Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2024 i The English Garden

Dank, abominable, miserable: all words I’ve heard used to describe the weather we’ve endured so far this winter. Thank heavens for the signs of spring to remind us that there will soon be an end to it: the plucky bulbs are already pushing upwards and buds are fattening on the bare branches of shrubs. Our gardens in this issue feature an optimistic helping of spring’s earliest bulbs – snowdrops at North Green in Suffolk and crocus at Hampshire’s Little Court – as well as the daffodils that come later in the month and the collection of camellias at Borde Hill in Sussex. Hopefully they will whet the appetite with a taste of what’s to come. There’s not too long to wait now. I’ve never managed to stick to any New…

Rosie Fyles The head of gardens at Chiswick House & Gardens Trust is reinstating historical features and innovating in this community green space Chiswick House & Gardens is run by an independent trust, whose goal is to keep it open from dawn till dusk every day of the year for the community to use. Chiswick House is really just a glorious party room – there’s nothing domestic in it – and when you’re inside you realise how the gardens were key right from their inception. House and garden were developed around the same time, and the designers’ understanding of the future impact of trees they planted as saplings is extraordinary. It’s inspiring to me as a gardener to know that 300 years later this amazing vision eventually reached fruition. I…

“This is definitely not a garden for the faint-hearted,” declares David Woodhams with a rueful laugh. The soil here is stodgy Wealden clay; it’s waterlogged in winter and sets like concrete in summer. Salt-laden winds roar in over the hill from the sea, then, trapped by the cradling hills, cause chaos, snapping branches and uprooting newly planted trees. It’s a frost pocket in winter and all year round a smorgasbord for marauding hordes of squirrels, rabbits and deer. Nonetheless, David has been the gardener in charge at Steeple Manor in Dorset for over 30 years, and he clearly has a deep affection for his difficult charge. David has been gardener here for over 30 years and clearly has a deep affection for his difficult charge Over the decades he has…

Tucked away down narrow lanes that slice between tall hedges, Mothecombe House, a pretty Queen Anne jewel in South Devon, and the family hub of the Flete Estate, shines brightly with the brushstrokes of early spring. Its sash windows overlook a wooded valley carpeted with wildflowers and waxen pink camellia blooms, rhododendrons and azaleas, which slopes down through gnarled oaks and big clumps of narcissus towards the sea. “Spring is a bountiful time of year here with something new to see every time you walk through the garden,” says Lily Mildmay-White, who runs the garden with her husband John. “Snowdrops on the banks of the path, the orchard underplanted with daffodils, and then bluebells and hellebores. I love scent, so the daphne thriving under the Judas tree is a particular…

Camellias need plenty of moisture in soil that’s also well drained. Water is especially important during summer, which is when the following spring’s flower buds are formed, so Harry’s anticipating a floriferous show this year following 2023’s wet summer. They also need acidic soil. “If you can grow rhododendrons, you can grow camellias, but they won’t thrive in alkaline soil,” Harry warns. They can be grown in pots if your soil doesn’t suit. “Use an ericaceous, loam-based compost and apply an ericaceous feed,” advises Harry. It’s essential to prepare the ground well before planting. “Remember to allow for sinkage – it’s a really important thing to think about. We see so many trees that have sunk as the soil settles, and then the collar is submerged by water in winter…

SHEDS Hours can slip away in a good shed. Repositories of tools, garden furniture, packets of seed, compost, jars of screws and other bits of hardware that might be useful one day, they are more than the sum of their parts. In a quiet corner of a garden, sheds offer an escape from the bustle of home life and provide a place to gather your thoughts – even if you’re not doing very much. Sheds are unlikely to need planning permission, although councils do impose varying restrictions on their location, the proportion of the garden they’ll take up, their height and their ultimate purpose – which should be secondary to the house itself. For peace of mind, it’s worth checking the parameters set out by your local planning authority or…

TO CONCLUDE It is always a good time to visit Plas Brondanw, but perhaps the garden is at its most resonant in March, around the spring equinox. Amid the still-autumn colours of the surrounding mountains, the soft water-filled air remains charged with the electric yellow-gold of quilting moss and stained by the lacquered red of the bracken. Your first view of the house is a playful arrangement of rugged stone walls, steep slate roofs and toppling shapes of yew, against which a scattered burst of pale pink magnolia flowers dance fresh and new. In the distance, almost blotted out in the damp air, are two towering giants of the Eryri National Park: Cnicht and Moel-Ddu. Plas Brondanw had been in the family for 400 years when it was given to…

