The Alpine Gardener - March 2012

327 THE ALPINE GARDENER

Alpine Gardener the

JOURNAL OF THE ALPINE GARDEN SOCIETY

VOL. 80 No. 1 MARCH 2012 pp. 1-116

ISSN 1475-0449

the international society for the cultivation, conservation and exploration of alpine and rock garden plants

Volume 80 No. 1

March 2012

Alpine Gardener THE

CONTENTS 3 EDITORIAL

AGS shows, the online AGS Encyclopaedia of Alpines and a new identity for this ‘journal’.

5 5 ALPINE DIARY 50

Storm damage and a new alpine house at the Royal Botanic Garden Ediburgh; Kevock’s plants for pandas and an appeal to help botanical guides in Nepal; readers’ letters; book reviews.

20 ROBERT ROLFE

Appreciating out-of-season flowers, plus two newcomers in the great Crocus race.

50 AN AGS TOUR IN TURKEY

88

Tony Rymer joins an AGS tour of south-central Turkey and finds a fascinating array of plants, including an undescribed Juno iris.

68 SHOW REPORTS

Reports and pictures from the AGS East Cheshire, Ulster, East Anglia, Malvern, Southport, Summer South and Summer Mid West shows in 2011.

March 2012 Volume 80 No 1

PRACTICAL GARDENING

30 CARING FOR SEEDLINGS

72

Vic Aspland offers advice on looking after young plants.

40 JOHN INNES COMPOSTS

Vic Aspland, with other leading AGS growers, gives advice on using John Innes.

96 A WALK AROUND BRINKFIELDS

Robert Rolfe visits the garden of AGS member John Gennard.

30

COVER PHOTOGRAPHS

Front: Corydalis erdelii, Anemone blanda and Ornithogalum sigmoideum in Turkey (Ruth Rymer) Back: The upper Narreyroux valley in the French Alps with Geranium sylvaticum and Persicaria bistorta, from Bob Gibbons’ book Wildflower Wonders of the World, reviewed on page 15 ON THESE PAGES Left: Primula secundiflora; Tchihatchewia isatidea; Rebutia marsoneri at Summer Show South Right: Saxifraga primuloides ‘Clarence Elliott’ at the Ulster Show; Pulsatilla seedlings; Dicentra cucullaria ‘Pink Punk’

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Published by the

Alpine Garden Society

The international society for the cultivation, conservation and exploration of alpine and rock garden plants, small hardy herbaceous plants, hardy and half-hardy bulbs, hardy ferns and small shrubs AGS Centre, Avon Bank, Pershore, Worcestershire WR10 3JP, UK Tel: +44(0)1386 554790 Fax: +44(0)1386 554801 Email: ags@alpinegardensociety.net Director of the Alpine Garden Society: Christine McGregor Registered charity No. 207478 Annual subscriptions: Single (UK and Ireland) £28* Family (two people at same address) £32* Junior (under 18/student) £10 Overseas single US$54 £30 Overseas family US$60 £33 * £2 deduction for direct debit subscribers For details of life membership and joint life membership apply to the Alpine Garden Society at the address above.

Printed by Butler Tanner & Dennis, Caxton Road, Frome, Somerset BA11 1NE Price to non-members £6.00 Second-class postage paid at Rahway, New Jersey.

US Postmaster: send address corrections to AGS Bulletin, c/o Mercury Airfreight International Ltd. Inc., 2323 Randolph Avenue, Avenel, NJ 07001. USPS 450-210.

© The Alpine Garden Society ISSN 1475-0449

Editor: John Fitzpatrick Tel: +44(0)1981 580134 Email: editor@agsgroups.org Associate Editor: Robert Rolfe Tel: +44(0)1159 231928 Email: robert.rolfe@agsgroups.org Practical Gardening Correspondent: Vic Aspland CChem. MRSC Tel: +44(0)1384 396331 Email: vic.aspland@agsgroups.org Custodian AGS Digital Library: Jon Evans Tel: +44(0)1252 724416 Email: jon.evans@agsgroups.org Custodian AGS Slide Library: Peter Sheasby Tel/fax: +44(0)1295 720502 Advertisement Manager: Julie Slimm Tel: +44(0)1788 574680 Email: adverts@agsgroups.org The Editor welcomes contributions of articles and photographs. Please call or email the Editor to discuss relevant formats for photographs before sending. The Editor cannot accept responsibility for loss of, or damage to, articles, artwork or photographs sent by post.

The views expressed in The Alpine Gardener do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor or of the Alpine Garden Society. The Alpine Gardener is published four times a year in March, June, September and December.

www.alpinegardensociety.net

Petrocosmea ‘Purple Puzzle’ (see page 31 of the plant awards supplement)

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he AGS show season is now under way and already we have seen a remarkable array of plants on the benches. If you live in the UK or Ireland, having access to these shows is one of the great joys of AGS membership.

Seeing so many of the plants that we all love gathered in one place, and grown to such a high standard, is a real pleasure. If you have not yet visited an AGS show, make sure you do so this year. And why not bring along a plant or two to enter in the Novice Section?

You’ll be made very welcome by other exhibitors, who are only too willing to offer advice on cultivation techniques.

For members who live in other parts of DECEMBER 2011

Use your ticket to our shows Editor ’s letter the world, the online show on the AGS website offers a chance to demonstrate their skills as growers and gardeners and to compete with some stalwarts of the UK show scene. There were 87 classes in the 2011 show, so there’s something 3

EDITORIAL for everyone, and the 2012 show will be open for entries from April. You can see the entries and results for the past few years on the AGS website.

All our shows reflect the fact that the AGS is more than just an organisation.

It is a global community of likeminded plants-people. Taking part in the Society’s activities is the ideal way to encourage the development of that community.

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or many months now, work has been going on to prepare the AGS Encyclopaedia of Alpines for its launch on the AGS website. Jim McGregor, our webmaster, has devoted hundreds of hours to tackling problems with the scanning of the text and other technical difficulties. This has been a huge undertaking, and we should all be very grateful to Jim for his work.

The AGS would also like to record its thanks to the David Harding Foundation, which has donated £5,000 to assist the development of the Saxifraga section of the online encyclopaedia. David is the son of the late Winton Harding, who was a longtime AGS member and saxifrage expert.

Y

ou may have noticed a slight change on the cover of this issue of The Alpine Gardener. Instead of being subtitled ‘Bulletin of the Alpine Garden Society’ it is now the ‘Journal of the Alpine Garden Society’. This small but significant change reflects this publication’s evolution over 80 years.

The function of a bulletin – a vehicle 4

for news and day-to-day information – is now served by the accompanying Alpine News newsletter. As my predecessor Christopher Grey-Wilson wrote in his final editorial in December 2010: ‘A journal is what The Alpine Gardener is. It is our journal in the true sense and an important reference work.’

Yes, I know that most readers will continue to refer to The Alpine Gardener as ‘the Bulletin’, as I probably will, but elevating it to the status of a journal is a fitting way to celebrate its 80th birthday and to recognise the great legacy of information that has been left by its contributors over all those years.

Two new features are introduced with this issue of the journal. First, it is accompanied by a supplement devoted to awards given by the RHS Joint Rock Garden Plant Committee. This will be an annual publication, though this year the intention is to produce a second supplement to catch up on the 201011 awards. Among the plants included, Galanthus ‘Elizabeth Harrison’ (see page 37 of the supplement) made frontpage news when a single bulb sold for a record £725, ten times the figure initially contemplated. Nurseryman Ian Christie sensibly declined to reveal the location of the stock for fear of enticing what he termed ‘the rogues and rapscallions out there’.

I have also introduced a Letters column (see page 12). I’d like to hear your views about articles in The Alpine Gardener and about your experiences of growing alpines, botanical holidays and gardening in general. Please get in touch – and send photographs too.

John Fitzpatrick THE ALPINE GARDENER

ALPINE DIARY

The sad sight of a large Quercus robur (English oak) blown down at RBGE

RBG Edinburgh battles to recover from the gales

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huge clear-up operation has taken place at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh following the severe storm that brought down 34 trees and caused extensive damage to glasshouses.

Hurricane-force winds tore through the gardens on Tuesday, January 3, the worst storm to hit RBGE for over 30 years. In addition to the fallen trees, more than 100 others suffered damage.

MARCH 2012

One area badly affected was the upper and lower woodland garden, where seven trees came down. These were mainly Pinus nigra, but the largest and perhaps oldest tree to be lost was a Quercus robur, which crushed rhododendrons and herbaceous plants as it fell. Another casualty was the impressive Betula utilis beside the Caledonian Hall.

John Mitchell, Garden Supervisor in the Alpine Section, said: ‘Our staff 5

ALPINE DIARY

Work goes ahead on repairing more than 500 broken glass lights at RBGE

have worked tirelessly over the past few weeks to clear the damage and make the gardens safe for the public to enjoy again, but it will probably be well into May before the task is completed.

‘We are waiting to see how badly the herbaceous material has been affected.

It has taken a battering and only time will tell. The main glasshouse complex – especially the research area and the peat and rock house – was badly hit, with more than 500 panes blown out.

The valuable collection of plants was battered by wind and rain.’

RBGE is in the process of raising funds for a new alpine house, to which 6

the Alpine Garden Society has already committed £5,000. ‘It is a bespoke design,’ said John, ‘and it will enable us to compare old and new ways of displaying alpines.

‘Our traditional alpine house nearby will show how we cultivate plants in pots. In the new house, all the plants will be grown in tufa – the first time a botanic garden in the UK has had an alpine house dedicated entirely to this method of cultivation.

‘A tufa wall will be planted with daphnes, dionysias, primulas, drabas and Gesneriaceae, to name but a few.

On the other side of the house, tufa THE ALPINE GARDENER

ALPINE DIARY

An architect’s drawing of the proposed new alpine house at Edinburgh

blocks will be placed so that it looks as though the glass structure is floating over the landscape. This will lead to an outcrop where we can grow plants that don’t need cover such as saxifrages, campanulas, dwarf conifers and cypripediums.’

John added: ‘Visitors to the garden this year will see some of the damage nature has forced upon us, but we can replant for the future and change the landscape for the next generation.

‘The garden is always evolving and new features will enhance its beauty and tranquillity.’

Edinburgh has been in the news MARCH 2012

lately for another reason – the arrival at the city’s zoo of two giant pandas from China. The pandas – Tian Tian (Sweetie) and Yang Guang (Sunshine) – were reared at the Panda Breeding and Research Station in Sichuan.

Kevock Garden Plants, the nursery run by Stella and David Rankin south of the Scottish capital, supplied SinoHimalayan plants to help the pandas feel at home in their enclosure.

‘We took about 200 plants to the zoo,’ said Stella, ‘mainly various Iris, Corydalis and Primula, including, appropriately, Corydalis flexuosa ‘Blue Panda’. The zoo’s specialist panda team designed 7

ALPINE DIARY

Paeonia veitchii var. woodwardii, grown by Kevock Garden Plants

PLANTS FOR PANDAS: THE KEVOCK LIST Berberis heterophylla Berberis wilsoniae SDR4219 Clematis CC5904 Clematis cf. akebioides SDR6110 Clematis SDR6151 Corydalis ‘Craigton Blue’ Corydalis elata x flexuosa ‘Spinners’ Corydalis flexuosa ‘Blue Panda’ Corydalis flexuosa ‘China Blue’ Corydalis ‘Heavenly Blue’ Hypericum SDR6106 Iris bulleyana Iris bulleyana (black) SDR2714 Iris cf. chrysographes SDR5935 Iris chrysographes (black-flowered) Iris delavayi SDR50 8

Meconopsis ‘Lingholm’ (Fertile Blue Group) Paeonia veitchii Philadelphus SDR4946 Philadelphus SDR5111 Primula alpicola ‘Kevock Sky’ Primula alpicola var. violacea Primula chungensis Primula cockburniana SDR1967 Primula denticulata Primula florindae Primula secundiflora SDR4401 Rheum alexandrae SDR4602 Rheum SDR5919 Rodgersia pinnata SDR3301 Rubus SDR4635 THE ALPINE GARDENER

ALPINE DIARY

Stella and David Rankin beside their exhibit at last year’s Chelsea Flower Show

the planting scheme.’ The full list of Kevock’s plants for the panda enclosure is shown opposite.

In autumn last year, following a successful summer which included winning a silver-gilt medal at the Chelsea Flower Show, David and Stella went on an expedition in Nepal.

‘We were entranced by the amazing gentians and late primulas we saw there,’ said Stella. ‘During the trip, we discovered that our porter’s house had been swept away in a monsoon landslide and he had lost everything he possessed. Thankfully his family was unhurt. Botanical expeditions could not function without the assistance of local people, so we have started a fund to support three of those we met – our MARCH 2012

porter, the son of another porter and the botanical student who led us.

‘We want to involve others in the project as well as ourselves to raise awareness of this country and its people, who have great potential.’

The fund’s first priority is the porter Purphu Singi. During the monsoon last year, which was of exceptional severity, his mountain home was destroyed by a landslide.

Stella explained: ‘There is no insurance and his only option to raise the money to rebuild his house is a loan charging five per cent interest per month. All his income goes on rent for a couple of rooms for his family.

‘He has stone from his wrecked house and some unbroken pieces of wood 9

ALPINE DIARY

Iris delavayi photographed by David Rankin at Tian Bao Shan in Yunnan

but he must get permission, at a price, to fell a single forest tree, from which every piece of wood must be sawn by hand. Anything else must be carried up thousands of feet from the valley below.

‘He can do the work, but he can never get the capital he needs to build the most basic of homes. The amount needed is tiny by our standards – around £5,000.

We have already given him some of this so that he can get started.

‘Our second porter, Nurpu Singi, has four children. The second, Suresh, is desperate to go to secondary school and is seeking a sponsor. We have been immensely impressed by the 10

quality of school education and the commitment to it shown by both the pupils and their parents, who generally had no opportunities themselves. We would like to enable Suresh to board in Kathmandu because there is no school in his family’s mountain village. This involves a commitment of £1,000 a year for six years. We met several young people who have benefitted from such sponsorship and have been impressed by their commitment to Nepal.

‘Finally, Chhabi Thapa was our botanical guide. He is studying for a masters degree in botany and funded the first year of his course by working THE ALPINE GARDENER

ALPINE DIARY

The Chinese Primula secundiflora is helping the Edinburgh pandas feel at home

for five years as a teacher. Now he needs funding for the final two years – a total of £3,000. He is a great character with many talents.

‘In none of these cases do we want simply to give money. We have proposed that the money is regarded as an indefinite interest-free loan. If and when they are in a position to repay some or all of it, nothing should come back to us. Instead, they should support another person who is in a worse situation than themselves, with the same conditions.

‘We are not setting up a charity – this is a specific project to help three people.’

MARCH 2012

 To make a donation to the Kevock appeal, visit the Kevock Garden Plants website at www. kevockgarden.co.uk and click on the link for ‘Building for the future of Nepal’.  To donate to the new alpine house at RBGE or to help with the cost of the clear-up operation, send a cheque to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 20A Inverleith Row, Edinburgh EH3 5LR, stating which you would like to support.

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ALPINE DIARY

From Peggy Dawe, Purley, Croydon, South London. read with great interest, nostalgia and envy the article in The Alpine Gardener (December 2011) by Tony Hughes about the ‘lazy route’ – Austria’s High Alpine Road.

Eleven years ago I travelled along that road while staying with a tour party in Hopfgarten. I had seen real mountains only once before – in Wengen two years earlier – so I was enraptured by the scenery.

When it was suggested one fine day that we could join a coach tour to the Grossglockner, I eagerly opted to go.

Of course, being part of a coach party meant that there was no chance of making frequent stops up that thrilling road. We did get out for a short while at the toll station, where I wandered off and found a lesser butterfly orchid (Platanthera bifolia) and a few other plants.

Then we drove to a coach park, where we could see marmots below the road.

A cable car took us to the base of the Pasterze Glacier, where I found a gentian – Gentiana brachyphylla subsp. favratii, I think.

Back in the coach park I shunned the shops and the exhibitions and looked over the wall of the parking area. There was a slope full of interest so I climbed over and soon found Gentiana acaulis, Geum montanum, Soldanella alpina, Lloydia serotina and a white Pulsatilla. (Editor: P. alba occurs in profusion here; the epithet is subject to revision.)

I started taking photographs hastily

I

12

An alpine coach trip that I will never forget Letters with my old Canon EOS 300 because I didn’t think we had more than 30 minutes there. Back on the coach, we made just one stop in a layby on the way down but, oh joy! The roadside grass was full of flowers and I was soon on my knees discovering my first Primula minima, many Ranunculus alpestris and one goblet of Pulsatilla vernalis, just going over.

I was soon ushered back on to the coach and, later in the trip, when we had to stop anywhere, there were goodnatured cries of: ‘Don’t let Peggy out – we’ll never get her back in!’

I was therefore more than delighted to read Tony Hughes’ article about that wonderful road. I would love to have the chance to travel it again. I THE ALPINE GARDENER

ALPINE DIARY

have since had many enjoyable holidays with AGS Tours and continue to marvel at the botanical treasures in the European Alps.

Saxifraga aspera and, below, Soldanella alpina photographed by Tony Hughes in the Austrian Alps

From Derrick Donnison-Morgan, Winchester, Hampshire. would like to respond to Tim Ingram’s article, entitled ‘Where is the new generation of plantsmen gardeners?’, published in the December 2011 issue of The Alpine Gardener. It is an interesting question, but perhaps a more appropriate one would be: ‘How will we recognise the next generation of plantsmen?’

I have spent many years teaching horticulture in colleges and in private

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MARCH 2012

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ALPINE DIARY industry. The various attributes and skills that Tim finds desirable in a professional horticulturist are apparent in many of my students. Indeed, many of these young men and women are eager to increase their knowledge beyond the curriculum they are being taught.

Education however, irrespective of subject, has been given a one-sizefits-all approach. Those who clearly stand out from the crowd are rarely allowed to indulge their passions, even if the horticultural colleges had the resources to accommodate them.

