The English Garden April/May 2020 - US Edition

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For everyone who loves beautiful gardens

The magic of tiny alpine plants

Beatrix Potter

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CONTRIBUTORS

Jane Perrone Jane is a garden writer and podcaster with a particular passion for houseplants and weird vegetables. She lives in Bedfordshire with her family and Wolfie the lurcher, and pays a visit to The Manor House on page 14.

Heather Edwards

IMAGES NEIL HEPWORTH; JOE WAINWRIGHT; HEATHER EDWARDS; CAT LANE;

Heather has been a freelance garden photographer for 14 years. Originally trained in horticulture, she has a passion for plants and garden design. She photographed Forde Abbey on page 22.

Welcome E

arly spring’s bulbs are subtle and delicate – white snowdrops, lemon-yellow daffodils, pale mauve crocus – but then comes April, otherwise known as Tulip Month, and gardens are suddenly filled with bright, cheerful colour.

It comes at precisely the right time: just as we’ve all had our fill of the short, dreary days and cold nights, we’re cheered up by these bulbs’ vibrant colours and joyful demeanours. At Somerset’s Forde Abbey there’s an innovative technicolour spiral of tulips in the midst of an atmospheric, dew-hazed meadow, epitomising the informal style that owner Alice Kennard is bringing to this historic garden.

Gardens everywhere are bursting with fresh new growth and excitement. There are vibrant rhododendrons at the Dorothy Clive Garden, cascading wisteria at the riverside setting of Heale House near Salisbury, a froth of cherry blossom at The Manor House in Bedfordshire and a fascinating Victorian fernery restoration at Ascog Hall. Meanwhile, epimediums are raising their pretty sprays of flowers to the sun, and at Slack Top Nurseries, spring’s tough little stars, jewel-like alpines, are starting to shine too. Spring really is a season like no other – I hope this issue helps you make the most of it.

CLARE FOGGETT, EDITOR

Joe Wainwright Joe is an awardwinning photographer based in north-east Wales and working throughout the UK, but especially in Wales and the Midlands. His photos of Shropshire’s Dorothy Clive Garden feature on page 34.

ON THE COVER The jewel-like colours of rhododendrons and azaleas sparkle through the trees in the sheltered Dorothy Clive Garden in Shropshire. Photo

by Joe Wainwright.

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April/May 2020

CONTENTS 47

28

34 14 22

40

Gardens 14 The Manor House Kathy and Simon Brown have taken their family’s love of art and literature and let it influence their playful and creative garden in Bedford.

22

22 Forde Abbey Protected views and landscaping in this Somerset garden are combined with Alice Kennard’s bold new planting, including a spiral of vibrant tulips.

28 Millgate House Tucked down a narrow alley in a bustling Yorkshire market town, this award-winning garden is a green oasis filled with exuberant planting.

34 Dorothy Clive This Shropshire quarry garden became the life’s work of Colonel Harry Clive, and blazes with the brilliant colours of its woodland wonders.

40 Heale Garden At this Peto-designed garden near Salisbury, the romance of a traditional English country garden blends seamlessly with timeless Japanese elegance.

61

47 Ascog Hall On the coast of the Isle of Bute, Karin and Michael Burk’s intriguingly creative gardens harbour a glass-roofed sunken Victorian fernery at their heart.

Design 55 Design Duos Exploring the flow of ideas between British garden designer Russell Page and his US counterpart Lanning Roper.

14 6 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

67

73 Craftspeople Jo Butcher combines traditional stitches with a contemporary eye to create exquisite floral embroidery.

79 Writers’ Gardens At her Lakeland home, Beatrix Potter made a traditional cottage garden that found fame in her delightfully illustrated children’s books.

28 Plants 61 Plant Focus Delicate epimediums glimmer in the gloom like brilliant gems, proving themselves the saviours of inhospitable dry shade.

67 Alpines At Slack Top Nurseries, Michael and Allison Mitchell make the most of a challenging site by growing deceptively delicate-looking hardy alpines.

IMAGES HEATHER EDWARDS; CLIVE NICHOLS; RICHARD BLOOM; SARAH CUTTLE

Regulars 8 On Location Visit the verdant landscape that inspired the composer Edward Elgar – the dramatic Malvern Hills.

10 Out & About News, events, jobs to do and the best rhododendron gardens.

82 Last Word After a long, monochrome winter, Katherine Swift has a thirst for colour that only new-season tulips can satisfy.

Offers 12 Holiday Competition Your chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime Great British break.

53 Discover Europe Enjoy exclusive access to the finest famous gardens of England.

EXCEPTIONAL TERRACOTTA FOR THE GARDEN AND TERRACE W: italian-terrace.com T: 203.615.4028

APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 7

ON LOCATION

The chain of lakes at Little Malvern Court used to be fish ponds for the priory’s monks.

THE MALVERN HILLS

Land of Hope & Glory The dramatic hills that inspired Elgar make a wonderful setting for gardens

Travel by car, or take a train from London and change at Oxford for Great Malvern, Colwall and Ledbury stations.

E

ven if you don’t know the Malverns you’ll recognise one of the pieces of music their beautiful scenery inspired: ‘Pomp and Circumstance March No 1’, otherwise known as that Great British patriotic song, ‘Land of Hope and Glory’.

Its composer, Sir Edward Elgar, was born and lived in the shadow of the Malvern Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and they inspired much

8 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

of his music. They’re especially striking because the chain of hills rises abruptly from the mostly flat plain of the River Severn, with Worcestershire on one side, and the wooded hills of Herefordshire on the other.

The dramatic landscape obviously inspires the area’s gardeners too. The Berrington family have lived at Little Malvern Court since Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries – in the 14th century it was a prior’s hall. Visit in spring for swathes of beautiful

Great Escapes Relax and indulge in Malvern’s new spa hotel before taking in the sights from the top of its famous hills STAY AT THE SPA Historically,

Malvern was a popular spa town, with therapeutic properties attributed to its spring water (still bottled today).

The Malvern is a smart new spa hotel with luxurious facilities, from the steam room and saunas to its boutique bedrooms. Tel: +44 (0)1684 898290; themalvernspa.com

IMAGES ALAMY; SHUTTERSTOCK

THE ELGAR ROUTE This trail takes in many of the area’s sights, such as Elgar’s birthplace in Lower Broadheath, his grave at St. Wulstan’s Church and Worcester Cathedral with its ‘Elgar’ window. It takes in Great Malvern and nearby Upton upon Severn too, but the highlight has to be climbing the Malvern Hills themselves (by foot or by car), to admire the views that so inspired the composer. visitthemalverns.org

bulbs and blossoming trees, or early summer for the notable collection of old-fashioned roses. Close by are The Picton Garden and Old Court Nurseries, renowned for their collection of asters, both to buy and to admire in extensive garden displays. But the asters’ autumn flowering season is not the only time to visit – there are new spring gardens too.

Not far away, you’ll find Croome, one of the first landscapes created by Lancelot Capability Brown as he embarked on his design career. Cared for by the National Trust, it features all his hallmarks: temples and eye-catchers, and sweeping views across serene lakes and parkland. Matching Croome for grandeur is Eastnor Castle, which is perched on the Herefordshire side of the Malverns, with an arboretum, tree-top walk and maze. ■

FOOD AND DRINK You can admire the view of the Malvern Hills from the cosy rooms of The Inn at Welland, where locally sourced, seasonal food will fuel attempts to climb them later. In Malvern (left), try The Cotford Hotel’s restaurant, L’amuseBouche for classical cooking.

And while you are in the area, the Three Choirs Vineyard offers tours, tastings and the chance to buy a souvenir bottle or two. theinnatwelland.co.uk; cotfordhotel.co.uk; three-choirsvineyards.co.uk

APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 9

APRIL/MAY

Out & About Phoebe Jayes recommends gardens with spring-flowering rhododendrons and rounds up jobs to do in the garden as well as the latest news

Spring jobs ● From mid-April

onwards, sow tender vegetables such as sweetcorn, courgettes, French and runner beans and pumpkins in a heated propagator, ready to plant out after the frosts. ● Plant summer-

flowering bulbs such as gladioli and lilies in flower beds or pots. ● Feed roses to

Big BLOOMERS Beloved of the Victorians, the large, bold flowers of acid-loving rhododendrons light up woodland plantations at this time of year Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens Drifts of camellias, magnolias, rhododendrons and bluebells grace these West Sussex gardens (above). The 240acre estate was first planted in 1801 and now features seven ponds and an array of wildlife.

Tel: +44 (0)1403 220345; leonardsleegardens.co.uk

Bowood Woodland Gardens

Lydney Park Spring Gardens

This colourful garden (below) is set in an extensive Wiltshire estate, and from April to June is ablaze with colour. Enjoy hundreds of rhododendrons, spreading above a carpet of electric bluebells. Tel: +44 (0)1249 812102; bowood.org

Many rare trees occupy these grounds in Gloucester. Beyond the rolling lawns adorned with spring bulbs lies an eight-acre wood, filled with rhododendrons, corylopsis, magnolias and acers.

Tel: +44 (0)1594 842844; lydneyparkestate.co.uk

Ness Botanic Gardens The Isabella Plantation This 40-acre woodland, set within Richmond Park in London is well known for the rhododendrons that line its streams and ponds. A Site of Specific Interest, the Victorian plantation is run on organic principles. royalparks.org.uk 10 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

These 64-acre public gardens, entrusted to the University of Liverpool in 1948, are set on the Wirral, with splendid views over the River Dee and North Wales. The diverse planting includes rhododendrons and camellias. Tel: +44 (0)151 795 6300; liverpool.ac.uk

ensure lots of flowers this summer. Scatter granular rose fertiliser around the base of the bush and work in with a fork; water in if there’s no prospect of rain. ● Start to increase the

amount of water given to houseplants as they respond to increased light and day length with new growth. ● Now’s the time to

resume mowing the lawn on a weekly basis – if it’s left to grow too long, it will be harder to cut. Keep the blades set high to begin with.

PROJECT Cherry tree

CELEBRATE British baroque Tate Britain is to host an exhibition that focuses on Britain’s baroque culture. From the Restoration of Charles II to the death of Queen Anne, this often overlooked era is associated with lavish art. Garden and landscape design also flourished at this time and a section will be dedicated to baroque gardens and architecture. Also on display will be the Duchess of Beaufort’s Book of Flowers, (right) rarely loaned from Badminton House, which illustrates the exotic plants she collected in the 17th century. From 4 February to 19 April.

Tel: +44 (0)20 7887 8888; tate.org.uk

IMAGES ANNA STOWE; SHUTTERSTOCK; NGS; TODD-WHITE ART PHOTOGRAPHY © DEVONSHIRE COLLECTION, CHATSWORTH

Museum opens NEW GARDENS London’s Museum of the Home (formerly the Geffrye Museum of the Home) will reopen this summer after an £18.1 million redevelopment project. Its much-loved Gardens Through Time are also being revamped, by Dominic Cole Landscape Architects. From a Tudor knot garden to a modern roof garden, they reveal how city gardens have developed over the centuries. Visit museumofthehome.org.uk for more information and to donate to the museum’s Sow a Seed fundraising campaign for the gardens’ replanting.

British tree growers Frank P Matthews have teamed up with The Japanese Sakura Project to plant thousands of Japanese flowering cherries at 100 sites across Britain. Three varieties are being planted to give several weeks of blossom, the idea being that within ten years the trees’ spring displays will be nationally recognised and the UK can celebrate its own ‘Hanami’ festival – Japan’s ancient tradition where everyone picnics beneath the blossoming trees. Some 6,500 cherries are being raised for the project including ‘Beniyutaka’ (below), ‘Tai-haku’ and ‘Somei-yoshino’. frankpmatthews.com

NGS Garden of the Month The Old Rectory near Farnborough boasts a series of immaculately tended garden rooms, including herbaceous borders, an arboretum, a secret garden, roses, vegetables and even a bog garden. Visitors to these wonderfully diverse grounds can enjoy an astonishing array of rare and interesting plants, beautifully combined for colour and texture. With stunning views out across the surrounding countryside, the garden is the perfect setting for the 1749 rectory (not open to the public), which was once the home of poet Sir John Betjeman.

The Old Rectory, Farnborough, Nr Wantage, Berkshire OX12 8NX. Opens for the National Garden Scheme on selected dates this year. Visit ngs.org.uk for more about 2020’s open days and to order a copy of the 2020 Garden Visitor’s Handbook, the guide to NGS gardens opening throughout the year.

APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 11

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Enter our competition for your chance to win a holiday in Britain for two worth up to £5,000, including free international flights What would your dream holiday to Britain include? A five-star stay in London and tickets to a West End show? A trip to the historic Scottish capital, Edinburgh? How about a stay in the Cotswolds, including a visit to one of Britain’s finest stately homes? Well, with our Great British Holiday competition, you can win all of this and more.

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12 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

Your visit will also include tickets to a top West End show of your choice, with a lavish three-course meal to make your night in the capital one to remember.

Dream your way to Edinburgh Next, our winner and their guest will be whisked to Edinburgh on the Caledonian Sleeper train. Departing central London at night, you will bed down in a Club Room and wake for breakfast in the Club Car before arriving in Edinburgh.

Your base in the city will be the luxury Radisson Collection Edinburgh, located on the famous Royal Mile, with stunning views of the Old Town. During your stay you’ll enjoy a food tour of the city, with tastings of

traditional Scottish dishes and drinks, rounded off with traditional afternoon tea.

