The English Garden August 2022

THE

english

GARDEN AUGUST 2022

For everyone who loves beautiful gardens

Summer

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CELEBRATING SUNFLOWERS New ways with the season’s cheeriest bloom High summer inspiration Top 10 plants for PONDS How to WATER sustainably Gabriel Ash GREENHOUSES ERYNGIUMS with impact

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CONTRIBUTORS

Carole Drake Carole is a garden photographer and writer based in a small town in South Somerset, and an active member of the Dorset branch of Butterfly Conservation.

She visits College Barn on page 22.

Jason Ingram Jason is an awardwinning photographer based in Bristol. He travels widely, shooting for magazines, books, and garden designers on private projects worldwide. His photos of the garden at Patthana are on p33.

Welcome I

was living in Manchester when I (eventually) passed my driving test, and not too far away in Warrington, Bluebell Cottage Gardens, which you’ll find on page 40, was one of my earliest excursions in the car. It was still Lodge Lane Nursery then, since this was well before Sue Beesley took it on and reversed its ensuing decline, but more than 20 years later I can still recall that heady sense of freedom of those early trips in my very own car, and the sheer joy of being able to zoom off on garden visits. The Dorothy Clive Garden in Shropshire is still one of my favourite gardens for the same reason, indelibly associated in my mind with the exhilarating adrenaline of my first solo motorway drive. This was the reason I’d endured all those miserable hours practising parallel parking – gardens, of course, and all that boot space for plants!

Our feature about Sue’s impressive garden today brought those early driving memories flooding back. I’m pretty sure I visited at this time of year because I remember huge borders full of vibrant perennials. With petrol prices as they are, not to mention a desire to reduce our impact on the planet, we might not leap into the car with such abandon these days, but a judicious trip to an inspiring, spirit-lifting, memorable garden will always be worth it – I hope you make it to a few this summer.

CLARE FOGGETT, EDITOR

IMAGE JAYNE LLOYD

Maria Burns

Maria is a Dorsetbased illustrator and graphic designer with a passion for nature, gardens and the stunning landscapes around her home on the Isle of Purbeck. She illustrates Non Morris’s column on page 130.

ON THE COVER The lawn borders at Stockcross House in Berkshire are filled with romantic, billowing, summer planting.

Photographed

by Clive Nichols.

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August 2022

CONTENTS

Gardens 22 College Barn The ecologist owners of this Somerset garden have been guided by their plants’ natural habitats to create a living breathing landscape.

33 Patthana This garden in County Wicklow reaches a crescendo in high summer, but it is also a personal and spiritual space that can be enjoyed at any time of year.

40 Bluebell Cottage Gardens Sue Beesley’s gorgeous Cheshire gardens give visitors a taste of what’s on offer at her nursery, which stocks a range of lovely hardy perennials.

48 Stockcross House In the back lanes of Berkshire, big, bold, beautiful planting forms a symphony of colour, expertly conducted by head gardener Istvan Dudas.

40

56 Field House This dynamic Cheshire garden offers sunshine and shadow, stillness and movement, formality and wild planting and, in summer, lashings of bold colour.

Design

33

103

67 Garden Buildings Whether your garden room is intended as a space for creativity or something more functional, take inspiration from the literary greats.

89 Sunflowers Enjoy the heat of high summer with this exuberant combination of bold stripes, nostalgic ginghams, delicious home-made treats and cheerful sunflowers.

Plants 75 Top 10 Plants Drawing inspiration from the late Beth Chatto’s Water Garden, Åsa Gregers-Warg, who helps care for it, picks her top ten marginal pond plants.

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81 Plant Focus The spiky Eryngium genus is surprisingly diverse and even more surprisingly unstudied, say Kathy and Brian Pike, holders of the National Collection.

97 Sustainable Watering Employ a mindful approach to using water in the garden and save money while helping to save the planet.

Matt Rees-Warren offers practical solutions.

103 Grow Your Own The months of hard work at Thyme in Southrop pay off, as crops reach fruition and the late-summer harvests start to appear, with berries, beans and lettuces all ready for picking.

6 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

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IMAGES JOE WAINWRIGHT; JASON INGRAM; SUSSIE BELL; RAY COX; GAP/VISIONS

111 Electric Daisy Flower Farm Fiona Haser Bizony has weathered the vicissitudes of the pandemic to create the sustainable, ethical farm business and flower shop whose principles she hopes will be her legacy.

119 Flowers from the Farm Three members of Flowers from the Farm, the association of British cut flower growers, share how they started their farms ahead of the celebratory Flower Farmers’ Big Weekend on 5-7 August.

Regulars 9 This Month Plants, people, news and events, books and beautiful things to buy, plus designer Bunny Guinness’s diary.

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19 Shopping Everything you need for collecting, stowing and saving seeds.

130 To Conclude The interplay of water, light and flora casts its spell over a Scottish island holiday for Non Morris, the sparkling harebells proving most enchanting of all.

AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 7

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FURNITURE

This Month Our guide to plants, people, gardens and events, tasks and shopping in August

IN FLOWER NOW

IMAGE GAP/HOWARD RICE

Hibiscus syriacus ‘Oiseau Bleu’ W

hen hibiscus were first cultivated in Europe, it’s little surprise that gardeners assumed they were tender. Their showy flowers conjure thoughts of holidays to hotter climes, but actually Hibiscus syriacus is hardy across most of the UK, tolerating winter temperatures down to -10 or

-15°C. ‘Oiseau Bleu’, which you’ll often find for sale as ‘Blue Bird’, is a shrub smothered in large, mauve-blue flowers with a deep maroon centre in August and September: a spectacular sight. Easily pruned to size and tolerant of a range of soils, it delivers its exotic good looks with ease and grace.

AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 9

People to Meet Introducing the gardeners and public figures we most admire in British horticulture

One of the country’s foremost proponents of rewilding, Isabella manages the Sussex Knepp Estate and is the author of Wilding. Here she inspires gardeners to ‘think like a herbivore’ When we think of wild land, we tend to picture forest. But in the presence of herbivores, undisturbed land is more diverse. Animals trample, rootle, debark trees, paddle in the margins of water courses and transport seeds across a landscape: that’s what kickstarts a dynamic system.

The ecologist Frans Vera pointed this out in Grazing

Ecology and Forest History.

The book was translated into English in 2000, just as my husband Charlie and I were wondering how to see the estate at Knepp through to a sustainable future. We’d inherited it in 1987, and after years of failing to make it profitable we chose to rewild.

In contrast to traditional conservation, rewilding lets

10 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

RECOMMENDED

Isabella’s favourite gardens Great Dixter East Sussex Great Dixter has published a biodiversity heat map that shows the garden is more species-rich than the surrounding meadows.

This carries an inspirational message for gardeners: we can make a difference.

Tel: 01797 252878; greatdixter.co.uk

Knepp Castle Estate West Sussex We hope Knepp is changing mindsets about what a garden looks like and showcasing how diverse and enjoyable a rewilded garden can be.

Our new garden safaris offer a tour of the garden and its emerging species.

Tel: 01403 713 230; kneppsafaris.co.uk

INTERVIEW PHOEBE JAYES IMAGES TIMES NEWSPAPERS LTD; FERGUS GARRETT; CHARLIE HARPUR

Isabella Tree

nature do the work. While a nature reserve might focus on a single species, rewilding has no goals – although the number of endangered species at Knepp has astonished conservationists.

At first, the ‘weeds’ were an affront to our farmers. After three years of a triffid-like explosion of creeping thistle, we awoke to a multitude of painted lady butterflies from Morocco: you could hear their wings flutter like a distant waterfall. Later their caterpillars ravaged the thistle.

Not a single plant survived.

On a smaller scale, we’ve been rewilding our walled garden with Tom Stuart-Smith and James Hitchmough: it’s a no-dig vegetable garden woven with paths of droughttolerant plants. And we’ve transformed the croquet lawn into a hillocked landscape with crushed concrete and bricks. We’ve used different substrates with different soils to encourage a mosaic of plant communities.

The key to rewilding is to learn how to think like a herbivore. If you’ve got a pond, think like a beaver and add some woody debris to attract invertebrates. Or think like a boar and trample its boundary so aquatic plants can thrive in the niches.

We’re now creating natural corridors from Knepp so populations can meet to maintain genetic diversity. At present our wildlife is spilling into a depleted landscape, but we plan to connect with Ashdown Forest in the north and with a farmer who has land on the south coast.

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Out & About Unmissable events, news and the very best gardens to visit this month

Late Summer Plant Fair 21 August, Kent

The Plant Fairs Roadshow visits the 16-acre garden within Hole Park this August, when the herbaceous and exotic borders will be at their very best. The fair is open from 11am to 4pm and visitors can indulge in a spot of green retail therapy from a lineup of awardwinning independent nurseries such as Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants, Beechbridge Plants, Swallowfields Nursery, Plantbase and Pineview Plants, before paying a visit to the on-site café. Tickets are £10 and include entry for both fair and garden. plant-fairs.co.uk

Closes 18 September, Gloucestershire The summer exhibition at this luxury hotel in the Cotswolds is a collection of botanical portraits by artist Kate Friend. For the display, Kate invited a number of notable creatives to choose a flower that holds meaning for them, and then shot each plant in a single vessel at the home or studio of each individual to reveal the personal connection behind them. All works are for sale and entry is free. thyme.co.uk

A Blue Plaque for Fanny Wilkinson Fanny Wilkinson, who is believed to be Britain’s first professional female landscape gardener, has been commemorated with an English Heritage blue plaque at her former home on Shaftesbury Avenue. Wilkinson was a campaigner for the protection of open space in London. The plaque will look onto the open green space she laid out over 130 years ago, with a view that “would be a great boon to this crowded neighbourhood.” english-heritage.org.uk 12 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

NGS Garden Gasper Cottage

Wiltshire At this secluded 1.5-acre garden, admire colourful plantings of dahlias, grasses, asters, cardoons and other late-summer treats. A perennial meadow hosts an orchard with a wildlife pond, and owner Bella Hoare’s art studio is open to visit.

Gasper Cottage, Gasper Street, Gasper Stourton, Warminster, Wiltshire BA12 6PY. Opens 21 August and by arrangement for groups.

Adults: £5; Children: Free.

WORDS PHOEBE JAYES IMAGES STUART KIRK/TENTERDEN PHOTOGRAPHY; LUCY MILLSON-WATKINS/ENGLISH HERITAGE; BELLA HOARE

Kate Friend Exhibition at Thyme

P R O M OT I O N

SOAK AWAY THE DAY IN STYLE Devon-based family company Riviera Hot Tubs is known for providing unparalleled quality, from the premium materials, to the passion and service you’ll experience from their team

R

iviera Hot Tubs have been manufacturing wooden barrel hot tubs for 20 years. Every client is catered for individually with the company’s bespoke service, and no product comes straight off a shelf.

Riviera’s barrels are built to seat from two to sixteen people, using economical air source heating systems. New for 2022 are the company’s wood-fired hot tubs, heated by 55kW-output wood burning stoves, which are manufactured in Kent using stainless steel and copper.

Each year Riviera continue to move away from plastic parts with the end goal of providing a system using only natural materials. Also newly introduced this year are new marine grade stainless 14 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

Above Riviera hot tubs can be recessed

or free-standing, and the new wood-fired models don’t need access to electricity.

Right Riviera also install bespoke saunas.

steel jet massage zones. These are subtle to the eye but provide an unparalleled hydrotherapy experience.

Cedar Wood Hot Tubs In this world of plastics and synthetics, it’s refreshing to find something made of wood. Riviera’s traditional hot tubs are classic in their design and simplicity.

Made from Canadian kiln-dried cedar, chosen for its clear grain, long-term stability and natural resistance to decay, these hot tubs have both an aesthetic

and tactile quality, which results in a truly unique bathing experience.

Natural wooden tubs are a pleasure to use and a beautiful addition to any

Clockwise from top left An outdoor sauna

allows you to experience the full benefits; a recessed Riviera hot tub clad in cedar wood; perfectly positioned for the view.

garden landscape, be they freestanding or built into new or existing patios or timber decking. In an increasingly hectic and stressful world, a tub offers a peaceful and soothing refuge any time of the year in the privacy of your garden.

The craftsmanship of Riviera’s tubs simply can’t be found in mass-produced plastic spas, and the touch, feel and smell of beautiful cedar wood is unparalleled.

Hydrotherapy The benefits of hydrotherapy have been known for thousands of years. Ancient civilisations enjoyed bathing in hot water springs and hydrotherapy was born.

There are three factors at work in a hot tub – heat, buoyancy and massage – and combined they create a perfect environment that can be used to help treat a number of ailments from arthritis

to minor sports injuries. Immersing yourself in hot water raises the body’s temperature and causes blood vessels to dilate, which results in increased circulation and endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers. It can also help reduce blood pressure and high sugar levels.

Riviera’s hot tubs are also deeper than conventional acrylic types, making you more buoyant. Step in and you lose over half your body weight, relieving pressure on joints and muscles and creating a relaxing sensation you can’t get in a normal bath.

Pure Pleasure The massaging action in the water is created from the bubble bench and jets positioned in the tub, which send a mixture of warm water and air through to the jet nozzles. These gently massage away all the aches and pains caused by the daily stresses of today’s fast pace of life. Simply soaking in a hot, swirling tub will leave you mentally and physically relaxed. Twenty minutes in the morning can give you a fresh start and a long soak before bed can help improve sleep.

Rejuvenating Saunas Riviera don’t just supply their own British-made hot tubs, but also design and build bespoke sauna and steam rooms. Mixing the sauna and steam experience with a cold plunge or bathing in one of their hot tubs will give a true wellness experience. Riviera also build repair rooms for professional athletes using the same mix of experiences: relax, recover, and repair.

Used on a regular basis, a sauna has many benefits. Saunas detoxify, cleanse and rejuvenate your body and skin through perspiration. They stimulate respiration and circulation, relax tired and aching muscles and the dry heat of the sauna also relieves congestion.

Relaxation time is such an important commodity and having a sauna or hot tub will provide you with somewhere to destress and unwind day or night. They can also be used as a place to spend quality time with friends and family. Contact Riviera to discuss the options for your bespoke steam or infrared sauna.

For more information, tel: 01626 367037 or visit riviera-hottubs.co.uk

AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 15

Bunny’s Diary

D

octor Elaine Ingham (soilfoodweb.com) has been researching soil for four decades. She believes it’s soil microorganisms such as fungi, protozoa, bacteria and microarthropods that make soils great for growing – not fertilisers. Daniel Tyrkiel studied under Elaine and has set up the Soil Ecology Laboratory (soilecologylab.co.uk).

He sells an inoculant called Goop. Last Christmas I applied this to my raised beds, which, having been made largely of green waste, were probably high in bacteria and low in many microorganisms. The growth this year is outstanding. I’ve seen the results of experiments with tomatoes grown in pure sand or pure sand plus Goop and the 16 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

increase in growth was around 300%. Now I’m treating my roses too. Additionally, no-dig practices and adding compost are advocated to boost microorganism levels.

We get lots of questions about eremurus on Gardeners’ Question Time. I planted 20 Eremurus robustus in January (from gee-tee.co.uk) in my new Rose Meadow and they have performed magnificently: two-metre tall, strong ‘foxtail’ type flowers of pale pink. Maybe it is the result of most of the area previously being full of comfrey, which boosts organic matter and fertility.

Eremerus hate being crowded so I give them space and will lift and split around every three years to give them more. If you want a drama queen, this is the go-to plant – make sure they are top of your autumn bulb list!

I planted some roses for cutting a few years ago from the Home Florist range by wholesaler Whartons Roses, but Peter Beales (classicroses.co.uk) stocks all four: ‘Timeless Charisma’ (deep red); ‘Timeless Cream’; ‘Timeless Pink’; and ‘Timeless Purple’ – my favourite. They are bushy, reach around 90cm high, and are suited for cutting because they repeat-flower quickly on long stems. They stand up well to heavy storms and last well in water. I can get two weeks out of them in the vase – fantastic! n Visit Bunny’s YouTube channel to watch ‘My Top Performing Roses’, ‘Behind The Scenes Recording Gardeners’ Question Time’; and ‘My Top time-saving Gardening Hacks’. youtube.com/bunnyguinness

IMAGES NEIL HEPWORTH; SHUTTERSTOCK; GAP/DAVE ZUBRASKI

Bunny Guinness recommends a soil inoculant, spectacular eremurus and roses for cutting

Beautiful & Useful New plants, books, tools and creative designs, plus shopping inspiration

A Stitch in Time If you visited RHS Chelsea this year, you may have noticed the Stitchers’ Garden, celebrating the 25th anniversary of Fine Cell Work, a rehabilitation charity and social enterprise that trains prisoners in high-quality needlework. Founded by Lady Anne Tree in 1997, the charity is this year collaborating with Cath Kidston on her new design project, Joy of Print. The result is a neat range of finely embroidered homeware with a garden theme. Find cushions embellished with cheerful echinacea or bluebells, and the tree of life motif used on aprons, tea towels and lavender bags. Joy of Print Echinacea Daisies embroidered cushions, from £80, finecellwork.co.uk

All Creatures Great and Small If providing food for birds is essential in late winter when resources are depleted, setting up a bird bath is the summertime equivalent. By this point in the year, birds’ usual bathing and drinking sources may well be drying up, so a bird bath will be a big help – as well as attracting them to your garden.