Lucy Shergold Garden photographer Lucy enjoys creating images that reflect the unique qualities and beauty of each garden she photographs, highlighting the details to tell their stories. Her photos of Steeple Manor are on page 32. Ambra Edwards Ambra is an award-winning writer and garden historian living in Dorset, who was thrilled to discover, in her home county, a superb early work by pioneering designer Brenda Colvin: Steeple Manor on page 32. Helen Yemm A passionate hands-on gardener, for 20 years writer and author Helen fielded readers’ questions on The Telegraph’s ‘Thorny Problems’ page. She writes about the garden at Bates Green on page 40.…

SHOPPING…

TOP 10 PLANTS With its breathtaking views across the waters of Windermere, Holehird is the picturesque home of the Lakeland Horticultural Society. Largely run by volunteers, this RHS Partner Garden is home to an impressive collection of some 500 species of alpine. These diverse plants thrive in the cold but suffer in excessive wet, so at Holehird they’re kept in a glasshouse built in 2000. Responsible for their care is Alan Oatway, who is also a member of the Alpine Garden Society and the Scottish Rock Garden Club. Here he suggests ten alpines “chosen for their relative ease, rather than their exclusivity”. Holehird Gardens, Patterdale Road, Windermere, Cumbria LA23 1NP. Tel: 015394 46008; holehirdgardens.org.uk 1 Anemone trullifolia This small anemone occurs naturally in the Himalayas from Nepal to south-west China,…

I’ve always found that the appeal of any nursery is boosted if you know there’s an on-site garden where you can see how plants offered for sale will grow and fit together. This makes Norwell Nurseries near Newark in Nottinghamshire, established by Andrew and Helen Ward in 1994, a particular favourite of mine. Set behind a row of terraced cottages on a heavy clay frost pocket, an unprepossessing, overgrown field has been developed by the couple into a superb nursery and an impressively diverse two-acre garden. They’ve manipulated the difficult conditions to their advantage using skill and sustained physical effort. “The weather extremes here are perhaps our biggest challenge, and we’ve had more of them than ever in recent years; winter is not my favourite season, but you can be…

We’re at the beginning of a new year, and thoughts around this time turn frequently to improvements – for the garden and for ourselves. This is where a well-timed gardening course can pay dividends, conveniently giving both a boost. Most short courses and workshops tend to run all year round. But for those longer courses and diplomas that you might consider if you are thinking about a change in career, it pays to plan ahead – especially since many are taking applications now for a term that starts in September 2024. We’ve rounded up 30 great courses to consider signing up to this year, starting with those that will help you master the basics. Then there are those that will take your day-to-day gardening to the next level. And finally,…

Online chat with gardening friends reveals signs of spring crossing the country in a wave from Cornwall to Northumberland. The first crocus, the first daffodil, the first camellia and so on, all shared cheerfully with just a hint of competition. Here in South Wales the Deanery Garden is at the precocious end of the spectrum. For me it feels like spring when not just a few but whole swathes of primroses are in bloom. As well as our native Primula vulgaris I grow its white-flowered Greek relation, the cultivar ‘Taigetos’. It is sterile and free flowering. I have increased it over the years by lifting and dividing clumps after flowering. I get out into the garden whenever I can, knowing it can revert to feeling like winter at any time.…

It was a stroke of luck that Colonel Stephenson Robert Clarke married Edith Gertrude Godman, who counted among her relatives the galanthophile and plant collector Henry Elwes of Colesbourne Park. When ‘Stephie’ Clarke and Edith moved into their new home, Borde Hill in Sussex, in 1893, Stephie focused “at first on making it a family home and then on the wider landscape”, says Borde Hill’s current head of horticulture, Harry Baldwin. But some ten years in, encouraged by Elwes, the Colonel began to turn his attention to the garden. “He wasn’t interested in plants at first. He loved natural history and ornithology, but you can see from the letters between them that Elwes really encouraged him to start collecting trees, and that’s how the collection here began,” says Harry. Soon…

DAFFODILS Set and MATCH Add textiles decorated with daffodil designs to your garden table to elevate your theme: a linen tablecloth will set the base for styling your table. Place seasonal floral arrangements in the centre, cutting the stems short so your guests can easily chat over them. These gorgeous centrepieces were made with a mix of narcissi grown by Hortus Poeticus. Glasses and pale ceramics tie the flowers together along with the matching patterned napkins, while tortoiseshell cutlery adds a luxurious touch. Spring bulbs tablecloth, £125. Daffodil linen napkins, £18 each. Daffodil linen ruffle cushion cover, £60. All byhope.co.uk…