The charming Cotswolds To conclude your trip, it’s time to escape to the countryside to visit one of Britain’s finest stately homes and the birthplace of Winston Churchill, Blenheim Palace, as well as its formal gardens and Capability Brown landscape. Accommodation for the night will be at The Feathers hotel, an inviting 17th-century townhouse hotel in the historic market town of Woodstock. After a traditional English breakfast, you’ll be free to explore your surroundings: the idyllic Oxfordshire Cotswolds, home to some of England’s most beautiful villages.

Two-night stay for two, including breakfast and afternoon tea, at the Shangri-La Hotel, At The Shard, London, the capital’s highest hotel. www.shangri-la.com

Two premium theatre tickets in the stalls or dress circle, plus a threecourse meal with wine, from Buyagift, the UK’s leading provider of experience days. www.buyagift.co.uk

Two-night stay for two, including breakfast, at the Radisson Collection Edinburgh, located on the city's Royal Mile. www.radissonhotels.com

Two tickets for a trip to Blenheim Palace, one of the country's finest stately homes and the birthplace of Winston Churchill. www.blenheimpalace.com

Two return tickets on the Caledonian Sleeper from London to Edinburgh.

Accommodation and breakfast included. www.sleeper.scot

Enjoy an Edinburgh British Food Tour for two with upgraded drinks package, including traditional afternoon tea, from go-to gift experience company Red Letter Days. www.redletterdays.co.uk

One-night stay for two at The Feathers, a charming 17th-century townhouse hotel near Blenheim Palace.

Includes breakfast. www.feathers.co.uk

HOW TO ENTER Go to www.theenglishgarden.co.uk/ GBH2020 or fill in the coupon on the right with the answer to the question:

Question: Which of these cities sits on an extinct volcano? a) London b) Edinburgh c) Newcastle

SEND YOUR COUPON TO: US readers – Great British Holiday Competition 2020, The English Garden, C/O NPS Media Group, 2 Corporate Drive, Suite 945, Shelton, CT 06484 UK and ROW – Great British Holiday Competition 2020, The English Garden, Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London, SW3 3TQ, UK

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Inspired

BY ART

Kathy and Simon Brown have taken their family’s love of art and literature and let it influence their playful and creative garden at the Manor House in Bedford WORDS JANE PERRONE PHOTOGRAPHS CLIVE NICHOLS 14 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

A circular stone fountain, with tulips ‘Spring Green’ and ‘Queen of Night’ around its base.

C

runch up the gravel driveway

towards the Manor House in Bedford in April, and it won’t be long before you are immersed in the frothy delights of spring flowers and the abundant blossom of the orchard. From the candyfloss pink of cherry tree Prunus ‘Shirofugen’ to the mauve tresses of Wisteria ‘Caroline’ clothing the walls, this place is full of the delights you’d hope to see in the most delectable of spring gardens.

But it has a few surprises up its sleeve, too.

Kathy Brown and her husband Simon have been here since 1987, gradually shaping and filling out their four and a half acres with a series of garden rooms that reflect their own passions and interests, from the literature of John Bunyan to the modern art of Mark Rothko. Their respective careers – Kathy is a garden designer and Simon is a retired judge – have been key influences, too.

The garden is sympathetic to the rolling Bedfordshire countryside surrounding it, and the legacy of the site itself. Yet the couple have not been afraid to experiment with some daring design ideas. For instance, they commissioned their teenage son Jonathan to turn an unappealing grey breeze-block wall 16 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

Above Inspired by their

love for China, a yew hedge has been turned into a Chinese dragon.

Below Warm-cream and soft-pink tulip ‘Sanne’.

into a homage to Mondrian in red, blue, white and yellow, and there are garden rooms dedicated to Rothko, Hepworth, Hokusai and Matisse.

The plot can be traced back to the 1200s, when a medieval ‘hospitium’ or guesthouse sheltered pilgrims visiting the Holy Well beneath the adjacent church. After the dissolution of the monasteries, the land was absorbed into the Stevington Manor estate and then bought by the Duke of Bedford, who demolished the building and in 1876 commissioned Henry Clutton to build a farmhouse that echoed the previous structure.

Close to the house, the gardens are at their most formal. The Browns inherited a donkey when they moved here, but after her death they developed her former paddock into a tiered formal garden. From the top terrace the eye is drawn to a display of crisp topiary yews alternating between dark and light green, cleverly shaped to resemble a jury scene at the trial of Nicolas Fouquet, owner of the garden at Vaux-le-Vicomte in France.

Beyond that, a round pool is ringed with ‘Spring Green’ and ‘Queen of Night’ tulips, underplanted with the plummy foliage of Heuchera villosa ‘Palace Purple’ and offset by the lime green leaves of golden feverfew

When the Browns moved in, one lorry brought their furniture, and another brought all their pots (Tanacetum parthenium ‘Aureum’). Behind the house, a narrow garden features beautifully planted pots spilling over with white and pink bleeding hearts (Lamprocapnos spectabilis), double English daisies and other cottage-garden delights. Container planting is key here: when the Browns moved in 30 years ago, one removal lorry brought their furniture, and another brought all their pots: Kathy was writing books about container gardening at the time, and her enthusiasm shows no sign of waning.

Another influence on the garden is the Browns’ fascination for all things Chinese, which sprang from a visit to the tree peony festival in Luoyang.

This has resulted in a collection of herbaceous, tree and intersectional peonies, which provide flowers from early May to mid June. Simon was also inspired to clip the end of the sinuous yew hedge behind the gazebo into a rather friendly-looking Chinese dragon. Not far from the dragon is a topiary

Clockwise from top left

Reliable and dramatic tulip ‘Queen of Night’; this topiary figure was inspired by John Bunyan; terracotta pots filled with the arching stems of bleeding heart; fresh blossom on the crab apple, Malus x zumi ‘Golden Hornet’.

figure of a person with arms outstretched atop the yew hedge; its meaning is less obvious to the casual observer, but Kathy explains it celebrates the area’s association with John Bunyan, the 17th-century religious writer and author of The Pilgrim’s Progress. Bunyan was born near Stevington, and Kathy believes the former medieval hospitium here features in his Christian allegory as House Beautiful, while the spring Christian drinks from is that of Stevington’s St Mary’s church.

Simon’s pruning skills are also in evidence in the orchard, where carefully shaped and productive APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 17

POT PLANTING ADVICE

By Kathy Brown ● Ridged metal

dolly washing tubs – either vintage or reproduction – make fantastic planters for spring displays.

If you’re feeling adventurous you can repurpose wicker baskets, chimney pots and old kitchen cooking vessels for your displays. ● Tulips are perfect

for spring pots, but add some underplanting for interest: try variegated London pride (Saxifraga x urbium ‘Aureopunctata’) and heucheras for their foliage, giant-flowered English daisies (Bellis perennis) and violas for added colour.

Top A covered seat, apple, pear, plum, painted green, offers damson, medlar and views of the meadow. quince trees rise from Middle Wisteria and a lawn punctuated by Rosa banksiae ‘Lutea’ Bottom In spring, the clumps of cobalt-blue Winter Walk’s silver camassias and the birches are underplanted late-flowering narcissus, with a froth of honesty old pheasant’s eye and forget-me-nots.

(Narcissus poeticus var. recurvus). Although the blossom is prized by the Browns, the fruit that follows is also precious: they make juices, jams, jellies and even vinegars from the produce they grow.

The other stars of the show at this time of year are the birches, with their bare silvery skeletons just flushed green with fresh foliage. On the other side of the house from the formal garden, an avenue of white-trunked Betula utilis var. jacquemontii ‘Grayswood Ghost’ leads to a central group of four taller birches, Betula utilis var. jacquemontii ‘Jermyns’, looking out to a wildflower meadow.

Kathy power-washes the trunks in winter every year to make sure they look pristine for spring.

The trees are underplanted with a tapestry of grasses in different tones and textures, including compact pampas grass Cortaderia selloana ‘Pumila’, the green-and-cream striped Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Overdam’, blue-grey Festuca glauca and feathery, self-seeded Stipa tenuissima. Turn along the side of the meadow and the winter walk is dotted with silver birches (Betula pendula) above a blue foam of forget-me-nots and purple honesty.

● Kathy recommends

growing bleeding heart (Lamprocapnos spectabilis) in a pot raised up on a bench or table, since its arching, spreading stems, dotted with lantern-like blooms, look stunning when they are viewed at eye level. ● Underplant

with an evergreen perennial such as sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum) to camouflage the bleeding heart’s dormancy from late summer through to early spring.

APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 19

Top A grove of silver

birch trees leads the way to Kathy’s futuristic Solardome greenhouse.

Above Beautifully simple flowers of Narcissus poeticus var. recurvus.

Left An idyllic scene, of a rope swing hanging from a beech tree above a cloud of cow parsley.

20 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

There are more birches to the front of the house, and peeping out from between two rows of white West Himalayan birches (Betula utilis var. jacquemontii) the Solardome greenhouse, nestled against the walls of the Manor House, looks like the perfect hideaway for a Teletubby or two, while the figure of a Humpty Dumpty toy can be spotted atop the Mondrian wall. There’s a playfulness to the garden, and that, says Simon, is intentional. “You can have a little bit of fun,” he says with a smile.

Children have played a vital role in this garden’s development. The Browns acknowledge that their teenagers’ growing interest in art inspired them to create the art gardens. And the practical needs of their own offspring and other children who have come to visit over the years are amply catered for.

There’s a delightful two-storey playhouse tucked away among the trees known as Pooh Corner, and the young and the young-at-heart can be spotted enjoying the rope swings hung from the branches of a sturdy beech tree above a cloud of cow parsley. n The Manor House, Stevington Church Road, Stevington, Bedfordshire MK43 7QB. Open Tuesdays and bank holidays, April to September, 1-5pm, and to groups of 15 or more by arrangement at other times. kathybrownsgarden.com

Floors Castle is the largest inhabited castle in Scotland and family home of the Duke of Roxburghe.

Built for the 1st Duke of Roxburghe in 1721, what you see is an evolving story of a house and gardens with impressions left by succeeding generations.

We welcome visitors from near and far to come and enjoy this inspiring castle and its surroundings.

From our spectacular Victorian Walled Garden with glasshouses, herbaceous borders and a formal Millennium Garden, to woodland and riverside walks, there is so much to discover.

We are delighted to offer quality, locally sourced homemade food and produce in the Courtyard CafĂŠ, Terrace CafĂŠ and gift shop, and are proud to stock some of the best produce that Scotland has to offer.

www.floorscastle.com

Floors Castle, Kelso, TD5 7SF T: +44 (0)1573 223 333 E: enquiries@floorscastle.com

Wheel of WONDER

At ancient Forde Abbey in Somerset, protected views and landscaping have been combined with Alice Kennard’s bold new planting ideas, including a labyrinth-inspired spiral of vibrant tulips WORDS VIVIENNE HAMBLY PHOTOGRAPHS HEATHER EDWARDS

22 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

The breathtaking Swirl is a vivid spiral of spring tulips, including ‘Havran’ and ‘Asahi’.

APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 23

Above Grade I listed Forde Abbey has a rich history, dating back 900 years, and some of its garden views are protected.

I

t was a spiral based on a monastic design

that caught Alice Kennard’s imagination in the quiet time between Christmas and New Year 2016. “It was one of those stupid 3am ideas,” she explains, “and then I spent all of the Christmas break thinking about it.” When she presented to the Forde Abbey gardeners her plan for a double spiral that could be walked through in the way of a labyrinth, they insisted it wouldn’t be so simple. “I had string and all the hosepipes out and they looked at me as if I were mad,” she recalls. Fortunately for Alice, a volunteer with “an engineering brain” translated her sketches into

24 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

something achievable and now, each spring, the spiral, known as ‘The Swirl’, erupts with tulips that give way to a tangle of meadow flowers and perennials that last throughout the growing season.

Forde Abbey, near Chard in Somerset, dates back some 900 years, having been established by Cistercian monks in 1146 at the request of a nobleman, Richard de Brioniis, and his sister, Adelicia. It is difficult to conceive the breadth of history the Grade I listed property has witnessed.

For 400 years the community flourished until the Dissolution, when the last Abbot, Thomas Chard, handed over the wealthy and respected abbey to the

Clockwise from right

Wildflowers are also an important feature of The Swirl; some 44,000 tulips have been planted at Forde Abbey for vivid display; Tulipa ‘Havran’ offers sumptuous velvet blooms; hardy Geranium pratense is another of the wild flowers here.

Crown. Thereafter came a series of private owners, but it was not until Francis Gwyn arrived in the 18th century that the present gardens were developed. Forde Abbey eventually passed into the care of the Roper family through marriage and, since 2009, Alice Kennard, the eldest of the Roper descendants, has had the formidable task of caring for the historic estate, which is now in trust.

“My first thought was that The Swirl should be planted with wildflowers,” she recalls. “They were brilliant. They lasted all the way through to October and then we looked at the space and planted tulips.

My team said we could do anything in here.”

Those first tulips included deep purple ‘Havran’ and brighter, flame-coloured ‘Asahi’, but this year, of the 6,000 bulbs that have been planted in The Swirl, you’ll also find ‘Paul Scherer’, another near-black purple tulip, and ‘Jazz’, which is a brilliant magenta.

