The English Garden June 2022

THE

english

GARDEN JUNE 2022

6

For everyone who loves beautiful gardens

SUMMER GARDENS

Capturing the essence of dewy, dreamy June

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Anna Pavord on her latest book BUMPER SUMMER ISSUE 172 pages

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CONTRIBUTORS

Philip Clayton Freelance writer Philip has had a life-long love of great gardens; his own urban plot is filled with unusual plants, many profiled in his forthcoming book A Plant for Every Day of the Year. He visits The Old Vicarage on p32.

Kerryn Harper-Cuss An editor of home and lifestyle magazines, with 12 years at the helm of our sister title, The English Home, Kerryn champions specialist skills such as those of the sculptors featured on p81.

Welcome G

enerally I consider myself very lucky and privileged to have this job. Spending the days immersed in gorgeous gardens and plants is clearly no hardship, but there is one snag: my wish list of plants is officially out of control.

I’ll run out of room long before I’ve even made a dent in it, and since it’s June and our bumper issue is full of delicious-looking roses, I anticipate the situation getting worse. There are roses at Jonathan and Sandra Blaza’s garden at The Old Vicarage in Burley, Rutland, and packing the borders at Gardeners’ Cottage in Shropshire, where rosarian Michael Marriott gardens with his partner Rosie Irving. We also have designer Jo Thompson outlining some planting schemes for roses and hand-picking a selection of her favourite rose varieties (most of which are going straight on my list). In a similar vein, Anna Pavord is bringing out a new edition of her classic book about perfect planting partners, so we chat to her about that on page 113 and share two of her schemes (one involves a rubus that looks lovely – also now on the list), while Alan Gray is here to tempt us with an array of plants and tactics for brilliant, long-lasting summer containers.

So many plants, so little time (and space, and budget). As an editor, I suppose I ought to edit it, whittle it down into something vaguely resembling reality – but where’s the fun in that?

CLARE FOGGETT, EDITOR

IMAGE NEIL HEPWORTH

Alan Gray

Alan’s interest in gardening began as a child and grew throughout his career in advertising and antiques, just like his garden at East Ruston Old Vicarage, Norfolk.

He suggests plants for summer pots on p127.

ON THE COVER At Clinton Lodge in East Sussex, romantic roses and perennials lead the way to an arch of Rosa ‘The Garland’. Photo: Mimi Connolly.

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June 2022

CONTENTS

32

Gardens 22 Church Cottage Constrained by city living, Rajat Jindal longed for freedom. He found that in Suffolk, where his garden features an expansive natural meadow.

32 The Old Vicarage Tireless year-round planning and hard work are key to Sandra and Jonathan Blaza’s gorgeously styled country garden of rooms in Rutland.

43 Gardeners’ Cottage This Ludlow garden showcases the best of Rosie Irving and Michael Marriott’s two very different styles, which are united by masses of roses.

52 Donadea Lodge Longing for a fresh start and a new project, Wendy and Tony Lander used the strong bones of this Flintshire garden to steer it back to its former glory.

60 Am Brook Meadow Jennie and Jethro Marles took on the site of an intensive pig farm in Dorset and restored its lifeless soil with meadowland planting and water.

60

105

71 Old Allangrange On Scotland’s Black Isle peninsula, JayJay and David Gladwin redress the balance between agriculture and nature using organic, wildlife-friendly principles.

Design 81 Sculpture Sculptors working in wood, stone and bronze offer advice on choosing and positioning a piece of garden art.

Plants 99 Top 10 Plants Guy Lucas of Herstmonceux Castle suggests ten plants for meadows.

105 Plant Focus Potentilla flower nonstop, providing vital sustenance for pollinators.

113 Anna Pavord In extracts from her new book, The Seasonal Gardener, Anna Pavord offers ideas for planting combinations.

19

119 Roses Jo Thompson suggests planting schemes for roses and favourite varieties.

127 Containers Alan Gray recommends star plants for containers and advises on creating a sustained show as summer progresses.

135 Grow Your Own At Thyme in Southrop, slim asparagus spears are being harvested.

143 Salads Nothing beats home-grown salads, whisked to the kitchen to be dressed.

6 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

71

81 99 IMAGES ZARA NAPIER; CAROLE DRAKE; ANNAÏCK GUITTENY; RAY COX; CLIVE NICHOLS; SHUTTERSTOCK

149 Sharing Your Garden Donate homegrown produce or host an outdoor concert to help support good causes.

157 Holyrood Palace A recreation of the medieval physic garden at Edinburgh’s Holyrood Palace evokes the original’s layout.

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

19 Shopping Everything you need to give your garden an instant makeover.

170 To Conclude Non Morris suggests colourful edible flowers for the kitchen.

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IN FLOWER NOW

IMAGE GAP/MARCUS HARPUR

Lonicera periclymenum ‘Belgica’ T

here’s something nostalgic about honeysuckle.

Often there’s a cherished childhood memory of a billowing plant filling the evening air with its heady scent. Who wouldn’t want one around a porch or engulfing an arch? Happily, honeysuckles live up to the memory, their clusters of flowers

just as fragrant and evocative in real life (as long as you choose a scented variety). ‘Belgica’ is an early-flowering cultivar that starts to bloom in May or June, with ruby-pink flowers that turn apricotyellow as they age. Grow it in sun or dappled shade and look forward to the delicious perfume.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 9

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

INTERVIEW PHOEBE JAYES IMAGES KIRSTIN PRISK; RHS; CHAZ OLDHAM

James Alexander-Sinclair In addition to writing, lecturing, broadcasting and getting to grips with his own new garden, the renowned garden designer is also a judge at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show A hugely important element of garden design is to enjoy being with your clients.

