343 THE ALPINE GARDENER
Alpine Gardener the
JOURNAL OF THE ALPINE GARDEN SOCIETY
VOL. 84 No. 1 MARCH 2016 pp. 1-118
the international society for the cultivation, conservation and exploration of alpine and rock garden plants
Volume 84 No. 1
March 2016
Alpine Gardener THE
12
CONTENTS 3 EDITOR’S LETTER 5 ALPINE DIARY
The 2015 Lyttel Trophy winner; £600 of prizes to be won in the improved AGS Photographic Competition.
12 PAUL CUMBLETON’S DIARY Developing a nose for unusual plants.
FOCUS ON GARDENS
30 Peter Erskine selects
plants that have served him well in his Sussex garden.
44 Steve Furness says that
30 44
opening your garden to the public is the best way to encourage interest in alpines.
54 John Noakes begins a
diary of a year in his garden.
66 THE AGS ON TOUR IN
TAJIKISTAN AND UZBEKISTAN
Harry Jans and John Mitchell lead an AGS party to a plantsman’s paradise.
98 STEPPE PLANTS
Mike Kintgen on a flora that has transformed our gardens.
22 March 2016 Volume 84 No 1
PRACTICAL GARDENING
22 OUR ALPINE FRONT GARDEN
Pam and John de Wit build a rock garden, much to the delight of their neighbours.
28 HOW TO GROW IT Robert Rolfe on Deutzia gracilis ‘Nikko’.
104 PRIZE PLANTS
Splendid exhibits from the AGS’s four autumn shows in 2015.
112 CONSERVATION
Rob Amos assesses how we should value alpines. COVER PHOTOGRAPHS
To celebrate the launch of the improved AGS Photographic Competition, two previous entries are published for the first time. FRONT Lewisia tweedyi (Tony Duffey). BACK Androsace villosa (Bill Raymond).
ON THESE PAGES
LEFT Jamesbrittenia bergae;
Roscoea humeana f. alba SBLE 636; Sempervivum ‘Gazelle’. RIGHT Pam and John de Wit’s front garden; Iris vicaria; Delosperma cultivars.
66 98
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) £33* Family (two people at same address) £37* Junior (under 18/student) £15 Overseas single US$56 £35 Overseas family US$62 £38 * £2 deduction for direct debit subscribers Printed by Buxton Press, Palace Road, Buxton, Derbyshire SK17 6AE. Price to non-members £8.00 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.
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 Slide Library: Peter Sheasby Tel/fax: +44(0)1295 720502 To advertise in The Alpine Gardener please call or email the AGS Centre (details above) 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.
© The Alpine Garden Society 2016 ISSN 1475-0449
www.alpinegardensociety.net
Delights of the winter garden Editor ’s letter
H
ere we are in March once again, when the season is still young and there is much to look forward to. But by the time you read this, two or three AGS shows will already have taken place as well as what has become one of the highlights of the AGS calendar, our annual Snowdrop Day. This was its third year, and the event was moved to a larger venue at the Lilleshall National Conferencing Centre in Shropshire to cope with the demand for places. It was the first Snowdrop Day I had attended and it was a such a pleasure to see so many different cultivars and species gathered in one place, both on the nursery stands and in the beautiful array of plants brought along for display by members. It is of course bulbs that dominate the early-flowering alpines, with snowdrops, crocuses, winter aconites and irises among the star performers. In my garden it is the various cultivars of Iris histrioides and Iris reticulata that really stand out in late January and early February. Such splashes of colour in
MARCH 2016
Iris reticulata ‘Harmony’ en masse in John Fitzpatrick’s garden in late January
winter never fail to attract the attention of friends and neighbours, while my dozen or so snowdrop cultivars are largely ignored! With new Iris cultivars emerging every year, thanks to the work of breeders such as the Canadian Alan McMurtrie, interest in these beautiful plants is increasing all the time. 3
EDITOR’S LETTER Unfortunately they don’t withstand being battered by the British rain as well as the more resilient snowdrops and aconites, but that’s no reason not to grow them. They are simply delightful.
S
ir William Lawrence, founding father of the Alpine Garden Society, was also Treasurer of the Royal Horticultural Society from 1924-28. He did not live to see the founding of the Joint Rock Garden Plant Committee (JRGPC) 80 years ago but this is the other most obvious link between the two societies (and subsequently also the Scottish Rock Garden Club). Its illustrious first members included Sir David BowesLyon (brother of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and RHS President from 1953-61), Major (later Sir) Frederick Stern, Clarence Elliott and Walter Ingwersen. At that time regular RHS Shows – the ‘fortnightlies’ – were held in Westminster, and the committee met at each. It still does, although the number of these has greatly reduced. Meetings held at AGS and SRGC shows around the country have partly offset the reduced number of Vincent Square gatherings. The awards made to plants by the Committee have for many years been published annually by the AGS, routinely in the December issue of this journal and more recently in the form of separate supplements. It has been the aim to provide as much information as possible about each award plant, and the starting point for our reports is the Committee minutes and the attached plant descriptions. 4
However, last year the AGS was unable to publish the supplement as intended. The reason for this is that various minutes from some JRGPC meetings going back over two years have not been made available by the RHS. Others have been received minus the plant descriptions, these marked ‘to follow’. While the AGS could in practice publish what is to hand, the record would be very incomplete and as such unsatisfactory. The RHS says it is no longer in a position to provide the botanical back-up that used to convert the notes taken at JRGPC meetings into formal descriptions. In future it will be necessary to simplify the process of recording plant details at meetings. Taking a good photograph and completing a standardised form will go a long way towards achieving this aim, after which information provided by the exhibitor and research by the AGS compiler will, as previously, be necessary. When it comes to dealing with the backlog, our President, David Haselgrove, has been at work behind the scenes. It is hoped that the missing minutes and descriptions will be to hand this spring. This will facilitate the publication of the next supplement, albeit rather belatedly. We apologise to exhibitors and indeed to the membership at large for the hiatus, but while the AGS has done all it can to speed up the process, a large part of it is out of our hands. It is, after all, a Joint Rock Garden Plant Committee and the co-operation of each organisation involved is required to produce our supplement. John Fitzpatrick THE ALPINE GARDENER
ALPINE DIARY JOHN FITZPATRICK
Brian Burrow with the AGS’s highest honour, the Lyttel Trophy, in his Lancaster garden
LYTTEL TROPHY WINNER 2015
W
hen, in May 1940, the Reverend Professor Edward Lyttel provided the terms of reference for the trophy that bears his name, he stipulated only that recipients should have carried out meritorious work with alpines, adding that ‘such work may be of various kinds’. Interpreting his guidelines, it would be sufficient to be renowned as a talented propagator, to have selected and disseminated first-rate plants, or to have championed new and hitherto little-known species. A gifted lecturer
MARCH 2016
A plantsman extraordinaire would qualify, as would someone whose practical experiments in the garden had led to a better understanding of how to grow alpines really well. Brian Burrow qualifies on all these counts, and certainly fits the bill when it comes to the professor’s final suggestion: someone who ‘has done outstanding work in spreading interest in alpines’. 5
ALPINE DIARY Readers are referred to the article that appeared in The Alpine Gardener in December 2014 (pages 410-437) for an overall assessment of Brian’s involvement with alpines. This shorter article picks out some of his achievements over the 45 years that he has specialised in their cultivation, making him a truly deserving recipient of the Lyttel Trophy, the AGS’s highest honour. When it comes to ‘spreading interest’, he has taught generations of young and not so young horticulturists through his tutoring and course work supervision at Myerscough and Lambeth colleges. As part of his professional duties, he was required to give a number of ‘open’ talks that the public could attend, often focusing on alpines, and he has also given practical demonstrations and lectures at study weekends and at AGS local group meetings. The range of subjects covered is considerable, for his tastes are eclectic. Quiz him on the identity of almost any dwarf hardy plant presently grown and you could confidently expect to receive an informed answer. But the emphasis is on the adjective hardy, for he isn’t impressed, either as a judge or as a gardener, with frost-tender choices that expire unless overwintered in cool greenhouse conditions. This said, Brian trials even the most unlikely species outdoors despite owning several alpine houses and being well-known for his prowess with the sorts of plants that occupy these. At Holmes Chapel in Cheshire, he built a paving stone-sided bed where several species of Dionysia grew happily on the flat in full sun, unprotected. His present 6
Lancaster garden, created on a steeply sloping site since he moved there in 1997, has too high a rainfall to repeat this success. Even under glass, the cushions are liberally sprayed with fungicide if Botrytis threatens, coping with the drenching involved surprisingly well. Over the past two years several raised beds have been created at the top of the garden – wheelbarrowing the stone and the infill all the way up there, again and again, must have been exhausting – and all sorts of unusual and traditionally ‘difficult’ alpines have been used to gauge their adaptability. Several clones of Daphne petraea have been teased into one of the rock outcrops as young specimens (more established ones would very likely fail); various species of Edraianthus are starting to settle down at the edges; androsaces from Europe, the Himalayas and China are showing signs of approval; even Juno irises from Central Asia are proving adaptable. Underpinning this experimentation is a very generous supply of seedlings and small plants. Most of us would baulk at the quantities involved. But for as long as he has grown alpines, dating back to his early purchases from nurseries such as that run by Joe Elliott at Broadwell, Brian has concentrated on propagation. It is very much his forte, taking up much of his time. By early January this year, he had already sown 170 pots of seed, on top of all the others from previous years kept either in a gravel plunge outdoors or under cold glass. He has contacts in various parts of the world, having at first subscribed to the seed-collecting expeditions that were a feature of the 1970s (his first Farrer Medal was in THE ALPINE GARDENER
ROBERT ROLFE
ALPINE DIARY
Primula allionii ‘Evelyn Burrow’, one of Brian’s exceptional cultivars
1981 with Paraquilegia microphylla from Kashmiri seed), then progressed to selecting from the lists of various botanic gardens, horticultural institutions and individual enthusiasts. Plant labels all too often snap, get misplaced or the writing fades with time. One way of helping to overcome this is to write a coded reference on the rim of the plastic pot (very few gardeners nowadays choose clay ones for seed sowing) using a permanent marker pen. Back-up details are kept either on a computer or, as Brian has long been in the practice of doing, in a series of lined notebooks. These contain information on the source, the name of the plant (if known, or sometimes just the likely genus), the date of sowing and, if only a few seeds were available, their number. MARCH 2016
At this point mention must be made of the large number of plants that he has produced from home-saved seed and, especially, one should highlight his influential role as a gifted hybridist. Again, the numerous crosses made can all be found in his notebooks, their parentages set down and their eventual clonal name alongside if he feels that one is justified. Sometimes rewarding crosses are repeated, or promising parents identified and added to the breeding programme. His most extensive endeavours have involved European primulas, and P. allionii above all, which he has hybridised, back-crossed and rigorously selected for 40 years. Some of the early ones involved named forms of P. x pubescens, giving rise to very showy, 7
ALPINE DIARY rather flaunting offspring that caused quite a stir in the first half of the 1980s. His present-day collection includes almost none of this sort. Indeed any that arise are either given (or thrown) away. Thrum-eyed, slow-growing and vibrant P. allionii ‘Evelyn Burrow’ is now more typical of his output. His Saxifraga hybrids and selections have also inspired other hybridists, with a 1986 decision to mate some of the recently introduced Himalayan species with outstanding named hybrids such as ‘Faldonside’ and ‘Winifred’ causing enthusiasts to sit up and take notice. Saxifraga x poluanglica ’Peter Burrow’ is perhaps the earliest example of the game-changing cross S. poluniniana x anglica. Of British origin, the selection S. oppositifolia ‘Theoden’ achieved instant popularity after its 1986 first cataloguing and has sired a dwarfer seedling in the Czech Republic, ‘Odeon’. Selections in other genera from wild seed such as Campanula zoysii ‘Lismore Ice’ (now apparently lost, sad to say) and Dianthus microlepis ‘Rivendell’ just go to underline what a very sharp pair of eyes he has when it comes to spotting the potential of a superlative seedling. Brian’s powers of observation have also served him well when looking for plants in the wild. Often he will espy something out of the ordinary, such as on a rather remote peak in the Spanish Pyrenees whose checklist includes a high number of rarities. At home, he is in regular touch with Botanical Society of the British Isles (BSBI) county recorders and referees. His long experience of mapping exercises (nowadays backed up with GPS 8
readings) has led to many new records and plant distribution extensions. Anagallis tenella, for example, will be best known to most readers for its Dorset coastal representative ‘Studland’ but is found almost countrywide. Brian has reported it from several new upland sites in Yorkshire. Farther north, it also occurs in the Cairngorms, on Orkney and on Shetland for that matter. Staying with Scotland a moment, in late spring and summer he continues to make trips to upland and off-thebeaten-track parts. In the far north he has encountered ecotypical variation in Trollius europaeus, a species he already knew well on Ingleborough, just a few miles from where he was born. In a few Scottish stations it can be very dwarf indeed, and this character is maintained in cultivation. On one occasion the plants were so small that for a moment, out of flower, they brought to mind Ranunculus alpestris, dubiously given as a native in the distant past. Pursuing all these interests has not left Brian with much time for writing, though he has contributed concise, very readable articles to several journals, and provided much information for the AGS publications Primulas of Europe and America (1984) and The genus Androsace (1997). He has instead sought to broaden gardeners’ horizons in a practical manner by taking seldom-seen plants to shows in order to bring them to wider attention rather than to win first prizes, propagating them in quantity to pass on to beginner and expert alike, and amusing himself with innumerable horticultural side projects. Robert Rolfe THE ALPINE GARDENER
ALPINE DIARY
Roger Brownbridge’s entry of Sempervivum montanum photographed in Switzerland
Enhanced format for the AGS Photographic Competition
T
he annual AGS Photographic Competition is being expanded and improved for 2016, with three more classes, increased prize money and, for the first time, prize points towards AGS Medals for the winners. This follows the decision by the AGS trustees to discontinue the photographic Artistic Section at our shows after the loss of the Malvern and London shows, which were the biggest showcases for photographic classes.