And instead of being planted in stripes, the tulips will emerge mixed up to provide a striking display of dark and light, sombre and ebullient.

This small development is emblematic of Alice’s approach to the grounds here. The monastic foundations of Forde Abbey remain untouched, as does Francis Gwyn’s landscaped vision for the estate. “There are two or three main vistas dating back to 1702 and 1705 that we won’t touch,” says Alice, but she is quick to highlight that as a private property of national historical importance on which “it is difficult to keep the roof”, the grounds cannot remain preserved in proverbial aspic.

Helping Alice this year is head gardener Joshua Sparkes, who is keen on sustainability and APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 25

Above Forde Abbey

viewed from across one of its large ponds.

Left Mixed plantings of tulips have helped to make May one of the Abbey’s busiest months.

26 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

“incorporating goat muck” as Alice puts it, referring to the output of the 2,500-strong goat herd kept by her husband, Julian, which will be used to make homemade compost for the gardens.

Joshua brings with him a range of experiences and expertise. At Sissinghurst he was immersed in history and public interest; in Japan he learnt about balance and the garden’s role as a spiritual place, but it is from the United States that his fascination with soil health stems. All three inform his approach to the gardens at Forde Abbey. “My role is to ensure that everyone has some emotional connection when they come here,” he says. “You have to respect the life in the garden and the death in it. Gardens offer beauty and inspiration, but we also have to think of everything else here; the birds and the beasts.”

In The Swirl, Sparke’s strategy has been to leave the bulbs in situ to die down and be supplanted by summer biennials and perennials. “It was previously an annual display but we’re turning it into a permanent show. We’ve planted 3,000 biennials including wallflowers, hesperis, lunaria, woad and white and native foxgloves,” he explains.

Alice’s Christmas vision is not the only element to receive this treatment. Some 44,000 tulips and

GOOD TULIP SENSE

From Joshua Sparkes ● To make tulips

15,000 other bulbs will bloom across the gardens this year and most will give way to more summer perennials, which, when autumn comes, will be left uncut to provide shelter and food for wildlife.

This year also marks the start of a six-year project to create a perennial meadow close to the arboretum and rock garden. Joshua points out that it will make a pleasing contrast to the formality of the historic Long Border and yews close to the house, but his priority with his team of gardeners is to ensure the meadow is as sensitive to its rural Dorset surrounds as possible. “The meadows here have a beautiful intricacy and we want to reflect that at Forde Abbey because it suits us perfectly,” he explains. “We hope to manage it by cutting it down with a scythe and later going over it with a lawn mower and possibly burning it to create different habitats.”

Alice points to the value of having a good team working with her in managing Forde Abbey. “The main challenge for us is to keep it moving forward, and always looking fresh and interesting. Our duty here is to try to have something in the garden Top A glade of English bluebells in the wooded for as long a period area of the garden. as possible.” ■

Middle Bulbs will give way to perennials and biennials as the year progresses.

Bottom A carpet of soft purple aubrieta forms an attractive groundcover under the tulips in spring.

Forde Abbey, Chard, Somerset TA20 4LU. Open daily, 10am-5pm.

Tel: +44 (0)1460 220231; fordeabbey.co.uk

last more than one season, grow varieties that are inclined to be perennial. These include ‘Apeldoorn’, ‘Negrita’, ‘Ballerina’, ‘Paul Scherer’ and ‘Queen of Night’. Plant them at a depth 2.5 times the bulb size so they won’t be stabbed accidentally while they are in the ground, and grow summer perennials around them to conceal dying foliage. Reduce irrigation during dormancy, so the bulbs don’t rot. ● Keep planting

simple. Aim to achieve a relaxed dusting using one of three planting patterns: a river of tulips flowing through emerging perennial foliage; a simple scattering to make an informal scheme; or a concentration of bulbs that disperses towards another concentration of bulbs, with variation in the size of concentrations. ● Cover containers

of bulbs with wire netting to protect them from squirrels.

Or the branches of an old Christmas tree, chopped to size, can also be a deterrent.

APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 27

The Secret GARDEN

Tucked down a narrow alley in the bustling market town of Richmond, the award-winning garden at Millgate House is a green oasis, maximising every inch of space with exuberant planting WORDS LOUISE CURLEY PHOTOGRAPHS RICHARD BLOOM

No space left unplanted: the steeply sloping garden at Millgate House is a tapestry in shades of green.

APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 29

Above Gravel paths take

the place of lawns, giving more planting space and leading to different parts of the garden.

I

n the north yorkshire market town of Richmond is a hidden garden, a haven of tranquillity and beauty that’s tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the market place. The only indication of its presence off a street of Georgian townhouses, is a French grey door with a simple ‘Garden Open’ sign attached to it, which beckons you inside. “We loved that it was completely hidden from the street. All the time that I’d been living in Richmond I’d never known it was there,” says Austin Lynch, who bought Millgate House with his partner Tim Culkin in 1979, moving in the following spring.

Beyond the door is an alleyway – or ‘snicket’ as they’re known in these parts. Whereas many of us would use a space like this for bins and bicycles, at Millgate House you’re greeted with a green oasis

30 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

of unfurling ferns and the broad ribbed leaves of hostas, containers planted with crisply clipped topiary, walls clothed in Virginia creeper and, in summer, bursts of colour from self-sown Welsh poppies. From here, behind a gate in the high stone wall, the main garden reveals itself in all its exuberant glory.

Austin and Tim hadn’t really been looking to take on another gardening project when they came to see Millgate. “We’d already created a garden in Richmond and one in Dumfriesshire, but a friend told us a house on Millgate was for sale and said we should go and view it so we could have a nosy at the garden,” Austin recalls. “When we went out onto the balcony that overlooks the garden we were just blown away, even though the space wasn’t much at that point. The previous owner, Mrs Dalrymple Smith, who had lived here since the 1930s, was a keen gardener, but she’d just grown herbaceous perennials, so there was no structure, no shrubs, no roses, and when autumn came there were just rectangular beds with bare soil. It was very much a blank canvas, but we could see the potential.”

The one-third-of-an-acre garden slopes steeply away from the house and is divided into two sections that are linked by a flight of stone steps.

The high stone walls on each side and the upper storey of a coach house at the end of the garden, which Austin and Tim have transformed into selfcatering accommodation, enclose the space. “We were lucky to inherit the stonework, gateways and central steps, which are great backdrops for the plants, and we’re blessed with a south-easterly aspect,” says Austin. The garden is also lucky in that it benefits from spectacular views over rolling hills and the waterfalls of the River Swale, the sound of which is a soothing soundtrack to the garden.

“The soil is quite limey,” adds Austin. “There’s probably been a garden at the back of the house since 1690 or 1700 and a lot of lime mortar has been thrown into the garden over the years. It’s also quite thin, dusty soil, so we’re constantly having to enrich it with compost and manure. Although an advantage of such light soil is that it’s free-draining, so we can get away with growing plants that wouldn’t ordinarily survive this far north.”

Clockwise from right The house needed Alliums burst forth from a lot of work in the first a fresh green backdrop couple of years, but of hostas and ferns; a Tim recognised the need frond of Osmunda regalis ‘Cristata’ unfurls; Tim to get a basic structure Culkin (left) and Austin into the garden. “We Lynch; burgundy young put in about 12-15 foliage of Epimedium choice trees, like a x perralchicum ‘Fröhnleiten’. silver weeping pear and Crataegus crus-galli, and roses such as Rosa helenae, a rambler that has become the centrepiece of the garden. Then we gradually started to fill in around them. There were lawns in the top and bottom gardens that we quickly got rid of and we put in winding gravel paths that take you to different corners of the garden,” explains Austin.

Austin and Tim’s inspiration came largely from a nearby garden, St Nicholas, which was owned and gardened by Lady Serena James. “It was a very romantic garden with lots of old roses and topiary,” Austin recalls, “and although it was nine acres I think you can see its influence, albeit on a smaller scale, at Millgate.” Graham Stuart Thomas, Mirabel Osler and Christopher Lloyd, whom Austin describes as their guru, all played their roles in the formation of Austin and Tim’s planting style.

“Christopher Lloyd would vet you to see if you were

The garden has spectacular views over rolling hills and the waterfalls of the River Swale suitable parents to take home a plant from him. It took him 45 minutes before he would sell us a woodwardia,” Austin adds with a laugh.

In 1995 their garden won the first RHS National Garden Competition when it was judged by a panel of horticultural experts to be the best out of 3,200 entries. “What we’ve tried to do is to have a succession of plants throughout the year,” Austin explains. “So in January and February we’ve got a collection of snowdrops, which fills the garden, then after that we’ve got spring flowers like epimediums, hellebores, erythroniums and pulmonarias, then hostas and ferns come up above that. In June and July we’ve got lots of old roses and perennials and then acers provide superb autumn colour.” The profusion of plants shows what can be achieved in a relatively small space. Plants are cleverly layered with clematis and roses scrambling up supports, covering walls and growing up through other plants.

“We both felt like we wanted a career change at 50,” says Austin, “so we took early retirement and APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 31

Millgate House’s SPRING STARS Select cultivars of perennials and bulbs are set off by choice trees and shrubs

ALLIUM HOLLANDICUM ‘PURPLE SENSATION’

MAGNOLIA WILSONII

RHODODENDRON ‘HOPPY’

The variety to choose for stand-out globe-shaped flowers in bold purple.

This spectacular magnolia has fragrant crimson-centred flowers on a small tree that slowly grows to around 6m tall.

This semi-dwarf variety (1-1.2m tall) has ruffled flowers in sugar-mouse pink that fade to white as they mature.

ANTHRISCUS SYLVESTRIS ‘RAVENSWING’

POLYGONATUM ORIENTALE

GERANIUM PHAEUM

Chocolate-maroon foliage is topped by sprays of white flowers in spring.

An unusual Solomon’s seal with flared emerald-and-white hanging flowers.

NECTAROSCORDUM SICULUM

VIOLA ‘MYFANWY’

This relative of the allium has heads of pendent mother-of-pearl blooms.

32 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

A floriferous variety that will scramble through bed and pots, bearing cheery flowers in mauve splashed with white.

Dramatically dark, wine-red flowers open above mid-green leaves on this reliable performer for shady areas.

CHAEROPHYLLUM HIRSUTUM ‘ROSEUM’ A cow parsley relative with deep lilacpink umbel flowers on sturdy stems.

started the bed and breakfast in the house.

By this point people were coming to see the garden and would then come back and stay with us.”

Austin and Tim, now 72, will celebrate their 50th anniversary as a couple in 2020. “We’re a good team. I’m more the maintainer and Tim is more the designer and planner,” notes Austin. “He has a good eye for colour and for what leaf structure will work with another.” And their passion for plants and the garden shows no sign of diminishing. “I love seeing everything emerge after the winter months and the freshness of the surge in new growth,” Austin adds.

“Everything is pristine in spring. We keep adding to the garden, too. Last year we bought about 40 new hostas and 15 miniature pines, and during the summer we’re out almost every day tweaking, moving something a little bit to the right or something a bit to the left. I think of gardening as a canvas that’s never really finished.” ■ Top Old galvanised

watering cans add a cottage-garden touch.

Middle Unblemished hostas ‘Krossa Regal’ and ‘Grand Marquee’.

Bottom A stand of the vibrant shuttlecock fern, Matteucia struthiopteris with an acer behind.

3 Millgate, Richmond, North Yorkshire DL10 4JN. The garden opens every day from 1 April until 21 October, from 10am to 5pm. To celebrate the roses at their peak Millgate House opens for the NGS on 28 June and 5 July, from 10am to 6pm.

Guests can visit the garden throughout their stay.

Tel: +44 (0)1748 823571; millgatehouse.com

PLANTING ADVICE

By Austin Lynch

● Don’t put up with

something you don’t want. Be bold and resolute and get rid of things. ● Break the rules. If

you want to grow a plant but aren’t sure it will work, have a go! We’ve lost some plants but many others have thrived. ● Try to view your

garden as a stage set.

Grow plants in pots so that you can easily plug a hole in a border with a fully grown plant that’s been waiting in the wings. ● We use water that

we’ve collected from the roofs to water the garden. Plants love it because it’s tepid. ● Our feeding regime

is important. We compost everything and spread this across the garden in late winter. In January I top dress with bonemeal all over the garden, in February I sprinkle the soil with Growmore, then in summer I feed with Miracle-Gro. ● We are often

asked how we manage to keep our hostas looking so perfect and the key to success is to scatter slug pellets in December, January and February, and then to go out at night with a good torch to collect and dispose of them.

APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 33

In spring, the Dorothy Clive Garden becomes a technicolour feast of bright azaleas and rhododendrons.

Labour of LOVE Initially a project to offer respite to his ailing wife, Colonel Harry Clive made the Dorothy Clive Garden in Shropshire his life’s work, and it blazes with the brilliant colours of its woodland wonders WORDS JIM CABLE PHOTOGRAPHS JOE WAINWRIGHT

APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 35

The waterfall is fringed by fine-leaved acers, and its pool edged with ferns, rodgersias and alchemilla.

36 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

I

n the warmth and clarity of the late

spring sunshine, it is hard to imagine a safer more comforting spot than the sheltered Dorothy Clive Garden. A former gravel quarry, it was carved out of a prominent ridge of land in Shropshire by the Victorians.