Building a garden isn’t quite the same as installing a boiler – it’s very personal. It’s a pleasure to make partnerships and work in gardens across the country. I don’t know how to say “no” and the most exciting project is always whatever is coming next.

One garden I particularly loved creating was Horatio’s Garden Scotland, to support people affected by spinal injury. The garden surrounds an NHS spinal centre and benefits patients, visitors, nurses, doctors and cleaning staff. It’s a demonstration of the power of gardens to aid healing, something that’s very close to my heart.

I’m currently working on a garden at the Priscilla Bacon Hospice in Norwich, where each patient’s room will have its own garden. The aim is to make it as uninstitutional as possible, so patients can enjoy the time they have left in a lovely, peaceful environment.

Nobody should die looking at the bin store.

Most of my time is spent designing gardens for nice people, but I also have fun writing, broadcasting and lecturing. Horticulture can lead to so many careers and I wanted to try them all! I began by sending off my writing to magazines, and gradually my communications work built up.

I’m now a vice president for the Royal Horticultural Society.

The flower shows are a joy, but even more important are the funds they raise towards research and plant trials. It was an honour to be awarded the RHS Veitch Memorial Medal this year. I’m also a judge at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show, and I’m looking forward to seeing what the new and younger designers bring.

My own garden is still fairly new, but I think it will be settling in forever. My last thought before I shuffle off this mortal coil will likely be: “I must go and move that plant.”

An extraordinary June flower I recommend is Rosa x odorata ‘Mutabilis’, which blooms for ages and fades from pink to apricot to peach. I used to dislike roses because I thought they were old and fussy, but now I can’t live without them.

Either the roses have changed for the better, or I’ve become old and fussy!

RECOMMENDED

James’s favourite gardens to visit Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Garden Cornwall The artist and sculptor died in 1975, but her small, well-established Cornish garden has been carefully looked after ever since. It is filled with semi-tropical plants and beautiful sculptures. Tel: 01736 796226; tate.org.uk

RHS Hyde Hall Essex I’m an advisor at Hyde Hall, a garden still in development. It gets wind and very little rain, so rather than devising an irrigation system, planting has been adapted to the conditions. The future of gardening is to bend with the weather. Tel: 01245 402019; rhs.org.uk

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 11

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

New Tree Collections at Wisley Open all year, Surrey

RHS Garden Wisley in Surrey has recently had its three new National Plant Collections accredited by horticultural conservation charity Plant Heritage. The RHS is hoping to explore the adaptability of the new collections of Eucryphia, Albizia julibrissin (Persian silk tree) and Lagerstroemia (crape myrtle), all of which originate from warmer continents but which are now expected to thrive in South-East England due to the warming climate. Both organisations hope that the collections will help to shape the future of horticulture by indicating how different plants adapt and respond to climate change. rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley

Various dates in June, Somerset Clayhill Arts, a creative learning space based at a former farm in Somerset, celebrates its rural setting this summer with an open garden weekend, nature-inspired creative courses and an art exhibition. Aspiring nature photographers seeking to develop their technique can book in for a four-day masterclass (10-13 June), while for those who prefer to appreciate the artistry of others, the on-site gardens are open for the National Garden Scheme on 25-26 June, alongside an exhibition of insect drawings by Louisa Crispin. Tel: 01278 256596; clayhillarts.co.uk

Good Festival 25-26 June, Hampshire The Good Festival, which celebrates Hampshire and the great outdoors, returns to Bere Mill this June. Visitors can explore the contemporary gardens, water meadows and farm and browse stalls from plant specialists, artists, jewellers, food and drinks providers and more. There will be demonstrations, workshops and live music to enjoy across the day. Tickets: Adults £9; Children 5+ £4. The evening preview and sit-down dinner on 25 June costs £65.

Tel: 01256 314759; goodfestival.co.uk 12 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

NGS Garden

Abbots Ripton Hall Cambridgeshire This 8.5-acre garden, developed since 1937, features many new additions by the current owners, such as a five-acre lake. Highlights include a 140-metre double ‘cottage’ border, old shrub roses, a Victorian rose arch walk, a Mediterranean grey border and a bog garden.

Abbots Ripton Hall, Abbots Ripton, Cambridgeshire PE17 2PQ. Opens 6, 14, 20 & 28 June. Tickets: Adults £10; Children free. ngs.org.uk

WORDS PHOEBE JAYES IMAGES RHS/PHILIPPA GIBSON; RACHAEL COLLEY; SPINDLETREE PHOTOGRAPHY; NGS

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Bunny’s Diary This month, Bunny Guinness makes multi-stemmed trees and extols the virtues of baseless pots

IMAGES NEIL HEPWORTH; SHUTTERSTOCK

I

have over one hundred plants in containers, 80 of which are baseless pots standing on soil. The plants feed and water themselves once their roots are down into terra firma ‘proper’. Even yew (notorious for not liking containers) thrives. Elsewhere, cork oak, phillyrea, box, apple trees, vines, pear and strawberry myrtle grow this way: some have been in their pots for over 30 years.

The pots are timber, metal, plastic or terracotta. I like the prominence a pot gives a plant, lifting it up and showing it off, and I use repeated large pots with small trees to create spaces close to buildings. They give unity to the architecture, bond the building with the garden, conceal eyesores and make strong spaces.

