Garden News July 11

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July 11 2015

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Giant fowers for when size really does matter!

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Carol Klein

"Get to grips with plant invaders"

S D E E S E FRE 1.99!

Worth

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TURN VEG INTO

POT STARS!

How to mix them with fowers in your containers

KEEP YOUR POND CRYSTAL CLEAR THIS SUMMER

Pick more tomatoes!

Make this year's crop a bumper one!

Grow vertical!

Cunning ways to ft in more plants

Summer's

finest!

s Best lavenders for fragrant fower New plants from Hampton Court

GARDEN THE NATURAL WAY

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Glorious restoration for Stowe

es/Rupert Truman National Trust Imag

AboutNOW

The Temple of Friendship at Stowe

National Trust appealing for help

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Head Gardener Barry Smith, who was born in Buckingham and has worked at Stowe for over 30 years, says: “We want people to come and enjoy the stories of Stowe for generations to come.

I truly believe that Stowe has the potential to once again be one of Britain’s most beautiful gardens. It’s a Herculean task, but with the support of the public, I’m sure we can do it.”

The new phase of work is the third in a programme of ongoing restoration at Stowe, which started in 1989 when the gardens were handed to the National Trust. It will include the reinstatement of faithful replicas of original statues in the Grecian Valley and repairs to the façade of the Temple of Friendship, which was nearly

Big Brother’s a big bloomer! bloom

destroyed in a fire in the early 1800s. It’s due to be completed in 2019. ● To find out more about the appeal and how to donate, visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ stowe-appeal

£100k Capability sketch A Capability Brown sketch of the grounds at Blenheim Palace is due to be auctioned this week.

The pen, ink and watercolour sketch shows Brown’s vision for Blenheim, when he was brought in by the 4th Duke of Marlborough in 1764 to update the grounds.

Auction house Bonhams expect the ‘extremely rare’ sketch to fetch around £100,000.

Forage for fatworms

Huge flowers are 25cm across

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8 Garden News / July 11 2015

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Photo Credit

ere’s a sneak preview of an exclusive new plant in Thompson & Morgan’s autumn catalogue. The firm predict clematis ‘Big Brother’ will be its ‘must-have climber for 2016’ because of its gigantic purple flowers that reach in excess of 25cm (10in) across. This vigorous bloomer flowers twice a year and produces its flowers from the base b of the plant to the very top, so no bare legs. Height: 1.5m (5ft). Plants cost £14.99.

Find the full autumn range at www.thompson-morgan.com or call 0333 400 0033 to request a catalogue. ● Turn to page 18 to discover 10 more brilliant plants with ginormous flowers!

Brown’s Blenheim blueprint

Bonhams

he National Trust has launched a major new fundraising appeal, to restore the gardens of Stowe to their former glory. This classic Capability Brown landscape garden in Buckinghamshire drew visitors from far and wide during its 18th century heyday, but today many of its statues and monuments are either gone or dilapidated and hundreds of trees need replanting.

Work has started to restore or reinstate many of Stowe’s important 18th century features, thanks to an anonymous donor who has supported Stowe in the past. This donor has offered to match any funds raised by the public appeal, pound for pound, effectively doubling the money available for the restoration.

cientists from the University of Aberdeen are looking to the public to help plot the spread of the New Zealand flatworm. The earthwormmunching organisms arrived in Britain over 50 years ago via foreign plant introductions but scientists are struggling to accurately plot their spread as they are mostly found in domestic gardens. They consume worms by wrapping their bodies around them, dissolving ssolving their bodies with a digestive mucus.

The 5-15cm (2-6in) long species is flat, dark-purple above ove and creamy beneath, covered in slime and pointed at both ends. They are usually found under pieces of wood, ood, stone or polythene, curling up when disturbed.

They are spread in soil, beneath pots or among roots when plants are moved. ● To take part, take a photo of the organism and upload it, with the location on to the website at citizen science body OPAL’s website www.opalexplorenature.org/nzflatworm

The view across the Octagon lake is trademark Capability Brown

National Trust Images/Rod Edwards

Temples and monuments will be restored

There’s nothing like garden visiting to make you see your own plot with new eyes.