Vivara specialises in habitats for the UK’s native wildlife, offering a range of feeders, baths, nest boxes, homes and plants for the birds, hedgehogs, bats, insects and amphibians that may set up home in your garden. National Trust Vierno Tajine water dish, £9.95, vivara.co.uk

WORDS VIVIENNE HAMBLY

The Science of Compost: Life, Death and Decay Julian Doberski, Pimpernel, £9.99 Julian Doberski, retired principal lecturer in ecology at Anglia Ruskin University, offers a fascinating study of the biology of the lowly compost heap and reveals its mysteriously complex nature. This book won’t tell you how to build a compost heap, but it will explain the science behind it to help you better understand how to build and maintain one.

Endless Forms: The Secret World of Wasps Seirian Sumner, William Collins, £20 Often overlooked and sometimes feared, wasps are the oldest and cleverest of all the pollinators.

Seirian Sumner is professor of behavioural ecology at UCL, and here she makes a passionate case for wasps.

These masters of pollination and seed dispersal and one of the most speciesdiverse insects on the planet, control pests and are essential to our survival.

My World of Hepaticas John Massey with Toomoo Mabuchi, Ashwood Nurseries, £48.95 John Massey, selftaught horticulturist and owner of Ashwood Nurseries, has held a lifelong passion for this genus, and offers what he calls ‘a love-letter’ to the plant through this book. Part travelogue, the book also introduces the enthusiasts around the world who share an interest in hepaticas. Available from ashwoodnurseries.com AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 17

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Sowing & Growing Once your flowers have finished blooming and their seedheads have ripened, it’s time to collect their seeds so you can enjoy colourful displays again and again in the years to come.

Pick a dry, sunny day and gather a few tools for collection and storage, such as this leather handled seed packet storage tin, £25.99. Tel: 0114 2338262; burgonandball.com

AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 19

Garden knife, €10. opinel.com

Back Garden Seed Saving by Sue Stickland, £12.95. Tel: 01865

333536; blackwells.co.uk

Manilla seed saving envelopes,

£5.95. Tel: 0345 6052505; worm.co.uk

Clip top round jar 1L, £7. Tel:

0151 4861888; kilnerjar.co.uk.

Compostable write-on stickers,

£18.15 for 4 packs.

Tel: 0808 1699986 ecocentric.co.uk

Scanpan classic sieve, from £20. Tel: 01258 472420; hartsofstur.com

Brambly Cottage garden seed tin box, £36.99.

Growing Calendar, £8. Tel: 0345

6100336; johnlewis.com

Tel: 0800 1690423; wayfair.co.uk Ladies everyday gloves, £6.95. Tel:

0345 0920283; sarahraven.com

Homesense seed tray, £12.99.

Tel: 01923 473561; tkmaxx.com/uk 20 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

BY APPOINTMENT TO HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II SWAROVSKI OPTIK SUPPLIER OF BINOCULARS

CL CURIO EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED SEE THE UNSEEN

This image Helenium

‘Sahin’s Early Flowerer’ and Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ glow in the sun at College Barn.

Above right Magenta Knautia macedonica.

NATURE’S WAY The ecologist owners of College Barn in Somerset have been guided by their subjects’ natural habitats to create a living breathing landscape WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHS CAROLE DRAKE

I

t should come as no surprise that a pair of ecologists have made a beautiful, wildlifefriendly garden in rural Somerset around a house with resident barn owls; what does surprise is that this peaceful setting was once a place of heavy industry populated by the collieries and slag heaps of the Somerset Coalfield, where the last pits closed as recently as 1973.

Alex Crossman and Jen Weaver moved to College Barn in a small village near Midsomer Norton in 2012. A modest converted mine building next to Alex’s parents’ house, it’s surrounded by trees, rough grass and wildflowers, and it fulfilled the couple’s ambition to “live in a wood”. Jen, a professional botanist, was delighted to find the poetically named corky-fruited water-dropwort, Oenanthe pimpinelloides, a pretty white umbel of damp meadows, in their new garden. This was much to Alex’s amusement, since his father had been waging AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 23

Above A boardwalk path is framed by clipped box, sedums, Verbena bonariensis and grasses.

Right Ecologists Jen and Alex, who’ve created the beautifully planted garden at College Barn.

war against it for years for spoiling his lawn. “If ever I find corky-fruited dropwort when I’m surveying an area, it tells me that the grass is quite interesting. It’s a plant that says ‘stop and look around’,” says Jen. Although Alex made a few small beds in their garden and planted them with roses and wallflowers, the couple had no plans for anything more ambitious. But then, in 2014, a trip to the garden designed by Piet Oudolf at the Hauser & Wirth gallery in nearby Bruton gave Alex a lightbulb moment. “I was amazed by the before and after photos that showed how bare soil was turned into a huge perennial meadow in just six months,” explains Alex, who returned soon after for a guided tour with the head gardener. “We were so inspired that a couple of weeks later we got a turf cutter and stripped the lawn off the front garden.”

Taking inspiration from Piet Oudolf’s planting at Bruton and with Orchard Dene Nurseries’ beautiful

24 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

“Alex’s layout is grid-like, while my borders are curvy. We echoed planting between the two spaces to connect them” Above The vegetable garden, filled with netted brassicas and herbs.

Below A busy border of old favourites includes purple Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’, Helenium ‘Sahin’s Early Flowerer’, Agastache ‘Blue Fortune’ and wild carrot.

catalogue at hand, full of information on growing conditions and plant combinations, the couple drew up a plan. As Jen explains: “We divided the area into two: one side for Alex and the other for me. Alex’s layout is grid-like with straight paths between beds, while my borders are curvy. We echoed planting between the two spaces to connect them.”

Jen wanted a wild look to her planting, so she used lots of grasses and perennials including Knautia macedonica, its little magenta, scabious-like flowers weaving themselves in and out among their neighbours; Anthriscus sylvestris ‘Ravenswing’, a cow parsley with lacy, dark purple foliage; and spiky Eryngium yuccifolium with its toothed leaves and small white flowerheads. “I love a natural look with accents of muted colour dotted throughout, a bit like a meadow,” she explains. Alex prefers intense colour, revelling in purples and oranges from smoky amethyst Salvia verticillata ‘Purple Rain’ and coppery Helenium ‘Moerheim Beauty’, a magnet for pollinators. While Alex removed all the grass in his area, Jen retained some because she loves to lie on it.

Next came the kitchen garden, a part-walled space that Alex and Jen divided up with a grid of raised beds, now bursting in summer with a mix of edible and ornamental plants. “I love the way it becomes a jungle as the season progresses, though as a result we’ve had to widen the paths over the winter because last year it was a fight to get along them,” says Jen. AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 25

Border with Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’, Helenium ‘Sahin’s Early Flowerer’, salvias and Eryngium giganteum.

26 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

“We have a confusing mix of soil so it is worth trying things. In some areas it’s rich and fertile, in others it’s mostly coal spoil” Above Evening sun lights up a dining terrace, edged by fiery rods of Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Firedance’ and graceful Amelanchier canadensis.

Left Nectar-rich Betonica officinalis ‘Hummelo’.

Below A curved border of grasses and perennials.

Later, Alex and Jen resolved the connection between the house and the flower borders in the front garden by using narrow boards to build an area of decking inspired by a Tom Stuart-Smith garden, sharpening the look of the beds with steel edging. “We levelled some areas too where previously we had just worked with the topography of the land as we found it,” says Alex. They also brought the planting closer to the house by making a border of ferns and astrantias up against the wall of the house and planting an Amelanchier lamarckii to add height closer to the building, making changes as their experience of house and garden revealed precisely what was needed.

As ecologists, Alex and Jen always refer back to the native habitat of a plant to establish whether it might work in their garden, although as Jen points out: “We have a confusing mix of soil so it is worth trying things. In some areas it’s rich and fertile, in others it’s mostly coal spoil. Nepeta govaniana is from the rocky foothills of the Himalayas, so it shouldn’t do well in our damp soil, but it seems to love it here.” Unlike others in the genus, this nepeta has an upright form, bearing pale creamy-yellow flowers over soft green leaves.

AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 27

Fullers Mill is an enchanting and tranquil seven-acre creation. It combines light dappled woodland with a plantsman’s collection of shrubs, perennials, lilies and marginal plants enhanced by the reflective cooling waters of the River Lark, Millpond and Culford Stream.

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“In Australia I really noticed how different the plants were and that encouraged me to look more closely at native plants when I came back” Several plants have been repeated throughout the ornamental borders, favourites that seem to mix well with just about anything and everything.

These include furry, ground-covering Stachys byzantina ‘Silver Carpet’, and the luminous grass Sesleria autumnalis, its neat chartreuse leaves topped with wands of creamy white flowers. In the Post Box Border, so called because it curves from a roadside wall fitted with the eponymous post box into the garden in a crescent shape, silvery sea holly Eryngium giganteum reflects light from its prickly leaves, amid a grassy mix of Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’, Stipa tenuissima and S. gigantea, interspersed with a range of vivid flowers, including agastache, heleniums and wild carrot (Daucus carota). Weeding this border, which has

Above left Soft, plumes

of yellow goldenrod and lilac Veronicastrum virginicum ‘Fascination’.

Top right Verbena officinalis var. grandiflora ‘Bampton’ in a gravel path set with timber.

Above right Plum Monarda ‘Prairie Night’ with Helenium ‘Sahin’s Early Flowerer’.

“an epic seed bank” can be a slog admits Alex, who is now looking for part-time help in the garden.

Growing up next door, Alex always had a patch of garden to call his own and was never happier than when outside pushing a wheelbarrow around.

Jen’s peripatetic childhood, meanwhile, took her to Australia where her eyes were opened to the wonders of a distinctly different landscape. “I really noticed how different the plants were there and that encouraged me to look more closely at native plants when I came back. It inspired my interest in habitats too, and the way that plants fit together in communities.” Jen keeps a constant eye on the wild edges of the garden, while Alex wants to start new projects and needs time outdoors: “If I don’t get time outside doing manual stuff I get pretty miserable.”

AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 29

Sweet TREATS Mindful of their garden’s ecosystem, Jen and Alex choose flowers rich in pollen and nectar

HELENIUM ‘SAHIN’S EARLY FLOWERER’

HYLOTELEPHIUM ‘AFRICAN SUNSET’

Its yellow florets flushed with burnt orange, this helenium enjoys a moist, rich soil.

Mounds of mahogany foliage with clusters of pink flowers from late summer.

In summer the air is filled with the soft hum of thousands of invertebrates A sweep of the rough meadow that covered the whole garden when Alex and Jen moved here remains as a link between the ornamental garden and surrounding woodland. In spite of the couple’s attempts to introduce yellow rattle (Rhinanthus minor), a semi-parasitic plant that can weaken coarse grasses, the grasses remain dominant.

Having sought advice from The Barn Owl Trust, however, Alex and Jen are happy that this dense thatch, full of small mammals, makes a plentiful larder for their resident owls, if not a welcome habitat for flowers. The couple are now discussing ideas for their next project, inspired by the landscape of a local disused quarry, where birches and hazel grow through gravel, among pools and large rocks.

Nowadays, as the garden reaches its late-summer zenith, the air is filled not with the sound of a pit wheel turning, but with the soft hum of thousands of invertebrates. They feast on both the ornamental and wild plants that thrive in a garden that balances sumptuous contemporary planting with sensitivity to the area’s native flora and fauna. n

Above Wide paths in the vegetable garden allow a jungle of planting to spill over the edges, like pretty Chrysanthemum coronarium.

VERBASCUM CHAIXII ‘ALBUM’

GERANIUM ‘ROZANNE’

Tall, pretty spires of white blooms with purple-pink eyes on this sun-loving mullein.

The classic purple flowers keep on coming on this lowmaintenance hardy geranium.

AGASTACHE ‘BLUE FORTUNE’

PERSICARIA ‘FIREDANCE’

Clumps of tiny soft-blue flowers held on long stems with a liquorice fragrance.

Perfect in prairie-style schemes, this unfussy bistort can reach up to 90cm tall.

30 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

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The teardrop-shaped lawn offers a breathing space at the centre of the immersive borders’ packed planting.

Joy in the MOMENT

Patthana in County Wicklow reaches an assured crescendo in high summer, but this is a personal and spiritual garden where natural beauty and an appreciation of the present can be enjoyed at any time of year WORDS LOUISE CURLEY PHOTOGRAPHS JASON INGRAM

AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 33

A

ugust is a month when many foliage in smouldering shades of red, orange and gardens run out of steam, with purple with pops of vivid pinks. “I buy the summer the exuberance of spring and early bedding as plug plants and I’ll put three into each summer a distant memory. At pot but I use just one type of plant and one colour Patthana, in the pretty village of per pot, which I feel gives more impact. It also means Kiltegan in County Wicklow, Ireland, it’s a different I can move the containers around when I want to story, however, since it’s at this time of year that the tweak the display.” In summer, T. J. also moves garden of T. J. Maher and his husband Simon Kirby houseplants such as spider plants and his collection builds to a crescendo of stunning late-season colour. of begonias out into the shady areas of the courtyard When T. J., an artist, and Simon moved here in to build up the layers of textures and colour.

1996, the garden was blank canvas. “The house Two sets of circular granite steps, where selfhad been used as a holiday home for 25 years and sown hart’s tongue ferns have made their home in the garden had been completely neglected; there the crevices, lead up to an area of densely packed was an old apple tree that had fallen over and some borders surrounding an oval drop-shaped lawn. “I spindly, self-seeded hollies but not much else. I didn’t wanted a lawn because I love colour and use so much have a grand plan and there was no budget for hard of it, so the lawn provides a breathing space and a landscaping, so it evolved over green foil for the other plants. It time,” T. J. explains. also ties in with the surrounding The garden, which covers onefields.” A narrow path forms a third of an acre, is now testament loop around the garden, wending to T. J.’s artistic eye for colour its way past a splendid view of the and detail and his infectious village church through shade-loving passion for plants. Close to the Japanese anemones, hydrangeas house is a lower cobbled courtyard and ferns before turning back where moss and mind-yourtowards the house, taking an own-business carpet and creep. immersive journey through borders A sunken meditation area is of towering dahlias, eupatorium enclosed by granite stone walls and miscanthus. and an envy-inducing potting The garden is a masterclass in shed clad in silvered wood with a small-scale garden design and polycarbonate roof is the hub for planting. “I was very conscious T. J.’s tender plant collection. “We’re of which trees and shrubs I selected, Below Streptocarpus, sunnier and drier than elsewhere choosing those with vertical habits coleus and curios in a in Ireland, but it can get very cold that provide interest throughout the potting-shed display. here in winter so that is a challenge, year, such as Sorbus commixta and Clockwise from top right Steps lead up from the particularly as I love exotic plants.

Sorbus ‘Joseph Rock’, which have garden’s lower level; Over winter the potting shed is chocspring flowers, berries for the birds banana, tetrapanax, a-bloc with cannas, bananas, tender and good autumn colour. I’ve also coleus and cordyline; salvias and dahlia tubers; you can planted Aralia echinocaulis and Patthana’s T. J. Maher. barely walk in there! kalopanax, both Then, in summer, of which are hardy it’s home to displays but also lend an exotic, of pelargoniums, jungly feel.” succulents, chillies, While the garden spiky agaves and the reaches its peak in vibrant foliage of coleus. late summer, T. J. has I also use it for teaching carefully created a plantstudents who come on filled haven that looks my nine-month garden good all year round. course,” he explains.

“I’ve chosen plants Next to the house with exceptionally is the main courtyard long flowering seasons with a wildlife pond – – often plants that are the first element T. J. sterile, such as hardy created in the garden geraniums ‘Rozanne’ – and a container and ‘Anne Thomas’, collection brimming and geums ‘Totally with flowers and Tangerine’ and ‘Prinses

“I wanted a lawn because I love colour and use so much of it, so the lawn provides a breathing space”

34 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

Juliana’. In spring there are hellebores and various bulbs including thousands of tulips – I love tulips as they give me an excuse to play with colour earlier in the year. Then, in autumn, the trees and shrubs light up with fiery shades from their foliage and berries and these join the orchestra of flowers that are still going, along with the grasses. If we haven’t had a heavy frost by November, it all still looks good.”