Many Chelsea show gardens sport multistemmed trees. I love them and I have just made two more from Pittosporum tobira, also planted in large, baseless pots. These pittosporum have divinely scented blossom in early summer and lustrous evergreen leaves. I raised their canopies by cutting off the lower branches and then removed the odd main branch so I had six main stems on one and ten on the other – just what looked right. You can multi-stem pretty much any tree. If impatient you can just plant two or three young single stemmed trees in one hole. They might self-graft at the base in time, but that’s no problem.

My mother grew unusual eucalyptus for cutting, which she threw in the car when working in London and sold to florists

there: a useful, easy cash crop. I have just acquired six exciting eucalyptus from Hilary Collins’ Worcestershire nursery, Grafton Nursery (hardy-eucalyptus.com).

The 1.5m high feathered trees are planted in my vegetable garden in a row. Next March or April when the stems are 50mm in diameter, I will cut them to a height of 900mm and they will reshoot in around eight weeks. From late next year I will have masses of year-round foliage of contrasting shapes and sizes for cutting. n Visit Bunny’s YouTube channel for videos such as ‘Baseless Plant Pots – the Ultimate Timesaver and Design Hack’ and ‘How to Create Multi Stem Trees’. youtube.com/ bunnyguinness JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 15

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

Sow and Grow Seeds are packed with mind-boggling potential and sowing them is one of the most profound acts a gardener can undertake. But seeds are also generally small, precious and easy to lose or oversow. The Hand Seed Sower from Fiskars is specially designed to make sowing seed much easier. It looks like a slender, lightweight trowel, but a groove down the centre of the tool helps funnel seed towards your hand. Meanwhile, a detachable piece in the handle doubles as a stylus for picking up damp seed, held with surface tension, and a widger for lifting seedlings from trays. Measurements engraved on the trowel help with accurate spacing. £6.99, fiskars.com

Plant the Rainbow Alstroemerias make superb garden subjects, offering cheerful colour in beds and borders with flowers that last well in the vase. Two new varieties from Parigo Alstroemeria have been bred for growing in containers on balconies and terraces and will launch at RHS Chelsea. ‘Little Miss June’ offers medium to large lavender-coloured flowers, while ‘Little Miss Connie’ bears medium-sized flowers with yellow petals and a pale pink blotch.

They are named after the grandmothers of Parigo Alstroemeria owner and head nurseryman Alec White. £18, parigoalstroemeria.co.uk

Iain Parkinson, Royal Botanic Gardens, £25 Conservation manager at Wakehurst Place, Iain Parkinson presents a fascinating study of hay meadows by looking at the work of those specialising in aspects of these threatened landscapes. Archaeological investigators, hedgelayers, wardens and botanical propagators feature, while photographs by Jim Holden illuminate these important habitats.

16 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

Roses Michael Marriott, DK, £24.99 There can be few people in the world who know as much about roses as Michael Marriott, who worked at David Austin Roses for 35 years, and has had a hand in most of the great gardens in this country, both public and private. Here he offers expert advice on choosing from and growing the great range of roses available, bearing in mind factors such as climate, position and function.

Lilacs Naomi Slade, Pavilion, £25 Naomi Slade and photographer Georgianna Lane turn their gaze to romantic, richly scented lilacs. Often a stalwart of the spring garden, these small trees can easily be overlooked. Naomi would urge us to do otherwise, and traces their origins, offers advice on growing them and considers some of the most beautiful varieties to grow, not least ‘President Lincoln’ and ‘Congo’.

WORDS VIVIENNE HAMBLY

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Breathing SPACE

Constrained by city living, Rajat Jindal longed for freedom. He found that at Church Cottage in Suffolk, where areas of tightly clipped formality now contrast with an expansive natural meadow WORDS BARBARA SEGALL PHOTOGRAPHS RICHARD BLOOM

22 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

A short avenue of pleached limes leads from the formal garden into the wildflower meadow beyond.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 23

Above Rajat uses a lawnmower to create meandering paths and sinuous shapes in the wildflower meadow.

Right The rose window in the neighbouring converted chapel inspired the shape of the hedged formal garden.

I

n 2010 Rajat Jindal was a City lawyer living in London with the sense that he was gardening in a side-by-side, straitjacketed urban setting, always overlooked and cramped. He knew he wanted to have a garden somewhere in the countryside.

“You know how it is: you have a list of what you want in a new property. Mine included high ceilings, a decent-sized kitchen, an ample living room, some outbuildings and a chance to make a garden. This property ticked only one box: there was space and scope for me to make a garden. None of the other attributes I had listed applied, and I didn’t appear to notice they were missing!” he recalls.

Rajat first saw Church Cottage on a bright sunny June day and knew within five minutes that here was a place where the sense of the country was paramount. He could open the door, be outside and wouldn’t feel, nor be, overlooked.

24 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

Above Former City lawyer Rajat Jindal bought his Suffolk cottage and garden in 2010 in an attempt to get away from it all.

Below The garden’s inner hedges are so tall that the thatched cottage peeps out over the top.

An established boundary hedge of hawthorn, blackthorn, dogwood and spindle encompassed 2.8 acres of field and garden. “I hadn’t intended to buy a property with so much land, so I didn’t know what I would do in the field, which wraps around the inner garden and the cottage. I think my idea was to do as little as possible but, as time has gone on, I’ve found myself doing more and more.”

