Innholdsfortegnelse for A Year in the English Garden 2022 i The English Garden

A while ago, I interviewed a gardener who told me his strategy when he was planning his garden was to focus especially on the plants that would deliver colour and interest in spring and autumn. Summer enjoys such a wealth of plants at their colourful peak, he said, it takes care of itself – in fact it’s almost impossible for your garden not to look good at that time of year. It’s true, I thought, guiltily recalling all the plants I’ve impulse-bought from the garden centre every summer. It’s easy to make sure your garden’s full of colour then; it’s the rest of the year that needs a bit more effort. That’s where our annual, A Year in the English Garden, supported by Bloms Bulbs, comes in. It will guide…

Plant as nature intended Take a close look at the positioning of plants next time you go for a walk. Try photographing your favourite planting in black and white: this will let you see its form and structure. Use gravel At Denmans, the gravel is firm underfoot with a reassuring crunch. Consolidate the soil first with a roller, roll 10mm of pea shingle into the soil and finish with a loose 10mm layer. Think twice before using a weed-suppressing membrane if you want a natural self-seeded look. A quick brush with a stiff broom every few weeks will flatten any footprints and knock away unwanted seedlings. Create curves The flowing lines of Denmans’ pathways and lawns are difficult to recreate, but take inspiration from looking at the shape of natural…

• Plan this year’s crop rotations to ensure you don’t grow the same crops in the same beds as previous years. • Plant bare-root roses and ornamental trees while they are dormant, as long as the ground isn’t frozen. • Hang fat balls around the garden for birds, or fill feeders with high-fat foods such as peanuts. • Remove old leaves from hellebores and winter brassicas. • Check stakes, supports and ties to make sure that they are still secure and in place. • Carry out winter pruning of apple and pear trees. • Order new seeds and spring-planting crowns and tubers such as rhubarb or asparagus. You can start forcing an established clump of rhubarb now using a forcer or bucket.…

1 ‘Penny Hill’ Yellow all over with a very deep cup. 2 ‘Saint Keverne’ Very striking with a large, flared trumpet. 3 ‘Ice Follies’ Clear white petals surround a pale cup. 4 ‘Golden Joy’ A delicate, deep golden-yellow daffodil. 5 ‘Camelot’ A golden-yellow trumpet and 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.…

• Finish pruning bush roses, before their new shoots put on too much growth. Most can be cut back by half. • Lift and divide snowdrops once their flowers have faded to increase and spread existing clumps. • Browse catalogues for summer-flowering bulbs and tubers such as dahlias and gladioli. • If the soil isn’t too wet and cold, plant seed potatoes and onion and shallot sets. • March is the ideal time to take basal shoot cuttings of perennials including lupins, helianthus and heleniums. • Treat your soil to a generous layer of soil-improving mulch, such as well-rotted compost or leafmould, spread on top. Use about a barrowload every two square metres.…

A shimmering meadow of indigo-hued camassia in late spring is one of the great joys of this time of year. These striking bulbs are native to North America, mainly the Pacific coast, and make an enchanting addition to relaxed planting schemes. But they have uses beyond the ornamental. Camassia tubers have long been used as a food source by indigenous Americans, as Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, commissioned by Thomas Jefferson to explore the western reaches of the continent, came to learn. During their three-year expedition, between 1804 and 1806, Lewis and Clark made an arduous east-west journey. By the time the expedition crossed the Bitterroot Mountains into Idaho, food supplies were low and the men were forced to eat their horses. It was the Nez Perce tribe that came…

CLEMATIS ‘THE PRESIDENT’ This large-flowered clematis produces its handsome blooms from late spring. FRANCOA SONCHIFOLIA Upright spikes of pink flowers emerge from mounds of crinkled leaves on this summer-flowering perennial. ROSA ‘PRINCESS ALEXANDRA OF KENT’ Sumptuous, tea-scented, pink blooms are produced throughout summer. HYPERICUM X INODORUM St John’s wort is a super shrub to grow for floristry; its sprays of peach berries are classic bouquet components. DIANTHUS BARBATUS Choose a sweet William variety such as ‘Sooty’ for magenta flowers that contrast with the dark foliage. ECHINOPS RITRO Beloved by bees and statuesque both in borders and flower arrangements. Grow it in a sunny spot and light soil. ROSA GALLICA ‘VERSICOLOR’ Rippled pink summer flowers are the eye-catching feature of this…

