter on its way and welcome spring with sunny optimism. It’s funny how one plant in particular can become so firmly entrenched…

1 ‘Penny Hill’ Yellow all over with a very deep cup. 2 ‘Saint Keverne’ Very striking with a large, flared trumpet. 3 ‘Ice Follies’ A soft yellow cup and clear white petals. 4 ‘Golden Joy’ Delicate, deep golden-yellow daffodil. 5 ‘Camelot’ A golden-yellow trumpet with large, rounded petals. 6 ‘Heamoor’ A ruffled double bloom, almost carnation-like in appearance. 7 ‘Rip van Winkle’ Multi-petalled and almost fluffy looking. 8 ‘Tête-à-tête’ A fantastic smaller narcissus that can be planted under a tree or along a bank. 9 ‘Birma’ Yellow petals with a deep orange trumpet. 10 ‘Shrike’ Fantastic for pots and good at coping with wet and windy weather.…

Back in 1999, when Gillian and Mark Archer bought Perrycroft, set high on the western flanks of the Malvern Hills in Herefordshire, they had no idea that their new garden was full of wild daffodils until they removed the sheep that had been grazing them off. Since then, the lent lilies, so called because they flower around Easter, have spread themselves across the grassy slopes below the house, trumpeting the arrival of spring with many thousands of sulphur-yellow, nodding flowers. Wild daffodils, Narcissus pseudonarcissus, are a rare sight in the landscape today, although they still thrive in the so-called Golden Triangle around the village of Newent in Gloucestershire, ten miles south of Perrycroft. Their flowers have a grace that is seldom found in cultivated types: pale yellow petals surround a…

“Who doesn’t love a daphne?” exclaimed a delighted client when I included a couple in her planting scheme. Daphnes are perhaps the most sought-after flowering shrubs. Prized for their delicate, deliciously fragrant flowers, they are well-mannered plants but can often be challenging to grow. They are not the easiest subjects for nurserymen to produce either, and it’s for this reason that they often carry a higher price tag – a factor that seems to make them all the more desirable. There are about 90 species of daphne and numerous cultivars, although relatively few are widely available. Those that are have proved themselves over the years as good garden shrubs given the right growing conditions. My first encounter with the genus was with Daphne mezereum. I remember it as a rather…

Around this time of year, there’s a lot of talk of snowdrops being the harbingers of spring. It’s true, of course, but they’re certainly not the only signs that winter’s grip is loosening and spring is on its way. There’s something so heartening about spotting hints of new growth on a stroll around the garden – look up at the swelling buds of deciduous trees and shrubs, their leaves packaged tightly within, and you’ll see they’re just as exciting as those dainty white flowers. Britain’s native trees are often the first into leaf, from March, depending on the weather. Even in winter, the plump, soot-black buds of ash are easily spotted and help identify these graceful trees when they’re not in leaf. The leaf buds of common beech, another native,…

Late winter and early spring are excellent points to set up beds for the growing year. Hoe them lightly to clear annual weeds that will have crept in over winter, and spend a few hours with a hori-hori or garden fork removing deep-stemmed perennial weeds like dandelions and dock. Dandelions set so many seeds that it’s wise to remove them from beds on sight, leaving those in less useful spaces to flower for pollinators. Neaten bed edges and tidy up paths. If you didn’t apply manure or compost in autumn, do it now. At Thyme, Victoria spreads a mulch of spent mushroom compost on beds to keep down annual weeds. Well-rotted manure, applied now, will have enough time to settle in before the planting season begins in earnest from May…

“I love the idea of adding depth and texture with found pieces” It is a clear February morning in the South of France. The sky is a brilliant blue and I am swimming in the rippling turquoise pool of La Colombe d’Or Hotel. Pointing up towards the radiant sky are a pair of monumental cypress trees. Next to them, waving lightly in the breeze, are the primary-coloured blades of the joyful Alexander Colder mobile that sits so timelessly at the pool edge. My head is beginning to ache from the deceptive coolness of my swim, but I will never forget this perfectly balanced and exhilarating mix of plant, water, sky and sculpture. But if you can’t afford a colourful Calder or a rugged carved stone head by Emily Young (at…

