Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2022 i The English Garden

Philip Clayton Freelance writer Philip has had a life-long love of great gardens; his own urban plot is filled with unusual plants, many profiled in his forthcoming book A Plant for Every Day of the Year. He visits The Old Vicarage on p32. Kerryn Harper-Cuss An editor of home and lifestyle magazines, with 12 years at the helm of our sister title, The English Home, Kerryn champions specialist skills such as those of the sculptors featured on p81. Alan Gray Alan’s interest in gardening began as a child and grew throughout his career in advertising and antiques, just like his garden at East Ruston Old Vicarage, Norfolk. He suggests plants for summer pots on p127.…

James Alexander-Sinclair In addition to writing, lecturing, broadcasting and getting to grips with his own new garden, the renowned garden designer is also a judge at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show A hugely important element of garden design is to enjoy being with your clients. Building a garden isn’t quite the same as installing a boiler – it’s very personal. It’s a pleasure to make partnerships and work in gardens across the country. I don’t know how to say “no” and the most exciting project is always whatever is coming next. One garden I particularly loved creating was Horatio’s Garden Scotland, to support people affected by spinal injury. The garden surrounds an NHS spinal centre and benefits patients, visitors, nurses, doctors and cleaning staff. It’s a demonstration of the power…

I have over one hundred plants in containers, 80 of which are baseless pots standing on soil. The plants feed and water themselves once their roots are down into terra firma ‘proper’. Even yew (notorious for not liking containers) thrives. Elsewhere, cork oak, phillyrea, box, apple trees, vines, pear and strawberry myrtle grow this way: some have been in their pots for over 30 years. The pots are timber, metal, plastic or terracotta. I like the prominence a pot gives a plant, lifting it up and showing it off, and I use repeated large pots with small trees to create spaces close to buildings. They give unity to the architecture, bond the building with the garden, conceal eyesores and make strong spaces. Many Chelsea show gardens sport multi-stemmed trees. I…

It is often said that a garden speaks volumes about its owners – their tastes, passions and style. If that’s the case, then there are some fairly mixed messages coming from Gardeners’ Cottage, the brainchild of two gifted gardeners. On the one hand there are areas of frothing flowers and cascading roses; on the other there are oases of calm where simplicity and restraint reign. “Ours truly is a ‘his and hers’ garden – that way, we each enjoy free rein within our own spaces,” explains Rosie Irving. Her partner, eminent rosarian Michael Marriott, adds: “We offer advice, but within our own patch we have the power of jurisdiction!” The outcome is a garden of two interwoven halves, in which the whole is undoubtedly richer than the sum of its…

Fruits of the Wind Philip Walker creates beautifully fluid organic sculptures in wood as well as bespoke pieces using fallen and storm-damaged trees from his clients’ own gardens Gouging, carving and scorching are just some of the techniques used by Philip Walker to magnify the hues and textural contrasts in wood when creating his undulating sculptures. “I’m obsessed with wood and the variety it offers,” says the Hampshire-based sculptor. “The range of properties across the thousands of species can make two different timbers seem like different materials entirely, and I enjoy the challenge that brings.” Around 50 per cent of his work honours trees fallen in private gardens, and almost all of it transforms wood felled due to damage or disease. “A tree from the client’s own garden is often…

Winters are harsh in Chicago, where Sallie Boge practises as a garden designer, so they’re the perfect time to stay indoors and take a course. She’s finished the entire Garden Design Diploma programme, a collection of twelve courses that brings the wide-ranging skills of garden design together. “Every single one of them was important to take, and each had something to offer to increase my knowledge and the skills I could transfer to my clients,” she explains. For Sallie, it was important to back her garden design business up with the credentials of the Learning with Experts qualification. “I love gardening so much and I take being a garden designer seriously. I thought these courses would help, but they really exceeded my expectations. Regardless of how you intend to apply…