MARCH 2016
£600 IN PRIZES TO BE WON! Our revamped Photographic Competition offers cash prizes in each class of £40 for first place, £20 for second and £10 for third. The overall winner will receive a bonus prize of £40. In addition, the winner of each class will be awarded five points towards AGS 9
ALPINE DIARY
Two previous entries: Karen Gregory’s alpine boot in the Dolomites and, right, Linum perenne taken by Alan Pearson
Medals. Two first places (ten points) will qualify for a Bronze Medal, five first places (25 points) for a Silver Medal and ten first places (50 points) for a Gold Medal. Members who exhibited in the photographic Artistic Section at our shows can add the new points to their existing totals. However, medal points cannot be claimed retrospectively by previous winners of the Photographic Competition. The judges, organised by the competition secretary, will be a panel of both current and non-AGS members with appropriate artistic and/or photographic expertise. The deadline for entries is December 1, 2016. Only digital images can be entered (we regret we can no longer accept transparencies or prints). The winning entries and some of the runners-up will 10
be collated in a digital presentation that will be given at AGS shows and other events. Every entry will be posted on the AGS website in a low-resolution format to discourage unauthorised copying. The eight classes are as follows: An alpine plant in its natural habitat with both plant(s) and landscape featured. A portrait of an alpine plant in its natural habitat, featuring the entire plant as the main subject. A close-up or detail of an alpine plant in its natural habitat. You could perhaps concentrate on a flower, foliage or seed head. An alpine plant in cultivation in a garden setting. It can be in your garden or a garden you have visited. An alpine garden or part of a garden showing features used to grow alpine THE ALPINE GARDENER
ALPINE DIARY
plants such as troughs, raised beds, crevice gardens, pots, screes, alpine houses and so on. Alpine fauna in the wild, either in the landscape or in association with plants. Insects have been popular subjects in the past, as have birds and mammals. An alpine landscape not necessarily showing specific plants but concentrating on the scenic beauty and/or geology of the setting. You could be inspired by unusual natural beauty, from the small and intimate to the grand panorama. A quirky, amusing or unusual image featuring alpine plants. Digital manipulation is allowed in this class. In fact anything goes – let your imagination run riot! It is important to note that this is a photographic competition and the entries will be judged purely on MARCH 2016
photographic merit. For example, an excellent image of a common plant will be held in higher regard than a flawed image of a rare plant, even if the rare plant is a superb specimen. All entries must be previously unpublished photographs. The complete set of rules can be seen on the AGS website by clicking on the ‘Images’ button and then ‘Photographic Competition’. All members, whether in the UK or elsewhere, are encouraged to get snapping and to enter at least one image in this year’s competition. The results of the 2015 AGS Photographic Competition will be published in the June issue of The Alpine Gardener. 11
ALPINE DIARY
Paul Cumbleton’s Diary
I
n the last issue of The Alpine Gardener, Robert Rolfe related his experience with the Turkish endemic that goes by the tongue-twisting name of Tchihatchewia isatidea (pages 421-423). This plant is regarded as vulnerable in the wild despite being spread over seven provinces of Turkey, from the east of Central Anatolia to the border with Iran. This is partly due to it being collected for both medicinal uses (for example, the roots are mixed with the crushed roots of Hesperis schischkinii and resin from Pistacia atlantica to make a wound treatment) and for using the flowers in a dye for the paint industry. Like Robert’s plants, my original stock came from the Jim Archibald collection offered in his list of December 2005. At the time it was, to me, a completely unfamiliar plant, but I was attracted to it by Jim’s comment that ‘it was for long a feature of the now-demolished bulbframe at Wisley, where it sowed itself and its roots had free range in the very gritty soil’. I didn’t know how long before my time as leader of the alpine team at Wisley this was, but the plant was certainly not being cultivated there when I started work in 2002. I thought it would be fitting to try to bring T. isatidea back to Wisley so I duly ordered the seed. I had better luck than Robert in that having sown the seed in January 2006, the first flowers appeared in 2008. Subsequent sowings of seed gained
12
Rewards of cultivating a nose for the unusual from these first flowers behaved more typically biennially, flowering in the second year after sowing. This fact ties in with some research that has been done on this species (International Research Journal of Agricultural Science and Soil Science 2013, volume 3(2), pages 3037) which showed that plants typically flower between 532 days and 574 days after sowing. By now I guess that Robert may be surmising that I must be the one who rained on his parade by sending seed to the exchange in the same year as he did. Sorry, but it was me! To germinate this species successfully you must ensure a good period of moist, cold stratification. I have observed that, having sown seed in the autumn, if a mild winter follows there is little or no germination. The best germination I achieved was after the particularly cold winter of 2010-11 when the seed was exposed to freezing temperatures for a prolonged period. More recently, research by Turkish scientists (Botany THE ALPINE GARDENER
PAUL CUMBLETON
A single plant of Tchihatchewia isatidea grown by Paul Cumbleton and extending to almost a metre square. Right, the plant’s attractive rosettes are covered in white, bristle-like hairs
Research Journal 2013, volume 6 (1), pages 6-8) has shown that the best germination is achieved when seeds are stratified by keeping them moist at about 4C for between 70 to 80 days and then at 15C until emergence. Seeds sown at 15C without previous chilling did not germinate. Some of you may find this plant a little ‘coarse’ in character but I think it is a wonderful thing to cultivate. It can behave quite differently depending on its situation and treatment. In growing media with too much food available it can turn into a monster. It has a tendency to produce side branches naturally, but one plant I grew, whose MARCH 2016
growing point had rotted, produced many more side branches than is usual from the remaining stem, causing its overall spread to extend to almost a square metre! The upside of this was that every branch produced an inflorescence to give nearly 30 flower heads, all open at the same time. Wonderful if you have 13
ALPINE DIARY
Three plants of Tchihatchewia isatidea in a sand bed at Wisley
the space – and, if so, you can reproduce this effect by deliberately pinching out the growing point in the spring of a plant’s second year. If you prefer better behaviour, try planting in a low-nutrient sand bed. Here it will make a much smaller plant, often with a single flower stem to perhaps no more than 25cm tall – my picture above shows three separate plants next to each other in a raised sand bed at Wisley. Even out of flower, if grown hard and therefore compact, the rosette of leaves has much to commend it, each leaf in the appealingly symmetrical arrangement being covered in white, bristle-like hairs. The final feature that makes this plant well worth growing is that its flowers carry an almost overpowering scent. Close to, it is quite overwhelming, but 14
from a little distance it is most appealing. At least it is to me – others may disagree!
Stand-out scents
Tchihatchewia is not the only plant with a scent that can be overwhelming or most attractive to one nose while being repellent to another. Some scents are, for me, among the highlights of the year, and I look forward to them with eager anticipation. The most powerful can more than fill even a large glasshouse. Several of the South African bulbous plants that I grow have this quality. Each year there is invariably a day in early autumn when I walk into the greenhouse, a great smile crosses my face and I declare out loud: ‘The empodiums must be flowering!’ Their scent hits me long before I have THE ALPINE GARDENER
PAUL CUMBLETON
Empodium flexile flowers within days of watering following its summer dormancy
witnessed the flowers. I genuinely get emotionally excited about this. The fragrance awakens warm feelings for familiar friends that have endured another summer dormancy and returned to brighten the dullening autumn days. The heady scent may evoke a response like that to Tchihatchewia – some love it, some hate it – while others cannot detect it at all. Empodium is a small genus of about seven species and not all have a scent. I grow two that do: Empodium flexile and Empodium plicatum. Their scents are similar and both have the power to announce themselves from a considerable distance. Both have yellow flowers and belong to the family Hypoxidaceae, perhaps more familiar to us in the genus Rhodohypoxis from MARCH 2016
the Drakensberg Mountains. The two Empodium, however, are from the winter rainfall area much farther west and thus are winter-growing. They are among the very first of my South African bulbs to flower in autumn, usually in September. They respond astonishingly quickly to being watered after their summer dormancy, flowering within days. E. plicatum usually flowers a little before E. flexile and has that attractive quality of producing its flowers before the leaves and on very short stems, giving a potful of naked blooms sat just above the gravel. The flowers of E. flexile are a little larger than those of E. plicatum and are carried on slightly taller stems. The leaves start to appear with the flowers in this species but are usually little developed when the flowers 15
ALPINE DIARY
A pot of Empodium plicatum and, left, a single plant of Empodium flexile
open, so do not at all detract from the blooms. Both are easy to grow under cool glass. I use a mix of one part John Innes No. 2, one part composted bark and two parts grit. A 50/50 mix of John Innes No. 2 and grit works just as well. Water from early September until the leaves start to die down in late spring, then keep dry during the summer dormancy. They propagate readily as the corms split, soon building up to a large potful. I would not be without them. The scent of Empodium carries something of a coconut note, but there are several other South African bulbs 16
THE ALPINE GARDENER
PAUL CUMBLETON
Daubenya comata has a distinctive ‘coconut ice’ fragrance
that have a much more clearly coconut fragrance. One could mention Eucomis zambesiaca, one of the few sweetsmelling members of that genus. Its pleasant scent is one of the key reasons it has been used for breeding some of the modern Eucomis hybrids such as Eucomis ‘Leia’ and others produced by, for example, Golden State Bulb Growers in California and now widely available in garden centres. Or there is Lachenalia violacea, which has blooms that can smell intensely of coconut, though only some populations of this plant are scented. But my favourite of these coconutscented bulbs is Daubenya comata, MARCH 2016
whose strongly fragrant flowers instantly remind you of that favourite childhood sweet, coconut ice. This Daubenya has a fairly wide distribution in South Africa in the Eastern Cape, Free State, North West Province and Western Cape. It occurs in grassland, Nama Karoo and savanna habitats in clay or loamy soils that are seasonally waterlogged. Though some of these areas receive summer rainfall, in cultivation it behaves as a winter grower, just like the other species. It makes an excellent subject for a pot and is quite dwarf, rarely outgrowing a 10cm diameter pot. Despite its wide distribution it remains fairly rare in cultivation. It is, however, easily grown 17
ALPINE DIARY and if cross-pollinated can produce a reasonable amount of seed, so I don’t envisage that it will remain rare in cultivation for too long. The final knockout scent from this region that I would not be without is that of Gladiolus uysiae, a South African endemic from the Northern Cape. This species is only 7-15cm high in habitat though often taller in cultivation. The flowers, carried one to three per stem, usually appear for me in February or March. Their scent is very sweet and not unlike that of a hyacinth. I called it a ‘knockout’ scent because a potful of this beauty in flower can be genuinely overwhelming. It is one of a select group of flowers that you can tell are in bloom long before you get to the greenhouse. The fragrance really is that strong. To conclude this meandering about fragrance, I want to declare that I love the fact that something as simple as the scent of a flower can be such an emotional highlight of my year and bring such great pleasure. Surely this is part of what it means to be human; nay, this is what it means to be a gardener!
Redder than red
The kindness of AGS members and gardeners generally is one of the great features that adds so much to the joys of horticulture. A couple of years ago I gave a talk to an AGS group and, at the after-talk coffee, a member showed us all a plant that none of us had seen before. I thought it was spectacular. It had the most brilliant scarlet red flowers of an intensity rarely seen except perhaps for a few cacti or pelargoniums. The member – whose name I embarrassedly have to 18
Gladiolus uysiae from the Northern Cape
confess has now escaped me – on seeing that I was very interested, immediately pinched off a few stems for me to take home as cuttings. The plant turned out to be Jamesbrittenia bergae and he had come across it on a visit to Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in South Africa, where the staff had provided him with some cuttings to bring home. While not exactly an alpine plant, the renewed interest in the flora of South Africa and the appearance on the show benches of an increasing number of its representatives is a good enough reason to write about it, for I believe it to be an THE ALPINE GARDENER
PAUL CUMBLETON WARREN SCHMIDT
Jamesbrittenia bergae thriving in the crevices of ferricrete
excellent introduction, worthy of our attention. In the wild, Jamesbrittenia bergae has a limited distribution and is known only from the type locality at Farm Brakvallei in the southern foothills of Berg van Winde near Thabazimbi in Limpopo Province. Here it grows at between 1,056m and 1,106m in an area that receives an average of 550mm of summer rainfall annually. The vegetation type is mixed bushveld. Average daytime summer temperatures are in the mid to high twenties centigrade while in winter the night-time lows average zero to four degrees. MARCH 2016
Despite its brightly coloured flowers, it was only discovered as recently as February 2002 by the nurseryman Attie Berga. It was subsequently named for him when published as a new species in 2003. Its late discovery may possibly be because it was overlooked due to its flowers mimicking very closely those of another plant, the parasitic Striga elegans. While locally quite abundant, it is listed as vulnerable because its only known locality is threatened by agriculture. It grows there in full sun in ‘ferricrete’ formations. These are usually hard 19
WARREN SCHMIDT
ALPINE DIARY
Jamesbrittenia bergae is easily rooted from cuttings
layers in or on the ground consisting of soil particles cemented together by iron oxide (rust), which gives them a redbrown colouration. Some pictures of it in the wild show it growing as a crevice plant in such formations. There is a good example of the plant growing in the ferricrete formation on which is fixed a ‘Welcome to Thabazimbi’ sign, so if you wish to see this plant in the wild here is at least one you can’t miss! In our picture you can just make it out in the bottom left corner of the ferricrete formation. The cuttings I was so kindly given rooted quickly and Jamesbrittenia bergae has proved easy and rewarding to grow. While said to prefer heavy, loamy soils, I have tried it in several mixes and it seems happy in almost anything, from standard alpine mixes to neat John Innes 20
to unadulterated multipurpose compost from the garden centre. It is a spring and summer growing plant that matures quite quickly to make a little shrublet at least 20cm tall and 30cm or more wide. It seems to require plenty of water while in growth, then much less (but not entirely dry) during winter when it is apt to die back somewhat. When new growth starts in the spring, it is worth trimming back the old growth and any dead branches fairly hard, both to promote vigorous new shoots and to encourage it to stay compact. It flowers profusely throughout spring and summer but also on into autumn and even produces the occasional bloom on warmer days in winter. It does very well as a pot plant both in the glasshouse or placed outdoors in a sunny spot THE ALPINE GARDENER
PAUL CUMBLETON
The vivid scarlet flowers of Jamesbrittenia bergae
for the summer. It is said also to make spectacular hanging baskets and I can see it doing well at the front of a border or on the rock garden if planted out for the summer. It is, however, not hardy, so must be brought under cover for winter. In habitat it experiences temperatures down to freezing point in winter, but usually no lower, and this suggests it may overwinter under cold glass, at least in milder parts of the UK. I have yet to try this, however, keeping mine in a just frost-free house. In any case, it is wise to treat it as a short-lived perennial because after a couple or so seasons it gets quite woody and may lose vigour. The good news is that you can keep it going very easily by cuttings. Softwood or semi-hardwood cuttings taken in MARCH 2016
spring or summer root easily – almost 100 per cent take. Place in any common cuttings mix with a plastic bag kept over the pot until rooting takes place, usually within three to four weeks. I find that cuttings taken in late June or any time in July result in well-established young plants by autumn that overwinter well to grow away strongly the following spring. The only problem I have encountered with Jamesbrittenia so far is that it seems especially attractive to red spider mite, so this needs to be watched for. Otherwise it is easy to grow. I have passed material to a well-known alpine nursery in the hope that they will propagate it in sufficient quantity to make it more widely available. The attractiveness of its brilliantly coloured flowers speaks for itself and I highly recommend it. 21
PRACTICAL GARDENING
Moving house encouraged Pam and John de Wit to build their first alpine bed, just beside their front door. It has brought them – and their neighbours – enormous pleasure. Here they tell us how easy it was to construct it
Building and planting an alpine front garden
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hen we retired and moved to a new home we arrived with lots of plans for a new garden. We were keen to find room for ‘cottage garden’ borders and raised beds for vegetables and – entranced by the beautiful photographs in the The Alpine Gardener – we dreamed of having an alpine rockery. Growing alpines was originally my husband John’s idea, and then our rockery became a joint enterprise from the initial plans right through to the finished bed. Being complete beginners with alpines, we did some reading. Dr D.G. Hessayon’s trusty guide, The Rock and Water Garden Expert, got us started, and the AGS’s handbook, Alpine Gardening for Beginners by John Good, ensured that we had a clear idea of the basics for a suitable site: an open, sunny position, free from tree roots and weeds, and with good drainage. Our back garden, mostly Oxfordshire clay, faces north and much of it is in shade for part of the day, so it could not offer these conditions. We almost gave up at this first hurdle. Then it began to dawn on us that the front garden not only
22
Pam and John’s pallet of Purbeck stone
faced south but also had a small, square site by the path to the front door, which already had the required foundations for an alpine bed. A previous owner of the house had laid down water-permeable membrane covered in coarse gravel. One corner of this plot was occupied by a white-flowered Erica carnea. The rest was an open space ripe for development. THE ALPINE GARDENER
AN ALPINE FRONT GARDEN
The large stones are placed on existing gravel beside a mature Erica carnea
Choosing and placing the stones
We visited a local stone company, Stoneworld in Great Milton, and were given small samples of several different kinds of stone to take home so that we could check the colours against the stone used in the house. Choosing the correct colour would have been almost impossible by memory. We settled on a Purbeck limestone and emailed an order for a number of stones of different sizes. The company put together a small pallet of stones which they thought fitted the bill, and emailed a photograph for our approval of their selection before it was delivered. The only strenuous part of this whole project was placing the stones on our rockery site, and for this we did have the help of two younger and stronger gardeners. MARCH 2016
First, however, we realised we had to be clear about the best position for each stone. We studied John Good’s book with care. We enlarged and printed the photograph of our pallet of stones, then cut out the individual stones and tried different ways of arranging them on a blank sheet of paper. This took several days and much discussion! When the design was all agreed, the large stones were set in place directly on top of the existing gravel. We also found a use for some old, curved, concrete paving stones from the back garden, which were ideal for placing underneath the largest stones at the back of the rockery to raise them another few inches. Our aim was to make a naturallooking outcrop with a gully or trough between two ridges. 23
PRACTICAL GARDENING
Pam prepares the soil mix using grit, topsoil and general purpose compost
Mixing the soil
On a windy day in mid-March 2014 we were ready to begin filling the bed. We bought bags of general purpose compost, topsoil and small grit to be mixed together in roughly equal proportions, adding a generous dose of bonemeal. The most useful tools for making the mix were a large plastic garden tub and a claw cultivator with a long handle. Even the small gully we were filling needed many tubfuls of the mix. As we went along we also placed the remaining smaller stones, both to finish the design and to help hold the soil in place. Finally we covered it with 24
a light top-dressing of grit to keep birds and cats at bay, and left it to settle for a week or two before planting.