Successional planting is key to the long continuation of colour at Patthana. “As one plant is going over, there’s another one close by that will take over. That’s tricky to achieve and it’s something I’ve learnt over the years through trial and error. As an artist, my use of colour is instinctive and I’m very conscious of subtle variations in tones and shades.

My last exhibition was two years ago, so I’d paint for a few hours in the morning and then garden in the afternoon. It’s a continuation of the same thought processes around colour, form and texture.”

AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 35

T. J. designed the organic, curving handrail, which was made by Galway blacksmith Garret Herbert.

36 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

Working with nature is fundamental to T. J.’s approach to gardening. “We’ve always gardened organically. We accept plants being nibbled, but if a plant gets devoured then we won’t grow that plant again. No plant is worth growing if the only way to grow it successfully is to use chemicals. The real joy of the garden for me is the connection between wildlife and the garden, whether it’s birds nesting, frogs in the pond or bees and butterflies feeding on flowers. I choose plants that will bring in wildlife.

This is a living garden.”

T. J. and Simon have recently bought more land surrounding the boundary of the property and are in the process of creating a new space known as the Torc Garden. Here the planting is a softer mix of colours intended to blur the transition between the cultivated space and the countryside beyond.

The older part of the garden, which is now known as the Inner Garden, will see a shift in focus too, with more tender and tropical-looking plants being incorporated there.

“The garden is a very personal and spiritual place for me,” says T. J. “Nature in a wider sense has always been there through some of the hardest and some of the happiest times in my life. Patthana is a Buddhist concept that means to be in the present,

Top Vibrant borders

are offset by stretches of calming green lawn.

Above right T. J. raised this coral-red dahlia from his own hybridised seed.

Above left Patterned begonias and calathea in old terracotta pots make a charming summer display in the shelter of T.J.’s potting shed.

“If a plant gets devoured then we won’t grow that plant again. No plant is worth growing if the only way to grow it successfully is to use chemicals” AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 37

T. J.’s Garden Advice Practical tips for managing long-lasting, colourful borders Move and divide plants in autumn when you can still see their structure, height and colour. Don’t leave it until spring, when it’s harder to imagine the attributes of a plant as it’s just emerging from the ground.

I’m always editing the planting, so don’t be afraid to dig up a plant if it isn’t working for you or you just fancy a change.

Start off dahlia tubers in pots and grow them under cover until they’re about 3045cm tall before planting them out into the border – they’ll have a much better chance of surviving slugs and you’ll get earlier flowers too.

Top T. J. has raised the

canopy of this Acer griseum, to maximise planting opportunities below, and to allow the eye to travel through it.

Above right Cyperus and hakonechloa bring lots of textural, leafy interest.

Above left Hydrangea paniculata; try AGMwinner ‘Limelight’ for impressive blooms.

and I love that because plants and animals live in the moment and it’s good for us to do that as well, rather than spending our time dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. My life is so much richer for having this space.” n Patthana Garden, Kiltegan, Co. Wicklow W91 X789. Opens every Sunday from mid-April until the first Sunday in October, 12-5pm. Also open by appointment for group visits at other times. patthanagardenireland.com

38 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

Grow dahlias from seed too – the plants will cross, creating some fabulous colours.

You can then dig up the tubers of your favourites to grow the following year.

Tall plants such as aconitums can snap if you use metal hoops to stake them. Instead I use four short bamboo canes placed around a plant with green twine – which is more forgiving than metal – tied around to hold the plants upright.

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The Ideal APPETISER

Sue Beesley’s gorgeous Bluebell Cottage Gardens in Cheshire give visitors a taste of what’s on offer at her adjoining nursery, which prides itself on its sustainability and stocks a range of beautiful, home-propagated hardy perennials WORDS CONSTANCE CRAIG SMITH PHOTOGRAPHS JOE WAINWRIGHT

40 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

Stands of airy Stipa gigantea add subtle structure amid bolder plantings of persicaria, ligularia and loosestrife.

AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 41

E

very keen gardener will be familiar with the feeling of intense longing that comes when you see a plant that you simply must have for your own garden.

One of the many pleasures of visiting Bluebell Cottage Gardens in Cheshire is that there is a good chance of instant gratification, since so many of the plants grown here are also available to buy from the nursery next door.

The gardens here are the creation of Sue Beesley, who has been an enthusiastic amateur gardener since her teens. Sue worked for many years in the information technology industry, but, in 2006, while taking a course at horticultural college, she entered the BBC Gardener of the Year competition and won.

It was this experience that gave her the confidence boost she needed to change careers.

While Sue was looking for the plants she needed to build her competition garden, she stumbled across a dilapidated nursery in the village of Dutton, six miles south of Warrington. Soon afterwards, it came up for sale. She sold her house, bought the cottage, nursery, gardens, adjacent meadow and bluebell wood, and started a new life as a full-time gardener.

Bluebell Cottage Gardens Nursery, which specialises in hardy perennials, and Sue’s own oneand-a-half acre garden are inextricably entwined.

“The garden gives people an extra reason to visit the nursery,” she says. “It’s a showcase for us, and it means our customers can see the plants at full size, which is so useful because when you buy something in a small pot it can be quite hard to visualise how big it will eventually grow. The garden is also a huge propagation resource for the nursery, and we do try to propagate as much ourselves as we can.”

As a visitor, you enter the garden through the orchard, which is filled with productive apple and pear trees and underplanted with wildflowers. You’ll then walk past a tall, sinuous yew hedge, beyond which there are tantalising glimpses of barges gliding by on the Trent and Mersey Canal. From here you enter the main area of garden with its two huge borders, each ten metres square, which were first planted in the winter of 2008 and 2009.

“I didn’t want to have standard borders where one side is set up against a hedge, although of course they can look spectacular,” says Sue. “I wanted the planting to be transparent and to draw you in so that you feel enticed to walk around and look at the border from all sides. Seeing the planting from different angles and in different lights makes it all so much more interesting.”

Although at first glance the borders appear to be a solid tapestry of planting, there are actually several paths running through them that allow you to walk in among the plants. The first impression is of glorious, unrestrained colour: pillar-box red Monarda ‘Jacob Cline’ is planted next to Agastache 42 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

Right Unrestrained colour from the likes of Monarda ‘Jacob Cline’ and Agastache rugosa ‘Liquorice Blue’.

Bottom right An enticing opening in a yew hedge leads to the main garden.

Bottom left Orchard trees are underplanted with wildflowers.

Below Achillea ‘Gold Plate’ and Echinops ritro offer strong contrasts of colour and form.

rugosa ‘Liquorice Blue’ and purple Verbena bonariensis, while dusky pink Echinacea purpurea ‘Rubinstern’ is positioned between more agastache and the electric blue Echinops ritro.

“You can get away with most combinations,” Sue maintains, “but since the borders are in full sun, I tend to avoid white flowers because they reflect too much light.” Woven among the flowers are airy grasses such as deschampsia and Stipa tenuissima ‘Wind Whispers’ which Sue likes for their structure and because “they don’t shout: ‘Look at me!’”.

The area by the pond puts on another display of eye-popping colour, with orange Ligularia dentata ‘Desdemona’, clumps of Lythrum virgatum ‘Dropmore Purple’ and the large, flat leaves of Astilboides tabularis. White spires of Veronicastrum virginicum ‘Album’, Verbena hastata and Verbena bonariensis, meanwhile, add lightness.

AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 43

One of Sue’s most valued plants is persicaria, whose pink and red flowers pop up all over the garden. “It’s such a great genus,” she enthuses. “It ranges from tiny ones like P. affinis ‘Darjeeling Red’, which flowers in early summer, to P. amplexicaulis, an excellent plant for late summer that grows to almost a metre in height. A really good variety that we use a lot is ‘Fat Domino’, which has chunky spikes and a strong red colour.”

Like all really good planting, the borders at Bluebell Cottage look effortless, but are actually the result of careful planning. “I do a lot of visual editing and often take things out; I rarely get it right first time,” says Sue. In fact, she takes the garden’s upkeep so seriously that she has created an informal garden committee to keep her on her toes. “I got the idea because I’m part of the Garden Advisors Panel for RHS Bridgewater, something I was very honoured to be asked to do,” she says. “We have three meetings a year and I realised that having to justify your horticultural decisions really makes you up your game. So I decided I needed a Bluebell Cottage committee, which has three people on it, including Janet Bashforth, county organiser for the National Garden Scheme in Cheshire.”

The scree garden is planted with tough, droughtresistant plants, starting with pulsatilla in late spring and moving on to Ajuga reptans, blue Baptisia australis, poppies, Persicaria affinis ‘Donald Lowndes’ and spires of yellow, self-sown Verbascum chaixii. Romneya coulteri, the white-flowered Californian tree poppy, is one of the garden’s highlights. “Cheshire is a bit far north for it, but it thrives in the deep gravel bed,” notes Sue. 44 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

Top Vertical clumps of

airy Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’ echo the upright stems of purple Verbena bonariensis.

Above Carefully chosen sculpture is positioned among the planting.

The latest project is in the walled garden, formerly an old vegetable plot, now transformed into a productive garden complete with smart raised beds and an elegant greenhouse. The overgrown exotic garden next to it has also been revamped and planted in rich shades of red, gold and purple. It will be open to visitors for the first time this summer.

Running a nursery means Sue can buy plants at trade prices, allowing her to experiment with plants more freely and cheaply than most of us. “I’m in the fortunate position of being able to try lots of plants, and if they fail it’s not the end of the world. And I do have a lot of failures! But it means that when people ask me questions about why certain plants don’t grow well for them, I usually know the answer.”

One of the questions she’s most frequently asked is why echinaceas are so difficult to grow. “I know from my own experience that they hate winter wet and that they’re best planted out in May or June, giving them time to establish a really good root system before their first winter in the ground.

The fancy new double ones are challenging to grow; a big single pink like ‘Rubinstern’ is your best bet,” she advises.

Sue has recently stepped back from the hands-on running of the nursery and its propagation. “I have a lovely team who know the job backwards, and letting them take over has given me the psychological space to make big changes to the garden and spend more time chatting to customers and answering their questions,” she explains.

Between mail order and over-the-counter sales, Bluebell Cottage Nursery sells some 30,000 plants a year and prides itself on its sustainability. It was one of the first nurseries to offer customers the option of plastic-free, mail-order deliveries (plants are wrapped in newspaper) and everything Sue’s team propagates is grown in peat-free compost; they’re not there yet with bought-in plants, though. “We have a water reclamation system and our customers can return pots to us, so we’re moving in the right direction, but

Above Hot-coloured

daylilies offset electricblue Echinops ritro.

Right Californian tree poppy Romneya coulteri is a stand-out plant.

Below Lythrum virgatum ‘Dropmore Purple’ clumps by the pond.

Left Rose-red plumes of Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Fat Domino’ jostle with golden Ligularia dentata ‘Desdemona’.

AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 45

Flying COLOURS Bluebell Cottage Gardens’ stand-out hardy perennials for a summery shimmer

LYTHRUM VIRGATUM ‘DROPMORE PURPLE’

LIGULARIA DENTATA ‘DESDEMONA’

Vigorous clumps of purple, pollinator-friendly spikes, perfect for damp spots.

Another moisture-lover with sun-ray flowers held above burgundy stems and foliage.

ANTHEMIS TINCTORIA ‘LEMON ICE’

GERANIUM PSILOSTEMON

This sun-loving, fragrant chamomile has petals with an unusual creamy-lemon tinge.

A black-eyed magenta classic with gorgeous ferny foliage that turns red in autumn.

ECHINACEA ‘RUBINSTERN’

PERSICARIA AFFINIS ‘DARJEELING RED’

This dusky pink single echinacea is one of the easiest varieties to grow.

Small pink flowers darken to wine-red with age, on easygoing, 30cm tall plants.

46 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

there’s still more to do,” Above Soothing greens and muted pastel she observes. shades, including those The garden is also of Anthemis tinctoria managed as sustainably ‘Lemon Ice’ and phlox as possible. The wide are offset by pops of magenta geraniums. grass paths between the borders, mown twice a week in summer, aren’t treated with chemicals and, as a result, are full of daisies. “Seeing thrushes, sparrows and blackbirds pecking away at the lawn gives me a huge amount of pleasure,” says Sue. As to how she keeps the garden looking so fresh well into late summer and autumn, Sue reveals: “I don’t water the garden at all unless a specific plant is actually wilting. I try to really improve the soil at planting time, and I continually add organic matter so that the plants can build up a long, cool root run.

I mulch with composted bark in March, but not too deeply because the garden is so big.”

Sue has never regretted her bold decision to switch from IT to gardening. “You should never stand still in life, and that’s my philosophy with the garden as well,” she says. “It will keep changing, but that’s how I like it. A garden is never finished.” n Bluebell Cottage, Lodge Lane, Dutton, Warrington, Cheshire WA4 4HP. The gardens, nursery and tea room are open Wednesday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm, until 24 September. Mail-order plants are available all year round. Tel: 01928 713718; bluebellcottage.co.uk

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48 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

The romantic lawn borders at Stockcross House, with box balls and peachy Antirrhinum majus ‘Madame Butterfly’

Summer SENSATION

At Stockcross House in the back lanes of Berkshire, big, bold, beautiful planting forms a symphony of colour expertly conducted by head gardener Istvan Dudas WORDS ANNETTE WARREN PHOTOGRAPHS CLIVE NICHOLS

AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 49

Between the smart painted orangery and the parish church, grow three golden Catalpa bignonioides ‘Aurea’.

50 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

I

t takes energy and dedication to maintain two outstanding gardens simultaneously, but to passionate horticulturist and plantsman, Istvan Dudas, it’s all in a week’s work.

Stockcross House in rural Berkshire is the second plot maintained by Hungarian-born Istvan, who is also the head gardener at another private property nearby.

Hidden among the leafy Berkshire lanes on the fringe of the North Wessex Downs, this Grade II-listed former vicarage was built in 1848 in Elizabethan style for the first vicar of the village, the Reverend John Adams.

When owners Susan and Edward Vandyk bought the property in 1993, its garden was virtually non-existent. “There were just a few beds and a very large sloping lawn that suited the previous owners, whose family of three energetic young boys mainly used the garden to play football,” Susan recalls.

Today, Stockcross House is brimming with all the ingredients of a quintessential English country garden. A beautiful two-acre oasis, it bursts with romantic planting and intriguing, winding paths. “Initially, we built steps to divide the garden, and a pond was constructed

Above A packed border with hot, bright accents from Dahlia ‘Bishop’s Children’ and Monarda ‘Panorama Red Shades’.

Below Head gardener, Istvan Dudas.

on the lower level. After this we began to add the borders,” Susan explains.

The journey begins at a gate to the side of the house where three golden Indian bean trees, Catalpa bignonioides ‘Aurea’, offer umbrella-like shade beneath their enormous leaves. “There’s an almost cathedral-like quality when you stand under them,” Susan muses. The trees were mere saplings when the couple moved in and are pretty much the only remaining features from the original garden. Nearby, the terrace at the back of the house is fronted by wide borders that are bursting with blush-pink roses, white Orlaya grandiflora, lilies and Geum ‘Mrs J. Bradshaw’, while red- and plum-coloured poppies provide splotches of painterly colour.

Deep borders tower above you as you head towards the wisteria-clad pergola. Istvan’s genius planting ensures there is no bare earth: every inch of space is crammed with colour and texture. Annuals such as antirrhinum, larkspur and cosmos are threaded through mature perennials, including frothy bronze fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), scented roses, magenta monarda and persicaria. A recent addition to the generous borders is the AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 51

architectural foliage of Ethiopian black banana, Ensete ventricosum ‘Maurelii’, grown from seed by Istvan a year ago. “Last year, they were six inches tall; now they’re six feet and growing!” he reports.

The wooden pergola covers a paved walkway that spans the western boundary of the upper garden. “We originally planted all-white wisteria, but some of them turned purple – probably due to the rootstock. We replanted with white, but when they turned purple as well, we gave up as that was obviously how they wanted to be!” notes Susan with a smile.

From the lawn, wide steps are flanked with dense tumbling pink rose ‘Cornelia’, which Istvan has to cut back hard in the autumn “otherwise it would be all over the steps,” notes Susan. The shady lower area beyond feels secret and wild in comparison to the formality of the upper garden. A mown path weaves through meadow grass, planted in spring with a mass of blue Camassia cusickii and native bluebells. The pond, edged with yellow flag iris and other water-loving plants is now home to a family of mallards. “There were 12 ducklings earlier this year, which was an absolute delight,” says Susan.