• Plant out tender bedding and unwrap exotics or move them outdoors now that the risk of frost has passed. • Keep sowing small batches of salad leaves, radishes and lettuce for a continuous crop. • Keep greenhouses well ventilated on warm and sunny days. • Move tomatoes into their final pots or planting position and pinch out side shoots. • Prune early-flowering deciduous shrubs such as kerria, philadelphus and staphylea. These bloom on the previous year’s growth, so pruning after flowering allows enough time for new growth to develop and mature. • Biennials, such as sweet williams (below), foxgloves, verbascum and wallflowers, can all be sown during June and July.…

• Continue to deadhead container plants so displays of flowers keep coming. • Harvest sweetcorn and other summer crops such as tomatoes as they ripen. • Take cuttings of tender perennials such as salvias and pelargoniums to increase stocks. • Give yews their annual prune. Do it any earlier than August and regrowth will occur so their winter outline will be shaggy; prune later than October and their newly exposed tips will be prone to frost damage. • Plant late summer flowering perennials such as asters, sedums, or Japanese anemones (below). These are ideal for threading through planting schemes without looking like you are trying too hard.…

Echinacea blooms resemble multi-hued sun hats and are produced through late summer and early autumn. It bears the common name of coneflower on account of its spiky, cone-like centre made up of tube florets. The petals, or ray florets, protrude downwards in a single layer, but modern varieties can fan out in a tutu of double petals. Thanks to the trend for perennial planting, these herbaceous perennials are now all the rage again. They originate from the dry prairies of central and eastern North America, making them tolerant of the draughty conditions that are becoming increasingly commonplace in the UK in summer and autumn. There are ten species of echinacea, the most widespread of them being Echinacea purpurea, E. angustifolia and E. pallida. Most were originally purple-petalled, but modern varieties…

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…

Life is full of contrasts: that is one of the things that makes it exciting. You can’t really appreciate the ups without the downs, the sweet without the sour, the bread without the butter or the rock without the roll. It’s the same in gardens: we all know and understand the appeal of an overflowing summer border – buzzing bees, seductively draped flowers, warm lawns underfoot and an abundance of greens ranging from emerald to pea. However, if every day was a summer day then we would soon tire of all the abundance and would be less able to fully appreciate the glory. To do that we have to have days of contrast: the days of summer rain and, of course, the whole long winter. John Steinbeck (he of The…

Established in Holland in 1860 by Walter Blom, Bloms Bulbs has a long history of supplying quality bulbs. For spectacular spring displays, bulb quality must be top notch and plants should be true to name. “A red tulip is more than just a red tulip,” says Paul Blom. The first consideration for Paul and Chris is bulb size: the bigger the bulb, the more impressive the display. The bulbs stocked by Bloms are all size 12 and upwards. Other mail-order bulb suppliers tend to sell bulbs sized 10/11, and in garden centres they’re generally size 9/10. “Any new bulb we select must have good parents that are also good garden plants,” explains Paul. “‘Clara Butt’, raised in 1889 and one of the first modern garden tulips, is a classic example.…

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…

Candlemas bells, fair maids, Mary’s taper, Eve’s tear, white cup and white queen: the many regional names for snowdrops in folklore point to their value in our gardens and churchyards when the year is on the cusp of spring and little else blooms. Like the Roman god Janus, the snowdrops at Benington Lordship, a seven-acre garden near Stevenage, Hertfordshire, are at once about looking back and looking forward. They mark the turn of the seasons, but here they also point to the long history of the property and how a new generation has taken on the mantle of its custodianship. “The snowdrops look beautiful in February, especially in the wilder areas where there are lovely paths to walk along,” says Susanna Bott, who, with her husband Richard, is the fourth…

