The English Garden October 2021

THE

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GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

For everyone who loves beautiful gardens

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Why autumn’s the best time to plant

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CONTRIBUTORS

Jill Anderson Jill is a writer, author and award-winning designer, with a special interest in sustainability and organic gardening. She explores a productive early autumn garden in Godalming, Surrey, on page 42.

Julie Skelton Surrey-based photographer Julie firmly believes in the mental and physical benefits of spending time in green spaces, and was delighted by the variety she found in the Godalming garden on page 42.

Welcome T

he journey of discovery in my new garden continues, with lots of surprises coming in the form of paths hidden by thickets of brambles and huge tree stumps revealed in my efforts to cut back overgrown ‘borders’ (I use the term loosely). There’s a lot of work ahead, and I was starting to feel just a little overwhelmed until I read Jim Cable’s feature on why autumn is the best time both to plan and plant (page 105). It provided just the impetus I needed to grab my spade – although at the moment the tool getting the most use is a heavy-duty mattock – and get back at it. I’ve rashly ordered bulbs and bareroot roses to incentivise my labours – now there’s a deadline!

In the meantime, the issue offers lots of inspiration for future planting schemes that will ensure colour and interest during the autumn months. Matthew Wilson’s design for Acomb High House in Hexham is beautiful, with asters and grasses around beehives of beech, while at The Dower House in Melbourne, Griselda Kerr, author of The Apprehensive Gardener, shows how to plant fearlessly to great effect. A garden even approaching this calibre is some years off for me, but while I wait I can at least forage blackberries from my brambles to use in hedgerow recipes (page 117), so it’s not all bad.

IMAGE NEIL HEPWORTH; ANNA M FRANCKEN; DIANNA JAZWINSKI

CLARE FOGGETT, EDITOR

Dianna Jazwinski Dianna is a garden photographer with an interest in exploring and photographing plants.

She sells prints of her personal work at mybotanicalheart.com and her images of panicum feature on page 79.

ON THE COVER Autumn is a time for doing, says Jim Cable in his rallying cry for autumn planting on p105.

Border at Pettifers photographed by Clive Nichols.

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October 2021

CONTENTS SAVE 27% 42

The English Garden subscription PAGE 68

Gardens 22 The Dower House Griselda Kerr’s book may be called The Apprehensive Gardener, but her Derbyshire garden is the work of a bold and confident plantswoman.

32 The Old Rectory In Northamptonshire, Kate Toller has used signature colours for a stylish, balanced garden of tranquil delights.

42 Godalming Garden This Surrey garden fulfils a passion for crops, alongside relaxed perennial planting that peaks in autumn.

52 Acomb High House A Matthew Wilsondesigned garden in Northumberland features a longed-for potager and verdant lawn, with the added bonus of a dreamy Monet Garden.

60 Broadwoodside This bucolic dream of a garden and family home in East Lothian has been developed from dilapidation, its warm colours reflecting the love poured into it.

Design

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125 Craftspeople Andrew Kay’s lifelike steel sculptures of birds and animals are inspired by the wildlife near his Cumbrian home.

Plants 71 Top 10 Plants Andy Karavics of Scampston Walled Garden chooses ten plants that look good as they fade.

77 Garden Classics Unassuming cotoneaster is a hero plant offering year-round interest.

79 Plant Focus Of all the grasses cultivated at the Sussex Prairie Garden, panicum are among the easiest and the most beautiful.

87 Bulbs Three experts offer signature recipes for mixing up bulbs in borders, containers and meadows for spring displays.

93 Bloms Bulbs Looking ahead to their return at the 2022 Chelsea Flower Show.

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95 Hedging Now is the time to plant hedges with their myriad styles and uses.

105 Autumn Gardening This is the perfect time to take action for the year ahead.

113 The Queen’s Green Canopy To celebrate The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022, a new initiative invites everyone to plant trees.

117 Autumn Fruits & Foraging Turn seasonal fruits and berries into homemade treats.

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IMAGES JULIE SKELTON; ANNA OMIOTEK-TOTT; CLIVE NICHOLS; DIANNA JAZWINSKI; SHUTTERSTOCK

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Regulars 9 This Month Our regular guide to people, gardens, events, news, tasks and nature.

17 Shopping Products and gifts to help you celebrate autumn and spruce up your shed.

131 The Reviewer This month’s literary digest, plus Gwendolyn van Paasschen reflects on the inimitable John Brookes.

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138 To Conclude Non Morris recommends full-coverage climbers for a fairy-tale effect.

Offers 68 Subscribe & Save Subscribe to The English Garden and save money.

84 N1 Garden Centre To celebrate the launch of its online houseplant store, N1 is offering an introductory 20% discount.

Principles of Horticulture

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People to Meet

Introducing the gardeners and public figures we most admire in British horticulture

Raymond Evison

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Raymond’s favourite gardens

INTERVIEW PHOEBE JAYES IMAGES NATIONAL TRUST/JONATHAN BUCKLEY; JOHN DE GARIS

The nurseryman and passionate plant hunter breeds clematis at his Guernsey nursery and is exhibiting at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show I left school at 15, after my headmaster said: “Evison, staying on is a waste of time.”

My father was manager of what was then Treasures of Tenbury, a nursery with a fouracre garden at Burford House.

I began edging the lawn there, which let me observe plants at different times of the year.

Plantsman Percy Picton got me excited about clematis.

He invited me to join him at Chelsea when I was a teenager, and after the show he would tell me about his work at Gravetye Manor and the clematis hybrids coming in from France. Slowly, I took over clematis at Treasures, and by 23 I was managing director.

In the harsh winter of 1981, when Shropshire temperatures fell to -26°C, we lost a third of our plants, prompting me to move the clematis business over to Guernsey.

I began a joint breeding programme with Mogens Oleson of Poulsen Roser A/S in Denmark. We predicted that by 2000 people would have smaller gardens and spend less time gardening, so we bred compact clematis with a longer flowering time. I have now bred over 150 new varieties. From pollination to market takes 8–10 years, and longer still for the plant to be accepted by the industry and

Hidcote Manor Gloucestershire Hidcote has inspired me since I was a young man.

I used to visit it with my parents. It has several old Clematis viticella cultivars, some of which were almost lost to cultivation.

Tel: 01386 438333; nationaltrust.org.uk

Spetchley Park Gardens

then the public. It’s hard to name a favourite, but ‘Corinne’ is one. This strong, multiflowering plant has white blooms with pale pink stripes.

I love to hunt for plants. My first expedition was to China in 1981 and last April we formed a joint venture with Beijing Florascape to develop new clematis hybrids with plants from Guernsey and the wilds of China. It’s amazing to have this chance at 77, and I can’t wait to join the team there. In the meantime, I’ve set up a unit in the nursery for native

plants with my friend Chris Chatfield. We’ve raised 700 plants from seed, many of which are considered rare in the British Isles. We hope to save many special Guernsey plants from extinction.

The postponed Chelsea Flower Show this year will let us show off around 50 different repeat flowerers.

The recent heatwave has accelerated the growth of many of our plants, so fingers crossed we’ll be able to manage the timings! raymondevisonclematis.com

Worcester Spetchley is full of rare and unusual varieties, including some of the earliest plants that came into cultivation.

I love searching for plants in the wild and this is a fascinating garden from a plant point of view. Tel: 01905 345106; spetchleygardens.co.uk

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 9

OCTOBER

Out & About

Unmissable events, news and the very best gardens to visit this month

Gardening for a healthier climate The IPCC Climate Change 2021 report is a sobering reminder of the impact of climate change on our planet, but scientists say catastrophe can be avoided if the world acts fast. Responding to the report, Professor Alistair Griffiths of the RHS urges UK gardeners to adopt greener gardening practices. “Plots and even pots can make a difference through delivering services previously provided by the natural environment, such as reducing water run-off and minimising flooding, drawing and storing carbon from the atmosphere and helping to shade and cool urban areas.”

RHS Botanical Art & Photography Show

Roots to Seeds at the Bodleian Until 24 October, Oxford Marking the 400th anniversary of the foundation of Oxford Botanic Garden in 1621, this exhibition examines the history of botanical research and teaching at Oxford while celebrating the beauty of plants. Prepare to admire 17th-century herbals, elegant garden plans and botanical illustrations, while looking into the future of plant science, with contributions from current students.

Tickets: Free. visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk

10 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

NGS Garden

The Watergardens 17 October, London Planted by the Veitch family in the 1860s, these enchanting Japanese landscaped gardens were originally part of Coombe Wood Nursery. Explore nine acres with ponds, streams and waterfalls, as well as many rare trees that provide stunning autumn colour. A must-see garden for treelovers. Adults £5; Children free. The Watergardens, Warren Road, Kingstonupon-Thames, Greater London, KT2 7LF. ngs.org.uk

WORDS PHOEBE JAYES IMAGES SHUTTERSTOCK; CAROLYN JENKINS; MATTHEW BRUCE

18 September-3 October, London The Royal Horticultural Society has partnered with the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea to present an exhibition of botanical art and photography that will run in tandem with this year’s autumn Chelsea Flower Show.

The show features more than 200 pieces by 34 global artists, and all of the intricate illustrations and garden photographs on display will be judged by an expert panel to compete for RHS medals in Gold, Silver Gilt, Silver and Bronze. Adults from £5; children free. saatchigallery.com

VICTORIAN GRAND LODGE West Yorkshire

Discover the secret of Hartley Botanic by calling 0800 783 8083 or visit www.hartley-botanic.co.uk

NOTHING ELSE IS A HARTLEY The only aluminium Glasshouses and Greenhouses endorsed by the RHS ® The Royal Horticultural Society. The Royal Horticultural Society, and its logo, are trade marks of The Royal Horticultural Society (Registered Charity No 222879/SC038262) and used under licence from RHS Enterprises Limited.

OCTOBER

Things to Do Keep up to date in the garden with our monthly guide to key gardening tasks from Troy Scott Smith, head gardener at Iford Manor

Local fruit tree varieties to try

Damson ‘Westmorland’ Relatively small but delicious fruits and white blossom on a tree suited to northern climes.

Apple ‘Beauty of Bath’ These attractive, sharp-tasting fruits ripen from mid-July in southern England.

PRUNE & order fruit trees We will soon be pruning the fruit trees in the orchard at Iford Manor. It was the last day of September when we harvested the apples to be used in the making of our Iford Cider, and by now most of the leaves have dropped.

This is also a good time to think about ordering new fruit trees for winter planting.

Buy them as no more than

a single stem, called a whip.

Plant your young fruit whip in its permanent position as soon as you can after delivery or collection. If you are unable to do this, you can keep it in a cold but frost-free garage for a short period – remember that you shouldn’t plant when the soil is frozen or waterlogged.

I love damsons and in the west, ‘Shropshire Prune’ is a

12 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

good variety. If you’re further north, go for ‘Westmorland’.

When it comes to choosing apples, I like to go for varieties local to where you garden: ‘Beauty of Bath’ is obviously a good choice for Iford.

Iford Manor, Iford, Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire BA15 2BA. Tel: 01225 863146; ifordmanor. co.uk. Follow Troy on Instagram: @troyscottsmith1

Damson ‘Shropshire Prune’ Very astringent but delicious when cooked, this variety likes the wet climate of the west.

October checklist Reinvigorate lawns and tidy up perennial borders Creating these slots lets in air, relieving compaction and improving drainage.

Every three years (do it more regularly if you garden on badly drained clay soil), we use the same machine, but fitted with hollow tines. Instead of just making a slot, cores of soil are pulled out. These need to be picked up and then the holes are filled by brushing in a top dressing of sharp sand.

On areas of bare lawn we sprinkle old potting compost mixed with grass seed onto the surface. We brush this in with a stiff birch besom so that some of the seed is worked into the soil’s surface. Finally, we apply an autumn fertiliser that’s high in potash to stimulate new root growth.

IMAGES ALUN CALLENDER; ALAMY; GAP/CAROLE DRAKE/HOWARD RICE/ROBERT MABIC

Care for the lawn Although it would be desirable to wait until the garden closes at the end of September, autumn work on the lawn must begin before then. If we wait any later than mid-September the soil temperature is too low for regrowth.

The first task is to remove the buildup of dead grass that lies in the sward, also called thatch. Its removal will reinvigorate the grass and minimise the risk of fungal disease in warm and damp conditions. We have large areas of lawns at Iford, so we use a mechanical rake or scarifier, but on a

smaller scale a metal tined rake will do just as well. Once the thatch has been raked out from the sward, it needs to be collected. To do this we use plastic rakes, wooden clapboards and sheets – if it is dry the thatch will be very light and will rake up more effectively.

The next task is to improve surface aeration and drainage. We use a mechanical spiker, but on a domestic scale a border fork will be just as effective (right). Push the fork down 6cm and wiggle it about, then repeat this action moving backwards at 15cm intervals across the entire lawn.

Clear borders of old growth As the exuberance of summer melts away, it is the bones of the garden laid out by Edwardian architect Harold Peto that begin to reveal themselves. Vistas open up and the sharp lines of Harold’s design are once more etched into the garden.

Autumn is really the start of the gardening year and, if the weather allows, many of the enduring tasks of the season can be achieved before the first frosts and the worst of the winter weather arrive.

The clearing of last season’s growth should be completed before any new shoots begin to emerge. Sometimes the spent flowers, foliage and stems can simply be snapped off – this works well with phlox for example.

For others, secateurs are essential.

We always begin with clearing our hemerocallis, since they quickly turn to a slimy mush with the first frosts.

The last of the perennials to be cut down should be the grasses, and this is only done when new growth is starting to push through in spring.

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 13

OCTOBER

Nature to Note

The wonder of wildlife in the garden and countryside this month

Two HOOTS The British Isles are currently home to five species of owl: barn, tawny, long-eared, short-eared and little. Of these, the tawny owl is by far the most vociferous and during the months of October and November its hoots ring out across the night skies. Listen out for the female’s shriek of ‘keewick’ and the male’s wavering call. Put together, the two produce the classic ‘to-whit, to-whoo’ call, immortalised by Shakespeare in Love’s Labour’s Lost.

Tawny owl pairs usually hold onto the same territory for life. They make such a racket in autumn because this is when the young birds are reaching maturity and seeking out new homes of their own. This causes a drastic change in the dynamics between parents and young, as the adults who were once so protective fight to hold onto their established patches with piercing cries and aggression.

FIELD MAPLE (Acer campestre)

WILDLIFE NEWS

How to identify it This compact tree has small leaves comprised of five lobes and rounded teeth. Dark green and shiny in summer, they turn a rich gold in autumn, before falling off their long stems and leaving behind only the knobbled grey leaf buds. The field maple grows up to 20m tall and its bark is light and flaky, taking on a corky appearance with age.

Where to find it The UK’s only native maple is planted widely across the country in gardens and parks as well as the wilder habitats of woods, scrub and hedgerow.

Value to wildlife Valuable to wildlife large and small, the field maple is attractive

Rare forester moth resurfaces

14 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

A recent sighting of the nationally rare forester moth in Hertfordshire has paused plans to build warehouses in the area. The sighting of this beautiful iridescent green moth was the first in the county for 45 years, and the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust is urging the local council to rethink the construction project.

WORDS PHOEBE JAYES IMAGES SHUTTERSTOCK

to aphids, ladybirds, hoverflies and birds. Several species of moth, including the mocha and the maple prominent, feed on the tree’s leaves, while its flowers provide nectar and pollen for pollinators and its fruits are enjoyed by small mammals.

Did you know? In the 17th-century, the herbalist Nicholas Culpeper recommended the leaves and bark of maple trees for strengthening the liver. The connotations of the tree in Victorian times were not quite so affirmative: in the language of flowers, a maple branch included in a bouquet represents the sender’s reservations.

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Tel: 01922 621286; haemmerlin.co.uk 8. Aulica leaf napkin rings – set of four, £39.99. Tel: 0800 7564349; wayfair.co.uk 9. Golden acorn bunches – set of six, £24. Tel: 03332 401228; sophieconran. com 10. Kent & Stowe telescopic fruit picker, £24.99. Tel: 01497 847055; oldrailwaylinegc.co.uk

WORDS PHOEBE JAYES. ALL PRICES ARE CORRECT AT TIME OF GOING TO PRESS.

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The Virtuoso GARDENER

Griselda Kerr’s book may be called The Apprehensive Gardener, to reflect her steep learning curve, but her garden at The Dower House in Derbyshire is the work of a bold and confident plantswoman WORDS JACKY HOBBS PHOTOGRAPHS CLIVE NICHOLS

22 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

Kniphofia rooperi, Aconitum ‘Kelmscott’ and dahlias bring bold, gutsy colour to borders at The Dower House.

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 23

M

any of you will be familiar with the magnificent, extensive formal gardens of Melbourne Hall in Derbyshire, which proclaims itself ‘the best surviving early 18th-century garden in the manner of Le Notre’. Less well known are the more informal neighbouring gardens of The Dower House, its early 19th-century, Grade II-listed cousin.

Here, enjoying broad vistas over the hugely atmospheric 20-acre Melbourne Pool, an intimate and enchanting garden has been created by Griselda and William Kerr, William being the first cousin of Lord Ralph Kerr, who owns Melbourne Hall.

The unusually diverse site affords a wide variety of planting opportunities, with a range of habitats suitable for plants that thrive in full sun, every degree of shade, wet or well-drained soil, making it a real plantswoman’s playground.

Over the past two decades, Griselda, who initially had limited gardening knowledge, has discovered, researched, planted and nurtured several hundred different specimens. “Not all have been entirely successful,” she reveals, but the garden’s autumnal spectacle suggests otherwise. The Dower House garden is a living textbook, an accumulation of acquired knowledge and experience that Griselda has noted down over the years.

In 2000, with all their children at boarding school, Griselda returned from Hong Kong to The Dower House while her husband continued working abroad. With the children away, the ‘garden’ beckoned: “One-and-a-half overgrown acres with eight-foot-tall brambles, impenetrable pathways and trees blocking every view!”

Top Griselda Kerr, who A gradual clearance operation began, and wrote The Apprehensive bits of garden started to emerge.

Gardener while caring for the garden here.