The garden tour continues back towards the house, but not before a hidden glade is suddenly revealed. Brachyglottis ‘Sunshine’ hedging is tucked beneath ghostly silver-birch trunks, offering a vista towards the pond. “I’m not overly fond of the yellow flowers though, so I do tend to snip them off,” Susan admits.

A delicately intricate metal gate, resplendent with ferns and made by blacksmith artist Melissa Cole, leads to the stumpery, a calm and tranquil spot where shady planting surrounds sculptural, weathered stumps and branches. A water trough was placed here to provide a gentle trickle of water. “It needs adjusting. It’s more like a gushing tap at the moment,” notes Susan wryly.

From the stumpery, a shady walkway leads back to the house, but the garden doesn’t end here.

The parish church of St John is directly next door and you would be forgiven for thinking that the handsome red-painted iron gates to the east of the house lead to the churchyard. Instead, they open to reveal a separate folly garden and a black rectangular reflection pool that cleverly and symmetrically mirrors the entire church tower.

“When my husband asked if I wanted a ruby ring for our ruby anniversary, I said I’d rather have some ruby gates for the garden!”

52 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

Below The natural-

looking pond was an early addition and is now fringed by irises and other water-loving plants and inhabited by mallard ducks and other wildlife.

“The red gates are also by Melissa Cole and were a ruby wedding anniversary present. When my husband asked if I wanted a ruby ring, I said I’d rather have some ruby-coloured gates for the garden!” says Susan.

Beyond the pool is a lawn so immaculate you could play bowls on it. “In fact, in its former life it was indeed the village bowls club, which sadly had to close due to having only three members.

We were lucky enough to be able to buy the ground.”

The verandah of the former clubhouse now doubles as a holding area for plant sales when the garden opens for charity. “We have been opening our garden for the National Garden Scheme for 19 years. One year we were so busy we had over 500 people through the garden gate,” Susan recalls.

“I had to send out for emergency cake supplies from Waitrose because the home-made cakes donated by friends and villagers had all been sold and eaten!”

The nearby greenhouse was built for Istvan. It is here that he propagates seeds and cuttings and

Top left The ruby-red

gates are by blacksmith Melissa Cole and lead into a folly garden.

Top right A black pool reflects the parish church in its entirety.

Above Frilly pink Alcea rosea ‘Halo Blush’ adds height and romance.

maintains the adjacent potager. The vegetable garden was quite small when Istvan arrived, but he has expanded it in the four years since he first started working at Stockcross House. “Every day Istvan will present us with a tray of vegetables. There is always far too much, and I like to give some away. We often find him here in the evenings tending the vegetables, seedlings and cuttings.”

Back in the main garden, the west side of the house is dominated by a handsome painted orangery, commissioned by Susan to complement the house and crammed with agapanthus, clivia and flowering citrus trees. “The orange blossom has a heavenly scent and we have recently been given a huge pair of dragon trees, gifted by a generous garden visitor as they had grown too big for their own home.”

AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 53

STAR PERFORMERS at Stockcross House Beautiful plants selected for form and colour, which bring the garden to life in high summer

ANTIRRHINUM MAJUS ‘MADAME BUTTERFLY’

CATALPA BIGNONIOIDES ‘AUREA’

HELIOPSIS ‘BURNING HEARTS’

Curious, double, azalea-shaped flowerheads in a range of colours.

Big golden-green leaves and bell-shaped summer flowers on a medium tree.

A hardy perennial with bi-colour blooms and near-black foliage, reaching 1.2m.

MONARDA ‘PANORAMA RED SHADES’

DAHLIA ‘DAVID HOWARD’

ECHINACEA PALLIDA

This striking sun-lover attracts bees and produces unusual flowers in red shades.

Small, double, yellow flowers with a burnt-orange centre on a border dahlia with chocolate-coloured foliage.

With its delicate reflexed petals in shades of pale pink, this coneflower is lovely planted in drifts amid long grass.

ECHINACEA ‘TIKI TORCH’

CLEMATIS X DURANDII

DAHLIA ‘KARMA CHOC’

Vivid orange flowers from June to September. Leave the seedheads in place over winter to feed the birds.

This gorgeous, late-flowering, purpleblue clematis is unusual in that it’s non-clinging, so it will need staking.

These velvety near-black flowers bear a delicious chocolate scent and are held above rich bronze foliage.

54 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

“The important aspect for me is to keep my vision of a romantic, slightly untamed garden”

Top Peach-pink Rosa

‘Cornelia’ tumbles down the wide stone steps.

Above Giant larkspur ‘Rose Queen’ with indigo Salvia ‘Amistad’.

Left The orangery, filled with tender beauties, such as oleander and agapanthus.

Istvan’s enthusiasm has enabled Susan to make subtle alterations to the planting that she may not have considered previously. “The important aspect for me is to keep my vision of a romantic, slightly untamed garden that has developed over decades. I put forward my ideas and Istvan makes suggestions about colour, shape and form. We then plan the borders together. We are lucky to have him.” n Stockcross House, Church Road, Stockcross, Berkshire RG20 8LP. Opens for the National Garden Scheme on 28 August, 12-5pm, and by arrangement for groups in August to September. ngs.org.uk AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 55

HIGH DRAMA

The dynamic garden at Field House in Cheshire is all about dramatic contrast, with sunshine and shadow, stillness and movement, clipped formality and wild prairie planting of varying heights, and, in the heat of summer, lashings of bold colour WORDS PHOEBE JAYES PHOTOGRAPHS JOE WAINWRIGHT

The prairie beds at Field House feature grasses and perennials that blaze with hot colour in late summer and ripple dramatically in the wind.

AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 57

W

ith seven humans and a lineup of livestock including a horse, a dog, two cats, a paddling of ducks and a generous smattering of rescue chickens, Field House in Cheshire is a menagerie of movement and life. Arguably, on occasion, it’s too dynamic.

Owner Emma Aspinall recalls the first year the household decided to open their garden for charity.

“We woke up and Andrew, my husband, asked me to come to the window. Immediately I was wary. ‘Is it funny or bad?’ I asked. ‘It is bad. But it’s also quite funny,’ was his response.” Howard, their handsome black-and-white cob, had escaped from his sedumroofed stable and was happily munching his way through all the flowers in the cutting garden. The open day was a triumph, however, once Howard had been securely reinstated in his paddock.

Emma and Andrew claimed this idyllic patch of countryside in Lymm, back in 2001. At the time it comprised three farmers’ cottages that they had planned to knock into one. “I knew it would require a lot of work, but I also knew this was going to be my forever home,” explains Emma. As it turned out, the cottages needed to be completely rebuilt, but Emma was keen to use the same ruddy, mottled Cheshire brick she had fallen in love with. Later, she’d opt for biscuity York stone to create a patio around the house. “It all looks soft and natural. I like to use vernacular materials that suit the area rather than glaring out from it noisily.”

Next, the couple turned their attentions to the garden, where turf reigned amid mature hedges. By this time, Emma had retrained as a garden designer and was keen to enliven the space with swathes of naturalistic planting. The first step was to separate the front garden from the back. “We needed to make the space secure for the baby and dog, but I also think a garden feels better if there’s a distinct front and back.” In fact, the garden has now evolved into a patchwork of areas to give a real sense of movement to all those lucky enough to walk through it.

There’s the front garden, with its herbaceous beds and trail of box balls, all painstakingly clipped

by Andrew into varying states of symmetry and elongation with immaculate results. And then the aesthetic grows wilder as the garden trails up to a point where horse chestnut and cherry trees cast their dappled light over long grass intermingled with ox-eye daisies and wild orchids. “It felt nicer like this, rather than mowing right to the corner, to hide the funny triangular shape of the garden,” says Emma. Meanwhile, another awkward space

Above Deep red, velvety daylilies look sumptuous in summer. Try ‘Stafford’ for something similar.

Below The front garden is more formal next to the house, growing wilder and boskier as it stretches to the corner.

“I like to use vernacular materials that suit the area rather than glaring out from it noisily”

58 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

Above An informal mix of perennials and grasses beneath a horse chestnut and an old cherry tree in the wilder part of the front garden.

Left Striking, indigo agapanthus grow in pots on the terrace at the back of the house.

has been disguised by a lean-to summerhouse in the same warm Cheshire brick. It’s a fragrant treasure trove of terracotta pots housing orange blossom, lemon verbena and an assortment of succulents.

To the side of the house is the secluded rose garden: screened off by hawthorn and holly hedges, scented varieties grow around a terracotta fountain and a bench that’s perfect for catching the evening sun. “We’re looking to replant it with David Austin roses because the current specimens from the local garden centre are now quite woody,” says Emma.

“Our son, Josh, is very keen on gardening, but he’s tackling his GCSEs at the moment. We’ll take him to the nursery to pick a rose when he’s finished. He likes the idea of Rosa ‘The Lark Ascending’, with its apricot petals and golden stamens.”

The cutting garden is cherished by Emma, who enjoys flower arranging and wreath making.

AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 59

An abundance of pure white, spiky Dahlia ‘Furka’ grows in the cutting garden from July through to November.

60 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

“Once we realised that pests were more interested in enjoying the labours of the vegetable garden than our children were, it made sense to change its direction.” Emma grows fruit trees, asparagus and blowsy flowers in these seven raised beds that once hosted root vegetables, brassicas and legumes.

“The dahlias have to be the stars of the show. I love growing these textural blooms in a spectrum of whites, creams, pastel pinks and apricots.

Varieties like ‘Furka’, ‘Honka Fragile’, ‘Henriette’ and ‘Café au Lait’ are prolific flowerers with a long season. They’re brilliant for vases and weddings – sometimes my good friend, who’s a florist, gets to take some away for her arrangements!”

But it’s the other side of the garden that Emma loves most, where panicles of wisteria drip from oak beams that connect house to garage, and a cast stone lion splashes water onto the pebbles beneath. “I love

“The dahlias are the stars of the show.

I love growing them in a spectrum of whites, creams, pastel pinks and apricots” Above left Espaliered

apples edge the cutting garden’s raised beds.

Top right Vivid Lythrum salicaria; try ‘Robert’ for similar double flowers.

Above right The couple ordered their terracotta fountain from Pots & Pithoi at the Chelsea Flower Show.

the sound of water here, and the contrast between light and dark,” says Emma. “You walk through shade and out towards an open garden with vistas of the wider countryside. It creates drama, and a very different experience.”

Drama is also summoned out back, particularly in late summer when vast beds blaze with a fiery mix of Knautia macedonica, Echinacea purpurea ‘Magnus’, Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Rosea’, Sanguisorba tenuifolia ‘Purpurea’, salvias and daylilies. Emma planted these perennials and grasses AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 61

Left Emma recommends combining wild, lofty planting with focal points for punctuation.

Below The Cheshire brick stable has a sedumtopped green roof.

Bottom left Whorled bright purple blooms of Monarda ‘Mohawk’ with the slender spires of a white veronicastrum.

Grow your own cut flowers Emma shares tips and lessons from the cutting garden she’s created on an old vegetable patch

in drifts to create ripples of pulsing rhythm, opting for a prairie look that would move freely in the open breeze. “People can be scared of height and end up with low-level gardens. I wanted to embrace the windy aspect of the space to create something wavy and impactful.” And, on the patio, mulberry trees grow out from the centre of the paving to challenge the notion that plants should remain on the edge.

Finally, you arrive at Howard’s paddock. Here, the grass is left longer towards the fence, which blurs the boundary between this large household and the surrounding countryside it so treasures. n View Emma’s Instagram at @emma.aspinall 62 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

Start with good soil. I’m lucky to have an endless supply of horse muck at my disposal, which keeps the roses and dahlias happy.

grow strawflowers (Xerochrysum bracteatum) and Allium cristophii to make my Christmas wreaths.

Raised beds make maintenance easier. Keep up with weeding, water your flowers regularly and feed them at least once a month.

Plan ahead to decide on your colour scheme for the year. I cut out ideas from plant catalogues and create collages to see what looks good with what.

Grow a range of flowers for a long season of interest. For me, the year starts with spring bulbs such as daffodils, tulips and alliums. Next come foxgloves and honesty, and later dahlias. I also

Remember that material for beautiful floral creations isn’t limited to the cutting garden. I cut grasses and echinacea from the prairie beds, and I love to gather cow parsley from the hedgerows.

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P R O M OT I O N

GRAND DESIGNS Designed with versatility in mind, a Gabriel Ash greenhouse is not only the perfect place to cultivate plants but also an ideal space for leisure activities – the only limit is your imagination

F

or so many gardeners, the name Gabriel Ash is synonymous with top-quality cedar greenhouses.

The company prides itself on its fine craftsmanship and attention to detail, and more than 1,000 customers purchase greenhouses and coldframes from its range every year.

While an abundant crop of tomatoes is more or less guaranteed inside one, a Gabriel Ash greenhouse needn’t be limited just to growing plants. Skilful joinery techniques, precision mortise and tenon joints, western red cedar of the very best quality, solid stainless steel or brass fixings and classic design all combine to create garden buildings that would be wasted on just plants alone – the possibilities for how you use a new Gabriel Ash greenhouse are limited only by your imagination.

64 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

Above A Grand Glasshouse from Gabriel Ash is ideal for poolside entertaining.

Right Taking pride of place in the garden, this Grand Glasshouse is the perfect place for its owners to relax and enjoy the additional warmth its cosy interior offers.

Take the Grand Glasshouse, one of the largest greenhouses that Gabriel Ash supplies. Measuring 12ft x 16ft and designed with versatility in mind, it has long, elegant opening sash windows and automated roof lights to provide plenty of ventilation, as well as a double door opening that adds an air of luxury to this statement structure. As with all Gabriel Ash greenhouses, it can be extended to different lengths to fit your garden perfectly, with the option of extra doors and ventilation. It’s ideal as a summerhouse for entertaining, or as a poolhouse with minimalist style.

Like all Gabriel Ash greenhouses, the Grand Glasshouse is made from western red cedar of the highest specification.

This porous wood is rich in natural oils that allow the timber to protect itself from the elements and release any moisture quickly. It means that the wood needn’t be treated, and as long as the

Left Comfy seating and homely furniture and accessories transform a greenhouse into a welcoming yet functional space.

Below The Small Greenhouse from Gabriel Ash has ample room for relaxing, too.

structure is built on a solid perimeter base, no tedious staining and protection will be required.

Trained joiners use time-honoured skills and age-old techniques to craft each greenhouse, imbuing each building with both strength and integrity. As a result, Gabriel Ash is the only timber greenhouse manufacturer to be endorsed by the Royal Horticultural Society.

Each greenhouse is glazed with 3mm toughened safety glass, which helps to maintain an ambient temperature inside, while solid brass and stainless steel fixtures and fittings won’t rust or mark the wood, adding to the longevity and security of the structure. Powder coated in grey tones, the long-lasting aluminium ridge ventilation, roof capping and guttering marries perfectly with the timber’s rich tones.

Request a brochure or book an appointment to see the greenhouses at Gabriel Ash’s Gloucester showroom. Tel: 01242 662926 or visit gabrielash.com

More Than Just a Greenhouse It’s not just Gabriel Ash’s greenhouses that are versatile and multi-functional.

The innovative and popular Classic Grow and Store combines greenhouse space with shed storage to give its owner plenty of room to store tools and kit right where it’s needed.

As with all of the company’s other greenhouses, the Grow and Store boasts automatic ridge ventilation, an internal door allowing effective temperature control within the greenhouse and a range of varying widths and lengths to suit your space.

AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 65

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GARDEN BUILDINGS

A Shed of One’s Own

WORDS CLARE FOGGETT IMAGE GAP/CAROLE DRAKE

Whether your garden room is intended as a space for contemplation and creativity or something more functional, take inspiration from the literary greats

A well-organised shed is the engine room of the garden, but it can easily be made as pretty as it is functional, ensuring that it’s a joy to use.

In association with

AUGUST APRIL 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 67

GARDEN BUILDINGS

Above The shed at Lamb House in Rye is an integral part of the National Trust property’s charming walled vegetable garden.

G

arden buildings are more than just buildings. In the case of sheds and greenhouses, they’re the engine room of the garden. A summerhouse or garden room can be a haven of creativity or a place of solace: somewhere to simply sit and enjoy the garden at leisure or to indulge in a hobby. These buildings are every bit as important as the plants in forming a garden’s fabric and identity.