The garden immediately around the cottage, set within a high hedge, was easy enough to tackle: it seemed fairly obvious that borders could back onto the hedge. Over the years, Rajat has deepened these borders, making them more generous (in places they are now over 12-feet deep) and opening up sightlines through the hedge into the field beyond. Divided into three sections, the Long Border provides colour from mid- to late-summer, while shade-loving plants, notably mahonia, thrive in the middle section, and the Pond Border, alongside the drainage pond, is full of fresh spring plants, including daffodils and snowdrops, with Pachysandra terminalis ‘Green Carpet’ making a dense groundcover.

These inner hedges are so high you can only just glimpse the cottage’s upstairs windows peeping over them. The field and meadow beyond the hedges are revealed through gaps in the hedges Rajat has created. “I like that you can see out of the front door through these sightlines to another area. You don’t see all of it at once, and so you are impelled to move along to get to the next space. I think it is important to draw people into every part of the garden.”

Rajat planned to keep the outlying field beyond the high inner hedges mainly as a natural grass meadow, but he also wanted to sow a flower meadow within it from scratch. So he brought out the lawnmower and carved out a huge oval with a sinuous line running through it, which he calls the ‘line of beauty’, as well as many pathways through the field.

Within the relaxed wildflower meadow sits a formal garden of curved shapes that echo the rose window of Rajat’s neighbour’s converted chapel home. “I love tight formality and clipped hedging,” he explains. Within the formal garden’s hedges is a parterre outlined by low clipped box, with echinacea, echinops, persicaria and campanulas filling its shapely quarters.

To balance the formality with the flowing, waving meadow and grass plantings, Rajat has turned any entry point from one part of the garden to another into a sort of formal decompression zone. For example, between the formal garden and the field and wildflower meadow beyond, he has planted a short avenue of pleached limes, all Tilia x euchlora.

Here, Rajat could open the door, be outside and wouldn’t feel, nor be, overlooked

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 25

A tapestry of form and colour in the Long Border, punctuated by the stand-out vermilion blooms of Lychnis chalcedonica.

26 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

Above Rajat’s ‘bonsai’ oak, one of many unusual specimen trees in the Arboretum.

Left Pure white, sweetly fragranced blooms of Philadelphus ‘Belle Étoile’.

Below ‘Charles de Mills’, an old rose from the 18th century, makes a large shrub with rich, ruffled, magenta flowers.

A narrow double line of hornbeams marks the access route to the Arboretum Once you step through that mini-avenue, swaying unmown grasses lap around the mown paths and up to the shapely cubes of hornbeam that offer a formal breathing space in front of the Bottom Copse.

On the other side of the cottage, a narrow double line of hornbeams marks the access route to the Arboretum, where liquidambar, Acer rubrum ‘Autumn Glory’ and Amelanchier x grandiflora ‘Robin Hill’ offer strong autumn colour. Rajat has planted a number of specimen and special trees here, including the linden, Tilia platyphyllos ‘Rubra’, and the hawthorn, Crataegus laevigata ‘Plena’.

More recently, a new wildlife pond was dug in the Arboretum. It is here that Rajat’s partner, artist Jane Human, centred her attention during lockdown, creating paintings inspired by the garden as part of her solo show, Quiet Land, held at Gallery East in Woodbridge in 2021.

At the other end of the field is a circular bed split into four quadrants filled with grasses. “I wanted to have elements of a Piet Oudolf ‘prairieJUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 27

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Left Old rose ‘Souvenir du Docteur Jamain’ has an undeniable romance, with its deep maroon, heavily fragrant blooms.

Below Berry-red Knautia macedonica alongside the feathery plumes of grasses, beautifully catching the light.

Bottom In the Bottom Copse, cubes of hornbeam rise from the meadow grasses.

“I realised the irony of my actions. I was planting ornamental grasses into a grassland meadow” style’ planting,” Rajat explains. In one quadrant there are over one hundred plants of Molinia caerulea ‘Windspiel’. Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ forms the backbone of two of the other quadrants, along with perennials such as eupatorium, Knautia macedonica, Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’, sanguisorba and filipendula. The fourth quadrant is given over to a mixed planting of cornus for winter stems.

“While I was going for these large effects, I suddenly realised the irony of my actions. I was planting ornamental grasses into a grassland meadow and digging out wild bramble while planting a great stand of ornamental brambles, Rubus cockburnianus and R. thibetanus.”

Rajat acknowledges that there are many influences in the garden. “I am a complete fraud. I have no formal garden training. Whatever I know has been picked up from reading or going on garden visits JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 29

Above Morning sun illuminates an arbour of living willow.

Left Amid the long grass, classic meadow planting includes ribwort plantain, ox-eye daisies, and cheery yellow bird’s foot trefoil.

Below A spiral design mown into the grass of the meadow.

to Sissinghurst and Great Dixter, among others, or from garden people I admire, including Fergus Garrett, Piet Oudolf and Tania Compton. My hornbeam cubes link back directly to those I saw in Tania’s own garden.”

Keeping the boundary and cottage garden hedges under control seems to be an endless task. “No sooner have I finished, then I need to go back to the start and begin again,” says Rajat. “Flopping down in a chair is fatal, because the different perspective reveals bits of hedge I have failed to cut properly.”

Establishing the wildflower meadow was the hardest part to achieve, as it takes time to get the balance right. Rajat used a meadow grass mix (EM4) for clay soils from Emorsgate, supplemented with bundles of Great Dixter clippings and yellow rattle. Eventually the yellow rattle out-competed the grasses, and now there are orchids as well as other wildflowers. Once it has finished flowering, the meadow is cut and the hay taken away.