Only then did it dawn on Griselda Middle A golden bloom that “I had no idea how to look after any of Abutilon ‘Canary Bird’. existing plants let alone those I wished to This image Box and add.” She duly signed up to three years of berberis edge beds of dahlias and helianthus. gardening school, bolting on additional study courses. She read avidly, soaking up information while finding expert advice at the nurseries she frequented: David Austin, Peter Beales, Bluebell Arboretum and Nursery, Mill Cottage Plants, Ashwood Nurseries, Knoll Gardens, Millais and her local nursery at Swarkestone.

Always seeking and recording answers to her questions – When might I prune this cotinus? How should I prune my roses?

When should I cut down these grasses?

How can I encourage this monarda to stay in flower? – she diarised solutions to multiple plant quandaries, which resulted in a practical guide to managing garden

“I had no idea how to look after any existing plants, let alone those I wished to add”

24 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

The clear yellow Dahlia ‘Glorie van Heemstede’ shines out against the tranquil waters of Melbourne Pool.

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 25

Above A mound of grey Teucrium fruticans contrasts with scarlet Acer japonicum ‘Aconitifolium’.

Right This stone sculpture of a Chinese lion is from Hong Kong.

Below Various asters, echinops, sedum and salvias contribute pinks and mauve to the Long Border next to the lawn.

plants throughout the year. This compilation eventually became her book, The Apprehensive Gardener. As the book took shape, many plants beyond her own soil’s remit were also included, so now it provides information on most of the plants likely to be found in a typical English garden.

Griselda capitalises on the breadth of different habitats afforded by the aspect and topography of her garden. “The soil generally is neutral, but it is slightly more acidic and heavier in the west,” she explains. It’s consistently moist by the water’s edge but drier on the east where the lesser clay content means “lots of mulching and staking, otherwise plants fall over in the free-draining, Millstone Grit soil”. However, she adds, this soil is ‘lovely to work’.

The garden faces due south, with sun-soaked upper terraces, while canopies of mature trees on the western side create shady areas that provide a range of climatic situations coupled with plateaus, steep inclines and water fronts. Griselda has designed, created and tailored planting schemes to suit every aspect of her garden at all times of the year. The warm, sheltered walls of The Dower House itself are elegantly smothered with wisteria and the earlyflowering rose ‘Madame Alfred Carrière’. “I have to snip regularly to maintain views from the bedroom

Canopies of mature trees on the western side create shady areas that provide a range of climatic situations windows!” Griselda exclaims. Soft pink, blue and white flowers linger on into autumn, decorating the front-of-house borders: white Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Purity’, pink Rosa ‘Bonica’, musky-scented nicotiana, and blue Salvia uliginosa, are interspersed with silvery clouds of Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’.

The colours darken towards the western front corner of the house. The Wisteria Bed includes relatively tender Abutilon ‘Ashford Red’, deep rosered Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Rubenza’ and dramatic dark torches of Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Blackfield’.

These long-lasting blooms perform well into autumn, thriving in their sheltered, sunny, welldrained situation. “In the ground they seem to get through the winter if protected from strong winds,” Griselda notes sagely in her book.

Conditions are similar in the garden’s eastern Long Border, which flanks the Main Lawn. Planting here is successional, deliberately autumnal now, with mixed perennials in warm seasonal tones of pink, terracotta and mauve. Towering pink-tinged plumes of Persicaria polymorpha mix with fountains of ornamental grass sesleria, sedum Hylotelephium

26 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

SEASONAL spectacle At The Dower House, autumn is welcomed by a range of plants chosen for high-impact flowers

DAHLIA ‘BISHOP OF AUCKLAND’

DAPHNE ‘ETERNAL FRAGRANCE’

ACONITUM CARMICHAELII ‘KELMSCOTT’

Single flowers with petals of crimson velvet above dark foliage and stems.

This superb daphne produces its scented blooms from April to October.

Tall spires of deep purple-blue hooded flowers reach between 1.2 and 1.8m.

CANNA ‘BETHANY’

DAHLIA ‘GLORIE VAN HEEMSTEDE’

ASARINA ‘SNOW WHITE’

Tender cannas need winter protection, but this variety’s bold flowers and gold striped leaves are worth the effort.

Waterlily flowers in clear, luminous yellow from midsummer onwards.

Grow this half-hardy annual climber from seed sown under cover in spring; you may see it sold as lophospermum.

COSMOS ‘PURITY’

DAHLIA ‘NUIT D’ETÉ’

HELENIUM ‘WALTRAUT’

This popular cosmos brings a welcome freshness to autumn’s rich tones, with its delicate flowers and feathery foliage.

A striking cactus-type dahlia with burgundy flowers that are darker at the centre, creating a dramatic display.

A robust, upright variety of helenium with yellow and orange flowers borne between July and September.

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 27

WESTLAND LONDON SPECIALISTS IN ANTIQUE FIREPLACES & FINE ANTIQUES SINCE 1969

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Above Helenium ‘Waltraut’ perfectly complements golden Sorbus scalaris.

Left In the woods, a swing seat made by Duncan Thurlby.

Below Hydrangea paniculata ‘Limelight’, with Helianthus ‘Miss Mellish creating a golden glow behind.

spectabile ‘Brilliant’ with Aster x frikartii ‘Mönch,’ aster ‘Little Carlow’ and heath aster Symphyotrichum ericoides. There’s Echinops ritro ‘Veitch’s Blue’, with the silver-leaved weeping pear, Pyrus salicifolia ‘Pendula’, which spills, willowlike over the water’s edge. “The colours here are restrained and elegant in contrast to the explosive, effulgent colours on the west side of the garden at this time,” Griselda observes.

The western lawn’s Hot Border, still sun-soaked, is damper and almost tropical. It’s a riot of carnivalcoloured planting that is deliberately designed to keep the colour coming until the first frosts. It includes free-flowering sunflowers Helianthus ‘Miss Mellish’ and H. ‘Lemon Queen’, Kniphofia rooperi, Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora ‘Emily McKenzie’ and dahlias such as ‘Glorie van Heemstede’, ‘Nuit d’Eté’ and ‘Bishop of Auckland’.

Hedged in with colourful pink Berberis thunbergii f. atropurpurea ‘Rose Glow’ and traditional clipped box, spears of the sharp blue monk’s hood, Aconitum carmichaelii ‘Kelmscott’, pierce the hotter hues. “Cut down dead flower stalks of aconitum before the leaves turn brown. Always wear gloves; they are so poisonous,” Griselda advises in her book.

Lawns are a key feature in the garden. “I like to maintain sweeping areas of green, which retain the views, complement the openness of the pool and OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 29

relax the eye,” says Griselda. The Chelsea Morning Lawn, with its cartwheeling bronze statue by Helen Sinclair, runs down a steep slope, pinned by standard privet lollipops. This break in the sloping woodland affords clear views over on-the-turn treetops, across pillars of Irish yew and a huge bobbin of privet. “Evergreen structure brings year-round shape and texture to the garden and is a foil to the looser bursts of autumn colour provided by acers, cercis, cotinus, metasequoia and others,” says Griselda.

Woodland shade and damper areas of the garden are spangled with flashes of colour from large-leaved Kirengeshoma palmata, toad lily (tricyrtis), and still-in-flower Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ 30 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

Top Helen Sinclair’s bronze statue cartwheels through quirky privet lollipops on the Chelsea Morning Lawn.

Above A sculpture of a pig snuffles around the base of Euonymus alatus, just beginning to show its fiery autumn colour.

alongside other autumn-peaking Hydrangea paniculata, which flush with colour as they mature. “Hydrangea paniculata has excellent dried flowerheads,” notes Griselda in the book – she leaves them on the plant and prunes in February.

The Glade and Bog Garden areas on the western waterside margins of the garden are the dampest parts, but their south-facing aspect and well-drained raised beds retained by stone walls mean plants that dislike the wet can also cope here. Tropical giant cordylines, phormiums and Stipa gigantea survive cheek-by-jowl with thickets of orange-marmalade Helenium ‘Waltraut’, gunnera, rodgersia, astilbe and other moisture lovers.

The Dower House garden is an opulent, colourful tapestry of trees, shrubs, foliage and flowering plants, which thrive in the wealth of naturally occurring garden habitats, especially radiant in autumn. Through curiosity, trial and error, dogged determination and an insatiable love of plants, Griselda’s garden glows with the same vitality, enthusiasm and charm as its owner. n The Dower House, Church Square, Melbourne, Derbyshire DE73 8JH. Tel: 01332 864756. Bookings by appointment for groups of 8 or more can be made any time of the year. For signed and dedicated copies of The Apprehensive Gardener for £12.50 plus £3.50 p&p, email garden@dowerhouse.email with your name, address, and who you would like the book dedicated to, and you will be contacted.

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Dressed to IMPRESS

Turning her eye for fashion to The Old Rectory in Northamptonshire, owner Kate Toller has used signature colours to dress beds and borders, rescuing the space from encroaching wilderness to create a stylish, balanced garden of tranquil delights WORDS GARETH RICHARDS PHOTOGRAPHS ANNA OMIOTEK-TOTT

Cleome, solanum and bananas in terracotta pots add an exotic late-season flourish to this area of the garden.

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 33

Above Lawns slope from the Georgian rectory, which is clad in rambling roses and wisteria.

Right Kate Toller owns The Old Rectory with her husband Guy. Far right The potager entrance, flanked by tree peonies and box balls.

34 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

T

he geological map of Britain is a beautiful and complex thing. Look closely and you’ll see many interesting shapes and forms that explain a lot about this island’s history and culture.

One such shape is an elegant curl – a great band of Oolitic limestone – that makes a curving sweep up the middle of England. From the Dorset coast up past Bath, Oxford and on to the Lincolnshire Wolds, this delightful stone built many quintessentially English towns and villages and is particularly loved for its warm, honey-coloured tones that make the Cotswolds and their cottages so special.

While rural Gloucestershire might be something of a tourist hotspot, happily the thatched villages further up the band remain tranquil and unspoilt.

One such village is Sudborough, in the verdant, rolling countryside of Northamptonshire. Nestled into a south-facing slope and overlooked by the 13th-century All Saints church, The Old Rectory is the epitome of rural England.

Home to Kate and Guy Toller for the past seven years, this three-acre garden surrounds a lateGeorgian rectory. Built from mellow golden local limestone, its graceful proportions and stylish simplicity set the tone for the garden, which has been lovingly developed during their tenure.

From overgrown, overblown beds, borders and encroaching wilderness, the Tollers have created

something that is Left A range of dahlias are still adding vivid truly magical. colour as autumn The garden is a progresses. Try ‘Bishop masterclass in balancing of Leicester’ for similar. exuberant planting with a sense of control and order. At the back of the house, classically tall Georgian windows open onto a sunny stone terrace, backed by generous swirls of Rosa ‘Raubritter’. Two ancient standard white wisterias guard the top of stone steps, which are covered in an abundance of the delightful daisylike Erigeron karvinskianus and lead down to an expansive central lawn.

Off to the left is Kate’s treasured Rose Circle.

Sheltered by a sloping bed of drought-loving Mediterranean-type plants such as alliums, santolina and sedums, it mixes classic English garden combinations of roses and low box hedging with some unexpected elements to give a Moorish feel. Rich blue-purple flowers of standard Lycianthes rantonnetii (formerly Solanum rantonnetii) speak of sunnier climes, while the green oak gazebo with its pointed copper finial and pyramidal trellis tops echoes the nearby church tower. Spider flowers (Cleome hassleriana ‘Violet Queen’) and Verbena bonariensis provide a dynamic, exotic-looking foil to the roses, and ensure this part of the garden retains interest well into the autumn.

The central lawn and its generously sized mixed borders slope gently down to a large pond, filled in summer with pink waterlilies. There’s a seamless transition here to a wilder, more naturalistic style.

Grass paths dissect borders not of cultivated soil, but meadow grasses studded with choice shrubs and trees such as the paper birch, Betula papyrifera, and Persian ironwood, Parrotia persica.

Happy memories of childhood summers on the Channel Islands at the renowned gardens of La Seigneurie, owned by her great-grandmother, the Dame of Sark, instilled in Kate a life-long love of plants. However, after a 25-year career spent in the fashion industry, it is only in the past few years at The Old Rectory that her gardening passion and knowledge has shifted up a gear. “Our wonderful, Kew-trained gardener Ben Houston taught me a lot,” says Kate. “After he left, I was terrified. But now I’ve ended up taking control and even giving talks!”

Certainly her fashionista eye is evident in the use of colour. Purple leaves and flowers are repeated throughout the garden – “it’s such a grounding

The garden is a masterclass in balancing exuberant planting with a sense of control and order OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 35

The potager was designed by Rosemary Verey, with stepover apples marking the formal layout of beds.

36 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

Fan-trained peaches line the south wall while standard gooseberries give structure to vegetable beds colour,” says Kate. The colour scheme of the herbaceous borders is based around Rosa ‘Burgundy Ice’, with purplish cercis, ricinus and physocarpus all contributing, the latter repeated in the wilder areas at the bottom of the garden. Purple-stemmed Tibetan cherry Prunus serrula ‘Branklyn’ is also used throughout: its shiny reddish-purple bark glows in all seasons, complementing the tree’s white spring flowers and yellow autumn colour.

However, this isn’t the first time discerning eyes have alighted upon The Old Rectory. Back in the 1980s, renowned garden designer Rosemary Verey was employed to create a potager. With its colourful brick paths, and abundant flowers, trained fruit and low hedges, it is very Above Looking down much of its time. Fanover the Rose Circle, and trained peaches its surrounding bed of silvery santolina and line the south wall, richly autumnal sedum. while standard Left A sheltered spot gooseberries give to sit next to the house, structure to vegetable with Dahlia ‘Blue Bayou’.

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 37

Above Further away from the house, the garden becomes wilder, with a pond crossed by a green painted bridge.

Left Dahlias flowering their socks off.

Below In a sheltered courtyard, Tibouchina urvilleana is the highlight of a group of containers.

beds. Rhubarb enjoys the fertile clay soil and annual lashings of compost and is used to make rhubinis: the Tollers’ signature cocktail. Home-made, secretrecipe rhubarb cordial is mixed with champagne to make the ultimate summer drink.

“Gardening here is a challenge,” says Kate. “The enclosed, south-facing nature of the site means that heat can become trapped in the summer – one August we recorded temperatures of over 40°C in the potager!” In the winter, meanwhile, temperatures can plunge and persistent frost pockets form in sheltered hollows. The secret to getting good results is home-made compost, and lots of it. When Kate presented her ideas for a four-bay compost area to husband Guy, he said: “It’s either compost or a holiday.” Suffice to say the passports went un-thumbed that year, and the Tollers now use a mini digger to turn their compost.

Alongside the Rose Circle’s lycianthes and cleome, many other tender plants enliven the garden, adding

Rhubarb enjoys the fertile clay soil here and is used to make rhubinis: the Tollers’ signature cocktail OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 39

particular value to late-season displays.

As autumn leaves on deciduous trees begin to colour up, the dahlias hit their stride, a particular favourite being ‘Verrone’s Obsidian’. Its quilled, inky, burgundy-red petals have darker tints, picking up on the garden’s signature purple palette.

Further late-season tender stars include darkleaved ricinus and salvias such as the vivid pink Salvia involucrata on the terrace next to the house.

Zesty lemon-coloured argyranthemums add many months of floral interest to the Yellow Garden alongside the churchyard. Meanwhile, in a sheltered west-facing courtyard to the side of the house, the super-saturated purple flowers of Tibouchina urvilleana shine out among pretty displays of plectranthus and pelargoniums.

Lively though these plant displays are, the garden is a peaceful place. Red kites soar overhead and church bells count out the hours in a daily ritual that is somehow timeless despite being defined by time.

When the garden used to open to the public, visitors were often moved to tears by the serene spectacle unfolding before them. Certainly the garden has helped keep Kate and Guy sane in tough times over the past couple of years. As Audrey Hepburn once said, “to plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow”. n Above Trained fruit clothes the arches that make the potager as decorative as it is productive.

Right Inky, spiky Dahlia ‘Verrone’s Obsidian’.

Far right Gorgeous Lycianthes rantonnetii, formerly solanum.

40 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

Kate’s ADVICE Tips on creating a stylish and well-designed garden Pick a signature colour and repeat

Crown-lift large shrubs such as

it judiciously throughout the garden

osmanthus and Prunus lusitanica.

for cohesion – it can be bark, stems

You’ll open up lots of space for a

or leaves, as well as flowers.

range of choice shade-loving plants

Wind the stems of climbing roses

beneath them.

in circles when growing them

Don’t be afraid to split up large

against a wall: by breaking the

beds and borders by using

plant’s natural vertical habit, you

paths. A curving bark path will sit

will encourage prolific flowering.

easily amid planting and makes

Fight box blight by taking the best

maintenance much easier.

care possible of the soil around

Use large pots as statement pieces.

your plants. Use a good quality

They can be very useful for creating

organic fertiliser and plenty of

additional garden structure in a

home-made compost.

similar way to topiary.

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The Good LIFE

Seized by a 1970s enthusiasm for self-sufficiency, Christine and Ian Davies have expanded their Surrey garden over the decades to fulfil a passion for crops. Alongside this, a relaxed style of perennial planting has developed, reaching its mellow peak in autumn WORDS JILL ANDERSON PHOTOGRAPHS JULIE SKELTON

Header HEADLINE

In Grantchester, immortalised in a poem by Rupert Brooke, the Burkitts have worked the footprint of Merton House’s former garden into a series of cleverly designed rooms WORDS CAROLINE BECK PHOTOGRAPHS NICK HODGSON

A spacious terrace made from bricks of local clay offers wonderful views out over the circular lawn to the mature woodland beyond.

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 43

W

Top Autumn planting at

its finest, with golden Rudbeckia fulgida and crimson persicaria accenting the soft buff and russet grasses.

Above The productive garden and greenhouse are the garden’s engine room and are screened off by beech hedging.

Right Dahlia ‘Totally Tangerine’.

44 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

alking along the edge of the small market town of Godalming in Surrey, there’s no indication that a rather remarkable garden is to be found behind one of the half-dozen modest cottages on this quiet lane. The unassuming view at the front, is in contrast to the expansive garden beyond. Richly diverse in plants, fruit and vegetables, this garden peaks in autumn, when a feast of floral abundance and trees laden with apples and pears can be enjoyed.