PRACTICAL, FUNCTIONAL SHEDS

Our main raison d’être as gardeners may be growing plants, but if there’s nowhere to keep the things we need to grow them, a garden grinds to a halt. The shed is the beating heart of the garden and the place we head to first to gather our tools before we start work. In Shed Heaven, her book showcasing sheds under the care of the National Trust, Anna Groves 68 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

points to the meticulously organised gardeners’ shed at Hidcote Manor, where racks hold quantities of spotless spades, rakes, brooms and saws. Many gardeners will be familiar with the thrill that comes from a nosy peek into somebody else’s shed, and the example at Hidcote, with its wisteria-clad frontage and neat rows of tools, is just the sort that will provoke a gardener’s envy.

A garden like Hidcote can’t run without a certain amount of organisation, and an orderly shed is key.

Emulate the pros and don’t let your shed become an untidy dumping ground over the season. Students of horticulture have tool care drilled into them at the end of every practical session: secateur blades are religiously wiped with oil; blades and tines are cleaned of soil. Keep a scraper and a stiff brush inside to use on tools as you put them away at the end of the day. Hang tools on the walls but make In association with

IMAGES NATIONAL TRUST IMAGES/CHRIS LACEY/ANDREAS VON EINSIEDEL/ARNHEL DE SERRA/NICK MEERS

sure they are secure and won’t fall Top left Agriframes’ extra long tool racks onto you at the slightest wobble. keep hand tools tidy.

Agriframes (agriframes.co.uk) Top right The interior of supplies a set of two extra-long tool Virginia Woolf’s writing racks that are easily fixed to the shed at Monk’s House, near Lewes. wall, while The Posh Shed Company Above left Enviable (theposhshedcompany.co.uk) has one order in the gardeners’ with simple wooden pegs. For other shed at Hidcote Manor. shed miscellany, A Place for Everything Above right Pride of place for the Herb (aplaceforeverything.co.uk) is good Garden shed at for simple shed and garage shelving, Smallhythe Place. boards for hanging small hand tools or wall hooks for big items such as ladders, while Dibor (dibor.co.uk) sells metal storage baskets that can be hung on a wall. Try Garden Trading or Wilstone (gardentrading.co.uk; wilstone.com) for stylish storage units and potting benches, while baskets can keep loose items contained. Metal tins keep seeds dry and safe from mice – Chester & Cooke (chesterandcooke.co.uk) has seed boxes T H E B E S T O F B OT H WO R L D S Some greenhouse suppliers offer greenhouse-shed hybrids for when space is tight. The Classic Grow and Store from Gabriel Ash (gabrielash.com) is split lengthways. The standard size is 9ft x 8ft, the Grand version is 13ft x 12ft. At Hartley Botanic (hartley-botanic.co.uk), the Hartley Grow and Store adds a shed portion to the end of the company’s Modern Horticulture greenhouses, while this year, the Heritage Wisley 8 Grow and Store was launched. Woodpecker Joinery’s Centaur greenhouse has a storage area, too (woodpecker-joinery.co.uk).

In association with

and organisers that can be personalised, while Crocus (crocus. co.uk) offers a smart, minimalist option in galvanised metal.

Functional they may be, but sheds needn’t be hidden away – they can also be stylish. In Shed Heaven, Anna Groves highlights the shed at Smallhythe Place in Kent, which forms the centrepiece of the Herb Garden, and the shed at Lamb House in Rye (the former home of Henry James and later, E. F. Benson), which is an integral part of the vegetable garden there. Treat yourself to a beautifully crafted shed from the likes of The Cosy Shed Co or The Posh Shed Company – with their cedar-shingled roofs and gridded window panes, they deserve pride of place. Or paint an off-the-peg shed a pretty colour: a coat of paint on the interior makes a shed feel more capacious than if it’s left the shade of gingery-brown timber.

Selina Lake’s book Shed Style offers inspiration for turning a prosaic, drab shed into a thing of beauty.

CREATIVE SUMMERHOUSES

When the work is done, you need somewhere to relax: that’s when a summerhouse comes into its own. Many become an AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 69

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GARDEN BUILDINGS

IMAGES ALAMY; SHUTTERSTOCK

PLANNING PERMISSION Unless you live in a conservation area or your home is listed, planning permission isn’t generally needed for garden buildings, provided that the maximum height is no more than 4m for a pitched roof or 3m for a flat roof, and the building is 2m away from the garden boundary and 5m away from the house. Find more detailed planning information at gov.uk

extension to the home, used as Top Create a cosy feel in a summerhouse, with additional spaces in which to work, homely accessories such pursue a hobby or entertain. In Shed as curtains and furniture; Heaven, Anna Groves treats us to a this is Dylan Thomas’s glimpse inside George Bernard Shaw’s writing hut in Laugharne.

Above Consider solar rotating writer’s shed, in which he panels to help power was able to enjoy the sun all day long garden room appliances. as he wrote. Scotts of Thrapston (scottsofthrapston.co.uk) sells optional rotating bases for its summerhouses, should you wish to emulate the famous playwright.

Comfort is key if a summerhouse or garden room is to be used as a creative refuge. In Dylan Thomas’s Carmarthenshire writing shed, which also features in Anna’s book, there are curtains at the windows and a rug on the floor, as well as a stove to keep things cosy on cold days. At installation time, consider whether electricity can be supplied. It’s useful in that you won’t have to go back to the house to make a cup of tea – and if you want to plug in a laptop, lighting or a heater, it’s essential. Those investing in sturdier, more In association with

substantial garden rooms could even consider equipping its roof with solar panels to help power the appliances inside, but consult your supplier because not all structures’ roofs will be able to support the additional weight of this.

For those who want to install a new garden building that will complement the house, consider commissioning one to match. Based in Hampshire, The Brick Summerhouse Company (thebricksummerhousecompany.co.uk) creates bespoke designs using traditional craftsmanship, building summerhouses and follies from reclaimed or reproduction brick, flint or stone. Local builders and landscapers can also quote for this kind of work.

Don’t forget alternatives to buildings, such as a charming shepherd’s hut from the likes of Plankbridge or Blackdown (plankbridge.com; blackdownshepherdhuts.co.uk), which can’t help but fit seamlessly into a rural garden. Green roofs will also ensure a new building settles into its surroundings while adding to the garden’s biodiversity. Check that the building can support the weight, and that it’s properly installed with all the requisite drainage and layers of waterproofing and insulation.

Make things as homely as possible with comfortable seating and all the decorative accessories you’d expect in the house, such as vases of flowers and pictures on the wall. Place seats outside and AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 71

GARDEN BUILDINGS

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it could become the hub of Buildings’ Bloomsbury the garden, as a black and writing retreat was white photograph of the directly inspired by Bloomsbury Group relaxing Virginia Woolf’s own creative hideaway. outside Virginia Woolf’s writing hut at Monk’s House in Shed Heaven demonstrates. Malvern Garden Buildings’ Bloomsbury Writing Retreat was inspired by Woolf herself (malverngardenbuildings.co.uk).

Above Malvern Garden

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Shed Heaven Anna Groves

Anna Groves

These beautiful, bizarre and inspiring structures are as individual as their owners. Whether it’s a shed built halfway up a cliff by an eccentric vicar (the National Trust’s smallest and strangest property) or an award-winning ‘Shed of the Year’, there’s something for all of us who worship these miniature marvels.

Shed Heaven

A SHED LOVER’S PARADISE You can’t beat the Great British Shed, and this book has some beauties. There’s a floating shed, a revolving shed and a doll’s house shed. There are sheds used by artists, beekeepers and birdwatchers (plus the odd gardener). There are sheds for boats and sheds made from boats. And there are a few other species of shed too, like shacks and huts.

Other garden buildings can add whimsy. With or without doves, a dovecote introduces an element of stately home glamour to a garden – think of the dovecotes at Nymans or Rousham. On a smaller scale, Granddad Rob Designs (granddadrobdesigns.co.uk) makes white painted wooden versions, as well as stylish chicken coops and dog kennels. Upgrade functional hen houses for something truly beautiful, such as the painted caravan chicken houses supplied by Flyte So Fancy (flytesofancy.co.uk), who also make bespoke children’s playhouses, as do The Playhouse Company (theplayhousecompany.co.uk) and Flights of Fantasy (flightsoffantasy.co.uk) who create playhouses based on Tudor homes, Swiss chalets, castles, or tiny replicas of actual stately homes. Don’t forget the joy of a treehouse – even adults find these lofty hideaways hard to resist. Companies such as Blue Forest and High Life Treehouses (blueforest.com; highlifetreehouses. co.uk) supply luxurious, top-of-the-range models. n

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Shed Heaven by Anna Groves, £9.99. For details about these National Trust properties, visit nationaltrust.org.uk

72 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

Breeze House Luxury cedar-shingled gazebos and Breeze Houses. Tel: 01538 398488; breezehouse.co.uk The Brick Summerhouse Company Architecturally beautiful summerhouses in brick.

Tel: 07833 445557; thebrick summerhousecompany.co.uk Cat & Mouse Landscapes Installer of Scotts of Thrapston summerhouses in Kent and Sussex. Tel: 07887 571061; catandmouselandscapes.com The Cosy Shed Co. Luxury garden sheds that are both stylish and functional.

Tel: 01623 861364; thecosyshedco.co.uk Forest Garden A vast range of conventional sheds, workshops, log cabins, and summerhouses. Tel: 0333 3213142; forestgarden.co.uk Gabriel Ash Classic wooden greenhouse and shed hybrids, with an RHS licence. Tel: 01242 662926; gabrielash.com Haddonstone Elegant cast stone garden

buildings for an established look. Tel: 01604 770711; haddonstone.com Hartley Botanic Supplier of greenhouses established in 1938, with shedgreenhouse hybrids. Tel: 01457 819155; hartley-botanic.co.uk Malvern Garden Buildings A large selection of premium garden rooms from smart outdoor offices to traditional sheds. Tel: 01932 783999; malverngardenbuildings.co.uk Oakwrights Oak-framed garden buildings, stables and barns. Tel: 01432 353353; oakwrights.co.uk Plankbridge Designer-makers of premium shepherd’s huts on wheels.

Tel: 01300 348414; plankbridge.com The Posh Shed Company Handcrafted, quality sheds and stores. Tel: 01544 387101; theposhshedcompany.co.uk Riviera Hot Tubs A range of saunas for outdoor relaxation. Tel: 01626 367038; riviera-hottubs.co.uk Scotts of Thrapston Leading supplier of a range of cedar summerhouses.

Tel: 01832 732366; scottsofthrapston.co.uk Stan Fairbrother Wood-framed garden buildings that can double as potting sheds. Tel: 01772 814274; stanfairbrother.co.uk WG Grace & Son Stocks a timber greenhouse with potting shed. Tel: 01647 252995; wggrace.co.uk Woodpecker Joinery Hand-crafted greenhouses with designs that incorporate shed space. Tel: 01889 562610; woodpecker-joinery.co.uk

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Taking inspiration from the late Beth Chatto’s Water Garden, Åsa GregersWarg, who helps care for it, recommends her top ten marginal pond plants

INTERVIEW VIVIENNE HAMBLY IMAGE GARDEN WORLD IMAGES

irst published in 1982, Beth Chatto’s The Damp Garden is a classic of British garden writing. Later updated, it draws on Beth’s maxim of ‘right plant right place’ and her sense of what worked in her own garden. Today, Beth’s Water Garden is cared for by Åsa Gregers-Warg. It includes ponds filled with moisture-loving plants, from those happiest submerged in water to those that prefer

only to dip their toes. In addition to a cooling element in a hot summer, ponds offer a habitat for garden wildlife and host a range of insects and amphibians. Drawing from her own experience of Beth’s garden, Åsa chooses ten good marginal pond plants.

Beth Chatto’s Plants and Gardens, Elmstead Market, Colchester, Essex CO7 7DB. Tel: 01206 822007; bethchatto.co.uk

1 Caltha palustris var. alba Our native marsh marigold blooms in classic sunshine yellow, and this is its lovely white form with golden stamens contrasting with luminously pale petals. The first flowers appear in early spring, and the plant will often bloom repeatedly throughout the season. This is a rhizomatous perennial that will grow best in full sun.

AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 75

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2 Butomus umbellatus

3 Pontederia cordata

The grass-like leaves of flowering rush make fine vertical accents among clumps of marsh marigolds and bog bean. Umbels of rosepink flowers are carried on tall stems held well above the water’s surface and much loved by hoverflies and dragonflies. Equally attractive is the white form, Butomus umbellatus f. albiflorus.

Pickerel weed is great for late-summer colour. It forms large clumps of attractive heart-shaped leaves that are topped with densely packed blue flower spikes. Pontederia cordata var. lancifolia has much longer, spear-shaped leaves that will stand proud of the water’s surface.

4 Orontium aquaticum

5 Lysichiton x hortensis

Also known as golden club or floating arum, this is a very distinctive and beautiful plant with bluish-green leaves and yellow flower spikes borne on white stems rising from the water. Beth used to say that the flowers reminded her of the glowing tip of a cigarette. This one needs full sun to perform well.

This beautiful cross between L. americanus and L. camtschatcensis produces magnificent cream spathes in spring and very large leaves during summer. It’s a skunk cabbage cross, which means it is sterile and will not self-seed or become invasive as its yellow parent can. It flowers over April and May but will die down over winter.

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IMAGES GAP/VISIONS/TORIE CHUGG; ALAMY; GARDEN WORLD IMAGES; SHUTTERSTOCK

6 Iris pseudacorus ‘Variegata’ This handsome form of the native yellow flag is one of spring’s loveliest foliage plants, with its pale cream and green striped leaves. As the stripes fade, the glorious yellow flowers appear. Iris laevigata ‘Variegata’ is shorter in stature, with pale purple-blue flowers and foliage that is striped with ivory and green.

AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 77

7Alisma plantago-aquatica

8 Menyanthes trifoliata

This water plantain develops delicate, airy panicles of dainty, white, three-petalled flowers, held high above the foliage. They are particularly attractive to bees and hoverflies. The plant is native to the UK, although it is widely distributed across Europe and Asia. It tends to come into its own from April onwards.

The starry white flowers of bog bean have a distinctively ragged fringe and unfurl from bright pink buds in early summer. The leaves somewhat resemble those of the broad bean, and they form a floating mat on the water’s surface that provides dragonflies and damselflies with a valuable habitat for egg laying and roosting.

9 Zantedeschia aethiopica ‘Crowborough’

10 Thalia dealbata

This arum lily, handsome as a foliage plant alone, produces large, pure white spathes with a yellow spadix. Grow it in shallow water or moisture-retentive soil and it’s great as a cut flower: en masse, its elegant flowers are an excellent subject for weddings.

78 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

This is a strikingly architectural plant with large, blue-green, paddle-shaped leaves and spikes of narrow tubular violet flowers.

We grow it for its fabulous foliage alone and remove its flowers as they appear because they are renowned for trapping and killing some smaller insects during the pollination process.

IMAGES GAP/JULIETTE WADE/JS SIRA; GARDEN WORLD IMAGES; ALAMY

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The Cotswold Sculpture Park

The Cotswold Sculpture Park is home to 10 acres of beautiful garden space which shows the work of incredible, talented artists. The park exhibits over two hundred sculptures on show and will be open Thursday to Monday every week from 1 April to 30 September for the 2022 exhibition.

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P L A N T FO C U S

Prickly Subjects The Eryngium genus is surprisingly diverse and even more surprisingly unstudied. Kathy and Brian Pike have spent ten years researching these spiny plants while building up their National Collection WORDS LOUISE CURLEY PHOTOGRAPHS RAY COX

Metallic blue Eryngium ‘Catherine Blair’ is named after the suffragette and founder of the Scottish Women’s Rural Institute.

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P L A N T FO C U S

E

ryngiums, more commonly known as sea hollies, are one of the most eye-catching garden plants, prized for their spiky, typically blue, thistle-like flowerheads, each one surrounded by a pointy ruff. The summer flowers are a magnet for pollinating insects, eventually fading to shades of buff in autumn and then providing interest as the weather turns cold and frost highlights the intricate detail of the architectural seedheads.

While a handful of perennial eryngiums are popular as border plants, this is a much more diverse genus than you might realise, as Kathy and Brian Pike, holders of the Plant Heritage National Collection, have discovered. “Over the years, as

82 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

Above Eryngium x zabelii

hybrids have a long flowering season. ‘Big Blue’ has huge, deep blue flowerheads, offset by smart grey foliage.

we’ve done more research and grown more plants, we’ve found that eryngiums come from a range of habitats, including dry scree, forest glades and damp alpine meadows,” says Kathy. Their shady garden in North Yorkshire, which experiences temperatures down to -15°C in winter, might not seem the obvious place to grow plants with a reputation for loving sun-baked, free-draining soil – our native sea holly, Eryngium maritimum, grows on beaches around the coast – but they now have the largest collection of these plants in the country.

