Britain’s best-selling weekly gardening magazine! November 8, 2014
Carol Klein "The best climber for colour right now"
Autumn freworks! Brighten borders with nerines DEAL WITH BOGGY SPOTS! ● ●
How to improve drainage 8 top plants that thrive
FORCING RHUBARB
Follow Chris Beardshaw's guide
Time
trim! for a
li Store your gladiow inter corms safely all s Prune climbing rose ials by Propagate perenngs taking root cu in
Have a go at TOPIARY – we show you how! EASY STEPS to make simple shapes
Inspiration
Time
trim! for a
Smart, sculptural topiary is easier than you think, so get clipping today!
TOPIARY HAS HAD a mixed history. When it was first ‘invented’ by the Romans, it was tremendously Nick popular as a bit of Turrell fun, but over the GARDEN centuries it has WRITER attracted a more serious label.
10 Garden News / November 8 2014
After the Romans left Britain it disappeared completely and was only revived hundreds of years later by Renaissance monks. Owners of large stately homes then started using it to display their wealth and this exclusive image has stuck. Ordinary gardeners assumed it was difficult or out of their reach. But topiary
can be enjoyed by anyone and now’s the perfect time to start. Leaves are falling fast, but evergreen topiary is about to show us just how well it livens up a bare winter scene. There are many different types of plants that can be used for topiary and on the whole they have one thing in common: small
evergreen leaves. These produce the crispest, sharpest results so traditionally, topiary was always made from box and yew. But as the art form has been embraced by modern gardeners they’ve realised there are lots of other plants that can be topiarised successfully, such as conifers, holly, privet and even pyracantha.
Geometric cubes smartly line a path
Photos: NIcky Fraser
The 30m-long hedge that Nicky first honed her skills on
“Topiary was always supposed to be whimsical!” Box balls give frothy borders a feeling of solidity
Nicky Fraser is a topiary artist and gardener with 25 years experience, creating both modern and classic topiary for clients across the country. Garden World Images Garden World Images
“I always liked the idea of art in gardening so topiary seemed the natural place to start. But I wanted to do something a bit different, something fun. The first job I did with my husband Johnny was a monster yew hedge, 4m (12ft 6in) high and 30m (99ft) long. It was utterly daunting. We clipped it into a free-flowing shape that reflected the shapes of the countryside behind it. It was a baptism of fire but it turned out really well and we’ve been clipping it like this every year for the last 10 years now. Every now and again we try something new, so we’ve cut Georgian looking doorframes into it for a contrast and one end has a squared-off section. The
whole thing now looks like a giant piece of sculpture but still does the job of a hedge. I also like the idea of topiary writing. Topiary was always supposed to be whimsical, so one day we knocked on the door of someone in the village and asked if we could ‘write’ something on his hedge in the front garden. He looked a bit puzzled but eventually agreed. We wrote the word ‘smile’ and all the people who walked by did exactly that. Even lorry drivers would wave and give us the thumbs up as they passed. Conifers like Leyland cypress are great for writing on because the leaves are so small and dense. The lettering lasts for months before you have to trim it again. Once you get your eye in you can just see the topiary shape inside the hedge waiting to get out – it’s a bit like being a sculptor I suppose.” l Tel; 01691 610236; Nickyfrasergardens.com
Clipped writing enlivens an expanse of conifer hedge
Simple cones are the perfect shape for beginners
Nicky’s skulls in borders are a humorous touch
Subscribe now for £1 an issue! Go to www.greatmagazines.co.uk/gn
Continu es ove r the pag e November 8 2014 / Garden News 11
Weekly reminders and advice from the GN team Start the annual pot clean!
5 quick jobs to do right now
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Plastic pots seem to multiply over the course of the growing season. By now, you end up with tottering mountains all over the place! Now’s the time to get them cleaned and organised ready for next year’s sowing and growing. Brush remains of soil or compost out of the keepers, then give them a scrub with soapy water and a splash of disinfectant. Sort them into size order and stack them neatly.