This south-facing hollow is alive with the colour of rhododendron blooms and sparkles with light reflected from their glossy leaves and smooth bark.

It is a tiered landscape, with some of these veteran multi-stemmed shrubs offering glimpses through to what lies beyond, enticing the visitor around the next corner, guided by the moss-covered logs that line the paths. Lamium and ferns nestle in damp corners beneath Japanese maples in their fresh spring regalia and giant Himalayan lilies thrust towards the light.

The sound of water beckons and soon the source is revealed; a magnificent waterfall dissects the rockface and demands that you stop and simply breathe. Take it all in and be thankful. This is such a joyful optimistic garden, revealing its poignancy only when you discover how it began.

At the outbreak of World War II, Elds Gorse, the large Edwardian house on the west side of the garden was home to Colonel Harry Clive and his wife, Dorothy. Both in their late 50s, with grown-up children, Harry witnessed the decline of his ‘Dolly’.

She was suffering from Parkinson’s, a disease far less well understood than it is today. In response to her doctor’s prescription of gentle exercise, Dorothy would walk round and round their lawn, faithfully followed by her chocolate Labrador. The story goes that the dog, tired of this monotonous routine, one day lay down and refused to take another step.

This south-facing hollow is alive with the colour of rhododendron blooms

Clockwise from top

A lifelike bronze stag lurks in a woodland clearing; globes of Allium hollandicum self-seed freely; bright magenta Rhododendron ‘Pink Pearl’ welcomes visitors to the Quarry Garden; yellow Rhododendron lutea glows in the shade.

APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 37

It was at this time that Harry Clive ventured up to the top of the garden where a bramble-congested wood almost concealed a sheer-sided gravel pit. In his diary he recounted the incident: “It was into this I went, and there and then, that evening, marked out the first twenty yards of path, which my man, John Moore, always ready and willing for a new job, skimmed off the next day. For twelve months we hacked and sawed and brushed and burnt our way through and round the wood, until half a mile of easy walks lay there. Gradually our woodland garden was born…”

Dorothy died three years later, but the new garden created for her was just the start. Harry, perhaps fuelled by his own grief, and aided by ‘his man’, fulfilled a mission, adding hundreds of plants, 38 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

Top Shuttlecock ferns, Matteuccia struthiopteris and bluebells form the woodland understorey.

Above Scented pink flowers of pale lilac Syringa x prestoniae.

especially rhododendrons but also wild and hybrid species of azalea, magnolias and flowering cherries, and actively encouraged and welcomed visitors to the garden. All this is faithfully recorded in his diary; the frustrations of frosts, storms and droughts and jobs achieved, like the first mowing of the season or mulching beds with bracken and leaves. On 24 April 1947 he makes a diary entry referring to his late wife’s favourite flower: “Dolly died 5 years ago today. The violets on bank near greenhouse are coming into bloom.”

Today the garden is in the capable hands of the Willoughbridge Garden Trust, curator Kathryn Robey and head gardener Zdeněk Valkoun-Walker.

Zdeněk has an assistant gardener and an apprentice, and together with a team of dedicated volunteers they ensure that visitors continue to benefit from the Colonel’s initial act of kindness. Kathryn and Zdeněk are both career changers: with a degree in economics, Kathryn comes from a business background, while Zdeněk credits the previous head gardener, Marcus Chilton-Jones for helping him ascend a steep learning curve. “I owe this garden a lot,” he says, smiling. “I love my job. This garden is so varied. We can spread our wings and fly; it is an incredibly creative process.”

That process is continuous, with Kathryn and Zdeněk editing borders and testing out new plant combinations. Trees that are poorly shaped or have outgrown the site and are shading other plants are removed in the constant battle for perfection. “You have to work so hard on maintenance if a plant is in the wrong place, but when you get it right there is a peace to it,” explains Kathryn.

One challenge of gardening on a south-facing slope with sandy, free-draining soil is moisture conservation. In dry summers the historic collection has to be watered, but elsewhere droughttolerant plants are used. In damper spots, such as around the bottom of the waterfall, moisture-loving shuttlecock ferns, martagon lilies and hostas are deliberately clustered together. If even they dry out, at least it is a defined area to water.

Zdeněk uses organic matter from the council’s green waste recycling scheme to mulch borders and work into the soil in places. He describes the microclimate of the garden as two degrees warmer than the surrounding countryside. Frost rolls down the hill and away and the light soil warms up quickly. Add to that the enriching effect of the mulch and plants grow very well – sometimes too well, leading to flopping. The team now choose shorter varieties that

SEASONAL ADVICE

By Zdeněk Valkoun-Walker

● Garden plants are

growing rapidly now.

Stay on top of tasks such as mowing and edging lawns and stake herbaceous perennials to keep the garden looking sharp. ● As the temperatures

warm up, keep an eye on any pest problems and deal with them without delay. We use biological controls in our greenhouse to keep pests at bay.

‘Polar Bear’, releases its heady scent from showy trusses of white funnel-shaped flowers do not need staking when replanting an area like the wedding border, now in its second summer, or the newly restored cottage garden style borders enclosed by low yew hedges next to the old drive.

These areas form a stunning prequel to what is still the soul of the place and home to many special plants, the 2.75-acre quarry garden, its narrow entrance guarded by a glorious Rhododendron ‘Pink Pearl’. Just inside there is an R. yakushimanum, one of Colonel Clive’s

Above Paths fringed with original introductions ferns beckon visitors in and a remarkable to explore the planting. species that hails from Left Rhododendron a single wind- and yakushimanum is smothered in blooms. rain-swept island in Japan. A compact shrub, it is worth growing for the handsome foliage alone, but add to that bell-shaped flowers, rose-pink in bud and fading to white, and it is no surprise that it’s parent to so many hybrids.

Rhododendron ‘Christmas Cheer’ rarely lives up to its name but is early nonetheless with its baby-pink display, and the ‘rhody’ season runs right through until July when the species Rhododendron auriculatum, parent of the lovely cultivar ‘Polar Bear’, releases its heady scent from showy trusses of white, funnel-shaped flowers.

Yellow-flowering Rhododendron lutea stands out beautifully against a carpet of bluebells.

Rhododendron ‘Blue Danube’ has violet-blue flowers and, at under a metre tall, makes a good choice for a smaller garden.

There is also much that is new at the Dorothy Clive Garden, including the Royal Botanic Glasshouse housing Mediterranean-climate plants and, this summer, a seasonal display of melons and aubergines. As Zdeněk puts it, “a garden is never static but always changing, moving forward. That is gardening.” The Colonel would most certainly have agreed. ■

The Dorothy Clive Garden, Willoughbridge, Market Drayton, Shropshire TF9 4EU. Open all year, but check website for opening times. Tel: +44 (0)1630 647237; dorothyclivegarden.co.uk

● Keep on tying in

new clematis shoots to their supports; they grow very fast at this time of year and can run away in the blink of an eye. ● We ‘Chelsea chop’

(reduce by a half) suitable herbaceous perennials such as sedums and monardas early in the month to keep them compact.

This delays flowering and reduces the need for staking. ● Sow biennials such

as foxgloves later on this month to produce plants that are ready to be planted out in September. ● Keep newly planted

trees and shrubs well watered to aid their establishment. This is especially important for newly planted rhododendrons since these resent being dry at the root.

APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 39

A stone temple lantern and red Nikko bridge in Heale House’s Japanese Garden, with Gunnera manicata, astilbes and ferns by the stream.

40 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

Where East MEETS WEST At Heale House, Guy and Frances Rasch’s Peto-designed garden on the River Avon near Salisbury, the romance of a traditional English country garden blends seamlessly with timeless Japanese elegance WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHS CAROLE DRAKE

H

Below Framed by

wisteria, a scrollwork gate leads from the Tunnel Garden to the Japanese Garden.

unkered down among the chalk

streams and water meadows of the Woodford Valley near Salisbury in Wiltshire, Heale House is surrounded by eight acres of intoxicatingly beautiful gardens. In late May every structure drips with white, purple and mauve wisteria flowers that perfume the air as spring fades into summer. Home to Guy and Frances Rasch, their teenage twins Nancy and Freddie, and numerous dogs, Heale has been in the Rasch family since Guy’s great uncle, Louis Greville, bought it in 1894.

Greville enlarged the house and in 1910 employed architect and garden designer Harold Peto to landscape the grounds in his typical Italianate style.

Around the cheerful red-brick manor house, Peto laid out stone-flagged terraces and paths, lawns, ornamental ponds, a walled rose garden and a boat terrace that pulls the garden down to meet the troutrich, crystalline River Avon, which flows along its northern and eastern boundaries. In May, the boat terrace balustrade is a tangle of cream-flowered Akebia quinata and Wisteria floribunda ‘Kuchibeni’, in the palest of pinks. Originating in China and Japan and immensely popular in the Edwardian garden, wisterias seem the perfect plant for Heale: Louis Greville spent time in Japan and Peto’s own garden at nearby Iford Manor is full of wisteria. Heale’s first wisterias, four standards on a terrace beside the house, were planted by Guy’s mother, Lady Ann Rasch, and Frances has introduced many more.

Since taking on the garden when she married Guy in 1996, Frances has refined and ‘beefed up’ the planting around the house with yew blocks on the croquet lawn that anchor the house in its setting, and a box parterre and lavender borders to smarten up a scruffy area beside stables where trees had to be removed. On the blank expanse of grass below the croquet lawn Frances created beds of a single grass, Miscanthus sinensis ‘Kleine Silberspinne’, punctuated by whitebarked Betula ermanii and framed with screens of hornbeam and yew spheres. “I was inspired to use a single variety of grass when I went out to see Guy harvesting a cornfield one day and was struck by how beautiful a mass of just one thing could be,” she says. White Allium ‘Mont Blanc’ emerge through the grasses in spring.

Frances admits that before moving to Heale, her previous experience of horticulture extended little further than the window boxes on her London

An authentic teahouse straddles the river, with grass tatami mats and rice paper screens 42 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

Above The pergola is flat. “The reason I festooned by Laburnum started to garden was x watereri ‘Vossii’ and because I had Heale beautiful wisterias. on my hands so it was Far left Mauve and purple flags of bearded iris. either sink or swim,” Left Deep-pink Clematis she admits. She did ‘Broughton Star’. a horticulture course Below Miscanthus ‘Kleine at the Chelsea Physic Silberspinne’ studded with Allium ‘Mont Blanc’.

Garden, took advice from her green-fingered mother as well as from family friend Anna Pavord, and visited specialist nurseries including Marchants Hardy Plants in Sussex and Crûg Farm in North Wales. Frances also benefited from the knowledge of Heale’s gardening team, including present head gardener Michael Maltby and plantsman Kevin Hughes who ran a plant centre in the grounds for some years. “I fell in love with the garden and the plants in it, and only later began to get interested in the design side of gardening,” explains Frances, who went on to study for a diploma from the London College of Garden Design at Kew and now creates gardens for other people.

The Tunnel Garden produces a range of fruit, vegetables, and flowers for the house within three porridgy cob walls and a pergola, festooned in May with a vibrant display of complementary coloured

APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 43

flowers. The sunny-yellow, pea-like blooms of Laburnum x watereri ‘Vossii’ alternate with purple wisterias including richly scented, rosy-mauve Wisteria sinensis ‘Amethyst’, elegant W. floribunda f. multijuga with elegant racemes up to 1m long, and double-flowered W. floribunda ‘Black Dragon’. In the dappled shade below, Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ sends up flowery lollipops among the cool greens of soft shield fern Polystichum setiferum and Japanese anemones. There are wisterias everywhere you look at Heale: trained as standards in the Sundial Garden among silvery Elaeagnus ‘Quicksilver’, twining over the glossy red Nikko bridge, scaling the warm brick facades of the house and scrambling enthusiastically over Peto’s stone balustrades; one has even escaped across the river with an Acer pseudoplatanus ‘Brilliantissimum’.

Over the past decade, Frances and her small team (head gardener Michael, two part-time gardeners and a few volunteers) have planted many shrubs and trees in the woodland garden where grass, dotted with purple alliums and cow parsley, is allowed to grow long.

Amelanchiers, tree peonies and magnolias including late-flowering yellow ‘Felix Jury’ have brought more interest to this area, the first part of the garden that visitors encounter. Magnolias, seemingly happy on Heale’s chalk because of the constant moisture available from the river, have to be chosen carefully as the garden sits low and can experience late frosts. In 2017, wisteria buds were frozen to a soggy brown pulp by one sub-zero night.

Frances’s favourite area is the Japanese garden.

“We can grow all those beautiful, large-leaved lush plants there like rheums, rodgersias, hostas and ferns and the light is wonderful because it reflects off the water. There’s something untamed about it too.”

Inspired by his experience of Japan while working in the British Embassy in Tokyo, Louis Greville himself created this part of the garden with the help of four Japanese gardeners brought over especially: this area above all sprinkles Heale with magic. Set between Peto’s formal design and the natural boundary of the river, Greville’s Clockwise from top The homage to the Far East thatched Japanese tea incorporates elements house sits over the River brought back from Avon; sunlit Primula Japan, including stone pulverulenta; lavender lines a stone path temple lanterns, the red with clipped box and Nikko bridge and even yew; large box domes an authentic teahouse surround the pond in that straddles the river, the Tunnel Garden.