Eryngium is the largest genus within the carrot family, Apiaceae, and includes annuals, biennials and perennials, ranging in height from 3cm up to 3m. Its members are distinguished by tiny flowers packed together to form a tight umbel surrounded by spiky bracts or involucral leaves. Species can be found across Europe, North Africa, West Asia and the Americas, and they’re often grouped into New World (the Americas) or Old World.

These are plants with a long history: the roots of E. maritimum were made into candied sweets in the Tudor period and used for coughs, colds and as an aphrodisiac. And in eastern parts of the USA, the leaves of E. yuccifolium were once woven to make shoes.

The diversity of the genus provides gardeners with lots of exciting opportunities, but it can cause problems when it comes to giving eryngiums the right growing conditions. “We often get people telling us they can’t grow them,” says Brian, “but my tip is to research where the plant grows in the wild.

For instance, the Moroccan sea holly (E. variifolium) is often sold as a rock garden plant, but in the wild it grows by streams in the Atlas Mountains, so it’s much better suited to being planted at the side of a garden pond. But, as a general rule of thumb, I would say the Old World ones will be happy in a sunny position with good drainage and average soil, while the New World types need moist, fertile soil.”

This might make it sound as though eryngiums are hard work, but there are several that Brian and Kathy say anyone can grow. E. bourgatii were some of the first ones they tried, and the cultivar ‘Picos Amethyst’ is a favourite. “It has purple stems, zingy

Top left Mediterranean sea holly, E. bourgatii, is one of the easiest species to grow.

Top right E. bourgatii ‘Picos Amethyst’ is one of the Pikes’ favourites, with zingy purple stems.

Below right Eryngium yuccifolium has tall, honey-scented flowers.

Below left Our native sea holly, Eryngium maritimum, grows around the coast.

AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 83

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P L A N T FO C U S

Above left Diminutive E. planum ‘Blue Hobbit’ is one of the few eryngiums that will grow happily in a container.

Above right The large, dramatically pale flowers of E. giganteum ‘Silver Ghost’ are held on stems of up to a metre tall.

Below Long-flowering E. x zabelii ‘Jos Eijking’.

deep blue flowers, and beautiful divided leaves with white veins,” says Kathy. “The foliage alone is striking. It’s unfussy about the soil, gently self-seeds, has a long flowering season, and the seedheads look lovely when frosted.” Biennial E. giganteum ‘Silver Ghost’, meanwhile, produces dramatic, large, silvery white, spiky blooms on stems of up to a metre tall.

As long as there’s sun and well-drained soil – be sure to add grit to heavy clay – it’ll self-seed, although Brian warns not to weed seedlings out accidentally, since they look like dock when they first emerge.

In general, the deep roots of eryngiums make them unsuitable for container growing, but Kathy suggests dainty E. planum ‘Blue Hobbit’ as one that will grow happily in a pot. For a long flowering season, Brian recommends E. x zabelii hybrids such as ‘Jos Eijking’: “They start blooming in late June and we’ve still had flowers in December.”

“The New World eryngiums have long strappy leaves with parallel veins, unlike Old World ones, which have a network of veins,” he continues. “It’s quite unusual to have such divergence within the same genus, and some botanists have suggested they should be recognised as two separate genera. The New World eryngiums tend to be evergreen or semievergreen in a cold British winter, with statuesque flowers that are often white or green, although E. guatemalense has striking purplish-black flowers AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 85

P L A N T FO C U S

and E. pandanifolium has masses of small, bobblelike, maroon flowers.” These are particularly suited to tropical-themed borders or pared back modern schemes where architectural, sculptural plants are key. Kathy recommends E. agavifolium, which produces a rosette of bright green, sword-shaped leaves with spiny edges. It looks exotic but it’s hardy to -15°C. It needs sun, rich but well-drained soil and space, since it can reach 1.5m high with a spread of over one metre. The stubby whitish flowers are unexceptional and can be removed if you find they detract from the foliage. E. yuccifolium has dramatic honey-scented, white flowers on metre-high stems, and for an unusual edible try E. foetidum. “It’s a wonderful culinary herb from Central America, which tastes just like coriander. It isn’t hardy though, so we grow it on a windowsill indoors,” says Brian.

Eryngiums are plants about which surprisingly little is known, but Brian and Kathy’s research is uncovering new facts about them all the time. There’s no definitive horticultural guide on eryngiums, and most taxonomic studies are either incomplete or dated. This lack of cohesive knowledge means Brian and Kathy have discovered many eryngiums have been incorrectly identified.

GROWING ADVICE

Eryngium Care Brian and Kathy Pike reveal their secrets to success with this spiky genus The Old World eryngiums will grow in gravel gardens, but they are European plants so they need a wet spring and dry summer and don’t want to be waterlogged in winter otherwise they’ll rot. Be sure to water them in a dry spring.

Unlike many perennials, eryngiums don’t need regular dividing. New World types will often send out baby plants around the edge, like the pups on sempervivums, and in spring these can be separated from the plant and potted up.

New World eryngiums often grow to over a metre tall, so they need plenty of food and water to fuel that growth. Plant them in rich soil that’s moist but never waterlogged, adding plenty of compost to the hole when planting.

To propagate Old World plants, take root cuttings in late winter, put them in trays filled with very gritty compost and grow them on in an unheated greenhouse.

Seedlings and young plants are particularly tasty to slugs and snails, and aphids can often be a problem on the young growth that appears in spring.

86 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

E. bourgatii, E. planum and E. giganteum can all be easily grown from seed sown in gritty compost in an unheated greenhouse or coldframe. Sow E. giganteum in autumn and E. bourgatii and E. planum in early spring.

Above E. agavifolium is There are also plants grown for its rosette of that appear to have sword-like, bright-green been lost from British leaves; its stubby, white cultivation. “We’ve flowers are somewhat re-established E. ovinum more unassuming. in this country thanks to contacts in Australia,” says Brian, “but there’s also E. serra, which the Victorians grew, and E. prostratum, a ground-hugging plant with small blue flowers, which I came across in the book The English Rock Garden by 20th-century plant collector Reginald Farrer. So far both have proved elusive!”

Eryngiums have certainly found a pair of dedicated champions. “We can’t believe our luck that we settled on these plants,” Brian continues.

“Ten years on, we’re still enthusiastic about them.

They’re just such fabulous plants and we want to encourage more people to grow them.”

The Gables, 18 Millgate, Gilling West, Richmond, North Yorkshire DL10 5JQ. Brian and Kathy’s Plant Heritage National Collection is open by appointment – the best time to see the plants is July to September. Tel: 01748 824734; eryngiums.com

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S U N F LOW E R S

Here Comes THE SUN Enjoy the heat of high summer with this exuberant combination of bold stripes, nostalgic ginghams, cheerful sunflowers and delicious treats made from garden-grown produce. This jolly scheme will provide inspiration for your own garden gatherings this month WORDS & STYLING SELINA LAKE PHOTOGRAPHS SUSSIE BELL

HIGH NOON Add height to your outdoor table arrangements with cheerful sunflowers, and add a tablecloth in a complementary shade of sunshine-yellow.

AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 89

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Perfect PLACEMENT Position your garden table in a spot where your guests will have a full and colourful view of an abundant flower border. Forgo the need for shade, since this gathering is a celebration of sunshine and good weather – just make sure sunhats and sunscreen are available.

Eston Sunflower tablecloth fabric, £40.50 per metre, Kemble Collection by Romo, romo.com.

Lemon bistro chairs, £110 per pair, gardentrading.co.uk. Fermob bistro chair in red ochre, £89, le-petit-jardin.com. Frilly cushions handmade by Studio Blackwell from Romo fabrics, £55 each, romo.com; studioblackwell.co.uk. Handwoven cotton mattress in faded peach stripe, £119, and plaster pink linen napkins, £22 per pair, rowenandwren.co.uk. Vintage ceramic sunflower jug, £18, handmade ceramic spot jug, £15, green bowl, £8, all from etsy.com. Amber water glasses, £5.99 each, mustard napkins, £9.99 per pair, zarahome.com. Adam Lippes Coquille side plates, £225 for 4, dinner plates, £275 for 4, Esio 28-piece faux tortoiseshell cutlery set, £295, all from oka.com/uk

90 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

S U N F LOW E R S

REST STOP Arrange cushions and throws on a stone wall, bench or lawn to enjoy the dreamy heat. Checked and striped frilly cushions, from £55, studioblackwell.co.uk. Bespoke sunflower-yellow cushion, sylviaandmargot.com. Cianna throw by Bloomingville, £25, trouva.com

PICK OF THE SEASON It’s easy to forget that sunflowers come in more colours than sunshine-yellow: there are varieties ranging from blush-pink to chocolate-brown. For table displays, combine them with fennel, echinacea or whatever is most abundant in your garden.

A PLACE IN THE SUN Look out for striking tableware on shopping expeditions – this lucky find from Anthropologie (anthropologie.com/ en-gb) a few years ago joins the OKA tableware. A pretty Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ sunflower is used to mark each place setting.

SWEET TREATS Serve home-made lemon and sunflower seed cakes

decorated with lemon icing, sunflower petals and whole nasturtium flowers – perfect for an al fresco, informal afternoon tea. Find the full recipe by chef Sally Iddles at theenglishgarden.co.uk AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 91

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S U N F LOW E R S

CRACKER JACK Make a plate of crisp sunflower-seed crackers and serve with hummus topped with olive oil, toasted sunflower seeds and marigold petals. Find Sally Iddles’ recipe at theenglishgarden.co.uk.

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BREAD OF HEAVEN Combine sunflower seeds and honey to make your own loaves (recipe by Sally Iddles at theenglishgarden.co.uk) and gather bread, napkins and refreshments in a basket. Fabric ruffle from Leaf Dance in ochre, £65 per metre, pippablackerinteriors.co.uk

FULL BLOOM Make an abundant high-summer bouquet of sunflower

varieties tied with a silk ribbon. Coffee-and-burgundy Helianthus ‘ProCut Plum’, vivid Helianthus ‘Red Sun’ and yellow Helianthus annuus shout out to be picked. Ribbons by Cfleursdesign at etsy.com

IN THE BAG A perfect tote bag for shopping, gathering flowers

or heading outdoors with a book, blanket and bottle of water – embroidered accessories are so on trend right now. Sunflower embroidered tote bag, £10, Botanica Stitches via etsy.com AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 93

S U N F LOW E R S

CAN DO Turn tin cans into vases or storage pots. Sand before painting

and stick on decals with PVA glue. Masquerade 334 and Bassoon 336 from Absolute Matt Emulsion, £4.95 per sample pot, littlegreene.com.

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FLOWER POWER Cut flowers will benefit from being plunged into cold water and left in a cool place such as a shaded shed for a few hours. Once they’ve drunk their fill, arrange them into vases to style your table, or make bouquets to give to your guests as they leave.

Try These Cheery Sunflower Varieties With their sturdy stems and flamboyant flowers, sunflowers are perfect to grow for cutting

‘SOLAR FLASH’

This dwarf sunflower reaches around 50cm tall, so it’s ideal for growing in a container or at the front of a border. The flare of deep orange-red at its centre is particularly eye-catching, making it a super choice for cut flower arrangements and a brilliant addition to any garden.

‘RED SUN’

A traditionally tall sunflower, this variety reaches 1.8m so is best at the back of the border. All annual sunflowers are easy to grow from seed sown from March to May. Sow two seeds together, where you want them to bloom, and thin out the weaker seedling if both come through.

94 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

‘EARTH WALKER’

Expect flowers in a range of warm, autumnal, bronzey shades on this vigorous variety, which can sometimes reach a staggering 3m tall – it’s definitely one for the back of the border.

Flowers are abundant because the stems are multi-headed, so it’s a great choice for cutting.

‘LEMON QUEEN’

This perennial sunflower will return year after year to form large 1.5-2.5m tall clumps of foliage topped with dancing, pale yellow flowers – they’re daintier than those of an annual sunflower but very pretty. Try the Chelsea chop in May to prolong the display.

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S U S TA I N A B L E WAT E R I N G

Double Savings Employ a mindful approach to using water in the garden and you’ll save money while helping to save the planet. Matt Rees-Warren has practical tips and ingenious solutions for conserving this precious commodity AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 97

S U S TA I N A B L E WAT E R I N G

E

very garden needs water. Sometimes it seems as though the weather gods provide all they need, but every good gardener knows this is fool’s gold: only mature trees and hardy shrubs will survive on a rain-only diet. Pots full of annuals will wither; vegetables will bolt and go to seed; newly planted perennials will give up the ghost; and seeds will fail to sprout. Supplemental water is essential, and every garden has a mains tap for this very reason – but not every invention is the right one. In fact, they may even bypass a simpler, more

98 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

Above Storage tanks or

barrels can be attractive as well as functional.

Top right Japanese-style rain chains direct water from gutters to where it is needed most.

elegant solution, and nothing could be as elementary as harvesting and storing rain when it falls to use when it does not. Arit Anderson, television presenter and garden designer, agrees: “Collecting rain in your garden through water butts and storage tanks is vital.

It saves gallons of water being pulled off the mains, and rainwater is so much better for your plants.”

How then do we retro-engineer our gardens to harvest rain? First, we must hurdle a barrier that has halted many a worthy endeavour: style. Our gardens are canvasses of personal expression, and plastic water butts are about as appealing as polytunnels and oil tanks. But harvesting rain need not be utilitarian – it can be fun, stylish and individual. Reclaimed whiskey barrels can replace plastic butts and add rustic charm and material counterpoint, while steel troughs or planters bring water out into the visual realm and double as micro ponds. Large terracotta pots or decorative jars can overflow once full to run into rills and gullies, while Japanese-style rain chains replace functional plastic drains to elevate water falling from roof gutters into meditative art.

If, however, this just doesn’t seem like enough to meet your garden’s needs – and figures support this, given that an average of 10,000 litres per garden is used by British gardeners each year – then one option is to invest in a storage tank. Usually holding 10,000 litres and above, these can be hidden from view behind screens and planting or, much more appealingly, buried underground. Or, if space allows, construct different earthworks to hold or

IMAGES GARDEN WORLD IMAGES; SHUTTERSTOCK; ALAMY

“Collecting rain in your garden through water butts and storage tanks is vital. It saves gallons of water being pulled off the mains, and rainwater is so much better for your plants too.” divert rain for later use. Irrigation ponds linked to gutters or storage overflows can provide water for our gardens and a habitat for wildlife, while swales – ditches dug on contour, or made level so they don’t drain away but instead hold water – placed alongside thirsty fruit trees or harvest crops like willow or hazel will encourage their growth and fruit production.

But it isn’t all about earthworks and collection barrels. Reducing the amount we use and lose through watering techniques and retention practices will make a significant difference to the quantity we need to store. Mulching is nothing new, but its role in harvesting rainwater is often overlooked. Ben Raskin, head of horticulture and agroforestry at the Soil Association, extols its virtues: “One of the best ways to harvest rainwater is to capture it directly in the soil. Applying a good organic mulch like woodchip reduces evaporation, and your soil will hold about 25 per cent more water,” he explains.

Gardening is full of ingenuity and watering technique is no different. One mantra I live and teach by is to water less. Seeds, seedlings and plants

Top left Swales are ditches that provide water for nearby thirsty trees and crops.

Top middle Irrigation pipes use less water and ensure more is absorbed by the roots.

Top right Organic mulches reduce water evaporation by 25%.

Above right An overflow leading into a meditative chozu-style pool.

need far less water than we think, and longer periods between deeper watering sessions will result in more robust and healthy plants. Soaking pots and trays before planting out is also vastly superior to watering in afterwards, since the soil will absorb only the amount it needs, returning the excess back into the trug or bucket of water. Watering at the correct time of day – dawn and dusk – has certain benefits in the height of summer. This is even more important when watering from above with a sprinkler or rose head, which is not the most efficient watering method.

Directing water to the base of the plant or using leaky irrigation pipes uses less water while ensuring a higher quantity is absorbed by the roots.

A plant’s roots also have the ability to take water from below through the action of wicking – the most efficient of all watering techniques. We can replicate this method by placing seedling trays or pots in trays of water, or by placing olla jars – unglazed, permeable terracotta pots – full of water next to thirsty crops. The roots will then take up water as and when needed and over a much longer period.

You could go a step further and build stand-alone AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 99

S U S TA I N A B L E WAT E R I N G

Good Resources Arthur Jack Galvanised steel water butts that look like lead cisterns. Tel: 01905 778351; arthurjack.co.uk

Celtic Timber Reclaimed woodenbarrel water butts by mail order. Tel: 01437 710043; celtictimber.co.uk

Easy Garden Irrigation One-stop online shop covering all irrigation kit and needs. easygarden irrigation.co.uk

Gardena Suppliers of irrigation equipment, automatic timers and leaky hoses, stocked in garden centres nationwide. gardena.com

Harrod Horticultural Water butts and accessories, including the Gutter Mate filter and diverter for downpipes.