Christine and Ian Davies have lived here for over 40 years. It’s unusual to find a house occupied by the same owners for so long, but time has let them gradually transform their small garden. Along the way, they’ve picked up a variety of skills necessary to develop what would eventually become a large garden. Their first opportunity to increase its size came shortly after moving in. They had enjoyed growing their own vegetables at their previous rented property and wanted to continue. After all, this was the 1970s when the idea of living The Good Life and becoming self-sufficient was popular. But with little space for growing vegetables at their new home, the couple came to an agreement with the owners of neighbouring land, to take on a small stretch of it, and began a vegetable plot of their own.

A tract of woodland leads down to the River Wey and looks beautiful illuminated by the early-morning sun.

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 45

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46 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

Garden Structures . Fruit Cages . Plant Supports . Kitchen Garden . Outdoor Living

This was to become a pattern. Some 20 years later, another parcel of land became available next to their garden – and then another.

Eventually they found themselves the owners of seven acres, including a small field and an area of woodland leading to the River Wey. Initially they had the help of a garden designer who made a plan for a new layout and suggested plants suitable for the soil type and aspect. Armed with this, they set about dealing with the steeply sloping garden immediately behind the house.

Retaining walls and terraces were constructed, using bricks made of local clay from the nearby, but now defunct, Cranleigh Brick and Tile Company.

Bricks have been used as a unifying theme throughout the garden, weaving its different areas together. Two generous terraces, with plenty of room for tables and chairs, enjoy wonderful views – on the horizon, peeping out above the mature trees, the spire of the chapel at Charterhouse School can just be glimpsed in the distance.

Terracotta pots of herbs, houseleeks and sprawling purple sedum are artfully arranged along the tops of the walls, and steps lead down from the terraces to a circular lawn that adds a sense of space to the layout of this part of the garden. It’s surrounded by borders filled with dahlias, some richly coloured, and others in gentle pastel hues. There are delicate pink and creamy-white roses alongside mounds of lavender and small, evergreen shrubs. Potted box domes

Top left Echinacea purpurea with sedum.

Top right Ian taught himself how to train fruit trees, which are now an integral part of the garden’s structure.

Above Mounds of purple asters are typical of the rich autumn planting.

stand sentinel beside the paths, while a fastigiate yew adds structure, contrasting nicely with the surrounding, soft planting.

Fruit trees are an integral feature. Not only do they provide masses of fruit, some of which is made into cider, but they also help screen and sub-divide the garden. “We were inspired by trained fruit trees in the garden of a manor house hotel we stayed at in France years ago, and decided to grow them in our own garden,” Ian explains. He began planting the trees in 2008, buying one-year-old, untrained maidens and teaching himself how to train some of them into espaliers. In all there are about 50 fruit trees: a few pears, but mostly apples, including favourites such as ‘Blenheim Orange’ and ‘Ashmead Kernel’. There’s also a prolific, old ‘Merryweather’ damson, which drips with fruit at this time of year.

Ian has help to prune the fruit trees and trim the hedges, which keeps the structure of the garden neat and productive. A tall beech hedge, punctuated by arches, divides the vegetable plot from the ornamental garden immediately behind the house.

Asparagus and frames of beans can be seen through the gaps, inviting further investigation. Christine has become adept over the years at propagation, growing both vegetables and flowers from seed. Most of the dahlias have been grown from cuttings, and are left in the ground over winter, with a mulch of compost for protection. “Learning how to propagate was the only way to fill the big, empty areas as the garden expanded,” Christine explains.

The gardening year starts in February, with sowings of tomatoes in the greenhouse. Favourites include ‘Black Russian’ and ‘Gardener’s Delight’, for their flavour and reliability. As the year progresses, more vegetables are sown and grown until the raised beds and greenhouse are copiously stocked. The OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 47

vegetable garden is the heart of the garden. Tools and equipment are stored here, seeds sown and plants propagated, while the contents of a series of compost bins enrich the soil’s vitality and structure.

A timber pergola, planted with clematis, leads through a gate and down to a more informal part of the garden. On misty autumn mornings, soft light filters through a tall bank of Miscanthus sinensis ‘Nishidake’, the silky tassels perfectly backlit by the rising sun. A large, circular pond covered with fat waterlilies is partially screened by tall plants. It’s a calming place to sit and adds to the diversity of the garden, attracting birds and insects. Planting here is an exuberant combination of grasses and perennials.

Flowering begins in summer and it looks lovely in autumn, as colours become more muted and grasses full of seedheads take on tints of soft pink and buff.

Christine credits her many visits to nearby RHS Wisley over the years as the inspiration for her sublime planting combinations. Plump mounds of the sedum ‘Herbstfreude’ sit alongside pink echinacea, slender stems of Verbena bonariensis and fiery red persicaria flowers, contrasting beautifully with fluffy plumes of Calamagrostis brachytricha.

Swathes of Rudbeckia fulgida spill onto the gravel path that snakes sinuously through the plants, flanked by broad leaves of Phlomis russeliana, their tall seedheads bobbing in the breeze.

This relaxed planting style of perennials and grasses makes a perfect transition to the field 48 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

Above Fat waterlilies adorn the tranquil pond, which is screened off by tall plumes of Miscanthus sinensis ‘Nishidake’.

Right Sheep borrowed from a local shepherd keep grass neat – and are rather partial to the prunings from fruit trees.

beyond, which is the domain of half a dozen sheep.

Borrowed from a local shepherd, they stay for a year or so, keeping the grass trimmed in return for board and lodging. They are especially fond of the fresh trimmings from the apple trees, heading at speed to the fence at the sound of fruit trees being pruned. The remaining garden rolls gently away through the open field, backed by a tract of woodland. It’s a peaceful walk along mown paths, through the trees and down to the River Wey, which is particularly beautiful in early morning. Christine and Ian will say that the garden has evolved through trial and error, and while this may be true, skill and determination is needed to train fruit to be productive and a good eye for colour and form to make such satisfying plant combinations. n

As used by the RHS A family run business established in 2005 after being developed by Dr Geoff Whiteley at Leeds University.

He and his wife Jackie then decided to bring it to market.

Strulch is made from wheat straw and the mineralisation process preserves the straw and turns it dark brown. It has a neutral pH so can be used anywhere in the garden and it lasts for up to two years. Over time, the mulch improves soil structure and adds nutrients. The physical properties of the mulch and the added minerals deter slugs and snails!

For best value, buy in bulk 13.5kg bags direct from us, or in 9kg bags from our online and nationwide stockists.

Professional gardeners see the benefits “The Alnwick Garden uses Strulch around our delphiniums and hostas to prevent slug damage. Strulch is also used to suppress weeds throughout our borders with great effect” Trevor Jones, Former Head Gardener “I have used it on the veg beds as a heavy mulch and experimenting in some areas as a no dig concept; laid it on cardboard on the beds and will sow wildflower seed into it. I have used it on two of the herbaceous borders to keep the weeds down and keep the ground warmer to help protect the crowns.

Head Gardener, Floors Castle Gardens “I am extremely pleased with the product’s ability to suppress weed growth and have noted an observable improvement in overall plant health and soil structure over a wide range of plants with successive applications” David Redmore, Director, Garden and Landscape Design

PARTNER SPOTLIGHT

A PLACE IN THE COUNTRY When Mark and Sarah Firth decided to build a holiday rental in the grounds of their rural Leicestershire home, they turned to Oakwrights for a sensitive and characterful oak-framed build

W

hen Mark and Sarah Firth moved to a picturesque village in the heart of rural Leicestershire 17 years ago, they knew they had found somewhere pretty special. Their farmhouse – surrounded by rolling countryside as far as the eye could see – was a bucolic idyll and a place they hoped they would be able to share with others. After discovering that it was possible to use some of their land to build a commercial property, they settled upon the idea of a holiday rental.

“We looked at the emerging staycation market and decided that we wanted to create a high-end, self-catered holiday 50 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

Above At Hare’s Furrow, the Oakwrights-

designed garden barn is clad in larch weatherboarding, with an oak-framed pergola above the outdoor dining area.

business,” Mark explains. With this in mind, plans for ‘Stop in the Sticks’ started to take shape. The couple knew they wanted the proposed building to merge perfectly with the surrounding countryside, so an oak-framed structure seemed like an obvious choice. “Oakframed buildings seem to have a visual warmth that you just don’t get with other materials,” says Mark.

They approached several oak-frame suppliers to gain inspiration before

coming across Oakwrights. The couple were blown away by the quality of the operation and the manufacture of their oak frames, as well as the warm and friendly approach of the staff. “In effect, we were self-builders to a degree, so their hand-holding was greatly appreciated,” Mark explains.

The couple met up with one of Oakwrights’ regional design consultants, Zoe Grey, and together they discussed ideas for the oak-framed garden barn that would provide luxury accommodation for their future guests. Mark and Sarah had a very clear vision in mind for their new build, which is always helpful during

IMAGES MARK WATTS

the planning stages. “It was fantastic to work with clients who were so designfocused,” Zoe recalls.

“Once we had agreed the basic form, we then added in features such as a large double-height window in the hallway and A-frames upstairs in the bedroom spaces,” explains Mark. When Zoe met with Mark and Sarah for a second site visit at their home, the couple also wondered whether it might be possible to incorporate their knot garden (which all guests can make the most of during their stay) into the design concept, and so what can now be enjoyed by visitors is the result of careful consideration and evolving ideas. “It was an organic design process,” Mark recalls.

Now the build is complete, you can truly see how beautifully it all came together. A natural stone pathway leads to the door of ‘Hare’s Furrow’, Mark and Sarah’s oak-framed, cottagestyle garden barn. The outside is clad in larch weatherboarding, and a slate roof overhangs the walkway to the front door. In addition, an adjacent oak frame pergola sits above an al fresco dining area, effortlessly completing the homely look and feel of the place.

Inside, the building is light and airy with large oak-framed windows mirrored by the handcrafted oak beams. The spacious kitchen, dining and living area is perfect for entertaining and, despite it being new build, it’s full of character and

Top left Bedrooms feature large oak-framed windows and handcrafted oak A-frames.

Top right To give a traditional feel, lots of details, such as extra oak braces, were used.

Above The kitchen, dining and living area is comfortable and spacious, and the exposed oak beams add character and charm.

charm. Four en-suite bedrooms make for excellent sleeping arrangements too.

“Because Mark and Sarah’s home is a traditional farmhouse, it was important that we designed a traditional oak frame with a lot of detailing such as extra braces and curved feature trusses, but with a few modern touches like the face glazing up the stairs, which pulls in so much light,”

says Zoe. “This also allows you to really feel close to the outdoors and sets the tone for a tranquil weekend hideaway.”

Mark and Sarah’s oak-frame garden barn is now a fully-fledged holiday cottage – one that has proved unceasingly popular for year-round rentals. “I’m delighted with the barn, and to see the final finish weathered into the Leicestershire landscape is all we ever hoped for,” says Zoe. oakwrights.co.uk

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 51

At the rear of the house, green oak planters make up a smart crop-filled potager, sheltered by a low stone wall.

52 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

Earthly DELIGHTS

The garden designed by Matthew Wilson at Acomb High House in Northumberland ticked a verdant lawn and potager off the owners’ wish list, while its dreamy Monet Garden has made it a source of joy WORDS LOUISE CURLEY PHOTOGRAPHS RICHARD BLOOM

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 53

C

which meant nothing would line up, and the walls reating a garden that blends into its being a real mix of brick and stone, with some sections rural setting and complements the old rendered or painted and others not. All these elements house it surrounds while incorporating gave the garden its own character and encouraged me to elements of contemporary design is embrace it rather than to try to impose something on it.” no easy task. But it’s one that designer Naomi and Dave were keen for the garden to be Matthew Wilson has carried out with aplomb at Acomb High House near Hexham in Northumberland. sympathetic and responsive to its setting. They wanted to use materials that were appropriate to the area and Owners Naomi Liller and her husband Dave bought to ensure that the garden’s environmental impact was the Grade II-listed property in 2014, embarking on limited – all of which fitted Matthew’s own design ethos. a large restoration project. Then, in 2017, with the As a result, established plants were incorporated into house complete, they turned their attention to the the design where possible, no herbicides were used, and garden. “When we moved here the garden had an stone already on site was reused with additional stone old-fashioned charm, but it had been neglected and sourced from a quarry just five miles away. was overrun with weeds and rabbits,” Naomi explains.

“The garden effectively formed three different areas,” The garden needed new life breathing into it, but they explains Matthew. “The front of the house, which initially struggled to find the right person for the job.

“It was the architect who had worked on the house who consisted of some mature trees and a relentless expanse of gravel right up to the house; the upper level of the recommended Matthew, and when we met we clicked.” back garden, which was a mix of uneven lawn and an Aside from a kitchen garden and a good-sized lawn, allotment-style vegetable patch; and a sloping lower Naomi and Dave didn’t have a long list of requirements, section covered in rosebay willowherb, which led down so Matthew was given free rein. “What struck me when to the old tennis court that Naomi and Dave had turned I first visited was that a sloping section was partly into a manège for their horses.” hidden from the rest of the garden by a large cherry Matthew transformed the front of the house into a tree, affectionately known by Naomi as ‘the old lady’,” welcoming space, creating a garden where previously Matthew recalls. “I liked that element of surprise, being there hadn’t been one by adding a able to stumble on this other part of the Below Part of the 2.5-metre wide border in front of the garden, and I felt this was an important potager, the raised beds house. He included a generous strip of characteristic to retain along with some are filled with crops stone paving that matches the mellow of the other quirky aspects, such as the including kale, brassicas stone of the building, running the house not being square to the garden, and strawberries.

54 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

Above Early-morning sun length of the house filters through the trees and separated from the and highlights the large parking area by a low yew reflective pool in the hedge. A quintessential Monet Garden.

Right Planting is angled cottage garden feel is to give a sense that it conjured with Rosa is cascading down the ‘Mortimer Sackler’ slope with the rill. scrambling up the wall of the house alongside Japanese anemones, Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’, the delicate golden seedheads of Deschampsia cespitosa and the statuesque stems of hollyhocks, which envelop a space for a table and chairs where Naomi and David can enjoy the evening sun.

At the back of the house in the upper section, the existing lawn area was levelled and re-laid, the verdant expanse providing a breathing space for the surrounding borders that are filled with abundant perennial planting, including Naomi’s favourite roses, peonies and daisy flowers. The old allotment patch adjacent to it is now a smart potager garden where raised beds made from

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 55

Screening off the billowing planting is the venerable form of a large cherry tree known as ‘the old lady’.

56 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

green oak brim with perennial herbs and vegetables.

“I try to include somewhere to sit and eat in the edible gardens I design, and here the seating area is surrounded by espaliered apples, which will make the space feel more secluded as they mature. I’ve also planted pears and morello cherries, which are happy with some shade against a low, north-facing wall,” Matthew observes.

The contemporary punch in the overall design comes from the sloping section of the lower part of the garden, now known as the Monet Garden. “I wanted this part of the garden to be bold, and about a month after my first site visit I went to Monet’s garden at Giverny, where I was struck by the narrow paths that were almost completely sublimated by the planting so that you felt enveloped by the plants,” explains Matthew. To tackle the slope, Matthew designed a series of terraced

“The seating area is surrounded by espaliered apples, which will make the space feel more secluded as they mature” Above left The stepped

rill with its copper spouts forms the spine of the Monet Garden.

Top right Towering hollyhocks engulf a seating area.

Above right Aster x frikartii ‘Mönch’ is much loved by pollinators.

planting areas with retaining walls built from stone already on site. “I knew I’d need some other elements to break up the planting and that’s when I started to think about using water.” A large reflective pool and a stepped rill with elegant copper spouts, form a central spine, from which everything in this section emanates.

Clipped beech ‘beehives’ provide a touch of formality and highlight the route of the rill, forming a green and watery allée leading down to the manège. They also OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 57

provide a contrast to the exuberant, billowy informality of the grasses and pollinator-friendly perennials, such as Aster x frikartii ‘Mönch’; the towering, fragrant spires of Actaea simplex ‘Pink Spike’; and Eupatorium maculatum ‘Riesenschirm’, all reaching their peak in late summer and early autumn.

To provide additional structure, Matthew also incorporated an existing mature osmanthus and planted a multi-stemmed Prunus x yedoensis for its early almond-scented blossom and attractive autumn colour.

The grass Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ stands sentinel, its upright stems gleaming in the golden autumnal light. “It’s a particularly good-value grass because it comes into flower early, in June, and continues to look good until it’s cut back in late winter,” says Matthew. He also angled the drifts of plants so that they effectively form a V-shape towards the bottom of the rill, giving a sense that the plants are cascading down the slope. “I wanted a long season of interest throughout

“It was important to us that the garden should be a haven for wildlife and it’s become just that” the garden, and I wanted to use plants that were reliable, largely self-supporting and easy to maintain while creating impact. The perennials in the Monet Garden, for example, just need cutting back to above the ground in early spring.”

While Matthew wanted each of the different areas of the garden to have its own dynamic to stimulate a desire to explore, yew has been used to unite the different spaces. Those that were already there have been shaped to mirror the beech ‘beehives’, while new ones have been planted, including the fastigiate yews in the front and rear garden.

Matthew remains involved with the garden as it evolves. “There’s a herbaceous border we’re still working on, and this spring we sowed an area beneath some trees with shade-tolerant wildflowers – a mix of hedgerow wildflowers and an all-purpose seed mix.

It’ll take a few years for these perennial wildflowers to become established so they have been oversown with a cornflower annual mix to provide some initial colour and to stop weeds taking hold,” Matthew explains.

To say Naomi and Dave are happy is an understatement. “The garden is an absolute joy and I try to be out there as much as possible,” Naomi enthuses. “I have my breakfast and my lunch outside and then I wander around in the garden in the evening.

It was important to us that the garden should be a haven for wildlife and it’s become just that. People have even commented about the birdsong when I’ve been on Zoom. It’s such a delight!” n 58 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

Above Beech clipped into

beehives either side of the rill form a smart allée down to the manège.

Left Marmalade helenium injects warm tones.

Below A late bloom on Lychnis chalcedonica.

Bottom Pink echinacea and eupatorium with Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’.

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A Beating HEART

East Lothian’s Broadwoodside is a bucolic dream of a garden and a beloved family home, developed from dilapidation over 20 years by Robert and Anna Dalrymple, the warm colours of both buildings and planting reflecting the love that has been poured into it WORDS CATRIONA GRAY PHOTOGRAPHS EVA NEMETH 60 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

This page Purple cotinus

flanks one of the walls, which is clothed in neatly trained and clipped ivy.