44 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

WISTERIA ADVICE

By Frances Rasch ● Wisteria floribunda,

W. sinensis and W. brachybotrys and their cultivars are those grown in our gardens. ● Plant in full sun or

a little shade in well drained but moist and fertile soil. ● Although noted for

their flowers, wisteria may also display furry, pendent seedpods.

After leaf fall, their bare form is bold and sculptural in winter. ● Be sure to buy a

This sensual landscape is criss-crossed by glassy streams lined with skeins of emerald water weed complete with grass Above From the inside, the pergola drips with tatami mats and rice laburnum and wisteria. paper screens.

Left Stone lanterns The detail and clarity emerge from a calming of the Japanese garden backdrop of green ferns. have blurred over time making its beauty intense and dream-like; a sensual landscape criss-crossed by clear, glassy streams lined with pulsing skeins of emerald water weed, oozing with moisture loving plants. In autumn the orange, red and yellow leaves of liquidambar, katsura and tulip trees carpet the ground, floating off along the streams, but for now wisterias steal the show. “I love them in winter when their bare shapes are so architectural, but when they flower wisterias are the most romantic of plants,” says Frances. The perfect plant, then, for this most romantic of gardens. ■ Heale Garden, Middle Woodford, Wiltshire SP4 6NT. Opens March to October, Wednesday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm, and on Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays, 11am to 4pm. Tel: +44 (0)1722 782504; healegarden.co.uk

wisteria propagated from cuttings or by grafting. Those grown from seed can take 20 years to flower. ● Train your wisteria

against a sunny wall, up a tree, over a pergola or even as a standard using an ‘umbrella’ shaped support. ● Prune twice a year:

in July or August reduce the long whippy shoots of the current year’s growth to five or six leaves from the framework; in January or February, further cut the same stems back to two or three buds. ● Avoid high-

nitrogen feed as this encourages leafy growth. Use some potash and bonemeal when establishing the plant, but thereafter feed sparingly.

APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 45

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A Fondness FOR FERNS Karin and Michael Burke are the custodians of Ascog Hall on the coast of the Isle of Bute, where intriguingly creative gardens harbour a glass-roofed, sunken, Victorian fernery at their heart WORDS JULIA WATSON PHOTOGRAPHS RAY COX

The fernery’s elaborate roof can be vented to keep temperatures even; ferns from New Caledonia and the Americas feature.

APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 47

W

alk down the steps into

Ascog Hall’s fernery and you are immediately projected back to the Victorian era.

Here, in a sunken garden intricately lined with local sandstone and artificial rock and spectacularly roofed in glass, is a remarkable collection of temperate ferns from around the world, looking exactly as it would have done in the 1870s when the fernery was created.

Plumed and ribbon-like, curled and feathery, diminutive or with trunks several feet round, the ferns are the stars. But the building itself – part grotto, part glasshouse – is a Victorian work of art. Water trickles in through three small cascades, fed by a natural spring, a statue of Hebe holds out her cup, and the path sparkles with white quartz pebbles gathered from the beach.

48 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

Above The fernery is kept lush and watered by natural springs.

Below Ascog’s owners, Karin and Michael Burke.

That the fernery is here to be enjoyed in the 21st century is down to the devotion of its recent owners, including Michael and Karin Burke, who bought Ascog Hall six years ago and are its current custodians. Neither had gardened much before – “I grew some carrots once,” Michael recalls – but the Burkes had been looking for a project very different from their previous life in countries such as Libya and Norway, where Michael worked as a physicist in the oil industry. Once their three children had grown up they were ready for a hands-on challenge, and Ascog Hall, on the east coast of the Isle of Bute, surrounded by a three-acre garden, fitted the bill.

Michael’s scientific knowledge and practical skills as a petrophysicist have proved invaluable in looking after the garden, especially in maintaining the fernery, with its complex roof and water

Clockwise from right

Looking over the roof of the fernery towards the Scottish mainland; a juniper makes a dark exclamation mark on the curving path; Primula pulverulenta flourish here; one of three cascades in the fernery, fed by a spring, and covered with soleirolia.

system, and Karin has thrown herself into the planting side. She fully admits that when they first arrived, “the ferns just looked like ferns to me”, but now she knows them intimately: “That one’s from Chile, the one behind it is from New Zealand, and there on the left is a fern from South Africa, Todea barbara, which is more than a thousand years old.”

The man who built the fernery was a wealthy merchant from Glasgow, Alexander Bannatyne Stewart, a discerning art collector, father of eight and keen orchid grower. Bute was something of a playground for rich Glaswegians in Victorian times – the coast is lined with magnificent villas – and Ascog Hall, originally bought by his father, was the family’s holiday home, to which Alexander would travel in his steam yacht to entertain and relax. But it was not all about pleasure; the Stewarts’ connection to the island ran deep indeed, and Alexander was a APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 49

Above Because the

fernery lies below ground, from some angles the roof is all that can be seen of it.

Left Dicksonia antarctica gives the garden a primeval touch.

Below Fine-leaved Adiantum raddianum ‘Micropinnulum’.

50 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

considerable benefactor to the local community. To this day, a commemorative statue of him stands on the seafront in the island’s main town of Rothesay.

To help create his fernery, Alexander found just the right man: watercolourist and garden designer Edward La Trobe Bateman. “He’d recently returned from many years in Australia, and had assisted in laying out the Melbourne Botanic Gardens, where he’d learnt all about ferns,” explains Michael. “He proposed building a fernery to emulate an Australian temperate rain forest, having recognised that the climate here was perfect for that, because we’re right on the sea and benefit from the Gulf Stream.”

Excavating to put the building underground doubly ensured that it would never get too cold; although it’s unheated, the temperatures in the fernery never fall below freezing.

Not long after it was completed, a correspondent in The Gardeners’ Chronicle of October 1879 reported on his visit to Ascog Hall, and pronounced: “The principal attraction of the gardens is a most beautiful fernery,” going on to describe in detail the planting within it: “First, there are two nice plants of the Norfolk Island Pine, Araucaria excelsa; then come the rocks well covered with Selaginella and planted with Tree Ferns and other things; Dicksonia antarctica has a fine stem, and so has also the charming Silver Tree Fern, Cyathea dealbata, which was 10 feet high...” The list continues, and the accompanying engraving shows the interior of the fernery looking very much as it does today.

Alexander Bannatyne Stewart sadly had little time to enjoy his new garden feature, since he died in 1880. As the decades went by and the property repeatedly changed hands – in one incarnation it was a hotel – both Ascog Hall and its gardens fell into decay. It wasn’t until Katherine and Wallace Fyfe bought the property in the mid-1980s that both house and garden were rescued from dereliction.

Intrigued by a tangle of wrought iron and broken glass in a patch of brambles, they investigated and discovered the fernery, digging out the mud and debris with snow shovels to avoid damaging the pebble pathway. In among the rocks they found a single charismatic survivor from the original collection: the 1,000-year-old king fern that remains within the fernery today and is the oldest exotic fern in Britain. With the help of a grant from Historic Scotland and the expertise of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, plus, crucially, the comprehensive list of ferns gleaned from The Gardeners’ Chronicle, they were eventually able to rebuild and restock Alexander Bannatyne Stewart’s extraordinary sunken treasure-house of ferns.

In among the rocks they found a single charismatic survivor: the 1,000-yearold king fern – the oldest exotic fern in Britain Michael and Karin Burke bought Ascog Hall from the Fyfe family not long after Katherine and Wallace died, and have worked diligently in both fernery and garden ever since. They have rarely had help, and Michael is frank on the subject: “Our first four years were pure drudge. We totally underestimated it.” But much only had to be done once – drainage improvement, for example, or the clearance of selfsown trees to open up sea views – and by last year they really began to feel they were having fun.

They have made their own mark on the garden, building a new, rectangular pool on the site of the bigger, circular Victorian pond that once filled the whole space between the surrounding beds. Lined with 19th-century concrete that had Top left Hebe, the Goddess of Youth serves cracked and was too nectar and ambrosia expensive to repair, the from her cup; behind the original pond is still statue is Araucaria rulei. there beneath the lawn, Top right Adiantum pedatum, a type of Karin notes, for future maidenhair fern. archaeologists to find.

Left Looking through a The Burkes have also thuja arch to the pond created an outdoor Fern put in by the Burkes.

APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 51

FERN CARE ADVICE

From Karin Burke ● Deadhead

completely brown evergreen fronds and remove all dead deciduous fronds. ● Give ferns a dose

of fertiliser such as tomato feed when the new fronds arrive in spring, and one other feed during summer. ● The soil in the

fernery is ordinary clay garden soil mixed with garden compost and topped with a small amount of orchid bark. ● We water the

fernery once a day in summer and once a week in winter. Avoid splashing water on the fronds as this results in brown burnt patches. ● We monitor

temperature sensors remotely in the fernery. We can adjust temperatures by opening or closing top windows, which draws cool air through the door from outside and expels warm air through the roof. ● We don’t protect

the crowns of outdoor ferns in winter due to the sheltered nature of the garden and the maritime climate.

We have few frosts. ● The British

Pteridological Society provides information for fern enthusiasts, ebps.org.uk

Top Silky blooms of sky Alley beyond the indoor fernery a reprieve. Could there be a middle blue Himalayan poppy, to accommodate hardier specimens way, perhaps? And Michael will Meconopsis ‘Lingholm’. such as Dryopteris kuratae from continue his restoration of the Above A giant tree fern Japan, Cyathea medullaris, the fernery roof and his search for and gunnera by the new black tree fern, from New Zealand, rectangular pond, with an elusive leak somewhere below and Polystichum setiferum, the soft a sheet metal sculpture ground. “When the spring dries designed by Karin. shield fern, which is native to southout in summer, we’ve been having west and central Europe. to top up with metered town They have put in a Wollemi pine, the ancient water, which is wasteful,” he explains. conifer from Australia, to add to the Jurassic Ascog Hall is a massive commitment, not Park atmosphere around the pool, and two new least because the Burkes open the garden every monkey puzzles, Araucaria araucana, near the day throughout the season, but they revel in the magnificent individual specimen, estimated to be contact with visitors and are more than glad to 160 years old, that towers high above the garden. help Bute’s tourist industry. In spring, when it The larger of the two new trees was an eBay is awash with magenta candelabra primulas, bargain, the drawback being that the buyer not the unfurling leaves of giant gunneras, blue only had to collect but also dig it up, which made meconopsis and the first of the rhododendrons the trip down to Darlington even more gruelling. and azaleas, Ascog Hall’s garden is a delight.

“We spent around three hours digging the thing Best of all, of course, are the coiled springs of the out,” Karin remembers. garden’s multitudinous ferns, the iconic shape Karin’s artistic talents have developed known as ‘koru’ to the Maoris and an important alongside her gardening skills. Several of the symbol of new life, strength and peace. ■ sheet-metal sculptures that are placed throughout the grounds were made to her designs in her Ascog Hall, Ascog, Isle of Bute PA20 9EU. Along native Germany, and shipped back. As to the with nearby Mount Stuart, ancestral home of the future, she is eyeing the rose garden, which Marquess of Bute, Ascog Hall is a partner garden at one time they thought they might give way of the RHS. Open daily, 3 April to 15 October, to something less labour intensive, but which 10am to 5pm. Admission £5; children free. flowered so beautifully last year that it earned Tel: +44 (0)1700 503461; ascogfernery.com

52 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

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54 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

DESIGN DUOS

An Educated Pair

IMAGE LA MORTELLA/DMITRY TERESHCHENKO

Ruth Chivers explores the work of British garden designer Russell Page and his American counterpart Lanning Roper and discovers a flow of ideas across the Atlantic

T

Part of the garden at La Mortella on Ischia, Italy, where Russell Page was commissioned by Lady Susana Walton.

here is a special relationship in gardening between the UK and the USA that has developed ever since the original East Coast colonies were established four centuries ago.

While the dominant story may appear to be the exporting of the ‘English’ style of gardens and gardening, in reality the flow of ideas and influences was always a two-way process. The lifespans of British designer Russell Page (1906-1985) and the American Lanning Roper (1912-1983) were almost identical. There are other similarities between these two giants of the garden design world, but some interesting differences too.

APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 55

DESIGN DUOS

R

ussell Page was born in Lincolnshire in 1906; six years later, Lanning Roper was born in New Jersey in the USA, but service in World War II brought him to the UK and he remained here for the rest of his life. Page’s work led him to design some of the most ‘British’ gardens you can imagine, including Leeds Castle, Windsor Great Park and Regent’s Park in London, but he designed gardens worldwide, including in America where he brought a soft, English look to large-scale commissions. Despite – or perhaps because of – his American roots, Roper worked on many quintessentially English gardens too, including Chartwell and Prince Charles’s Highgrove. He brought a fresh American eye to the traditional English style and moved planting in a new direction.

Each trained as an artist: Page at the Slade School of Art, London, and in Paris, while Roper was awarded a degree in Fine Arts from Harvard.

And while both were hugely influential in their lifetimes, approaching garden-making in ways that are still relevant today, they took different routes to becoming renowned designers. Page had an interest in nature from childhood; he started gardening in his teens when he was handed part of the family garden, and always used the term ‘gardener’ to describe himself, even when he was an internationally 56 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

Top Lanning Roper

worked on the design of the traditionally English garden at Woolbeding for then owner, Sir Simon Sainsbury. It is now in the care of the National Trust.

Above left Russell Page.