Planting
We began to plant at the end of March 2014, adding a further layer of grit around the necks of the plants. The first plants were chosen to add a clear focus and some height at the back of the rockery (a small gold-leaved juniper) and to complete the task of holding the soil in place at the front (sempervivums). After that, full of excitement, we began to explore widely the alpine plants available in garden centres locally and at any place THE ALPINE GARDENER
AN ALPINE FRONT GARDEN
The bed is filled with the soil mix and more stones are put in place
we visited. Except for the juniper, we decided at the outset that such a small rockery must have a height limit, and we have restricted all our plants to 10cm. We have learned to read the labels to see when they flower and to check on their eventual height. We soon became familiar with saxifrages, small sedums and campanulas (Campanula garganica ‘Dickson’s Gold’), and discovered the value of coloured foliage in goldleaved thyme and variegated Aubrieta (Aubrieta ‘Doctor Mules Variegata’). Other plants were a revelation: the greygreen foliage and abundant pink flowers MARCH 2016
of a small thrift (Armeria juniperifolia ‘Bevan’s Variety’), the long-lasting pink flowers of Erodium x variabile ‘Flore Pleno’, the little yellow button flowers of Cotula hispida, and the astonishing blue of Lithodora diffusa ‘Heavenly Blue’, as intense as some gentians in colour and, so far, seemingly easier to grow. Our beautiful pale yellow saxifrage was won in a raffle at an AGS local group meeting! Just a few months later the plants were settling in well and some were even in full bloom. We were thrilled with the new garden by our front door and we discovered that some of our neighbours were regularly pausing as they walked 25
PRACTICAL GARDENING
The initial planting is complete and a new attraction is added to the neighbourhood
by, to see what was coming into flower. The rockery is at its most colourful in spring and early summer. Our dream is to have something in flower all through the year. To this end, we have recently added pink and white varieties of Delosperma, which flower into late summer, Cyclamen hederifolium for autumn and Cyclamen coum for winter, and for early spring a delicate Crocus, deep mauve inside the petals and creamy-grey on the outside. The variegated Aubrieta, which began to bloom in March, still had a few flowers in early November. Otherwise there is rather a gap in the autumn, but we have been encouraged by the sight of a tiny 26
Sedum spurium in a municipal rockery, covered with brilliant pink flowers in late September. It is now on our shopping list.
Maintenance
Two years after embarking on our project we are still delighted and fascinated by it. We have learned from some mistakes: since we did not take much notice of the advice on the labels about how far a plant would spread, we are now doing some pruning and dividing, especially of sedums and thyme. We lost a pretty pink Lewisia after its rosette of leaves rotted in a wet summer: we now THE ALPINE GARDENER
AN ALPINE FRONT GARDEN
Plants flowering in June of the first year, just a few weeks after going in
realise we have no deep vertical niches on our rockery to provide such a plant with proper drainage. We have taken out the Oxalis, which spread fast and produced lovely leaves but hardly any flowers. Otherwise, the rockery has been very easy to maintain. Because it sits by the front door, the occasional weed carried in by wind or birds can be quickly noticed and removed. In autumn a few fallen leaves from nearby trees have to be gathered up. We keep a bag of small grit handy to repair the top-dressing after winter (or summer!) rains. Reading John Good’s book again MARCH 2016
recently, we noticed the information about sprinkling the alpine garden annually in late winter with a dusting of bonemeal (12 parts) superphosphate (two parts) and sulphate of potash (two parts), all parts measured by weight. We did not do this last year, but will now add this to our routine. Our first rockery has quickly become a welcoming and joyful part of our garden. One book warned us that as you gain in confidence you find your alpine beds are just not big enough any more. Perhaps our next step will be a crevice garden in a stone trough on the other side of the front door. 27
PRACTICAL GARDENING
HOW TO GROW IT
D
Deutzia gracilis ‘Nikko’
eutzias I welcome into my garden with very few exceptions, even though they might not exude the intoxicating perfume of their Hydrangeaceae family relatives Philadelphus, don’t dazzle in fruit, nor offer autumnal foliage vibrancy. Hardiness, too, can be problematic with just a few. Semi-evergreen Deutzia pulchra, from a Philippine locale, was slain with me as a consequence of a sustained February freeze, yet I’ve seen the same species from a different provenance (it also grows in Taiwan, at higher altitudes, to almost 3,000m) sail through unchecked, flowering beautifully in a sheltered position. Autumn colour and phenomenal fragrance in flower apart, what I require of a dwarf shrub in the rock garden is a combination of longevity, reliable flowering every year, tolerance of climatic vagaries, adaptability and restrained yet reliable growth. Anything that increases grudgingly by a few millimetres per annum is ruled out. These criteria considerably lessen the number of candidates. Of those that remain, what better than Deutzia gracilis ‘Nikko’? I have grown it for over 30 years, during which time it has increased to just over a metre across and 50cm tall, never once failing to give a good account of itself during its period of glory in early May. Many within the genus are Chinese, but as the clonal name suggests, this is one of
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A deserving dwarf shrub By Robert Rolfe a fairly small number from Japan, where the species typically reaches 1-1.5m in the mountains of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu, flowering there from April to June or, exceptionally, into July. ‘Nikko’, the only dwarf form widely available, was first sent from Japan over 50 years ago, finding its way to British gardens via the USA. It was catalogued by C.G. Hollett’s Cumbrian Sedbergh Nursery in 1976 as: ‘NEW. A superb dwarf hybrid for the rock garden, forming compact mounds of crimsontinged foliage with a mass of pure white flowers in early summer. 12in x 12 in.’ The hybrid business can be dismissed and, as already indicated, its ultimate spread is more generous than this description, but it takes many years to attain a larger girth and is easily trimmed to a suitable size after flowering. It drops its leaves later than almost any other deciduous shrub, often not until just after Christmas. Following the mild autumn of 2014, only a heavy snowfall on Boxing Day dislodged them, yet new shoots were in evidence in the decidedly less than mild first week of February 2015. Its autumn colour is subdued, and in the winter it looks rather ragged, yet THE ALPINE GARDENER
HOW TO GROW IT
Deutzia gracilis ‘Nikko’ covers itself with white flowers in early May
the skeletal branches (often only 1cm or much less thick, hence the specific epithet) glow in the oblique afternoon sunlight at that time of the year. A surround of snowdrops makes an attractive vignette, their foliage dying away before the Deutzia comes into flower, at which time they can be lifted and planted a little further away as the shrub spreads, both above ground and by occasional suckers. Snowdrops benefit from such periodic removals, and a topdressing will further benefit both the shrub and its closest neighbours. The self-layering habit is one means of increasing stocks, though the more conventional method is by heel cuttings in June, kept in a propagator with the lid on. A typical cutting will be 5-10cm MARCH 2016
long. I routinely use a hormone rooting powder, but I doubt that it is strictly necessary. If seed has ever been set, no seedlings have appeared with me. ‘Nikko’ is equally happy in either full sun or light shade and is reasonably drought tolerant when mature, by which time a substantial rootstock will have formed. I have chosen to associate it with evergreen dwarf rhododendrons, which distract from its winter shabbiness. ‘Nikko’s’ racemes of smallish but abundant white flowers are both terminal and axillary, providing a very generous covering, with just enough of the finely toothed, narrow leaves showing through to serve as a foil. It is reputedly scented in a modest way, but I have never noticed any fragrance. 29
FOCUS ON GARDENS
Left, Corydalis caucasica, seen here in Georgia, seeds itself in Peter Erskine’s bank of Corydalis malkensis, opposite
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inter has passed, the snowdrops and winter aconites have played their part and, with the arrival of March, spring is here. It is surely the most exciting season for the alpine gardener and a time to look forward as the garden comes back to life. In doing so I have written about some past successes – best to forget the failures – and about plants, from various parts of the garden, of which I am particularly fond.
A few woodlanders
In March Corydalis malkensis sheets a
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A treasury of English gardening north-facing slope, providing a creamcoloured foil for other early woodlanders that grow among it. It seeds profusely and may spread rapidly, usually downwind, but is readily contained as the tubers lie close to the surface and are THE ALPINE GARDENER
A SUSSEX GARDEN
To celebrate the new season, AGS Vice-President Peter Erskine selects favourite plants that thrive in his Sussex garden, including pulsatillas that bejewel a parking area easily removed. It is a good neighbour because the foliage dies away soon after flowering so that other small plants are not smothered. The closely related C. caucasica has also seeded there and its purplish-pink flowers create a good MARCH 2016
contrast. These two Corydalis come from the western Caucasus, an area with substantial rainfall. I saw C. caucasica in flower in the hills south of Batumi, Georgia, during March while searching for snowdrops close to the Turkish border. It seemed to enjoy grassy banks in the margins of deciduous woodland and went up a notch or two in my estimation, as often seems to happen when you meet a familiar garden plant in the wild. Eranthis hyemalis Tubergenii Group ‘Guinea Gold’ grows among these Corydalis and is a fine garden plant. It 31
FOCUS ON GARDENS
Eranthis hyemalis Tubergenii Group ‘Guinea Gold’ enjoys woodland conditions
is less dominant than Eranthis hyemalis because it doesn’t seed and has more substance than its other parent from the Cilicica Group. Dependence on vegetative increase calls for patience and I have separated the tubers every third year or so when they are dormant. Woodland conditions seem to suit it well. As Corydalis malkensis fades, so C. solida takes over. This species has a very wide European distribution which extends into Asia and it is not surprising that there is considerable variation in the flower colour and substance. My population is founded on a number of 32
red and pink forms which probably have their roots in Romania – cultivars such as ‘George Baker’, ‘Zwanenburg’, ‘Lahovice’, ‘Beth Evans’, ‘Dieter Schacht’, ‘Nettleton Pink’ and more besides. They seed freely and after 25 years or so the distinction between the cultivars has become blurred. I weed out seedlings I don’t like each April when they are in flower and get great pleasure from the extensive splash of red and pink that runs across my woodland slope. I should perhaps add that somehow they have appeared in the rock garden where, in full sun and a gritty soil, they seem equally happy. In their 1997 monograph of Trillium, THE ALPINE GARDENER
A SUSSEX GARDEN
Trillium grandiflorum f. roseum in flower, a high point of the spring garden
Fred and Roberta Case claim that ‘Trillium grandiflorum is the most showy, best known and loved of all the trilliums’. Many would agree with this and their case is strengthened by the splendid photograph of T. grandiflorum f. roseum on the cover of their book. I was fortunate to be given a plant of a good pink form by the late Alf Evans in 1994 and have tended it with care ever since, for its flowering in woodland in late April is a high point in the spring garden. Although the topsoil has been improved considerably over the years, my acid greensand is not rich enough, and is sometimes too dry, for most of MARCH 2016
the trilliums. I like to top-dress them with old stable manure in early spring and again in autumn. A favoured few get an occasional supplementary liquid feed and will be watered if the going gets really tough. My final woodlander is Roscoea humeana. I have grown purple forms for many years both on the rock garden and in woodland conditions. Here it prefers the latter and has the merit of helping to extend the woodland flowering season into June. It occurs in China in Northern Yunnan and Sichuan and, at least on occasions, in what I understand to be calcareous soils. Jill Cowley’s 2007 33
FOCUS ON GARDENS
The beautiful Roscoea humeana f. alba SBLE 636 extends the woodland flowering season into June. Opposite, Pulsatilla ‘Budapest Blue’
monograph of Roscoea gives a helpful history of the introduction of the colour forms of R. humeana and a gift in 2004 of R. humeana f. lutea SICH 1027 was a revelation. This beautiful ‘yellow’ has grown really well and is now in several parts of the garden. It is however, in my view, surpassed 34
by Roscoea humeana f. alba SBLE 636, a Ron McBeath collection with pure white flowers. This is more compact and seems less vigorous. I have raised two batches of seedlings from it and some of these have now flowered. Most have nice white faces but, so far, all have a pink tinge on their backsides THE ALPINE GARDENER
A SUSSEX GARDEN
so that, unfortunately, the purity of the parent is lost.
