PERSICARIAPERFECT Foolproof varieties of this designer staple Vibrant GARDENS FULL OF RICH, SEASONAL COLOUR Autumn 5 PLAN AHEAD! Prepare forplanting time in association with October inspiration TOP 10 fruit trees to plant now Expert advice on DAHLIA growing WILLOW art by Emma Stothard How to over-winter VEGETABLES 9 7 7 1 3 6 1 2 8 4 1 5 6 1 0 £5.50 GARDEN THEenglish OCTOBER 2022 www.theenglishgarden.co.ukFor everyone who loves beautiful gardens
he esert ash has filled out and matured o you al through it rather than loo ing do n onto it
from top left Begonias and phytolacca beneath the elephantear leaves of Colocasia esculenta; Tradescantia pallida with coleus; try Salvia ‘Day Glow’ for similar; hot pink tassels of Persicaria orientalis; salvias and dahlias add enticingly plummy tones.
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Clockwise
Tradescantia pallida, Brunnera macrophylla ‘Mister Morse’ and Heuchera ‘Licorice’, meanwhile, all provide interesting, easy-care groundcover. Salvias and achillea need almost no watering in the ground, and Jack has discovered that succulents such as Aeonium ‘Schwarzkopf’ can cope with London’s winters. “I noticed my neighbours had some in pots which survived 2018’s ‘Beast from the East’ so I decided to give it a try and it worked,” he observes.
“I love dahlias, but smallo ered plants li e persi aria and sal ias,” mingle ell ith ea h other, ma ing the spa e loo a bit more natural”
Top Silvery macrophyllaBrunnera ‘Mister Morse’ contrasts with bottle green ferns and huge Ricinus ‘New Zealand Purple’ leaves. Above right Dahlia ‘Babylon Lilac’ has similar large blooms . Above left Try Dahlia ‘Addison June’ for plum ball-shaped flowers.
The lure of a bigger garden has meant that Jack has recently moved on, which he describes as ‘like leaving a friend behind’. “I wish I could have had one more year to see the bigger things mature,” he says.
“But perhaps that is true of gardens every year. As gardeners, we’re always thinking ahead.” n
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Persicarias are one of Jack’s favourite plants and, while they (like the dahlias) do need some moisture, he finds that, once established, they’re very forgiving. This garden has several di erent types, from the towering P. orientalis (a gift from Jack’s friend Philip Oostenbrink, head gardener at Walmer Castle) to Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘September Spires’ and P. neofiliformis, a tiny-flowered, long-stemmed variety he discovered while on the persicaria trial at RHS Wisley. “I love dahlias, but I also like having lots of small-flowered plants like this and the salvias,” says Jack. “They mingle well with each other, making the space look a bit more natural.”
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ucked in a wooded valley on the border of England and Wales, the garden at Lower House in Cusop Dingle appears like a horticultural Eden – a flashback to a time before box blight and box-tree moth caterpillar arrived. Its centrepiece is a congregation of remarkably healthy clipped box bushes gathered around a glossy umbrella of Portuguese laurel, Prunus lusitanica
Above The clipped form of a Prunus lusitanica forms the centrepiece of the Box Garden, which is interspersed with biscuity autumn grasses. Right Fading pink flowers of Hydrangea aspera Villosa Group.
The creation of Nicky and Pete Daw, the garden is so visually pleasing, with its confident sculptural shapes, contrasting textures and unfolding sequence of spaces, that it comes as little surprise to learn that the couple met at art school in Bristol in 1970. Pete excelled at design and construction; Nicky was a superb plantswoman with an artist’s eye. She had a passion for box and revelled in colour, filling the garden with dahlias, cannas, bananas and other exotics: theirs was a great creative partnership.
T
Above Vitis coignetiae is renowned for the vibrancy of its turning autumn foliage. Below right Mounds of hakonechloa turn yellow before ageing to bu for winter interest. Below left A medlar with golden foliage presides over stepped terraces and a water feature.
Since Nicky’s death in 2016, the garden has become quieter and a little less busy and colourful. “It’s more natural now,” says Pete. “Nicky used a lot of annuals and tender plants that are too much trouble for me. I think of what I’m doing now as rewilding the garden by letting it go a bit and not mowing as much.” Softening the edges and letting the cultivated half-acre bleed into the surrounding seven acres of woodland and vice versa has not disturbed this garden’s innate balance and grace; it simply settles it even more into its rural context.
Over time the cage was dismantled, conifers were felled and, little by little, a garden evolved. Pete designed and built paths, walls, steps and terraces using some of the copious quantities of stone he found on site, while Nicky took care of the planting, collecting and propagating busily, her enthusiasm fuelled by magazines,gardeningbooksand TV “I think of what I’m doing now as rewilding, by letting it go a bit and not mowing as much”
Edged by the Dulas Brook along one side and skirted by O a’s Dyke Path, the garden feels remote, even though the town of Hay-on-Wye is just a mile away. Nicky and Pete moved here in 1985 with their three small children, “to live the good life, keeping animals, growing our own food and collecting firewood. The house was in a terrible state and needed a lot of work, but we saw its potential.” Pete thinks the house may originally have been a Welsh longhouse, a traditional building that combined dwelling and cow house in a single range, and it has the date 1754 carved into one of its beams. There was little in the garden except a few shrubs, a massive fruit cage and some huge, dark conifers.
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WORDS VIVIENNE HAMBLY PHOTOGRAPHS MARIANNE MAJERUS
In The
Garden designer Sean Walter of The Plant Specialist has applied a grid to this robust garden in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, to create structure across a series of sheltered zones united by immersive, prairie-flavoured planting
ZONE
A tranquil view of the sheltered swimming pool that sits at the heart of this hardworking, familyfriendly garden.
Top left Savoy cabbages planted in summer will be ready to pick soon, and can remain in the ground through winter.
B y the time October arrives at the kitchen garden at Thyme in Southrop, there is the sense of an ending. In the adjacent water meadows, the migrant cuckoos that announced summer have departed along with the swallows that skimmed the grassy fields for insects. Hedgerows are packed with hips, haws and sloes, all of which can be turned into sweet-sharp jellies to brighten the winter months. In the kitchen garden itself, head gardener Victoria Bowsher is thinking ahead. Because it is so close to the River Leach, part of the garden floods in winter, so she has to ensure winter crops are growing out of harm’s way. But this is also a time for bounty, with pumpkins ripening in the greenhouse, and the last of the summer squash, blackberries, raspberries and cut flowers to bring in. Owner Caryn Hibbert particularly enjoys wandering down to the garden at this time of year, when golden days can be savoured.
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Above A range of edible and decorative pumpkins and winter squash are left to cure in the greenhouse. Right Thyme owner Caryn Hibbert, enjoying the autumn weather.
Top right maderesourceleeksvegetablesOverwinteringsuchasbecomeavaluableandaready-o-seasonlarder.
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