With the Government’s withdrawal of Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA), which helped students who might otherwise not be able to afford a college education, and the introduction of more and more apprenticeships, private enterprise will inevitably take charge of the curriculum for its own specific needs. Any glance at horticultural job advertisements shows that there is a firm bias towards garden centre and retail horticulture.

It is sad that horticulture is seen as ‘gardening’, promoted by gardening ‘celebrities’, with the implication that no skill or qualification is necessary to design or plant a garden. Alas the National Trust, the Royal Horticultural Society and the various botanic gardens cannot be relied upon to promote plantsmanship. The NT and botanic gardens prefer volunteers and ‘jobbing gardeners’, a phrase used by a regional director of the NT when I was a student.

The RHS has reduced the student workforce at each of its gardens over the past years.

14

Without the EMA, colleges have had to work harder to attract students. The dwindling numbers entering full-time horticultural education are breezing their way through a curriculum that is being made easier year on year. This is to ensure that the colleges remain at the top of league tables, where they hope to attract more students to a failing curriculum.

Those students who have the desire and ability to go further are rarely recognised within a system that treats all abilities and disabilities alike. This may seem to be worthwhile and commendable, but unless those students who show flair, initiative and a passion for their subject can be recognised and nurtured, Tim Ingram’s original question will still be being asked in years to come.

Horticulture has many facets.

Those promoted in colleges do not include plantsmanship or specialised horticulture. Instead the curriculum is heavily weighted towards ground maintenance or the propagation of nursery stock for the garden centre and retail trade. Unless the potential of students is recognised and they are encouraged into further studies, the standards of horticulture in this country will continue to diminish.  We’d like to hear your views about articles in The Alpine Gardener, and also about your experiences of growing plants or searching for them in the wild.

Please write to the Editor at AGS Centre (address on page 2) or email editor@agsgroups.org.

THE ALPINE GARDENER

ALPINE DIARY

Inspiring images from a master of the lens BOOK REVIEWS Wildflower Wonders of the World

by Bob Gibbons, published by New Holland Publishers, £19.99. ISBN 9781847738264

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ast October, in the Westminster RHS Photographic Competition, the outstanding entry came from the author of this book, who has frequently travelled in search of plants.

Indeed 40 years ago he wrote an article in these pages on the Iranian side of the Kopet Dağ, a range he visited en route to Afghanistan in 1971.

Rather than presenting endless close-up portrayals, or small vignettes depicting intimate floral communities, Bob Gibbons offers panoramic views, the mountain slopes, amphitheatres, valleys and wooded areas teeming with multi-coloured patchworks of bloom that take centre-stage through the telescoping devices of telephoto and wide-angle lenses.

Anyone who has endured lectures with the allegedly brilliant spectacles out of focus, patchy and rendered insignificant by the landscape, will appreciate that this takes considerable skill. It also requires tenacity. Unlike the fauna, flowers at least stay in the same place

MARCH 2012

but often shut or, worse still, shed their petals in bad weather, when their stems are apt to thrash around wildly. And the sort of sensibility that recognises when to include an otherwise discordant element (on page 73, a display of poppies and other annuals along a verge in Italy is put nicely into context by the road signs) and when to point the camera elsewhere (or make subtle use of Photoshop) is also handy.

Unlike some books of this kind, there is no plate-by-plate recital of the cameras and lenses used, the f-stops chosen, or any metering adjustments, as if copying such details alone might turn you into a Heather Angel or, for that 15

ALPINE DIARY

Abundant Anemone nemorosa and A. ranunculoides on the isle of Öland, Sweden

matter, a Bob Gibbons. Believe me, it won’t. Nor are even the basics of plant photography discussed: for these, many other books exist.

After a flowery foreword by Richard Mabey, in which the author’s handling of landscapes in bloom is compared with ‘the sharp and high coloured detail of Renaissance paintings’, the scope of the book is made succinctly clear. It’s a celebration of what can still be found, rather than an elegiac look at what property developers, dam constructors, changes in farming practices and so on will diminish.

Aiming to demonstrate ‘spectacular 16

beauty and diversity coupled with reasonable accessibility’ in sites of a size sufficient to repay a visit of up to a week, on the whole the book covers areas you could reach using flydrive arrangements or sometimes by public transport. Others, further afield, feature regularly in the itineraries of tour operators (a number of these are given in an appendix). Websites and information centres are also suggested, as well as a short bibliography. A species list gives the Latin equivalents of the common plant names used pervasively in the main text, presumably to avoid intimidating a general readership.

THE ALPINE GARDENER

ALPINE DIARY

Mazama Ridge on Mount Rainier, Washington state, with lupins and castillejas

Some places will be very familiar to readers of this journal, by repute if not through personal acquaintance – the Burren, the Dolomites, southern Greece, Namaqualand and the Rocky Mountains are all famed for their wildflowers. Others come as a pleasant surprise. How many will have known that Estonia boasts spectacular colonies of Cypripedium calceolus, ‘growing in huge clumps in grassy woodland glades’, or that one district lays claim to having the world’s highest density of plants (76 species per square metre, with a count of 500 overall)?

Transylvanian Romania is said to have MARCH 2012

the most extensive lowland flowering meadowlands in Europe, while in the Peloponnese, the Mani Peninsula boasts (on the cover) a spring display rivalling that put on by crocuses, sternbergias, Cyclamen and the rest in the autumn.

Most of the case studies are by the author, though in a few instances (northeast Turkey, Tanzania, Iran, the Tien Shan and China) others have provided the text and photographs. Each account begins with an information box containing a general map to show the location of the area discussed, then brief notes covering ‘Reasons to go’, ‘Timing’ and ‘Protected status’ (many 17

ALPINE DIARY of the places visited lie within National Parks).

The accompanying paragraphs are heavy with superlatives – understandable when you see some of the images – but repay closer perusal, for they yield good accounts of the floral highlights, with incidental information on everything from the geology of the area to its history and other wildlife.

Given the meticulous rendition of most of the images, it is puzzling that in some the yellow tones haven’t always fared as well (Narcissus obesus growing on clifftops overlooking the sea, on page 56, is a glaring example). White flowers such as Saxifraga longifolia (page 47) are also affected. Furthermore, just a few of the images have been unkindly cropped for publication.

Yet taken overall these slight shortfalls are eclipsed by beautifully realised depictions of plant associations, such as the geraniums and bistorts shown en masse in the eastern French Alps, or a ridgetop on Mount Rainier.

At best you will be inspired to visit these and similar places. At worst pay the book’s modest price, which is scarcely that of some memory cards, let alone the other camera equipment and travel costs you would incur if you got up from your armchair and tried to achieve results even half as pleasing.

Robert Rolfe  Wildflower Wonders of the World is available at an AGS members’ discounted price of £15.99. To order please call 01386 554790 or visit the AGS bookshop at www.alpinegardensociety.net 18

A double Schneeglöckchen – Zauber in Weiß by Günter Waldorf, published by Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 19.99 euros. ISBN 9783421038319 For Galanthophiles by Clemens Heidger, photographs by Josh Westrich, foreword by Veronica Cross, published

by Edition Art and Nature, Hanover, 36 euros. ISBN 9783000349690

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iterally, the title of Günter Waldorf ’s book translates as ‘Little snow bells – magic in white’, and it might be thought that English-speaking readers, fed on such superb publications as the Snowdrops monograph by Matt Bishop, Aaron Davis and John Grimshaw and The Genus Galanthus by Aaron Davis have little to learn from a German text. Not so.

This excellent little book features more than 300 portraits of Galanthus cultivars, each accompanied by a brief note. Given the variability that exists even within named cultivars in the genus, the outstanding, pin-sharp photographs that illustrate each entry are particularly valuable.

The author gives cultivation and propagation advice, plus sources and details of seven great collections that may be viewed in England. Beware, however, of English names which, possibly at the publisher’s request, have been Germanicised. The desirable THE ALPINE GARDENER

ALPINE DIARY

treat for galanthophiles

G. elwesii ‘Rosemary Burnham’, for example, has become ‘Rosemarie Burnham’ which adds unnecessary confusion and incidentally infringes the Cultivated Code. That said, an English translation of Herr Waldorf ’s book would be very welcome.

A second book from Germany aims at a different market – the growing band of those already hopelessly besotted by snowdrops.

It is essentially a gallery of some 50 cultivars and species, mostly familiar to us in this country but including some interesting newcomers, each represented by two photographic portraits. Some may find the images – studio photographs that have been MARCH 2012

given a somewhat unreal sugar-icing texture – not to their taste.

Herr Heidger’s commentaries on the individual snowdrops contain useful information such as parentage and multiplication rates. They are translated alongside the original German into English, French and Dutch.

Some parts of the names may mystify.

UF (page 63) are the initials of Dr. Ullrich Fischer, Zweier. JL (page 89) refers to Jörg Lebsa’s gift to the author of a cross between Galanthus byzantinus and G. nivalis with its two merged pedicels. As with the previous book, the rules of the Cultivated Code, in this case regarding the italicisation of scientific names and the use of a lower case letter to begin specific epithets, are unheeded. All in all, though, this book has its merits and will find its way on to many a galanthophile’s coffee-table.

John Page 19

ALPINE DIARY

E

ven at the risk of irritating the good taste brigade, it is nothing short of silly to dismiss out-ofseason flowers out of hand. Whether they appear in the garden, in the greenhouse or at the florists, often they enthrall.

Granted, only the easily satisfied will rejoice at the discovery of a single, storm-battered Hepatica flower in late autumn, or a summer scattering of flowers on a Draba that, back in late March, was so floriferous you couldn’t see the underlying rosettes.

But unexpected bravura performances are occasionally to be expected when it comes to alpine plants, whether you huff and puff your way in the mountains up to a late-lying snow patch in high summer ­– I once found an abundance of Narcissus abscissus flowering well into July, with Primula hirsuta on the adjacent rock faces, high above Gavarnie – or grow a wide enough range of plants in your own garden to make serendipitous encounters likely.

By and large I want to see snowdrops abounding in late winter, then Anemone blanda, A. ranunculoides and dwarf daffodils confirming the arrival of spring. Yet precursors that lengthen this sometimes over-in-a-flash season can act like a starter course by sharpening the appetite. Walking into a warm room, before the year is out, that is heavily scented with forced lilac, mimosa (Acacia dealbata) and hyacinths (Hyacinthus orientalis cultivars) really is like the proverbial breath of spring.

Similarly, visiting friends on a bleak day and venturing reluctantly into the 20

Two new ‘sprinters’ win the annual Crocus race ROBERT ROLFE garden with gritted and chattering teeth only to find – as I did – a sheltered, south-facing wall covered with Clematis armandii in precocious flower, Cyclamen coum massed at its base with the predominantly watery-blue, southern Turkish Iris histrio var. aintabensis also in bloom demonstrates, if nothing else, that sometimes politeness pays off.

Unseasonal weather can also lift the spirits. The old advice that, within reason, it is better to look at the weather forecast than the calendar, held particularly true at the turn of the year. The wearing of a scarf my only concession to the time of year, I made an early attack on the worst of the weeds (my thoughts concerning the THE ALPINE GARDENER

ALPINE DIARY

Robert’s Crocus gargaricus is among the first of its genus to flower

malevolent individual who insisted I accept his ‘gift’ of the sparse-fruiting, rampant wild strawberry, Fragaria vesca, are too evil to appear in print). I also clipped away armfuls of dead Epimedium leaves rather than wait a few weeks and risk decapitating the emerging spikes, top-dressed with seasonal generosity and lobbed a succession of mealworms, purchased from a pet shop, towards a very companionable robin.

A few days previously, after a busy Christmas Day morning in the kitchen and wishing to escape the house for a few hours, I made my customary post-prandial stomp round the neighbourhood. Turning a corner, in a front garden a bedding display of MARCH 2012

‘Universal Mixture’ winter-flowering pansies and Cyclamen persicum Marvel Pink Shades (or similar; a miniature series at any rate, normally seen as a house plant) was still going strong after six weeks or more. It evoked memories of a trip to Newcastle and John Richards’ large bed of Cyclamen hederifolium, interplanted one year with mixed Semperflorens begonias. Apparently everyone was impressed when viewing it from a distance but some were horrified when they approached the scene of the crime and saw clearly what he had done.

Back on my walk and a mile further on, Helleborus niger, the Christmas rose, was, for the first time I can recall, fully living up to its vernacular name.

21

ALPINE DIARY

The eastern Turkish Crocus reticulatus subsp. hittiticus

Flowering by the hundred in a village garden without a cloche in sight (nor, mercifully, an outdoor array of festive lights or a contingent of silvered, artificial reindeer), it put to shame the neighbours’ efforts of formal, clipped box hedging and standard roses in otherwise barren borders.

Back home, on the other hand, Helleborus thibetanus, the most precocious of the genus with me, barely stirred, though outdoors Galanthus rizehensis was already in full display, several weeks ahead of schedule.

Many years ago I ventured inland and up-valley from Rize on the northeast Turkish coast in June. My abiding memories are of abundant, brownish22

black Fritillaria latifolia var. nobilis, an equal abundance of bedbugs in my rundown hotel beside a river in deafening spate, and the pungency of the cigarettes smoked by a taxi driver, who was far more interested in practising his English conversation than in keeping his eyes on the twisting, crash barrierfree road. Snowdrops, I can assure you, were the last thing on my mind.

Turkey is a seemingly nearinexhaustible source of plants, with 9,000 or so species recognised to date, this number increasing annually.

Crocuses are among the most cheering heralds of the coming spring in my garden and it is normally a toss-up between two to see which blooms first: THE ALPINE GARDENER

ALPINE DIARY

Crocus chrysanthus KPPZ 9009, a 22-year-old selection from Antalya Province

Crocus gargaricus (from David Stephens’ landmark 1993 Göktepe gathering, which I keep in a cold frame and do battle with slugs as the fat buds emerge) and the stoloniferous C. herbertii outdoors (formerly C. gargaricus subsp. herbertii and from either a Martyn Rix or a Brian Mathew introduction from far to the north-west, on Ulu Dağ).

Not so in 2012, when I emerged commendably early on New Year’s Day to bring indoors two fairly recent gifts: C. reticulatus subsp. hittiticus B&M 8449, an eastern Turkish example of this widespread species, exquisitely grey-brown stippled on the perianth reverses, and C. chrysanthus KPPZ 9009, an Antalya Province selection dating MARCH 2012

back 22 years that delights with its comparable two-tone, three inner (pure yellow), three outer (delicate brownish) contrast.

E.A. Bowles wrote that the latter species, sensu lato, was ‘the most variable…, the ground colour being sulphur yellow, orange, white or lilac, while the outer segments show every imaginable degree of freckling, suffusion and feathering of chocolate, brown, grey or purple, or they may be self-coloured’. Some Turkish examples especially are undoubtedly hybrids involving C. biflorus; a nexus less likely in Greece, where the parents co-occur far less often, and apparently never on Tymfi in the northern Pindus, where 23

ALPINE DIARY an analogous, reverse fully-flecked exemplar has been identified as forma brunellus Stoj. & Kit. When compared with another early-riser, the black-styled C. chrysanthus ‘Sunspot’ (badly frosted last year; this time it produced normalsized flowers and appears to exhibit vigorous vegetative increase, hence no doubt its commercial availability), both these newcomers are rather slight, but they brought much cheer following the glittery, gaudy ‘Yuletide’ expression of this sensation that is routinely paraded at the turn of the year.

The crocuses had emerged ahead of schedule, and luckily the brightly sunlit days, together with my uncharacteristic vigorous cleaning of the greenhouse glass a fortnight earlier after my neighbour had casually enquired whether I ever gave the greenhouses a once-over, inhibited their usual precocious inclination for the perianth tubes to lengthen, then topple over.

This was just as well, given that for most of us, appreciation of plants is mainly visual, though other senses are often involved, principally those of smell, touch and taste.

The black-barbed Crocus reticulatus subsp. hitticus smells of cloves, more faintly than, but not unlike, its typically striped-on-the-outside ally C. biflorus subsp. nubigena, which is normally in flower to coincide with the first AGS show in February. This year, however, it performed in the first and second weeks of January. We sometimes forget that any average encompasses various extremes.

Gardeners inevitably exhibit a fixation on weather forecasts, on the one 24

hand often quoting with precise recall those climatic events that have tested their plants, while on the other hand sometimes exaggerating the severity of what, in retrospect, are best seen as unexceptional variations.

I could rootle through my six-volume (to date) series of gardening diaries and bore you by quoting any number of frosts, droughts, downpours and disruptive weather patterns from the 30 years covered, from ‘four seasons in a day’ episodes to trying conditions that set in for weeks and undeniably discomfited the plants.

These apart, some countries have climates that do not fit into the fourseason pattern ordained for much of the northern hemisphere. Some have championed a wider adoption of the five-season sequence recommended for eastern Australia by, among others, Dr Tim Enwistle of Sydney Botanic Garden, who has advocated the portmanteau words ‘sprinter’ (spring/ winter, August/September) and ‘sprummer’ (spring/summer, October/ November). It’s one way, I suppose, of lengthening that most cherished of seasons. All well and good to rethink such matters from time to time, but there’s not a chance I’ll use the idiotic neologism ‘winterval’ (instead of Christmas), nor celebrate the spring solstice before St David’s Day. Getting plants to conform to man’s constructs, or precisely meet with expected ‘performance levels’ and ‘time slots’, is wishful, wishy-washy thinking.

It doesn’t put some people off trying, however.

It was recently reported that in THE ALPINE GARDENER

ALPINE DIARY

Lewisia rediviva, the ‘bitter root’ once eaten by North American native tribes

northern Japan, local authorities were sufficiently alarmed by the precocious appearance of cherry blossom, ahead of the main holiday period (the socalled Golden Week), to commission experiments at Hirosaki University with sprays and plant hormone injections in order to re-time the displays. They also resorted to shovelling snow around the base of trees, apparently without success.

It is, of course, possible to select early-flowering forms, induce displays by growing plants under glass or in sheltered conditions, or delay their blooming by cold store incarceration. In MARCH 2012

general, however, whatever stratagems are employed, amateur gardeners – and their plants – are at the mercy of climatic vagaries and they do much better to propagate replacement stocks and plant shelter belts than to send up prayers or to place faith in illusory settled weather patterns in the future.

