MY NEW WORLD
Follow Monty’s travels as he explores the gardens of America
February 2020
VEG FROM SEED
LOOKING SHARP
Revealed! Alan’s cacti obsession – is it time you joined the club?
Sow now and save £££s on tasty veg with Carol’s simple guide
THE UK’S NO.1 GARDENING MAGAZINE
Grow your own
PROTEIN
Homegrown & healthy 5 winter remedies from your garden
Expert guide to
hellebores ON T E ST
Border spades
SAVE OUR HEDGEHOGS Simple projects to help them NOW
PLUS are you doing enough for garden wildlife?
THE UK’s NO.1 CARPET WASHER ** Proven to clean better than the leading rental ^
Remove up to 93% of bacteria and deep clean your carpets. Leaves your carpets dry in as little as 1 hour*
Order today and receive your
Our best ever
Simple to use
We’re obsessed with removing bacteria from our homes, but what about our carpets? Even if vacuuming makes them look spotless, potentially harmful stuff could still be living deep down - a layer of bacteria that can’t be removed by vacuuming alone, even in short pile carpets. The new Vax Platinum is our best ever carpet washer, cleaning your carpets 5 times better than a high performance vacuum cleaner^. It handles just like a regular vacuum, is simple to use and you can get rid of up to 93% of bacteria easily.
Fill one tank with water and the other with Vax Platinum Solution – our best ever carpet cleaning solution – then AutoMix does the rest. There’s no measuring, just pour it in and you’re ready to go. When you’re done just tip the dirty water away. Our Quick Clean function will have your carpet dry again in as little as 1 hour*.
Patented smart technology It’s packed with smart technology, treating the carpet with a precise mix of water and Vax Platinum solution. Our patented SpinScrub Technology and powerful XL brush bar agitate the carpet in two different directions, pushing the solution into the fibres before the bacteria and dirt are sucked away. In fact, the Vax Platinum cleans carpets better than the leading rental^. ** Vax Platinum Power Max. Sales by Value, UK market data for Wet & Wash Jan 2018 – Dec 2018 ^ Cleaning e�ectiveness on carpet, tested in deep clean mode according to IEC 628853:2014 part 5.2.1. For further information email claimsinfo@vax.co.uk * Tested in quick clean mode. Results may vary. Orders before 5pm Monday-Friday will be next day delivery. Outside of these times, orders will be despatched next working day. O�er only while stocks last.
Clean more than just your carpets The new Vax Platinum comes loaded with handy tools. The pre-treatment wand helps you get busy areas clean with ease. The SpinScrub tool and hose give your car interior, stairs and upholstery a deep-down clean; allowing you to remove the most stubborn of stains.
FREE STEAM CLEANER worth £69.99 (While stocks last)
Converts into a handheld
PLATINUM P R O F ES S I O N A L S O LU T I O N
PLUS RECEIVE 2X FREE PLATINUM SOLUTION (250ML)
USE ON STAIRS
USE ON UPHOLSTERY Our best deep clean. Antibacterial. Oxy lift removes tough stains & revitalises carpets.
The stretch hose makes cleaning stairs easy
Effective hand tools are perfect for upholstery
Protects your carpets with CarpetGuard. DON’T FORGET YOUR PLATINUM PROFESSIONAL SOLUTION
VAXUK0570
ORDER DIRECT TODAY AND RECEIVE A FREE STEAM CLEANER WORTH £69.99 FOR A LIMITED TIME, THE VAX PLATINUM CARPET WASHER IS AVAILABLE FOR JUST £249 INCLUDING A FREE STEAM CLEANER, 2 x 250ML PLATINUM SOLUTION AND FREE DELIVERY. WHILE STOCKS LAST.
CALL: 0800 0116 580 Web: vax.co.uk
4
EASY PAYMENTS AVAILABLE
Welcome
Discover more from Gardeners’ World Magazine Our award-winning app
Has there ever been a better time to be a gardener? We have more plant choices than ever, more gardens open for inspiration, more opportunities to swap ideas online and social media… and more knowledge than ever before of how vital it is that we garden. Vital to all of us – not just for our wellbeing but for our environment.