Opposite The pond was half-planned as a swimming pool.

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 61

The aviary sits in the chequerboard-effect upper courtyard and is wittily referenced by the copper bird sculptures.

62 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

A

half-hour’s drive from Edinburgh, just with apples each autumn, and a long avenue of old lime trees. At the other end, as you approach the outside the pretty village of Gifford, lies a remarkable garden, built around property, there’s a hornbeam avenue, a vegetable and cutting garden and a dark rectangular pond that a historic farm steading. It occupies looks as if it might be a swimming pool, but isn’t. a particularly bucolic spot, located “The idea was that if global warming ever came to at the end of a long track and bordered to the east by Scotland it could be turned into a swimming pool – beech woods, which in autumn turn glorious shades but it’s currently only about three foot deep!” notes of yellow, orange and russet.

Anna, with a laugh.

These rich colours are echoed in the buildings While much has been written about the design and themselves – a courtyard of old converted creation of the garden, the evolution of the space over outbuildings built from weathered stone and the past two decades to suit the changing needs of the mellow pantiles, with windows and gates painted Dalrymples is every bit as fascinating. When they first in traditional hues of red iron oxide and deep forest arrived, their four children were aged between six green, and render enlivened by cheerful ochre and 16, and a major reason for the move was to have limewash. Even on the chilliest of autumn days, the somewhere with enough land for their ponies. For the place seems to exude warmth, which comes both first 15 years, Broadwoodside was a busy family home from the abundant planting and the many signs that with ponies jumping over garden walls, industrial it’s a well-loved family home. An uninformed visitor quantities of potatoes growing in the vegetable patch would be forgiven for thinking that Broadwoodside has been cultivated for generations: a long-established and plenty of noise and bustle. During that time the garden gradually took shape and matured, while garden that’s evolved with the passing of time. Yet it the couple added plenty of original touches. These was started from scratch just over 20 years ago by the range from a monumental early Victorian portico current owners, Robert and Anna Dalrymple. that was reinstalled in a field a short distance from “When we first saw it, it was derelict with the the house, to a number of home-made sculptures that roofs all tumbling in and weeds growing up through reveal the Dalrymples’ sense of fun – a mound of the floors,” recalls Anna, who was familiar with the property long before it came up for sale as she used to stone and glass spheres entitled A Load of Balls being a prime example. take her children to play in the grounds Below Bowed by the “In a sense it’s rather horrifying to of the tumbledown farmyard. “It was weight of its cargo of think that it’s been over 20 years since love at first sight, really.” fruit, a golden crab apple we bought it, but in another sense Part of the attraction was the epitomises the bountiful it’s also rather quick,” says Robert. opportunity to create a garden from autumn atmosphere.

“Twenty years takes a scratch, which Robert lot of your life, but it and Anna embarked on shows that it doesn’t immediately, with the take forever to achieve a help of their gardener, mature garden. Recently, Guy Donaldson, who we’ve done a bit of lives on site and has tweaking and replanting been with them right of things that haven’t from the start. Drawing worked. There are some inspiration largely plants that just won’t from books – aptly so, grow here – I’m always since Robert is a book very envious of gardens designer – they laid down south that have out the structure of the masses of bearded irises, garden. At the heart of for instance.” it lie two courtyards: the Interestingly, the upper courtyard features courtyard garden has an aviary and is laid out a slightly milder climate as a chequerboard of than the surrounding beds, while the lower one area, about two degrees is mostly lawn, divided warmer, and this has into quadrants with enabled the Dalrymples reclaimed flagstones. to grow a wider range Behind the courtyards, of plants than would to the north-west of the otherwise be possible, property, is the orchard, although their ethos is which positively brims OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 63

Book designer Robert has an eye for symmetry and perspective, which is much in evidence in this neat hornbeam avenue.

64 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

very much to focus on varieties that will flourish without too much effort. In autumn, some of their favourites are Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’, blue globe thistles and Michaelmas daisies, as well as rudbeckia and autumn-flowering cyclamen.

“In the past few years, as the garden has become more mature, I’ve noticed that it’s the trees that have come to the fore during the autumn months,” says Anna. “I love looking out of the window at the maples in the courtyard: they turn the most beautiful shades of gold and red.” Robert has his own favourite. “My desert island plant would be the royal ferns,” he enthuses. “They look wonderful in the autumn, they’re fabulous when they unfurl in the spring and they look great all summer. And they never keel over in the wind!”

The gardens have also turned out to be the perfect wedding venue – two of their daughters have had autumn weddings at Broadwoodside. “Our elder daughter got married about seven years ago and we had two marquees in the courtyard,” says Anna. “It was at the end of October – just on the equinox night when the clocks changed. It was very atmospheric.”

Then, last year, another daughter got married in late September – this time the occasion was very different, since due to government restrictions they were limited to just 20 guests. However, the gardens

Top The cooler climate

means the Dalrymples can’t grow everything, so a greenhouse and coldframe are essentials.

Above A pastel cosmos; ‘Sonata Pink’ is similar.

Right Fun touches abound throughout, including this gate made from garden forks.

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 65

proved to be as magical a setting for a small wedding as for a large one. “We had tremendous flower displays on a huge scale – great limbs of prunus and crab apple,” Robert recalls. “They got married at the monument and walked down the lime avenue afterwards to the house, where we had the reception in and around the courtyard.”

In fact, Broadwoodside has recently been more lively than ever, since the Dalrymples’ grown-up children returned at the start of the pandemic with their own families in tow. “There was a point, about six or seven years ago, when we wondered if perhaps we were mad to be living in such a huge place because no one was going to be around, but actually now we’re back where we started, with small children running about again,” says Anna. “Everyone’s been back for the past year with all the lockdowns, and the gardens have really come into their own during this time.” A previously unused room was converted into a home office and the many different areas of the garden were pressed into use, since the entire family was suddenly living and working under one roof.

It’s had the happy side-effect of even more people around to help in the garden, and the recent programme of replanting means that Broadwoodside continues to evolve. Above all, it remains a place that is a home to this visionary couple, who have loved it since it was a romantic wilderness and, over the past two decades, have enhanced and developed its beauty, turning it into a place that will be cherished by many generations to come. n Broadwoodside, Gifford, East Lothian EH41 4JQ. Opens for Scotland’s Gardens Scheme and by appointment, Monday to Friday, all year. See scotlandsgardens.org and broadwoodside.co.uk 66 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

Top left A cheerfully painted gate, at the head of one of many vistas.

Top right The warm ochre and red tones used on the buildings are echoed by the planting.

Above Ducks and chickens forage freely, offering a natural source of pest control.

Right Smart glass cloches sit snugly in a bed of brassicas in the vegetable garden.

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Long established as the leader in all matters horticultural and based at the historic Chelsea Physic Garden

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70 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

Garden of Medicinal Plants – Chelsea Physic Garden

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TOP 10 PLANTS

After Party

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Scampston Walled Garden’s head gardener Andy Karavics chooses ten plants that look good in autumn and add structural interest as they fade

WORDS VIVIENNE HAMBLY IMAGE SHUTTERSTOCK

n February 2020, Andy Karavics took up the post of head gardener at Scampston Hall in North Yorkshire, where the Walled Garden is famed for perennial planting conceived

by Piet Oudolf. Open to the public since 2005, the Walled Garden is in fact Oudolf’s largest commission in the UK. “Being around 20 years old, the planting isn’t as sharp as it used to be, so we started on a regeneration project last autumn,”

explains Andy, who had previously worked at Sledmere House and Gardens. Key to the planting at Scampston is a mixture of shapes and textures that offer interest through the seasons, and here Andy selects ten plants that do a sterling job of fulfilling that brief.

Scampston Walled Garden, Malton, North Yorkshire YO17 8NG. Tel: 01944 759111; scampston.co.uk

1 Rudbeckia triloba “There are so many varieties of rudbeckia you could use to good effect,” says Andy. “R. triloba is one of the smaller varieties and offers lots of little yellow daisylike flowers. When it fades you end up with a haze of small black balls.” Reaching around 1m tall, this rudbeckia will grow in full sun or light dappled shade.

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 71

TOP 10 PLANTS

2 Eryngium agavifolium

3 Helianthus ‘Italian White’

“You can’t knock eryngiums and E. agavifolium is a key plant at Scampston. It has glaucous, sharp-toothed leaves and the greenishwhite, thistle-like flowers fade to leave a lovely tight nest of bobbly seedheads on top of a long stem,” Andy explains. This eryngium will reach around 1.4m and fares best in full sun.

“This classy helianthus is multi-stemmed, and the flowerheads are no bigger than those of an echinacea,” Andy observes. Ideal in a cutting garden, its blooms are a cream- to lemon-white, with a brown-black eye. “They flower until October and leave behind dark seedheads that the birds love,” he adds. Grows to 1.5m.

4 Hylotelephium matrona

5 Molinia caerulea ‘Poul Petersen’

“All these plants stand up beautifully through winter, but H. matrona is one of the best. Try ‘Herbstfreude’ which produces pink flowers from August or September,” suggests Andy. Sedums, as they were formerly known, offer flat flowerheads that appeal to pollinators and contrast well with the spikiness of other plants.

“This is a Scampston classic,” says Andy. “It has the lovely effect of turning purple when it finishes flowering, then fades to buff and later a straw-yellow. It will stand through winter until you cut it down in February.” Reaching 65-70cm, this shorter grass is best grown in an open, sunny location.

72 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

IMAGES SHUTTERSTOCK; GARDEN WORLD IMAGES; GAP/JO WHITWORTH

6 Echineaca purpurea ‘Rubinstern’ “You could use any echinacea, but ‘Rubinstern’ will give you a lovely coneflower in summer and a large, round seedhead in autumn,” says Andy. “It brings a different dimension to the garden.” ‘Rubinstern’ likes full sun but tolerates some shade and can reach 1m tall.

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 73

7 Phlomis tuberosa ‘Amazone’

8 Limonium platyphyllum

“For phlomis, try lilac-flowered ‘Amazone’ or P. russeliana, which has creamy yellow flowers,” says Andy. ‘Amazone’ blooms from July to September, while P. russeliana flowers from May to July.

Both offer whorls of flowers working up a stem, which are replaced by seedheads that will hold until the plant is cut down.

This tiny-flowered plant is also known as sea lavender or broadleaved statice. “In July and August it’s a soft haze of mauve, but the colour will change as it starts to seed. As the flowers dry out, they lose colour but hold their shape. We use them in Christmas wreaths,” Andy explains.

9 Mollucella laevis

10 Verbena bonariensis

A popular cut flower in summer, Bells of Ireland can also be used in autumn and winter arrangements. “It grows to about 90cm but it stays upright,” remarks Andy. “Once the stems have been cut, you can hang them upside down to dry them out or dip them in glycerine to preserve them.”

“This plant tends to flower into September, so it will keep a strong structure until you cut it down. You might still have colour into October if the weather has been kind,” notes Andy. It leaves small, dark, bobbly seedheads on slender stems and offers an even more ethereal look than it does in summer.

74 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

IMAGES GARDEN WORLD IMAGES; GAP/MATT ANKER; SHUTTERSTOCK

TOP 10 PLANTS

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Under the Radar Despite its reputation, low-growing, unassuming cotoneaster is a hero plant with year-round interest

WORDS CLARE FOGGETT IMAGES GAP/JONATHAN BUCKLEY/TOMEK CIESIELSKI/HOWARD RICE/ROB WHITWORTH; CLIVE NICHOLS

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n 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 shrub.

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 lined with neat rows of small glossy green leaves. By autumn masses of scarlet berries appear, which birds will feast on, while the leaves develop a rich, coral-red colour.

Holding on over winter, foliage normally drops by around January, revealing the branches’ intriguing fish-bone pattern.

As well as making dense, weed-suppressing groundcover, C. horizontalis looks good against a wall, where its herringbone structure is brilliantly revealed in winter, particularly when highlighted by a coating of frost. It’s also superb planted at the top of a retaining wall, so its branches can arch downwards in a cascade of bright autumn colour.

HOW TO GROW These hardy shrubs prefer moist but welldrained soil and full sun or part shade.

They’re best planted in autumn and should be kept well watered until they establish. Some varieties require light pruning after fruiting, and all will appreciate a yearly mulch.

It was French missionary Père Armand David who introduced C. horizontalis to cultivation. He sent seeds home to France from China in around 1870, and by 1885 it was being sold to discerning French gardeners who appreciated its distinctive habit. A science teacher turned missionary, Père David was in China to convert its people to Catholicism but his passion for the natural world was his greater calling.

Said to have a mild manner and an innate respect for the Chinese, David was welcomed in parts of the country that Westerners rarely got to see and discovered masses of plants we grow today, such as Buddleja davidii and Davidia involucrata. ■

Cotoneaster: Cultivars and species worth finding space for in your garden

C. horizontalis ‘Variegatus’

White-variegated leaves turn pink when autumn comes.

Cotoneaster franchetii

Traps airborne pollutants, making it an excellent choice for hedging.

Cotoneaster ‘Exburiensis’

C. x watereri ‘John Waterer’

A large 5m shrub with arching branches of yellow berries.

Masses of scarlet berries on a large 4m tall shrub.

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 77

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PLANT FOCUS Grey-green leaves and steely flowerheads in purplish-blue mark Panicum ‘Dallas Blues’ out from the crowd.

Splendour in the Grass At the Sussex Prairie Garden, Paul and Pauline McBride cultivate a range of grasses, but panicum are among the easiest and the most beautiful WORDS CLARE FOGGETT PHOTOGRAPHS DIANNA JAZWINSKI

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 79

PLANT FOCUS

O

ne of the best things about grasses is the lightness they bring to a planting scheme – an airy, breezy, swishy quality that works so well with mounds of late summer- and early autumn-flowering perennials. Out of all the grasses you can plant to obtain this effect, panicum is one of the lightest and airiest of all.

These versatile grasses range in size, the smallest coming in at under one metre, the largest reaching two metres tall. But even at its tallest, panicum still manages to look delicate thanks to its slender leaves and feathery, transparent flowers. Its weightless appearance also makes it easy to integrate into planting, helping it weave effortlessly with any number of potential bedfellows.

80 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

Above Annual Panicum

‘Frosted Explosion’, here adorned with dewdrops alongside rudbeckia, is also a lovely cut flower.

For proof of panicum’s many virtues, head to Sussex Prairie Garden, near Henfield in West Sussex, where Paul and Pauline McBride grow a collection of different cultivars in the eight acres of naturalistic prairie garden they’ve created on Pauline’s family farm.

“Panicum are easy, and lovely,” confirms Paul. “They’re a really good entry-level grass.” Also, autumn is definitely the best time of year to see these grasses growing and make your choice, for it’s when many varieties not only bear their ethereal flowers, but also develop rich autumnal leaf colour as an added bonus.

Take, for example, popular Panicum virgatum ‘Shenandoah’, widely considered to be one of the best for autumn colour. It’s a frothy mound of green leaves for much of the year, but in late summer the leaves develop tints of dark red until they turn a deep claret colour, while the sprays of tiny flowers develop a reddish hue, too. At 90cm to 1.2m tall, it’s a lovely partner for perennials such as helenium.

P. virgatum varieties ‘Rehbraun’ and ‘Squaw’ have similar autumn appeal. Forming clumps of green, up to 1.2m and 1.5m tall respectively, their leaves turn warm shades of red, crimson and buttery gold to give a lovely autumnal glow. “‘Rehbraun’ is one of my particular favourites,” affirms Paul. “It’s much more upright than some of the others; if it falls down after heavy rain, it stands back up again.” Its frothy flowerheads give the borders a “dreamy look”, he adds, and it’s this feature of panicum that Pauline so admires. “Panicum are fabulous for offering autumn colour, but it’s the textural richness they bring that I enjoy,” she explains. “I love the way these grasses bring soft focus to the garden in the early morning, when their seedheads are covered in dew.”

Most of the panicum for sale here are cultivars of Panicum virgatum, a North American species found on prairies, particularly in the Midwest. It’s also used as part of soil conservation schemes in the US, its fibrous roots helping to knit soil together and its top growth preventing the soil’s erosion by wind and rain. It’s grown as a forage crop for cattle, and is even cultivated as a renewable biofuel, so it has plenty more strings to its bow besides gardens, although its ease of growth makes it ideal for those

of us mainly interested in its ornamental side.

A deciduous perennial grass, it’s hardy in the UK, its leaves drying to a biscuit colour as winter progresses. In around February or March, cut the dead stems and leaves back to make way for the new season’s growth.

Look out for other P. virgatum varieties such as ‘Hänse Herms’, another of Pauline and Paul’s picks for autumn colour: a glowing gold with reddishpurple tints. Books say it will reach 90cm to 1.2m tall, but on Sussex Prairies’ fertile clay soil it often grows to 1.5m. ‘Dallas Blues’ is another tall variety, reaching 1.4m, and forming a clump of glaucous blue-green stems and leave that turn gold in autumn. “It’s lovely with white Anemone x hybrida

Top left ‘Hänse Herms’

develops red and gold tints in autumn.

Top right Dainty flowers of Panicum ‘Squaw’.

Above ‘Rehbraun’ is Paul’s favourite, with its frothy flowers and good autumn colour.

Left Lofty ‘Cloud Nine’ will reach around 2m.

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 81

PLANT FOCUS

‘Honorine Jobert’,” says Pauline. ‘Heavy Metal’ is a similar steely blue at 1.5m tall. “The flowers have red anthers so you get this rich haze,” notes Paul. Green-leaved ‘Northwind’ makes a tall, narrow clump up to 1.8m and turns yellow-orange in autumn. ‘Cloud Nine’ is even taller at 2m. “It’s a big one, but vaseshaped, which gives it a strong, formal, architectural look. It’s a nice plant to repeat for a feeling of continuity,” suggests Paul. “We’ve got it in a big group with white thalictrum.”

All of these cultivars hold Awards of Garden Merit from the RHS, proving their worth in the garden, but they’re equally good as cut flowers. “Their flowers are great for adding into bouquets,” agrees Pauline. The half-hardy annual, Panicum elegans ‘Frosted Explosion’ is a particular favourite with florists. “Its flowers look like fibre optic lamps from the 1970s, and give a frothy look to a bouquet,” Pauline says. “It does seed around, but its seedlings are easy to hoe out where they’re not wanted.” n Above Panicum ‘Shenandoah’ is known for the deep winered hue its leaves and flowers develop.