“I enjoy the artistic and creative side of gardening, but I get so much from the physical tasks such as moving soil or weeding,” says Rajat. “My earlier career was sedentary and the contrast couldn’t be greater. The natural rhythm of gardening is soothing, and while I occasionally go into the garden in a bad mood, I never leave it in a bad mood.” n Follow Rajat on Instagram @indianinthegarden and visit janehuman.co.uk

30 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

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32 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

In Pursuit of

BEAUTY

Tireless year-round planning and hard work are key to Sandra and Jonathan Blaza’s gorgeous country garden of rooms at The Old Vicarage in Rutland WORDS PHILIP CLAYTON PHOTOGRAPHS ZARA NAPIER

Compact Rosa ‘Macmillan Nurse’ is the star of the cool-toned White Rose Garden, offset by violet catmint and Iris ‘Silver Edge’.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 33

F

or many gardeners those first glorious days of summer, when all is still lush with the verdant energy of spring, are what the year is planned around. And planning the garden is something at which Sandra and Jonathan Blaza excel. The couple have lived at The Old Vicarage in Burley-on-theHill, near Rutland Water, for 25 years, their home standing within a more or less triangular three-acre plot. “When we bought the house there was no garden, just a sloping tangle of weeds and self-seeded cherry trees with a mysterious rectangular space surrounded by an overgrown privet hedge, which we later found out was an old tennis court. But the place had such a lovely feel,” Sandra recalls.

The back of the property adjoins Burley-on-theHill House, a magnificent Palladian mansion, views of which can be glimpsed from The Old Vicarage.

“The design of our garden is quite traditional,” says Sandra. “Although I hate the cliché of ‘rooms’, I like the idea of different garden spaces because you can create different moods and, practically, it’s easier to manage.” Close to the house, the garden today has a formal feel: fine yew hedges and walls of largely reclaimed stone divide the cleverly terraced sloping site, the landscaping carried out by Jonathan and gardener Trevor. The planting is Sandra’s domain; often carefully colour co-ordinated, it has

“I like the idea of different garden spaces because you can create different moods and, practically, it’s easier to manage” a generous, romantic feel, softening stonework and embellishing the layout with a relaxed air that belies the effort involved. These more curated areas are set within orchards and meadows spangled with daisies, scabious and yellow rattle, growing ever more carefree as you venture further from the house towards its wooded boundaries; it fits the rural setting perfectly and has a peaceful, tranquil feel.

Perhaps the most traditional area is the Rose Garden, a square of yew hedge with four beds and a central fountain, a cast-iron affair maintained meticulously by Jonathan, who paints it every other year. This area has seen recent changes. “The beds were edged in box, but I noticed blight had started to affect plants, so I made the decision to remove them. I hadn’t realised how much space they filled: we don’t miss them,” Sandra notes. Roses include David Austin favourites such as spectacular pale pink ‘Olivia Rose Austin’ and deeper hued ‘Young 34 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

Right Billowing mounds of catmint, Nepeta ‘Walkers Low’ in the White Rose Garden.

Bottom right A cast iron fountain at the centre of the Rose Garden is painted every other year.

Bottom left Darker toned planting in the Rill Garden of peonies and astrantia below wisteria.

Below Two-tone Rosa ‘James Galway’ scales a wall in the Rose Garden.

Lycidas’, but there is also old, vibrant pink ‘Madame Isaac Péreire’ and softer ‘Königin von Dänemark’.

In summer these mix with perennials such as pink Geranium sanguineum, purple Salvia x sylvestris ‘Mainacht’ and blue dwarf catmint. On a wall flourishes Rosa ‘James Galway’ with its two-tone pink flowers; Sandra’s careful training in winter means that by summer it is on first-class form.

The Rill Garden next door is an oblong, yewhedged set piece; a splendid exercise in symmetry with a central rill leading to a pool fed by a water-spouting stone dragon mask. In the pool are Louisiana irises. “It’s pretty deep,” explains Sandra, “so the irises are supported on black plastic fruit crates just below the water’s surface.” Twin borders mirror a lovely blend of purple, pink and blue; particularly impressive are clumps of Paeonia lactiflora ‘Karl Rosenfield’ with its raspberry-red JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 35

Above left In the Rill

Garden, a pool is fed by a stone dragon mask.

Above right Richly hued flowers of Iris sibirica ‘Ruffled Velvet’.

Below Full, opulent blooms of raspberry-red Paeonia lactiflora ‘Karl Rosenfield’ tone with Astrantia ‘Ruby Star’ and Salvia ‘Caradonna’.

36 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

chiffon heads, spires of sultry Penstemon ‘Blackbird’ and Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’ and marvellously free-growing Astrantia ‘Ruby Star’, which in summer is bejewelled with red pincushion flowers.

Other good doers in this area are Polemonium ‘Heaven Scent’, which teams lavender blue flowers with purple foliage, dark red flowered Dicentra formosa ‘Bacchanal’ and a favourite, Geranium nodosum ‘Clos du Coudray’, which produces white-edged violet flowers in summer.

At the back on each side are four standard purple wisteria, a signature feature at The Old Vicarage and a way for Sandra to grow the wisteria she champions. “They make amazing small trees; I just don’t know why people never suggest them,” she muses. Sandra has used, to spectacular effect, a pair of white wisteria on the Lower Terrace by the house, the wisterias framing a vista up steps to the White Rose Garden, with its bust of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, who in summer flaunts a robe of imperial purple Clematis ‘Wisley’. Thymes creep from paving cracks and retaining walls overflow with

Above On the Lower Terrace, a pair of stunning white wisteria frame a vista up steps to the White Rose Garden.