• Make sure you’ve ordered in seed potatoes, ready for chitting and planting in spring. • Finish winter pruning wisteria, shortening shoots to two buds to encourage more flowering spurs. • Put in an order for snowdrops and winter aconites, both of which are usually sold ‘in the green’ in spring. • Deciduous trees and shrubs can be moved now, while they’re dormant, provided the soil isn’t frozen or waterlogged. • Organise the shed or greenhouse so everything is ready for seed sowing. Clean pots and labels and check propagators are working properly. • Take root cuttings of oriental poppies (below), verbascum, phlox and acanthus.…

Subtle is not an epithet anyone ever applied to forsythia, the well-known shrub that turns the colour of a Colman’s Mustard tin each spring. For many gardeners it is a step too far. But no one can deny its cheerfulness, and if you enjoy cutting garden flowers its branches bring a ray of spring sunshine into your home – often at Easter. Forsythia belongs to the olive family, Oleaceae, its species mainly found in east Asia. Botanist Carl Peter Thunberg spotted Forsythia suspensa in a Japanese garden in the late 18th century. By 1833 F. suspensa had made its way to Holland, and by the middle of the century Veitch Nurseries were selling it in England. At around the same time, Scottish plant hunter Robert Fortune discovered F. viridissima in…

Matthew Spriggs’ walled town garden in Petworth, West Sussex, is made for spring. The compact, space is only 5.5m wide, but Matthew’s clever use of its 40m length makes it more than the sum of its parts. And when spring arrives, it brings a celebratory array of candy-pink cherry blossom and jewel-bright tulips. With his sister Samantha, Matthew runs Spriggs Florist, a business that has been in the family since 1980. The shop on Golden Square was part of a townhouse that had been divided up with the shop on the ground floor. “Although there were windows and French doors leading out into the garden, we couldn’t see any of that because there was a leylandii hedge obscuring the view,” Matthew recalls. “It wasn’t until the year 2000 that the…

May is the month of the lilac, when these woody shrubs erupt into a mass of sweetly scented panicles, which are mostly purple, pink or white. The combination of silvery grey bark, pale green leaves and purple-toned petals is phosphorescent and magical. Victorian floriographies associate lilacs with romance, while the Celts ascribed magical powers to this intoxicatingly fragrant flower. So it’s no surprise that its otherworldly beauty is so often a favoured subject of impressionist painters such as Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh. Belonging to the olive family Oleaceae, lilac is native to the Balkan Peninsula, where it grows on rocky hills, and temperate Asia – although it has now been naturalised in many parts of Europe. Its botanical name Syringa comes from the ancient Greek syrinx, meaning pipe,…

• Tie young sweet pea plants into their supports so they’re encouraged to climb upwards. • Spring shrubs such as forsythia, ribes and spiraea can be pruned now that they’ve finished flowering. • Mow formal areas of the lawn more often as the grass responds to warmer weather. • Get tender plants ready to go outdoors when the risk of frost has passed by hardening them off in a coldframe. • Hardy geraniums and Iris sibirica can be cut down to the ground after flowering to encourage new growth. Others, such as knautia (below), which flower more weakly as summer progresses, can be cut by half, watered and fed to revitalise the plant.…

Fuchsias can be a divisive plant: some gardeners love them, others really don’t – particularly when it comes to those hybrids with the over-the-top, slightly chubby, ballerina-tutu flowers. Yet there is one fuchsia that can often persuade the doubters: Fuchsia magellanica. Its flowers are slender, elegant, graceful. In a world of Mavis Cruets, Fuchsia magellanica is Margot Fonteyn. For all its graceful flowers, however, this fuchsia could also be considered a thug. It stole another fuchsia’s identity for the best part of 100 years, although really that was the fault of the botanists who mistook it for Fuchsia coccinea. The real F. coccinea languished in Oxford Botanic Garden until botanists realised they were two distinct species; in the meantime F. magellanica had “spread to every garden in the Kingdom”, Joseph…

• Harvest early vegetables such as peas, courgettes, garlic and potatoes as they grow and ripen. • Water containers, especially if the weather is warm and dry, using collected rainwater if possible. • Remove side shoots from cordon tomatoes. • After old-fashioned roses have flowered, encourage strong healthy shoots for next year by sprinkling a granular fertiliser around the root zone. • Aim to empty the greenhouse by mid-July, when there’s a natural pause in propagation. Use the time to clean and disinfect it and carry out any repairs ready for early autumn’s surge of activity. • Divide congested clumps of bearded iris after flowering.…