Above right ‘Heavy Metal’ can reach five feet tall, but its airy, lightweight appearance means it never imposes.

Sussex Prairie Garden, Morlands Farm, Wheatsheaf Road, Henfield, West Sussex BN5 9AT. The garden is open until 10 October 2021, reopening on 1 June 2022. Tel: 01273 495902; sussexprairies.co.uk 82 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

GROWING ADVICE

Perfect Panicum Paul and Pauline McBride share their experience of cultivating this easygoing grass When it comes to soil panicum don’t need anything special. Ours grow in ordinary garden soil – heavy clay improved with mulch and green waste – and they’re really happy. I suspect they probably wouldn’t grow quite as big on very sandy soil.

Panicum prefer sun but you can get away with growing them in partial shade. At Le Jardin Plume in Normandy, there’s an acre of them growing under apple trees, which looks amazing.

They’re really easy and we’ve never seen a pest or disease on them. They’re also well-behaved and don’t self-seed, apart from the annual ones.

In the new year, normally around February or March, cut back or rake up all the old growth. You can use secateurs or just snap off the stems in your hands. But do leave the tidying up until the new year since the seedheads are a good source of food for wild birds. They also offer lovely structure in frost or mist, while the stems offer a wildlife habitat over winter.

Sow annual panicum from February to May in a greenhouse or on a windowsill indoors. Sow thinly, just covering the seed, and transplant small clumps into individual pots to grow on, planting out after the frosts.

PROMOTION

ROSE OF THE YEAR 2022 Roses UK introduce a new winning rose, ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ by breeder Colin Dickson

Rose of the Year timeline From creation to going on sale, trialling and releasing a winning rose is a ten-year process

‘IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE’ TM & COPYRIGHT MELANGE PICTURES LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

W

ith long-lasting blooms in shades of orange, pink and peach, shrub rose ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ is the beautiful winner of Rose of the Year 2022. Because it’s a floribunda, a multitude of buds wait to replace older flowers as they fade, ensuring a long display. Each flower has more than 60 petals in varying peachy shades, the tones of which change according to the temperature.

‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ showed excellent disease tolerance in its two-year trial. The dark green glossy foliage, which remains late in the season, complements the sweetly scented blooms, while the plants themselves are strong and robust. Quite upright in habit, ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ will grow to a height and spread of around 95cm x 1m.

Plants are available to buy this autumn from rose nurseries and garden centres.

Rose of the Year is managed by Roses UK on behalf of BARB (the

Above Opulent flowers with layer upon layer

of petals are produced over a long season on floribunda rose ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’.

Top right The flowers change tone from orange and peach to pink, depending on the temperature, to beautiful effect.

British Association of Rose Breeders).

UK rose breeders and the UK agents of international rose breeders are invited to enter their most promising new varieties each year. The roses are then trialled for two years to assess their characteristics: flower and plant form; colour, scent and abundance of flower; health and ease of maintenance. Rose of the Year trials start six years before the commercial introduction of a winning rose.

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UK

2012 ‘Dictwix’ (the code name for ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’) is first hybridised by rose breeder and BARB member Colin Dickson.

2016 The rose is entered into the Rose of the Year 2022 competition, with the trial beginning in autumn.

2018 Following completion of the comprehensive two-year trial, the winning rose is selected.

2019 Commercial growers are offered budwood of ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ in order to bulk up plants over summer for cutting their own budwood in 2020.

2020 During summer, plants of ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ are budded commercially for retail.

2021 In autumn, plants are lifted for bare-root and containerised sale to the retail trade and the public.

2022 Containerised plants will be available from garden centres and rose nurseries.

promoting interna tiona l rose breede rs & british growers

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 83

PROMOTION

THE HOME OF STYLISH HOUSEPLANTS With the launch of N1 Garden Centre’s new online shop, indoor growers across the UK can now treat themselves to houseplants and accessories from one of London’s favourite specialists

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or more than two decades, N1 Garden Centre has been proudly serving London. The opening of its new online shop means the whole of the UK can now browse and buy houseplants, pots and home accessories. Visitors to the website can look forward to an exclusive collection of houseplants that are not available in store, as well as plant care tips and styling inspiration.

Located near stylish Islington, N1 Garden Centre has been a pioneer of urban gardening since its launch by Beryl Henderson over 22 years ago. A firm favourite among residents of North London, N1 Garden Centre helps people find the best plants for their home, garden, flat or balcony. And thanks to creative director Paul Holt’s horticultural expertise, it is now a leading light in the houseplant retail world.

84 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

Above N1 Garden Centre is renowned for its dazzling range of houseplants, expertly curated by creative director Paul Holt.

Right The range includes popular houseplants such as begonias, as well as rarer specimens and stylish accessories.

Building on the success of N1, the larger W6 Garden Centre was opened in West London in 2011 and is now overseen by director Louise Alhadeff. Nestled under the arches of a railway bridge, its specialist shop, The Green Room at W6, offers customers an equally inspirational houseplant shopping experience.

Today, N1 Garden Centre is firmly established as the go-to destination for London houseplant novices and collectors alike. It is widely acclaimed, taking first place in the Best Boutique Garden Centre category at The Garden Retail Awards multiple times.

Quality plants have always been at the forefront of N1’s business. The aim is to buy the best, give them the care they need in the garden centre, and wave customers off with the expert care tips they need to ensure their new plant thrives. N1 actively seeks out the newest varieties they know visitors will love, but

Left The heart-shaped leaves of on-trend houseplant Anthurium clarinervium make a striking indoor display.

Below Toning terracotta pots set off the veined leaves of fittonia to perfection.

it also stocks plenty of often-overlooked favourites as well.

Garden centres are not traditionally seen as places where you might find both plants and colour trends, but at N1 Garden Centre the team like to create inspirational displays that combine both. “A love of fashion and the catwalk has always influenced my horticultural career,” says Paul Holt. “Our pot collection is updated seasonally, and it’s so pleasurable to match a new pot in an on-trend colour with one of our striking houseplants. Adding a decorative layer to a plant and pot combination, such as a sun-bleached branch or a contrasting plate, brings yet another level of interest to your décor. Creating focal points with plants is something everyone can do and have fun with,” he affirms. l Visit n1gardencentre.co.uk to find out more and register for an introductory 20% discount.

RHS Chelsea Flower Show Houseplant Studio This year sees the launch of the Houseplant Studios at RHS Chelsea Flower Show, and N1 Garden Centre is delighted to have been asked to create one. Here the team will showcase their signature style of quality houseplants, on-trend pots and nature-inspired

home décor. Because the show is taking place in September for the first time in its 108-year history, N1 is drawing inspiration from the colours of autumn and will explore how the changing season can be reflected in the home through plants and accessories.

N1gardencentre.co.uk Tel: 020 7923 3553 @n1gardencentre W6gardencentre.co.uk Tel: 020 8563 7112 @w6gardencentre OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 85

Bloms Bulbs Supplying the finest bulbs to Great British Gardens for 160 years

Triteleia Aquarius

www.blomsbulbs.com Bloms Bulbs, Primrose Nurseries, Melchbourne Bedford MK44 1ZZ Telephone: 01234 709099

BULBS

Cocktail Hour

WORDS VIVIENNE HAMBLY IMAGE CLIVE NICHOLS

Experts Angel Collins, Arthur Parkinson and Lady Ursula Chomeley present their signature recipes for mixing up bulbs in borders, containers and meadows in autumn, to create delectably sophisticated combinations the following spring

Small but striking, Crocus ‘Orange Monarch’ is just one of the bulbs in Arthur Parkinson’s container.

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 87

BULBS

Beds & Borders

Garden designer Angel Collins is adept at creating schemes with sustained interest. Here she suggests bulbs for a special spring-flowering border display

“A

large part of the joy of growing bulbs is the anticipation. You can have at least three weeks of foliage when you don’t mind that they’re not flowering yet,” says Angel. In borders, aim for variation in shape and texture as well as colour. With this in mind, she suggests crown imperials (Fritillaria imperialis) for drama, and tulips in different hues for a border full of jewel colours from March to May. Think also about perennial foliage that will be emerging at the same time as the spring bulbs and plant for contrast. Angel proposes Heuchera ‘Lime Rickey’, Thalictrum rochebrunianum, Euphorbia amygdaloides ‘Purpurea’ and Geum ‘Mai Tai’ as good spring companions.

Put all the bulbs apart from the crown imperials into a wheelbarrow. Add a small jar of hot chilli powder, coating each bulb with it: this will help deter squirrels. “Divide the bulbs into 14 groups

and weave the groups through the border, or walk along the border throwing them in all the way along and then plant them where they land,” Angel advises. Dot the crown imperials separately throughout the border for impact.

Lift and dry off the tulips once they have flowered and replace them with annuals. Replant the bulbs in a meadow, if you have one, for flowering the following year. “You can leave tulips in the border, but for this try to plant the definite returners, such as ‘Rem’s Favourite’, ‘Menton’, and ‘Queen of Night’,” says Angel.

For a smaller, 5m x 3m bed in shades of pink, use 450 tulips, planting 90 each of the varieties ‘China Town’, ‘China Pink’, ‘Mistress Grey’, ‘Merlot’ and ‘Spring Green’.

Angel’s Bejwelled Border Bulb quantities for a 12m x 3m border 15 Fritillaria imperialis 100 Narcissus ‘Geranium’ 50 Narcissus ‘Sentinel’ 50 Narcissus ‘Barrett Browning’ 100 Tulip ‘Little Beauty’ 100 Tulip ‘Brown Sugar’ 200 Tulip ‘Merlot’ 100 Tulip ‘Request’ 250 Tulip ‘Chato’ 150 Tulip ‘Black Hero’ 150 Tulip ‘Queen of Night’ 150 Tulip ‘Menton’

Tel: 07876 592440; angelacollins.co.uk; @angelcollinsgardens

Narcissus ‘Sentinel’

Tulip ‘Little Beauty’

Tulip ‘Queen of Night’

Tulip ‘Merlot’

Narcissus ‘Barrett Browning’

Fritillaria imperialis

88 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

IMAGES CLIVE NICHOLS; SHUTTERSTOCK

Tulip ‘Brown Sugar’

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 89

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BULBS

Pots & Containers

Gardener and designer Arthur Parkinson uses his favourite container, the dolly tub, to create a gorgeous layered confection of flowers from February to May

D

olly tubs, the galvanised Victorian wash tubs now widely used as containers, make a striking focal point and will take 100 to 200 bulbs each. Arthur plants his tubs up using the ‘lasagne’ technique. For this, he positions lateflowering bulbs at the bottom of the container and early-flowering bulbs on top. “All my pots are planted up like this, with three layers of different bulbs. It’s a really efficient method of getting lots of different bulbs into your garden,” he explains.

For each dolly tub, or similar-sized container of around 50cm tall and 40cm across, Arthur recommends using 40 tulips, 15-30 hyacinths, 50 crocuses and 50 irises, which will flower from February into late May. Scale the numbers down if you’re using smaller pots, or scale up for a large trough or bath. A dolly tub should hold three planting layers; shallow containers may accommodate only two.

Add drainage to the bottom of the dolly tub and then fill it a third full with peat-free compost. Lay down the tulips first, then add a 10cm deep layer of compost. Next add the hyacinths and cover with another 10cm layer of compost. Irises and crocus can be planted together, around 10cm below the soil’s surface – just ensure none of the bulbs touch one another. Deadhead as the season progresses, but remove the hyacinth bulbs altogether after flowering to make room for the tulips.

Arthur’s Venetian Container

GOOD SOURCES

In order of planting from the bottom of the tub to the top 10 Tulip ‘Black Parrot’ 10 Tulip ‘Brown Sugar’ 10 Tulip ‘Rococo’ 10 Tulip ‘Palmyra’ 15 Hyacinth ‘Anastasia’ 15 Hyacinth ‘Woodstock’ 50 Iris reticulata ‘George’ 25 Crocus ‘Spring Beauty’ 25 Crocus ‘Orange Monarch’

Try these outlets for distinctive containers that will stand the test of time Crocus Online garden shop offering containers in a wide selection of styles and materials.

Tel: 01344 578000; crocus.co.uk Frome Reclamation Reclaimed Victorian coppers, clay pots and stone troughs.

Tel: 01373 463919; fromerec.co.uk Garden Trading Timeless, practical designs for home and garden.

Tel: 01993 845559; gardentrading.co.uk

Follow Arthur on Instagram @arthurparkinson

Lorfords Antiques Antique troughs, vats, urns and planters.

Tel: 01666 505111; lorfordsantiques.com

IMAGES CLIVE NICHOLS; SHUTTERSTOCK

Hyacinth ‘Anastasia’

Tulip ‘Rococo’

Nkuku Small- to medium containers, mainly in terracotta and brass. Tel: 0333 2400155; nkuku.com Violet Grey A handpicked collection of rare antique pots and planters in the French style.

Tel: 01392 348318; violetgrey.co.uk Whichford Traditional terracotta planters that are handmade in Warwickshire.

Tel: 01608 684416; whichfordpottery.com

Tulip ‘Black Parrot’

Hyacinth ‘Woodstock’

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 91

BULBS

Bulb Meadows

At Easton Walled Gardens the meadows are a highlight of spring. Owner Lady Ursula Cholmeley explains how you can naturalise bulbs to create your own

“I

f you want a flower meadow, a bulb For a simple daffodil meadow, Ursula meadow is good because you don’t mixes 500 bulbs of each of her favourite need to worry about soil fertility,” varieties. “Throw large quantities onto the explains Lady Ursula Chomeley, who ground and plant them where they fall,” she conceived the compelling bulb planting in the advises. Key to this is knowing your capacity Cedar Meadow at Easton Walled Gardens in for bulb planting. “Planting 2,000 bulbs on Lincolnshire. It began simply, with aconites your own can be soul destroying, so call in under trees and snowdrops in the turf. To some friends.” Note where you have planted these were added Narcissus ‘WP Milner’, bulbs for naturalising so that in later years ‘Actaea’ and ‘Pheasant’s Eye’. In time she they can be interplanted with other bulbs. included smaller ‘Tête-à-tête’ and ‘Snow Cut your bulb meadow around the second Baby’, which flower between snowdrops and week of June, then trim it like a lawn using a the first flush of larger daffodils. Across the strimmer or an Allen scythe. Stop mowing in quarter-acre meadow, narcissus are planted in November or December when the foliage of swathes of roughly 10m x 3m. the earliest bulbs often starts to appear.

Blues are provided by scilla and Crocus A meadow is a long-term project, so leave tommasinianus. For tulips, room for the narcissus to Lady Ursula’s Ursula is a fan of ‘Apeldoorn spread, and add new species Sea of Narcissus Elite’: “We use this every year; incrementally to find out what Naturalised daffodils they’re cheap, cheery and they works and what doesn’t. “Don’t for a quarter acre don’t confuse the eye,” she rush to fill every part of the explains. Of the camassias, meadow. You need the quiet 500 Narcissus ‘Actaea’ C. quamash works best for her, 500 Narcissus spaces,” Ursula observes. ■ and she also suggests Fritillaria ‘Pheasant’s Eye’ meleagris for planting in drifts Easton Walled Gardens. Tel: 500 Narcissus in cool, damp areas.

01476 530063; visiteaston.co.uk ‘Tête-à-tête’

GOOD SOURCES A range of bulb suppliers, from wholesale to niche Avon Bulbs Supplier of a wide range of bulbs, including unusual species such as disporum, cypripedium and ixiolirion. Tel: 01460 249060; avonbulbs.co.uk Bloms Bulbs Long-standing and award-winning supplier of top-quality bulbs. Tel: 01234 709099; bloms.co.uk Broadleigh Bulbs A leading propagator and provider of small bulbs. Tel: 01622 845990; broadleighbulbs.co.uk Dutch Grown Dutch company established in 1882 and now run by brothers Ben and Pete. dutchgrown.co.uk Farmer Gracy A good selection of regular bulbs as well as some more unusual varieties. Tel: 0330 8087304; farmergracy.co.uk J Parkers Good for larger and wholesale orders of popular bulbs. Tel: 0161 8481100; jparkers.co.uk Peter Nyssen Well-established supplier of crowd-pleasing varieties, with economies of scale. Tel: 0161 7474000; peternyssen.com

Narcissus ‘Tête-à-tête’

Sarah Raven The doyenne of cut-flower gardening sells sophisticated bulb collections and equipment. Tel: 0345 0920283; sarahraven.com

Narcissus ‘Pheasant’s Eye’

92 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

Fritillaria meleagris

Shipton Bulbs Welsh growers of native and naturalised UK bulbs. Tel: 01994 240637; shiptonbulbs.co.uk

IMAGES CLIVE NICHOLS; SHUTTERSTOCK

Crocus tommasinianus

Pottertons Nursery Specialists in dwarf bulbs, based in the North East. Tel: 01472 851714; pottertons.co.uk

PARTNER FEATURE

The Show Will Go On Purveyors of the finest tulips and other garden-worthy bulbs for over 160 years, Bloms Bulbs is already looking ahead to a triumphant return at the 2022 Chelsea Flower Show

I

f you have ever visited the Chelsea Flower Show in May, you will undoubtedly have been mesmerised by the colourful tulips displayed

by Bloms Bulbs at the centre of the floral marquee. Bloms is one of the most longstanding exhibitors at Chelsea, having had a continuous presence since 1948. It is with deep regret that the May show has been postponed for the past two years, but Bloms is looking forward to being back in May 2022 with another exhibit of magnificent tulips.

It was nearly 50 years ago that brothers Paul and Chris Blom started their Chelsea apprenticeship at the age of ten, tasked with the job of cleaning vases during setup. Today they show over 200 varieties of tulips at Chelsea, from early to late flowerers, all at their peak for that one week in late May. With a total of 68 Chelsea Gold Medals, there is a reason that the name Bloms has become synonymous with tulips of the highest quality.

Of course, tulips are not the only flower for which Bloms is renowned.

The company started out specialising in

Clockwise from top left Bloms’ display

at the 2019 show; brothers Chris and Paul Blom; neon magenta ‘Night Club’ for upbeat colour; double ‘Copper Image’.

hyacinths and, over the years, Bloms has won awards covering the whole spectrum of spring- and summer-flowering bulbs.