Tel: 0333 4001500; harrodhorticultural.com

Hozelock Watering supplies including water butt pumps. hozelock.com

100 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

Irrigatia Team this solar-powered system with your water butts for automatic watering. Tel: 0333 301 0415; irrigatia.com

Rainwater Harvesting A wide range of aboveand below-ground tanks for harvesting larger quantities of rainwater.

Tel: 01733 405111; rainwaterharvesting.co.uk

Strulch A natural, straw-based mulch to lock moisture into the soil. strulch.co.uk

IMAGES CLIVE NICHOLS; SHUTTERSTOCK

Top Ponds fed by water annuals and biennials needing more constructions such as keyhole storage overflows water to survive than perennials raised beds or sack gardens that provide an important or trees and shrubs. Certain incorporate wicking techniques habitat for wildlife. species adapt better to fluctuating into their design. Both concepts Above right Watering weather patterns, with indigenous work via a central funnel that water from above should be done at dawn or dusk. varieties being more robust than is poured into, travelling down to Above left Longer gaps non-natives. When planting out, a sump full of rocks and gravel at between watering makes avoid doing so in the height of the bottom. As plants grow at the seedlings more robust. summer, especially where trees surface, roots will draw the water they need from the sump, almost eliminating the are concerned. Spring and autumn are a better choice due to there being more water in the soil need for surface watering entirely. and a higher chance of more rain to come.

The plants we choose, and when and where Our fresh-water needs in the home and across we choose to plant them, has a significant effect wider society are increasing and this will only on how much water our garden will need. The increase pressure on our rivers and underground adage of ‘right plant, right place’ still holds aquifers. If we can make the leap in our gardens true: if you attempt to plant marginal plants to turn away from the tap and source what we in thin, dry soil, you’re going to spend a lot of need from the sky, it will be a big step towards time watering them to keep them alive. Growth reducing a heavy burden on the natural world. n habit also makes a difference, with fast-growing

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A Taste of Things to Come The months of hard work at Thyme in Southrop pay off, as crops reach fruition and late-summer harvests start to appear, with berries, beans and lettuces all ready for picking WORDS VIVIENNE HAMBLY PHOTOGRAPHS SUSSIE BELL

A vast patch of courgettes keeps Thyme’s kitchen well supplied with both flowers and fruits.

AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 103

G R OW YO U R OW N

Right Pick brassicas like kohlrabi before they begin to flower and divert energy into a less tasty part of the plant.

Below Head chef Charlie Hibbert gathers the main ingredients for delicious summer puddings.

A

fter the intense energy of June and July, the kitchen garden at Thyme at Southrop, Gloucestershire, is settling into a more relaxed pace. With autumn harvests on the horizon, this is the time to enjoy the benefits of the year’s earlier hard work and make sure plants have exactly what they need to produce good fruit – be it tomatoes, courgettes or fattening pumpkins. Among the fruit canes, gleaming berries are now ripening at speed, providing the makings of delicious summer puddings and jams for the chefs in the kitchen.

Jewel-bright berries Summer pudding, fruit fools, pavlovas and icecreams stained with fruit: these highlights of summer dining all involve berries. Head chef Charlie Hibbert and his colleagues often come down to the garden to gather what they need. “The berries 104 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

can be fiddly to pick,” says head gardener, Victoria Bowsher, “but we do try to get as many people to help out as possible.”

For only a little pruning and training early in the year, berries offer wonderful rewards, and growing your own offers the chance to experiment with less well-known hybrids. Tayberries are a marriage between a blackberry and a raspberry and develop fruits that are larger, firmer and slightly sweeter than a raspberry. Jostaberries are a complex cross involving two types of gooseberry and a blackcurrant and have sweet, succulent flesh.

The berry patch at Thyme is extensive, comprising summer- and autumn-fruiting raspberries, loganberries, black, red and whitecurrants, gooseberries and Japanese wineberries. Native to Japan, China and Korea, Japanese wineberries are the Asian equivalent of a raspberry, albeit it with shiny, orange-tinged fruit. The stars of the show,

however, are yellow raspberries, which continually surprise guests, since they taste just like a red raspberry. Look out for the variety ‘Fallgold’ from Chris Bowers (chrisbowers.co.uk), or try the purple raspberry ‘Glencoe’, available from Pomona Fruits (pomonafruits.co.uk).

Above At Thyme,

summer harvests begin in earnest this month, with every plant putting all its energy into leaf, fruit or root.

Make the most of a harvest The objective of most plants is to flower and set seed, often through fruit. Fruit and vegetable harvests involve a medley of interventions at varying points in this process, depending on the plant.

“With most crops the more you pick, the more you’ll harvest,” notes Victoria. The obvious example is courgettes, which will stop producing once the fruits have reached the size of marrows, which means the plant is close to setting seed. Picking many smaller fruits that are a long way from developing viable seed will encourage the plant to keep on fruiting.

AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 105

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106 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

G R OW YO U R OW N

Above left Picking little and often is the best way to manage a harvest.

Above middle Golden raspberries ring the changes. Try ‘Fallgold’ or ‘All Gold’ cultivars.

Above right Gather only the male flowers of courgettes – determined by their long stems – to use in the kitchen.

Seeds to Sow Now Spring cabbages Chard Endive Rocket Kale Spring onions

Harvesting Now Aubergines Beetroot Beans of all kinds Cabbages Carrots Summer squash Onions

Meanwhile, you should pick near-ripe tomatoes with the star-shaped green calyx at the top of the fruit intact. This reduces the chance of tearing the skin and preserves the life of the fruit, which will continue to ripen after picking. Keep tomato plants consistently damp to prevent blossom end rot, but it’s prudent to reduce watering on ripening tomatoes, since too much water can dilute their flavour. Give them a weekly feed when they are fruiting.

Lettuces are traditionally harvested whole, but picking a selection of outer leaves from half a dozen different plants will help to prolong the life of the lettuces and therefore your harvest. At Thyme, however, where Victoria sows a lot of lettuce in succession, the whole head is cut and used by chefs in the kitchen. “Lettuces grow so quickly at this time of year that we use the whole thing. We tend to pick the outer leaves earlier on in the year when the plants are smaller and slower,” she explains.

Gather beans at any point on the continuum from young pod to ripe seed, depending on purpose. Use them young and tender for salads, or, for storage, let them fatten on the plant until the pods are dry.

Other plants are best picked before flowering, but just be aware that water stress can induce them to flower and set seed in haste. Once flowers develop, resources shift away from the roots, as is the case with carrots, or leaves, in the case of chard, diminishing the quality of the part we most enjoy.

Keep a close eye on Florence fennel at this time of year, which is particularly inclined to bolt.

Pay attention to whatever else is developing in the garden as summer progresses because plants can quickly go over, especially in hot weather.

Ripe sweetcorn has only a week or two before its sugars turn to starch and the cobs become less tasty.

Likewise, a perfect head of broccoli can be ready one week and flowering the next.

TECHNIQUE

Organic Feed When plants are working hard at fruiting, a liquid feed can give them a helping hand. Tomatoes, for instance, will develop a heavier crop if they’re fed weekly. But you don’t have to buy a proprietary product. Nettles and comfrey, rich in potassium and nitrogen, can be turned into a nutritious plant tea.

So, while they may pop up as unwanted weeds in the garden, allocating an out-ofthe-way patch to them can turn a difficult garden corner into a food factory for vegetables and garden wildlife.

The method is simple and approximate.

Stuff an old pair of tights with as much comfrey or nettles as will fit, then place in a barrel and cover with water, working on a ratio of 1kg of plant material to ten litres of water. Cover the container and leave it for a month, then strain it or scoop out the resulting feed. Beware: it will smell unpleasant, especially at the start.

Dilute a couple of capfuls of the tea in a watering can to use as a feed. “I chop up the comfrey and mush it, wearing gloves,” explains Victoria, who uses the same technique with manure. “I put a good dollop of manure in an old pillow case and use that like a giant teabag.”

If you don’t care for a tea, cut back the leaves of these useful plants and add them to your compost, where they will break down and release their nutrients.

AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 107

G R OW YO U R OW N

Burrata, courgette & fennel salad A refreshing specialoccasion salad that contrasts mild burrata and courgettes with bitter leaves and crunchy toasted almonds Burrata, the cream-filled mozzarella found in delis and upmarket grocery stores, oozes summer decadence, while courgettes and Florence fennel, both at their peak right now, are delicious when eaten raw. “This summery starter is exactly what I want to eat on a warm day,” says Thyme’s head chef, Charlie Hibbert. Creamy burrata, crisp 108 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

vegetables, bitter leaves and salty almonds are all the good things.”

4 balls of burrata Best extra virgin olive oil Maldon salt flakes & pepper

SERVES 4 A good handful of blanched almonds (Valencia almonds are best), roughly chopped 2 tbsp vegetable or rapeseed oil 1 clove of garlic, peeled & grated ½ a lemon, zest (for the almonds) and juice (for the dressing) 2 courgettes, peeled with a vegetable peeler into strips 1 head of fennel, cut into thin strips with a spiralizer or knife. Place the fennel in a bowl of iced water until you are ready to assemble the dish to keep it nice and crunchy A good handful of bitter leaves, such as rocket or nasturtium

Heat the vegetable oil in a pan on a medium heat and fry the almonds until they start to turn golden. Just before they are ready to come off the heat, add the grated garlic, a couple of grinds of black pepper and the lemon zest, and stir through the nuts. Tip the almonds out of the pan onto a paper towel to drain.

When you are almost ready to serve, dress the courgette and fennel with plenty of lemon juice, season with salt and pepper, and combine with some bitter leaves. Tear the burrata open, season it and let it ooze over the courgette and fennel. Scatter over the almonds and dress the salad with olive oil. n

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Electric Dreams Fiona Haser Bizony acquired the land for Electric Daisy Flower Farm in 2017 and has weathered the vicissitudes of the pandemic to create the sustainable, ethical farm business and flower shop whose principles she hopes will be her legacy WORDS VIVIENNE HAMBLY PHOTOGRAPHS CAROLE DRAKE

The growing beds at Fiona’s flower farm, just outside Bath, are all named after famous female horticulturists.

AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 111

E L EC T R I C DA I S Y F LOW E R FA R M

can be grown that you wouldn’t find on the high street. Different kinds of umbellifers, sweet peas, larkspur and alchemilla all feature in the British flower grower’s catalogue.

Life hasn’t always been about flower farming for Fiona, but it has always involved beautiful creativity.

An artist, she turned to the steadier work of curating when she became a single mother, having her own gallery and becoming artistic director at a space in Cirencester, Gloucestershire. “The thing is, you’re making other people’s exhibitions, and in the end I wanted to get back to doing something that was for me. I thought gardening would be nice and simple and relaxing,” she says with a wry chuckle.

Now wiser to the idiosyncrasies of small-scale farming, Fiona works a one-hectare patch of land just south of Bath. From here, in beds named after notable female figures in horticulture – Elizabeth Blackwell, Beth Chatto and Vita Sackville-West are three – she grows flowers for special occasions and stocks her own shop near Highgate, north London.

Like anyone starting a business from scratch, Fiona undertook a mountain of research and learning. “I was determined I was going to be a flower farmer,” she says. She began with an RHS course, spoke to other flower farmers and toured the grounds of Weleda, the herbal pharmaceutical company with a biodynamic ethic, in Derbyshire.

She also visited Aalsmeer in Holland, the home of the international cut flower trade, which was established in that country after World War II. What she saw there seemed to be the antithesis of everything she imagined for her own business: “The floors were concrete and the flowers were growing in rock wool,” she recalls. The direction she would take was confirmed: her flowers would be seasonal and organic, she’d pay the real Living Wage and do all she could to educate people about seasonal, Above Electric Daisy locally grown flowers. “If it’s not sustainable, is it iona Haser Bizony, the owner and employs the no-dig really a good idea to be doing it?” she asks. creative mind behind Electric Daisy method for its flower “I didn’t have enough money to buy a nursery, only Flower Farm, laughs as she says: “If you’d production and has a piece of land, and it took me a long time to find told me 15 years ago, ‘You’re going to be recently been awarded Soil Association something because land is hard to come by. But we growing flowers and doing floristry,’ I accreditation. acquired one hectare of pasture in 2017,” she explains. just wouldn’t have believed you!”

She understood that good soil is at the heart of good Fiona is one of many women – and it is mainly farming, so the first things she put in were four large compost bays. women – who have established small, independent flower farms in And because the farm is off-grid, solar panels have been installed to this country over the past decade or so. This increase is a response to the desire for more natural-looking arrangements that don’t have provide the energy for the chiller rooms.

“I had a clear plan,” she remembers. “The farm is no-dig: you the air miles attached to more commercial bouquets. These are lay down cardboard and put compost on top. We had a three-sided ‘slow flowers’ that are grown in tune with the British seasons and barn looking out over the field and laid out beds knowing exactly their vicissitudes: sun, wind, rain, frost and snow. They’re often how wide and long they would be. We’d made test beds, so we organic, even if they are not certified so, and gathered by hand. knew what we were doing.” She transplanted perennials that had And because they don’t have to withstand the long international been growing elsewhere and put in windbreaks of leylandii “like journeys that large commercial flower crops do, unusual varieties

F

“If you’d told me 15 years ago, ‘You’re going to be growing flowers and doing floristry,’ I just wouldn’t have believed you!”

112 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

Fiona Haser Bizony gathers flowers on her farm, where working days begin at 5am to avoid the heat.

AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 113

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castle walls” and, later, polytunnels to extend the season. A pond went in at the bottom of the slightly sloping site to encourage diverse wildlife, and a beehive for wild bees was placed near an oak tree.

Then Covid-19 struck. Events, especially weddings, were cancelled, and the little shop in Highgate had to close. “But the flowers didn’t get the memo. I didn’t have a large customer base to sell flowers to directly, so we made some very expensive compost during the pandemic,” Fiona reflects.

Having endured two years of “having things cancelled”, Fiona found the pandemic trying, as did most small businesses, but things are looking up.

The farm now has Soil Association Certification,

Top left Strawflowers are perfect for drying, making them a boon in winter, when fresh plant material is much harder to come by.

Top right Leylandii hedging protects the farm from strong winds.

Above right A trolley of fresh fennel, scabious, salvias and antirrhinums.

Above left The farm’s propagation area.

which isn’t easy to achieve, not least because the organisation has historically served food farmers rather than flower growers, who have their own particular parameters to work within. Fiona believes that a large part of her work is to champion this kind of flower farming to organisations like the Soil Association and the RHS, as well as to everyday consumers. “I want to be a model for regenerative flower farming, where you’re working with nature and not against it. Even if I don’t make my fortune, I hope that will become a legacy,” she says.

Fiona is quick to point out the beauty and complexities of raising flowers this way. “We grow to be able to pick a bouquet when you walk out

“I want to be a model for regenerative flower farming. Even if I don’t make my fortune, I hope that will become a legacy” AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 115

E L EC T R I C DA I S Y F LOW E R FA R M

into the farm,” she explains. This involves growing a vast array of plants, from fillers to foliage, shrubs, perennials, bulbs, biennials and annuals – all flowering at different times of the year. It’s a symphony of flowers, with a skilled conductor introducing and encouraging each performer to offer its best, precisely on cue.

The result is joyfully abundant, with the kind of flowers you might grow yourself if you had the time.

Fiona is probably the only grower in the country to have her own shop, a fact pointing to the challenges of selling locally grown flowers year-round, particularly through winter when there is a dearth

Top left Cornflowers,

Centaurea cyanus, in an intense shade of blue.

Top middle A single, perfect, pink rose.

Top right Jewel-bright Lychnis coronaria.

Above Beds of Britishgrown blooms, which give bouquets and arrangements a more delicate beauty.

of material associated with conventional flower arrangements. “One reason I have a shop in London is that in the city it’s difficult to find flowers that look as if they’ve just come from your garden,” she says.

To keep the shop going through the winter months, Fiona and her team spend July and August drying flowers to include in autumnal and winter arrangements, when husky teasels might be paired with slim bare branches studded with lichen.

Working days begin at 5am before the heat settles, and cut flowers are stored in a barn to protect them from mice. Fiona runs classes from the shop, too, including dying and arranging workshops.

“This world is very much about multi-tasking because there are so many things you need to know,” Fiona maintains. “There are a lot of women in this business, and I think it’s because maybe women are better at it. I’ve got this lovely team and I’m very grateful. We’re very much a women-led business.”

Now, with her business on a more even keel after the trials of the pandemic, Fiona is finding that demand outstrips supply. “There aren’t enough British flower growers to supply the floristry industry all year round,” she observes.