Pulsatillas
Not in this case one of the species but plants from the hybrid complex widely offered as Pulsatilla vulgaris. Their variety cries out for them to be MARCH 2016
planted en masse and five years ago, after fairly lengthy consideration, I decided to give them free run of a gravel parking area. This consisted of compacted hardcore, builders sand and gravel – sharply drained and distinctly lean. I selected eight young plants, in flower, from a large batch in the Garden 35
A glorious display of Pulsatilla vulgaris in a gravel parking area in Peter Erskine’s garden
FOCUS ON GARDENS
Callianthemum anemonoides has seeded around on an open north slope
Centre at RHS Wisley and planted them along the upwind side of this area, subsequently giving a helping hand with the distribution of their seed. By April 2014 I had the result I was looking for (previous pages). Some selection has been achieved by removing the flowers of the poorest forms, but now my concern is to prevent them becoming overcrowded. I plan to restrict seeding and to extract some of the youngest plants before their roots delve too deeply. An excitement in 2014 was the flowering of two plants that I think I can fairly call Pulsatilla ‘Budapest Blue’ grown from a pinch of seed given to me by Harold McBride. This is a beautiful plant with a complex history which is 38
explained in Christopher Grey-Wilson’s 2014 book, Pasque Flowers: The Genus Pulsatilla. I have known it in the distant past as ‘Budapest’, and then raised seed but with disappointing results. Now I have cross-pollinated my two plants and am growing on 20 seedlings, in hope rather than expectation that at least some will also justify the name ‘Budapest Blue’.
From the rock garden
Callianthemum anemonoides, usually in flower by the beginning of April, is a ‘must have’ plant for those who admire Ranunculaceae. It comes from the Eastern Alps, largely from the limestones in the extreme east of Austria – a montane species found in cliffs, screes and open THE ALPINE GARDENER
A SUSSEX GARDEN
Aquilegia pyrenaica subsp. pyrenaica has established itself in gritty soil
pine or juniper woodland. Here in the garden it has seeded around on an open north slope, mainly among tufa and in scree. C. anemonoides is not self-fertile and seed is not produced unless several plants are in fairly close proximity. I have a form of Aquilegia pyrenaica that I particularly like. This came from Margaret and Henry Taylor as seed in 2005 and is compact with large blue flowers in late May. It has seeded and gently established itself in gritty soil over quite a large area. In view of their reputation for promiscuity no other aquilegias have been allowed near and I’m glad to say that, so far, no hybrids MARCH 2016
have appeared. Four subspecies of A. pyrenaica are recognised and the one we are dealing with here is A. pyrenaica subsp. pyrenaica. It favours rocky, shallow, calcareous soils where competition is reduced and may be seen in flower in the Pyrenees, in high summer, at altitudes between about 1,200 and 2,500 metres. Robin White, at Blackthorn Nursery, named two selections among material of the compact yellow flowered Daphne calcicola introduced in 1996 from the Ganghoba (now Gangheba) valley in north-west Yunnan. ‘Gang Ho Ba’ was chosen because it had the largest 39
FOCUS ON GARDENS
Daphne calcicola ‘Gang Ho Ba’ flowers spectacularly in early May
leaves and largest flowers, and ‘Sichuan Gold’ as it seemed most likely to make a compact plant of bushy habit and for its free flowering. I have grown them both in the garden, on their own roots, since 2001 and it has been interesting to see how they have developed. Things didn’t start too well when they both – especially ‘Gang Ho Ba’ – produced a number of quite vigorous and lax shoots. These were removed and subsequently this has not been a problem. Indeed the vigour of both plants has reduced appreciably with age. ‘Gang Ho Ba’ has formed a dense bushy sub-shrub and is currently 60cm high by 120cm in diameter. Two cuttings planted out in 2004 are slightly smaller. 40
The main flowering in early to mid-May is often spectacular and subsequently a few flowers appear spasmodically through the summer. ‘Sichuan Gold’ has been less vigorous and has produced tightly compact growth on the tips of the branches. It seems to be more dwarf than ‘Gang Ho Ba’, but lack of basal growth led to the plant becoming increasingly open with compact terminal growth on a number of bare woody branches. Snow in January 2010 damaged it badly and all except two branches had to be cut out. The two sprawling branches that remain have reached 40cm and they flower quite freely. It hasn’t, however, achieved the compact and bushy habit I hoped for. Although Daphne calcicola is THE ALPINE GARDENER
A SUSSEX GARDEN
The Patagonian Oxalis laciniata does well in a trough
found on limestone, as its name suggests, it has grown here on acid greensand. The plants have been placed in fully exposed and sunny positions at the top of a steep north-facing slope but shaded from early morning sun by distant trees. There has been little noticeable frost damage.
Troughs and other containers
These allow a degree of intimacy which is not practical on the rock garden and provide an important first line of defence against slugs and snails. It is easy to lose sight of the rhizomatous Oxalis laciniata for it disappears below ground for a substantial part of the year. I have found it is best grown in troughs MARCH 2016
where I can keep track of it and where it enjoys the sharp drainage, flowering freely in mid-May. I particularly like the bluish-flowered forms which are seen in the far south of mainland Patagonia and especially in the vicinity of Estancia Stag River from where the species was introduced in 1955. It is variable both in leaf and in flower and there has been some confusion in its identification and naming. The curiously flowered Physoplexis comosa, which attracts attention from children and adults alike, is seen fairly regularly on the show bench but less often in gardens. It comes from the south-eastern European Alps where it is largely found on sub-alpine dolomitic 41
FOCUS ON GARDENS
Growing Physoplexis comosa in tufa helps to keep slugs and snails at bay
limestone mountains. Here it has established and seeded on tufa in the rock garden, preferring semi-shaded open sites. The trouble is that slugs and snails are greatly attracted to it and while you may get some flowers, the probability of keeping the marauders at bay until the seed is ready for collection is very low. My solution has been to establish P. comosa on and around tufa in several troughs. This provides an impressive floral display in mid-June and, providing you are reasonably alert and the weather is good, generous quantities of dust-like seed. I have vivid memories of Campanula 42
zoysii flowering profusely on a substantial limestone cliff in the Kamnik Alps, where it had occupied every fault and crevice. This was in the second week of August. It is a beautiful and easily recognised late-flowering plant which is endemic to the Karawanken, Julian and Kamnik Alps. It occurs in limestone cliffs or in rocky places nearby, usually in alpine or sub-alpine areas, but may also descend to the verges of woodland where I have seen it growing in boulders within sight of Cyclamen purpurascens. If you refer to Reginald Farrer or Clarence Elliott you may get the impression that this is a reasonably straightforward plant THE ALPINE GARDENER
A SUSSEX GARDEN
Campanula zoysii tends to be short-lived but is well worth growing
to grow in limestone scree, in tufa or in a trough if you can protect it from slugs which are said to ‘devour it with indecent passion’. Over the years I have planted C. zoysii on several occasions among tufa in troughs and it has flowered very freely but been short-lived. Indeed my greatest achievement has been to get it through two winters alive, this by cutting off all MARCH 2016
the flower stems in its first season as recommended by others. So it has been a short-term visitor which I have been able to enjoy and replace from time to time. I always look out for it at our Society’s summer shows where very often splendid pots are exhibited. With this inspiration I am usually tempted to replace it once more, for it is a plant of which I am particularly fond. 43
FOCUS ON GARDENS
Open your garden to spread the word about alpines 2016 marks the 30th anniversary of Fir Croft in Derbyshire opening for the National Gardens Scheme. Here its owner and alpine nurseryman Dr Steve Furness reflects on some of the lessons learned
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s alpine enthusiasts we all appreciate that rock plants are the most attractive and interesting of all garden plants and that the rock garden, properly constructed, can be the ultimate labour-saving and practical solution to the ever-shrinking modern garden. However, judging from the lack of radio or television airtime and press coverage that rock gardens receive, the gardening media and gardening public seem to be oblivious to this. So how can we get the message out to this vast untapped reservoir of gardeners who are apparently unaware of the massive 44
contribution that rock plants can make to the 21st century garden? Reflecting on my 30 years involvement with the National Gardens Scheme, I have only recently come to realise that out of all my alpine-related activities – lecturing to garden groups, running THE ALPINE GARDENER
Water, dwarf
SPRING IN A SUSSEX GARDEN conifers and
colourful alpines are combined to great effect in Steve Furness’s Derbyshire garden
field trips and holidays, and teaching university courses on alpines and rock gardening – opening my garden to the public has been by far the most successful way of winning new converts to our hobby. Talking about alpines to enthusiasts MARCH 2016
and gardening groups is always enjoyable but in most cases it is preaching to the converted. Plant shows and gardens constructed for the big gardening extravaganzas, such as the Chelsea Flower Show, are good advertisements. But what most potential rock gardeners 45
FOCUS ON GARDENS
The upper scree beds at Fir Croft in May
really want to see are easily grown alpines thriving in gardens like their own. Allowing thousands of members of the public actually to see the plants and how they can be used in their own gardens changes their perceptions: seeing is believing. Showing what is possible in a normal garden tended by ordinary gardeners is by far the best way of generating interest. Since opening my garden at Calver, Derbyshire, in 1986, more than 250,000 visitors have come through the gate. 46
Many have not been gardeners but have just wandered in off the street. What always surprises me is how often they are immediately hooked, either by the sheer beauty of the plants or by gardening features they have not seen before. So why not share your love of alpines with others by opening your own garden to the public? Perhaps the best way to get started is to become part of a local group of gardens that open or to join the National Gardens Scheme. Since its inception THE ALPINE GARDENER
A DERBYSHIRE GARDEN
Massed alpines captivate visitors with their vibrant colours
over 80 years ago the NGS has become a national institution, extremely efficient and well organised, raising millions of pounds for charity. Contact your county organiser (listed in the NGS Yellow Book) and have a chat. They are always looking for new gardens to include. Not only will you get friendly and helpful advice about how to get started but the NGS will give you access to an extremely welloiled publicity machine and free public liability insurance for your open days. MARCH 2016
I’m sure many of you think that ‘my garden isn’t big enough, tidy enough or simply isn’t spectacular enough’. That is missing the point: the public really do like to see gardens they can relate to. This was brought home to me while running garden holidays. At the end of each week we asked participants which gardens they enjoyed the most. Invariably it was the small backyard gardens that topped the list, not the Chatsworths or Haddon Halls. Inevitably some parts of a garden 47
FOCUS ON GARDENS
The waterfall at Fir Croft is a magnet for visitors
attract much more attention than others, so knowing which features are a draw can help make your own garden much more interesting to visitors. Of all the elements in a garden, the one which seems to have the greatest impact on visitors, and will captivate even a bored spouse, is water. If you watch a group of people walk around almost any sort of garden they will always gravitate towards the pond and will spend a disproportionate amount of time staring at it. No rock garden, however small, 48
should be without a pond or a stream – and should preferably have both! As far as the plants are concerned, almost without exception it is not the rare connoisseur’s plants or more esoteric alpines which attract the most attention, but the exuberant sheets of colour displayed by some of the ‘bread and butter’ rock plants. Among the most popular plants that people want to take home for their own gardens are the startling red form of our native kidney vetch, Anthyllis vulneraria THE ALPINE GARDENER
A DERBYSHIRE GARDEN
The colour-changing Sempervivum ‘Gazelle’
var. coccinea, and the handsome blue pompoms of Globularia cordifolia. Although flowers usually receive the most attention, sempervivums always attract much admiration, particularly among the young. Bored children who are dragged protesting into the garden by their parents will often end up parting with their precious pocket money to start a collection. Modern Sempervivum cultivars exhibit an amazing kaleidoscope of colours and variety of forms, one of the most MARCH 2016
captivating being Sempervivum ‘Gazelle’. While many houseleeks go through seasonal colour changes, this cultivar undergoes a remarkable transformation from green in winter through creamy yellow in spring to bright red in summer. Troughs are always a focus of attention, with visitors intrigued by the concept of a trough as a miniature landscape. This particularly appeals to those with small or even no gardens. Many are also amazed that the trough pictured here, with its cascading cushion of Minuartia 49
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This trough, with a tufa outcrop, was planted more than 30 years ago
stellata, has not had any replanting or significant maintenance for over 30 years. There is something very special about plants precariously clinging to a lump of rock. At the entrance to my garden is a large block of tufa festooned with saxifrages and sempervivums – it holds visitors spellbound. Often those who previously had absolutely no interest in alpine gardening end up leaving with a piece of tufa, an AGS Miniature Garden leaflet and half a dozen alpines. 50
Conifers, although providing a crucial perennial backbone to the rock garden, rarely steal the show. A notable exception is my 30-year-old, 30cm tall specimen of Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Caespitosa’. Timing your open days is vitally important. Always try to make allowances for the vagaries of the British climate and never underestimate the effect a national sporting event will have on visitor numbers. Early season saxifrages provide a spectacular show, particularly in THE ALPINE GARDENER
A DERBYSHIRE GARDEN
Above, the red Anthyllis vulneraria var. coccinea and the blue Globularia cordifolia are among the most popular pants at Steve’s nursery. Right, a 30-year-old specimen of Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Caespitosa’
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Helianthemum cultivars, one of Steve’s specialities, provide brilliant colour
troughs or in a raised tufa bed, but my experience is that, in the Peak District, timing a garden opening to coincide with flowering is almost impossible. For years I tried to organise an early spring opening to coincide with the flowering of Porophyllum saxifrages on my tufa bed. On every occasion the fickle Peak District climate beat me. I concentrate now on early summer open days. The humble rockrose is much more predictable and always provides an outstanding show for early summer visitors. In my sunny limestone scree, no other genus can compete with the 52
vibrant carpets of colour provided by the Helianthemum cultivars. High summer can be a difficult time for colour in the rock garden so why not plant thymes, campanulas and sedums for an impressive display in late June and July? My colourful alpine lawn comprised of Sedum album ‘Coral Carpet’ and Thymus praecox ‘Coccineus’ always provides a reliable show after the main late spring and early summer flush has faded. Opening your garden can be hard work at first but it is immensely rewarding: the power of alpines to surprise and delight THE ALPINE GARDENER
A DERBYSHIRE GARDEN
Sedum ‘Coral Carpet’ growing through Thymus praecox ‘Coccineus’
should never be underestimated. To give just one example of many witnessed over the years, a young man who scrambled all over my garden as a toddler went on to develop a passion for plants that led him to study botany at one of our finest universities. Gardens really can change lives, so why not give your rock garden the opportunity to do just that? Fir Croft is Dr Furness’s private garden, adjacent to the Alpine Plant Centre, Calver, Derbyshire S32 3ZD. MARCH 2016
Although it can be seen from the nursery, visitors may only wander round the garden on open days. It will be open on June 5, 2016, from 1pm-5pm to coincide with the AGS Bakewell Show, only four miles away. It will also open under the National Gardens Scheme on May 22 and June 19. Dr Furness would like to thank the hundreds of individual AGS members and the many AGS groups who have visited the garden and contributed to the £45 million raised by the NGS since its foundation. 53
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I
am often asked: ‘What is the best time of year in your garden?’ My answer is that I have no ‘best time’. Gardening to me is a continuum of interest laced with optimism and forward planning. Of course, looking back is important to learn what did and did not work. Mine is a relatively small garden in Hertfordshire, just off the Chiltern Hills, with an adjacent neglected churchyard. The soil is clay and alkaline, with a pH of about 8, and it is windy. To accommodate plants that enjoy good drainage I have constructed a number of sleeper beds and grow many plants in large containers. While I love alpines, I grow a catholic range of plants.
