A Year in The English Garden - Sample Issue

BEAUTIFUL GARDENS IN EVERY SEASON

PLANTING IDEAS FOR 12

MONTHS OF COLOUR

The great, late Christopher Lloyd wrote in The Well-Tempered Garden that there are two approaches you can follow when creating a garden or adding new planting: planning or muddling. Planners draw plans and carefully plot precisely what will go where; muddlers go for it, adding plants they’ve fallen for, donations from friends, or things from other parts of the garden. He concluded neither is right or wrong, and I’d say the best results might come from a combination of the two –a little planning to start with, and some muddling as you go along.

Hopefully, this year’s A Year in The English Garden, sponsored by Bloms Bulbs, will guide you to a happy medium. Be inspired by gardens looking their best as the year cycles through the seasons. Discover covetable plants that you can either plan to plant or impulsively squeeze in. And find handy reminders of what to do when to keep it all looking good. Happy planning – and muddling!

Contents

9 January Discover the epic proportions of Cambridgeshire’s historic Chippenham Park; fragrant Hamamelis mollis ‘Pallida’.

19 February The woodland garden of Pembury House in Sussex; sweet Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’. 30 March A sea of da odils at Norfolk’s mediaeval Hindringham Hall; delicate Narcissus ‘W.P. Milner’.

43 April Colourful tulips at Westbrooke House in Leicestershire; timeless Clematis ‘Frances Rivis’.

52 May Dramatic riverside views at Anglesey’s Plas Cadnant; hardworking Erysimum ‘Bowles’s Mauve’.

62 June Roses galore at the Shropshire garden of David Austin Jnr; nostalgic Lonicera periclymenum ‘Belgica’.

74 July A symphony of summer colour at Berkshire’s Stockcross House; opulent Penstemon ‘Garnet’.

86 August An immersive garden at Highfield Farm in Monmouthshire; architectural Eryngium ‘Big Blue’.

98 September The Cotswold garden of Barnsley House, former home of Rosemary Verey; bold Anemone hupehensis ‘Prinz Heinrich’.

108 October Naturalistic planting at Sussex Prairie Garden; fashionable Persicaria amplexicaulis.

119 November Botanical riches at Spetchley Park in Worcester; hardy Chrysanthemum ‘Innocence’.

131 December The spare architectural beauty of RHS Garden Hyde Hall in Essex in winter; stalwart Viburnum tinus ‘Eve Price’.

CLARE FOGGETT, EDITOR

Seeking Something Special

The process of ensuring the Bloms Bulbs catalogue offers a feast of choice starts years in advance, as brothers Paul and Chris Blom track down varieties from breeders, growers and trials

Poring over a colourful catalogue and choosing bulbs is a highlight of the year for many of us, matched only by the display when the bulbs finally flower. But before each catalogue is printed, years of work have already gone in.

“It starts with bulb hybridisers,” says Chris Blom who, with his brother Paul runs family business Bloms Bulbs. “The hybridisers produce new varieties and they’ll grow them on for two or three years to assess flowering ability, stamina, and how well they multiply. These breeders have such passion, it’s incredible. I visit one who has about 3,000 di erent da odils, 3,000 tulips, crocuses from everywhere, but only a few bulbs of each. It’s a real privilege to meet people like that and walk the fields with them.”

On his quest for new bulbs, Chris starts by visiting these breeders, on the lookout for a new bulb he knows he must add to the Bloms range. Tulip ‘Dreamer’ recently caught his eye – a romantic pale pink similar to the older variety ‘Angélique’, but with improved vigour. “It harks back to the

old peony-flowered tulips, and it’s a really good one,” he explains.

There might only be a handful of bulbs that are available to buy but, once secured, they can be propagated at speed through scaling. Even so, it could be another ten years before there’s su cient stock to introduce it for sale. “Supply is so important,” says Chris. “We don’t want to disappoint our customers.”

Keukenhof’s trials are a regular stop on Chris’s travels, as are RHS Wisley’s. On his wish-list are good later-flowering tulips, and he’d love to find a new variety to replace old cultivar ‘Douglas Bader’. “We used to sell it years ago; it’s pale pink with a blue centre and a dark stem. Something like that would be absolutely fantastic.”