Plants have been subject to changing tastes and trends ever since we started to cultivate them for their beauty rather than just their medicinal properties. We’ve moved from tulip fever in the 17th century to the recent New Perennial Movement, which has popularised ornamental grasses and perennials. The downside of following the latest fashions, however, is that some great garden-worthy plants end up being overlooked. Once popular, potentillas have suffered this fate, but if you’re looking for low-maintenance, long-flowering plants they are very much worth considering. Potentilla are a member of the Rosaceae family and are divided into two distinct types: the shrubby, bush species (Potentilla fruticosa) and the lower-growing herbaceous perennials. Both have flowers in a good range of colours, from vibrant shades to pretty pastels, with the small,…

Air & Grace Sumptuous pale-toned roses define a simple scheme shot through with the lime-green flowers of Alchemilla mollis and airy spires of sky-blue Nepeta racemosa ‘Walkers Low’ White grabs the attention: when we work with this, we get the best results. A clever way of using white is to keep it high: white height, in fact. Here at Clinton Lodge, the fading-to-white flowers of Rosa ‘The Garland’ start off cream-blush, a neat link to the pink old roses in the borders. As they get paler, the flowers shift their linking power to the sky: all is pale above, with the dark shadows of yew spinning out in perspective lines on either side. Here’s what we expect of a rose garden, with the blush of the roses matched gently by…

Summer arrives at the kitchen garden at Thyme near Southrop, Gloucestershire, in a tumult of new growth. Sunlight slides between the trees on the lane to the kitchen garden, and wildflowers bloom in the water meadows. A cuckoo sings the season. In the vegetable beds, every shade of green unfurls over the early weeks of June. The first harvests of the new season come to fruition, while beans twine slim tendrils around rustic tepee supports, their flowers blooming white, cream, butter-yellow, lilac and carmine. In humus-rich, alluvial soil the colour of dark chocolate, roots grow steadily larger and longer. Good-natured nasturtiums sprawl across paths, and calendulas, as bright as buttons, flower with abandon. In the cutting garden nearby, the summer fiesta of blooms is poised to begin. Little Luxuries If…

If you believe salads are little more than a garnish at best, ‘rabbit food’ at worst, stop reading now. This is for salad lovers and anyone who revels in growing their own salad crops. Those of us for whom summer, with its abundance of sweet, crunchy leaves, is a joyous season of nonstop creative salads. Sarah Raven definitely falls into the latter camp. At a recent Perch Hill event, she demonstrated how she makes her ideal salad. First, at least four different types of lettuce to form the base, including such varieties as bronze ‘Merveille de Quatre Saisons’, ‘Batavia Red’ for its floppy, dressing-holding leaves, and ‘Cerbiatta’ for crunchy sweetness. Then come salad leaves: mustard wasabi for a hot kick, spicy mizuna, young beetroot leaves, spinach, peppery rocket and baby…

In 1724, Robinson Crusoe author Daniel Defoe published his discursive travel memoir, A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain. In it, he made passing reference to Edinburgh’s flourishing Royal Botanic Garden, originating from the small physic garden at Holyrood Palace, Scotland’s first: ‘One is like our apothecaries garden at Chelsea, called a physick garden, and is tolerably well stored with simples [herbs], and some exoticks of value; and, particularly I was told, there was a rhubarb-tree, or plant, which throve very well.’ Rhubarb was highly prized due to its use as a purgative within the prevailing medical system, which used the four humours to balance the body. Physic gardens are essentially herb gardens containing medicinal plants, and their origins can be traced back to ancient times. In the…

Generally I consider myself very lucky and privileged to have this job. Spending the days immersed in gorgeous gardens and plants is clearly no hardship, but there is one snag: my wish list of plants is officially out of control. I’ll run out of room long before I’ve even made a dent in it, and since it’s June and our bumper issue is full of delicious-looking roses, I anticipate the situation getting worse. There are roses at Jonathan and Sandra Blaza’s garden at The Old Vicarage in Burley, Rutland, and packing the borders at Gardeners’ Cottage in Shropshire, where rosarian Michael Marriott gardens with his partner Rosie Irving. We also have designer Jo Thompson outlining some planting schemes for roses and hand-picking a selection of her favourite rose varieties (most…

Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Garden Cornwall The artist and sculptor died in 1975, but her small, well-established Cornish garden has been carefully looked after ever since. It is filled with semi-tropical plants and beautiful sculptures. Tel: 01736 796226; tate.org.uk RHS Hyde Hall Essex I’m an advisor at Hyde Hall, a garden still in development. It gets wind and very little rain, so rather than devising an irrigation system, planting has been adapted to the conditions. The future of gardening is to bend with the weather. Tel: 01245 402019; rhs.org.uk…

‘LADY OF SHALOTT’ The opulent apricot-orange blooms of this English rose open from red buds and have a warm tea fragrance. ‘THE POET’S WIFE’ Plentiful, strongly perfumed flowers in a strong shade of golden yellow on this bushy shrub with glossy foliage. ‘OLIVIA ROSE AUSTIN’ A very healthy rose bearing cupped rosettes of mid pink from early in the season. ‘ JAMES L. AUSTIN’ Deep pink double flowers adorn this medium-sized English shrub rose, emitting a lightly fruity fragrance. ‘ADÉLAÏDE D’ORLÉANS’ This elegant rambler bears masses of white flowers opening from pink buds. ‘KEW GARDENS’ A shrub rose with masses of small single flowers clustered in large flowerheads from summer right into autumn.…

Historic aerial photographs of Old Allangrange show the 18th-century house marooned on a little postage stamp of greenery surrounded by vast swathes of brown farmland, every inch of it ploughed into uniform stripes. If it wasn’t for the colours and knowing that the house sits on the Black Isle peninsula, just north of Inverness, you might easily imagine it as an oasis in the centre of a barren desert. Intensive farming that strips the countryside of hedgerows and habitats is a subject close to Old Allangrange’s owner JayJay Gladwin’s heart. She grew up on a Northumberland farm, where her father worked the land according to the prevailing thinking of the 1960s and ’70s. “He lived through the war as a child and all the consequences of it, including rationing in…

Dominic Welch advises that placing sculpture in a garden is an art in itself and says that points to consider include the fall of light over the course of a day and throughout the year, the position and impact of leaves on surrounding trees and whether you want to see the piece through the windows of the rooms you spend most time in or locate a sculpture in a secluded, meditative spot. He keeps in touch with clients for years, reconnecting when they move home or want to re-site a sculpture. Even though stone is heavy, he says it’s always possible to find the perfect location, transporting a piece over swimming pools, or even locating a work within a pond. “The plinth needs careful consideration and is quite often one…

Ane Hoffmeyer started out as a textile and fashion designer. She decided she wanted to work with gardens instead and looked to Learning with Experts when she couldn’t find a suitable course at home in Denmark. “I considered taking courses at university in Copenhagen but they just weren’t right for me,” says Ane. “Then I found out I could study a course from Britain – the best place for anybody who works in garden design – study with people I already knew from books, and that I could take a lot of courses and kind of make my own degree. It has changed my career and it has totally changed my life.” “If I lived in London, I’d have taken a real-life class, but because I’m in Denmark this was…

Choose a sunny spot Shrubby potentilla varieties will tolerate partial shade, but avoid growing them under trees since they won’t flower as well. Those with particularly strong colours, such as ‘Pink Beauty’ and ‘Red Ace’, are best grown somewhere that is shaded from intense midday sunshine to prevent their colours from bleaching. They prefer moist but well-drained soil. Mildew can affect shrubby potentilla, especially if the plants are grown on dry soil. Mulch with well-rotted compost to lock in moisture, but avoid using manure since it’s too rich. Divide perennial types every three to four years, in October or March. The shrubby types flower on the wood they produce during the current growing season, so if you need to hard prune them do that in early spring. Generally speaking, a…