January
As 2014 dissolved away and January appeared, I began to develop anxieties. We had rashly agreed to open to the public for the first time in February for a whole weekend under the National Gardens Scheme. The main focus would be snowdrops. We are moderate galanthophiles, having about 60 varieties, but we hoped that other bulbs would be emerging as well. The two worrying imponderables were the weather and numbers attending, over which we had no control. Mulled wine seemed a possible solution for the cold. It would not help the snowdrops but would be useful antifreeze for us and those brave enough to turn up. A perfect accompaniment would be muffins, but how many? My wife, Margaret, set about making several dozen at a time over the ensuing weeks. Then came the problem of storage 54
Will my snowdrops measure up? A year in my garden AGS member John Noakes, who gardens on the edge of the Chiltern Hills, kept a diary throughout 2015 to record the highs and lows of his horticultural year. During 2016 we will publish his diary, starting with this first part from January to March
– already our freezer was almost full. A new freezer was ordered (we really did need a larger one) and it duly arrived just before seven one morning when we were still asleep. We stumbled out of bed in the dark to help place it in our garage. In my disoriented and uncoordinated state I fell against a bench and fractured a rib. What a wonderful start to the New Year – I was slowly slipping into galanthophobe mode! By mid-January I was prowling around the garden in order to reassure myself that there would be something in flower in a month’s time. It was heartening to see many snowdrops already spearing THE ALPINE GARDENER
A YEAR IN MY GARDEN
Crocus imperati flourishing in a raised bed in John Noakes’s garden in January
through. But would these premature varieties be over on the day? Already Galanthus plicatus ‘Three Ships’ and G. p. ‘Colossus’ were going over, but others looked on course for being OK. It’s amazing how snowdrops and Cyclamen remain in bloom for so long at this time of year. Is it just the cold and short days or the lack of pollinators? Yet crocuses go over so quickly. Their flowers are more fragile and get buffeted by wind and rain. This year they did not make good photographic subjects because their petals quickly became tattered. I suppose that is why people grow them in pots under glass. MARCH 2016
On this walkabout, however, Crocus sieberi subsp. sublimis ‘Tricolor’ was growing well in grass, as was C. sieberi ‘Bowles’s White’ in a raised bed. C. imperati and C. x jessoppiae, also in raised beds, looked surprisingly untattered. The latter is a garden hybrid which was found in seedlings given by E.A. Bowles to his neighbour Miss Euphemia Jessopp. Galanthus nivalis ‘Anglesey Abbey’, with its distinctive, deep green leaves, was already looking good but would it be too early? Forty-eight hours later, winter aconites (Eranthis hyemalis) had appeared in bud through Cyclamen 55
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Crocus x jessoppiae, a hybrid raised by E.A. Bowles
leaves. These leaves, with their varied patterns and shapes, provide a wonderful background foil for small bulbs as they emerge from beneath them. Then, at the end of January, came a sudden snowfall that transformed the garden. Crocuses, snowdrops and aconites just managed to keep their heads above the ‘snowline’ and in fact looked much more attractive than in grass, but this would not be the best scenario for an open garden day. Winter is a good time to view the architecture of a garden. Trees and shrubs such as Acer griseum and Cornus sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’ stood out with their spectacular bark against 56
nearby black poplars (Populus nigra subsp betulifolia), as did the sentinel fastigiate yews. It was also a good time to assess some of the structural changes I’d made and decide whether I could live with them and, more to the point, whether the plants could live in them! In a mad rush I had constructed a long bed out of railway sleepers. It contained three obelisks for Clematis, looking rather like a miniature extension of the National Grid. There was also a poor attempt at a crevice bed made out of broken slate. I’m far from sure that this will be retained. As January fizzled out and the snow began to melt, I still nursed concerns about the unsettled weather and THE ALPINE GARDENER
A YEAR IN MY GARDEN
Crocus sieberi subsp. sublimis ‘Tricolor’ and, right, Galanthus nivalis ‘Anglesey Abbey’ cope with a January snowfall
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Galanthus ‘Spindlestone Surprise’
the prospect of learned and critical galanthophiles inspecting my garden. As we’d be open on Valentine’s Day, perhaps they’d have better things to do.
February
Valentine’s Day was gloomy, damp and cold and was followed by an equally miserable Sunday. Yet hordes of visitors arrived for our first NGS event. Mulled wine and muffins in variety were dispensed. Suitably fortified with calories and antifreeze, visitors sallied forth to explore the snowdrops that lit up the drab day. Vigorous colonies of Galanthus ‘S. Arnott’ and G. ‘Lady Beatrix Stanley’ threatened to overwhelm large areas of the garden. 58
The latter was competing with Cyclamen coum under yew trees in the adjoining churchyard. More unusual snowdrops in flower included G. ‘Spindlestone Surprise’ and the curious G. ‘Walrus’. G. ‘Wasp’ waved its wispy flowers amid the leaves of autumn crocuses. All of these were growing in large tubs with other later flowering bulbs and shrubs. I started to grow plants in tubs because I’d lost a lot of shrubs as a result of honey fungus (Armillaria mellea). I thought that if I placed a large wooden tub on a slab and filled it with suitable compost it would prevent the mycelium of the fungus attacking the shrubs. Large drainage holes were drilled to prevent stagnation of the compost. So far this has THE ALPINE GARDENER
A YEAR IN MY GARDEN
Cyclamen coum in one of John Noakes’s half-barrel puncheons
worked, and underplanting shrubs with bulbs has the advantage that their flowers are at a higher level and can be seen in detail. Galanthophiles, in particular, can pay homage to the intricate markings without genuflection. Large and squat tubs, half-barrels known as puncheons, look better aesthetically because they are not so obtrusive even though they are rather wide. They are an effective alternative to troughs or raised beds. In an article in the December 2014 edition of The Alpine Gardener, David Way wrote how his collection of snowdrops had been devastated by a Fusarium or related fungus in the open ground. He visited our garden and felt that growing his snowdrops in MARCH 2016
puncheons, with fresh soil, might be an answer to his problem. Three colours dominated the garden this month. The white of snowdrops predominated but these were surrounded by carpets of pink Cyclamen coum. Plants emerged all over the place presumably from seeds scattered by ants, which eat the surrounding jelly and then drop them into cracks where it would be impossible to insert even the tiniest of plants. The third colour was yellow provided by Eranthis hyemalis and Crocus flavus. They created a splash of sunshine at the end of a dull month. Scent is rare at this time of year unless a warm day occurs, but various Sarcococca and Hamamelis x intermedia 59
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Another puncheon, this one occupied by Galanthus elwesii ‘Ransom’s Dwarf’
‘Pallida’ were trying hard. Daphne bholua, however, does not disappoint even on a dull and cold day. It is a wonderful shrub for its scent alone but also has pink apple blossom-like flowers. Placing these shrubs close to the house is essential to appreciate them fully and saves putting on an overcoat to do so. As the end of the month, irises started to appear. First up was Iris histrioides ‘George’, a reliable stalwart, showing well among the grey leaves of Galanthus elwesii. Not a great favourite of mine is the ubiquitous Iris ‘Katharine Hodgkin’. It does have complex patterned flowers but to me it is the rather sickly child of Iris winogradowii, altogether more attractive but difficult to grow well. Nevertheless it 60
looked appealing growing through the black ‘grass’ of Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’. Better and standing alone was Iris histrioides ‘Lady Beatrix Stanley’ and, nearby, the pale china blue of I. ‘Sheila Ann Germaney’ looked beautiful between Galanthus ‘Trumps’ and G. ‘Wendy’s Gold’. February was mixed weather-wise with dull days, flurries of snow and occasional visitations from the sun. The end of the month saw the slow demise of the snowdrops apart from G. ‘Little Ben’ growing in yet another barrel and G. ‘Fiona Mackenzie’. The month concluded with one of the infuriating yet delightful thugs of early spring, namely Crocus tommasinianus in all its forms. Somehow THE ALPINE GARDENER
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February flowers of Daphne bholua and, below, Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Pallida’
it gets everywhere: en masse it looks terrific but the odd flowers punctuated around the garden I find irritating.