Right Sycamore Seed

by David Watkinson is a kinetic sculpture that moves in the wind.

In summer, marvellously freegrowing Astrantia ‘Ruby Star’, is bejewelled with red incus ion flo e s JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 37

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“I like gardens based on ordinary plants with good form and beautiful colour. I’m not a plantswoman”

billowing mounds of lavender that buzz with bees and are trimmed religiously each August to keep them tight and tidy. In the rose garden above, Sandra favours compact Rosa ‘Macmillan Nurse’ with its rosette-shaped flowers (“the best white rose I’ve found,” she says). In summer, it mixes with blowsy white Paeonia lactiflora ‘Duchesse de Nemours’, blue Iris ‘Silver Edge’, Nepeta racemosa ‘Walker’s Low’ and Geranium himalayense ‘Gravetye’ in a generous yet cool composition. “I like gardens based on ordinary plants with good form and beautiful colour. I don’t consider myself a plantswoman; I am not interested in a plant just because it is rare or exotic or difficult to grow,” she explains.

Above The Limewalk connects the terrace and the pond, and at this time of year offers lushly verdant shaded respite.

Top right Bubblegum pink peonies thrive in a sheltered border next to the house.

Above right A terracotta pot of pretty dianthus.

The White Rose Garden adjoins a relaxed lawn, flanked by a blue and yellow border, including, early Paeonia daurica subsp. mlokosewitschii with its lemon-yellow goblets. Later, Rosa ‘Vanessa Bell’ takes up the mantle, its soft yellow blooms contrasting with catmint and spires of navy delphiniums. On the gravelled, box-edged, sunny Upper Terrace, a Mediterranean feel is achieved.

The tone is set by three gnarled old olive trees, planted in huge containers, half sunk and concealed with stonework, while potted lemon trees perfume the air with their flowers.

The immaculate Walled Garden is the cherry on the cake. Built between 2005 and 2008 on the site of JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 39

a pony paddock, it is here that Sandra’s skill as a gardener is most evident. “In some ways it’s a folly – who builds a new walled garden nowadays? – but it’s very productive and we try to keep it beautiful as well,” she says. In the centre is an armillary sundial around which raised beds overflow with chives, lavender, oregano and other herbs. Then there are four sets of vegetable beds, some edged with low step-over apple trees in which wigwams of peas and runner beans rise above lower crops. There are beds of flowers for cutting, an asparagus bed, raspberries and other soft fruit in borders near the walls, which themselves support trained gages, damsons, plums, apricots and a Belgium fence of pears (a sort of espalier where plants are trained into a lattice pattern). A greenhouse nurtures nectarines, peaches and grapes and is where Sandra raises plants she sells on open days in summer. This is another challenge, but as she remarks: “We get far more back from visitors than we give. When they come we see the garden with fresh eyes; they remind us what we love about it.”

Seldom do you find gardens as impressive as those at The Old Vicarage. To keep a place as large and intricate as this so beautifully, demands not only great planning but complete dedication year-round.

For Sandra and Jonathan, those lovely early days of summer when everything in the garden seems almost perfect, make all their efforts worthwhile. n The Old Vicarage, Church Road, Burley, Rutland LE15 7SU. Opens for the National Garden Scheme on 29 May, 10.30am to 5pm, and on 29 June, 5-9pm.

Opens to groups of 15+ by appointment in May and June. ngs.org.uk, theoldvicarageburley.com 40 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

Wisteria standards

G Top left Sweet williams and peonies bloom in large beds of cut flowers.

Above In the immaculate Walled Garden, raised beds brim with herbs and an armillary sundial sits at its centre.

rowing a standard wisteria from a whip (grafted, single-stemmed plants you find at garden centres) is easy; simply train one up a sturdy post and within 3-5 years you will have a young flowering wisteria tree.

Sandra has standards with straight trunks (where the plant has been carefully grown up one side of the post) and others with twisted trunks (where the plant was allowed to twine around it). She does not feel it matters which technique you choose.

Once the stem reaches the top of the post, prune it so it produces side shoots that will eventually become branches. Carry out usual summer and winter pruning as you would with a climbing wisteria, building up a framework that radiates out from the central post.

Standards begin flowering earlier than climbers: Sandra’s pair of white wisterias are just 15 years old. She also has standard wisterias that she grows in large pots – these are versatile, obliging and easy plants. Plants do need permanent support.

P R O M OT I O N

THE EASY OPTION Decadently smooth, effortlessly drinkable, Highclere Castle Gin uses choice botanicals from the estate to create a premium spirit that can be sipped on its own or used in classic cocktails

Clockwise from far left The grounds

and estate of Highclere inspire the gin’s botanical ingredients; just add tonic for the perfect sundowner at any time of year; in royal purple, with classic Highclere branding, the bottle oozes refinement.

L

ong before it found international fame as the instantly recognisable setting of Downton Abbey, Highclere Castle was already an iconic building. While the castle was rebuilt to Sir Charles Barry’s Jacobethan design from 1839, there’s something about its magnificent splendour that puts one in mind of the roaring twenties and the decadent celebrations and hospitable house parties of the Edwardian era.

It’s fitting, then, that Highclere Castle now produces its own award-winning, premium London dry gin, which is so exceptionally smooth it can be enjoyed on its own on the rocks or mixed in a classic cocktail. Menus and letters found in the Carnarvon family archives reference gin cocktails from the 1900s, and for more than a century the family and their guests have enjoyed gin and tonics ‘Highclere Style’: with a squeeze of fresh orange and a twist of peel, finished with a rosemary sprig from the garden.