As I have already hinted, taste (your palate, that is, not your general preferences) also figures in a minor way when assessing primarily ornamental plants. It is easy to provide a list of unexpectedly toothsome alpines, though anything recently dosed with a pesticide is clearly off-limits and, 25

ALPINE DIARY beyond this, there are questions of identification, which if answered incorrectly have, on occasion, proved fatal. One thinks in particular of northwestern America, where the Nez Percé and other tribes included Fritillaria camschatcensis (‘Indian rice’), F. affinis (‘rice-root’) and F. pudica bulbs (at one time consumed throughout British Columbia, Montana and Utah) in their diet.

The well-named ‘bitter root’, Lewisia rediviva, was also eaten but noted as ‘rather unpalatable to the European taste’.

Camassias, too, were consumed – C. quamash in particular, though the more showy C. leichtlinii was also a valuable food source, the storage organs ovenbaked and either eaten immediately or dried for winter consumption.

Notoriously the poison camas and others in the genus such as Zigadenus elegans can co-occur, the bulbs very similar indeed though they differ markedly in flower. The solution was to dig them out when in flower: risky, self-evidently, for any non-blooming specimens still threatened.

The last-named featured in the 2004 AGS exhibit at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. As the man who sourced it, should I have placed a ‘Do not ingest’ notice alongside the customary ‘Please do not touch’ plaque?

After all, Lily Langtry once gulped down a flower of Oxalis enneaphylla at Chelsea, having been told that in the Falklands its leaves, stems and flowers were harvested for their appealingly acidic taste and distilled to make a cooling drink renowned for curing scurvy.

Those who have visited China will 26

Anyone for Camassia leichtlinii?

know that sometimes alarming items appear on menus. A seasoned royal visitor is on record as confiding that ‘If it has four legs and is not a chair, has wings and isn’t an aeroplane, or swims and isn’t a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it’.

Lily bulbs, suitably seasoned, have caused tourists consternation when served up alongside beans and other more usual vegetables. The Chinese also like unorthodox onions, though in this they are far from alone. In eastern Turkey, the ornamental Allium akaka is occasionally served as a side dish, while in her book Alliums (1992), Dilys Davies THE ALPINE GARDENER

ALPINE DIARY

The decorative but potentially deadly Aconitum lycoctonum subsp. vulparia

told her readers that William Stearn, who was remarkable in many ways but wore his considerable learning lightly, ‘sampled all the available Allium species during the Second World War on behalf of a Ministry of Food disturbed by the absence of imported garlic’.

The plant in my garden that no one would dare nibble? At one time it would have been Laburnum anagyroides, which I’ve seen on the mountain slopes above Lake Garda. For many years I cursed it for completing its always prolific flowering by spilling the spent flowers over everything around, then shedding its seeds with equal abundance, and its MARCH 2012

leaves thereafter. Divine intervention: one October morning I awoke, looked out of my bedroom window and saw that it had toppled overnight, obligingly falling precisely in between my two greenhouses, causing no damage whatsoever. Sawing the branches and dealing with the debris took until midnight after I returned home from work that evening.

Today the choice lies between two decorative, sometimes deadly candidates. Aconitum lycoctonum subsp. vulparia is the front-runner. The descriptions of what ensues if you are foolish enough to eat it are gruesome.

27

ALPINE DIARY

Euphorbia characias is also best handled with care. According to one reference: ‘The milky juice can be severely irritant to the skin and is poisonous if taken internally. The seeds have a drastic purgative action and they have been used as a fish or arrow poison in the past.’ When my plants of this were struck down by the 2010-11 winter, I set about them with a pair of long-handled loppers. The blades rapidly became immured in gum, while splashes of the sap left my unwisely ungloved hands stinging for a week. Good riddance, I have to say!

None the less, I have admired the splenetic spurge several times in Greece, and can quite understand its popularity with gardeners countrywide. It is ordinarily long-lived, drought tolerant, adaptable and reliable (though it also attracts every aphid for miles around to 28

its dying flowerheads: a further curse).

Consequently I cannot bring myself to champion it among that country’s flora, whereas Viola delphinantha never fails to excite – would that it was even a fraction as obliging. For although I can think of one Hampshire garden where it romps away outdoors, enjoying the ramparts of tufa-fortified terraces as much as the polytunnels where its potted counterparts are grown, in general in gardens it fails after a few years, hating root disturbance especially.

I’ve grown it off and on for almost 30 years and can well remember the first time I saw it growing wild, on Mount Olympus. What possessed my friend (and, importantly, driver) to scale a sheer cliff face in order to take photographs, despite the manifest risks, I still cannot countenance, any more than I would have been able to telephone his wife THE ALPINE GARDENER

ALPINE DIARY

A rare white form of Viola delphinantha at Falakrón in northeast Greece.

Opposite, Euphorbia characias, which has poisonous sap that can also be a severe irritant to skin

and explain his 20-metre plummet had he missed his footing.

We found plenty of more accessible plants the following day, all of the same pinkish-lilac hue. But as Zdenĕk Zvolánek mentioned in his article on Ali Botush in September 2010 (The Alpine Gardener vol.78, page 268), very rarely indeed white forms occur.

Tristan Lafranchis, who has an exceptional knowledge of Greek flora, shared with an enthusiastic audience at last November’s AGS annual general meeting, finished his talk by projecting MARCH 2012

an image depicting one of two albinos that his daughter had discovered while accompanying him on a trip to Falakrón at 2,232m (7,300ft) in the far northeast. It is not technically an albino, for the characteristically long spurs are pink – which adds powerfully to its allure.

We are delighted to publish Tristan’s image of this almost mythical plant, testimony to the fact that surprises can still be expected, despite comprehensive studies dating back to those carried out

by Theophrastus long before the birth of Christ!

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PRACTICAL GARDENING

Practical Gardening Correspondent Vic Aspland explains how, having successfully germinated seed, he nurtures seedlings to make sure they fulfil their potential

Y

ou ordered seed from the AGS seed exchange. You sowed it, perhaps following the guidelines I gave in the AGS information leaflet, Growing alpines from seed. You then waited for one of nature’s miracles to take place and, in due course, the seed germinated.

But what next?

A member has written to me asking this very question and requesting an article telling her how to look after seedlings. Unfortunately, I cannot give instructions on how to ensure success with seedlings – I can only describe what works for me. You may feel that you are already an expert in the care of seedlings; I will never be one because there is too much to learn.

Initially I keep seedlings outdoors, in a position where they will not be exposed to the midday sun. Seedlings are more vulnerable to drying out and sun-scorch than older plants and I find that many do better outdoors than under glass, even if that is well shaded, because they get light without heat – and light is essential for good growth. I do not usually feed seedlings until after they have been potted on.

If you are going to be dealing with lots of seedlings with the intention of raising many plants, a decent potting bench will make the job much easier and more pleasant. Perhaps the most 30

Getting the best from those precious seedlings important aspect of a bench, assuming that you choose a sturdy one, is its height. When we moved to our current house, a garden shed was already in place and had a potting bench built in.

At first I thought that it was too high but it proved to be ideal. It is certainly much higher than the one shown in Cecilia Coller’s shed (The Alpine Gardener vol. 79, page 379) and Bob Straughan’s bench (AGS Bulletin vol. 53, page 272). You may notice, in the picture of Cecilia’s bench, an inverted pot, on which she presumably stands the pot being filled to increase its height.

If the bench is too low, after an hour or two your back will begin to ache.

But how do you find the right height?

THE ALPINE GARDENER

CARING FOR SEEDLINGS

Vic Aspland in his potting shed, with the bench at a comfortable height

Well, that depends on your own height.

I did a little measuring and decided on this recipe for success: hold out your forearm horizontally and measure the distance from the ground to the point of your elbow, or, even easier, get someone else to measure it for you. Deduct 10cm and you have the ideal height for the bench. In my case the measurements are 105cm and 95cm respectively. This positions the plants so that I can see them well and work with them easily without suffering backache.

My bench is against the side of the shed and directly below the window, which faces east. This is ideal because it means that the bench is well-lit but, for most of the day, does not receive MARCH 2012

direct sunlight, which can be a nuisance.

I don’t want strong sun shining on the roots of the seedlings and drying them out before I can deal with them. The orientation of your shed is likely to be dictated by the space available in your garden rather than by such niceties as this; I was just lucky, I suppose.

I use a green plastic potting-tray (or potting-tidy) which works wonderfully well. It allows me to mix up a fair quantity of compost without it spilling everywhere. A red plastic shelf across the rear of the potting-tray seemed a clever and useful addition, ideal for holding dibbers, tweezers, labels, pencils and so on. In practice, it often gets in the way when I am mixing a large batch 31

PRACTICAL GARDENING

Vic’s Pulsatilla seedlings are ready to be potted on

of compost or potting into a large pot, so I remove it at such times. Compost ingredients are stored in square plastic bins beside the bench. These hold ten gallons (about 45 litres) each, fit together tidily and keep everything I need close at hand.

So, with the equipment and materials ready, what next? When do I poton seedlings? At any time during the growing season, except when the weather is hot. I know a couple of AGS members who seem to be very adept at potting tiny seedlings into pots as small as 3 or 4cm in diameter. I am afraid that this is too extreme for me.

Tiny seedlings have only small nutrient reserves, and small pots dry out far too quickly. I have neither the time nor the patience to check and water pots several 32

times a day, so I wait until the seedlings are a reasonable size. For the purposes of illustrating this article, I began with repotting Pulsatilla seedlings on 27 June 2011. Germination of Pulsatilla seed can be very variable and material from the seed exchange may not all be viable.

Good seed will have a distinct bulge at the base of the ‘tail’. In addition, old seed may germinate only after a year or two, or not at all. The picture above shows a typical crop. Extracted from the pot, they exhibit the large root systems typical of many alpine plants. I remove as much of the seed compost as possible using an old dinner fork as a comb (opposite). This treatment does surprisingly little root damage and the plants do not seem to suffer.

Once thicker roots begin to THE ALPINE GARDENER

CARING FOR SEEDLINGS

The seed compost is carefully removed from the young pulsatillas using an old fork, exposing the extensive and healthy root system, below A cushion of Azorella trifurcata, which is starting to mingle with its neighbours

MARCH 2012

33

PRACTICAL GARDENING predominate over finer ones, pulsatillas in general become much more sensitive to root disturbance, and to move an established plant in the garden almost always results in death. If you keep plants in pots, then potting on is not a problem.

I usually pot seedlings into 7 or 9cm square plastic pots. These nest together, which saves space and makes watering from overhead easy and efficient, and they do not dry out too quickly. I hold a seedling by the leaf-stalks, lower it into the pot and trickle in compost from the other hand, then settle the compost between the roots by lifting the pot a centimetre or two and dropping it on to the bench. Only very rarely do I firm the compost by pressing it down with my fingers. Finally, the pots are stood in about 5cm of water until the upper surface of the compost becomes moist, then moved to a cool, shady place for a week or two.

My next example is Aquilegia jonesii x saximontana, a wonderful dwarf hybrid between two North American species.

Note once again the enormous root system in comparison with the top growth. The longest root was 23cm in a 7cm pot – not bad for AGS seed sown on 4 January 2011 and repotted on 11 August 2011. Note also the ‘neck’ just below the bud from which the leaves emerge. In articles on alpines, you will very often read of the importance of a deep top-dressing of gravel or stone chips ‘to keep the neck of the plant dry’.

This is perhaps not too important in the case of the Aquilegia, but can be very important for cushion plants. These seedlings went into a clay pot in the hope that they would make a specimen 34

Seedlings and the large root systems of Aquilegia jonesii x saximontana

pot. After settling in for a couple of weeks, these now live in my high sand plunge frame (see The Alpine Gardener vol. 75, page 163) in full sun.

Moving on to something different, Campanula alpestris received the usual fork treatment. Note again the pronounced ‘neck’. Another plant with show-bench potential, this was also potted into a clay pot. The pot was filled with compost to within about 2cm of the top and settled by tapping on the bench. Planting holes were made using a plastic dibber, which was also used to coax the roots into the holes. A few more taps to settle, then an inspection.

If any seedling had settled too deeply, so that the neck was in the compost, it THE ALPINE GARDENER

CARING FOR SEEDLINGS

The teased-out roots of Aquilegia jonesii x saximontana and, below, a seedling of Campanula alpestris. A pronounced ‘neck’ can be seen on each plant

was an easy job to pull it upwards into the correct position. Repositioning is much more difficult if you have pressed the soil down. From this point on, treatment was as normal: top-dress, soak from below, cool shady site until growth begins again. The plants tell me when they are ready for sunshine – they become bright and fresh-looking, and new greenness develops in the centre of the growth point.

Now on to bulbs, which I treat rather differently. As examples, I found pots of Allium obliquum and A. cernuum (dwarf form) but I treat most bulb seedlings in the same way. They certainly make faster progress if they are watered with fertiliser from an early age (say, from MARCH 2012

35

PRACTICAL GARDENING

A small dibber is used to ease Campanula alpestris seedlings into position. Below, the pot is top-dressed after the seedlings have been adjusted to a uniform height

36

THE ALPINE GARDENER

CARING FOR SEEDLINGS

Seedlings of Allium obliquum, left, and A. cernuum. Note the bulbs at the surface

three months after germination). After all, they do have to build up a bulb.

In my early days, I did try to separate the little bulbs and repot them during their first dormancy. This was a tedious, slow and exasperating task, not to be recommended. The tiny bulbs can be difficult to find and inevitably I would miss some. In addition, all the seeds do not necessarily germinate in the first season. It is very irritating to recycle the seed compost for some other repotting, and then next season to find more seedling bulbs coming up in another pot, especially if that pot contains bulbs of the same genus.

Another problem is that quite a few bulbs will retain their root systems during the dormant period if they are not dried out and ‘baked’ too MARCH 2012

much. Examples include many Allium, Narcissus, Galanthus and Ornithogalum.

Repotting a bundle of tiny bulbs with long, active root systems can be a pain.

These days I prepare a pot one or two sizes up, say 9 or 10cm for seedlings in a 7cm pot. I put compost in the bottom of the new pot, then drop in the old pot to check that the pot rims are at the same level. Then I tap the seedlings out of their pot. At this point I am always amazed and impressed by the massive root systems produced by even tiny bulbs. I do not break up the soil mass, but just gently disengage the root-tips that have reached the edges and lower the intact mass into the new pot. Then fill, tap, top-dress... you know the rest.

Some bulb enthusiasts take matters even further when sowing seed. They 37

PRACTICAL GARDENING

Primula vulgaris seedlings can display a great difference in size but all are viable

fill a pot with seed compost, poke a hole in the centre and pour all the seeds into this, tap, top-dress and water. The seedlings develop in a congested mass and can be left undisturbed in the pot for several seasons if they are slowgrowing. This appears to make not a scrap of difference to their rate of development, and it saves labour.

For my final example, I chose a pot of Primula vulgaris seedlings because the primrose behaves very much like the garden-worthy species from the Himalayas, Yunnan and Sichuan.

My picture above shows once again the large size of the root system in comparison with the top growth, but also the tremendous variation in rate of growth between individual seedlings. A word of advice: if you have a small crop 38

of seedlings, prick out every one; if you have a large crop, prick out some of each size. Tiny seedlings may turn into plants which have a different flower colour, have a compact habit, are more floriferous or are superior in some other way. Don’t discard them.

On the opposite page you can see a seedling which has already produced a second shoot, even at this young age.

Many primulas will do this and how encouraging it is! The final picture shows seedlings three months after potting on. Haven’t they done well?

That is my system and it works for me.

If I had more time, or if I was more diligent, maybe I could do even better.

All I can say is: sow seed, raise seedlings and you will be well rewarded. Most of all, have fun doing it. Good luck.

THE ALPINE GARDENER

CARING FOR SEEDLINGS

This young specimen of Primula vulgaris has already developed a second shoot.

Below, the Primula seedlings are thriving three months after being potted on

MARCH 2012

39

PRACTICAL GARDENING

John Innes composts and how to use them

I

n these days of sharp advertising, AGS members may wonder if a bona fide John Innes compost still exists or whether the name is now just a label used by imaginative ‘marketing and branding’ executives. The name is in every garden centre, in Britain at least, but John Innes composts are produced by many manufacturers. So what is going on?

There really was a John Innes. He was based in London and made a fortune dealing in land and property. He must have liked gardening because, when he died in 1904, he left both his estate and his money to be used for the improvement of horticulture by means of practical research. This led to the formation of the John Innes Horticultural Research Institute at Merton, Surrey, in 1910. At that time, and for hundreds of years before, gardeners had to make up their own composts from whatever materials they had available.

A browse through gardening literature from the end of the 15th century gives some idea of the sort of basic raw materials used: ‘Take ten parts of good, undunged earth...’ Or: ‘Take a quantity of old vegetable mould...’ (equivalent to the output of the compost heap these days, or perhaps leaf-mould).

Among those with more specialist interests – growers of show auriculas, for example – the composition of the

40

John Innes composts are an ingredient of almost every mix recommended for growing alpines and associated plants in pots. But which John Innes gives the best results, should you make your own and and how should it be used?

Here, Vic Aspland looks at the history of John Innes compost, and some of the AGS’s other expert growers explain how they use it composts became ever-more esoteric and complex. A recipe might be something along the lines of: ‘Take 9 parts of A, 7 parts of B, 5 parts of C, 3½ parts of D, 1½ parts of E...’ and so on, with some recipes running to 10 or 12 ingredients. In addition to the two already mentioned, the other ingredients might include things such as sugar-bakers’ scum, ox blood, goose dung and ‘night soil’. The latter phrase refers to the overnight products of a household before the introduction of indoor sanitation. Even to this day, I hear AGS exhibitors carefully questioning the growers of prize-winning plants.

The line taken implies: ‘If only he will let slip what his secret ingredient is, I will be able to grow plants like that!’

THE ALPINE GARDENER

JOHN INNES COMPOSTS

AGS members use John Innes composts widely for cultivating plants in pots.

A mix for these young woodlanders might include a John Innes ericaceous compost.

(Photograph taken at Brinkfields, see pages 96-116.)