Above right A young Lanning Roper.

acclaimed garden designer. In contrast, Roper did not start to work in designed landscapes until after his wartime service had brought him to the UK, where his interest in gardens and landscapes was renewed. He studied at Kew and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh.

Both men made their names as influential designers in countries other than the one of their birth. From 1945 to 1962, Page lived in France where he worked on many commissions. As his reputation for creating sublime landscapes grew, his client base became more international, which saw him taking on projects in Egypt, Iran, Australia and Venezuela.

Page’s only book, Education of a Gardener, was

IMAGES NATIONAL TRUST/JAMES DOBSON; MARIANNE MAJERUS; THE GARDEN MUSEUM; LONGLEAT; ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS LTD/MARY EVANS; MARION BRENNER © THE GARDEN CONSERVANCY INC

published in 1962 at the peak of his career. It is still considered to be one of the most influential, highly regarded books on the subject of garden design.

Roper was more prolific in print and became a respected and widely read garden journalist. Injury sustained during the war affected his ability to draw formal plans, so writing was the key to his becoming such a highly influential figure in gardening in this country. He was gardens correspondent for The Sunday Times, wrote articles on gardening for Country Life, and was the author of several books including Successful Town Gardening (1957).

The two men were largely inspired by the work of Americans. Page admired the skills of the Americanborn Lawrence Johnston, and was impressed by how he had used hedges to divide his garden at Hidcote. Roper admired his compatriot Phyllis Reiss and her garden at Tintinhull, Somerset. Page, however, unlike Roper, did not have his own garden and said that Education of a Gardener should have been titled ‘Other Peoples’ Gardens’. Its opening lines read “I last had a garden of my own when I was eighteen. Since then my main occupation has been designing gardens for other people.” But the final chapter contains a detailed description of how he wanted his own garden to look, from its design down to very specific planting ideas (he was a selfconfessed tulip addict and wanted a bed of them

Top The walled Secret

Garden at Longleat, one of the UK gardens Russell Page worked on.

Above Russell Page worked widely in the USA, including at the Bass Garden, in Fort Worth, Texas.

interplanted with pansies in his imaginary garden).

In contrast, Roper developed his own garden at Park House, Onslow Square, South Kensington into one of the most famous gardens of its day. It was a place where he could try out planting methods, cultivation techniques and new plant associations – all the things that Page held so clearly in his imagination.

In the USA, Page’s most well-known gardens include the garden at the Frick Collection, New York and, on a much larger scale, the Donald M Kendall Sculpture Gardens at PepsiCo’s world headquarters. It is interesting that a British designer APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 57

DESIGN DUOS Most of his work was domestic commissions, with large country houses being his speciality. Notable projects include Chartwell, the planting for Geoffrey Jellicoe’s layout at Wisley, and also the Woolbeding Gardens (nationaltrust.org.uk/woolbeding-gardens), now owned by the National Trust. In 1981, he was commissioned by Prince Charles to oversee the development of a garden at Highgrove, but sadly his terminal illness forced him to withdraw.

As an American, Roper was in a good position to show us a newer way to garden in an English style. He was free of the need to slavishly follow traditional gardening methods that were out of step with contemporary life. He updated border planting by embracing maintenance practicalities – necessary where lower budgets and reduced labour were the new reality. On one level, his approach remained

was commissioned for such high-profile sites. In one sense, it demonstrated Page’s international preeminence and experience, but it is interesting to note those elements that may derive from his nationality.

Commissioned in 1977, the garden at the Frick Collection is viewed from 70th Street and from a new pavilion extension, so that it resembles a living picture. Classically simple, its calm central pool shows a clear Islamic influence, but lush green lawn takes the place of paving. Ornamental broad-leaf trees and walls partially clad with ivy and wisteria give planting height. This carefully composed framework is full of signature Page elements that suggest a softer English look: low clipped hedges, slim borders filled with roses, azaleas, hydrangeas and lilies. It is quietly controlled, not exuberant, and a much-loved pocket paradise in the heart of a great city, which survived a threat to its existence in 2015 when an extension of the museum was planned.

Tasked with reviving the masterplan for the Donald M Kendall Sculpture Gardens, Page spent a year on site analysis, noting the topography, noticing the way the sun fell on existing plants, dealing with mature plantings and reshaping the landscape to ensure the optimum placement of more than 40 sculptures. He planned the sinuous route that takes visitors around the site. It is a similar approach to the great 18th-century English landscape gardens, so in that sense Page’s nationality shines through.

In addition to his mastery of design, Page was a knowledgeable plantsman. “I know more about plants than most designers, and more about design than most plantsmen,” is how he described his skills.

As his reputation grew, Roper evolved into a designer and consulted on many gardens throughout the UK, as well as in France, Italy and Switzerland.

58 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

Top Chartwell’s very

traditional Rose Walk was part of Lanning Roper’s work on the garden there.

Above Page’s design for the Frick Collection garden brought a formal layout and very British lawn to this New York City museum.

traditional with its emphasis on the importance of architectural elements, structural planting of clipped hedges, trained trees and shrubs that made a supportive garden backbone. But he also moved planting design forwards, bringing an expansive American eye to his trademark well-planned yet informal borders, filled with a mix of flowering shrubs and a range of cottage garden perennials. He planted very densely to avoid the need for staking and to give maximum ground cover for less weeding.

Different plant associations and newer colour combinations brought gardening more in tune with modern tastes. Roper’s planting showed unity and harmony, yet looked less constrained, spilling onto paths and lawns. Ironically, his romantic, fulsome planting style is viewed internationally as typically English, despite being the work of an American.

Design your garden LIKE A PRO

IMAGES JOE WAINWRIGHT; THE FRICK COLLECTION/MICHAEL BODYCOMB; MARIANNE MAJERUS; GAP/JERRY HARPUR; EMANUELE GAMNA; MARION BRENNER © THE GARDEN CONSERVANCY INC; NATIONAL TRUST/ALAMY

Learn from Russell Page and Lanning Roper’s approach to layout, design and planting

Frame scenes to create structure Both Page and Roper made sure their gardens had a good structural framework of woody plants. Crisply pleached trees and trimmed hedges offer long service and constant year-round structure, like here in Roper’s borders at Penshurst Place (above). Keep hedges trimmed to the height and shape you want – you are in charge of their scale. Roper always scaled from the house, ensuring the garden looked right.

Paint a picture Page composed the whole picture from the outset, making endless sketches of how his ideas would look in practice, as at Villa Silvio Pellico (above). Placed over photos, tracing paper makes sketching proposed changes much easier.

A journey for the eye Page used straight paths, like this one at The Bass Garden (above) to emphasise key views, but aware that they encourage faster movement, he also used curved paths to create a sense of mystery and a slower reveal.

Make space for reflection For Page, an air of tranquillity or calmness was essential at every site and an absolute priority in urban gardens like the Frick Garden (above). Large, simple expanses of water were used as reflective surface and to add sound and a sense of movement.

Lawns were vital, too, acting as monotone ‘pools’ of calming green

Interrogate your planting plan Roper had to get borders the right size and in the right place before he began to consider individual plants, such as those in the borders at Woolbeding Gardens (above).

Analyse why you want certain plants and what effect you want to achieve to avoid a scattergun approach. n

APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 59

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SCOTLAND

— 2020 TOUR PREVIEW — British Isles

Scotland: Dumfries and Galloway England: Hadrian’s Wall, Lake District Wales: Snowdonia National Park, Welsh Castles Ireland: Dublin, the magnificent Neolithic site at Knowth in Bru Na Boinne, Belfast

May 9-22, 2020 • 13 Nights • $5,795

17th Annual Outlander Tour® Based on the book series by Diana Gabaldon.

Time travel back to the 18th-century Highlands, where history and fantasy come face to face. See secret places & magical sites off the beaten path.

June 25-July 6, 2020 • 11 Nights • $4,995 Sept. 26-Oct. 4, 2020 • 8 Nights • $3,995

Deluxe escorted tours 16-guest maximum

Western & Northern Isles of Scotland

A combination tour of the popular Lords of the Isles and Viking Treasure.

Skye, Lewis, Harris, Orkney, the Northwest and Northeast coasts, and the Highlands.

Includes the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

August 12-27, 2020 • 15 Nights • $5,995

703.941.6455 • www.CelticJourneys.us • Email: Judy@celticjourneys.us 60 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

PLANT FOCUS The delicate, red-centred flowers of Epimedium ‘Amanogawa’ seem almost to be suspended in mid-air.

Shining Lights Delicate epimediums glimmer in the gloom like brilliant gems, proving themselves the saviours of inhospitable dry shade. Louise Curley talks to Sally Gregson of Mill Cottage Plants about their fabulous range PHOTOGRAPHS RICHARD BLOOM APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 61

PLANT FOCUS

S

pring is the time for woodland gems to shine. These are plants that thrive in the dappled shade under deciduous trees and shrubs – and there are plenty to choose from. But if you’re looking for attractive groundcover foliage and exquisite flowers, then epimediums take some beating.

Epimediums are native to wooded mountains and shaded rocky locations from the Mediterranean to the Far East. They’re a member of the berberis family, and most but not all of them produce flowers with distinctive pronounced spurs that give them a spidery appearance. The blooms are held on slender, branching stems that are almost invisible, so that the flowers appear almost to float in mid-air.

This gives these pretty plants a hazy quality.

62 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

Top E. sempervirens

‘Candy Hearts’ is one of Sally’s favourites, with its red-flushed foliage.

Above Mill Cottage Plants’ Sally Gregson.

The foliage too has much to offer, emerging in spring in fabulous hues of red, some with attractive veining or blotches, maturing to green in summer before being transformed into richer tones of red by the cold.

Although they were introduced to Britain in the 19th century, only a relatively small number of species and hybrids were available to gardeners, that is until the last 20 to 30 years when plant hunters and breeders, such as Darrell Probst from America and Mikinori Ogisu from Japan, opened up an exciting new range of Chinese species and their subsequent hybrids.

Sally Gregson started her nursery, Mill Cottage Plants, in her two-acre garden in Somerset just under 30 years ago. At first she specialised solely in herbaceous perennials.

“They were just becoming fashionable, but then everyone was doing them,” she explains. She then moved into unusual and rarely grown hydrangeas. “I’m not quite sure how I got into epimediums, but perhaps it was because many of them grow so well underneath the hydrangeas I specialised in – they are good companions. Then I kept coming across the new Chinese hybrids at plant fairs. Various growers would say: ‘Have you seen this new one?’ – and they’d be fab; they really did knock your socks off!”

Sally enthuses. With her passion and curiosity ignited, she started stocking and propagating these dainty plants at her nursery, and went on to write a book about them, The Plant Lover’s Guide to Epimediums (Timber Press, 2015).

“If you’re shopping for epimediums it helps to know what pH they require,” Sally suggests.

“The Japanese, acid-loving varieties are mostly just three species and crosses: E. grandiflorum, E. x youngianum and E. sempervirens – the last of which is uncommon.” The Japanese species and their hybrids are also distinct from other epimediums by being deciduous. E. grandiflorum ‘Lilafee’ has masses of violet-purple flowers contrasting strikingly with the fresh purple-red leaves that turn green in summer. There’s also E. grandiflorum ‘Purple Prince’, one of Sally’s favourites, with small fingertip-sized flowers in a strong purple hue. “The soil here is alkaline, so I grow the acid-loving epimediums in containers in

Far left Acid-loving E. grandiflorum ‘Purple Prince’ has small, spidery flowers in rich purple.

Left E. x perralchicum.

Below right The tough, red-and-green, heartshaped leaves of spontaneous hybrid E. x perralchicum ‘Fröhnleiten’.

Below left Coppery hybrid E. x warleyense.

ericaceous soil, which suits me: when they get too big I tip them out, split them and repot,” she says.

Those epimediums from the mountains of Europe and North Africa tend to be more tolerant of alkaline soils and dry conditions. Their hybrids have become the go-to plants for dry shade – the trickiest of garden conditions – making them perfect for planting under deciduous trees and shrubs. “If you put them somewhere shady, but with richer, moister soil, they are a nightmare and run for England; they’re better off constrained by dry soil,” says Sally. E. x perralchicum ‘Fröhnleiten’, discovered at RHS Wisley, was a spontaneous hybrid between E. perralderianum from Algeria and E. pinnatum subsp. colchicum.

The result is a plant with tough, heart-shaped leaves that have striking red and green veins in spring surrounding bright-yellow flowers. For a final flourish the foliage turns bronze-red in winter. E. x versicolor ‘Sulphureum’ is another APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 63

PLANT FOCUS that thrives in dry shade, and both of these spreading epimediums are robust enough to grow alongside ferns, brunnera and hardy geraniums.

Epimediums are self-sterile, so when they set seed it will be a cross with another plant. “This doesn’t tend to happen in the wild as they generally grow in clusters of the same species, but in a garden setting they’re going to meet new friends and get over-familiar,” explains Sally. This can result in interesting new plants such as E. x warleyense, which was found at Warley Place in Essex, the garden of the horticulturist Ellen Willmott after her death in 1934. It has tall branching flower stems that are covered in a haze of coppery-orange flowers.

Right The evergreen E. epsteinii hails from the mountains of China and has striking, purpleand-white blooms.

GROWING ADVICE

Epimedium Care Sally Gregson explains how to grow and divide these ethereal woodland wonders Soil should be moist, welldrained and rich in leafmould for most epimediums, although those from mountainous parts of Europe and Africa are happy in drier conditions.