March
Early March saw the arrival of the aristocratic aconite Eranthis hyemalis Tubergenii Group ‘Guinea Gold’ and the humbler E. cilicica together with Eranthis hyemalis ‘Grünling’. They are at their most attractive as they unfurl their leaves to reveal bronze buds before the flowers open. In yet another raised bed with peaty, gritty soil I have managed to establish a small colony of Olsynium douglasii, a relative of the sisyrinchiums. Its violet-purple flowers contrast well with the aconites. MARCH 2016
Rivalling Crocus tommasinianus as a delightful thug is Corydalis malkensis. I acquired just a few tubers and planted them under an old Magnolia. Now they are everywhere and in flower as various forms of Corydalis solida are just beginning to emerge. During the past few weeks, hellebores 61
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The infuriating yet delightful Crocus tommasinianus 62
THE ALPINE GARDENER
A YEAR IN MY GARDEN have been producing their flowers. They do have two annoying habits. First, hiding the flowers with their large leaves, which are occasionally diseased. Second, if the seed heads are not removed, seedlings take over and tend to choke the parent plant. So two decapitations are needed – old leaves and seed heads. I acquired my stock as seeds from the late Jim Archibald. They have produced multiple hybrids, all of which are wonderfully attractive. I have tried to keep them in drifts of the same colour and flower pattern. Mixing them up, I think, spoils the overall effect. The three obelisks I installed in February were looking stark and bare so I took what was probably the last opportunity to plant and clothe them with Clematis and roses. Previously planted Clematis were already shooting new growth from seemingly dead stems. At this time of year shoots and buds are often as attractive as the forthcoming flowers, and they certainly provide expectation for the coming season. Peonies are particularly attractive. Their fat buds, some of which are forming for the first time from seeds sown long ago, are like unopened birthday presents: what will they look like, will they be the species or varieties I wanted? With any luck the pale green and bronze foliage will turn out to be the yellow Paeonia daurica subsp. mlokosewitschii. The reddish ferny foliage of some may be P. lithophila or P. tenuifolia. I have to be patient. In a rough patch of grass, Fritillaria meleagris is shooting up, as are the leaves of a large colony of Tulipa sprengeri, which will produce their startling red MARCH 2016
flowers later in the year. All of this I find rather exciting. Daphne odora ‘Aureomarginata’ for some reason produced a miserable display after the heady scent of D. bholua, but D. blagayana made up for it with its creamy fragrant flowers outside our front door, where we enjoyed the full benefit of its exuberance. Another shrub which puts on a wonderful display at this time, just outside our back door, is the little Japanese cherry, Prunus incisa ‘Kojo-no-mai’. Its masses of tiny pinkish white flowers float like a haze over its bare stems. It is slow growing but mine is now four feet high and more across. Another delightful thug which I am ambivalent about is the humble native primrose, Primula vulgaris. Lovely though it is, it swamps my emerging trilliums and erythroniums. Unlike Corydalis malkensis it does not melt away underground but just makes bigger clumps. I selectively root them out and plant them in the adjoining churchyard, where one day I may view them from below ground! Living with weeds or botanical thugs is part of a gardener’s lot. I realised long ago that one can never really win – a measure of acceptance is essential. Some dive underground and are not apparent for the rest of the year. The prime example of this is lesser celandine, Ranunculus ficaria, now renamed by some botanical meddlers as Ficaria verna. On the other hand, lords and ladies, Arum maculatum, is an arch thug with a deep rootstock which is very difficult to extract. Its admittedly attractive red berries are beloved by birds, which scatter the seeds around 63
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Pulmonaria ’Blue Ensign’
the garden having eaten the surrounding jelly. I can’t win! During the latter part of March, many colour forms of Corydais solida reveal their past misbehaviour. Varying shades of red, pink and purple pop up all over the place. Who distributes the seed, I am far from sure. I’ve managed to confine C. solida ‘George Baker’ to a large barrel which earlier housed snowdrops and now has the tall stems and buds of Fritillaria acmopetala coming up through the Corydalis to greet April. As that month approaches many more bulbs emerge. Narcissus bulbocodium look like small headlights all facing 64
the same direction. Scilla siberica contrasts well with the overwhelming primroses as does the ‘Blue Ensign’ variety of Pulmonaria. I am very fond of scillas and have a number of species. S. mischtschenkoana has already been and gone but S. messeniaca and S. hohenackeri are just beginning to fade. Many may feel I have not included enough alpines in this diary. In the main I prefer to grow plants outside but I have just started a small crevice bed. Saxifraga oppositifolia flowered well earlier and Callianthemum anemonoides appears to be enjoying its new home. Fritillarias have always been an interest THE ALPINE GARDENER
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Some of John’s collection of fritillaries and, below, Galanthus ‘South Hayes’
for me and naturally I have a colony of Fritillaria meleagris growing in grass among soon-to-flower daffodils. Apart from this species I have had success with F. pyrenaica, F. acmopetala and F. pallidiflora growing outside. F. persica has never done well here and I have lost F. imperialis several times. Our local group show in April comes infuriately too late for my frits in the alpine house. I just have to enjoy them myself. In the next issue of The Alpine Gardener: John Noakes’s garden from April to June. MARCH 2016
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With the AGS in the Stans
Harry Jans and John Mitchell led the AGS tour to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in April and May last year. Here they present a photo essay on some of the highlights of their visit to this botanically fascinating and under-explored part of Asia
Members of the AGS party botanising on Tajikistan’s Ansob Pass and, inset, Iris aff. bucharica, which grows on lower slopes
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e started to plan this tour in 2013, and initially the aim was to explore Tajikistan’s High Pamir Mountains. In the same year John Mitchell, Alpine Supervisor at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, was in Tajikistan on a joint expedition organised by Edinburgh and Kew. Due to his experiences on that trip, we decided that going to the High Pamir was not an option for an AGS group tour because finding suitable accommodation would be difficult. After doing some research and collecting information from others who had visited the country, a new itinerary was drawn up. Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are both landlocked countries. Tajikistan shares its borders with Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and China, whereas Uzbekistan is adjacent to Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. 68
A plantsman’s paradise in central Asia Uzbekistan is famous for its mosques and mausoleums. Samarkand contains a landmark of Islamic architecture: the Registan is one of the wonders of the Islamic world. Uzbekistan is twice the size of Tajikistan. Over half of it is desert and steppe but mountains rise up along its eastern border. The climate in both countries is fairly similar. Summers are long and hot and winters are wet. Tajikistan, however, has almost double the rainfall of Uzbekistan and is one of the wettest of the central Asian republics, mainly due to its high elevation. THE ALPINE GARDENER
UZBEKISTAN AND TAJIKISTAN
Harry Jans and John Mitchell, centre, with the drivers on the AGS expedition
Tajikistan is central Asia’s smallest republic and one of its poorest. The Pamir Mountains have always been a magnet for plant enthusiasts and the fact that they are known as the ‘roof of the world’ makes them even more alluring. This part of central Asia is a biodiversity hotspot where the Himalaya, Hindu Kush, Tian Shan and Karakoram Mountains all merge. The flora is a mix of Boreal, Siberian, Mongolian, Indo-Himalayan and Iranian elements. There are more than 5,500 known species of vascular plants in the area of which 1,500 are endemic, MARCH 2016
including 21 species of Umbelliferae (Apiaceae), 16 species of tulip and several trees. It is, in our view, one of the most magical places to visit and explore and resulted in a wonderful tour for AGS members. We started our journey in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. We arrived at night and rested for several hours in Hotel Uzbekistan in the centre of Tashkent. In the morning we drove by bus to Samarkand, a fabulous city with the finest blue-tiled mosques and madrasah in the world. After a few hours of sightseeing we travelled to the 69
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Part of the magnificent mausoleum complex in Samarkand
Tahta-Karacha Pass at 1,700m, just over an hour’s drive from Samarkand, where we began our first botanical exploration. Here we found Iris warleyensis and Iris magnifica in large numbers, as well as Fritillaria bucharica and Tulipa fosteriana. The next day we travelled by bus to the border with Tajikistan. This was not an easy crossing: the Uzbek customs officers opened every piece of our luggage and had many questions. This took two hours, and it was good to find our Tajik travel agent waiting for us when we did eventually reach the other side. We headed for the Tajik capital of 70
Dushanbe, which was to be our base for a few days. This centre of this city is very pleasant with leafy promenades and fountains galore, and it is easy to walk around. Our first excursion from here was to the Romit Valley, where we had hoped to see Fritillaria eduardii. The locals, however, told us that they cut the flowers to sell and then eat the bulbs, which they view as a delicacy. This was worrying, as was seeing wild Rheum being sold by the thousands at the roadside. The Varzob Valley is always worth exploring and we managed to find Dionysia involucrata in its type locality. THE ALPINE GARDENER
UZBEKISTAN AND TAJIKISTAN
A rare pale form of Iris warleyensis on the Tahta-Karacha Pass
Fritillaria eduardii was seen very high up on cliffs, with just two plants growing and flowering at the foot of a cliff. F. bucharica, with small white flowers, grew by the roadside and F. olgae was found growing up through shrubs in just one small area. We spent a lovely day on the Ansob Pass. After passing through the village of Ansob we drove up spectacular roads, gaining altitude until we found the road blocked with snow. But where the snow had melted we came across vast areas of Corydalis popovii, which exhibited much variation in the colour of the flowers. Other interesting plants in this MARCH 2016
area included Adonis turkestanica and Iris vicaria in different colour forms. In the Shirkent National Park we came across interesting colonies of Iris bucharica in the same colour form as that which is mainly grown in cultivation. We headed along a valley but came to a military checkpoint and were not allowed to go any further. Getting to Lake Iskanderkul involved driving through one of the worst tunnels we had ever encountered. Inside it resembled a building site and was filled with water, exhaust fumes and brokendown construction equipment. The road itself had potholes large enough to break 71
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The AGS vehicles almost at the top of the Sagirdasht Pass
an axle. A solitary fan in the middle was the only attempt to move some air, and the fumes were so thick that visibility was just a few feet. A breakdown in the tunnel could easily result in serious illness or death from carbon monoxide poisoning. An horrific experience! But once we were through, a beautiful landscape opened up. Whole hillsides were covered in Ferula species, thriving in a very dry habitat. At the lake the snow had just melted and we were probably a week too early to see the best of the spring flowers. There were signs of Colchicum luteum and Crocus korolkowii. Next we headed south-east towards 72
Kulob. Here we visited the Langar area in the Hazrati Shoh range. Our guide took us along roads that were no more than farm tracks and the journey was quite entertaining and scary at the same time. Eventually we parked the vehicles and set off on foot to climb to the top of a mountain. En route we saw masses of exciting plants including Anemone bucharica, Adonis turkestanica and Gagea species. Near the top there were patches of snow, and we came across a remarkable sight: a whole hillside of Iris. We think it was a mixture of Iris rosenbachiana, Iris nicolai and Iris popovii, but we had here a multitude of colours from white, yellow and blue to THE ALPINE GARDENER
UZBEKISTAN AND TAJIKISTAN
Looking across the Panj River from Tajikistan into Afghanistan
purple (see pages 86-87). We also found thousands of Colchicum luteum, again with a lot of variation. We then moved on to the GornoBadakhshan Autonomous Region of Tajikistan, for which permits are required. After going through border controls we drove along the Panj River, the natural boundary between Afghanistan and Tajikistan. This was a spectacular journey through a wonderful gorge and has to be one of the most scenic areas we have travelled in. Our last stop was at Kalaikhumb, surrounded by high mountain peaks and close to the Sagirdasht Pass, which we explored twice. The first time we MARCH 2016
drove up to 2,700m and saw a wealth of plants such as Tulipa batalinii, Tulipa linifolia and various forms of Iris bucharica. Here the species is always yellow with no white but frequently has black markings. Much higher up, we found Primula auriculata, Anemone eranthioides, Fritillaria bucharica, Tulipa anisophylla and Colchicum luteum. This pass is the summer road to Kalaikhumb and we tried to go right to the top but were turned back by the military and the appalling snowy weather. This part of central Asia is well worth a visit for its spectacular scenery, wealth of wildlife and fabulous plants. We would love to return to explore it further. 73
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Corydalis ledebouriana, left, grows in the southern part of Tajikistan. We found large colonies on the Sagirdasht Pass at 2,575m. This caused much confusion because, as you can see above, the variation in this species is immense. It is a plant that should be seen in its natural habitat, where a carpet of it looks magnificent. 74
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UZBEKISTAN AND TAJIKISTAN
Colchicum luteum is a true snowmelt plant. It will cover vast areas and is a sight not to be missed. This is another species that displays much variation. As you can see above, we found pure yellow flowers and others with attractive red stripes which matched the dark red foliage. The best site we found for C. luteum was in the Hazrati Shoh range at 2,500m near Kulob.
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We found Anemone biflora var. eranthioides, above, on the Sagirdasht Pass. It grows in very heavy and rich soils. When the flower buds are closed they display this rusty-red colour, but on opening a vibrant yellow flower emerges. It is certainly a plant worthy of any alpine collection. Left, another member of this genus, Anemone petiolulosa.
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UZBEKISTAN AND TAJIKISTAN
Beautiful examples of Anemone bucharica, above, were found only in the Kulob area on lower slopes at around 2,245m. It can form large colonies in areas of turf. Anemone tschernjaewii, right, can be found in many parts of central Asia. This plant was growing in a side valley on the Ansob Pass at 2,095m. MARCH 2016
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UZBEKISTAN AND TAJIKISTAN
Opposite, Tajik women in colourful dress, and Uzbek men at the mausoleum complex in Samarkand. Above, some unforgettable faces encountered along the way. Right, an eye-catching display of spices and pulses in the green market (Zelyoni Bazaar), Dushanbe. MARCH 2016
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Cercis griffithii (Afghan redbud) is very common in Tajikistan. Here it is photographed in habitat and in closeup near the Nurek Reservoir at 1,365m.
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Exochorda racemosa, above, is a lovely open shrub to about 3m tall. The selection ‘Niagara’ is often grown in gardens. This Phlomoides species, right, is very similar to Eremostachys speciosa. It was found on high rocky outcrops.
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Above left is the yellow form of Tulipa turkestanica, photographed near the Ansob Pass at 2,085m. The usual form, widely grown in gardens, is white with a yellow eye. Tulipa praestans, above right, is a widespread species with many forms in cultivation. Here it is seen near Shuroobod at 1,725m. Gentiana olivieri, opposite top, is one of the more common spring gentians. It, too, is a very variable species. At some places in Uzbekistan it was not more than 15cm tall, but we saw plants up to 50cm tall near the Panj River in Tajikistan. Fritillaria eduardii, opposite below, one of the Crown Imperial fritillaries, we found only in central Tajikistan. We were very lucky to see this plant in flower at around 2,000m in the Varsob area, where there was quite a bit of variation in flower colour. The locals eat the bulbs so it is rare to see plants at low elevations. Most of the remaining plants grow on cliffs or high in the mountains. 82
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UZBEKISTAN AND TAJIKISTAN
Tulipa anisophylla, opposite top and above left, is found on screes where it emerges just after smowmelt. It is an uncommon and tiny species with bright yellow flowers. In her monograph on the genus, Diana Everett suggests that it may be a form of Tulipa altaica. Tulipa batalinii, opposite below and above right, grows on stony hillsides. It is considered by many to be an albino form of Tulipa linifolia. It is one of the best small tulips for the rock garden, available in several named forms. Its strongly undulate leaves are an attractive feature. OVERLEAF: This amazing Iris swarm was found on the Hazrati Shoh range at 2,475m near Kulob. We believe it to be a mix of Iris nicolai, Iris rosenbachiana and Iris popovii. As you can see from the photograph, the variation was remarkable. The forms of Iris nicolai and Iris rosenbachiana are a dark blue-purple colour. Our find makes this area very important botanically because some of these forms could be restricted to this hillside. MARCH 2016
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Above, variations in the flowers of Iris nicolai, I. rosenbachiana and I. popovii and, left, a group of plants which are the offspring of two of these species. Opposite, Iris bucharica is very variable. In northern Tajikistan it has the usual pale yellow/ white flowers with a yellow tip but as you head south it changes to deep yellow with a black marking and can vary in flower size and height. 88
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This dark form of Iris korolkowii, opposite top, was found near Shuroobod, not far from Kulob, at 1,940m. Opposite below, Another unusual Iris, which we are ascribing to Iris aff. bucharica. At the same location as Iris korolkowii we found Iris lineata, above and right, growing in a slightly moist grassy area. This is yet another plant that can vary tremendously in colour.
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The Registan was at the heart of ancient Samarkand and means ‘Sandy Place’. The ensemble of the three madrasah, build between 1417 and 1660, is a unique example of Islamic architecture and town planning, with the buildings set in a very aesthetic arrangement in the main square. The mosaics and carvings in the buildings are remarkable. Opposite, the village of Zeravshan is built into a hillside at the north end of the Ansob tunnel, and a spectacular view (looking south) along the Ansob Pass at 2,600m.
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EXPLORATION
Scilla puschkinioides, above, is another snowmelt plant, flowering in early spring. Arnebia coerulea, left, a member of the Boraginaceae, is a steppe dweller and is often found growing in beautiful meadows. It has very striking dark claret markings on the petals.