With her team in place, and the farm ticking along, Fiona wants to explore new avenues. “I need to get back to doing visual stuff. I’m starting to make films about what’s happening on the farm each month. It’s pretty bleak in winter, but that’s good for people to see. We need to show that we can be creative with whatever the seasons provide us." n Electric Daisy Flower Farm Shop, 3 Swain’s Lane, Highgate, London N6 6AG. Farm: 07873 222678.

Shop: 07800 856310. electricdaisyflowerfarm.co.uk

“One reason I have a shop in London is that in the city it’s difficult to find flowers that look as if they’ve just come from your garden” 116 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

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F LOW E R S F R O M T H E FA R M

Where They Began

WORDS CLARE FOGGETT IMAGE FLOWERS FROM THE FARM

Three members of Flowers from the Farm, the association of British cut flower growers, share how they started their farms ahead of the celebratory Flower Farmers’ Big Weekend on 5-7 August

G Flowers from the Farm represents flower farmers across the country, such as Scottish Cut Flowers in Perthshire, pictured here.

rowing flowers for cutting is undoubtedly rewarding, but in a business where one bout of inclement weather or an outbreak of a damaging pest can spoil the crop, those who choose to become flower farmers also need a healthy dose of determination and grit. The three flower farms on the following pages all opened for business at around the same time Covid-19 hit, yet a global pandemic proved no impediment to their success. Visit them, and dozens of other UK flower farmers, over this year’s Flower Farmers’ Big Weekend on 5-7 August.

AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 119

F LOW E R S F R O M T H E FA R M

A Fresh Start It took the pandemic to make Clare Greener’s dream of having her own flower farm a reality

A

fter going through a redundancy in the 1990s, Clare Greener dreamt of starting her own flower farm, but it took the catalyst of the pandemic to make her dream come true. In the meantime she had taken flower-farming courses while continuing to work, in addition to growing her own cut flowers for a good 30 years. The field next to Clare and her husband Andrew’s Shropshire home had been farmed by Andrew’s brother, but it became free just as the country went into lockdown and Clare duly set up Wall Flowers. “I thought it really is now or never – we’ve just got to go for it,” says Clare. “I didn’t want to get into my dotage and think ‘what if…’”

The field is two acres: “We grow intensively on half an acre, and another acre is given over to sunflowers to feed the birds.” As soon as it was allowed, she opened the gates so people could pick their own blooms.

“At some point when people are picking, the field will fall silent – it’s got a real mindfulness to it,” she says. Dahlias ‘Eveline’ and ‘Café au Lait’ are popular with the brides who bring their wedding parties to pick for the big day, while Clare also supplies florists and flowers for events. “I’m still learning. I still panic when an order comes in. Andrew tells me to ‘trust in the field’.” Wall Flowers will hold events including ‘Pickity Pick’ sessions and workshops across the Big Weekend. wallflowers.uk

WHY BRITISH BLOOMS? • “Ultimately, people will only buy really beautiful flowers,” says Clare Greener. “British blooms are often grown without chemicals, are flight-free, and there’s no plastic – that’s also important to a small percentage of customers. But the really important thing is that they have to be beautiful.”

• “Imported flowers have their fragrance gene ‘edited out’ because it’s a life shortener. Britishgrown flowers can stop people in their tracks with their scent,” says Clare.

Ellie Hunt of Hawksbury Hunt Flowers (p122) agrees: Their fragrance can fill a room,” she notes. “We don’t use any chemicals either, which I think is really important when you want to take a great big sniff.”

Clockwise from top left

Clare and Andrew Greener; white corn cockle and cornflowers in the flower field; buckets of rudbeckia; snapdragons are a favourite; an arranging workshop in progress; ever-popular dahlias.

120 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

Left Buckets of freshly picked blooms in Abbey Farm Flowers’ shop.

Below Emma Hughes, of Abbey Farm Flowers.

Sharing the Joy Amy Ralph and Emma Hughes set up their pick-your-own flower farm in Dorset last April

IMAGES WALL FLOWERS; ABBEY FARM FLOWERS

“W

e’re just coming into our second summer,” says Amy Ralph, whose background is in gardening and environmental education, while business partner Emma runs a canine rehabilitation unit. They’d been friends for over 15 years and in need of a new project when the site at Abbotsbury – in the middle of a former Benedictine Abbey – came up. “It was too magical to turn down, even though it’s a difficult place to grow flowers, being only a mile from the sea,” says Amy. “It’s always windy and it’s set on thin, sandy soil that dries out constantly.” Because the site is archaeologically sensitive, the pair use the no-dig method and their first job was to barrow in 28 tons of topsoil. “We’re primarily a pick-your-own venue – the setting is too special to keep to ourselves,” Amy explains, “so we need cut-and-come-again flowers like dahlias, cosmos, zinnias and cornflowers. We’ve been touched by how much people enjoy it. After the lockdowns, people value time and company more than ever and a few hours spent in a beautiful place, picking flowers with family or friends, is a real treat. It’s wonderful to hear the gentle chit-chat of busy pickers.” Abbey Farm Flowers opens for the Big Weekend on 5 August, with tours and bouquet sessions. abbeyfarmflowers.co.uk

Above The pretty Dorset setting is “too special” not to share, says Amy. Left Curving foxgloves have a natural charm that’s a world apart from uniform, imported, hot-house cut flowers.

Far left Bunches of flowers hang from a clothes airer to dry.

AUGUST 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 121

F LOW E R S F R O M T H E FA R M Left This spring, Ellie’s new beds filled with gorgeous double tulips.

Below, from top

A reminder of her grandmother, sweet peas will always have a place on Ellie’s plot; frilly Icelandic poppies have done well; Ellie Hunt.

FLOWER FARMERS’ BIG WEEKEND

The ability to combine family life with a career outdoors inspired Ellie Hunt to start her flower farm

L

ockdown worked out for Ellie Hunt, who used the mandatory time at home to set up and build beds to grow flowers at her farm in Essex for her new business, Hawksbury Hunt. Her love of flowers stems from her grandmother, who died before Ellie was born but whose favourite sweet peas were always in a vase on her mum’s table. Erin Benzakein’s book about Floret, her renowned flower farm in America, and an online course taught by Erin ignited Ellie’s passion. “I was hooked instantly,” she explains. “My husband’s really outdoorsy and I wanted to do something outside that would let me bring up a family and manage my own time.” In the first year, she scoured the seed catalogues for the best cut flowers. “I thought I’d try as many seeds as I could get my hands on, and it really was trial and error,” she adds. Now the selection has been refined and favourites include Icelandic poppies – “they’re a definite every year” – roses and, of course, sweet peas. Ellie is opening Hawksbury Hunt on 5 and 6 August for the Big Weekend, with pick-your-own sessions and tours available. hawksburyhunt.com

• Organised by Flowers from the Farm, this threeday open flower farm festival gives everyone the chance to meet its members and discover why local and seasonal is the most sustainable way to buy flowers.

• The not-for-profit membership organisation champions more than 950 growers of cut flowers and aims to increase the proportion of British cut flowers used in the UK. • To find Big Weekend events near you, visit flowersfromthefarm.co.uk

Left Around the door to the barn, a seasonal display of roses, fresh foliage, blossom and cow parsley give the farm a bucolic, romantic atmosphere.

122 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

IMAGES HAWKSBURY HUNT

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GARDENS & NURSERIES TO INSPIRE THIS SUMMER ASHWOOD NURSERIES

BEETHAM NURSERIES A plantsman’s paradise and an independent nursery situated in the West Midlands open seven days a week.

Beetham Nurseries is a familyowned, independent garden centre and growing nursery on the A6 in south Cumbria, just four miles from the M6 motorway. Established in 1984, we are proud to offer our customers something different and unique. The growing nursery is a traditional retail plant nursery where you will find thousands of herbaceous perennials; they will always be interesting and grown by us here at Beetham Nurseries.

Plants are our passion, we invite you to see for yourself the spectacular selection that we grow and the high standards we go to in order to grow plants that are of the highest quality.

We specialise in hellebores, hardy cyclamen, salvias, hepaticas, lewisias, hydrangeas, dwarf conifers, snowdrops, Primula auricula and many more beautiful plants. Our UK mail order service sends plants, garden essentials and gifts direct to your doorstep.

John’s Garden is also open on Saturdays 10am-4pm.

Please visit our website for full details.

Tel: 01384 401996 mailorder@ashwoodnurseries.com | www.ashwoodnurseries.com Ashwood Lower Lane, Kingswinford, West Midlands DY6 0AE

Tel: 015395 63630 www.beethamnurseries.co.uk Pool Darkin Lane, Beetham, Nr Milnthorpe, Cumbria LA7 7AP

SPRING REACH NURSERY

HEDGING UK A plant fanatic’s paradise on the edge of the beautiful Surrey Hills, just 10 minutes from the A3/ M25. Brilliant home-grown trees, shrubs, climbers, grasses, perennials, roses, ferns, hedging and fruit, plus these August starlets: Hydrangea paniculata ‘Polar Bear’, Albizia ‘Summer Chocolate’, Campsis ‘Madame Galen’, Hibiscus ‘Ultramarine’, x Chitalpa ‘Summer Bells’, and Lagerstroemia indica.

A really good range of mature trees from 2-5m also now ready.

Hedging UK are specialist growers of quality hedging plants.

Plants are available to purchase at wholesale prices across the UK through our mail order service.

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Tel: 01483 284769 info@springreachnursery.co.uk | www.springreachnursery.co.uk Long Reach, Ockham, Surrey GU23 6PG

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TENDERCARE NURSERIES

FULLERS MILL

Specialising in more mature and specimen plants, from acers to agapanthus, pleached trees and evergreen screens, Tendercare’s 12 acres are a joy to visit.

Book a visit with assistance from one of our horticulturists, by golf buggy, or pop into our office and we can give you a map, a route to follow, and suggestions to get you started.

Tel: 01895 837120 sales@tendercare.co.uk | www.tendercare.co.uk.

Southlands Road, Denham UB9 4HD. Next to Junction 2 on the M40.

© Clive Nichols

Our popular site visit and warrantied planting services can help rejuvenate a tired garden or change the focus of the garden after building works. While our award-winning design service will create a beautiful garden for you to enjoy all year through.

Fullers Mill is an awardwinning, enchanting, quiet waterside oasis, created by the late Bernard Tickner MBE, set in the heart of Suffolk.

This seven-acre garden sits on the banks of the River Lark and Culford Stream and has its own mill pond. The garden surprises with a mix of rare and unusual plants, with a Mediterranean influence running through The Quandaries, while alpines grow charmingly on the terraces in the Low Garden.

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CHELSEA PHYSIC GARDEN

DENMANS GARDEN Tucked away beside the Thames, is London’s oldest botanic garden.

Home to 4,500 different medicinal, herbal, edible and useful plants from around the world, it was established in 1673 by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London. Join them this summer for live music, supper clubs and late openings.

Created by gravel gardening pioneer, Joyce Robinson, and former home of influential landscape designer, John Brookes MBE, Denmans is an award-winning, Grade II-registered, RHS Partner Garden renowned for its curvilinear layout and complex plantings. Enjoy unusual plants, structure and fragrance in the gravel gardens, walled garden, ponds and conservatory.

Browse Denmans-grown plants, vintage items, gadgets and accessories in the gift shop and plant centre.

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FORDE ABBEY AND GARDENS

CERNEY HOUSE GARDENS Cerney House gardens is a romantic English garden.

The beautiful secluded Victorian walled garden features overflowing herbaceous borders. There are romantic rambling roses and informal planting in perfect combination with our beautiful setting. Enjoy our woodland walk and nature trail. Discover our medicinal herb garden and children’s trail.

Tea, coffee and homemade cakes in the Bothy Tearoom.

Dogs welcome.

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30 acres of award-winning gardens with the highestpowered fountain in England, wildflower meadows, topiarylined vistas, herbaceous borders, arboretum, bog garden, and walled kitchen garden. Meandering pathways with plenty of seating to admire the views along the way. A gift shop, plant nursery, pottery and vaulted coffee shop make it a full day out.

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YORK GATE

THE LASKETT York Gate is a one-acre magical masterpiece situated near Leeds.

Created by the Spencer family in 1951, the garden is designed in a series of ‘rooms’ interlinked through a succession of vistas. A Grade II national heritage garden inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, York Gate is one of the finest small gardens in the country and was given to Perennial following the death of Sybil Spencer in 1994. Booking is essential.

Tel: 01132 678240 yorkgate@perennial.org.uk | www.yorkgate.org.uk Back Church Lane, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS16 8DW

© Clive Nichols

© Clive Nichols

OPEN: Gardens open 1 Mar to 31 Oct, 10.30am to 5pm (last admission 4pm). House open 1 Apr to 31 Oct, 12pm onwards (last admission 3.30pm) Tue to Fri, Sun, and Bank Holiday Mon.

The Laskett was created in 1974 from a bare fouracre field, set in the Herefordshire countryside.

The garden is uniquely autobiographical; this remarkable place is a creative memorial by Sir Roy Strong CH and his late wife, Julia Trevelyan Oman CBE. Up until earlier this century, it was one of England’s most hidden and private gardens; now visitors come from all over the world to see this remarkable and inspirational creation.

Booking is essential.

Tel: 01372 384045 thelaskett@perennial.org.uk | www.thelaskett.org.uk Laskett Lane, Much Birch, Herefordshire HR2 8HZ

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32 Bourne Lane, Much Hadham, Herts SG10 6ER

Tel 01279 842685 www.giftsandgardens.com

Boulder Stone Pots

TO C O N C LU D E

The Sea, The Sea The interplay of water, light and coastal flora casts its spell over a Scottish island holiday for Non Morris, the sparkling harebells proving most enchanting of all

H

ow to begin with the sea and the light? It is early evening in the middle of August and I am kneeling in the damp grass on a small island in the Outer Hebrides, picking sorrel from the base of a dense stand of flag iris. We will eat the sorrel, cool and lemony, with the mackerel we have caught for our supper. The light is delicate, shifting, creating impossibly beautiful layers of clearest colour: the smooth whiteness of the beach, the radiant turquoise sea and the inky violet stretched-out shapes of other islands.

The curving burn that leads from the bothy to the sea is flanked by a further unstoppable army of flag iris. The silvery surface of the burn is speckled with the tiny flowers of water forget-me-not. I put down my collecting bowl. In the evening light the pale sky is hung with glimmering clouds and the planting is exhilarating in its quiet abundance. The sharp repeated blades of iris leaves are lined with gold from the low rays of the sun. The buttercups glow greedily with pure yellow and, rising higher, one or two at a time, dance the shredded sugar-pink heads of ragged robin. The ragged robin is the star of the evening show, radiating its sweet punky pink with knowing confidence. Here and there, delicate puffball dandelion seedheads add a suspended light-catching glamour to the scene.

The island is less than a mile wide and you easily fall into a ritual of icy early-morning swims, returning to the wooden hut with a basket full of breakfast mushrooms. The mushrooms emerge silently each morning among the tattered white flags of common cotton grass. Then there is bread to make and supper to catch (which you will cook by head torch and eat

by candlelight) and, in between, there is delicious slow time to drink in this exhilaratingly unspoilt mix of machair and mountain.

Beyond the wise old dry stone walls coated in lichen – startling patches of mustardy velvet or downy, ancient-looking grey-green – soft indented sheep tracks invite you upwards. The hill that forms the centre of the island is almost entirely quilted with springy, undulating mounds of starry pink heather.

Close to the sea, as you walk around the island, you will come to a series of rocky inlets where every stony surface has been transformed into a fairy-tale palace laced with a million papery pompon heads of thrift. By August, the thrift has become a charming antique version of its neat June freshness.

Wiry stems cling onto every ledge, running down the sides of huge, jagged rocks like tiny dancing troupes on magical escalators, the fragile seedheads solarised in the summer sunshine.

But it is the harebells that sparkle most tantalisingly in my memory. As I walk to the beach through the soft white dunes with their waving tussocks of dry, straw-coloured grasses, I am suddenly aware of them.

They are half-hidden among the tangled grasses and impossible to photograph. But when you pause to look, their cloud-blue, neatly nodding heads are a soothing contrast to the sun-dried, wind-dried vegetation of the bone-white sands.

I lie on my stomach entranced by the translucent petals of a single flower. Behind, in delicately jumbled rows, I realise that there are hundreds of bells stretching into the distance as far as the eye can see. An intoxicating twist to an already intoxicating summer story. n

130 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST 2022

ILLUSTRATION MARIA BURNS PORTRAIT RACHEL WARNE

“The harebells’ cloud-blue, neatly nodding heads are a soothing contrast to the sun-dried, wind-dried vegetation of the bone-white sands”

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