The gin was inspired by and is produced using botanicals from the castle garden, combined in a meticulously developed recipe.

Traditional juniper is the main ingredient, to which a touch of lavender has been added, inspired by the borders in the castle’s Monks’ Garden, which were planted in the 9th century by the Bishop of Winchester. Then comes lime flower, orange peel and – an unexpected addition – oats grown on the chalk downland of the wider Highclere estate, which give the gin its memorably smooth and creamy finish.

The gin is produced at Langley Distillery, home to some of England’s oldest working copper gin stills, some of which date back to the 1800s. Here, the unique blend of botanicals is added to the still along with a charge of spirits made from English wheat, to slowly release their essential oils and give Highclere Castle Gin its smooth flavour and subtle aroma.

Since its launch in 2019, the gin has won over 50 awards in the USA and the UK, in recognition of its refined character and superb quality. Whether you use it in a classic gin and tonic or mix a Jubilee Cocktail using head butler Luis Coelho’s recipe, bring a touch of elegance into your home with Highclere Castle Gin. Visit highclerecastlegin.com for more information, including cocktail recipes. Highclere Gin is stocked in ten regional Waitrose stores and can be bought online from Waitrose Cellar, waitrosecellar.com and Amazon UK.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 41

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TWO HALVES OF A WHOLE Aptly named Gardeners’ Cottage near Ludlow showcases the best of two styles, with Rosie Irving favouring colourful cultivation and her partner, Michael Marriott, preferring natural abundance – all united by masses of roses WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHS NICOLA STOCKEN

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 43

A lovely view of the Shropshire Hills from the terrace, with apricot-orange Rosa ‘Lady of Shalott’ in the foreground.

44 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

I

stripped of character in a recent modernisation when t is often said that a garden speaks volumes an ugly extension was added and tarmac laid up to about its owners – their tastes, passions the front door. Michael and Rosie initially focused and style. If that’s the case, then there are on removing ugly features, such as a polytunnel at some fairly mixed messages coming from the bottom of the garden and a plastic fruit cage at Gardeners’ Cottage, the brainchild of two the top, both of which were in full view of the house. gifted gardeners. On the one hand there are areas of “The layout was just how we didn’t want it, so we frothing flowers and cascading roses; on the other there are oases of calm where simplicity and restraint felt no compulsion to keep anything,” says Michael.

“It was only then that we found we had very different reign. “Ours truly is a ‘his and hers’ garden – that way, we each enjoy free rein within our own spaces,” ideas about creating our own garden.”

This quickly became manifest in the top garden, explains Rosie Irving. Her partner, eminent rosarian Michael Marriott, adds: “We offer advice, but within a narrow strip of land above the cottage that is divided equally. In Michael’s patch, the original lawn our own patch we have the power of jurisdiction!”

The outcome is a garden of two interwoven halves, now stands well above knee-height, a shimmering sea of grasses. “It had been mown to within an in which the whole is undoubtedly richer than the inch of its life, but now I scythe it once a year and sum of its parts. “I tend to be experimental and embrace the anthills – it is returned to nature,” he colourful, but the plants are always the stars,” says explains. There are species roses such as R. palustris Rosie, a horticultural producer who works on most and R. spinosissima ‘William III’, thriving in the of the major TV garden makeover programmes. rich black loam. “I have a special affection for the “However, I’m coming more and more to appreciate species – they are wonderful roses that are all too how well-thought-out landscaping design can often overlooked,” he points out, his encyclopaedic harmonise and highlight a planting scheme.” knowledge of the rose family having been honed over In contrast, Michael is keen to be as wild as 35 years working at David Austin Roses. possible and, within reason, to grow plants as close A few steps through the swaying grasses leads to the original species as possible. “I dislike overbred plants and novelty just for the sake of it, and I’m to Rosie’s domain where a rose arch is smothered with rambling rose ‘Adélaïde d’Orléans’. Beyond are passionate that plants should not only be beautiful relaxed borders planted with an orange and gold but garden-worthy as well.” Despite their different blend of ‘Lady of Shalott’ and ‘The Poet’s Wife’ approaches, the couple are united in their love of roses, perennials and grasses. Despite the air of plants, and have ensured that there is something in calm, this area is a battleground currently seeing a flower throughout the year. “Even in the depths of dandelion stand-off. “They are good for pollinators, winter, a bee speculatively seeking pollen will find but they are born survivors that I some here,” says Michael. would rather survive in Michael’s Their cottage rests on a hillside near Below Rose expert Michael Marriott with patch than mine,” Rosie declares.

Ludlow, with a south-east-facing back his partner Rosie Irving, Pollinators are spoilt for choice garden that overlooks the Shropshire a horticultural TV in the back garden where a narrow Hills. “We have a beautiful view over producer, at their home, terrace stretches below the cottage, the countryside,” says Rosie. When Gardeners’ Cottage. with borders delineated by the couple first visited in low yew hedging. “These 2014, the views beyond the are my Froth Borders, and three-quarters-of-an-acre they have light colours with plot were largely blocked deep reds for contrast,” by towering, moistureRosie explains. Erupting sapping leylandii and in early summer with random sycamore trees.