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Rosa kokanica, above, was seen often on our trip. It doesn’t have much of a scent but its vibrant yellow flowers announce its presence. As we drove alongside the Panj River from Kalaikhumb heading south to Khorugh we saw stands of Allium cf. stipitatum, right, growing to about 1m tall by the roadside. MARCH 2016
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Eranthis longistipitata, above, grew on a wet bank where snow had just melted. Vinca erecta, left, was seen only once in Tajikistan near Kalaikhumb. It reaches 20cm in height. Opposite, we finish with a flurry of four plants. Clockwise from top left, Iris magnifica, Fritillaria bucharica, Iris vicaria and Ixiolirion tataricum. 96
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STEPPE PLANTS
Familiar garden plants are steeped in the steppes
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emi-arid mountain ranges and their related steppes, which cover a significant portion of the Earth’s land masses, harbour an amazing diversity of plants. For instance, many horticulturally and even economically important plants originate in the steppe of central Asia. Just a few examples are tulips, delphiniums, peonies, foxtail lilies (Eremurus), the ancestors of modern roses, apples, peaches, apricots, rhubarb, wheat and peas. Research suggests that humanity evolved near the edge of the South African steppe, yet over millennia we have left the steppes largely behind, building great civilisations and cities in more temperate climates. We have even succeeded in breeding and selecting the ‘steppe’ out of many of the plants from these habitats, making them more amenable to cultivation in maritime or humid continental climates. In northern Europe, countless apple cultivars were developed, towering delphiniums grace British borders, and most non-gardeners probably think that tulips originated in Holland. Let’s start our journey in the steppe that humanity first trod upon. South Africa’s amazingly diverse and beautiful flora has seduced botanists and gardeners alike. The native people depended on it for food, shelter, medicine and found
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Mike Kintgen of Denver Botanic Gardens is one of the co-authors of the book Steppes, published last year. Here he looks at the horticultural importance of steppes, which have provided a wealth of plants for our gardens beauty and inspiration in it. Floristically it is the most distinct from the other three steppes in Asia and North and South America, but nonetheless shares many similarities with them. The same major plant families are represented, such as Asteraceae, Poaceae, Brassicaceae, Fabaceae, Rosaceae and Ranunculaceae, but some of the more exotic plant families in South Africa are not found on the other steppes. The most familiar plants horticulturally from the steppe of South Africa would include Delosperma, Kniphofia, Osteospermum, Eucomis and Gazania. Through the work of Panayoti Kelaidis and my colleagues at Denver Botanic Gardens, the hardy Delosperma have changed the face of North American horticulture. Hardy to –30C or even lower in dry winter conditions depending on the species, they are able to flourish where few other succulents THE ALPINE GARDENER
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An interplanting of Delosperma doing well at the Denver Botanic Gardens
dare to grow. Very few succulents offer such bright colours in a mass display or for such a long flowering season. Most of the gem-like flowers of hardy cacti last for just a few days as opposed to the weeks and perhaps even months for which many Delosperma can flower. Others offering excellent garden performance include Kniphofia, hardy Osteospermum, Gazania, Ruschia and Berkheya. Reports from elsewhere would suggest that many of these genera are even more tolerant of cold and wet than the succulent Delosperma. Kniphofia MARCH 2016
caulescens, northiae, triangularis and hirsuta are all excellent additions to the perennial or meadow garden. K. hirsuta is small enough to fit in most rock gardens and its leaves are short. K. northiae is so structural that it could be used as a specimen plant similar to a Yucca or Agave. Following humanity’s path across the continents, we come to the Eurasian steppe, perhaps the most familiar to AGS members. Steppe is a Russian word, and in fact Kiev was founded near the western end of this great mosaic of at 99
STEPPE PLANTS
Kniphofia triangularis hybrids at Denver Botanic Gardens
times grassy, shrubby or even desert-like biome as it weaves it way, first in patches and then in a broad swathe, from the Iberian peninsula to Manchuria. It is always in the rain shadow of a mountain range and bridges the transition from the forests in the north to the deserts and Mediterranean habitats of the south. As already mentioned, modern humanity owes much to the plants of this steppe. Not only did its rich and nutritional flora help civilisations to develop, its beauty has graced and inspired countless works of art from paintings to Persian rugs. Spanning two continents, this is by far the largest steppe. In fact all the other steppes could 100
probably fit easily inside the footprint of the Eurasian steppe. So rich is its flora that it is hard to single out horticulturally important plants. I think we can do it justice by saying look at your garden, alpine house or even an issue of The Alpine Gardener and now imagine it without tulips, crocuses, irises and dozens of other bulbous genera, dionysias, many peonies, poppies, foxtail lilies, yellow roses – the list goes on and on. Needless to say, our gardens would be greatly diminished. Always on the lookout for something better, humanity spilled across the Eurasian steppe and crossed the Bering land bridge into North America. THE ALPINE GARDENER
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Mike Kintgen’s garden in spring with North American and Eurasian steppe plants
Research and theories vary about the exact dates of migrations, but all seem to agree that humans rather quickly reached South America. In the North American steppe, the same important families are at play featuring many of the same genera. Krascheninnikovia, Astragalus, Artemisia and many others have second centres of diversity in North America. Some MARCH 2016
of the species we saw in the Eurasian steppe even show up, such as Artemisia frigida and Chamaerhodos erecta. While these plants were familiar to the native Americans who inhabited the steppe, western botanical explorers encountered many new genera in the New World. Penstemon, Castilleja, Eriogonum and Phlox are largely endemic to North America. 101
STEPPE PLANTS It is impossible to imagine rock gardens or alpine houses without at least a few of these genera. Perhaps more than those from other steppes, ornamental grasses from the eastern half of the North American steppe have infiltrated horticulture. Contemporary plantings owe much to Panicum, Schizachyrium and Sorghastrum. Like the preceding two steppes, the North American steppe has made an indelible mark on horticulture. I cannot imagine my garden without some of its beautiful residents. Finally we arrive on the Patagonian steppe. Nestled at the eastern base of the Andes, it stretches from Mendoza to Tierra del Fuego provinces in Argentina and flirts across the Chilean border. Thanks to the Andes and the Western Cordillera in general, the steppe flora of Patagonia is a wonderful mix of northern familiarities cohabiting with southern hemisphere gems. Once again the same major families are at play. Several of the genera found here echo the plants of the North American or Eurasian steppes: Gentiana, Armeria, Astragalus, Berberis, Franklinia, Ranunculus, Senecio, Viola, Stipa, Poa and Festuca help northern hemisphere
The South African Eucomis bicolor
residents feel at home, while Nassauvia, Chuquiraga, Acaena and Nastanthus have you wondering not just which continent they are on, but which planet.
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ike Kintgen will be one of the speakers at the 2016 North American Rock Garden Society conference from June 22-27 in Denver and Steamboat Springs, Colorado. It will focus on the world’s semi-arid mountain ranges and steppes. The conference opens at Denver Botanic Gardens, which has a large alpine and steppe collection, a new crevice garden and steppe-related exhibits. Steamboat Springs is an historic ranching town on the edge of the steppe and at the base of the Southern Rockies. Other speakers include Johan Nilson from Gothenburg Botanical Garden, Marcela Ferreyra from Patagonia, Jim Locklear and Kelly Norris from the North American prairies, Nick Courtens from the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens and Kenton Seth from Colorado. For more details visit the NARGS website.
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Another part of Mike Kintgen’s garden featuring plants from all four steppes
Despite these similarities to the two northern steppes, Patagonia is the most poorly represented in horticulture. We all know the plants from photographs and perhaps even from the show bench, but for reasons not quite clear this remains the final frontier for garden plant introductions. The steppes have only partially shared their horticultural wealth with us. Potentially hardy Protea and other gems wait in South Africa, and each year seed lists from Czech collectors brim with species I have never heard of from the Eurasian steppe. North American Astragalus, Castilleja, the choicest MARCH 2016
Penstemon and Eriogonum taunt us with their reluctance to settle down in most gardens. We must work hard to ensure that the steppes continue to enrich our gardens and that they are preserved as important natural resources, places of beauty and wonder, and a homeland of sorts for humanity.
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PLANTS FROM OUR SHOWS
FARRER MEDAL WINNERS 2015 KENT AUTUMN Sternbergia sicula (Lee & Julie Martin) LOUGHBOROUGH AUTUMN Cyclamen maritimum (Ian Robertson) NEWCASTLE (SRGC Forrest Medal) Gaultheria ‘John Saxton’ (Keith & Rachel Lever) HARLOW CARR Cyclamen colchicum (Dave Riley)
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yclamen are undeniably and unfailingly the dazzling troupers that form the backbone of the autumn shows, so it is fitting that we feature them in this review of 2015’s four end-of-season events. Where better to start than with C. hederifolium, present in virtually all its floral and foliar variations at the last gathering, held for the first time at RHS Harlow Carr? Here, as at the previous three events, two classes, in both the large and small Open Section, were devoted to the ‘group’. The show rules acknowledge that C. confusum is now a separate species while debate continues over the exact position of C. hederifolium subsp. crassifolium. The flowers overall vary relatively little in form. Their size, however, is another matter, with the largest almost 4cm long. Their overwhelmingly demure, down-turned deportment is reversed in the freakish variant ‘Stargazer’, which gapes upwards in ungainly fashion, as if throttled and turned on its head. Of the more orthodox variants, Anne Vale’s f. albiflorum had barely come into leaf, but crammed a truly remarkable number of blooms into its tightly packed 19cm pot. This was a chaste example, but some specialists
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Sensational Cyclamen 2015 SHOWS FEATURED: Kent Autumn, Loughborough Autumn, Newcastle, Harlow Carr COMPILED FROM REPORTS BY: Don Peace, Eric Jarrett, Peter Hood and Robert Rolfe
get very pernickety indeed about even the faintest tinge of pink around the nose of the flower, as if this slightest of stains makes them inadmissible for inclusion under this subheading. Mid-pink through to dark purplishpink permutations were also exhibited, none of them quite as floriferous. Bog-standard C. hederifolium has perfectly pleasant but rather subdued foliage, ivy-like – despite the epithet – in only the wildest imaginings. However, since the middle of the last century at least, extraordinary variations have been selected and fixed by line-breeding, from samplings made both in cultivation and in the wild, where the range can often be very diverse. One of the finest THE ALPINE GARDENER
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Above, Anne Vale’s Cyclamen hederifolium f. albiflorum bore a remarkable number of flowers. Right, the striking C. h. ‘Tilebarn Shirley’ shown by Steve Walters
examples is that discrete collection of descendants presently conceived as Bowles’s Apollo Group, representing plants sired by a virtuoso seedling MARCH 2016
selected by Gerard Parker at Myddleton House (onetime garden of E.A. Bowles). In this, strictly speaking, the leaf blade has an extensive silver ground, divided 105
PLANTS FROM OUR SHOWS by an elaborate green zoning and then the whole typically pink-flushed, though this latter coloration sometimes fades away fairly early on. Steve Walters staged a resplendent flag-carrier, with an abundance of mid-pink flowers attesting to its floral as well as its foliar excellence. Other variations have especially deeply lobed leaves, or conversely they can be more or less entire, either narrow or very broad, and in some there is no patterning whatsoever, the entire surface being silvered or pewtertinged, as with ‘Nettleton Silver’ and ‘White Cloud’. A few take on seemingly artificial, house plant-like guises. Steve also showed perhaps the most extreme of these, ‘Tilebarn Shirley’, whose narrowly ovate leaves have a creamy-white central blaze and a broad, darkish green margin, the almost waxy, large and pure white flowers hovering on sturdy stems. Almost 20 years ago, when the rare Caucasian endemic C. colchicum was first shown to the Joint Rock Garden Plant Committee by RBG Kew, Michael Upward proclaimed that its name was nonsensical. Versed in both Latin and Russian, he was being typically mischievous, for he was perfectly well aware that the specific epithet derived from Colchis, a classical region of onetime Asia Minor to the east of the Black Sea. In print, of course, it looks like the name of one genus piled incongruously upon that of another, as does, for example, Campanula saxifraga (from the same range of mountains) and the northwestern American Senecio soldanella. These coinings are all legitimate, if a little 106
unusual and seemingly oxymoronic. C. colchicum remains uncommon in gardens and in the wild, where it is only known from its type locality in Abkhazia, and since 2010 from another localised population in western Georgia. Now it is offered by at least one specialist nursery and appears in a small number of seed lists. Cross-pollination is recommended where two or more plants are to hand, since it can otherwise remain resolutely barren year after year. Such had been the case with Mike and Christine Brown’s plant, handed to its present owner, Dave Riley, almost on a whim, after Christine had meticulously removed the spent flowers one and all, unaware that her husband had painstakingly been at work with an artist’s paintbrush, determined to engineer a seed set. By that time the tuber was around ten years old. It has subsequently been repotted several times (in early autumn), the compost heavily laced with leaf-mould but well-drained. This has clearly served it well and it was awarded the Farrer Medal at the Harlow Carr Show. It is surprising, however, that the clay pan selected was so shallow, when one thinks of the deep pots routinely used to accommodate C. graecum and C. hederifolium. That said, it typically tucks itself into steep limestone cliff crevices, and as such is accustomed to root restriction. The altitude range is from 300-1,400m and its hardiness doesn’t appear to be problematic under cold glass. Even so, it is very unusual indeed to see it planted outdoors. The flowering period is given THE ALPINE GARDENER
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Dave Riley’s Cyclamen colchicum lifted the Farrer Medal at the AGS’s first show at RHS Garden Harlow Carr
as June to October, but in cultivation it can flower as early as June, sometimes even before the first of the new leaves (it is almost evergreen but will defoliate if kept dryish in the summer), alongside last year’s only just ripened seed capsules. C. colchicum is most closely related to south-central European C. purpurascens, which has alternatively been christened C. europaeum, with its disjunct, Russian relative given as var./subsp. ponticum. It differs in its thicker leaves, which can be edged with palish pimples and are typically patterned silvery-grey towards the margin in a quietly attractive fashion but are occasionally plain green,
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as with the selection ‘Deirdre’, to date the only cultivar widely canvassed. The flowers are often highly fragrant, a character very apparent in the confines of a warm greenhouse, and up to 22mm long, the petals more pronouncedly twisted longitudinally in the plant shown than in others, where they can be only half the size and described as ‘dumpy’. An albino example has apparently not been recorded but, as with almost all other species, it is surely only a matter of time before one crops up.