The sunflower family, Helianthus, may inspire a love or loathe reaction in gardeners, but it can always be relied upon to bring bold cheer in late summer and autumn. Breeding programmes have brought us varieties in a range of colours, from deep chocolate to the palest lemon-yellow. Some are multi-stemmed and perfect for vase arrangements, while others reach heights of 3m or more, towering over neighbouring garden plants. Early records in the RBG Kew herbarium point to the origins of a plant that is now both a widely grown ornamental product and an important food crop. Kew holds a specimen of Helianthus annuus that was collected by Ferdinand Lindheimer in 1894 in Texas. Another garden classic, gaura, also takes its name from Lindheimer: Oenothera lindheimeri. Both blooms are found across…

• Collect seeds by separating them from their seedcases and storing in a cool place. • Plant herbaceous perennials while the soil is still warm enough for roots to establish. • Lift hardwood cuttings taken last autumn, which by now will have rooted, and plant them in permanent positions. • Sow over-wintering broad beans and peas outside, with cloches to hand ready to protect them from the harshest winter weather. • Pot up prepared amaryllis (hippeastrum) bulbs so they flower in time for Christmas. • Sow sweet peas by the middle of October. Autumn-sown plants are naturally bushy and by the time they are planted out next spring, they’ll have strong, healthy roots.…

The appeal of hellebores for the winter garden is manifold. They’re hardy plants, mostly evergreen, fairly drought-tolerant, and, just when the winter garden is at its most muted, they appear offering blooms in a wonderful array of patterns and shapes, from striped, stippled and picotee to singles and doubles in deep, solid colours. Belonging to the Ranunculaceae family, hellebores are cousins of buttercups, anemones, aquilegia and clematis. With such attractive relatives, it’s no surprise that they have become such a classic winter plant. Hellebores originate from Europe, Asia and the Balkan states. There are around 20 species, but most fall into one of two groups: the caulescent or stemmed species, with clusters of stems that grow above ground level from upright, woody shoots; and acaulescent or stemless species, which grow…

Surely the sign of a great garden is one that performs at any time of the year? Denmans ticks this box and many others. Few are the gardens that you can honestly say look incredible in any weather, but I remember, some 20 years ago, sitting under a huge, wide-branched magnolia in such a downpour that there was no time to seek cover. It was at that moment that I understood what a great garden was. If it could look this good in the pouring rain, then imagine it in full sun. The magic of this four-acre space lies in its subdivision. Many country gardens make the most of a distant view or borrow from the surrounding landscape, but Denmans cleverly wraps in on itself to create internal vistas and…

Nothing signals the end to winter quite like a fanfare of brilliant daffodils bursting from the ground. These much-loved bulbs brighten even the chilliest spring morning with their trumpet-like blooms in a range of colours, including every shade of yellow, paper white, orange and even pink. Combine varieties from the different daffodil groups, and you’ll have flowers from late January all the way through to early May. Daffodils in the Tazetta Group are more commonly known as bunch-flowered or French daffodils. Not only do they provide a splash of colour as the garden comes out of dormancy, but their clusters of up to 20 florets per stem have a deliciously sweet fragrance, which has led to their use in the production of essential oils. Tazetta daffodils are native to Southern…

FRITILLARIA IMPERIALIS Glamorous crown imperials make a bold statement with their striking 1m tall flowers. CENTAUREA MONTANA A tough perennial that thrives in sun or semi-shade and flowers from May onwards. PRUNUS ‘ROYAL BURGUNDY’ With its striking upright habit and year-round interest, this cherry is ideal for small plots. NARCISSUS ‘THALIA’ This graceful, creamy-white, multi-headed daffodil blooms from March to April. TULIPA ‘DESIGN IMPRESSION’ These bright carmine-pink tulips make an impact in Matthew’s containers. MYOSOTIS SYLVATICA Cheery forget-me-nots self-seed to fill nooks and crannies in Matthew’s garden.…