John Massey The owner of the renowned Ashwood Nurseries on his love of hepaticas and the people who have supported and inspired him My grandfather was a keen gardener. When I was five he taught me how to double dig, and he persuaded my parents to let me have a little plot from which to grow vegetables to sell to local shops. My parents enjoyed gardening too. My dad bought Ashwood, although I quickly took over. I finished school on a Friday and started work the next day. I inherited Tony Cartwright, who is great with customers, and the business-minded Philip Baulk also joined us. Meanwhile, Kevin Belcher has put in all the work with our hellebore hybrids. People often give me credit for Ashwood’s success, but I think it’s…

The sense of tranquillity and the exhilaration experienced when wandering through a woodland garden in spring – the concentration of sights, sounds and scents – almost defies description. Indeed, a spring garden visit is something that can reawaken us, gardeners and non-gardeners alike, after a winter of hibernation. But it isn’t a case of ‘one size fits all’ nor of ‘seen one, seen ’em all’, as this writer discovered on a visit to the garden at Pembury House, near Ditchling in West Sussex, with its exceptional, artfully embellished acre of woodland, which opens by appointment for the National Garden Scheme each spring. Jane and Nick Baker always had ambitions to one day create a woodland garden full of plants for winter and spring. Indeed, they say they “bonded” over spring-flowering…

‘MADAME MARTIN CACHET’ An old, slow-growing French variety with opulent flowers in coral-red. ‘ROGER HALL’ Rich red double flowers are produced from February to April on this vigorous, yet compact and bushy, camellia. ‘WILLIAM BARTLETT’ Pale pink flowers exquisitely striped and flecked with deeper pink on this bushy March-to-April-flowering variety. ‘TAKANINI’ Prized for their ‘anemone’ form, flowers in crimson-red can appear from the start of winter on upright shrubs. ‘BRIGADOON’ Very hardy buds and flowers, so a good choice for more northerly gardens. This variety is a strong upright grower. ‘BRIDAL GOWN’ Flowering in March and April, this camellia has white ‘peony’ form flowers. Shrubs grow bushier as they mature. ‘LADY LOCH’ Picotee-edged petals make these pink flowers stand out. This variety dates from 1889, so has stood the test…

Daphnes fall into the category of plants that thrive in some gardens and sulk in others, usually due to soil conditions. They must have good drainage, but adequate moisture. Generally preferring alkaline conditions, they seem to grow well on most soils that are not too heavy and wet, especially in winter. They dislike exposed conditions and enjoy some shelter from walls or neighbouring plants. Most prefer light shade, rather than hot direct sunlight. Once established they resent disturbance, so plant them in the right location in the first place. Few daphnes will thrive in pots and containers, even in nursery conditions. So it is always best to choose young, vigorous plants rather than those that have been confined to containers for a season or two. They require little or no…

Perennial wildflower meadows, studded with spring bulbs, are a contemporary gardening staple. They are ecologically sound, self-sustaining and relatively low maintenance. What could be more 21st-century? Yet their provenance, as Christopher Lloyd discusses in his 2004 book Meadows, dates back to the Middle Ages – and even further if you look to the paradise gardens of sixth-century Persia. Wordsworth’s lonely wanderings aside, in the 19th century it was horticultural iconoclast William Robinson who was most instrumental in reviving this practice. “Ten years ago,” he writes in The English Flower Garden (1883), “I planted many thousands of narcissi in the grass, never doubting that I should succeed with them, but not expecting I should succeed nearly so well…” Christopher Lloyd’s mother – a true Robinson acolyte (‘The English Flower Garden was…

One quirk of the British, which often amuses newcomers to these shores, is our fondness for setting up societies. Rivalling our love for a ‘proper’ cup of tea and an orderly queue is a seemingly very British need to gather in groups of like-minded people to appreciate things. Whatever you can think of, there’s likely a society for its fans – and gardening is no exception. If one plant in particular has captured your heart, there’s probably a society of people who share the same passion. The oldest societies have associations with traditional florists’ flowers (namely, tulips, carnations, anemones and ranunculus, joined later by hyacinths and auriculas), blooms grown and exhibited by amateurs from the 17th century. A lot of the early florists were handloom weavers, able to give prize…