For all the thrill of the hunt and the awesome scale of the bulb fields, Chris likes nothing more than to see the bulbs he’s chosen growing in gardens back home. “I love garden settings more than anything,” he says. “To see bulbs make it from the fields to the garden, and the way people use them in so many di erent ways, makes the whole process worthwhile.”

Tel: +44 (0)1234 709099; blomsbulbs.com

Clockwise from top left Chris Blom visits a Dutch bulb field; rows of tulip varieties at Keukenhof; the famous bulb garden is a great place to see the latest varieties; tulip ‘Dreamer’; massed tulips at Keukenhof.

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MULCHING WITH STRULCH

There are many reasons why mulching is good gardening practice. This year has seen a record low rainfall in some parts of the country. A layer of Strulch will keep moisture in the soil but always saturate the soil before laying any mulch.

Another key benefit of using Strulch is that it reduces weed growth by 95%. It blocks the light that is needed for annual weed seeds to germinate, and it is long lasting – up to two years. Remove visible weeds before laying Strulch.

Eventually, Strulch will be broken down by earthworms and other soil fauna who use it as a food source. In the process, it will add vital nutrients to the soil, while the added organic matter improves soil structure and drainage.

All bulbs and perennial plants will grow through Strulch, and it can be used as part of a no-dig gardening regime. Yet another benefit of the mulch is that it

can be used to control slugs and snails organically. Which? named Strulch as its Best Buy Garden Mulch several years ago and has just reported its results for organic control of slugs and snails. Strulch was recommended, scoring highly for durability and the percentage of leaves left undamaged by the end of the trial. Slugs and snails dislike the texture and smell of Strulch but it doesn’t harm them so birds and hedgehogs can still eat them with no ill e ects.

or visit strulch.co.uk

use Strulch to protect hostas from slugs; spring is the ideal time to mulch; minimise weeding in the kitchen garden with Strulch.

One of the most beneficial garden practices, mulching keeps moisture in the soil, stops weeds and deters slugs – take the hard work out of gardening with Strulch Garden Mulch

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!

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

Off the SCALE

Anne Crawley worked with Chippenham Park’s historical landscaping and epic proportions to grand effect. Honed by her daughter and son-in-law, this Cambridgeshire estate’s monumental structure is best explored in the still of winter

WORDS JACKY HOBBS PHOTOGRAPHS CLIVE NICHOLS

The stately Millennium Pool, enclosed in a circle of yew, has been updated with a central, large-scale, zinc artichoke water feature.

It is the sheer scale of the landscaping at Chippenham Park that impresses. In winter the gardens are pared right back, revealing the magnitude of the garden’s bone structure. The silhouettes of mature and majestic trees rise above winter morning mists engendered by the parkland’s vast tracts of water: modified lakes carved out from former canals. The low sun illuminates Chippenham’s wide open acres, gilding its architecture and creating an atmospheric and ethereal winterscape.

Elements of the 300-acre estate’s landscape architecture date back to the 17th century. A faded but indelible network of canals and lakes, of AngloDutch design, was introduced in the 1690s by the park’s creator, Admiral Russell. The First Lord of the Admiralty planted vast avenues of trees, creating magnificent vistas from the then considerable country house. These were reputedly laid out to reflect the battleship formation of his renowned naval victory over the French at La Hogue in 1692.

Subsequent mass planting of estate trees, many dating back 200-300 years, survive to this day, their numbers augmented by John Tharp, a sugar baron who bought the estate in 1791 and planted trees in their thousands. Since then, the estate has passed down through the Tharp family, undergoing several ‘Capability’ Brown-style makeovers in the 18th and 19th centuries and coming into the possession of Anne and Eustace Crawley in 1985. The current shape of the gardens can largely be credited to the late Anne Crawley who tended them for

Clockwise from top A bridge, designed by Hugo Nicolle, spans a remnant canal; Golden Cornus mas; Yew hedges and woven metal sculptures in front of the neo-Queen Anne house; Iris reticulata ‘Alida’.

The low sun illuminates the wide open acres, creating an ethereal winterscape

more than a quarter of a century. She understood the importance of scale and impressively increased the extent of the gardens, trebling their size from 15 to over 40 acres.