• Once the soil has warmed up, sow hardy annuals direct where they’re to flower. • April is a good time to sow lawn seed to repair any bare patches or thicken the grass. • Keep an eye on weeds this month, hoeing off any annual weeds as they appear. • Pot up dahlia tubers and start them into growth in the warmth of the greenhouse. • Sow tender crops such as tomatoes, beans and sweetcorn under cover, and hardy vegetables, including salads, radishes, chard and beetroot, outdoors. • Feed roses to ensure lots of flowers this summer. Scatter granular rose fertiliser around the base of the bush and work in with a fork; water in the feed if there is no rain.…

Go to any garden centre and you’re almost guaranteed to find at least one hebe on offer. These shrubs are a staple of the nursery trade and sell in huge volumes, yet are rarely celebrated. Is it because they are so familiar we take them for granted? Perhaps it’s because quite a few of the hebes lined up on the garden centre’s benches are, shall we say, ‘tricky’ to integrate – a shrub with lurid pink leaves will inevitably divide opinion! But it would be a mistake to tar all hebes with the same brush. This is a diverse genus that includes those familiar garden centre shrubs as well as distinctive species not easily identifiable as hebes. There’s even a dedicated Hebe Society, championing their finer attributes to the wider…

While we all relish the thought of a refreshing dip in crystal clear water on a hot day, a traditional swimming pool with chlorine-treated water doesn’t always appeal. In contrast, a natural swimming pond blends easily into the garden, provides a habitat for wildlife and because it doesn’t use chemicals to keep the water clear, is an environmentally friendly choice, too. If you’ve ever been tempted to install your own swimming pool, but been put off by the aesthetics of a conventional pool and the environmental cost of the chemicals required to keep their water clear, choosing a natural swimming pond instead could be the perfect solution. As Tim Evans of Gartenart, one of the UK’s leading providers of natural swimming ponds and pools says: “They are one of the…

If plants could read the textbooks, then Abbotsbury would not – could not – exist. This fabulous subtropical garden, brimming with plants that experts tell us cannot possibly grow outdoors in dank, sunless England, is improbably sited in a wooded dell less than a mile inland from the wild, stony sweep of Chesil Beach on Dorset’s splendid Jurassic Coast. A belt of holm oaks encircling the garden acts as a giant blanket, according to garden curator Steve Griffith, helping to reduce radiation frost: while it is never especially hot, winter temperatures rarely fall below -3ºC. Then the steep chalk escarpment behind the gardens creates a rain-shadow, providing useful extra hours of sunshine, while the early-morning sea mists drifting in from Lyme Bay are sufficient to persuade the many rare camellias,…

• Prune summer-fruiting raspberries once they’ve cropped, cutting back old canes that have fruited and leaving the new, green canes that will bear fruit next year. • Keep containers, baskets and window boxes well watered and fed to keep them going until the first frosts. • Harvest crops such as figs, runner beans and summer squashes. Remove large leaves to let light reach developing pumpkins. • While they are growing well, pot up a few clumps of mint and parsley to grow on the kitchen windowsill during winter. • Plant specially prepared hyacinth bulbs in order to enjoy their scented flowers at Christmas. They need about 10-12 weeks from planting to flower.…

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 stalwart. 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…

• Order bare-root fruit trees and bushes now; late autumn and winter is the ideal time of year to plant them. • Plant winter bedding such as pansies, violas, heathers and cyclamen for colour in the garden throughout the season. • In the vegetable garden, sow broad beans and peas and net all brassicas to keep hungry birds off your crops. • Plant tulip bulbs this month. The colder soil temperatures at this time of year help prevent the fungal disease tulip fire. • Remove shabby old leaves of hellebores, cutting them off at ground level to make room for new buds. • Lift dahlia tubers, begonias and gladiolus corms to store in a frost-free shed over the winter months.…

• Get ready for colder weather: insulate outdoor taps and check greenhouse heaters are working. • Christmas is the cutoff point for pruning acers, birches and vines. Prune later, when the sap is rising, and the cuts may bleed. • Take hardwood cuttings from deciduous shrubs such as cornus, forsythia, philadelphus, buddleja and currants once their leaves have fallen. • As long as the ground isn’t frozen, winter is a good time to plant. Consider a shrub for winter scent, such as chimonanthus, sarcococca or winter honeysuckle. • Treat yourself to a festive poinsettia, but keep it somewhere free of cold draughts and well away from the heat of radiators.…