In the early days of the John Innes Institute, much work was done to further the understanding of plant genetics and breeding mechanisms, which led to the development of new plant varieties. The research relevant to our present topic began in 1934, when William Lawrence and John Newell were given the task of investigating the problems associated with potting composts.

One of the greatest difficulties was the unpredictable presence of pests and diseases. Seedlings especially MARCH 2012

could be decimated by fungi present in the materials used. One of the vital developments was the heat-sterilisation of the loam used as a raw material.

The pair established that heat could be used to kill harmful soil organisms yet leave intact beneficial organisms that made nutrients available to plants. The key was establishing how hot and for how long the loam should be treated.

A plant that featured prominently in the research was Primula sinensis, which, apparently, was considered rather difficult to grow up to that time. After 41

PRACTICAL GARDENING six years of practical experiments, they produced two standard compositions for potting composts, one for seedsowing and one for growing-on. John Innes compost was born!

The formulae were simple. Seed compost: 2 loam, 1 peat, 1 sand; potting compost: 7 loam, 3 peat, 2 sand, all parts by volume. Fertilisers and ground limestone were added to each of these mixes to adjust the pH. But what of the John Innes numbers 1, 2 and 3 with which we are so familiar today? The numbers simply relate to the amount of fertiliser mixed in. JI No.2 contains twice as much as JI No. 1, and JI No. 3 three times as much. So, the more vigorous your plant, the higher the number you should use, but bear in mind that No. 3 was formulated to satisfy the needs of fast-growing subjects such as tomatoes, chrysanthemums, begonias and large hybrid daffodils. Some manufacturers omit the ground limestone to provide an ericaceous mix.

Loam, therefore, is an important ingredient, but what is it? I can remember the instructions for making ‘turfy loam’ in the first gardening book I ever read (my father’s). They went something like this: ‘Skim off turves from a grassy meadow. Stack them grass-side down for four years. Break up by rubbing through a three-eighthsinch sieve.’ The advantages of loam are that the clay content, obtained from the soil on the turves, acts like a nutrient sponge and regulates the amount available to plants. When there is a high level of nutrients in the soil moisture, it absorbs some; as levels fall, it releases more to make them available to plants.

42

John Innes, who left his fortune to be used for horticultural research

By comparison, fibrous materials such as peat and coir have a very much lower nutrient buffering capacity, meaning that plants grown in media high in these ingredients need to be fed much more frequently.

The dead but undecomposed wiry grass roots in loam serve to create air spaces and improve the structure of the material. At the time – the early 1950s – the most superior kind was said to be Kettering Loam. My father commented ruefully that if all the Kettering Loam sold came from there, the town would be at the bottom of a very deep hole!

The loam content also makes John Innes composts much easier to re-wet than purely peat-based mixes after drying out.

The peat specified for John Innes THE ALPINE GARDENER

JOHN INNES COMPOSTS

Members of the John Innes Manufacturers’ Association Producer Brand Bord Na Mona Horticulture Ltd. Bulrush Horticulture Ltd. Erin Horticulture Ltd. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company Westland Horticulture Ltd. White Moss Horticulture Ltd. William Sinclair Horticulture Ltd. composts was moss peat, which has a robust fibrous texture and again improves the structure of the product.

It has little nutrient content. (Sedge peat is much more decomposed and of little use except for the cultivation of a handful of bog plants.) The coarse sand ensures good drainage.

The John Innes Institute published the results of its research and made the recipes available for anyone to use. It has never manufactured the composts and has never profited from the research.

Instead, any company with access to the raw materials can produce them.

Not unsurprisingly, although made to the same recipe, the composts vary quite a bit, depending mainly on the source of the loam. The production of turfy loam, already described, is a slow process and, done an industrial scale, it would take up a lot of space. For manufacturers, there is an enormous financial incentive to cut corners.

In addition, the loam may have too high a level of clay – the exact content was not specified in the formulae – which affects the efficient drainage of the MARCH 2012

B&Q Bulrush Erin Levington Westland Richmor, Cromwell, Easigro J. Arthur Bower’s compost. The prudent gardener tried the products of various manufacturers, then stuck to the one which best suited his needs. I can remember some time in the late 1960s opening a sack and observing fragments of shell in the compost. The producer had used spent mushroom compost (somebody else’s waste material, and hence cheap) to form part of the organic content, with the bonus that the crushed shell reduced the need to add crushed limestone. In another case, the major component seemed to be sedge peat, and vine weevil larvae were visible in the top layer! Needless to say, the first was used as a top-dressing on part of the garden and the second was dumped.

I never bought either brand again.

The John Innes Manufacturers’ Association (JIMA) was formed in 1975 with the objective of guaranteeing the quality of the composts. In more recent times – January 2010 – the management and administration of the JIMA was moved to the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA). Manufacturers in the organisation (listed above) are 43

PRACTICAL GARDENING

JOHN GOOD writes: Very occasionally I have mixed my own John Innes compost when I have had loam available, made from stacked turf. This is necessary for the best results. My mix has much more drainage material than the original formula because I include additional grit.

The approved formula for JI No. 1 is 7 parts loam, 3 parts peat and 2 parts sand. To each cubic metre is added 0.6kg ground limestone, 1.2kg hoof and horn meal, 1.2kg superphosphate and 0.6kg potassium sulphate.

My basic formula, however, is approximately 4 parts loam, 2 parts peat (or substitute), 2 parts sand and 2 parts grit or perlite.

The added nutrients are the same but the amounts are reduced by half for the same volume of compost because alpines need

less nutrients than the mainstream plants for which John Innes composts were devised.

In the case of finicky high alpines I tend to use my own leaf-mould as organic matter and may increase the grit and sand content to 50 per cent by volume, but ‘feel’ in the hand is very important. For woodlanders I would increase the proportion of organic matter and reduce the proportion of grit and sand accordingly.

Brands for sale in garden centres vary depending upon where you live, but here in North Wales the best that I have found that is readily available is J. Arthur Bower’s. I have tried several other brands but there is often inconsistency in the product, so it is always worth asking to feel the texture of a compost before you buy.

Additionally, the way the compost

committed to producing composts that maintain the performance of the original formulae, and have a formal complaints procedure in case they should fall short of this standard.

Shortly after it was founded, the JIMA engaged John Newell as a consultant.

He helped to tweak the original recipes to account for the fact that rotted turf was not commercially viable.

The mixes used today are based on sterilised loam, peat, sand and grit, and are designed to have the same structure, nutrient content and growing performance as the original formulations. JIMA members’ products

are checked each year to ensure that they maintain this standard.

What of the future? We are all aware of the peat debate, yet it is an essential part of the John Innes recipe. We are also aware of the opinions of the conservation lobby: any gardener who uses peat should be burned at the stake (or something similar).

A few years ago, the Royal Horticultural Society announced that it would phase out the use of peat at all RHS gardens.

Nevertheless, despite all the research into alternatives to peat, in the January 2012 edition of The Garden (the RHS monthly journal), Roger Williams, RHS

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THE ALPINE GARDENER

JOHN INNES COMPOSTS

is stored by the supplier, and for how long, is important. If bags are stored uncovered the compost may get saturated because there are usually ‘breathing’ holes through which rain can percolate.

You should buy regularly and use quickly because the nutrients are gradually released within the compost, increasing its fertility and reducing its useful life.

If a batch of compost looks as if it has been stored at the nursery for a long time without protection, don’t buy it.

I generally use JI No. 1 with added drainage material for seed sowing and pricking out seedlings, and JI No. 2 with added drainage (or organic matter for woodlanders) when potting on.

I never use John Innes compost as it comes from the bag – it is too fertile and too heavy.

Head of Science, is reported as saying that RHS gardens are now 97 per cent peat-free and that ‘we only use peatbased media to propagate certain plants and to maintain a small number of our specialist collections’. This makes it clear to me that they have not yet found the ideal alternative.

A few random observations on the peat debate: 1. I have been told that Ireland has a number of power stations which burn peat!

2. In November last year, I attended the Roy Elliott Memorial Lecture organised by the AGS Birmingham MARCH 2012

GEOFF ROLLINSON writes: I have always used John Innes No. 3 manufactured by Westland, an Irish company. I buy it from a local garden centre.

My basic potting mix is 1 part JI No. 3, 1 part leaf-mould and 2 parts 5-6mm neutral grit. I have access to a superb supply of leafmould, made predominantly from oak and beech leaves, and the grit again comes from a garden centre.

This mix is used for the great majority of the plants that I grow in pots, with modifications for high alpines such as androsaces and dionysias, when the richness is diluted by upping the grit content to 4 parts. I have experimented and still do so by growing some high alpines in just river sand, with good results. I think there is a great variance in the compost mixes used

by AGS members.

Group (to which all AGS members get free entry, by the way). Peter Korn from Sweden, the speaker, not only gave an inspiring lecture but, en passant, commented: ‘Please use peat. We have lots of it – it is growing faster than we use it, a truly renewable resource.’ Ah! I can hear the sound of poison pens being sharpened already.

3. At Birmingham Botanical Gardens (of which I am a trustee), we once tried a one-tonne batch of a peat-free compost. The results of the first trials were so disastrous that the unused material was returned to the supplier.

The peat alternatives have a long way 45

PRACTICAL GARDENING

BOB AND RANNVEIG WALLIS write: We buy Green Ore John Innes compost from F. A. Smith in Somerset. The compost is of excellent quality because it has the correct proportion of loam and Smith’s seem to be very careful with their ingredients and production.

We use JI No. 2 as a base for all our composts and add to it as required. The following are our ingredients: Sand: this is purchased in bulk from a builders’ merchant. It is dredged from the Bristol Channel, washed and graded and we use the coarsest we can find.

Grit: 6mm limestone grit comes from a local quarry.

Leaf-mould: we collect our own leaves from the oak trees on our boundary with the lawn mower, which chops them up nicely, and then stack them for at least 12 months before use.

John Innes base fertiliser: this is used to make up the fertiliser content of a mix to, say, the strength of JI No. 2 or No. 3 to compensate for its dilution by the added ingredients. According to the recipe, JI No. 2 has 6g/litre of base fertiliser, so if we dilute 1 litre of No. 2 by adding 1 litre of unfertilised material, we add 6g of base fertiliser to get the mix back to the strength of No. 2 or another 12g to reach the strength of No. 3 (the desired 9g/ litre in the JI No. 3 recipe).

Perlite: supercoarse grade.

46

Bark: we like Melcourt propagating bark, which is sold widely by horticultural suppliers.

Peat or ericaceous mix: for limehaters. Our grit is limestone so we have to add something to reduce the pH. Chippings: we buy 6mm greywacke grit from a quarry in Ceredigion for decorative top-dressing of our pots.

A normal bulb mix would be 3 parts JI No. 2, 2 parts coarse sand and 1 part 6mm limestone grit, with John Innes base added to make it up to No. 2 strength again. We add leaf-mould to this for plants that require more humus.

In woodland mixes, we use perlite for drainage instead of some of the sand and grit to maintain a light and fluffy texture and to reduce compaction caused by the heavy sand and grit. The bark is good for drainage, too, and provides excellent aeration. We also like it for the decorative top-dressing of our show pots.

A typical Cyclamen mix would be equal parts of JI No. 2, perlite, limestone chips and leaf-mould plus John Innes base fertiliser to bring the strength back to JI No. 2 or 3.

We feed most of our bulbs and Cyclamen with liquid Tomorite three or four times a season. We have started to use more rainwater when diluting fertiliser because our tap water contains a surprising amount of dissolved salts, which are generally not appreciated by plants.

THE ALPINE GARDENER

JOHN INNES COMPOSTS

Two widely available brands of John Innes – Westland and J. Arthur Bower’s

to go before they reach the consistency and reliability of peat. If you disagree, do please write to me reporting your successful results.

4. Go to any garden centre. Poke your finger into the compost of any plant grown in Holland. You will almost invariably find that the compost is pure peat. It would seem that our continental cousins have no compunction in continuing to use it.

In fact, I have begun to reduce my use of peat. In many cases I have replaced it in my modified composts with composted bark, but I still use John Innes as the basis of these. Almost every local council now collects green waste in MARCH 2012

order to reduce the amount of material deposited in landfill, and offers sacks of the end product from this at their refuse sites. Where the rest of it goes, I have no idea. This gives me pause for thought.

My own observations suggest that the predominant component of green waste is the trimmings from conifer hedges (especially x Cupressocyparis leylandii and Cupressus macrocarpa, with a leavening of holly, laurel and weeds). I discussed the use of these materials with an expert at a nursery recently, and his comment was: ‘You have seen what rubbish goes in. I wouldn’t use it. Neither will you if you have any sense.’ Suspecting that the John Innes manufacturers might come 47

PRACTICAL GARDENING

HARRY JANS writes: John Innes compost is not for sale in the Netherlands so I have to make my own mixes. I am trying more and more to reduce peat in my compost and I routinely use sieved leaf-mould these days. It all depends on the type of plants I want to grow. Some moisture-loving plants need more organic content in the mixture than, for instance, plants that prefer scree conditions. My basic mix is 3 parts sieved leaf-mould, 1 part 2-6mm sharp grit, 1 part fibrous loam and 1 part 1-2mm sharp sand.

For some plants that like very sharp drainage I add more grit. I use either granite grit (acid) or limestone grit (alkaline) as appropriate for the plant.

You should always ‘test’ a mix before using. It should fall apart easily after being compressed in your hand. It is also wise to test a mixture in a pot by watering it to check that the drainage is satisfactory. Sometimes I add Osmocote Exact Mini (a slow-release fertiliser) to the mixture to feed the plant for the first six months. For some high alpines that are very difficult to grow, I use almost 100 per cent mineral mixes.

JO AND BRIAN WALKER write: We have never tried to make our own John Innes compost. Over the years we have used several brands but we prefer J. Arthur Bower’s. We have also tried Ashwood Nurseries’ John Innes. The type of mix we use depends entirely on the plants we are growing, but we include No. 2 as a general rule and No. 3 for Oncocyclus and Juno irises. Our general alpine mix is equal parts of J. Arthur Bower’s JI No. 2, Petersfield general purpose compost and horticultural grit.

under pressure to use these materials, I contacted Angel Bean at the HTA to check. She reassured me that no green waste was used in the composts.

So much for the background, but what of my own composts? I could, I suppose, skim soil off the borders or use the output from my compost heap.

In the former case, the borders would soon become trenches and in both cases I would have weed seedlings appearing in my pots (and I get enough of those already, from wind-blown seeds). So I buy John Innes because it contains loam, with all its advantages, and it is 48

sterilised; consequently it is free of weed seeds. Freedom from disease, however, is only a short-term advantage. Unless you keep your plants in a hermetically sealed greenhouse, sterility will be lost almost as soon as you open the bag. The air is full of drifting spores of moulds and fungi, and the first time you water with pure rainwater from the tub, you add a good deal more.

If I have anything approaching a standard mix, it is 3 parts JI No. 2 or 3, 2 parts leaf-mould or composted bark, 1 part grit and 1 part sand. But this is only the starting point. I will then THE ALPINE GARDENER

JOHN INNES COMPOSTS

ERIC JARRETT writes: I have tried to make my own John Innes compost but found that it was impossible to obtain a consistent source of good quality loam. I do not have sufficient resources to stack turf for the required time to make my own loam.

I always buy John Innes compost from Ashwood Nurseries in the West Midlands. It is expensive but I find that it gives consistently good results. Occasionally I use the Green Ore composts from F. A. Smith in Somerset. As they supply the loam to Ashwood, it is not too surprising that their compost is good. Always choose a compost that uses a good quality loam. If this cannot be verified then don’t bother with it.

Unfortunately I have found that all the John Innes composts that are readily available in garden centres fall well short of the mark. As a

consequence I no longer bother with them.

I stick to JI No. 2 or 3 and decide which to use depending on the type of plant. For high alpines I tend to opt for JI No. 2, whereas others such as Primula allionii seem to do better with JI No. 3. My aim is to balance the growth of the plant so that the roots fill the pot at the same time as top growth reaches the edge of the pot.

To increase the air-filled porosity of the compost I always add a mixture of Cornish grit, coarse grade perlite and very sharp sand.

The amount of this mix added depends again on the type of plant.

For high alpines the mix is about 3 parts grit, perlite and sand to 1 part JI No. 2. For other alpines, 2 parts grit mix to 1 part JI No. 2 works well. (See Eric’s article on growing cushion plants in The Alpine Gardener, vol. 79, pages 232-243.)

examine the structure of the mix and tweak it by adjusting the proportions, most often by adding more drainage.

For seeds, my compost approximates to 3 parts JI No. 1 and 1 part grit-sand.

After many years experience, though, like any good cook I throw together approximately the right proportions for each purpose and then adjust the mixture until it looks and feels right.

This is checked by picking up a fistful of slightly moist compost, squeezing it as hard as I can, then opening my hand.

If the compost stays in a ball, the clay level is too high, so I add more sand-

grit until if falls apart when tested. For higher-altitude cushion plants I increase the proportion of sand and grit, although I never reach the ‘dirty grit’ extreme favoured by some specialists. I just would not be able to keep up with the watering requirements.

As it happens, I do not buy John Innes compost made by a member of the JIMA, but from Ashwood Nurseries in the West Midlands, who have their own small manufacturing plant. They produce it on site and, of course, use it themselves, so they do their own ongoing quality testing.

MARCH 2012

49

Tony Rymer joined an AGS tour in an area of southern Turkey that harbours a wealth of fascinating plants. Photographs by Ruth Rymer and Pat Craven

Fritillaria armena, which was found growing in a walled sheep pen

A f loral meze

Illustration: Martin Northrop

EXPLORATION

O

ur tour of south-central Turkey was organised by AGS Expeditions and led by Bob and Rannveig Wallis. The Society is extremely fortunate in having a number of members with the expertise and willingness to plan and lead tours such as this.

Each evening, we gathered to discuss the day’s finds, generally deferring to Rannveig’s judgment when, for example, a partially dissected squill’s flower was passed round. Peter Sheasby was also on the tour and proved to be a mine of information on the many attractive annuals and other non-bulbous species.