Her daughter, Becca, and Becca’s garden designer husband, Hugo Nicolle, now continue Anne’s legacy, and have enhanced the inherited landscape features with a more contemporary garden design. “My mother inherited the house when she was quite young,” Becca explains. “She lived in London and initially had little interest in gardens, but she became enthralled by the parkland. It sparked in her a passion that lasted a lifetime.” With the input of head gardener, Adrian Kidd, Anne went on to refashion and develop large tracts of the garden.

The house itself had ‘su ered’ several transformations throughout its history, being reduced at one point to a simple hunting lodge. Now, a reinvented neo-Queen Anne house presides over the parkland, set on an elevated crest with views over gardens, meadows, waterways and woods. The gardens in closest proximity to the house are essentially formal. “My mother created a sweeping classical vista, with clipped yew hedging, ornamental topiary and vast, mown lawns,” says Becca. These were decorated with classical ornaments, a fountain, bronze sculptures and stone urns. The main raised terrace spanning the house has since been updated.

“We lifted the cracked – not crazy! –1950s paving and removed old, leggy cypresses that had begun to obscure the view,” Becca adds.

In their place Hugo designed a more modern space with parasol willow oaks. He added the lead-roofed, octagonal gazebo, which chimes with the impressive and appropriately sized zinc artichoke water feature he commissioned from A Place in the Garden. “Previously, Anne’s large ‘Millennium Fountain’ basin was decorated with small, incongruous metal frogs,” he recalls. More large-scale, contemporary artwork is being introduced to sit alongside existing classical pieces throughout the garden.

Anne had extended the original gardens’ remit, but also sought to redefine elements of the existing layout. She honed and reshaped its overgrown and blurred edges, bringing a sense of modernity and momentum. She also strove to revitalise the serpentine waterways and woodland beyond the more formal manicured lawns and terraces. “A large number of old, rather poor trees and shrubs were cleared to create long, meandering pathways, known as ‘Adrian’s Walk’, around the lakes, remodelled from the gardens’ original canals,”

Top The rising sun gilds the lawns, yew hedges, and a stone urn adorning the upper, more formal area of the garden.

Above Fragrant tubular blooms of winterflowering honeysuckle, Lonicera elisae

Above The viewing mound, glimpsed through colossal colonnades of clipped x Cuprocyparis leylandii. Right Pink scented flowers of variegated daphne, Daphne odora ‘Aureomarginata’.

Below The reedbed and majestic trees reflected on the lake’s surface take on beautiful sepia tones.

Becca explains. More recently, eye-catching trees, especially notable in winter, have been added to the waterside plantings. These include peeling, copperbarked river birch, Betula nigra, and gleaming white-stemmed Himalayan birch, Betula utilis var. jacquemontii ‘Grayswood Ghost’.

Inspired by nearby Anglesey Abbey’s Winter Garden, Becca and Hugo have increased existing colonies of hellebores and introduced colour with masses of blue and purple Dutch irises. There are vast collections of scented daphne, winter-flowering honeysuckle, sarcococca and viburnum, which perfume the cold air. Golden flowers of Cornelian cherry, Cornus mas, bring both colour and scent. Its presence, like that of the waterside plantings of vibrant red dogwood, Cornus sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’, and pollarded golden willow, Salix alba var. vitellina, is augmented, reflected and redoubled in the lake’s mirror-like waters.

Maintaining the lakes is onerous. “To prevent the banks from collapsing, we had to shore them up with old hardwood sea defences, found in a Norfolk salvage yard,” Hugo explains. The couple also restored the 60-year-old boathouse and Anne’s Monet-esque bridge, which crosses the lake’s midpoint, a ording vast and extensive views right

along its length. “I used to joke that Anne’s bridge needed a wisteria, but she argued that would make it too di cult to paint,” says Hugo. He planted one eight years ago, nonetheless: “Anne was right about the painting, but it’s a small price to pay for the masses of pale purple racemes strung across it each May,” he insists. In winter, a twisted rope of thick bare stems appears to knot the bridge firmly together, uniting the north with the south bank.

On the west side of the bridge, turning north, the lakeside walk brings you unexpectedly to a vast, contemporary parterre garden. This expansive four-acre walled garden is concealed behind ivy-clad brick walls. The length of its north-facing wall is lined with a colossal inner colonnade – towering arcades of clipped, evergreen, leylandii hedging, inspired by Mount Stewart’s Italianate gardens in Northern Ireland. “The original intention was to plant yew but, ever impatient, Anne opted for fastgrowing leylandii,” notes Hugo, who is now left with its monumental maintenance. “It needs cutting back hard twice a year,” he laments.