Keep up to date while you’re on the move with our digital edition, made for iPhone and iPad. Get extra content plus videos from Monty and the team, plus access to our subscriber-only, online Secret Garden. Pay from £4.99 an issue in the App Store. See: bit.ly/GW-digital
Highgrove events Explore the private garden of HRH The Prince of Wales, and be entertained by talks from top gardeners, in the Talking Gardens festival this April. Go to highgrovegardens. com/talkinggardens
PHOTOS: JASON INGRAM, ANDREW BUTLER/HIGHGROVE. EDITOR’S PORTRAIT BY SARAH CUTTLE, TAKEN AT THE QUEEN ELIZABETH HALL ROOF GARDEN, SOUTHBANK CENTRE, LONDON (OPEN MAY-SEPT: SOUTHBANKCENTRE.CO.UK)
New Year, new skills Boost your gardening skills through our Masterclasses in March. Choose from seed sowing or pruning, at Savill Gardens, Windsor. Places cost £75: book at gardeners world.com/savill-garden
Caribbean dream The gardens of the Caribbean should be on every gardener’s bucket list – so turn dream into reality with our bespoke, 14-night cruise in Feb-Mar 2021. Discover more on p78.
The more we learn about the climate emergency, the clearer it is that tackling the biggest problems starts with the smallest actions – affirmed by David Attenborough, no less, when he called on us all to garden more for the sake of the planet (see Clippings). To highlight this, our key theme this month is gardening for wildlife. Everything we do in our gardens can either harm or bene it the creatures with whom we’re lucky enough to share the space, from the smallest insect, spider or woodlouse up. The key to making your space bene icial is to observe, go slowly and tread lightly but never stop gardening because, with care, it is a force for good. As a starter, see our garden wildlife report, from p80, and its recommended actions. Share with us what you’re doing in your garden to bene it wildlife and we’ll publish the best over the coming months. And together we can make this a year of change, turning small, individual steps into collectively big results. We’re gardeners – we’ve got the power!
Ways to contact us SUBSCRIPTIONS – 03330 162123 Including new subscription orders or queries, missing covermount gifts and magazine slipcase orders. Email gardeners.world@buysubscriptions.com Phone line open Mon-Fri 8am-6pm, Sat 9am-1pm. GARDENERS’ WORLD OFFERS – 020 7150 5780 Email offers@gardenersworld.com MAGAZINE EDITORIAL – 020 7150 5770 Email magazine@gardenersworld.com or letters for publication to: letters@gardenersworld.com. Phone line open in office hours, Mon-Fri 9.30am-5.30pm.
Monty will share tales from Longmeadow and more in our event at Kings Place, London
Lucy Hall, Editor
@lucyhall_GW
PS Don’t miss our exclusive reader event in London with Monty on 21 May, where he’ll reveal the story of Longmeadow and life away from the cameras. Tickets are very limited – turn to p65.
Keep up to date with us at facebook.com/GWmagazine January 2020
pinterest.com/gwmag
twitter.com/gwmag
instagram.com/gardenersworldmag gardenersworld.com
3
Contents
February 2020
WE LOVE... We love February 6 Expert’s choice: primroses 14 Full Monty 19 Have your say: readers’ letters 20 Over the fence 22 Clippings: news and views 24
DO IT NOW Carol’s guide to sowing veg from seed 30 Herbal remedies for winter health 36 Celebrate hellebores 44 Alan’s cactus revival 72 What to prune this month 100
BE INSPIRED Miniature flowering jewels in pots 52 Monty reveals the gardens of America 58 We visit a beautiful prairie-style plot 66 Grow your own protein 96 On test: spades 105
WILDLIFE We reveal garden wildlife winners and losers, plus how you can lend a hand 80 Save our hedgehogs 90
80
Wildlife special Wi p Discover the state of our nation’s garden wildlife
Q&A Gardeners’ Question Time 132
LAST WORDS Crossword 136 Next month 153 Tales from Titchmarsh 154
ON TE ST
105
We put spades through their paces
30
Carol on sowing veg seed
4
gardenersworld.com
58
Monty’s American adventure
February 2020
On e cover
offers
58 30 72 96 36
16
Crocosmia attracts pollinators from summer to late autumn
44
FREE 85 wildlife-friendly bulbs, worth over £50, plus other offers 16
105 90
SUBSCRIBER COMPETITION Win a European river cruise, worth £6,000 23 Cover photo: A young hedgehog, photographed by Klein & Hubert/naturepl.com
SUBSCRIPTION OFFER 12 issues for just £44.99 28 OFFER 20% on begonias 48 READER EVENT Hear Monty in conversation as he reveals secrets about life in his TV garden 65 TRAVEL Explore Caribbean gardens 78 HOLIDAYS Tours of Madeira, plus Lake Garda, Venice and Verona 89 SAVE up to £40 on snowdrops 104
72
OFFER Savings on forsythia 129
Alan extols the virtues of cactus
SUBSCRIBE and save 29% 152
YOUR PLANNER Expert hellebore growers reveal the secrets to these gorgeous flowers
50 THINGS TO DO THIS MONTH
52 36
Frances reveals how to create your own herbal remedies
February 2020
90
Petite and pretty container displays
Save our hedgehogs
Monty’s month 115 Flowers 118 Back to basics 120 Greenhouse 121 Alan’s job of the month 123 Fruit and veg 124 Around the garden 127
gardenersworld.com
PHOTOS: SARAH CUTTLE; GETTY/TSEKHMISTER, ED RESCHKE; JASON INGRAM.