Plant a shrub for winter interest If you’ve got gaps in borders or want to enhance your winter display, why not add a winter-flowering shrub or two now. It’s a great time to plant, and garden centres will have a good selection of shrubs for winter flowers, leaf colour and scent. Make sure you plant into wellworked, fertile soil and water well if it dries out over the next month or so, to help roots get established.
1
3 Plant
rhubarb
Now is an excellent time to plant container-grown rhubarb. Dig a hole in fertile, well-drained soil that’s big enough to comfortably take the rootball, then drop it in and re-fill, firming the soil well. Leaves will disappear, but new shoots will arrive in early spring.
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Mulch artichokes Globe artichokes are beautiful perennial vegetables that produce a fresh rosette of silvery, furry leaves at the end of their cropping season. The leaves look delicate but are more than capable of enduring winter. While they’re at this stage, it’s easier to get around the plants to remove weeds that could compete for water and nutrients. Once it’s weed-free, ensure their bed is in good nick ready for next year by mulching with well-rotted compost or manure, taking care not to let it smother the crown of leaves.
Tie in climbing rose shoots Vigorous climbing and rambling roses produce incredibly long, whippy growth. With winter winds picking up, the last thing you want is them getting thrashed about in gusty weather. Tie the new growth into their support and look forward to getting beautiful flowers from it next year instead. Use soft string or flexible tie and attach the stems to their wire or trellis with a figure-of-eight tie.
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Clare Foggett
Greg Loades
Ian Hodgson
Nick Turrell
Horticulturist Clare’s 50m (165ft) garden is home to fruit, cut flowers and ornamental borders.
Rose specialist and horticulturist with a large allotment that includes lots of roses as well as fruit and veg.
Kew-trained horticulturist and garden designer, who previously worked for the RHS.
Garden designer with 20 years experience. Nick’s garden is full of herbaceous perennials, grasses and herbs.
Subscribe now for £1 an issue! Go to www.greatmagazines.co.uk/gn
November 8 2014 / Garden News 17
Shu erstock
ories this week The big gardeninEditgedst by IAN HODGSON Editor-at-large
by Himalayan balsam leaf infected ii rust fungus Puccinia komarov
Balsam and water fern agents already active
B
IO-CONTROL METHODS for rampant weeds offer hope for the future, a research body reports. The war against four aquatic weeds and Japanese knotweed hinges on a range of insects and fungi that specifically attack each species without affecting UK native or other economically important plants. Not-for-profit organization CABI, co-owned by 48 countries, recently finished testing a rust fungus that attacks Himalayan balsam, Impatiens glandulifera, finding 75 related plant species, including bedding impatiens were unaffected. Agri-body Defra approved release of the fungus at the end of July. A control for floating water fern Azolla filiculoides is already available. The azolla weevil from
Aft er
North America only lives on and voraciously consumes the fern and can control any size of infestation given time. The insect was already present in the UK, having been accidentally introduced in 1921. Tests on a sucking aphid-like insect that weakens Japanese knotweed, Fallopia Water fern weevil (above) japonica, are still ongoing. cleared a pond of invasive Although found not to attack azolla in eight weeks (right) any other related species, four years of trials proved the psyllid An Argentinian weevil insect hard to establish over winter. is being trialed on floating CABI scientists at their pennywort, Hydrocotyle headquarters in Wallingford, ranunculoides, and an Australian Oxfordshire, are also trialing a mining fly and mite are currently promising leaf-spot fungus that being tested on the Australian specifically attacks the knotweed.
26 Garden News / November 8 2014
All photos: CABI
Bio-control hopes for weed invaders
Before
swamp stonecrop, Crassula helmsii. Invasive plants cost the UK £1.7 billion to control each year. Water fern, floating pennywort, parrot’s feather, water primrose and Australian swamp stonecrop were banned from sale from spring this year.