Every year Chris meets with his cousin Winston and other growers in Holland to plan the upcoming catalogue. In an industry dominated by the cut-flower trade, many of the bulbs in Bloms’ range are grown only by individual nurseries, and supporting these smaller growers is vital if the current diversity of bulbs offered is to be maintained. New bulbs are trialled for a year before a decision is made. Only bulbs

that have been shown to be successful garden plants will make it into the Bloms catalogue; those varieties that look appealing but ultimately prove to be poor performers are left out.

“Times may have changed but we both feel privileged to be doing essentially the same work that our great-greatgrandfather was doing 160 years ago,” says Paul. “We remain dedicated to supplying the season’s very best bulbs, all of them taken from the same stocks as those used for our award-winning show displays.”

Tel: 01234 709099; blomsbulbs.com

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 93

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HEDGING

WORDS CLARE FOGGETT IMAGE CLIVE NICHOLS

Like a series of stage flats, these hedges both divide the space, and lead the eye to the water feature focal point.

Healthy Boundaries

Beautiful and useful, creative and functional, hedges have almost as many uses as they do styles, and autumn is the ideal time to plan and plant

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HEDGING

Above Crisp yew hedges

divide Claus Dalby’s garden into rooms, in an unconventional, asymmetric way.

S

ometimes, the only option is a fence or wall. But if there’s ever the chance to plant a hedge instead, take it.

Hedges have to be the most multifunctional, versatile and useful planted features you can include in a garden. At their simplest, they make a verdant boundary around a perimeter, but beyond that they can fulfil all manner of purposes: a home for wildlife, a design device, a chance to clip creatively or even grow food.

In a small garden, opting to plant a hedge for a boundary, alongside or instead of a fence, might seem an excessive use of the space available. Clearly a fence will take up far less space. But most plants suitable for hedging can be pruned to constrain the hedge at a modest size and width. The benefits it brings will outweigh the extra space it takes up.

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To start with, hedges are environmentally friendly, absorbing carbon as they grow. Most hedges form superb wildlife habitats, providing nesting sites for birds, shelter for insects and small mammals, and sometimes nectar-rich flowers and berries for pollinators and birds to feast on, depending on the plants that make up the hedge. A recent science paper by the RHS showed that hedges help trap airborne pollutants in urban areas, with one hedging plant – Cotoneaster franchetii – trapping 20 per cent more emissions than the other plants tested. They also help reduce sound from noisy roads nearby.

Then there’s their helpfulness in terms of a garden’s design. Whether it’s deciduous or evergreen, a hedge will provide useful structure in winter and a lush backdrop for planting in summer, while adding height and solidity that makes a pleasing foil for

IMAGES CLIVE NICHOLS; GAP/HOWARD RICE

looser perennial plants. Perhaps most exciting is the opportunity they afford for real creativity – the options are limited only by your imagination!

Hedges for boundaries Hedges don’t take as long as you might think to become established and start forming a solid boundary. However, once you’ve made the decision to have one, make planting it a priority, especially in a new garden, so it starts to look like what you’d envisioned as soon as possible. Autumn and winter are the traditional seasons to plant a hedge, and this is also when you can buy bare-root hedging plants.

This is by far the most cost-effective way to go about it, particularly if you’re planning a significant distance of hedging. Or there are plenty of mature ‘instant hedge’ options available.

A dense hedge of thorny pyracantha, berberis or hawthorn will deter the most determined burglar, so these prickly shrubs are definitely worth considering for the security conscious. Evergreen hedges reliably look good all year round so should be top of the list if constant greenery is desired. Yew is the classic, but consider also Lonicera nitida, conifers such as thuja and cypress, escallonia and elaeagnus. As a general rule, the smaller the evergreen’s leaves, the better it will look as a hedge because of its amenability to being clipped. Large-leaved Prunus laurocerasus (cherry laurel) is often sold as a hedging plant, but should really be cut by hand to avoid its foliage being left ragged by a hedge trimmer.

Deciduous hedges may lose their leaves in winter, but their twiggy structure remains – and in the case of beech and hornbeam, classic deciduous hedging

Top left Combining wall

and hedge enlivens a plain feature and adds value for wildlife.

Top right A pyracantha hedge deters burglars with thorns and attracts birds with its berries.

Above The charming informality of a boundary hedge.

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HEDGING

Top A wildlife hedge of mixed species, with a throng of delightful wildflowers at its base.

Above In this tapestry hedge, copper beech and the green variety create a rich mixture.

plants, the copper-brown autumn leaves cling on throughout the colder months. When hornbeam’s crinkle-cut leaves unfurl from their long, pointed, cigar-like buds, they are the essence of fresh spring newness. Other less traditional choices for looser hedges include shrubs such as forsythia, ornamental currants and chaenomeles, so your hedge can also bear spring flowers or, in the case of hazel, be adorned with dangling catkins.

Hedges for wildlife Of course, hedges needn’t be just one plant. A tapestry hedge made up of two or more different types of plants can make a lovely feature. At Town Place in Sussex, a glorious summer border is backed 98 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

by a two-tone hedge of x Cupressocyparis leylandii ‘Haggerston Grey’ and golden Thuja plicata ‘Zebrina’, which enlivens what would otherwise have been a stretch of plain green.

For wildlife, the more species you can include, the better. For birds, choose plants that will bear berries, such as hawthorn, crab apples, sloe, guelder rose (Viburnum opulus), spindle and elder. Incorporating wild roses such as sweet briar (Rosa rubiginosa), dog rose (Rosa canina) and Rosa rugosa, ensures flowers for pollinators in summer and hips to follow.

These hedges, best suited to larger gardens and their wilder edges, create extra opportunities for planting: wildflowers such as bluebells, primroses, red campion and stitchwort look lovely at their base.

Good Resources Glebe Farm Hedging Established in 1999, this wholesale and mailorder nursery grows and supplies bare-root hedging, native mixes, pot-grown hedging plants and instant mature hedges. Tel: 01206 323200; glebefarmhedging.co.uk @Hedgelover_ Follow this Instagram account for extremely satisfying videos of artful hedge and topiary pruning, plus hedging examples to inspire.

Hedging UK Specialist growers of hedging plants at keen prices, available through mail order. Tel: 01704 827224; hedginguk.com Hopes Grove Nurseries Bare-root, potted and instant hedging are all stocked at this Kent nursery, which also delivers by mail order. Tel: 01580 765600; hopesgrovenurseries.co.uk Instant Hedges A good range of large hedging blocks, including hornbeam, beech, yew and thuja, plus troughs of ready-grown hedges including a native hedge mix. Tel: 01296 399585; instanthedges.co.uk Niwaki A large selection of razor-sharp Japanese shears and clippers for all sorts of hedging.

Tel: 01747 445059; niwaki.com Practicality Brown Growers of the Practical Instant Hedge, which lends gardens immediate impact and maturity, as well as individual hedging plants.

Tel: 01753 652022; pracbrown.co.uk Readyhedge

IMAGES GAP/MARTIN HUGHES-JONES/ROB WHITWORTH; CLIVE NICHOLS

A range of ready-grown hedges that come

Hopes Grove Nurseries sell a range of native hedging mixes for different purposes. An edible collection is ideal for foragers, while the horsefriendly mix is perfect for hedging paddocks or fields where livestock are kept, free of poisonous species and long, potentially harmful thorns.

Above Sir Roy Strong’s

garden, The Laskett, uses hedges theatrically to screen and reveal views and vistas.

in troughs or bags for instant, established hedging. Visit by appointment or order online.

Tel: 01386 750585; readyhedgeltd.com Stihl The tools of choice for head gardeners with hedges to maintain. The cordless HLA65 battery-powered hedge trimmer makes light

Hedges as part of the design We’re all familiar with the concept of dividing a garden into rooms, à la Hidcote or Sissinghurst, and, more often than not, hedges are the means of making those divisions. At both of these renowned gardens, yew is the hedge of choice, used in straight lines and curves, clipped into smart, crisp divides.

But in other gardens, dividing hedges become a

work of large expanses of hedging. Find a dealer at stihl.co.uk The Art of Creative Pruning Jake Hobson of Niwaki supplies inspiration to take your hedges in a more creative direction in this informative book. £25, niwaki.com

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®

Our instant hedging is delivered ready-spaced and ready to plant, with no need for machinery or special planting skills.

Variety shown: Prunus Lusitanica Angustifolia (Portuguese Laurel)

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Simplicity.

01386 750585 sales@readyhedge.com matthew@readyhedge.com www.readyhedge.com

IMAGES GAP/CAROLE DRAKE; CLIVE NICHOLS

HEDGING

feature in their own right. Perennial’s garden, York Gate in Leeds, is a wonderful example, with a yew hedge clipped into slim points.

Hedges needn’t be pruned to the kind of mathematical perfection that requires a protractor.

If you prefer a more relaxed aesthetic, let the hedge grow into bumps and lumps for a more organic effect, taking inspiration from the cloud-pruned hedges at gardens such as Arundel Castle. Or coax parts of them into elaborate topiary shapes, like the birds that guard a gate in the hedge at Little Malvern Court, Worcestershire.

Hedges can become a design device, screening parts of the garden from view or drawing the eye to a focal point. Use them like stage flats, to partition and add drama, as Sir Roy Strong has done with theatrical aplomb at The Laskett. You can also see brilliant examples of hedges taking centre stage at Veddw House Garden, Anne Wareham and Charles Hawes’ garden near Chepstow. Here, waves of yew hedging echo the countryside’s hills. At Allt-y-Bela, the Monmouthshire home of garden designer Arne Maynard, admire the swirl of purple beech hedging that spirals around a stone pot set on a plinth.

Create niches for pieces of sculpture or benches, or use hedging to draw attention and focus the eye on works of garden art. And don’t forget the simple

effectiveness of using a low-growing hedge to edge a path or lawn, or to enclose a border’s bountiful planting. Box is the classic choice, but if you’re concerned by its propensity to suffer from blight and box-tree moth caterpillars, consider Euonymus japonicus ‘Green Rocket’, Teucrium x lucidrys or Ilex crenata, all of which are attractive alternatives.

Top The distinctive pointed yew hedge at York Gate garden.

Above Cloud pruning a hedge into an organic shape works on any scale; this long run is at Arundel Castle in Sussex.

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HEDGING

HEDGES: A PRACTICAL GUIDE Autumn and winter are the seasons to plant bare-root hedging. Get bare roots in the ground as soon as you can after plants arrive, but if the ground is wet or frozen, they can be temporarily heeled into compost to keep the roots moist while you wait for better conditions.

Container-grown plants, or mature hedging that comes in troughs or bags, are also best planted in autumn and winter. They can go in the ground at other times, but closer attention will need to be paid to watering if they are planted in hotter, drier months.

Prepare the ground in advance by removing any grass and weeds from the strip where the hedge is going. Dig a trench ready for the hedging plants – the soil mark on their stems will show you how deep it needs to be.

As a very general rule, work on three plants per metre in a single row. For a thicker, denser hedge, try five plants per metre in a double row, each row about 40cm apart, and the plants staggered.

Incorporate some slow-release fertiliser such as bonemeal into the soil you use to backfill the trenches, along with some well-rotted compost or

Planting Soak the roots of bare-root

plants before they go in the ground.

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organic matter. You could also consider adding mycorrhizal fungi at planting to help establishment. Firm and water the plants in well and finish with a layer of mulch to conserve moisture and keep weeds at bay, but don’t pile it up around the plants’ stems.

Watering and aftercare This is critical to help a new hedge establish, particularly in a dry spell immediately after planting, and also during the hedge’s first spring and summer. It’s also important if you have planted mature ‘instant’ hedges.

Supplier Readyhedge recommends regular watering for the first 18 months after planting and advises installing a leaky hose or irrigation to ensure their mature hedges receive regular and sufficient water. It’s also important to keep the base of the hedge weed free.

Pruning New deciduous hedges need pruning in winter or early spring to help them form their shape. After planting they should be cut back to encourage side stems to bush out from the base, then, in summer, shorten those side stems again

Watering It’s crucial to keep new hedges

well watered while they get established.

Pruning Trim mature hedges once or twice a year to keep them crisp and in shape.

to encourage them to bush out. Cut the hedge back again the following winter to encourage further bushy growth and in summer prune the side stems so they start to form the hedge’s shape – the classic is a tapered A shape with a flat top. Once it has reached the height you want, cut back the main leading shoot.

Young evergreen hedges just need their side shoots pruning where necessary.

Thereafter, most hedges need maintenance pruning once or twice a year, depending on how ‘sharp’ you like them, usually between late spring and early autumn for deciduous hedges, and in summer for evergreens. But never prune if there’s a possibility you might disturb nesting birds: wait until nesting season (March-August) is over.

With the exception of yew, which can still be pruned into September, don’t trim other conifer hedges after August because it can cause bare patches. And for informal flowering hedges, don’t forget to time the pruning so you don’t trim away next year’s flowers. Hedges that flower on the current season’s growth should be pruned in spring; those that flower on one-year-old growth should be pruned just after flowering. n

IMAGES GARDEN EXPOSURES/ANDREA JONES; GAP/ROBERT MABIC

Planting

Practical Instant Hedge™

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It is available in evergreen and deciduous, so plenty of options for all gardens.

Call our Horticultural team for a quote on 01753 652022 or explore our website www.pracbrown.co.uk/instant-hedges-trees/the-english-garden/

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AUTUMN PLANTING

A Time for Doing

IMAGES CLIVE NICHOLS

Autumn is the perfect time to consider your garden’s success and failures and take action for the year ahead, says Jim Cable, who offers sage advice on late-season planning, planting, moving, removing, sowing and dividing

For a herbaceous border that will be at its peak in summer, look to lift, divide and replant more vigorous plants now.

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arly autumn is a great time to make some improvements in the garden.

Chances are you will have been taking stock over the summer and if not making written notes, mental ones at least. Even if you haven’t, most plants bar spring bulbs are still in evidence and can be assessed now.

Herbaceous plants may be dying back, but you can still see the extent of their coverage and, with a little imagination perhaps, their height and presence at their peak. As deciduous leaves colour and fall, there is a sense of something loved being dismantled. If we make dramatic interventions, we will merely add temporary upheaval to what is already a rapidly changing scene. The weather too is likely to be on our side: not too hot for the heavier jobs and with the likelihood of rain to keep new plantings irrigated while they establish. Autumn is a time for doing.

A strict hand Be tough on plants that have not been earning their keep. Procrastination will probably lead to a reprieve over the winter and next year you will wish you had acted and filled the gap with something more interesting. Send an underperforming shrub to the compost heap via the shredder, or separate it into branches and add them to a ‘dead hedge’ held in place by stout upright poles. Dead hedges can form useful dividers and screens, and are an excellent habitat for longhorn beetles, wood wasps and voles.

If a shrub in your sights is a case of ‘right plant, wrong place’, then transplanting is an option.

With care this is often successful, although the older the plant the higher the risk of it dying from shock. October to March is the ideal time to move deciduous subjects, while evergreens are best re-homed in October or March. In any case, digging plenty of organic matter in to the new spot is key.

Stake the transplant to prevent wind rock damaging new roots when they form, and water it copiously on planting and during subsequent dry spells. In windy gardens it may be worth surrounding the shrub with a cocoon of windbreak netting secured to wooden posts. This reduces water loss from leaves.

Restore balance Managing herbaceous planting is all about making ongoing adjustments. Unlike a show garden that we may have marvelled at over the summer, our borders at home have to perform over a long season. The traditional approach to this is to have large clumps flowering here and there in succession. There is a Top A dead hedge is trend, however, towards a great way to recycle prunings or the branches a more subtle tapestry of unwanted shrubs. effect that demands a Left October to March is sprinkling of colour the ideal time to relocate through the whole scene most deciduous plants.

106 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

IMAGES GAP/FRIEDRICH STRAUSS/ROBERT MABIC/LYNN KEDDIE; CLIVE NICHOLS

at any one time. Having Above left Vigorous perennials such as lots of repetition over goldenrod and asters, a large area gives a need regular division. naturalistic feel even Above right Use poppies if the plants are highly as a temporary filler for gaps left by editing; bred or alien to our pretty Shirley poppies shores. If you fancy a can be sown now. looser, more relaxed Left Autumn is the best effect, now is the time time to divide perennials. to mix things up a bit.

Some overexuberant herbaceous plants like goldenrod, asters and hardy geraniums need keeping in check by lifting an entire clump, dividing it into pieces and replanting. This will generate spare plants that can be given away to novice gardeners who just want good ‘doers’, or trialled in a more challenging spot where fussier plants have failed.

Restore balance between the thugs and the daintier subjects and when replanting aim to create added interest by placing plants with contrasts in form and foliage next to one another. Autumn is an ideal time to lift and divide most summer-flowering subjects.

Some early-flowering plants such as bearded iris are best left until they finish flowering next year, while borderline hardy specimens are best left until spring.

Get planting A strict audit followed by an edit will probably leave some gaps in the garden that need filling. If you are on a tight budget or simply undecided as to the perfect filler, sprinkle some poppy seeds over the cultivated ground. Oriental, Shirley, ladybird or Spanish will all delight next summer, their papery blooms appearing to float above and knit together a fulsome border. All poppies germinate more freely after being subjected to a cold spell, a process OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 107

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IMAGES GAP/ELKE BORKOWSKI; GARDEN EXPOSURES/ANDREA JONES

AUTUMN PLANTING

known as stratification. Thus, an autumn sowing is ideal. For a more permanent solution, an online shop or a visit to a good nursery can provide some hardworking perennial plants.

Whether planting new purchases or divisions of existing plants, preparation of the spot you have selected for them will help them perform well. Dig a generous hole and add some organic matter mixed with some of the excavated soil and lightly firm.

Adjust the level so that when you place the new plant in the hole it is at the correct depth. A bamboo cane placed to bridge the hole can help with this. Shrubs benefit from being planted slightly proud of the surrounding soil, while herbaceous plants are better at the same level or slightly buried. All plants benefit from a five-minute soak in a bucket of water before they are planted. Sprinkle some mycorrhizal fungi over the wet roots, holding the plant above the hole.

These form a mutually beneficial partnership with the plant. Then, steadying the plant with one hand use the other to pull in a mix of soil and organic matter. Firm around the plant and water it well.

Above Pyrus salicifolia ‘Pendula’ is a gorgeous, structural tree – ideal for planting this autumn.

Above right Soak plants well before putting them in the ground.