44
5
We love February for tantalising glimmers of springg 6
gardenersworld.com
February 2020
We
February
Traditionally, this month is about cleansing (after the Latin word februum, which means puri ication). Having survived the excesses of Christmas and the perennially disappointing bun ight that is New Year, we are girding ourselves for spring. Breathing in lungfuls of ice-cold air, we are sitting in front of ires and (possibly) still sticking to our resolution to always take the stairs (instead of lifts) and go regularly to yoga classes. In the garden, it is a time of preparation: attending to the last bits of tidying up, making sure all our tools are sharp and enjoying the irst bulbs of spring. Words by James Alexander-Sinclair
I love all the plants we have on these pages, but it is particularly satisfying when we choose one that I have in my garden. It is quite a new plot and, as a result, I have been doing a lot of plant shopping and moving things around. I am sure that designers should be more methodical and organised, but in my own garden I keep changing my mind. However, one of the unchanged shrubs is this beautiful witch hazel. Scent, zippy colour and great leaves (especially in the autumn) have earned it a permanent place in my sunny border. Easy to grow, as long as it is not too exposed. Propagation is by grafting, so not suitable for beginners. Scented. Height x Spread 4m x 3.5m
February 2020
gardenersworld.com
PHOTO: SARAH CUTTLE, TAKEN AT RHS WISLEY, SURREY
STAR OF THE MONTH Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Rubin’
7
HEAVEN SCENT “Wintertime and the smellin’ is easy” may not rattle off the tongue as easily as the irst line of Summertime from Porgy and Bess, but it is undoubtedly true that winter- lowering shrubs have the best scents. Roses are all well and good, but there is something extra special about catching the smell of a sarcococca on a mizzly, dank February day – guaranteed to put a spring in your step. Sarcococca confusa This is sweet box, a really useful, small, evergreen shrub for borders or pots in a bit of shade. Take cuttings in late summer. H x S 2m x 1m
CREEPING BEAUTY This is a low, ground-covering variety and very useful it is, too – I have it growing under some birch trees, where the ground is so dry and rooty that almost everything else takes one look and refuses to grow. Not so the ever-obliging creeping Oregon grape. I would be lying if I told you that it was an exciting plant, but it does the job, so I forgive all shortcomings. Mahonia repens Excellent source of early-season food for insects. Leaves take on a hint of purple over winter. Scented flowers. H x S 50cm x 100cm
8
gardenersworld.com
February 2020
We
February
COLOUR POTS Greenhouses are not just for tomatoes. If you are lucky enough to have a bit of glass, then getting bulbs to do their thing a little earlier than usual is a good idea. In this combination, the white and blue muscari with the purple and yellow of the iris provide a pretty display for a window ledge or as a table decoration. Iris histrioides ‘George’ Scented flowers. Good in pots or free-draining borders. Sow seed in containers or separate groups in autumn. H x S 12cm x 8cm
PHOTOS: TORIE CHUGG; JASON INGRAM
Muscari azureum and M. aucheri ‘White Magic’ Known as grape hyacinth, as the flowers are like bunches of fruit. Merrily self-seeds, so propagation is easy. Divide clumps when dormant. H x S 15cm x 10cm
February 2020
gardenersworld.com
9
We
February
WILLOWY WANDERINGS Usually when we talk about good winter stems our attention is drawn to the screaming scarlets, yelling yellows and roaring ‘rufousness’ of dogwoods. We must not, however, forget the willows. While not quite as flashy, they still perform during the lean months and, unlike dogwoods, can be woven into hurdles, baskets or (probably) hats. They also grow incredibly fast, so create an excellent quick screen particularly on damp ground. Salix alba Easily grown from cuttings – push a pencil-sized bit of stem into the ground and it will root very quickly. Coppice each spring. H x S 20m x 8m (if allowed to grow into a tree)
DON’T BE SCILLA PHOTOS: SARAH CUTTLE, SALIX AT WAKEHURST, WEST SUSSEX; GETTY/SKYMOON13
This scilla has an alluring name: it is difficult to track down its exact etymology – the internet only offers us a Ukrainian footballer called Andriy Mischenko. Instead, let us imagine that it was named after a concubine with cerulean eyes. An impoverished botanist from the Caucasus fell in love with her and named this scilla after her. Sadly, a jealous prince discovered this affair and both botanist and his lover met a nasty end. Scilla mischtschenkoana Excellent for the edges of borders, in pots or among gravelly rock gardens. Sow seed in pots in a cold frame. H x S 15cm x 10cm
February 2020
gardenersworld.com
11
We
February
HOW MOORISH Plants have provided a vast amount of inspiration to all sorts of artists, so anybody who has walked a moor will be unsurprised that there are a lot of songs about heather, such as Bull in the Heather by Sonic Youth and Purple Heather by Rod Stewart (and Van Morrison). Do not, however, be misled by Leonard Cohen’s Dear Heather, which I suspect is more to do with a person than a plant. Erica carnea ‘Springwood Pink’ Thrives in acid soil, so in many gardens will need to be grown in containers. Very long-flowering season (January to April). H x S 15cm x 30cm
SMALL BUT ZIPPY One of my favourite early irises. This little group (we have another representative this month in Iris histrioides ‘George’ a couple of pages back, cavorting with a muscari) gives a wonderful start to the year. It has splashes of blue and is perfect for containers or the edges of borders. This one looks as if someone has licked a fountain pen at the lowers and dotted every petal with ink spots.