Vast collections of scented daphne, honeysuckle, sarcococca and viburnum perfume the cold air

Within the walled garden, Anne reimagined the vast space, quartering the enlarged classical parterres and creating an architectural framework of clipped beech hedging with curved entrance arches leading into each of the quadrants. Each section has its own theme. One harbours a ‘theatre of yew’; another a rock and cypress garden. The third, the so-called ‘Spanish Garden’, is scattered with huge terracotta urns, now mostly obscured by tall miscanthus. From the fourth, an immense viewing mound rises above an orchard of quince. “It was the result of covering over a pile of old farm machinery and iron from the decrepit, unsalvageable glasshouses,” Hugo explains. From the top of the mound, a visitor can fully appreciate the gigantic proportions and particular design of the four-acre parterre garden. The quadrants’ contents are varied, as are the hedges that line or interline them: some are warm bronze beech, Fagus sylvatica; others are formed of ornamental pear, Pyrus calleryana ‘Chanticleer’, with an inner lining of yew hedging. Peer over the hedges, through the colonnade, and you’ll see the garden continues southwards into a huge area known as The Wilderness: a shrubby kind of arboretum with specimen trees and shrubs decorating almost 20 acres of largely deciduous woodland, threaded through with meandering

Above Pyramidal holly and the blazing stems of Cornus sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’ are reflected in the lake. Right In February, The Wilderness is carpeted in single-flowered Galanthus nivalis and double G. ‘Flore Pleno’.

paths and walkways. Sheet upon sheet of brilliant white snowdrops, single Galanthus nivalis and double Galanthus nivalis ‘Flore Pleno’, smother the woodland floor in February, attracting hundreds of visitors eager to experience another of Chippenham Park’s upscaled and impressive winter scenarios. n

Chippenham Park Gardens, Chippenham Park, Newmarket, Cambridgeshire CB7 5PT. Opens on selected dates throughout the year. Tel: +44 (0)1638 721416; chippenhamparkgardens.info

Plant of the Month

Desirable plants for a year-round garden and suggestions for a pretty planting scheme

Hamamelis mollis ‘Pallida’

Witch hazels are one of winter’s most distinctive shrubs, their quirky, spidery blooms making them instantly recognisable even before you’ve breathed in their inimitable scent. At their peak, these are shrubs that make a lasting impression. Fiona Edmond is a garden designer and owner of Green Island Gardens in Essex, and she also holds a National Plant Collection of Hamamelis. Growing so many witch hazels side by side, she’s finely attuned to their di erences. According to Fiona, the scent varies according to flower colour. “Yellow ones are more citrusy and as you go through the oranges to the reds, they become more spicy and cinnamony,” she says.

The Chinese species Hamamelis mollis is considered by many to be the finest of all the witch hazels. The cultivar ‘Pallida’ has especially lovely pale lemon flowers and a delicious scent. In autumn, its large, hazel-like leaves echo the blooms by turning butter-yellow before falling. It will fill a winter garden with its sweet, spicy fragrance and, best of all, it blooms relatively early compared to its brethren. “Mine sometimes flower before the leaves have fallen o in autumn,” says Fiona. “I’ve had them blooming in October and still going at the end of February.”

If you have room, extend the season – and the pleasure – by growing the slightly later-flowering

Bewitching blooms Give witch hazels a sunny spot and neutral or acid, moist but well-drained soil for best results. They won’t flower well in heavy shade, or thrive in claggy clay soils or thin chalk.

yellow cultivar H. x intermedia ‘Arnold Promise’ alongside it. Give witch hazels enough space to develop their beautiful vase shape without it being impinged by bulkier shrubs. Underplanting with spring bulbs and woodlanders that won’t get in the way or spoil the e ect of the witch hazel’s

branches will best make the most of them.

Perfect PARTNERS Attractive underplanting for a witch hazel

Galanthus ‘Primrose Warburg’ A snowdrop with matching yellow ovaries and markings.

Arum italicum ‘Marmoratum’ Ideal for creating a tapestry of groundcovering foliage.

Iris ‘Katharine Hodgkin’ Palest blue flowers with a yellow splodge on the throat.

Eranthis hyemalis Another winter flowerer that picks up the colour scheme.

graceful