Right Sculptural Taxus baccata ‘Fastigiata’.

Add a tree So much for subtle adjustments. Sometimes a garden needs some statement planting. A well-spaced row of sculptural trees such as Taxus baccata ‘Fastigiata’, Catalpa bignonioides ‘Nana’ or Pyrus salicifolia ‘Pendula’ will add height and structure to a garden and could be used to line a path creating a vista.

This is effective providing there is a focal point at OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 109

Garden. The effect is one of a pavilion. Sorbus aria ‘Lutescens’, a cultivar of whitebeam with silvery leaves, and Morus alba, the white mulberry, can also be trained on a temporary framework to create similar living structures for shade and add focal points to a garden space.

Trees should be planted in a square hole at least twice the diameter of the rootball. The straight sides encourage the roots to grow outwards rather than spiral. Again, adding mycorrhizal fungi is advisable.

Secure the trunk with a tree tie two thirds of the way down to a stake driven into the ground at a diagonal.

Newly planted trees need regular watering over the first spring and summer of establishment.

the end: a bench, large planter or water feature, say.

Alternatively, they could punctuate a border, their statuesque quality creating interest in winter and contrast with summer’s more ephemeral elements.

At the new RHS Garden Bridgewater, designer Tom Stuart-Smith has used Persian ironwood, Parrotia persica, in a pleached form to create a sense of enclosure at the western end of the Paradise 110 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

Top Accentuate a vista towards a focal point with a row of trees.

Above right Dig a square planting hole for new trees, which encourages their roots to spread out.

Above left Be inspired by Tom Stuart-Smith and try Parrotia persica.

Go for bare-rooted Some more common varieties of tree and many hedging plants are available bare-rooted from November to April. These are field-grown, lifted during the dormant season and dispatched having had the soil shaken off their roots. This reduces the carbon cost of transportation and makes for an economical way of buying lots of plants.

If you need a new screen or boundary hedge, mixes are available from specialist nurseries, such as Hopes Grove in Kent, which fulfil different needs.

There are native bare-root hedging mixes selected to provide flowers, privacy or a crop of fruit either for us or the birds. There is even an assortment tailored to produce hips and fruit to flavour gin. ■

IMAGES GARDEN EXPOSURES/ANDREA JONES; GAP/MARK WINWOOD; CLIVE NICHOLS

AUTUMN PLANTING

Are you planting fruit trees or bushes this season?

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Available online or from any good garden centre

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 111

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QUEEN’S GREEN CANOPY

By Royal Invitation

WORDS PHOEBE JAYES IMAGE ALAMY

To celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty The Queen in 2022, the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative invites people across the nation to plant trees this October

Her Majesty The Queen plants a tree at Mill Hill School in London in 1957, during the early years of her reign.

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QUEEN’S GREEN CANOPY

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community groups, charities and businesses are all esidents of the UK, young and old being encouraged to get planting – whether it’s a alike, are being invited to ‘Plant a compact fruit tree on a patio or a group of trees to tree for the Jubilee’ this autumn as line a road or bring greenery to a local area. part of a huge project to mark Her Sir Nicholas Bacon, Chair of the QGC, says: “I Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022. cannot think of a more appropriate way to honour The Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC) is an initiative Her Majesty’s 70 years of dedicated service to this that aims to help the environment by planting trees country than to plant trees. This initiative is an sustainably and, in doing so, create a lasting legacy opportunity to bring the nation together to celebrate in honour of The Queen’s leadership of the nation her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022 while making over the past 70 years. a difference to the environment. The aim is to The Queen and The Prince of Wales planted the encourage everyone to plant the right trees in the first Jubilee tree, a Verdun oak, in the grounds of right place, at the right time, so they continue to Windsor Castle earlier this year. Verdun oaks were thrive for generations to come.” first planted in the UK as memorials, following As part of this celebratory initiative, the QGC will World War I, with acorns collected at the battlefield also dedicate a UK network of 70 ancient woodlands of Verdun. As Patron of the QGC, The Prince of and identify 70 ancient trees. Additionally, a group Wales describes tree planting as a “profoundly of young people will be given the chance symbolic act” and a “statement of to complete a pilot training programme hope and faith in the future”.

Above HM The Queen for planting and managing trees. n The Queen has been planting and The Prince of Wales plant a Verdun oak at trees since she acceded to the throne Windsor Castle. in 1952, and during her reign she For more information and to add your Left Planting a sweet has planted more than 1,500 trees Jubilee tree to the QGC map, visit chestnut in Hyde Park worldwide. Now, individuals, schools, queensgreencanopy.org for the Golden Jubilee.

114 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

Trees to Plant for Celebratory Colour

IMAGES ALAMY; SHUTTERSTOCK; PA MEDIA

If you’re unsure what to choose as your Jubilee Tree, keen gardener and tree enthusiast Rupert Eley has four recommendations for spectacular autumn colour. Rupert took over the garden and arboretum at East Bergholt Place in Suffolk in 1995 and, together with his wife Sara, opened on-site plant centre The Place for Plants a year later. Browse the collection at placeforplants.co.uk

Sorbus commixta ‘Olympic Flame’

Acer freemanii ‘Autumn Blaze’

Sorbus are very manageable trees. This new variety has white flowers in spring, while in autumn its leaves turn a superb orange-red and clusters of bright fruits appear. Its name reflects its columnar habit, and it reaches 6m tall.

Quick growing and good natured, this tree is on the larger side, growing to over 12m, but you can’t walk past it in autumn. On windy days its fluttering red leaves with paler white undersides are a particularly handsome sight.

Malus hupehensis

Sassafras albidum

A lovely crab apple tree with abundant white blossom in spring and glossy red fruits in autumn. The cherry-like fruits cling onto the branches well into winter. Height: 5m.

An extraordinary tree with three different leaf shapes that turn shades of orange, yellow and red in autumn. Beware – this tree will sucker if left unrestricted. Height: 12m.

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 115

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Pair of mice 8 cms high

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Crab 16 cms long

Reclining Cat 27 cms Long

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Snails 8 cms or 22 cms Long

Lazy Frog 42 cms long

Duchshund 21 cms long

Moongazing Dog 30 cms high

Setter 122 cms long

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Small Pair of Geese 53 cms high

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AUTUMN FRUITS

Harvest Festival Jacky Hobbs forages from hedgerows and gardens for seasonal fruits and berries that can be turned into delicious drinks, preserves and more PHOTOGRAPHS JACKY HOBBS

Rose hips and sloes are easily gathered from hedgerows to turn into seasonal jellies, drinks and decorations.

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AUTUMN FRUITS

Sloes are thorny, so wear gloves when picking, and wait until they’re ripe – a good sign is when they start to drop to the ground.

118 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

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here’s something rather satisfying about foraging through hedgerows in search of seasonal sloes, rose hips, wild apples, hawthorn and blackberries. Autumn’s ripened berries are bursting with high levels of vitamin C and antioxidants and can be used to create naturally flavoured gins, jellies, chutney and jam – all for free.

Forage responsibly, taking no more than you plan to consume, and wear stout boots and protective gloves to guard against vicious thorns and fruit-dyed fingers. Take secateurs to snip a few stems to use in arrangements and table decorations.

SLOES Sloes are not to be rushed. For best results let them ripen on the bough and linger in the gin jar. Britain’s native blackthorn, Prunus spinosa, is prolific in our hedgerows and easily identified, bearing clouds of white spring blossom followed in autumn by bulging, indigo, olive-like fruits, clustered between long, vicious thorns. Quality and quantity may vary due to seasonal conditions. Because this fruitbearing shrub is easy to grow, pretty impenetrable and wildlife friendly, blackthorn is also a good option for a mixed garden hedge.

Sloes are best picked late and ripe, when they’re soft but not squidgy, in October or November.

Ideally, wait until after a frost, which splits the skin and saves on preparation time. Alternatively, freeze the sloes at home to split them. The fruits are tart, but adding alcohol and sugar draws out their flavour and creates a delicious, syrupy, warming liqueur.

I recommend making sloe gin in large quantities. I use five-litre glass demijohns for ‘laying down’, since sloe gin really does improve with age. Alternatively, make multiple smaller-sized bottles to give as Christmas gifts. Once the gin has been drunk, the remaining alcohol-steeped sloes can be used to enhance traditional fruit loaves and cakes and are delicious dipped in dark chocolate.

Entwine hedgerow pickings of blackthorn boughs with rose hips and ivy to create autumnal table garlands and door wreaths – or simply pop a few berried stems into a vase.

Sloe gin INGREDIENTS 1 litre of gin (or vodka if you prefer) 450g washed sloes 225g caster sugar Sterilised jars or bottles with airtight lids METHOD l Either freeze the sloes to split them, or prick them with a cocktail stick to pierce the skins. l Tumble the fruit into a sterilised container, along with the sugar and alcohol.

Top Try a simple arrangement of a few gnarly blackthorn branches in a vase.

Above Sloes are superb in a mixed hedge: they’re excellent for wildlife and provide us with a feast.

Right Save the ginsoaked sloes and use them to bake a rich, moist fruitcake, or coat them in dark chocolate for a moreish treat.

If you used frozen sloes, let them thaw before sealing the container and shaking vigorously to mix the ingredients. l Store the container in a cool, dark place, giving it an encouraging shake up, initially every few days, then weekly, until the liquid takes on a ruby glow. l It’s ready to drink after two months, neat or with bubbles such as prosecco, champagne or tonic. l

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 119

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120 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

AUTUMN FRUITS

WILD ROSE HIPS Rich in vitamin C, a spoonful of home-made rosehip syrup is thought to help ward off winter colds. And it’s the ripened hips or haws from wild roses that make the best tasting syrups and jellies. Common dog rose (Rosa canina) is a thorny hedgerow climber with pale-pink, single blooms and oval, orangered hips, while Rosa rugosa is a really vigorous, free-flowering and fruiting species with deep-pink flowers and tomato-red, plump, squat hips. Both can be used for syrups and they make beautiful additions to garden hedges. Hips from hybrid garden roses are depleted by deadheading and are rendered inedible if the bushes have been sprayed with chemicals.

Rose hips ripen in autumn, and are packed with tiny seeds and itchy little hairs that must be removed, usually by straining the cooked pulp before use. This explains why rose hips are traditionally used as a liquid flavour for jellies, while the fruits themselves are not used in jam-making.

Rosehip jelly INGREDIENTS Makes 750g 500g wild rose hips, washed and stalks trimmed 1kg tart or wild apples (for pectin), chopped Warmed granulated or preserving sugar, 75g per 100ml liquid

Top left The small, glossy

hips of the dog rose, Rosa canina, are packed with Vitamin C. Above Strain cooked rosehip pulp overnight to extract the liquid and leave behind the hips’ irritant hairs.

Left Rosehip jelly is tart and sweet. Try it on toast, with cheese or with roast meat.

METHOD l Place the hips and apples in a pan, cover with water and simmer for 30-40 minutes until soft. l Drain and mash to a pulp and pour into a muslin (or jelly bag with stand). Tie up and suspend overnight, collecting the dripping juices in a container placed underneath. l Measure the extracted liquid and add the sugar, place in a preserving pan, stirring to dissolve, before boiling vigorously for 5-10 minutes until it reaches ‘setting point’ (105°C). l Pour the mixture into sterilised glass jars and seal, topping with fabric jam-jar covers to decorate.

Rosehip syrup INGREDIENTS As above, but without the apples METHOD l As above, but simmer for 15-20 minutes and double-strain the liquid before adding the sugar. l Boil for just 3-5 minutes and skim off any scum. l Pour into sterilised bottles and seal immediately. l Use as a vitamin C-packed syrup drizzled on pancakes, swirled into yoghurts or added to cakes and desserts. Use the syrup within four months because its quality deteriorates with age.

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 121

AUTUMN FRUITS

WILD APPLES AND QUINCE

Apple and quince jelly

These two attractive fruits are not only flavoursome, but their high pectin content also renders them indispensable for setting fruit preserves.

Wild apples (Malus sylvestris) produce small, golden or red autumnal fruits, and those with a diameter of less than 5cm are generally labelled ‘crab apples’. Foragers often overlook these tall, scraggy trees, with their largely out-of-reach fruits that are bitter to the taste when raw. But wild apples are delicious baked, roasted or bubbled into jams, and can be mixed in to help set and flavour jellies and jams made with lower-pectin fruits.

Quince (Cydonia oblonga) is similarly high in pectin and has large, rock-hard, aromatic, pear-like fruit that can fragrance a room once picked. Given a sunny spot, quince is easy to grow, producing lateseason fruits that turn deep gold when they mature, in October to November. Quince ‘Serbian Gold’ AGM is a flavourful, disease-resistant variety that can also be grown in a large container. Pluck ripe, undamaged quince to store. They soften and mature after six weeks, but will keep for three months.

Use damaged fruits immediately, when their pectin content is highest, to make chutney, jellies, jams and the Spanish quince paste known as membrillo.

As per rosehip jelly, but with 1.5kg mixed apple and quince. A really good accompaniment for cheese.

Poached quince If you can’t wait for fruits to soften, poach them.

METHOD l Peel the hard skin and poach for an hour in a pan of sugared, spiced water: use 2 tablespoons of sugar per 250ml water, laced with cinnamon sticks, cloves, allspice or cardamom pods. l Can be eaten alone or added to other desserts.

Apple and quince chutney Below left Apple and quince jelly sets easily thanks to the high pectin content of these fruits.

Below centre Wild apples ripen on the tree to shades of buttery-gold.

Below right Aromatic quince resemble large pears; just a few left to ripen in a bowl will scent a room with their sweet, floral perfume.

INGREDIENTS Makes 500g 200g quince, peeled, cored and chopped 200g wild, crab or cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped 200ml white wine vinegar 200g light muscovado sugar 1 small red pepper, seeds removed, chopped 50 chopped dates 1 teaspoon each: grated ginger, ground cumin, salt A good pinch of mixed spice and cayenne pepper METHOD l Put the quince and apples into a large pan, add half the vinegar and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5-10 minutes until the fruits soften. l Add the other ingredients and remaining vinegar, then simmer for 30 minutes until thick and sticky. l Dollop into sterilised jars, seal and label. n

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CRAFTSPEOPLE

Animal Magic Andrew Kay’s stylised yet lifelike steel sculptures of birds and animals are inspired by the wildlife near his Cumbrian home, but find their way to clients across the globe WORDS VIVIENNE HAMBLY PHOTOGRAPHS KAT WEATHERILL

Sculptor Andrew Kay with one of his distinctive pieces: a grazing doe, displayed in the hills near his home.

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 125

CRAFTSPEOPLE

T

here are many single-track roads edged with mossy stone walls in Cumbria. But between Kirkby Lonsdale and Kendal, not far from the River Lune as it wends its way towards Lancaster, one route in particular leads to the workshop of wildlife sculptor Andrew Kay. The beauty of the region has long been celebrated.

William Turner and John Ruskin immortalised the Lune valley at Kirkby Lonsdale in paintings and words, with Ruskin describing it as ‘one of the loveliest scenes in England’. Even today, the observant visitor, rounding moorland hills spangled 126 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

Above Each piece of

sculpture starts with a sketch, that Andrew eventually scales up to work from in steel.

with black-faced Swaledale sheep, may spot a red deer emerging from a distant wood, or note a buzzard gliding overhead, its wings moving minutely as it scans the ground for prey. At dusk, wild geese might honk, or a passing hare could scamper across a silent field. Each of these, and many more, Andrew has noticed and celebrated in metal garden sculptures that magically capture the spirit of an animal through the manipulation of steel.

“I love animals and I love wildlife,” says Andrew. “If someone had told me that one day I’d make a reasonable living as a wildlife sculptor, I would have said ‘that’s fantastic’. But I’m a medium: I use the wildlife as the inspiration.”

The seasonal nuances of this corner of northern England are ingrained in Andrew, who was born in Penrith and attended Giggleswick School in Settle, a few miles south-east of Kirkby Lonsdale. Later he took a degree in design at Leeds. “I met a local girl, Anneley, whose parents had a bookshop, and we set up home and stayed,” he says. In the early 1990s, Andrew had a small metalwork business mending muck-spreaders and making curtain rails, but his best-seller was a poker with a dragon-head handle that he sold to his local squash club. “It was a simple hand-to-mouth existence initially. We didn’t have much money to speak of, but equally we didn’t want for much,” he recalls. “Carving and making things was all I wanted to do.”

The poker was the first indication of the direction he would take. In the years that followed, Andrew expanded his business, taking pride in making small pieces until an agent brought him jobs in Leeds and Manchester, and then one-offs for JD Wetherspoon pubs. The rewards were mixed: the extra work was helpful, but his creativity was inspired by the wildness of the hills and valleys in which he had grown up. As with so many creative people who must make ends meet but feel a yearning for something more fulfilling, he began experimenting with animal sculptures.

In 2006, Anneley encouraged Andrew to advertise this work in a national weekend paper. With little passing trade in this corner of the world, he needed to get the word out and she believed it was worth pushing. His circumstances changed almost overnight. “I paid £400 for a little one-column advert, which was almost more than I could risk. But

we got 12 orders that weekend. I made the 12 stags and delivered them myself around the country. With the profits from that I started to advertise more and more, and it grew from there,” he says.

As his work gathered pace, the workshop moved first into a 16th-century barn and then to a purposebuilt structure on land bought from a neighbouring farmer. Andrew and Anneley live in the barn these days, which has been renovated into a home. A stream runs along the bottom of the garden and, on neighbouring farmland, a wild area is maintained for Natural England, the public body charged with safeguarding the natural environment. Swans, coots and herons live on the banks of a nearby lake, and buzzards roost in a copse of trees close by. “At night you can see the lights of Kendal ten miles north of us, but it’s pretty dark out here,” Andrew observes.

“The skies are humbling: the stars put things into perspective if you’re worrying about making a deadline or doing a VAT return.”

Each sculpture is inspired by nature and Andrew then sources images online or from books. He studies them anatomically, looking for the way an animal’s limbs relate to each other, the position of it at rest or on high alert, and the overall scale of it in relation to real life. “I print off the images and then think about what the outline should be and sketch it out. I try to get the form and the demeanour of the animal right,” he explains.

If he’s happy with his sketch, he will print it onto acetate. Then, using an old-school overhead projector, he transfers the sketch onto a large sheet

Top left Andrew now

works from a purposebuilt workshop set amid Cumbrian farmland.