Mustafa, our excellent driver, took us safely up and down hair-raising mountain passes and twisty dirt roads, 52

but probably wondered why well-off Europeans were spending two weeks photographing roadside weeds. And Alper, our indefatigable guide cum road manager, conjured up, with Mustafa’s help, first-rate picnics or, when we dined out, took us to some splendid restaurants.

Our April tour started in Adana, from where we headed north to Çömlük, a mere speck on my road map of Turkey.

It is about 30km (19 miles) along an unmade road leading north-west off the main road between Adana and Kahramanmaraş.

Our group’s first foray into the wilds of the region of Cappadocia had yielded a few plants of interest, but the cry ‘Stop!’ went up when someone THE ALPINE GARDENER

TURKEY

Arum dioscoridis subsp. dioscoridis grew in the shade of fig trees

spotted clumps of Arum dioscoridis subsp. dioscoridis in a small meadow with some shade from fig trees. With the bemused farmer’s permission 16 of us piled into the field, cameras at the ready. Robust groups of this handsome aroid were growing in the rocky, wellmanured, calcareous soil.

Later that day we stopped some 30km west of Kahramanmaraş in a squelchy alpine meadow at an altitude of 1,920m (6,300ft), surrounded by well-wooded, rocky slopes. Of the many good plants, for me two stood out: Cyclamen pseudibericum and Helleborus vesicarius. The former needs no introduction and there was a good deal of variation in the size, colour and largesse of the floral clusters.

The summer-dormant hellebore is less MARCH 2012

well-known and is unlikely to be grown in the average rock garden. No doubt I shall be taken to task for describing it as a mere curiosity but it doesn’t rank high on my list of desiderata.

The clusters of small, pendant, brown and green flowers, which open in late winter (April at high altitude in parts of southern Turkey), are followed by the main attraction – inflated, 7cm long, pale green seedpods. On a bare scree slope, it was an arresting sight.

The following day we returned to the area west of Kahramanmaraş for a more leisurely exploration. Three species of Fritillaria were noted here: F. alfredae subsp. glaucoviridis, F. pinardii and F. acmopetala. Single plants of the first two were routine, but a splendid 53

EXPLORATION

Cyclamen pseudibericum, which showed much variation in size and colour

group of F. acmopetala, growing by the road at the base of a towering cliff, was much admired and photographed. In a pot on the show bench this species can look gangly; in its native habitat it was magnificent.

After a visit to the old town of Kahramanmaraş, with its colourful bazaar and artisan workshops, it was back on the road northwards towards Göksun. In the valley of the River Göksun we stopped to scramble up the steep, slippery, limestone slopes of Armutyücesi Dağ. Our efforts were well rewarded with huge numbers of, among others, splendid Ornithogalum sigmoideum, 54

Hyacinthus orientalis subsp. chionophilus (a delicate beauty compared with the Christmas pot plants, which appear to be on steroids) and a member of the Crocus biflorus alliance.

My favourite from this site, however, was Fritillaria aurea. As we climbed higher the plants, at first well scattered, became more frequent with considerable variation in the size and extent of chequering on the tepals. They invariably grew as single stems, with seed the evident method of increase.

Our last find before the steep descent was a solitary Fritillaria amana in superb condition. We lunched in high spirits THE ALPINE GARDENER

TURKEY

Muscari macbeathianum, discovered in 1985 by Jim Archibald

before driving north to a high pass, Demirci Geçidi (1,890m, 6,200ft) where winter had not yet yielded to spring.

Most spectacular was a small form of Fritillaria pinardii, growing in groups in short turf sloping down to a frothing snowmelt stream. The best flowers were very dark with yellow, gently flared tepal tips. Iris stenophylla was here, too, but mostly already over, as was Colchicum szovitsii. Both were found in better condition later in the tour. A few Primula elatior subsp. pallasii, the local version of our native oxlip, were growing by a lively stream. Photography was tricky, owing to the risk of photographer (and MARCH 2012

worse, camera) getting soaked. Here towards the western limit of its range, it can also be found through to Siberia.

The following day we travelled on roads to the north and west of Göksun, which resulted in several interesting finds. Off the main road north we stopped at a scrubby, rocky, undulating area with clumps of flashy Tulipa armena in full flower, most harbouring pollenladen beetles. Even more striking and infinitely more refined were small groups of Hyacinthella acutiloba, growing in particularly exposed stony areas.

The ‘target species’ section of the prospectus for that day contained the 55

EXPLORATION

tantalising phrase: ‘Can we re-find Muscari macbeathianum?’ Discovered in 1985 by Jim Archibald, it had not been seen in the wild since. We set off along a quiet country road, in search of a piece of woodland, where, on the left side of the road, close to the end of the wood, we hoped to find it. We duly did, and paid photographic homage.

It grew in scattered small groups and was decidedly localised. By no means the most spectacular species in what is, for me at least, a less than compellingly desirable genus, it is good to know that 56

THE ALPINE GARDENER

TURKEY

Crocus biflorus subsp. tauri and, opposite, Globularia orientalis and its white form

it still thrives in its native home. Later in the afternoon, after stopping at a spectacular viewpoint while the coach was refuelled, we found an attractive crevice-dwelling crucifer, Aethionema stylosum and, among rocky limestone outcrops, splendid groups of Globularia orientalis with white forms prominent among them.

The next morning we had a long drive north-west on our way to Kayseri. At our first stop, in mixed pine and oak woodland, there were good Anemone blanda and scattered Dactylorhiza romana.

MARCH 2012

More interesting was Gezbeli Pass (1,960m, 6,430ft) where we saw masses of Scilla sibirica subsp. taurica and good quantities of Crocus biflorus subsp. tauri (varying from white with a hint of blue through to darker hues) coming into flower at the edge of snow patches. A solitary Eranthis cilicica flowered by the roadside. Having crossed the pass and driven eastwards, Erciyes Dağ gradually loomed into view, a 3,960m (13,000ft) high extinct volcano that blew its top long ago, creating a now fertile plain stretching thousands of square 57

EXPLORATION

Iris reticulata amid massed ranks of Scilla sibirica subsp. armena

kilometres. We stopped at Kayakevi, with its untidy group of hotels and ski-related paraphernalia. At 2,130m (7,000ft) it was still winter and we found scattered groups of Crocus sieheanus as well as a Colchicum which closely resembled C. triphyllum but had only two visible leaves.

Kayseri, an attractive, modern town with a long history, was named Caesarea in AD18, when it was the capital of Roman Cappadocia.

We were soon on our way east towards Gürün, stopping first at the bleak, windy ridge of Ziyarettepesi Pass (1,930m, 6,330ft). On limestone58

studded slopes were tiny cushions of Draba bruniifolia, small groups of a yellow flowered Fritillaria assyriaca and a plentiful smattering of Crocus biflorus.

In damper, grassy hollows were small numbers of Crocus danfordiae, named for the redoubtable Mrs C.G. Danford, who travelled extensively in Turkey in the 1870s. This was the only area where we found good specimens of a Juno, Iris stenophylla, including a few white ones.

Gűrűn is an unprepossessing little town, but across the valley, in steep cliffs, are the caves of the Hittites, who lived there some three millennia ago. Staying at the teachers’ house, in THE ALPINE GARDENER

TURKEY

The brassica Tchihatchewia isatidea growing in mobile scree

the residential block of the college of education, we dined at a likeable café in the nearby bus station. Show me an equivalent eatery in the UK that serves up honey on the comb, which was a treat at breakfast.

West of Darende, an area of southfacing sedimentary rock harbours two extraordinary plants. One has a challenging name, the other a challenging smell. Scattered plants of Tchihatchewia isatidea, a 30cm tall monotypic member of the Brassicaceae with delightful heads of pale lilac flowers, grew in steep, mobile scree.

Both the flower stem and the irregularly MARCH 2012

toothed leaves are covered in dense, white hairs. Nearby we found a few Eminium intortum, a seldom-cultivated aroid with all the prime characteristics of its kin. It differs from the similar E. rauwolfii in that the stem is swollen below the spathe.

Late that afternoon we arrived at the unspoilt village of Kemaliye, in the upper reaches of the infant River Euphrates. Many of the traditional houses have a pair of ornately wrought door knockers (his and hers!) produced in a foundry there – a local idiosyncrasy.

The next day was, for most of us I suspect, among the very best 59

EXPLORATION

experienced on any mountain flower holiday. It started with our hired minibuses taking us from Kemaliye up a seemingly endless, zigzagging dirt road.

Eventually this levelled out on to a wide, undulating plain ringed by low, rocky hillocks. There was still a little snow present and a great deal of meltwater.

Looking around, it was immediately evident that we were in a bulb paradise.

As far as the eye could see, swathes of Scilla sibirica subsp. armena reflected the clear blue sky. And as our minibuses splashed their way along the muddy route, we passed small groups of Iris reticulata, Colchicum szovitsii, Fritillaria armena, Hyacinthus orientalis and a vivid 60

assortment of muscaris and gageas.

Excitedly we stopped, grabbed our cameras, and fanned out in all directions.

The irises were all reddish-purple (only varying significantly in the width of their falls) and grew in damp alpine meadow that had obviously not long lost its mantle of snow. Colchicum szovitsii favoured damper spots still. Repeatedly we found it flowering profusely in running water. Corydalis erdelii and Hyacinthus orientalis generally preferred a drier habitat, the colonies spreading on to the surrounding hillocks.

Fritillaria armena was more catholic in its choice of habitat, though it was absent from the very wettest areas.

THE ALPINE GARDENER

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Opposite, a meadow spattered with Colchicum szovitsii, in close-up above. Right, a lovely stand of Fritillaria armena

MARCH 2012

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An apparently undescribed yellow and white Juno iris growing among Draba bruniifolia, Fritillaria pinardii and Aethionema schistosum on a ridge near Malatya

TURKEY There was some variation in flower colour and tepal width; moreover some scapes bore two flowers. Some of the finest groups sheltered in a walled sheep pen, very slightly above the meadow, though others grew there too, among thousands of scillas.

At the base of a steep slope were small numbers of Eranthis cilicica with, higher up the slope, Crocus biflorus, an unidentified Arabis and Draba bruniifolia, the last-named widespread at these altitudes throughout much of Turkey.

St George’s Day in England is celebrated as Children’s Day in Turkey.

Schools are closed and villages hold parades, so our departure had to wait until the road out of the village was reopened. It was a long drive south to Malatya, from where we headed for a site where a ridge-top was home to a beautiful scorpiris (Juno) in its thousands, in full, glorious flower.

Apparently undescribed, it has been compared in broad terms to the bluish Syrian Iris nusairiensis. (Editor: recent research concludes that Iris aff. nusairiensis, restricted to this area of southern Turkey, is genetically more similar to I. aucheri, although in morphology and karyotype it has more in common with I. nusairiensis.)

Bearing a more than superficial resemblance to the plant illustrated as I. caucasica subsp. caucasica in Peter Sheasby’s Bulbous Plants of Turkey and Iran, the white standards are small and deflexed; the falls are the same colour, but with a large yellow blotch and a narrow, deeper yellow crest. Some plants had as many as six pairs of rather broad, often silver-edged leaves. Seed

63

EXPLORATION

Two forms of the undescribed Juno iris seen near Malatya, which has been compared in broad terms to the Syrian Iris nusairiensis

of this recently discovered taxon has been offered in one or two lists latterly.

As if this display was not enough, on the other side of the summit ridge we admired cushions of Draba bruniifolia, the attractive Aethionema schistosum and, a little lower down, a scattering of Fritillaria pinardii.

A hot, dusty drive took us south towards Adiyaman, at generally lower altitudes than the previous few days.

64

In some ways it was anti-climactic, for while we stopped three times, we saw few new plants, the most striking of them a splendid specimen of the spiny shrub Amygdalus arabicus in full bloom.

(Actually we stopped four times; the last when our eagle-eyed guide Alper spotted an ice cream vendor.)

From there it was on to dusty, workaday Kâhta. A switch to minibuses for the journey to Nemrut Dağ and one THE ALPINE GARDENER

TURKEY

funeral mound, one remarkable Roman bridge and several other relics later, we disembarked close to the remains of monuments for King Antiochus, erected around 38BC on either side of his burial mound and demolished by iconoclasts a century later. Even this World Heritage Site had to wait until we had found Iris sari, an Oncocyclus species. Fanning out across the sloping, rocky terrain, we spent half an hour or more searching, MARCH 2012

finding foliage, unopened flower buds and finally one clump in full flower.

After taking a leisurely photograph or two I shouted to the other members of the group: an orderly queue formed.

When we reached cultivated fields, Gladiolus atroviolaceus and Cephalanthera kurdica were certainly worth further photography.

With just two days of the tour remaining, it was time to return to 65

EXPLORATION

Ophrys reinholdii and, below, Orchis simia were found growing together at a roadside.

Opposite, the Oncocyclus Iris sari

Adana. The most interesting botanical sighting before lunch was two young men clutching handfuls of large Crocus cancellatus corms. Apparently they are a tasty, saleable commodity. It was in the afternoon that we again struck gold.

We explored a hillside with a range of attractive flowers and, on returning to the main road, orchids were found.

Orchis simia and Ophrys reinholdii were, judging by the patient queues, the pick of the half dozen or so species on offer.

And so to our last full day in the field, where towards Arslanköy, in the eastern Taurus, we hoped to see Iris danfordiae and Orchis anatolica. We found both, but were a little late for the iris, finding only the shrivelled, unmistakably yellow remains of its flowers.

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EAST CHESHIRE SHOW

Slipper is a comfortable Farrer winner APRIL 30, 2011 Report: Robert Rolfe Pictures: Robert Rolfe and Jim Almond

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his late spring show has been held in an assortment of venues in a generally leafy, affluent area of Cheshire. A shift to Wilmslow High School, a few miles north-east of last year’s Mobberley location, was a great improvement when it came to access, the provision of natural light, and space to stage exhibits.

In some years at this show, six or more plants have been considered for the Farrer Medal. This time round, with the season several weeks advanced,

there was just one obvious contender: Cypripedium Gisela grex, grown by Robin Pickering. It displayed a two-tone raspberry phase rather than its paler versions through to lemon, and as such was close to the plant that won four years previously at the same event, when Robin’s wife was the victor (a floriferous Campanula aucheri on the next bench was the pick of her entries this time).

The medal-winner, a 20-year-old cross between the American C. parviflorum and the Eurasian C. macranthos, was most closely rivalled by Brian Burrow’s yellow-pouched, blackish sepalled C. Emil grex (C. parviflorum x calceolus), a Peter Corkhill cross of upright bearing

Hosta ‘Cracker Crumbs’, shown

by Jackie Street in the Intermediate Section

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Robin Pickering’s Cypripedium Gisela grex and, right, Brian Burrow’s C. Emil grex

that had been in the same smallish pot for five years, and bore some 40 shoots, half of them single-slippered.

In truth there were more orchids outside the show hall (courtesy of Laneside Hardy Orchid Nursery) than within, though C. ‘Pueblo’, another newish hybrid with pale green sepals, yellow pouches and distributed of late by a Dutch nursery, helped Anne Vale win the six-pan class in the Intermediate Section.

Entries here held up particularly well, several of them outshining examples of the same plant exhibited in the Open Section. Jackie Street’s MARCH 2012

Hosta ‘Cracker Crumbs’ was a wavyleaved, yellowish-green, dark-margined miniature, reputedly reaching 30cm across but under 10cm in leaf and 69

EAST CHESHIRE SHOW

Lewisia cotyledon hybrid, grown by Norman Davies

18cm in flower. It was bred by Bob Solberg of Green Hill Hostas, North Carolina, in 2002, and is a tissue culture sport of his 1997 hybrid ‘Shiny Penny’ (= ‘Lemon Lime’ x ‘Shiny Tot’).

Also in the Intermediate Section was the yet more exuberant, broader-bladed H. ‘Pandora’s Box’ (Norman Davies), a 1996 sport of ‘Baby Bunting’ from Shady Oaks Nursery with strikingly white-splashed, acuminate leaves and slightly irregular borders with greyish and lime-green stripes. The same exhibitor’s showy Lewisia cotyledon hybrid – possibly with L. brachycalyx, judging by the broad foliage and the flower shape – had uniformly fresh, rich pink flowers. Exhibiting a plant in such condition when in full (rather than early) bloom presupposes last-minute 70

grooming – the older flowers shrivel rapidly following a warm car journey.

Saxifraga cymbalaria var. huetiana (Pamela Anderson) made a pleasant change from the otherwise ubiquitous S. pubescens ‘Snowcap’ shown by a number of exhibitors. Much more easily managed, it thrives in the damp and shade that would hardly suit the latter.

Representing the eastern, mainly Turkish and Caucasian end of the species’ disjunct distribution, this short-lived, buttercup-yellow opportunist flowers all summer and self-sows freely, though because it is shallow-rooted it can easily be kept in bounds by some ruthless weeding followed by a heavy mulch.

Moving to the Open Section, another infrequent visitor to the show bench, Aster souliei (Ian Instone), made one THE ALPINE GARDENER

Ian Instone’s Aster Souliei, with flowers 7cm across

wonder why this plant isn’t grown more often. First brought back almost a century ago by Farrer and named A. limitanus (which was later reduced to varietal status), it can range in height from 5 to 45cm but always the flowers are of good size (7cm across in the plant seen) and with purplish-blue ray florets around a rich yellow centre. It occurs in Gansu, Sichuan, Yunnan, Xizang and northern Myanmar at up to 4,000m (13,100ft), often as an element of the alpine meadow flora, or at the edge of pine woodland, flowering from May until July. At present only listed by a handful of nurseries, it knocks any of the named selections of more popular A. alpinus into a cocked hat.

The unofficial award for most flowers per square inch of foliage could MARCH 2012

have gone to any of several cushion androsaces, but one labelled A. hirtella (Sam Sutherland) was notably floriferous, and was awarded the G.F. Smith Trophy.

Several of those present had specialist knowledge of the relatively small differences separating some of the species, and all were in accord that this wasn’t one of the many hybrids with A. cylindrica that occur so freely in cultivation. If it was indeed the ‘old’ A. hirtella (as distinct from a more recent introduction a decade ago, seen at northern shows most years) then the pedicels were twice the length usually given: ‘[they] rarely exceed 3 mm’ wrote the man in whose memory the award is given.