Full show reports and more pictures can be seen on the AGS website 107
KENT AUTUMN SHOW
Pictures: Jon Evans
Sternbergia sicula (Lee & Julie Martin) There were fine showings of this brightest of autumn bulbs in 2015, but the exhibitors – whose seaside Sussex garden affords this and other Mediterranean bulbs nighperfect conditions – won both a Farrer Medal and the Keith Moorhouse Trophy (for the best plant in a 19cm pot) with dazzling material worked up from the same stock. Cyclamen rohlfsianum (Joy Bishop) Not only did she win the Saunders Award (with Cyclamen graecum, a strikingly, zonally leaf-patterned and floriferous example), but Joy also had a fine specimen of this lowland Libyan outlier, thought to have been brought into cultivation in the 1920s and seldom seen on the show bench, though it has been exhibited to Farrer Medal standard. Sempervivum arachnoideum ‘Parson’s form’ (Ian Sharpe) This sometimes very densely cobwebbed species is surely the best of all houseleeks, as attractive in flower as in its Spirograph-woven rosette selections. More than 20 clones are presently offered, but none comes close to rivalling the slightly oval, whiter-than-white, web-spun rosettes of this reliable and commensurately long-lived exemplar. 108
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LOUGHBOROUGH AUTUMN SHOW
Pictures: Jon Evans
Crocus hadriaticus (Ian Robertson) This southern Greek Crocus has blood-red, tripartite stigmas and white (rarely lilac-tinged) perianth segments, yellow at the base. E.A. Bowles lamented the susceptibility of the large corms to disease and pest damage, yet stock he grew from a Tripolis gathering continues to prosper. Sternbergia sicula (Jim McGregor) Of the four Certificates of Merit he garnered for bulbs in 2016, this was Jim’s most exuberant recipient, blazing bright yellow on a dull day. Once deemed only suitable for cultivation under glass, in truth it performs creditably outdoors in gardens throughout the UK, the best results from a well-drained (preferably alkaline) fertile soil, full sun and a dry summer. Petrocosmea cryptica (Anne Vale) For many years only two species were in cultivation. Since the late 1990s that number has greatly increased (e.g. P. melanophthalma, described from Yunnan in 2013). Julian Shaw’s 2011 coining for material distributed by the one-time Chen Yi nursery from c. 1998 onwards as P. rosettifolia is under review: a number of white, lavender and pink-flowered variants are presently referred to this, the clone ‘Whirlpool’ having greenishyellow veined leaves. MARCH 2016
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NEWCASTLE SHOW
Pictures: Peter Maguire and Robert Rolfe
Gaultheria ‘John Saxton’ (Keith & Rachel Lever) Some plants can be trotted out week after week, and indeed this spectacularly berried dwarf shrub appeared at all four autumn shows. Initially shown as a form of G. crassa, it is now suspected of hybridity, its characters departing from that widespread New Zealander, which can be up to 1m tall. Aberconwy Nursery has been distributing stocks. Aruncus aethusifolius (Mike Dale) Often considered in the same bracket as Astilbe, but belonging to Rosaceae (not Saxifragaceae) and most diverse in its easternmost occurrences, in some treatments the genus has been reduced to just two species, with A. dioicus accounting for many subordinate taxa. This Korean is typically much dwarfer. Oxalis perdicaria ‘Cetrino’ (Ivor Betteridge) This South American has seen numerous name changes but last year the same material was dubbed O. perdicaria var. mallobolba – yet O. mallobolba had previously been relegated as a synonym of O. perdicaria. The latter is a Latinised version of ‘partridge’: sticking with game birds, there is reason to grouse. 110
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HARLOW CARR SHOW
Pictures: Robert Rolfe and Don Peace
Crocus boryi (Alan Furness) Easily the best display of autumn crocuses was seen at this, the last show of the year. C. boryi is one of the squatter species – typically the goblets of the other late flowerers are held aloft on wineglass perianth tubes up to 20cm tall or more, whereas these were only a quarter that height, white with a yellow throat, albinoanthered and with orange, swizzle-stick stigmas. Cyclamen cilicium (Steve Walters) In recent years it has been forms of C. graecum that have been routinely in contention for the highest awards at the autumn shows, but at Harlow Carr this southern Turkish species was to the fore. This was a palish pink form, purple-nosed and with a characteristically powerful scent of honey. Astonishing that so many flowers were produced from a tuber at most 10cm across! Galanthus reginae-olgae ‘Anmarie Kee’ (Anne Wright) Twin-scaling, the preferred way of increasing rare snowdrops, can sometimes mutate their characters when they first flower. As such, the green-tipped outers of this introduction from the Langada valley in the Peloponnese, courtesy of Czech expeditioner Valstimil Pilous, were not apparent in the vigorous panful on show, though the bulbs were already doublenosed, producing up to five 18cm tall stems apiece. MARCH 2016
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he legal protection of plants is a complex and fascinating subject. The measures used include protecting specific sites or habitats, restricting trade, and action to preserve individual species. But when considering ‘how’ we should protect a particular group of plants or their habitats, we must also consider ‘why’ it is important to do so. This is necessary because our reason for protecting plants will guide us towards the appropriate measures. If, for example, we want to protect plants so that we can grow them in our gardens, we may not be able to support laws that prohibit their removal from the wild for commercial purposes. Why should the AGS concern itself with such questions? Clearly we love alpines: we marvel at the plants on the show benches, we empty our wallets to purchase the latest cultivars, and the more adventurous of us climb mountains to photograph them in wild. These are all very worthy pastimes, but should this be the end of our involvement? Or should we expand our thinking to consider the wider ecological role played by alpines? The simple answer to the question of ‘why’ we should protect alpines is that we value them. Identifying what ‘value’ is, however, is not straightforward. I am going to suggest four ways in which we value alpines, but before I do I’d like to make three key points. First, my four interpretations of value are not mutually exclusive, and a plant may hold more than one. Second, knowing the context is essential. In the wild, for example, we want to see plants such as
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Just how do we assess the true value of alpines? AGS member Rob Amos, who is studying for a PhD in the legal protection of plants at Sussex University, argues that our love of alpines should not stop at the garden gate or the show bench. Indeed we owe them a great deal.
Gypsophila aretioides growing naturally, but on the show bench we would be disappointed with anything less than a perfect cushion. Related to this is the third point, which is that a plant will be valued differently by different people. In 2011 a single bulb of Galanthus plicatus ‘E.A. Bowles’ sold on eBay for £357. While undoubtedly an attractive plant, I, and I am sure many others, would never pay such a sum. To consider a plant’s value, perhaps it would help to think of a horizontal scale. At one end is instrumental value – a plant’s direct value to humans. This could be based on the uses to which it can be put. There have been recent THE ALPINE GARDENER
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Gypsophila aretioides near Veresk, Iran – magnificent even with imperfections
studies into Colchicum autumnale as a cancer treatment, for example, but in the AGS instrumental value is more commonly expressed as commercial value. One reason many people attend shows is to purchase alpines so, to the nurseries, the plants have a commercial value. This does not mean the people behind the stalls don’t also appreciate the non-commercial value of plants, but first and foremost these plants are how they make their living. Perhaps one of the strongest reasons for valuing and protecting plants is their as yet undiscovered benefits – their potential instrumental value. A plant that seems to have little value today may turn MARCH 2016
out to be tomorrow’s miracle cure, as the trials into C. autumnale demonstrate. Allowing species to become extinct means we risk losing possibly our only chance of finding remedies to otherwise incurable diseases. This is one of the most powerful arguments in favour of conservation. Moving along our horizontal scale we find inherent value. This relates more to the enjoyment and appreciation of plants rather than their exploitation. They can be associated with, for example, spiritual, cultural, recreational and psychological uses, but for the AGS it is the aesthetic value of plants that takes centre stage. We value alpines because we delight in 113
CONSERVATION seeing them, discussing and learning about them at shows, in gardens and in the wild. Indeed the AGS community is founded on a shared understanding of the inherent value of alpines. Next on our sliding scale we come to ecological value. A lot has been written about this, but it is worryingly absent from legal scholarship. Humans depend on healthy ecosystems in order not only to thrive but to survive. This is not, however, the principal concern of ecological value. Instead it is an acknowledgement that everything in the natural world, from the high alpine species of the Himalayas to the snow leopards that hunt between them, has a role to play in a complex ecosystem that has taken millions of years to evolve. It would make sense, you might think, for international law and policy to take the ecological value of nature as its starting point, but this is far from being the case. Moving to the other end of the value scale we come to intrinsic value. Commentators argue over exactly what intrinsic value is, but a fairly uncontroversial definition is that it is the value something has regardless of its worth to or relationship with others. It is particularly popular with supporters of the philosophy of deep ecology, which stresses the importance of wilderness and the need to recognise that humanity is an equal part of the natural world. For the purposes of conservation policy, however, intrinsic value is flawed. Firstly, as Professor Stuart Harrop points out in Trade-Offs in Conservation: Deciding What to Save (2010), basing conservation on intrinsic value would mean that we would have to conserve 114
the Anopheles mosquito, which is responsible for the deaths of millions of people through the transmission of malaria. Of course, allowing the Anopheles mosquito to become extinct simply because it spreads a disease fatal to humans raises other ethical questions, but that is a debate for another time. Suffice to say that this would be a poor choice of flagship species for any conservation organisation! More significant in my view is that appreciating the intrinsic value of a particular species does not mean we have to protect its ecological function. We could respect the intrinsic value of alpines simply by keeping them in collections, but this would not preserve the role they play in their natural habitats. Of course not everything has purely positive value, but by definition it is impossible for something to have negative intrinsic value, bearing in mind this is independent of any relationships with other entities. Even monocarpic species such as Saxifraga longifolia, which could be said to undermine its own existence by undergoing a process that results in its death, does not have negative intrinsic value. It is part of what makes a S. longifolia a S. longifolia and therefore contributes to its intrinsic value. Alpine growers are well acquainted with things that have negative instrumental and inherent value. Anything that has eaten its way through a prized collection has negative value, as the plants can no longer be seen or sold. The best example of things which have negative ecological value are alien and invasive species, such as Hyacinthoides hispanica (the THE ALPINE GARDENER
PETER SHEASBY
CONSERVATION
Colchicum autumnale is being researched for use in the treatment of cancer
Spanish bluebell), which outcompetes native flora or fauna and destabilises the functioning of the ecosystem. Of course in some cases the invasive species takes over the ecological value of the native species, but this is another aspect of the value debate which I shall not go into here. So how do these different values influence the laws and policies intended to protect alpines and the rest of the natural world? The law can seem like a rather dry and obscure foreign language, but if we want our world to have any kind of future we must try to tease out its intentions. Here I focus on international law, as this is my main area of research, MARCH 2016
but my comments could equally be applied to domestic environmental law. A study of various treaties and other instruments concerned with the protection of nature reveals a fairly depressing picture. With one or two exceptions, such as the 1982 World Heritage Convention which focuses on inherent value, the overwhelming emphasis is on instrumental value. This is expressed in two ways. First, phrases such as ‘sustainable use’ or ‘sustainable management’ are common and are often made the objective of international conservation policy. In fact in some instruments the definition of ‘sustainable use’ suggests it is the means 115
CONSERVATION of conservation. Article 2 of the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity, for example, defines it as ‘the use of components of biological diversity in a way and at a rate that does not lead to the long-term decline of biological diversity, thereby maintaining its potential to meet the needs and aspiration of present and future generations’. This is a sound definition of ‘sustainable use’ and one that recognises the need to protect biodiversity against longterm decline. However, the reference to present and future generations shows that the Convention is concerned with preserving nature for the benefit of humans, rather than for nature itself. Not only is biodiversity being conserved to meet humanity’s needs but also its aspirations, which arguably legitimises the status quo of over-consumption and excessive exploitation. Lastly, there is no definition of ‘conservation’ in the text of this treaty, and so there is little to balance this emphasis on sustainable use. The second way the instrumental value of nature is expressed is through the principle of ‘permanent sovereignty over natural resources’ (PSNR), which grants states the right to exploit their natural resources however they wish, without interference from other states. No state can be forced to sign a treaty if it does not wish to do so, and PSNR is found in the majority of treaties. PSNR is found in the majority of treaties. Each text varies slightly, but all are along the lines of: ‘States have the sovereign right to exploit their natural resources pursuant to their own environmental and development policies.’ Until recently this meant that, if they wished, 116
countries could totally destroy their natural environment without breaching international law. However, I share the view of some academics who believe that PSNR has developed so that it now contains a requirement of responsible management. There are also other principles such as ‘no harm’ that must be taken into account. This says that states must act with reasonable care to ensure their activities do not have a negative impact on the environment of another state, but this has never been interpreted as a direct limitation on a state’s right to exploit its own resources, or resources found beyond national jurisdictions such as fish. Not all international instruments are legally binding. Some are simply expressions of collective concern that have proven too controversial to be given legal force. One such instrument is the 2007 Non-Legally Binding Instrument on All Types of Forests (A/RES/62/98). Here, too, we find expressions of instrumental value. The introductory preamble includes the principle of PSNR, and Article 6(j) calls on States to: ‘Encourage recognition of the range of values derived from goods and services provided by all types of forests and trees outside forests, as well as ways to reflect such values in the marketplace, consistent with national legislation and policies’ (emphasis added). In my view the only possible explanation for the almost total lack of regard for the ecological value of nature in international environmental law is that the international community has decided the instrumental value of nature is more important. As a result, THE ALPINE GARDENER
CONSERVATION
The fact that Saxifraga longifolia is monocarpic contributes to its intrinsic value. It is a weakness but it makes the plant what it is.
even in instruments which have ‘nonbinding’ in their title, which depending on your degree of cynicism is either unimaginative naming or paranoia on the part of states, national governments are unwilling to introduce anything into international law that could be interpreted as a limitation on their selfgranted right to exploit their natural resources in whatever way they see fit. So the law, at present, focuses on the sustainable use of nature, both as the purpose and method of conservation. This is good for humans, except that MARCH 2016
every year we lose more and more species that make up Earth’s lifesupporting systems. The unfortunate conclusion I have reached is that nongovernmental organisations and other environmentalists must abandon efforts to get strict protection measures included in international agreements. The treaties that exist show that even if they are included, states will undermine them by either phrasing them in weak language or by linking them with an explicit statement on their rights to exploit their natural resources. Instead, efforts must focus on introducing stronger controls on sustainable use. Some of you are no doubt crying ‘No!’, but the reasoning for this is sound. There might be greater long-term benefits for the natural world if countries are willing to accept the tighter controls because they are in line with the instrumental values they place on nature. Take the 1973 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) as an example. In my previous article in the June 2014 edition of The Alpine Gardener, I noted that CITES is considered by lawyers to be one of the most successful conservation treaties currently in force, whereas the Convention on Biological Diversity is fatally undermined by soft language. It is no small coincidence, I suggest, that the former is based on nature’s instrumental value while one of the objectives of the latter was to reflect the interconnectedness of the natural world – its ecological value. What does all this mean for the AGS? Firstly, it is important to note that there is nothing wrong with recognising, nor 117
CONSERVATION RICHARD NUTT
Alpines have important ecological value in areas such as the Dauphine Alps
indeed celebrating, the instrumental and inherent value of alpines provided that we accept the limitations of this. The inherent value we place on alpines is self-evident and a passionate advocacy of this is how we seek to attract new members to the Society. If we are to have a wider impact on the conservation of alpines in their natural habitats we must make greater efforts to acknowledge their ecological value. Keeping specimen plants for showing is not a sound basis for conservation in the wild, and telling someone about a population of a plant on a spot on a mountain (storytelling being another expression of inherent value) only 118
reveals a fraction of the importance of that plant to its ecosystem. AGS members must make a collective effort to educate both ourselves and the public of the ecological value of alpine plants, whether it’s because they provide a source of food for ants in return for seed dispersal, as with some Cyclamen, or, like Narcissus, supply nectar for bees and other pollinators. If we get this message across, positive change will happen, like in plants, from the roots up. Rob Amos welcomes any feedback and comments. Please email r.amos@sussex.ac.uk THE ALPINE GARDENER
ISSN 1475-0449