Top right Andrew adds the finishing touches.

Left Once a sculpture is finished, the steel is left to develop a rugged, rusted patina.

of card. This way, he can create a life-size representation of the drawing. Once he has the image at scale, he’ll work on the metal form, referring constantly to the scaled-up drawing to make sure an incline or extension is correct. “Making the sculpture isn’t all that difficult actually, but you have to capture the moment in an animal – if a stag will run or protect.

If you don’t get that down, there’s no point carrying on. And I do make mistakes,” he admits.

He starts with 16mm steel bars for the legs, cutting them to the correct length. From there, he OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 127

CRAFTSPEOPLE

works piece by piece, frequently standing back at a five-metre distance to get a sense of the creation.

“Usually it’s all about diminishing triangles as you work up,” Andrew says. “I never want to overload them. I want to allow the eye to join the dots.”

Prototypes and one-offs take longest to get right.

“I might start it and go away and then get back to it again later,” he says. “It can take a week to get right, but we’ll use that as a master.” The completed highgrade steel pieces are left outside to rust; painting and galvanising are discouraged.

128 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

Top Andrew’s creativity is intertwined with the countryside where he was born and grew up.

Above right River Heron is an ideal piece for a smaller garden.

Above left An alert hind surveys the moorland.

Today, Andrew, Anneley and the two craftspeople they employ work to commission for a variety of customers around the world. But there is a range of pieces that Andrew calls – reluctantly, lest it sound pretentious – the studio line. Clients include diplomats, aristocrats, film stars and peers with properties large enough to accommodate a family of red deer, which, at a distance are sufficiently realistic for the observer to wonder, for a moment, if what they’re seeing is actually alive. But there are also those for whom a pheasant or heron poised beside a small pond is enough.

When we speak, Andrew is anxiously tracking the progress of a cargo ship crossing the Atlantic to the United States. There’s a family of deer on board and someone has commissioned them for a new home thousands of miles from this quiet Cumbrian valley.

“We put them on a pallet, pack them and strap them, and off they go down the road,” he notes.

The most cherished commission, however, came from a local farmer, a breeder of Swaledales, who wanted a pair of his prized sheep. “He couldn’t look me in the eye because he was embarrassed that it wasn’t something with a purpose – farmers don’t usually buy sculpture. He said, ‘There you are, go and make it.’ But he came round every day to make sure the horns were right, the ears, the snouts…” n Andrew Kay Sculpture, Beckside Studio, Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria LA6 2QG. Tel: 01524 271575; andrewkaysculpture.co.uk

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BOOKS

The Reviewer

A selection of the best writing on the shelves this month

The Eighth Wonder of the World: Exbury Gardens and the Rothschilds

by Lionel de Rothschild and Francesca Murray Rowlins, Exbury Gardens, £30

Some 24,000 plants are recorded as growing at the Exbury Gardens, situated on the banks of the Beaulieu river in Hampshire. Of these, 13,000 are rhododendrons, a figure that points to the rich, 100-yearold history of this property, recorded here by Francesca Murray Rowlins, garden writer and historian, and Lionel de Rothschild, chairman of the Exbury Gardens Trust and grandson of Lionel Nathan de Rothschild (1882-1942), who bought Exbury in 1919.

Gardening was in the blood of Lionel Nathan de Rothschild, who described himself as a “banker by hobby but a gardener by profession”. He, his wife Mariloo, and a constellation of gardeners, breeders and plant-hunter-explorers passionately developed Exbury into one of the most important gardens in the country, making significant contributions to horticulture in doing so. And it is an ethic that has persisted to this very day.

This is a detailed account of the work at Exbury that will captivate those curious about ericaceous plants, as well as readers more broadly interested in interwar society. Anecdotes and images from The Rothschild Archive bring an idiosyncratic cast of characters to life, while a foreword by HRH The Prince of Wales alludes to the many royal associations this garden has enjoyed over the decades.

A Tree A Day

WORDS VIVIENNE HAMBLY

by Amy-Jane Beer Batsford, £20

With the autumn winds beginning to blow the leaves from the boughs, Amy-Jane Beer reflects on the life of trees as told through a mixture of science, folklore, history and art.

This is an opportunity to visit some of the world’s most wonderful trees from the comfort of an armchair.

Entries represent such far-flung places as the Yemeni island of Socotra, where the cucumber tree (Dendrosicyos socotranus) is protected, and Juneau, Alaska, which is widely populated with western hemlock trees (Tsuga heterophylla).

Not all entries relate to specific trees, however. There are also thoughts on mycorrhizae; an account of goats that climb the branches of Moroccan argan trees (Argania spinosa) to eat its tasty fruits; and a simple technique for measuring tree height.

If the collection is at times a little disparate, it is compensated for by the breadth and interest of the subject matter.

Bedside Companion for Gardeners

by Jane McMorland Hunter Batsford, £20

If the past 18 months has led to an unhealthy mobile-phone habit at bedtime, this anthology of garden writing could be the remedy. Jane McMorland Hunter has gathered 366 digestible reads, some no more than a few lines, spanning fact, fiction, fantasy and experience.

Contributions come from John Milton, Edward Thomas and Gertrude Jekyll, among others, with entries grouped seasonally. While Keats’ ode ‘To Autumn’ is an inevitable inclusion, consider, on 16 October, the advice of Mrs Earle, in Pot-Pourri from a Surrey Garden, of 1897: ‘It is a very good plan, when you want to cut a new bed or alter the shape of an old one, to shuffle along the wet dewy grass on an October morning – and this leaves a mark which enables you very well to judge the size, shape, and proportion – before you begin to cut your beds out.’

OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 131

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Q&A

BOOKS

Gwendolyn van Paasschen, editor of How to Design a Garden, a collection of writing by John Brookes, considers the designer’s legacy and the future of his garden at Denmans Foundation in perpetuity. Unfortunately he died without giving us a road map for the future and the garden became badly neglected. We’ve spent the past three years restructuring, renovating, rejuvenating and restoring. To our credit, the garden is now Grade II listed and we have been reinstated as an RHS Partner Garden. The garden is now looking amazing. The most important next step is to create a conservation plan so that we can create a blueprint for the future. That way, whoever takes over will have a really strong understanding of what we did and why we did it. We have to look forward while respecting the ethos of John Brookes and Joyce Robinson, who also lived there.

What would you say is John Brookes’ overall garden design legacy?

I think his gift was to teach us to be realistic and pragmatic and to make things beautiful. He taught us to find artistry in creating designs. He certainly looked at the garden as art. I love the fact that in Britain he taught the British to live in their gardens, to treat a garden as an outside room, which was very un-British for the time when he was working.

Would you consider this book to be a retrospective of John Brookes’ work?

INTERVIEW VIVIENNE HAMBLY

People keep asking me this, but John would never want people to look back at his work. He would say: ‘don’t ask me what I did then, ask me what I’m doing now’. He was the first designer to show a garden on Main Avenue at Chelsea, in 1962, aged 29. It was a garden associated with a townhouse and one of his first rooms outside. What he really wanted to talk about is what we’re doing now with design, where we’re going next, and where our responsibilities to the land, to the homeowner and to our environment lie. One of the reasons I wanted to put this book together was that so much of what he was talking about throughout his career is even more timely today than when he was writing.

John died in 2018, leaving a question mark hanging over the future of his garden at Denmans. How is that being resolved?

When he was alive, the idea was that Denmans would be part of the John Brookes Denmans

What did John believe were the most important considerations when designing a garden?

First and foremost, John would say, think about what you need. Make a list of what you want, what you can and can’t afford and what your style is.

He always liked to take a walk through someone’s house before he designed their garden to get a sense of a client’s lifestyle as well as the views from the windows of the house. Even in a small garden, don’t be afraid to be theatrical but get the structure right, consider the traffic patterns – then decorate.

Outline some tips for good garden design.

Make sure you understand your needs and your budget – what you put in doesn’t have to be expensive. Know what you want, know what you can manage, phase it in if you have to, and always make sure you’re working to the right proportions. Only then do you get to think about plants: go out and look at what everyone else in your neighbourhood is growing well. n

How To Design a Garden

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OCTOBER 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 133

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Tel: 01704 827224 or 07789 922457 sales@hedginguk.com | www.hedginguk.com Boundary House Farm, Holmeswood Road, Holmeswood, Lancashire L40 1UA

Tel: 01524 793104 info@daisyclough.com | www.daisyclough.com Station Lane, Scorton, Preston, Lancs PR3 1AN

BRED BY PETER MOORE

SPRING REACH NURSERY A plant fanatic’s paradise on the edge of the beautiful Surrey Hills, just 10 minutes from the A3/M25. Brilliant homegrown Shrubs, Climbers, Grasses, Perennials, Roses, Ferns, Trees, Hedging and Fruit, plus these October starlets: Callicarpa ‘Profusion’, Loropetalum ‘Black Pearl’, Hebe ‘Sandra Joy’, Hydrangea quercifolia, Miscanthus ‘Ferner Osten’, Pennisetum ‘Red Head’ and Teucrium fruticans ‘Azureum’.

Celebrating 60 years in horticulture, in 2020 plant breeder Peter Moore gave 25% of the UK royalties from sales of four cultivars to horticultural charity Perennial.

A unique plant bred by Peter: Buddleja Berries and Cream ‘PMOORE14’

© FhF GreenMedia

A very unusual Buddleja with a mixture of bicoloured purple and white flowers.

Very floriferous from late July to early September with flower spikes up to 20cm long. Very hardy.

www.bredbypetermoore.co.uk for nationwide stockists

Tel: 01483 284769 info@springreachnursery.co.uk | www.springreachnursery.co.uk Long Reach, Ockham, Surrey GU23 6PG

LANGTHORNS PLANTERY

TENDERCARE NURSERIES

With an eye for the unusual and a vast range of plants of all sizes, the team at Langthorns Plantery are on hand to help you choose the right plants for your gardens. Our collection of more than 5,000 varieties includes ornamental and fruit trees, shrubs, perennials, roses, climbers, bamboos, grasses, herbs and wildflowers. We have plants, you have time, come to our shop, it’s now all online. Browse our collection and treat yourself from the comfort of your home, or visit the Plantery and enjoy some fresh air in the beautiful Essex countryside.

OPEN: Every Tuesday to Saturday 9am to 5pm, Sunday 10am to 4pm.

Tel: 01371 872611 info@langthorns.com | www.langthorns.com High Cross Lane West, Dunmow, Essex CM6 1TD

Specialising in more mature and specimen plants, from acers to agapanthus, pleached trees and evergreen screens, Tendercare’s 12 acres are a joy to visit.

Our popular site visit and warrantied planting services can help rejuvenate a tired garden or change the focus of the garden after building works. While our award-winning design service will create a beautiful garden for you to enjoy all year through.

Book a visit with assistance from one of our horticulturists, by golf buggy, or pop into our office and we can give you a map, a route to follow, and suggestions to get you started.

Tel: 01895 837120 sales@tendercare.co.uk | www.tendercare.co.uk.

Southlands Road, Denham UB9 4HD. Next to Junction 2 on the M40.

N1 & W6 GARDEN CENTRES

WATERPERRY GARDENS Established since 1998 N1 Garden Centre in Islington, is a life-enhancing space with an ethos to make “London an urban garden, one home at a time”.

Following this ethos too is sister site W6 Garden Centre in Hammersmith.

Eight acres of inspirational ornamental gardens steeped in horticultural history, quality Plant Centre, Garden Shop, Gift Barn, Gallery, Museum and Tea Shop. Close to Oxford in the heart of the countryside.

The award-winning London garden centres offer quality, style, and originality for the best indoor and outdoor plants along with exclusive accessories, plus with passionate and knowledgeable staff on hand providing outstanding service and expertise.

Waterperry Gardens - a place to explore, relax and shop in beautiful surroundings all year round.

OPEN: 10am to 5.30pm April–Oct, 10am to 5pm Nov–March. Please visit our website for further details.

N1 Garden Centre | 020 7923 3553 | n1gardencentre.com W6 garden Centre | 020 8563 7112 | w6gardencentre.com

Tel: 01844 339226 www.waterperrygardens.co.uk Near Wheatley, Oxfordshire OX33 1LA

REDISCOVER ENGLAND’S FIRST CATHEDRAL

CHELSEA PHYSIC GARDEN Tucked away beside the Thames, Chelsea Physic Garden is London’s oldest botanic garden and home to 4,000 different medicinal, herbal, edible and useful plants from around the world.

UNESCO World Heritage Site, seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and resting place of saints and royalty, Canterbury Cathedral’s thrilling history spans 1,400 years, telling the stories that have shaped England. Whether exploring the Cathedral’s stunning gardens, admiring the medieval stained glass windows – including the oldest in Britain – or seeking out carved dragons and grotesques, there’s plenty to do. And with new visitor experiences and Kids Go Free until 31 October 2021*, there’s never been a better time to visit.

Established in 1673 by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London, the Garden is open for visitors to explore and enjoy its amazing plant collection.

OPEN: Sunday to Friday, 11am to 5pm. Please pre-book admission tickets online.

Book now at www.canterburycathedral.org for a day out 1,400 years in the making! *T&Cs apply

Tel: 020 7352 5646 enquiries@chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk | www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk 66 Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, London SW3 4HS

Tel: 1227 762862 www.canterbury-cathedral.org Canterbury, CT1 2EH

HEVER CASTLE & GARDENS

ASHWOOD NURSERIES A plantsman’s paradise and an independent nursery situated in the West Midlands open seven days a week.

Autumn is the season when Hever’s striking trees come to the fore. Colour abounds with vivid maples and brilliant beech.

Boston ivy scrambles up the Castle walls whilst Vitis coignetiae clothes bridges and pergolas with crimson. Visit on a still day for the very best views of reflections in the moats and lake.

We specialise in Hellebores, Hardy Cyclamen, Salvias, Hepaticas, Lewisias, Hydrangeas, Dwarf Conifers, Snowdrops, Primula auriculas and many more beautiful plants.

Our mail order service sends plants, garden essentials and gifts to mainland UK destinations.

John’s Garden is also open every Saturday 10am to 4pm.

Please visit our website for further details.

Tel: 01384 401996 mailorder@ashwoodnurseries.com | www.ashwoodnurseries.com Ashwood Lower Lane, Kingswinford, West Midlands DY6 0AE

OPEN: See website for opening times and prices.

01732 865224 www.hevercastle.co.uk Hever, Edenbridge, Kent TN8 7NG

CLOTHING, SCARVES, TIES & MASKS

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HEDGING

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GLEBE FARM HEDGING Over 100 varieties of field and pot grown hedge plants and young trees. Nationwide delivery. for advice or a catalogue contact us on

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Tel: 01572 717 332 www.tuuabankem.com

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HCC The English Garden 40x99.indd 1

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT22/10/2020 US AT15:31 WWW.THEENGLISHGARDEN.CO.UK The Horticultural Correspondence College

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H

ow can we forget Ludwig Bemelman’s opening to the stories of Madeline? “In an old house in Paris that was covered in vines, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines …” We can imagine the elegant house draped in glossy Virginia creeper and we are drawn to its lush, settled feel.

The idea of clothing a building with climbing plants is age old, but if you are starting afresh, it is worth considering the best climbers for your situation. I had a garden design assignment recently for an extension to an architecturally important 1950s house that had to be speedily hidden by planting to gain planning permission. So what are the best climbing plants to quickly soften a wall?

Which Virginia creeper to use if you don’t want to end up hacking it out of the neighbour’s garden?

Why should we buy Vitis coignetiae in autumn?

“

Chinese Virginia creeper offers a blaze of claret and red in autumn”

The classic Virginia creeper, Parthenocissus quinquefolia, is an ‘invasive non-native species’ in the UK, which means it is available to buy, but you should take care when disposing of unwanted material. Better to choose the Chinese Virginia creeper, Parthenocissus henryana, which is less vigorous but will soon cover an awkward spot such as a north-facing wall with its deeply divided, velvety leaves that offer a blaze of claret and red in autumn.

Another vine for dramatic autumn colour is the larger-leaved Vitis coignetiae. It can cover a big area, but responds well to cutting back, becoming neater and denser as a result. I know a garden whose shed roof is covered in Vitis coignetiae. From October it is like a house from a fairy tale when its scalloped roof turns scarlet. To be sure of a plant that colours well, pick out a fiery specimen in autumn.

Trachelospermum jasminoides is a great plant for coverage in sun or shade, although you will enjoy more of its starry, scented flowers if it’s planted in a sunny spot. It is also easy to get hold of in large sizes to give you a quick start. Unlike selfclinging Virginia creeper, trachelospermum must be supported by tensioned galvanised wires set at regular intervals. Clip it into columns or around windows – it also makes boundary fences disappear.

Wisteria can soften an entire facade with its fragrant blue flowers and long-lasting foliage.

Wisteria sinensis ‘Prolific’ is the most sure-footed, flowering in its first or second year and often again in summer. But my absolute favourite long-flowering climber is Solanum laxum ‘Coldham’: This evergreen potato vine bears beautiful, mauve-tinged white flowers from April until November. Worth a pilgrimage to the Great Dixter nursery or The Plantsman’s Preference to get hold of it.

My final – slightly dangerous – suggestion is Rosa laevigata ‘Cooperi’. I have seen an entire wall of its very glossy foliage in the White Garden at Sissinghurst and I have seen it maraud over a barn roof. It is slightly tender, so I grow it against a southfacing wall where its huge, single, papery flowers are produced for weeks in June. If you want coverage it will oblige, fast, but with a little effort you can, I promise, keep it under control too. ■ shop.greatdixter.co.uk; plantpref.co.uk

138 THE ENGLISH GARDEN OCTOBER 2021

ILLUSTRATION MARIA BURNS PORTRAIT RACHEL WARNE

Swaddled in the rich colours of autumn, a building dressed with plants has a fairy-tale quality. Here, Non Morris recommends climbers for full coverage

The only timber greenhouses endorsed by the RHS From the smallest coldframe to the largest glasshouse, you can expect the same leading quality, value and attention to detail that we are famous for.

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Find us at www.gabrielash.com, call us on 01242 662 926 or visit our Gloucestershire showroom. We will be attending the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2021, please come and join us! ©The Royal Horticultural Society 2021. Endorsed by the Royal Horticultural Society. Registered Charity No. 222879/SC038262. rhs.org.uk