71

ULSTER SHOW

Irish exhibitors relish a challenge MAY 7, 2011 Report: Patrick Smith Pictures: Liam McCaughey

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xhibitors in the Ulster and the Dublin Local Groups have traditionally specialised in plants that flower in April. But the 2011 International Conference and other events delayed the Ulster Show until early May which, combined with exceptionally warm April weather, really put them on their mettle. Despite a slight dip in the number of plants staged, they rose to the challenge, in the Open Section most notably.

Entries in the Intermediate and Novice

Sections, too, were often noteworthy, but fewer compared with previous years.

A floriferous specimen of Leiophyllum buxifolium grown by George and Pat Gordon and recently dug up from a high-humus bed scooped the Farrer Medal. This species has a reasonably compact rootball, in its dwarfest forms most especially, so that if kept wellwatered and lifted carefully without removing a large amount of compost, it won’t show any sign of resentment.

Grown in light shade, it receives enough sunshine to flower generously and benefits from occasional doses of a proprietary liquid fertiliser formulated for ericaceous plants plus an annual

Physoplexis comosa, grown from seed sown ten years earlier by Liam Byrne

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George and Pat Gordon’s well-flowered Leiophyllum buxifolium spent five weeks of the winter blanketed under snow

mulch. In the previous winter it was buried under a 60cm covering of snow for some five weeks, and this insulating blanket ensured it suffered no ill effects from the cold snap. The exhibitors were close friends of the much-missed woman commemorated by the Carol McCutcheon Award for the best pan of Ericaceae other than Rhododendron, which this plant also received.

Ian Leslie from Bangor caught the ferry over from the mainland, his Androsace cylindrica winning the SRGC Quaich for the best plant in a 19cm pot. Grown from Androsace Group seed sown in December 2005, it had responded well to an open, very gritty (60 per cent) compost, producing a solid dome of pure white flowers.

Demonstrating a prowess with a range MARCH 2012

of plants requiring different treatments, Ian showed the western Chinese, rosepurple Cypripedium franchetii, grown in composted bark, peat and perlite in a cool, moist position outdoors during the summer, then placed under the alpine house bench during winter. He also exhibited the elfin Calochortus tolmiei from the Siskiyous. This example from Josephine County, Oregon, had pale rose-pink flowers with a dark centre, with up to six per stem. From seed sown ten years ago, it had been grown in a 50:50 mix of John Innes No. 2 and grit. Kept outside most of the year and protected with a cold frame in winter, this was its best performance to date.

A Certificate of Merit went to a compact, well-flowered pan of Physoplexis comosa, brought along by 73

ULSTER SHOW

Ranunculus parnassifolius shown by Bob Gordon

stalwart exhibitor Liam Byrne. Grown from seed some ten years ago, it was at its peak a month or more before the accustomed date for this species in captivity. After such a tour de force the plant is sheltered from strong sunshine and stowed under the alpine house staging until the leaves die away.

The ruby-red shoots first emerge in early March, after which four light liquid feeds of a tomato fertiliser are administered during the growing season. A standard compost of equal parts loam, leaf-mould and grit is used for this and other plants. Liam received the Cooke Cup for the most first prize points in the Open Section.

The AGS small six-pan medal went to another long-distance exhibitor, 74

Lionel Clarkson from Blackpool.

His floriferous set of plants included Linum uninerve (from Bulgaria’s Rhodope Mountains, with yellow flowers successional for weeks on end) and Delphinium beesianum, grown in a compost of three parts John Innes No. 3, five parts grit and one part composted bark, although in its native Sichuan Vojtĕch Holubec found it growing on limestone screes at 4,000m (13,100ft).

A notable Ranunculus parnassifolius, raised from seed, was shown by Bob Gordon in a long tom clay pot. Deeprooted and soundly perennial when happy, it appreciates a rich, free-draining compost, and is predominantly whiteflowered in its European range, though in some westernmost stations, in parts THE ALPINE GARDENER

Sam McDowell’s Iberis oschtenica was the best plant in the Novice Section

of the Pyrenees and also the Cordillera Cantabrica, the flowers can be pink and heavily veined. Seed is freely produced and best sown fresh, as soon as a light rub between finger and thumb sees it come loose from its moorings.

Plants first flower in their third year, appreciating full sun in the early months of the year but light shade in high summer, when they must never become dry at the root. In the wild some forms are very mean-flowered: happily such runts are seldom seen in gardens.

Exhibitors in search of a consistently free-flowering, late-spring plant need look no further than Saxifraga primuloides ‘Clarence Elliott’, a neat London Pride exemplar barely 15cm tall with delicate sprays of small pink flowers that was MARCH 2012

selected a century ago by the onetime Six Hills nurseryman of enduring repute. A very healthy, floriferous plant had been dug up from her garden by exhibitor Patricia McGeown, and was the subject of much favourable comment.

Kay and Sam McDowell also enjoyed success with their exhibits. She received the J.A.E. Hill Trophy for the most first prize points in the Intermediate Section while he scooped the Malcolmson Cup for topping the Novice Section and also won the C.H. Hammer Trophy for the best plant in flower in the section with an eye-catching exhibit of Iberis oschtenica, a narrowly endemic crucifer from the limestone peaks of the westernmost Caucasus.

75

EAST ANGLIA SHOW

Phlox ends long wait for the top honour MAY 7, 2011 Report: Diane Clement Pictures: Doug Joyce

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he East Anglia Show followed the driest March for 60 years, then the warmest April on record, so the occasional bursts of torrential rain and the sound of thunder as I prepared my plants the night before were most welcome. Fears that entries might be adversely affected were unfounded. On the contrary, the benches were filled with excellent pots of Dianthus, lewisias and cypripediums particularly, and strong entries in the foliage and fern classes.

The Farrer Medal went to Joy Bishop’s large pot of Phlox nana var. ensifolia, a dryland plant from New Mexico and Texas rarely seen of late but which was popular with exhibitors in the 1970s. Joy exhibited it even then, narrowly missing out on a best-inshow award all those years ago, so this recognition was long overdue.

Its airy, pink-scented cloud over a mass of grey-green stems, carefully arranged to present it to best advantage, had been in bloom for several weeks. Joy returned home after attending the AGS/SRGC International Conference to find that numerous buds had opened while her back was turned. Its taxonomy is tricky: the name is validated in the current RHS database, but elsewhere the synonym of 76

Iris barnumiae f. urmiensis x paradoxa f. mirabilis raised by Ray Drew

P. mesoleuca is preferred, the varietal tag raised to species level, namely P. ensifolia.

The method of propagation has long been debated. In AGS Bulletin vol. 58, pages 188-9 (dedicated to Roy Elliott), it is reported that he ‘complained bitterly’ of lack of success, all his cuttings dying and the plant left weakened. In a 1976 Alpine Anthology item, the use of a pair of secateurs was advocated, along with half a bottle of whisky to steady nerves. After flowering, cutting the top growth back to the woody crowns, inducing new shoots from below soil level in the autumn and treating THE ALPINE GARDENER

Phlox nana var. ensifolia won the Farrer Medal for Joy Bishop

these as nodal cuttings was suggested.

Joy prefers taking tip cuttings before flowering time, rooted in sand.

The sizeable distance entailed in my visits to this show in Wymondham brings to mind an exhibitor who often drives the reverse journey to attend a large number of shows. Such dedication, using a little white van packed full of superlative plants, has seen Cecilia Coller win the Giuseppi Cup for the most points in the Open Section in eight of the past ten years.

(She came second to Bob and Rannveig Wallis in 2002, and to Ian Kidman in 2004.) Paul and Gill Ranson remained atop the league table for some weeks last year, but Cecilia took the lead in late spring. This fixture gave her a slight home ground advantage (her husband ferried a few extra plants) MARCH 2012

and she received the Norfolk Trophy for the most first prize points in the Open Section. No less than 30 of her exhibits attracted red stickers, including those in both the large and small sixpan classes and four three-pan classes.

Penstemon eriantherus, in her small six-pan entry, had been grown from NARGS seed sown in January 2009. It is one of the few in this large genus that has been exhibited regularly at anything from 5-30cm tall, with erect spikes of large, yellow-bearded flowers in all shades of violet and lavender. Cecilia’s version was pleasingly compact and floriferous. Grown in an alpine house, in a mixture of John Innes No. 2 and grit with added leaf-mould, it had received plenty of water when in growth. Even in winter it must be kept barely moist, despite inhabiting steppe conditions 77

EAST ANGLIA SHOW

Cecilia Coller’s Penstemon eriantherus Opposite, Nototriche macleanii x aretioides and, below, Petunia patagonica

and open, gravelly slopes over a wide swathe of north-western America.

Two novel hybrids drew attention.

Iris barnumiae f. urmiensis x paradoxa f. mirabilis, shown by raiser Ray Drew, was a distinguished ‘Onco’ intermediate between its parents, with creamyyellow standards (typically yellow in the seed parent, whitish-cream in the case of its mate), and golden-yellow falls with dense hairs and brownish-purple veining. A dark signal patch marked the point just below where the fall turned inwards and the characteristic ‘v’ shape of the beard terminated, as with the Turkish/Transcaucasian I. paradoxa and its hybrids.

Two pots of Nototriche macleanii x aretioides were shown by Martin and Anna-Liisa Sheader in the ‘new in cultivation’ classes (N. macleanii itself was entered as ‘rare in cultivation’).

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Both species are Peruvian, N. macleanii found locally at around 4,300-4,600m, N. aretioides more widespread at 3,7004,400m. N. macleanii produces large, open flowers for months on end; N. aretioides, challenging to keep in character, has smaller, cupped flowers with a longer tube, emerging as early as March. The aim of the cross was to harness the more shapely flowers of N. aretioides in a seedling with a condensed habit.

The best plant in the Intermediate Section, gaining Clive Dart the Suffolk Trophy, was Gaultheria mucronata ‘Mulberry Wine’. Native to southern Argentina and Chile, in volcanic areas this long-lived species sometimes forms the dominant plant cover above the tree-line. A dwarf shrub with tiny, dark green leaves, covered in small, white, bell-shaped flowers, it is grown in an ericaceous compost with added leafTHE ALPINE GARDENER

mould. Male and female potted plants are kept side by side outside through the winter. In common with other South American gaultherias once classified under Pernettya it is dioecious, requiring cross-pollination to produce berries.

In very cold weather the plants are sheltered under a carport. The trophy plant was female, neater and prettier than the male, which was also shown.

MARCH 2012

Long-distance exhibitor George Young made the journey from Northumberland with one of three Petunia patagonica raised from Flores & Watson seed sown in January 2001. Not only filling an 18cm pot, part-plunged in a sand tray, its roots had grown through the drainage holes, occupying much of the tray. For exhibition purposes it had been carefully lifted and double-potted in a 36cm pan, which it filled convincingly. It had flowered well in the past but this was by far its best performance, possibly induced by a markedly sunny April, when it had basked in an unshaded alpine house.

In the wake of various other prolific bloomings, the myth that this onetime Nierembergia refuses to flower in cultivation can be laid to rest.

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MALVERN SHOW

Not bad for a plant that goes ‘bleurgh’ MAY 14, 2011 Report: Robert Amos Pictures: Doug Joyce

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alvern is a highlight of the AGS show season, bringing together a wide range of interesting plants and serving as an enticing shop window to the crowds of visitors.

Particular thanks must go to Jon Evans for staging the artistic competition over four days, which maintained the Society’s presence when the plant show was not running, and also to Jo Walker for her entertaining demonstrations on making troughs,

given several times over the weekend.

The Farrer Medal went to a superb Helichrysum sessilioides (Eric Jarrett), around eight years old and much better flowered than exhibits of old, when it was often shown for its silverygrey foliage alone. It was first sent to England from the Drakensberg in 1972 by relatives of the late Ralph Haywood.

He advocated growing it in tufa, for all that it is native to basalt cliffs.

Although this treatment reduces the growth rate, the low cushion remains compact and reliably produces a large number of stemless, papery flowers. A slightly root-bound state is best, only

Anne Vale received a Certificate of Merit for Stachys candida 80

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moving the plant into a larger pot ‘on demand’, and it is necessary to keep a close watch during the winter when, in Eric’s words, the cushion can ‘go a bit bleurgh’. Plenty of light and water from April onwards help to speed a full recovery. The compost is made up of three parts loam, one part fine bark and eight parts of a mixture of equal parts of perlite, very sharp sand and coarse Cornish grit. Although viable seed is set in cultivation, propagation by cuttings in June is recommended.

The first of three Certificates of Merit was awarded to Stachys candida (Anne Vale), which can be found growing in the Peloponnese in rocky places at subalpine levels. This specimen, a two-year-old cutting taken from onetime Norfolk nurseryman Mike Smith’s stock plant, had grown quickly but in character on a diet comprising a 50/50 MARCH 2012

Eric Jarrett’s superb pan of Helichrysum sessilioides

mixture of John Innes No. 2 and grit, with added Seramis and perlite.

Housed in a lightly shaded cold frame, it benefits from occasional trimming back to keep it compact, the cuttings provided acting as replacements when the plant inevitably begins to tire.

The other Certificates of Merit went to a venerable Sempervivum arachnoideum (Rob Price) and to David Richards’ Salvia cyanescens, like the Stachys a Lamiaceae (Labiatae) member, though in this case from neighbouring Turkey, where a 1985 collection made on ‘loose, exposed, shale slopes’ at 800m (2,600ft) in Bolu province has persisted well, though the airy, abundantly flowered stems of potgrown plants are only half the 60cm 81

MALVERN SHOW

Rebutia minuscula, one of three cacti exhibited by Martin and Anna-Liisa Sheader

height typical in the wild. Although reliably perennial, the felted rosettes of leaves are much happier if afforded glass protection from winter wet.

Even at this relatively early date, campanulas were prominent among the flowering plants staged and a white Campanula carpatha (Anne Vale) made a particularly striking exhibit. This species, endemic to the Greek island of Karpathos, was first cultivated from a 1950 collection made by Peter Davis, then reintroduced by past AGS President Ivor Barton and his wife Helen in 1983. Normally soft violetblue and fairly broad-belled, ice-blue and albino forms can be ‘fixed’ and raised easily from seed, for it is usually monocarpic. Anne has grown a number in a general compost mix, the frame 82

left open but the plant partly protected by its positioning at the centre, under the lights. A few of the flowers had tiny holes drilled into them, normally a sign of bees at work, though the marks were much nearer the apices of the lobes than is typical of such incursions.

Cacti are slowly becoming more common on the show benches, with Andean species predominating. Rebutia minuscula was shown in combination with the pink-flowered Gymnocalycium bruchii and the orange Rebutia fabrisii by Martin and Anna-Liisa Sheader. Grown in a very gritty ‘alpine’ mix and given weekly potash feeds in summer, then left unwatered from November until March, it has survived temperatures down to -9C in a cold frame in Southampton. These plants can be THE ALPINE GARDENER

Arisaema kiushianum, grown from a single corm in a very open compost

found at around 2,800m (9,200ft) in northern Argentina, where the diversity of genera and species is barely reflected on the show benches. The exhibitors also cultivate several southern Patagonian cacti but have so far found them much more reluctant to flower.

In contrast, the Japanese woodlander Arisaema kiushianum (Dick and Valerie Bathe) was one of a number of excellent bulb exhibits. A single corm was acquired three years ago and has since increased by small lateral tubers to form an impressive potful, kept in a just frost-free greenhouse where it has proved trouble-free to date. One of a number of arisaemas that occur to the south of the country, on Kyushu (though this species is endemic to that island), it requires a very open compost, MARCH 2012

comprising mainly bark chippings and leaf-mould, and appreciates regular watering during the growing season but much drier conditions in winter.

A very slight change of epithet, but from the same island, Dave Mountfort’s pink-flowered Rhododendron kiusianum stood out from the various hybrids and immature specimens of larger shrubs.

(Many that are exhibited, although not without charm, do not fit my definition of a ‘small’ plant.) This was the smallestflowered among a number of variations he had raised from NARGS seed, sown in February 1995. The others, all of which have endured in his garden, vary both in size and flower colour (from pale mauve to pink).

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SOUTHPORT SHOW

Shrubs compete to be ‘best in show’ MAY 21, 2011 Report: John Good Pictures: Robert Rolfe and Don Peace

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nly one subject was being discussed as exhibitors staged their plants for last year’s Southport Show – the weather! Nobody could recall such a forward spring following such a long and cold winter, and few could remember such a sustained drought.

Given the ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ blooming of many alpines in temperatures that regularly reached the upper 20s Celcius throughout April and early May, thankfully the

show was a great success, with a very wide range of plants on display.

Unusually, given that cassiopes and daphnes had long since finished their main displays, two dwarf shrubs vied for ‘best in show’. Of these, a splendid Verbascum x ‘Letitia’ was covered with flowers, none of them dropping – a worthy achievement even without the added difficulty of a long drive from Essex. Ann Vale’s plant represented this Turkish/Cretan child of the Sixties, found in the alpine house at RHS Garden Wisley, at its best. It makes one wonder why it is not shown more often, for it is usually its larger-flowered, larger altogether parent V. dumulosum

This superbly flowered Verbascum x ‘Letitia’ won a Certificate of Merit for Anne Vale

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Brian Russ dug up this fine Leiophyllum buxifolium from his garden – not the first time it had undergone such upheaval

that is seen. As at Malvern the week before, the exhibitor won a Certificate of Merit.However, the Farrer Medal went instead to a venerable plant of Leiophyllum buxifolium, dug up from his garden by Brian Russ. There are a number of varieties of this ericaceous shrub in cultivation (skip back to the Ulster report and you will find a subtly different version that won the same accolade a fortnight earlier). They vary principally in habit and growth rate – some up to almost a metre tall eventually, others (designated as ‘Nana’, usefully but questionably) almost cushion-like, and taking many years to reach the diameter of a dinner plate. Lifted from the garden on a number of previous MARCH 2012

occasions, this had the appearance of a cloud-pruned specimen, and was about 30cm tall, though the exact structure of the plant was hard to divine because it was smothered in clusters of tiny white flowers, pinkish on the reverse.