Here are three guides to widen your horizons

The Irish Garden Jane Powers, photos

by Jonathan Hession A tour de force on Irish gardens.

Beautifully shot and unusually arranged, with garden groupings as diverse as ‘good enough to eat’ and ‘paradises reinvented’.

Best line: “What possesses a person to go to an extreme place, where all is rugged and wild, and make a garden?

Frances Lincoln, £40

Wild Garden Weekends Tania Pascoe Searching for the landscapes of her childhood, Tania Pascoe has created a guide to Britain’s wild gardens. Advice on where to stay and eat makes this an all-embracing guide.

Best line: “Setting out on a journey across Britain, I discovered a country filled with incredible, bountiful wild gardens.”

Wild Things Publishing, £16.99

Gardens of Cornwall Katherine Lambert, photos

by Alex Ramsay Cornwall is brimful with beautiful gardens and 24 of them are here. Delve into the history and strengths of each, from Caerhays to Chygurno.

Best line: “Barbara Hepworth’s love affair with Trewyn Studio and St Ives started with a planning row and ended with a house fire.”

Frances Lincoln, £12.99

Subscribe now for £1 an issue! Go to www.greatmagazines.co.uk/gn

The Yellow Book 2015 The National Gardens Scheme

Words: Helen Billiald

Bed s i d e Bo o k s

What is it? The annual guide to nearly 4,000 gardens that open each year for the National Gardens Scheme (NGS) in England and Wales.

Why is it a classic? It’s an indispensable companion to your garden visiting year. Many of the private gardens open just for a day or two, but such is the breadth of places on offer from allotments to group village openings, that there always something worth visiting nearby.

The money raised (some £2.5 million in 2014) is allocated by the NGS to a range of charities.

What’s it like? There are 744 pages to peruse, with gardens arranged by county, opening dates and handy map. Entries are vetted to ensure they offer something of interest. It’s a testament to our fascination with making and visiting gardens.

Constable, £12.99

July 11 2015 / Garden News 9

What to do this week

IN YOUR FLOWER GARDEN Gill Lockhart

Three other ways to get vertical

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Hang a pallet garden Use an old wooden pallet and fix it to your wall with brackets, or make a sla ed frame with roofing ba ens. Hook planters over the slats filled with herbs, flowers or veg such as le uce or ‘Tumbling Tom’ tomatoes for a bountiful display.

Photos: Neil Hepworth, unless stated

Try a vertical garden!

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It’ll double the size of your horizontal space, says Ian

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t’s often the sign of a zealous gardener when all possible horizontal space indoors and outdoors is taken up with a torrent of flowers and veg – but where to next once it’s all full? Well, you can always go upwards, of course!

Science-wise it makes a lot of sense. In cold areas and frost-prone gardens, tightly-packed planting hanging or fixed against a wall retains heat and will keep your house warmer, and means you can grow some more

St e p by st e p

tender plants outside. It also keeps your house cooler in summer.

In smaller outdoor areas, there’s nothing more lovely than a densely-packed ‘woodland wonder’ effect, drawing the eye upwards to an extended garden, doubling the size of your horizontal space.

Simply go with the fact that anything can be used as a container and filled with lovely produce and flowers, and apply it with abandon to your wall space.

Go green Train fruit trees or grow climbers such as clematis or roses up your walls for the simplest effect. You could also buy a ‘living wall’ system consisting of modules that can be filled with compost and plants, and fixed to the wall.

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Fill a space-saving vertical container, such as a hanging sli ed planter, with multi-purpose compost.

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Place plug plants in the holes. Flowers look great in hanging planters. Try nasturtiums for something different.

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Give it a good water.

Often, there’s special watering tubes, making it easier to get it to the right place.

Recycle your old ladder Perhaps you’ve got an old ladder hanging about? Fix it against the wall and hang planted pots, ornaments and lights to it.

A space-saving talking point!