‘MEG’ This climbing rose’s habit is poetic: it’s all floppy and laid-back romantic. The same goes for her colour; one day pink, the next day anything from apricot to buff yellow. I first saw her scaling a wall at Sissinghurst. ‘FÉLICITÉ PERPÉTUE’ Frilly, creamy-white, fragrant flowers appear in hundreds of delicious clusters all the way along her stretchy flexible arms, which are relatively thornless. This rambling rose is a powder puff personified. ‘ISPAHAN’ Slightly dishevelled, on close examination the blooms are asking to be tidied up, but en masse they produce a perfumed pink ‘pow!’ When in full bloom, this shrub is absolutely smothered with flowers. ‘THE LARK ASCENDING’ The name brings to mind exquisite harmony and the flowers do just the same. Apart from the how-is-that-possible translucence and deceptive…

Purists may grumble, but flowers have every place in a vegetable garden. Many are edible, and their bright colours bring levity to ordered rows of plants. More importantly, they attract crucial pollinators to a patch, helping to foster a hierarchy of predation that will ultimately mean fewer pests. If sacrificial plants are used, these can also lure pests away from prized vegetables. Nasturtiums, whose flowers and leaves make a peppery addition to salads, attract aphids, so grow them close to beans, which are prone to attack. At the end of the season, pickle their seeds to enjoy like capers. For distinctive wine-red flowers, try ‘Black Velvet’. Calendula flowers also attract aphids, and are a pretty addition to summer salads and cake decorations. ‘Sunset Buff’ in creamy-pink tones is an alternative…

When the roses are in full, glorious flush, the lawn is exactly the way it should be and the vegetable garden swells with produce, you might, in a modest way, consider how this exquisite profusion can be shared. Thoughts often begin and end at a garden party, yet gardens, multi-faceted as they are, present dozens of ways to be shared, with varying degrees of commitment and time, and often for good causes. Grow to Give Anyone who has grown courgettes will recognise that point in midsummer where there are simply more fruits than anyone can bear. The simplest way to share excess produce is to leave it on a community table. Yet with just a little more effort and an honesty box, this can become an excellent way to raise…

BLUEBELL ARBORETUM & NURSERY Specialists in hardy trees, shrubs and climbers including a huge selection of unusual and rare species and varieties. Expert advice is available from our helpful staff. The nursery is surrounded by a nine-acre woodland garden (RHS Partner Garden), and visitors are welcome all year round. Informative website and reliable mail order service if you would like plants delivered. Tel: 01530 413700sales@bluebellnursery.com | www.bluebellnursery.comAnnwell Lane, Smisby, Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire LE65 2TA BEETHAM NURSERIES Beetham Nurseries is a family-owned, independent Garden Centre and Growing Nursery on the A6 in south Cumbria, just four miles from the M6 motorway. Established in 1984, we are proud to offer our customers something different and unique. The Growing Nursery is a traditional retail plant nursery where you will find thousands…

Bring your garden to life by getting new plants in the ground. You’ll need the right tools, of course, and the Sophie Allport Bees Collection is perfect for the job with an elegant design that’s buzzing with bees. Pictured are the ash wood fork and trowel boxed gift set (£30), gardening gloves (£21) and gardening kneeler (£23). Tel: 01778 560256; sophieallport.com…

Growing a standard wisteria from a whip (grafted, single-stemmed plants you find at garden centres) is easy; simply train one up a sturdy post and within 3-5 years you will have a young flowering wisteria tree. Sandra has standards with straight trunks (where the plant has been carefully grown up one side of the post) and others with twisted trunks (where the plant was allowed to twine around it). She does not feel it matters which technique you choose. Once the stem reaches the top of the post, prune it so it produces side shoots that will eventually become branches. Carry out usual summer and winter pruning as you would with a climbing wisteria, building up a framework that radiates out from the central post. Standards begin flowering earlier than…