Cecilia Coller’s AGS Medal-winning small six-pan exhibit contained a much admired Scutellaria indica var. parvifolia (she also exhibited an excellent pan of a white form in another class) and a fine pan of Ramonda myconi, one of several good ramondas on the benches.

The few named clones – such as ‘Jim’s Shadow’ – apart, this is a plant to select in flower ideally, given that some forms are decidedly squinny and insipid of hue, whereas others can be 85

SOUTHPORT SHOW

magnificent. But the days when a large exhibit of this three-member genus alone could be displayed (as Valerie Finnis did on behalf of Waterperry Horticultural School at a show in Oxford back in June 1955) are long gone. Nowadays your best hope is to get to the nursery stalls early, and pounce!

We saw a range of forms of the opulent Lewisia rediviva on display in all colours from white to darkest rose-pink, varying in petal number and width. Apparently all these forms and more can be found growing together in some locations in the wild – it must be a fabulous sight! Like the Verbascum already mentioned, the flowers are short-lived but produced in succession over a week or, weather permitting, even longer.

Talking of lewisias, which are summer dormant succulents from semi-desert 86

regions in western USA, leads me to mention two closely related cacti shown

by Vic Aspland which attracted a lot of attention due to their sumptuous flowers and the fact that they are still relatively uncommonly seen at AGS shows or in the alpine houses of enthusiasts.

Labelled as Mediolobivia brunnescens and M. haagei var. salmonea, these could equally well (perhaps more correctly) be labelled as rebutias, into which genus they were transferred in the early 1970s.

Both come from altitudes of around 3,500m (11,500ft) in Bolivia (Lobivia is an easily detected anagram in the genus name) and Argentina in the case of the second species, whose varietal tag is justified in that it can have flowers of orange, red, almost any shade of pink and occasionally white. Quite frosthardy provided they are grown in a THE ALPINE GARDENER

Alan Furness has mastered the cultivation of Dianthus brevicaulis, right.

Opposite, Cecilia Coller’s Ramonda myconi

lean compost that is kept dry in winter, like many high-altitude cacti they require a cool period (<10C) in winter to stimulate flower bud production.

Different in almost every respect is Edraianthus dinaricus, an elite cushionforming member of the Campanulaceae whose genus has a remarkable concentration on the limestone mountains of the westernmost Balkan peninsula. It is not, however, found only here – one species gets as far east as Dagestan, for example. The features separating one from another are sometimes hard to discern, and the splendid plant that won Ian Leslie the Goffey Cup for the best plant in a 19cm pan looked very like some examples of E. pumilio, which is said to differ principally in its slightly longer leaves and a marginally less condensed habit.

MARCH 2012

Given the divergent forms of the latter raised in the past decade or so from seed sent back by Czech collectors, it would take a very confident pundit to pronounce one way or the other. The plant shown had been grown in a loambased gritty compost containing soft lumps of tufa and some dolomitic lime. Although short-lived with most of us, they set an abundance of seed.

It is Czech explorers who we also have to thank for one of their best Turkish introductions, the beautiful Dianthus brevicaulis, exhibited by Alan Furness, who has mastered its cultivation better than anyone else in the UK. It is ideally suited to that other Czech initiative, the crevice bed, but also makes a first-rate pot plant if grown in spartan conditions with optimum ventilation.

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SUMMER SHOW SOUTH

Saxifrage survives car journey to lift Farrer MAY 28, 2011 Report: Martin Sheader Pictures: Jon Evans

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s a consequence of a notably cold winter, followed by a long, warm, dry spring, many plants usually seen at this show were absent. It was also held earlier than usual, so unsurprisingly the number of entries was noticeably down.

Undaunted, a reliable and skilful core of keen exhibitors brought along a range of commendable plants, although some, especially the campanulas, needed another week or so to reach peak flowering.

The Artistic Section here is restricted to the Intermediate classes, and all available space was filled with an excellent array of photographic and other material.

The point is rapidly being reached when more display boards will be needed.

Two plants in the large six-pan class received awards for those mainstays of this show, Lee and Julie Martin.

A floriferous Campanula choruhensis received a Certificate of Merit and might have been a serious contender for the Farrer Medal had all its flowers been fully open. This was no matter, for an accompanying Saxifraga ‘Tumbling Waters’ was awarded the accolade for an exuberant display comprising 15 magnificent spikes. Grown over six

South American native Rebutia marsoneri was shown by Ian Sharpe

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THE ALPINE GARDENER

The exuberant Saxifraga ‘Tumbling Waters’ exhibited by Lee and Julie Martin

years from a cutting, it had thrived in an open compost containing 60 per cent grit. During the early years you should remove up to half of the new rosettes in spring (they root well in pure sand and can be potted up by the autumn), ensuring that those left to reach maturity have sufficient room to develop, channelling resources to produce billowing flower spikes up to 1m long. Strong winds can snap these, such is the load of the 1,000 or so flowers that optimally make up a panicle. Even loading such a plant into the car requires a deal of forethought!

In common with several of the late spring and early summer shows, cacti are becoming regular exhibits here, with a five-year-old Rebutia marsoneri winning for Ian Sharpe the class for a plant native to South America. This species is from the mountains of Jujuy MARCH 2012

province in northern Argentina and, in the spirit of rationalisation, has recently been ‘sunk’ within the more widely distributed R. minuscula. Many hardy cactus species flowered exceptionally well in 2011 following the cold winter.

Sempervivums are not the easiest of plants to show, despite a widespread belief that little more than a waiting game is involved. Newly planted rosettes take time to firm up, increase and pack together to form the desired hard, mature mat or cushion. This process is easily disrupted by flowering, with spent rosettes dying back to leave holes that take a couple of years to fill. Of course most are shown devoid of bloom to display their decorative, sometimes densely cobwebbed rosettes, but a well-flowered pan can be most attractive. Don and Heather Hyde were awarded a Certificate of Merit for a 89

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Sempervivum ciliosum won a Certificate of Merit for Don and Heather Hyde..

Opposite, Tulbaghia capensis and, below, Leptospermum scoparium Nanum Group

vibrant pan of Sempervivum ciliosum.

The large, column-mounted clusters of star-like yellow flowers are extremely attractive and repay close observation.

The owners reckon the secret of growing this Balkan species is neglect.

It is left outside for much of the year and given cover only during the winter months to protect it from excess rain.

Benign neglect was also the order of the day for another exhibit, Aquilegia bertolonii, shown by Cecilia Coller in her winning, blue and white-themed small six-pan entry. This dwarf columbine had been dug up from the garden and potted just before the show. A principal difficulty in maintaining Aquilegia species in the garden lies in inhibiting their proclivity to hybridise readily, but since Cecilia grows no other (and hybrids involving this species have very seldom been reported in any case), the problem doesn’t arise, leaving it free to 90

seed around. Found rather locally in the mountains of southernmost France and Italy through to the Julian Alps, it is Europe’s dwarfest Aquilegia and certainly one of its most attractive species.

Ian Sharpe exhibited an interesting version of Tulbaghia capensis. A question of hardiness surrounds many South African bulbs but perhaps not this Allium relative, for the pot is left outside all winter. T. cominsii (from the Eastern Cape) is arguably the showiest of the dwarf species, but this south-western relative is also shown regularly and has flowers in various shades of brown and green, or else purple, though always with an orange corona, and nocturnally fragrant. Most of the 20 species cope well with the British climate and are now in commerce, along with a selection of hybrids and clones.

Anne Vale exhibited another southern hemisphere stalwart of the summer THE ALPINE GARDENER

shows in the form of Leptospermum scoparium Nanum Group. A member of the myrtle family from Tasmania, Victoria and New Zealand, occurring at up to subalpine levels, it requires a MARCH 2012

moist, well-drained, acid to neutral soil but can take full sun. Often exhibited in the 1970s and 1980s, when a number of clones were distributed by specialist nurserymen such as Graham Hutchins (County Park Nurseries, Essex), it is infrequently seen nowadays and its hardiness is doubtful. In a pot the compost must never dry out completely when the plant is in active growth. Container-grown specimens flower better than those in the open garden and the flowers are less likely to suffer marking or damage.

Russell Beeson won the Downland Trophy for the best plant in the Novice Section with a diminutive Dactylorhiza fuchsii. A chance seedling, it will be interesting to see if its compact habit is retained. Spikes of this, the common spotted orchid, can be held up to 70cm aloft.

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Cyclamen purpurascens is the finest ever seen JULY 9, 2011 Report: Robert Rolfe Pictures: Doug Joyce and Jon Evans

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eld first in Cheltenham, then Pershore, and now lodged midway between, in Tewkesbury, this high-summer show’s latest venue, an industrial estate unit, could not rival the grandeur of Cheltenham’s Georgian Pittville Pump Room.

Exhibitors, however, appreciated easy access to parking areas and to the M5 motorway, while the light transmission was also an improvement.

When the heavens opened in midafternoon, supplementary lamps

illuminated the exhibits sympathetically.

Some plants normally seen at this gathering were thin on the ground.

I failed to notice a single Eriogonum or Triteleia, for example, and Ourisia polyantha had peaked several weeks earlier (though one of its hybrids with O. microphylla, ‘Cliftonville Pink’, was wellshown by Alan and Janet Cook with its pot perched on an empty, inverted one to allow the cascade of comparatively large flowers an unimpeded flow).

The forwardness of the season allowed Trachelium asperuloides, which some authorities consider a bona fide Campanula, to appear in full flower. Paul and Gill Ranson showed two mature

Paul and Gill Ranson’s Campanula fragilis helped them win the Hilliard Cup for the most first-prize points in the Open Section

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THE ALPINE GARDENER

The Farrer Medal was won by this wonderful specimen of Cyclamen purpurascens grown by Ian Robertson

plants, top-dressed with weathered tufa.

The larger, which filled a 26cm pan, was a promising runner in the Farrer Medal stakes, where an astonishing Cyclamen purpurascens (Ian Robertson) romped home. Coincidentally, a sizeable contingent of the country’s foremost experts on the genus was gathered, none of whom had seen a finer specimen of this frequently underperforming species. Its owner deftly parted the immaculate dome of heavily marblemargined leaves to reveal masses of further buds, noting that usually the display is at its best in earliest August.

This highly fragrant, rich purple-pink exemplar was sown ten years ago after cross-pollinating selections with MARCH 2012

attractive foliage originating from Lake Garda (Italy) and Lake Bled (Slovenia).

Of a size very seldom attained in its native woodland haunts, it had been grown in a polytunnel, positioned close to the side-netting to promote good airflow. Although this species declines to naturalise in Ian’s Wiltshire garden, seed is liberally set. The result of a 2005 sowing was on display elsewhere in the hall, the rounded leaves unusual in their well-defined auricles and exceptional in the dark patterning that elegantly bordered an extensive, unmarked central zone. Cyclamen purpurascens has been exhibited in years past as early as June and as late as October, and one could look back through the records 93

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Phlox hendersonii roots well from early summer cuttings

to support a similar span achieved by the Italian Campanula fragilis. But this show is its accustomed home and in 2011 a larger representation than usual was seen, the best of them entered in a large three-pan class by Paul and Gill Ranson, who wrested the Hilliard Cup for most first-prize points in the Open Section from Cecilia Coller, a frequent recipient of that trophy.

Paul and Gill’s C. fragilis had the typically splayed, furry white stems and a chiefly radial display of bloom, but the clustered, upward-facing and flat-faced flowers were of especially generous size and powdery blue towards their margins, with a central bull’s-eye several shades deeper than the surround, from which projected an arrow-like, grey-tipped style. Saxatile 94

rather than truly alpine – this, the coastal subsp. fragilis, occurs at around 650m (2,100ft); subsp. cavolinii further inland at 500-1,300m (1,650-4,300ft) – seed germinates easily but, like so many campanulas, it should be potted on frequently in its early stages. If checked, plants seldom develop satisfactorily.

Another award, the Glebelands Trophy, for the weirdest plant had no shortage of contenders, some judges opting for the ugliest or the worstgrown plant exhibited. Happily Joy Bishop’s 12-spiked Eucomis vandermerwei came under neither heading, its fleshy and speckled leaves topped with slightly malodorous, blackish flower spikes.

North American plants have been made available in unprecedented quantities over the past two or three decades, a THE ALPINE GARDENER

Aquilegia chaplinei from the Guadalupe Mountains, grown by Anne Vale

situation that is, in all probability, now coming to an end following the loss of several important sources of seed.

An encouragingly diverse scattering of these could be seen at Tewkesbury, of which the long-spurred, soft-yellow flowers displayed by Aquilegia chaplinei (Rob Price) appeared surprisingly late in the season. Restricted to the Guadalupe Mountains on the border between Texas and New Mexico, it occupies moist cliff ledges – a favoured habitat in these parts, broadly speaking, for several other refined members of the genus, all of them eminently garden-worthy.

Crucifers also abound there, many of them chrome yellow or else purple-pink, but rich cream in the case of Rob Price’s Wyoming native Physaria eburniflora, the single rosette of MARCH 2012

spathulate grey leaves actively dividing and promising well from a 2009 sowing.

He also displayed the more typically yellow-flowered P. lanata (both are martyrs to greenfly, but infestations are easily repelled). Neither can be expected to last more than three or four years, whereas Dorothy Sample’s near-white Phlox hendersonii, one of the latest-flowering and most rewarding of the ‘microphloxes’, is a Washington paradigm that repeat-blooms, roots well from early summer cuttings and has the good manners to grow well, but not to romp away after the fashion of some P. douglasii hybrids.

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Around the world in three acres

Aconites and snowdrops create a glorious tapestry at Brinkfields in early spring

Robert Rolfe visits the Leicestershire garden of AGS member and accomplished plantsman John Gennard

Illustration: Martin Northrop

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n the edge of a north Leicestershire village that is recorded in the Domesday Book and has a handsome squaretower church dating back to the 13th century, the consummately planted garden of John Gennard and his wife

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Gwen has been developed over 45 years. The formal frontage of their home, Brinkfields, gives little clue to what lies in the three acres to the rear of the property, though a fringe of Acer pseudoplatanus ‘Brilliantissimum’ and the long-established wisterias that THE ALPINE GARDENER

BRINKFIELDS

exuberantly clad the house give clear evidence of horticultural activity.

The previous owners left a blank canvas and substantial changes were made at the outset, for which the formidably active owner, having taken early retirement and aided only at this MARCH 2012

stage by a trusted employee, can take most of the credit. At present John has help on just two days of the week, but in view of the scale of the task – think of Brinkfields as a number of richly and imaginatively planted gardens rolled into one – the results are astonishing 99

GARDENS and immaculate, yet without the least suggestion of prissiness.

Everything is done on a generous scale, with subtly repeated or contrasting setpieces that cleverly unfold week after week the year round, reaching a number of highpoints throughout spring.

Almost every square metre of land is planted thoughtfully. You could easily wander round with your eyes scanning exclusively the ankle to knee-high zone of plants. That said, raising your gaze is repeatedly rewarding, as in the case of a lofty white beacon of Magnolia x proctoriana in late February, or its nearby echo, two months later, a 30ft high handkerchief tree (Davidia involucrata).

Although notoriously susceptible to late frosts and strong winds as it comes into flower, even the most single-minded alpine gardener could hardly ignore a tremendous, 45ft tall Magnolia x campbellii ‘Charles Raffill’ that dominates a border opposite a bed of dwarf azaleas. It flaunts its heavily pinkflushed flowers, up to 23cm across, in early March. These are produced on a lavish scale in time, but from the initial planting to the first display can take as much as 20 years. And you thought that dionysias were slow to mature!

Brinkfields is not just a collection of tastefully chosen occupants but instead an instructive, cohesive, everimproving series of associations, varying unpredictably in character and composition from one glade, one outcrop or one border to the next.

Readers may recall television and magazine coverage of the garden some years ago (most recently in the May 2003 issue of The Garden).

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I will concentrate on the understorey of this predominantly woodland garden.

Exceptions will certainly be made for accompanying signature plantings: a canopy-forming, bifurcated, househigh Osmanthus x burkwoodii, dripping with a myriad tiny scented white flowers in April, for example.

Walk left from the back of the house across a terrace ornamented with large pots of Skimmia japonica, that invaluable golden Japanese grass Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ and others, then over a lawn with peripheral mature magnolias, and you come to the first in an intricate series of sinuous borders with never a straight line in sight, containing plants that flower mainly from late winter to early summer.

I have chosen to circumnavigate the garden clockwise, though with a few diversions and back-trackings for purposes of comparison. This article takes the form of a stroll down to the southernmost extremities. A second part will take in a former paddock now planted with cherry trees and one of the garden’s highlights, an alpine meadow.

First comes the Hydrangea walk, in full display from high summer to early autumn. Much earlier, in March, it is enlivened by a fringe of Primula vulgaris ‘Alba’. The border stretches 100m across a north-facing, ‘difficult’ aspect, sheltered by a band of trees. It brings together 80 Hydrangea cultivars (‘mopheads’ are intentionally very few and far between) that represent the genus in all its diversity. The owners’ liking for hydrangeas extends to an interest in the closely related genus Deinanthe. Both species, the Japanese THE ALPINE GARDENER

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The double-flowered Galanthus nivalis ‘Lady Elphinstone’ at Brinkfields

D. bifida and the dwarfer, 20-40cm tall, Chinese D. caerulea, are well-established further down the garden. Although they prosper if sheltered from strong wind, in light shade and kept moist, their soft, new growth is vulnerable to late spring frosts (in April 2011 they took a trouncing). A position shaded until at least midday is recommended.

A hybrid between the two, ‘Blue Blush’, has been raised at Crûg Farm Plants in North Wales – the proprietors have also introduced forms of D. bifida from several localities, but mainly Honshu, with pink sepals or wholly pink instead of the usual white.

The walk soon brings you within the MARCH 2012

shadow of a mighty Cedrus atlantica Glauca Group, underplanted with Cyclamen hederifolium subsp. hederifolium ‘Silver Cloud’. This has self-sown lavishly and established to form an oval bed spreading up to six feet from the broad trunk, so luxuriant that the leaves provide a dense ground cover until early summer in a place where few other plants would thrive. There is only slight variation in the foliage and it makes a perfect foil for the glaucous pine. However, the most spectacular flowering displays of C. hederifolium are to be found elsewhere in the garden.