For container growing use John Innes No 2, and for acidloving epimediums use an ericaceous compost. Containergrown epimediums will be more vulnerable to the cold so protect them by wrapping the pots with hessian or move them into a coldframe or greenhouse.

Vine weevil infestations can be a problem, especially when growing in containers. Look out for notches in the leaves and check over the roots of new plants for the fat white grubs.

If you have a weevil problem, water a biological control onto the compost. Rabbits are also partial to epimediums.

When it comes to pruning, dry-shade-loving, spreading epimediums should be cut to just above ground level with shears in February before new flowers emerge. Japanese

64 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

species and hybrids are deciduous, so just snip away any old stems. Chinese hybrids are evergreen, so simply remove any scruffy leaves in spring. They aren’t so vigorous, so leave most of the foliage in place to protect new leaves and flowers, which will unfurl above the old growth. Mulch with leafmould or composted bark in spring and autumn.

Epimediums spread by way of underground rhizomes, and some will colonise a patch quickly, while others form neat clumps and spread more slowly.

Divide after flowering or in early autumn. Dig around the clump and lift. For spreading clumps, Sally recommends prising them apart with two forks held back-to-back.

Chinese epimediums are delicate, so Sally digs them up and puts them on the potting bench in a tray to tease them apart. “If you used the fork technique you’d break off shoots without any roots attached,” she explains.

But it’s the Chinese hybrids that have stolen Sally’s heart. “They’re very much easier to grow, happy in rich soil in shade and they don’t mind the pH,” she explains. “They make nice clumps and don’t become a nuisance. The flowers are bigger and they’re held well above the foliage – which has the advantage of being evergreen.” The one downside is that these emerging flowers can be damaged by frost, so avoid planting them in cold spots.

Sally recommends E. ‘Amber Queen’ for its masses of orange-yellow flowers, which look like medieval jesters’ hats; it’s also one of the longest-flowering hybrids. She is also a fan of E. epsteinii, which was discovered in the mountains of central China in the 1990s, and has striking white-and-purple blooms.

“One of the very best epimediums for foliage colour is ‘Black Sea’, which has leaves that turn a fabulous dark red in winter,” says Sally. Another particular favourite of hers is ‘Candy Heart’ for its eye-catching elongated heart-shaped leaves with a red flush that deepens towards the edge. There is so much choice and these colourful little plants are nothing if not diverse. n Mill Cottage Plants, Henley Mill, Henley Lane, Wookey, Somerset BA5 1AW. Opens for the NGS by arrangement from May to September. Tel: +44 (0)1749 676966; millcottageplants.co.uk

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THE CAUSEWAY COAST We explore one of Ireland’s most thrilling routes, which skirts the northernmost shore of Ireland

CORK’S FINE-DINING TRAIL

Words by Nicola Brady

T

here’s an unavoidable romance to the Irish coast. It’s battered, dramatic and almost gothic in parts – a combination of soaring cliffs, empty beaches and tiny coves.

And one of the most striking parts of the coastline is up in Northern Ireland, on what’s known as the Causeway Coast.

This stretch of shore runs between Belfast and Derry, where a winding road weaves for 153 miles alongside the ocean.

The southwest province of Munster is home to no fewer than four Michelin starred restaurants, making the most of the region’s natural larder

Words by Sinead Smyth

T

ravel southwest from Ireland’s capital city of Dublin and you’ll find yourself in County Cork. As the largest county in Ireland it is often referred to by the local’s as the ‘real capital’.

Situated in the province of Munster, Cork is also part of the Wild Atlantic Way, a 2,500km route of rugged coastline that spans the length of the west of Ireland to the Inishowen Peninsula in Donegal in the north.

Cork city, the capital of the county, is a vibrant place, full of shops, bars and

28 Ireland’s Best 2020

restaurants – the melodic sing-song of the Cork accent fills the air, and the people are jovial and friendly. However, journey west of the city centre and you will reach the wilds of West Cork.

There’s something special in the air here.

Parts are extremely remote, and feel totally removed from the buzzing city. The west of Ireland is renowned for its natural beauty, attracting visitors from across the globe. West Cork in particular is home to a large number of expats who have felt its pull.

Scotland’s Ireland’s Best 2020 29

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ALPINES

A Head for Heights Michael and Allison Mitchell make the most of their nursery’s challenging site by growing hardy alpines. Vivienne Hambly explores their extensive collection of these deceptively delicate-looking plants PHOTOGRAPHS SARAH CUTTLE

Trays of neatly ranked alpines on display at Slack Top, tempting enthusiastic collectors and dabblers alike.

APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 67

ALPINES

G

Top The nursery’s

gardens demonstrate which plants thrive at this exposed site.

Above Allison and Michael Mitchell of Slack Top Nurseries.

ales howl along the north-facing slope at Slack Top, a hamlet two miles from Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire. The area can receive an annual rainfall in excess of 1,200mm, and its elevation, 900ft above sea level, means winter temperatures can drop as low as -16°C. These are terrible conditions for a nursery – except, of course, if you’re growing alpines.

“Customers say that if they see it growing here, it will grow anywhere,” says Michael Mitchell, owner of Slack Top Nurseries, the business he started from his parents’ garden, 34 years ago. “After a few years, I bought some land adjoining my parents’ house, but I didn’t really have much of a plan and I had no money at all. Everything was done on the cheap but eventually it took off,” he explains. Since those early days, Michael has been joined by his wife, Allison, and the pair have gone on to establish a reputation as one of the very best propagating alpine nurseries in the country.

68 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

Alpines are small hardy plants that grow in challenging elevations, typically in mountains above the tree lines, often covered in snow in winter. Part of their appeal is that they originate from so many unusual locations around the world: the Alps and the Himalayas, but also the Andes and mountainous regions in North America, New Zealand and parts of Africa. Only about half a dozen of them come from the United Kingdom, typically from such locations as Snowdonia and the Isle of Skye.

One of the most iconic alpines stocked by Slack Top Nurseries is Leontopodium nivale subsp. alpinum. Better known as edelweiss, it’s the national flower of several European countries, including Romania, Slovenia, Switzerland and Austria, finding fame in The Sound of Music: ‘small and white, clean and bright, you look happy to meet me...’

“Alpines are usually cushion or mat-forming plants with really bright flowers that are easily seen from afar by pollinating insects,” says Michael.

“They’re very, very hardy too. They look delicate but

Alpine stars

MICHAEL’S PICKS

Above Stone troughs you have to think about make perfect containers where the plant comes for alpines, showcasing from in the wild.” their small and delicateAlpines don’t only looking blooms. appeal to those with wanderlust; Michael points to their suitability for window boxes and roof gardens. “Because they’re so small, you can get a lot into a small space and they’re generally easy to grow and very colourful,” he notes.

Just keep in mind that not all alpine regions have cold climates – some, especially towards the tropics, can be warm by day, but cold at night. All alpines, however, are averse to wet feet. “They tend to receive a blanket of snow that doesn’t thaw until spring,” says Michael.

Slack Top Nurseries lists some 400 varieties in its catalogue, but also has an extensive backlist that can be called upon if necessary. One of the limitations with selling stock propagated exclusively on site is that there simply aren’t enough hands to do all the work that could be done. “We can’t always propagate as much as we would like to keep up with orders, but I think that’s the charm of a place like ours. If you buy plants from wholesalers, you have the same stock as everyone else,” explains Michael. “We have different stock every year.

We’re not Amazon, but we do what we can.”

The intense and prolonged heat of summer 2018 proved to be an especially taxing period. “It was the most challenging time we’ve ever faced,” Michael recalls. The relentless sunshine meant the couple had to erect a double layer of shade cloth every morning

LEWISIA REDIVIVA ‘ALBA’

DELOSPERMA ASHTONII

Can dry out completely in summer and revive in autumn rain. Has large white flowers.

Fleshy, slightly hairy leaves and a fulsome, tumbling habit – ideal for retaining walls.

LINARIA ALPINA

OXALIS ‘SLACK’S PEACOCK’

This fine, grey-leaved alpine will produce its purple flowers all summer given full sun and good drainage.

Tuft-forming, with near stemless flowers in attractive purple tones. Ideal for pots.

ARMERIA MARITIMA ‘IN THE RED’

SISYRINCHIUM ‘E.K. BALLS’

Previously called ‘Rubrifolia’, pretty pink globes are held aloft on slender stems.

A clump-forming plant that flowers all summer and likes sharply drained soil.

APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 69

ALPINES

GROWING ADVICE

By Michael Mitchell

● “There’s no mystery

to growing alpines: they just need good drainage and good light,” says Michael.

Many are also suitable for partial shade. ● Buy plants from

a reputable source.

Some alpines are planted in peat compost and it can be difficult to grow them on from that. Use a soil-based medium mixed with grit or sharp sand. John Innes No 1 or No 2 is ideal.

Apply a layer of grit to the surface. ● Alpines are easily

propagated from seed, cuttings or division, depending on type. Lewisia ‘Little Tutti Frutti’ is an ideal starting point, since it flowers for a long time and grows well from seed. Collect seed in summer and sow it in autumn. It will come up in spring and make a flowering plant the following year.

and take it down again at 6pm while some light remained. “We were watering a lot and had to water plants individually. There wasn’t time to propagate much – and the cuttings would just have cooked in those sort of temperatures.”

Spring brings gentians, but also saxifrages and hepaticas, and sales are strong early in the year. Michael’s theory is that once winter passes, anything with a flower on it is in demand. By summer it is the turn of dianthus, campanulas and lewisias, including Lewisia pygmaea, L. rediviva and L. cotyledon ‘Slack Top Strain’.

L. cotyledon is native to California, but Michael excellent candidate for a rock garden. Similarly, points out that they develop their own varieties various collectors and plant hunters will bring at Slack Top, deliberately and by happy accident. specimens to Michael and Allison because they Potential new varieties are trialled for garden know they will be brought into cultivation. “I’ve worthiness and only the best make it through. also subscribed to expedition seed lists, with An appealing group of plants such as varying success,” adds Michael. “Alpine seed is alpines will inevitably attract collectors, and collected in the wild, but it’s often not labelled for this Slack Top Nurseries has particular properly, and sometimes they’re just weeds. accommodations. “They can be quite specific in We’re always on the lookout for something terms of what they want to add to their stock,” different, though.

Michael explains. Saxifraga grisebachii, is “We appreciate working outdoors. Going one such request. Hailing from the mountains outside in the lashing rain can be horrible, of Greece and Albania, it has “a flower that but when you’re out on a good day, you emerges from a central rosette like a shepherd’s remember the advantages,” he maintains. ■ crook and turns red and green Top left Candelabra as it unfolds, blooming from Slack Top Nurseries and Garden, primulas add colour February until May.” Saxifraga Alpine House, 22A Slack Top, to raised alpine beds. longifolia, from the Pyrenees, Heptonstall, Hebden Bridge HX7 Top right Young produces from a single rosette a 7HA. Tel: +44 (0)1422 845348; Soldanella montana plants growing on ready two-foot-long plume of “hundreds slacktopnurseries.co.uk. Michael for sale in the nursery. of white flowers” before it dies. It Mitchell’s Alpines – An Essential Above right Spilling needs little water but also requires Guide is published by Crowood over a wall, low-growing good drainage, so is therefore an Press and priced at £19.95.

Veronica prostrata.

70 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

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CRAFTSPEOPLE French knots, bullion, chain and long stitches are all employed to create pretty scenes with intricate detail.

Painting with Threads Embroidery artist Jo Butcher combines traditional stitches with a contemporary eye to create exquisite pictures of wildflower meadows and cottage garden plants PHOTOGRAPHS MIMI CONNOLLY WORDS FIONA CUMBERPATCH

APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 73

CRAFTSPEOPLE

F

rothy heads of cow parsley growing on a verge, a wildflower meadow that almost seems to sway in a soft breeze, and a field of ripe wheat ears studded with red poppies: embroidery artist Jo Butcher captures the essence of plants with a needle and thread. Layers of soft colour and texture create depth and an almost 3D effect in a fresh, impressionistic style.

Although she is inspired by floral embroidery traditions of the past, there is nothing twee or vintage about the images Jo creates, none of which are larger than 47cm square. “I often look at the plants I sew from a rabbit’s eye view,” she says.

“When I’m walking in the countryside where I live in Somerset, I might lie down to observe the grasses and flowers. I take photos and I sometimes make a sketch for reference, although I won’t necessarily use it for the final composition. I always want to ensure that my planting combinations are accurate and realistic.”

74 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

Above Lupins and bees buzzing around a hive create a classic English country garden scene.

Below Jo is often inspired by her garden, an old apple orchard.

Jo’s ideas for her work come from the countryside surrounding her village, North Curry, and her own natural garden, which comprises an acre of old apple orchard. “It’s not really cultivated, although I like pottering around out there,” she says. “In the spring I love to see the cow parsley taking over. I can get an idea for a picture while I’m pegging out my washing!” She is fascinated by wildflower meadows and drifts of flowers but finds inspiration in the landscape whatever the season. “In the winter, snowdrops bring me joy, then the bluebells flowering in late spring. I love English country gardens, with summer spires of lupins and hollyhocks, lavender and Japanese anemones, then structural seedheads in autumn. There’s something to see all year round and I suppose that I am always looking, even when I don’t think I am!”