PHOTOS: SARAH CUTTLE; JASON INGRAM
Iris ‘Katharine Hodgkin’ Needs good drainage and a sunny position. Looks good, as here, combined with other small bulbs, such as crocus or Narcissus ‘February Silver’. H x S 12cm x 8cm
12
gardenersworld.com
February 2020
PHOTOS: TORIE CHUGG; SARAH CUTTLE; GETTY/ODILON DIMIER; JASON INGRAM
14
Primula ‘Francisca’
Primula ‘Belarina Valentine’
Pale-green, ruffled flowers, each with a golden heart, held in clusters for a long period. H x S 20cm x 20cm
Fully double and rich-red flowers each set in a ruff of green bracts. A recent British-bred primula. H x S 20cm x 30cm
Primula veris
Primula vulgaris
The wild cowslip has up to 20 small, slightly nodding, yellow flowers on an upright stem. H x S 25cm x 25cm
Pale-yellow blooms on arching stems. Can flower in December but plants may hide in hot summers. H x S 20cm x 35cm
Primroses Jan Feb
M Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Flowering Propagate
gardenersworld.com ardenersworld com
February 2020
We
February
E xpe ’s c h oi c e
Primroses
Available in all shapes and colours, the primrose is a sign that spring is on its way, says Graham Rice The primrose is the iconic spring wildflower that grows across Britain and Ireland – everyone knows and loves it. Hedgerows, woodland, north-facing banks – the primrose thrives anywhere that’s shady and moist. It’s by far the most widespread of our five native primula species and, along with the cowslip, is a parent of the garden polyanthus. The cowslip’s preference for more light and betterdrained soils brings an adaptability to the polyanthus and its many cultivated relations, which now come in vast variety – some garish and brash, some subtle and sophisticated, some tough and long-lasting, and some more fleeting. They extend from the gold and silver-laced types, with the bright, wiry edging of their petals – long grown as show plants in the same way as auriculas – to the latest fully double varieties in rich, sultry hues and pretty pastels. Although many double-flowered varieties produce no pollen and set no seed, most blooms are purposebuilt to cross pollinate. The result can be unpredictable offspring in many colours and forms. Cemeteries often provide a rich range, with wild primroses in shady corners crossing with a rainbow of polyanthus brought in to decorate graves. But the cool simplicity of the wild primrose still takes some beating. P Position Check the sun and soil needs of each type as their requirements vary. P All are frost hardy, but not generally long-lived. P Look out for self-sown seedlings and pull out any in colours you dislike. P Self-sown plants may turn up in odd places as the seeds are distributed by ants. P Propagate good forms by lifting, dividing and replanting immediately after flowering. P Fatten up by feeding occasionally with tomato feed during and after flowering. P Where to buy barnhaven.com, 0033 296 356841; dorsetperennials.co.uk, 01963 210643; plant-world-seeds.com, 01803 872939.
Primula Gold-laced Group Usually in polyanthus form, each deep-red to dark-chocolate flower is edged in a fine wire of gold. Beautiful in a clay pot. H x S 25cm x 30cm
February 2020
PLANT DIRECTORY Choose varieties of primulas to suit you and your garden by using our plant finder at gardeners world.com/plant-finder gardenersworld.com
15