GERANIUM SYLVATICUM ‘ALBUM’ Mounds of soft leaves perfect for areas of sun or light shade. POLEMONIUM CAERULEUM Jacobs ladder has attractive pinnate leaves and charming flowers, ideal for a cool spot. ASTRANTIA MAJOR ‘SHAGGY’ This reliable perennial flowers all summer; JayJay finds insects of all types flock to it. EUCRYPHIA X NYMANSENSIS A summer-flowering shrub that’s attractive to a variety of insects, from bees to moths. ALLIUM PORRUM (LEEK) Try growing leeks from seed and letting them flower for lots of allium-like globes. CIRSIUM RIVULARE ‘ATROPURPUREUM’ A bee magnet, this ruby-flowered, thistly, 1.2m perennial loves a sunny spot.…

“Sometimes you meet your students. I became involved with the garden of one of my earliest students in Ireland, and I’m still involved with it today. I’ve got another student who is now studying horticulture at Pershore. He emails me regularly and asks my advice – he’s done well and it’s been great to see.” So says Andy McIndoe, one of Learning with Experts’ longest-serving tutors. “The thing I enjoy the most,” adds fellow tutor Noel Kingsbury, “is when somebody makes a really nice garden following their course. Especially when it’s in a climate you’re unfamiliar with.” Noel co-tutors courses for Learning with Experts with landscape designer Piet Oudolf, as well as teaching his own courses on Planting Design with Perennials, and Propagation. This unrivalled access to course tutors is…

Guy Lucas is the head of gardens and estates at 15th-century Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex. The estate is introducing rewilding projects across its grounds and Guy has been working to increase its biodiversity. He has introduced meadows that peak in June and July and replaced petrol mowers with a flock of Herdwick sheep. “Where possible, we select a method that favours nature. The sheep turn over the grass and encourage a diversity of wildflowers and orchids not seen for decades,” he explains. Here he suggests ten good plants for biodiversity. “I’ve chosen natives that are attractive and have the greatest value to wildlife,” he notes. Herstmonceux Castle, Hailsham, East Sussex BN27 1RN. Tel: 01323 834444; herstmonceux-castle.com 1 Ox-eye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare) Blooming from May to July, this tall, jolly…

After a lifetime spent gardening, Anna Pavord has reworked her 2001 classic, Plant Partners. In its new incarnation as The Seasonal Gardener, the book presents favourite plants with companions to make them sing, be it pale blue Iris ‘Jane Phillips’, open-flowered Rubus ‘Benenden’ or the firework forms of Allium schubertii. Her Own Words We’ve been in our current house in West Dorset for 18 years. I’ve gardened furiously here, and I’ve made a garden far larger than I should have. I plant quite a lot of trees and say, “Look, you know I won’t be here to see you when you’re really doing your stuff but good luck.” I always talk to them. It doesn’t worry me that I won’t see these things. I love to feel that I’m actually…

By late summer, colour is often fizzling out in containers, especially as bedding plants start to wane. But now our autumns are so much milder, we’re able to extend the show. In late May we encourage this by sowing a crop of late bedding plants, such as cosmos, cleome and the weather-resistant French marigold ‘Konstance’, which often flowers well into November. Other ingredients we divide to make more of, or we propagate with cuttings, for in summer plants grow fast. Foliage is the ingredient that makes late-summer containers interesting, so I plant with this in mind. As the flowers of bedding plants wane, foliage takes over, adding extra freshness and a boldness that disguises the remains of those blowsy petunias and phlox. With its increasingly large silver leaves, Plectranthus argentatus…

Placing an entire cherry-red nasturtium flower into your mouth feels intimate and seductive. To eat a nasturtium is to capture the fiery essence of summer in one velvety, peppery bite. “To eat a nasturtium is to capture the fiery essence of summer in one velvety, peppery bite” Edible flowers have a deep appeal. Their sheer prettiness is irresistible and never fails to feel celebratory. During the first lockdown, I remember the pale sparkle of foraged wild garlic flowers on a salad of dark leaves – the cheering distraction of having something so beautiful for supper. Patrice Taravella, who designed the gardens at Babylonstoren and The Newt, once made an extraordinary birthday cake for my husband. We were sitting under strings of lights and trailing vine leaves in the restaurant of…