Only a short distance to the left, a shrub border has a generous margin 101

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Cyclamen hederifolium subsp. hederifolium ‘Silver Cloud’ carpets the ground

of Primula ‘Wanda’, once an everyday garden plant. One suspects that it lost ground after previously rare double primroses were micro-propagated in the 1980s and sold in quantity. That is regrettable, for this purplish-red cross, bred in Germany by George Arends almost a century ago, blends in much more naturalistically, inheriting the rich flower colour and the very neat stature of P. juliae (the influence of its other parent, P. vulgaris, is muted). Sometimes misleadingly seen under the name P. Wanda Group, which presumably takes in plants slightly different in colour such as the rich mauve-pink ‘Wanda’s Rival’, it benefits from division every third year 102

towards the end of its lengthy flowering period. Simply lift, prise apart the clumps with two hand forks positioned back to back, and replant in a fairly heavy, humus-enriched soil, watering well until the new plantings re-establish.

The main lawn stretches away to the right and beyond it lies the old rock garden, forming an irregular, partcontoured mound that marks the highest point in the garden. Some 140 tons of Forest of Dean sandstone went into its construction, now nicely weathered and partly clothed, though with a reordering in progress. Originally in full sun, and rising above a pond large enough for a mallard to rear her eight-strong brood THE ALPINE GARDENER

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A generous display of Primula ‘Wanda’, bred in Germany by George Arends

last year, several trees have since altered the picture, in particular the Corkscrew Hazel, Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’, at its best in winter and early spring when the wilfully wiggly branches are at first bare, then draped in graceful lemon catkins up to 10cm long.

Unsurprisingly, some of the alpine plants I recall from my early visits in the 1970s have faded away. What is more noteworthy, however, is how many have survived or have been joined – extensive replanting has been under way during the past year or two – by others that have incremented the pantheon of first-rate choices. These include Veronica peduncularis ‘Georgia Blue’ and MARCH 2012

Rhodohypoxis deflexa (described in 1975 but little-seen in gardens until the early 1990s), which has survived the winters uncovered to form an almost turf-like mat 30cm across in a well-drained, sunny corner.

Tumbling over the rockwork is that child of the Seventies, Phlox divaricata subsp. laphamii ‘Chattahoochee’. It was a ‘new’ plant when Valerie Finnis showed it at Chelsea in 1973, elevated to Award of Merit ranking three years later. If you don’t grow it already, make good the omission. Reputedly reluctant to root from cuttings, if these are taken with a heel in June or July, when halfripe, and dibbled into a peat and sand 103

GARDENS medium, over half will ‘take’ within a month. John does this every year without fail.

Dianthus ‘Nyewoods Cream’ is a suitable foil, as are white and pink rock roses such as Helianthemum ‘Rhodanthe Carneum’ (‘Wisley Pink’ in its invalidated guise) and ‘The Bride’, and cushion phloxes such as long-popular P. douglasii ‘Boothman’s Variety’ and another once ascribed to that species, when it was anglicised as ‘Beauty of Ronsdorf ’: it has now settled under the name P. subulata ‘Ronsdorfer Schöne’. With them is the extravagantly white/shrill pink-striped P. subulata ‘Tamaongalei’, another USA import and one of the few flagrantly florists’ plants to gain admittance.

In the same vein you could cite flourishes of elaborately variegated hostas, large and small, in various parts of the garden; expensively acquired Japanese Hepatica clones and numerous lusty Helleborus x hybridus mixtures – blackish-purple, pure white, speckled, single, double, petalloid: take your choice. But on the whole, strident, multi-generational hybrids have been eschewed.

The garden is bordered on two sides by farmland, with the surrounding Quorn countryside made up chiefly of meadowland and hedgerows, where the quaking catkins of late winter give way to a white froth of wild cherry and then hawthorn, to which you might fancifully accord the varietal name ‘Florulenta’ in view of its lavish displays. John’s abiding ethic has been to plant in sympathetic keeping with this.

On the main rock garden, the central 104

(lower) saddle has partly been cleared and replanted, retaining a broad swathe of largely self-sown Allium cristophii at lawn-height. There are also a dozen clumps of Jeffersonia dubia (one of two areas in the garden where it has established well, with a notably deepcoloured variant incorporated), a very contented clump of the pillar box red Tulipa praestans ‘Fusilier’, at home among the exposed roots of a tree, and swathes of hepaticas, some long-settled, others recently bedded-out by the hundred in their third year, having been raised from seed over the past decade.

Another relative newcomer, the Chinese Rhododendron dendrocharis, blooms on a rock outcrop in March, coinciding with a fine clump of Cyclamen coum, this one with boldly silvered and green-hearted leaves. Nearby, in mid-February and for several weeks thereafter, a south-facing slope glows pink with thousands of the Cyclamen.

They have self-sown over 20 years to give a dense carpet beneath a mixture of deciduous Knap Hill azaleas. At 1.5m high and with light branches, their skeletal winter presence doesn’t mask the ground-floor display.

Apart from affording just the right amount of shade for the Cyclamen in summer, this azalea canopy comes into its own in April and May, when the Alstroemeria-like flowers open in a riot of mainly reds, oranges and yellows.

Their rich, lily-like scent is reason enough to grow them; on a warm day, it is intoxicating from 20 paces.

Further along the path, you skirt a screened swimming pool, entering a wooded area with a very substantial tree THE ALPINE GARDENER

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A handsome, boldly silvered clump of Cyclamen coum

of the Transcaucasian Staphylea colchica at its entrance, the slightly scented, creamy white flowers appearing in midspring. The dampish slopes alongside the path have been uncovered recently, resoiled, and filled with adventurous and experimental plantings such as the North American Primula ellisiae – I’ve seen it grown outdoors once or twice before, but never by the score.

This dell, later on perfumed by various viburnums, is home to a selection of snowdrops, with adjacent clumps of Galanthus ‘Primrose Warburg’ and G. ‘Spindlestone Surprise’ prime among them. The garden overall boasts some MARCH 2012

striking displays of these and older selections such as ‘S. Arnott’, ‘Magnet’, ‘Straffan’ and the double G. nivalis ‘Lady Elphinstone’, yellow or green-marked depending on the year. The core plantings of this were made in the 1970s and involved bulbs received from Lady Buchanan at St Anne’s Manor, Sutton Bonnington, in north Nottinghamshire.

The wood, large enough to accommodate a scattering of Cardiocrinum giganteum, none the less has an intimate, secluded feel, and fosters a mosaic of small-scale plantings, which include North Americans such as a rich yellow Viola glabella – double the 105

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The large flowers of Viola glabella and, opposite, Galanthus ‘Primrose Warburg’

standard flower size – sourced from Elizabeth Strangman when she ran Washfield Nursery in Kent. Later in its blooming period it is overarched by a white form of the eastern Asian bleeding heart, Lamprocapnos (formerly Dicentra) spectabilis.

There are also various Trillium species, erythroniums and some patiently seed-raised, mainly pink Anemonella thalictroides, flourishing close to a sympathetic edging of hewn branches, now mossed-over and blending with the woodland floor.

The Anemonella has settled well in other parts of the garden, notably in a spot where its flowering coincides with the glowing green emergence of the shimmering, rhizomatous 106

maidenhair fern, Adiantum venustum, and in association with Trillium albidum, where it flowers at just the right height to shroud the bare stems. That most cherished of double forms, ‘Oscar Schoaf ’, is alone reserved for the alpine house.

Corydalis solida mixes freely with the soft yellow of Anemone x lipsiensis ‘Pallida’ and the royal blue of Omphalodes cappadocica, the newly emerged foliage of Corydalis omeiana – long mistaken in gardens for C. elata and still incorrectly offered under that name by some nurseries – a likeable foil. A gulley to the right is flooded first with snowdrops and winter aconites, then a few weeks later flecked pure white again with a too little-seen Turkish/Caucasian crucifer, THE ALPINE GARDENER

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Anemonella thalictroides associates beautifully with Adiantum venustum

the candytuft-flowered Pachyphragma macrophyllum. Native to damp beech woodland, its large, deeply veined, heart-shaped leaves don’t obviously proclaim its family allegiances. Here, too, in the first half of February you will encounter Crocus tommasinianus, though its main bastions at Brinkfields are to be found on the level.

A left turn leads to an old tennis court, replanted some six years ago and a success from the outset. Through a high gate (rabbit fencing is de rigeur) 108

you enter an intimate, secluded area, where the rate of growth has been astonishing, so that already it looks as if is has been in existence much longer. Shielded from the road by an assortment of trees the other side of a tall, frequently clipped Leyland cypress hedge, it contains a wide selection of small trees, unusual shrubs, dwarf perennials and woodlanders, as well as tree peonies, roscoeas and another hardy ‘ginger’, Zingiber mioga. There are drifts of Meconopsis George Sherriff THE ALPINE GARDENER

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Meconopsis George Sherriff Group is raised from seed at Brinkfields

Group, received as M. grandis six years ago and seed-raised ever since. They are sown in polystyrene plug-trays and kept in an alpine house until they are ready for pricking out. Added to the aforementioned are dwarf forms of Saxifraga fortunei, hostas large and small, lilies, Gentiana sino-ornata and named snowdrops, resulting in a harmonious and balanced effect, quite unlike those collector-driven ‘one of everything’ gardens sometimes encountered.

Among the shrubs, one might MARCH 2012

highlight the Hamamelis relative Fothergilla major, adorned with short, white bottle-brushes in late spring, and the rather earlier-flowering Amelanchier ‘La Paloma’ (up to 4m tall after ten years, it has the added bonus of vivid autumn colour and is superior to the usually seen A. lamarckii). In the foreground are two magnolias, a speciality of the garden – here the evocatively named M. ‘Pirouette’, with beautifully shaped, doubled but delicate flowers, and the purple-flowered M. liliiflora 109

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The dwarf Menziesia ciliicalyx var. purpurea and, opposite, Dicentra cucullaria ‘Pink Punk’

‘Nigra’, the latter cleverly echoed by an underplanting of Trillium kurabayashii, whose flowers are much the same colour and similar in shape.

This and other trilliums are raised from seed annually, planted at first in groups of six in four- litre black plastic pots on staging between two greenhouses, shaded in the summer. When these reach five years old they are planted out, and in recent years have supplemented existing clumps in their hundreds.

In the tennis court, the trees and shrubs went in first. These have been lavishly planted with the intention of removing any that struggle or else get too large, too quickly. A few succumbed to the cold of the 2010-11 winter – Drimys winteri for example – but casualties have been light, and occasionally tender 110

shrubs such as Deutzia pulchra (nearly 3m tall to date) have endured.

The soil is slightly acid and humusrich, prepared to a depth of about 20cm, with clay underneath. Imported top-soil has been added on a generous scale. The whole area was then covered with about 5cm of coarse peat dressed with blood, fish and bonemeal at 4oz per square yard and ferrous sulphate at half that rate, the whole site rotovated thereafter (no contractors were involved). A 6cm topdressing of composted bark was applied following planting, with annual topdressing thereafter.

Among those plants that have benefitted are a well-furnished specimen of Menziesia ciliicalyx var. purpurea (a dwarf form: you can ascertain this by examining the annual extension THE ALPINE GARDENER

BRINKFIELDS growth). It adds to the harmonious colour scheme, as does that fairly recent, useful eastern Asian introduction, Corydalis buschii. Its yellowish-green, finely divided leaves and purple-pink flowers are particularly effective in association with both the green and the dusky pink forms of Helleborus x hybridus that nod nearby, though use is made of a hoe or trowel to prevent a head-on confrontation with the less vigorous Dicentra cucullaria ‘Pink Punk’, increasing promisingly by the pathside and flowering fairly reliably, though not yet abundantly.

A more or less C-shaped path provides a route through this garden-within-agarden. It is surfaced with composted bark, which was at first sourced from Cumbria but is now bought by the truckload through an agent in much nearer Market Harborough. Towards the far end, occupying an inner bend, a precisely tiered Cornus controversa ‘Variegata’, almost two metres tall and more across, shelters a large colony of that likeably offbeat wood anemone, the pure white Anemone nemorosa ‘Vestal’, at its best when the Cornus is in very early leaf, the bolt upright shoots looking like small flames.

Wherever you turn, the plant combinations are carefully thought out, some of them classic and orthodox, others experimental, and generally at their best from early April until June.

They vary in effect from naturalistic and subtle (the majority) through to eye-catching and more obviously staged flourishes that could have been lifted from a gold medal-winning Hillier’s exhibit at Chelsea Flower Show.

MARCH 2012

Corydalis buschii and, opposite, Tiarella cordifolia mingling with Brunnera macrophylla

In the subtle camp one might cite various plantings of Tiarella cordifolia, the very generously stolon-forming foam flower, which revels in the moist, leafy soil but is easily rooted out if it spreads too far. It is also readily propagated – just dig up a portion from the edge of the carpet early in spring and replant, watering well for several weeks until it re-establishes. T. cordifolia is abundant in several areas, along with the less robust, non-stoloniferous T. wherryi, but is particularly effective where the royal blue flowers of a dwarfish selection of Brunnera macrophylla intermingle close to the edge of a grass path, or at the very back of the one-time tennis 113

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court, infiltrating the low, rather loosegrowing Viburnum plicatum forma tomentosum ‘Pink Beauty’ – an effective combination whether the Guelder rose flowers are greenish-cream on first opening or palish-pink in their later flush.

In the eye-catching category, just a few strides along the path, on a brilliantly sunny day in late April a late frost had spared a glossy white mound of Rhododendron ‘Arctic Fox’ (a 1998 Glendoick evergreen azalea, eventually over 1m tall). To its immediate right grew the striped Japanese grass Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’, wrestled from the earlier-mentioned tubful on the terrace (propagation, as with 114

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Primula japonica ‘Postford White’, at its best from mid-April.

Opposite, a mat of Phlox stolonifera ‘Blue Ridge’ borders a path, separated from the white P. s. ‘Ariane’

by Tiarella cordifolia.

Below left, Dactylorhiza elata

epimediums, can be a battle, and gardening gloves are advised) and at its feet a carpet of randomly blotchy, occasionally brazen-leaved Ajuga reptans ‘Multicolor’, whose dark blue spikes, 15-20cm tall, form a telling contrast.

Another ground cover candidate after the fashion of tiarellas, the Ajuga has to be kept in check to prevent low, slowergrowing neighbouring plants from being overwhelmed.

Rapid growth is also a feature of Phlox stolonifera when well-suited: a mat over a metre across can form within the space of just three years. That said, the low, exuberant expanses in white or shades of pink and blue usefully provide the MARCH 2012

illusion of long-established plantings in a recently created garden. Two have been selected here: the dazzling white P. s. ‘Ariane’ (brought over to England from his New York garden by Harold Epstein in 1971 and awarded a Preliminary Commendation at the Harrogate Flower Show that year), and what was received as ‘Blue Ridge’ but is a much deeper colour. ‘Purpurea’, perhaps?

These are followed, almost a month later, and on into early June, by the taller P. divaricata ‘Dirigo Ice’, which needs a cat’s cradle of short pea sticks inserted here and there early in the spring. If not, it has a tendency to flop.

The primulas at Brinkfields start early 115

GARDENS

BRINKFIELDS

in February with a pale lilac form of Primula vulgaris subsp. sibthorpii, used as an edging. Later, from mid-April, clumps of P. chionantha and P. japonica ‘Postford White’ are at their best, and there is a stand of a mercifully ‘unimproved’ P. sieboldii (selections with extravagantly lacerated petals have been eschewed) that benefits from its juxtaposition with a deciduous, dwarf white azalea and the new, blackish shoots of Actaea simplex Atropurpurea Group ‘James Compton’.

In early June P. vialii, with its redtopped pokers, is at its best when the steadily increasing and similarly spiked dactylorhizas flower in synchrony. Here, too, is P. capitata subsp. mooreana, raised annually in the frame-yard and reliably flowering in its second year. Its mealyfarinose stems and bud cases, its disclike heads of purplish-violet flowers and its long flowering season make it a very worthwhile choice. Few Sikkimese plants have taken so well to drier British gardens.

Rabbit-proof fencing surrounds the entire tennis court area, and keeping the gates shut at either end is essential.

Moles sometimes set up home (not for long – a very efficient mole trap

has been utilised) but pheasants cause more damage than these, for they are abundant in the surrounding farmland and have an infuriating habit of nipping off Erythronium buds.

Leaving the tennis court and turning left, a strip of mixed deciduous woodland is accessed, with an outer boundary of meadow back to the road.

This bosky enclave is home to countless clumps and drifts of Galanthus nivalis and Eranthis hyemalis.

The glowing yellow and white patchwork improves annually, for the countless seeds are gathered and strewn to fill any obvious gaps. It’s nigh impossible to avoid stepping on the seedlings, which crowd the leafy floor.

The display lasts three or four weeks, after which cow parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) springs up everywhere – ample fodder for the strimmer!

PHOTOGRAPHIC CREDITS

Jim Archibald. Page 29: Tristan Lafranchis.

Pages 31-39: Vic Aspland. Page 41: Robert Rolfe. Page 42: The John Innes Foundation. Page 47: John Fitzpatrick.

Pages 50, 53, 54, 55, 57, 59, 61 (bottom): Pat Craven. Pages 56, 58, 60, 61 (top), 62, 64, 65, 66, 67: Ruth Rymer. Pages 68-95: photographs credited on each show report.

Pages 96-113: Robert Rolfe. Page 114: John Gennard. Page 115: Robert Rolfe.

Page 3: Robert Rolfe. Pages 5, 6: RBG Edinburgh. Page 7: Smith Scott Mullan Associates. Page 8: David Rankin. Page 9: John Fitzpatrick. Pages 10, 11: David Rankin. Page 13: Tony Hughes. Pages 16, 17: Bob Gibbons. Page 21: Robert Rolfe.

Pages 22, 23: Michael Kammerlander.

Page 25: Robert Rolfe. Pages 26, 27, 28: 116

 The second part of Robert Rolfe’s walk around Brinkfields will appear in the September issue of The Alpine Gardener. John Gennard regrets that he is unable to accept visitors to the garden.

THE ALPINE GARDENER