Jo has been transferring the joy of plants into embroidered pictures full time since 2012, and demand for her work is constant.

She has recently started to produce kits

An inspiration wall in Jo’s studio, with pictures of naturalised fritillaries, her favourite alliums and the drifts of wildflowers that she is so drawn to.

APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 75

CRAFTSPEOPLE

based on her designs. She sells at RHS Hampton Court Flower Show every year and teaches her skills worldwide, travelling as far as Australia in 2018.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that my hobby would turn into a business and take off the way it has,” she remarks.

As a teenager growing up in Leicestershire, Jo loved to make her own clothes, and later worked as a designer and pattern cutter in the fashion industry in London. It was while she was pregnant with her first daughter, Emily, that she spotted a craft magazine with an embroidered garden on the cover.

“Something about it just clicked,” she explains.

“I bought the magazine and stored it away, thinking that one day I would make something like it.”

When Emily tragically died at ten months old in 2000 from a rare genetic condition, Jo joined a stitching group as a way of coping with her grief.

“I had empty arms and it was my therapy,” she 76 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

says. “I have since had another gorgeous daughter, Sophie, who is now 17, but I think of my business as Emily’s legacy.”

A picture starts life with a piece of coloured linen or heavy cotton, or it might be inspired by a fragment of vintage lace purchased at one of the textile fairs Jo loves to visit. She works from a studio in the Victorian house where she lives with Sophie and husband Nick. The shelves of her studio are lined with boxes of thread, piles of linens, and scraps of vintage lace. “I may pull out a range of different colours to see what would work, and then I start experimenting,” explains Jo. Sometimes, when she is creating a meadow, she paints a background with watercolours first. “I paint the sky, and perhaps make some stroke marks as a guide, before I start to sew.”

Above left Jo’s light and

airy studio, with vintage finds and pretty storage.

Top right Threading two colours through the needle allows Jo to build up lovely tonal layers.

Above right Some fabric is tinted with watercolour paint before Jo begins to stitch.

She always works with the fabric pulled taut in an embroidery hoop. “Once I’ve started, I can take it anywhere: out in the garden on a favourite seat, in the car, or sitting in the house with a glass of wine.

I even take my work with me on holiday. It really has become an addiction!”

Good light is essential, as is a sharp pair of scissors and a selection of fine needles. Different stitches are used to depict certain plants. For example, bullion stitch is Jo’s choice for grasses and lavender, creating a long, textured stem. “My twist is that I put two colours through the needle,” she explains. “This is how I achieve a tonal layering.”

Another favourite stitch is the French knot, which is integral to Jo’s cow parsley, the centre of a daisy or a bee buzzing around a white-washed hive, one of her best-selling designs. Long stitch is another staple, as is a detached chain stitch that can be used for a leaf or a daisy. “I’m self-taught so nothing is set. It gives me freedom,” Jo notes. “I’ve been stitching fir branches, which I decided were too stylised, so I added extra stitches to make them more natural.

That’s why I can never say how long a picture will take. I judge as I go along, and it’s finished when it’s finished. A lot of love goes into each one.”

Jo is developing some tiny 3D plants, which are cut out of fabric and stitched onto a background and then displayed in box frames. She is still

Top Finished pieces are available to purchase from Jo’s website.

Above Jo studies flowers in detail so her embroidery is realistic.

Left Textural ears of corn and vibrant poppies recreate a wildflower meadow.

experimenting, remarking: “It’s something I’ll be working on next year.” She tends to portray her favourite plants again and again. Allium seedheads, cow parsley, daisies – “the list is too long!” – but one eludes even her talents.

“I love peonies but I just can’t stitch them; there are too many layers!”

Selling her wares at fairs and shows enables her to meet her customers, which she enjoys. “People have a really emotional connection to my work which is lovely. Perhaps it is because there is a link to the embroidery of the past. One lady even gave me a kiss because she felt so moved!”

She has kept the embroidery magazine which sparked her career as an artist. “It saved me,” she states simply. “And there is so much potential in what I am doing. When I started this as a therapy, who ever would have dreamt that it would take me to the other side of the world.” n To see Jo’s work and buy items from her online shop, visit jobutcher.co.uk APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 77

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WRITERS’ GARDENS

The Tale of Hill Top Beatrix Potter’s Lakeland home gave her a long-awaited independence. Here she made a traditional cottage garden, which found fame in her exquisitely illustrated children’s books

IMAGE NATIONAL TRUST IMAGES/JAMES DOBSON

WORDS AMANDA HODGES

The vegetable garden at Hill Top looks very much as it would have in Beatrix Potter’s time: a source of inspiration.

APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 79

WRITERS’ GARDENS

“I

t’s as nearly perfect a little place as I ever lived in.” When Beatrix Potter bought Hill Top Farm in Near Sawrey in 1905, it marked a seminal moment in her life. She’d long loved the Lake District and had hoped to buy land there ever since first visiting with her parents in 1896, but it was only phenomenal literary success that brought her dreams to tangible fruition.

Born in 1866, Beatrix had grown up in an affluent household in Kensington but she always preferred country life to the city and found freedom from the confines of a rather stultifying Victorian existence on long summer vacations when her parents rented country houses, first in Scotland and subsequently in the Lake District.

In later years she recalled: “I do not remember a time when I did not try to invent pictures and make fairy-tales – amongst the wild flowers, animals, trees, mosses and fungi – all the thousand common objects of the countryside; that pleasant unchanging world of realism and romance.” It was this fusion of authentic detail and imagination that made her illustrations so enduring.

As a child she and brother Bertram had kept a menagerie of pets (generally rabbits and mice, but occasionally, a frog, snake

80 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

Above Potter loved traditional cottage garden plants such as aquilegias and irises.

Below Beatrix Potter stands in the stone and slate doorway of Hill Top.

or bat) and she loved to capture their idiosyncrasies on paper. Drawing was a compulsion. “It is all the same, drawing, painting… the irresistible desire to copy any beautiful object... Why cannot one be content to look at it? I cannot rest, I must draw,” impatient 18-year-old Beatrix confided in her diary.

When she bought Hill Top she was in urgent need of distraction. Her fiancé Norman Warne had died suddenly and Beatrix was grief-stricken. A project like Hill Top was ideal since it would engage all her considerable energy; her time here would soon see her enthusiastically embrace both farming and conservation as well as continuing her literary career.

Initial forays into illustration began in 1890 with a serendipitous commission from a greetings card publisher. Encouraged by this and the support of her former governess Annie Moore, Beatrix developed a story from a picture-letter she’d sent Moore’s son, Noel, while on holiday. “I don’t know what to write to you but I shall tell you a story about four little rabbits whose names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter.” So began the immortal Tale of Peter Rabbit.

Several publishers rejected her story but, confident of its merits, she chose to selfpublish and had no sooner done so than

IMAGES NATIONAL TRUST/VAL CORBETT; FREDERICK WARNE & CO; ALAMY

WRITERS’ GARDENS publishers Frederick Warne (who’d expressed earlier enthusiasm) reaffirmed their interest on the proviso she changed all illustrations from black and white to full colour. She agreed and commercial publication ensued. Later she reflected, “the earlier books… were written for real children in picture letters of scribbled pen and ink. I confess that afterwards I painted most of the little pictures to please myself!”

With the proceeds from this book and others that followed, Beatrix was able to realise her hopes of independence at Hill Top, although she divided her time between London and the Lake District, assisting her parents until she married solicitor William Heelis in 1913, whereupon Near Sawrey became her permanent residence.

Spacious Castle Cottage, another purchase, became the couple’s residence and beloved Hill Top was kept as her study, a home for all her books and a base for welcoming literary visitors.

Hill Top dated from the late 17th century and was typical of Lakeland architecture, with stone walls and a slate roof. The range in the kitchen appeared in the pages of The Tale of Samuel Whiskers and the long clock from here was glimpsed in The Tailor of Gloucester. Inheriting an “overgrown and untidy” garden, Beatrix swiftly resolved to change it. In many of her illustrations she displayed her knowledge of traditional cottage garden plants; she herself planned and executed the garden’s layout, her intention being to create an old-fashioned cottage garden populated by fruit trees, herbs, vegetables (like that in Mr McGregor’s garden from The Tale of Peter Rabbit) and plants like hollyhocks, lavender, azaleas and roses.

In autumn 1906 Beatrix wrote to her friend Millie Warne – her former fiancé’s sister – “I have got a large bed in the garden prepared by digging.

I am going to the nursery at Windermere this week to choose some bushes.” Neighbours were gifting cuttings, for, as she added with amusement, “I am being inundated with offers of plants! It is very kind of people.” She talks of “some splendid phloxes, which will look nice between the laurels... I shall plant the lilies between the azaleas and I have got a saxifrage here that would be just what you want.”

As she became more settled in the Lake District, the area’s reflection within her tales expanded, first in Squirrel Nutkin and then Samuel Whiskers, The Tale of Mrs Tiggywinkle and others. In The Tale of Tom Kitten, Tom and sisters play in what is clearly Hill Top’s garden, muddying their clothes to their mother’s chagrin, and Jemima Puddle-Duck (based on a Hill Top duck) seeks a quiet place to hatch her eggs, her naivety about a certain “foxy gentleman” redeemed by the appearance of Kep, Beatrix’s collie.

Top A mix of flowers, fruit and vegetables at summer’s height.

Above Peter Rabbit, the mischievous garden visitor who made Beatrix Potter famous.

Below Beehives and slate walls are kept as they were in Potter’s day.

Local reaction to her work was positive. In 1909 Millie heard, “The Ginger and Pickles book has been causing amusement, it’s got a good many views which can be recognised in the village which is what they like, they are quite jealous of each other’s houses and cats getting into a book!” Beatrix’s life as a countrywoman expanded too as she bought farm stock; soon there were cows, pigs, ducks and hens at Hill Top plus Herdwick sheep, a breed that she loved, native to the Lake District.

Beatrix wanted to safeguard the future of the area, which had offered her first real taste of freedom.

When she died in 1943 she left her 4,000 acres of land in the care of the National Trust. Her legacy ensured the survival of the Lakeland landscape she loved and which her books preserved forever. ■ Hill Top, Near Sawrey, Hawkshead, Cumbria LA22 0LF. Tel: +44 (0)1539 436269; nationaltrust.org.uk

APRIL/MAY 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 81

LAST WORD

Spring’s Brilliant Promise After the monochrome bleakness of winter, Katherine Swift has a thirst for brightness that only masses of colourful new-season tulips can satisfy

W

“

Winter is like the dark backing a mirror needs if we are to see anything”

the whole flower with lilac. And there are families of related tulips, where colour combinations are like different tenses of the same verb: ‘Couleur Cardinal’, whose crimson petals are shaded with rich plum, and ‘Prinses Irene’, a sport of ‘Couleur Cardinal’, whose orange petals are flamed dusky purple. The Parrot tulip ‘Rococo’ belongs here too, another sport of ‘Couleur Cardinal’, with velvet petals flushed purple and splashed with green.

But combining different coloured tulips is an art in itself. You must consider not only colours but timings. Tulips flower from mid-March to mid-May, from the little Kaufmanniana and Greigii tulips, all the way to stately Lily Flowered types and opulent peony-flowered Double Lates. One year, a trick of the weather meant ‘Couleur Cardinal’ and ‘Generaal de Wet’ flowered at the same time; I have been trying to replicate the electrifying effect ever since.

I grew maroon-black ‘Queen of Night’ and flamecoloured ‘Ballerina’ at opposite ends of the season in different parts of the garden, but it was not until I saw my neighbour Janette combine the same colours to sizzling effect that I started looking for a similar pairing. This year I’m trying dark-stemmed maroon ‘Continental’ and bronze ‘Cairo’, two mid-season Triumph tulips, in a mixed bed.

Don’t use them as bedding, en masse, underplanted with contrasting groundcover. They should not be treated as wallpaper for they are flowers that deserve to be looked at individually, close-up. A feast for the eyes after the famine of winter. ■

ILLUSTRATION JULIA RIGBY PORTRAIT RICHARD BLOOM

hat would it be like to live in a world without spring – a world without seasons, where everything was always perfect and unchanging? A world without the tide of happenings, surprises and disasters: all the delays and anticipations, the push and pull of memory and desire that wash through our temperate gardens every year. But you can’t have spring without winter. To adapt Saul Bellow’s phrase, winter is like the dark backing a mirror needs if we are to see anything.

Winter, with its absence of colour, makes me long for tulips: their clean outlines, each one a pop of colour in the still-bare garden. For what other flower has such a wide range of colours? Whites from snow to clotted cream; yellows from primrose to egg-yolk; pinks and purples; reds from pillarbox to the colour of dried blood; flaming orange and bronze; even the greens of Viridiflora tulips.

And in every combination from flamboyant bi- and tri-coloured Parrot tulips to the subtle layering in a simple early tulip like ‘Generaal de Wet’, glowing marigold-yellow and netted with mandarin-orange – my favourite early tulip and scented, too. Or ‘Snow Parrot’, modestly frilled, its white flanks flushed lead-grey with a hint of sun-warmed pink, like snow on a Scottish mountainside in early morning.

Then there are tulips that change with age, like ‘Shirley’: white in youth, its petals edged with a slick of blue-purple, which, as the flower ages, suffuses

82 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL/MAY 2020

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