Crambe cordifolia and “Once we’d removed them, columbine, they continue we gained a three-metrewith light pink roses such wide strip of land along as ‘Queen of Sweden’, one boundary, which is ‘The Lark Ascending’ and now a boardwalk,” she ‘Scarborough Fair’ before notes. There remains a being joined by fluffy white sheltering skirt of trees astrantias and phlox. and shrubs, which provide The true stars are essential protection two weeping standard against easterly winds. roses that flower in early The late Victorian summer: ‘Rambling cottage needed much Rector’ blooms first, renovation, having been JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 45

with large heads of creamy white flowers, followed later by the pink-flushed pompons of ‘Félicité-Perpétue’. “Before meeting Michael, I thought weeping standard roses had been consigned to the history books,” explains Rosie.

Alongside the standards, there are also foxgloves, clumps of pink scabious and deep red cirsium.

Beyond the terrace and new pelargonium house, running down the garden, are Rosie’s ‘Longish Borders’ with splashes of colour from Paeonia ‘Coral Charm’, Rosa ‘Summer Song’ and R. ‘Munstead Wood’, with later-flowering sanguisorbas. “The advantage of repeat-flowering roses is that they team up with summer’s peak, and again with autumn’s asters,” Michael observes.

To one side stands a semi-circular bed planted with the dogwood Cornus sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’. To the other side stands an old Bramley apple 46 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

Top Bubbling bowl water

features are flanked by roses, foxgloves and box balls and violas in pots.

Above Escallonia ‘Apple Blossom’ flowers.

Right A mossy apple tree supports a swing and a bench, surrounded by perennial cornflowers.

Expert SELECTION Sumptuous roses in a range of shades, chosen by eminent rosarian Michael Marriott

tree, a moss-covered circular seat embracing the trunk, a swing hanging loosely from a branch, and Rosa ‘Kew Gardens’ thriving in the partial shade.

Here the grasses are permitted to grow tall with cow parsley followed by buttercups and the blue flowers of perennial cornflowers, Centaurea montana.

A rill works its way down the front garden, an inspired idea following the shock of a huge quote to replace the tarmac. “I had a eureka moment when I realised it was the ideal site for a rill!” Rosie recalls.

With car parking relocated close to the lane, there followed a first attempt at building a ten-metre-long rill, lined with butyl rubber. “But the flow was all wrong, so we called in the experts who rebuilt it, stepping it down to control the flow,” she explains.

Alongside it, 18 privet standards, Ligustrum delavayii, are interspersed with low-growing clumps of Carex ‘Ribbon Falls’.

The recent acquisition of the next-door cottage has added an impenetrable wilderness that had been untouched for 35 years. “For once we are in total agreement that it will remain naturalistic and atmospheric, with minimal intervention. Well, for

‘LADY OF SHALOTT’

‘JAMES L. AUSTIN’

The opulent apricot-orange blooms of this English rose open from red buds and have a warm tea fragrance.

Deep pink double flowers adorn this medium-sized English shrub rose, emitting a lightly fruity fragrance.

‘THE POET’S WIFE’

‘ADÉLAÏDE D’ORLÉANS’

Plentiful, strongly perfumed flowers in a strong shade of golden yellow on this bushy shrub with glossy foliage.

‘OLIVIA ROSE AUSTIN’ A very healthy rose bearing cupped rosettes of mid pink from early in the season.

This elegant rambler bears masses of white flowers opening from pink buds.

‘KEW GARDENS’ A shrub rose with masses of small single flowers clustered in large flowerheads from summer right into autumn.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 47

NOTEBOOK

Noteworthy Design Roses and other planting envelop a structured framework of design features that bring organisation and intrigue to this lovely garden

1

the moment!” says area of meadow grass Rosie. Once decades of studded with ox-eye stifling brambles were daisies, one of many fruit removed, a carpet of trees grown here is an snowdrops miraculously apple, which bears fruit used for juicing. appeared beneath cascading ivies. “It is a secret garden, different to the one we live in, which is open and benefits from the borrowed landscape.”

Both Michael and Rosie are of one mind when it comes to growing fruit and vegetables, with apple trees for juice, damsons for pickling, and berries for fruit vodkas. “We like knowing where our food comes from, and I love foraging and finding interesting uses for things,” says Rosie.

These include pickled magnolia petals, or lilac and honeysuckle cordials. On a nearby allotment they also grow perennial vegetables such as kale, onions and skirret – a root vegetable pre-dating potatoes.

Last year was a busy one, with Michael forsaking the allotment to write a definitive guide to roses while taking on the chairmanship of the Historic Roses Group, an organisation that promotes older roses. Meanwhile, Rosie juggles their garden tour business with her filming schedule, and when she’s at home she guides her areas of the garden with a light touch. “I revel in everything that is garden-related,” says Rosie. “I love tinkering and Michael is very easy-going, so we make a good team.” n

2

Above Next to a wild

RHS Roses by Michael Marriott is published by Dorling Kindersley. For Michael and Rosie’s garden tours visit michaelmarriottrosarian.org. For more about Historic Roses, visit historicroses.org 48 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

3

4

1 Two Haddonstone fountain bowls sit on a former path that was turned

into a seating terrace. “It needed the sound and stimulating froth of water,” says Rosie. 2 The rill is on a steep gradient, so runs fast enough to mostly clean itself. A coarse trap at the bottom catches debris.

3 Rosie says she was never keen on roses, until she met Michael. “Now, I grow them throughout my areas of the garden.” 4 Weeping standard roses flourish: ‘Rambling Rector’ and a pink-flushed ‘Félicité-Perpétue’.

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The Right DIRECTION

Longing for a fresh start and a new project, Wendy and Tony Lander took on Flintshire’s neglected Donadea Lodge and, using the garden’s strong bones as a guide, have steered it back to its former glory WORDS ANN COOKE PHOTOGRAPHS JOE WAINWRIGHT

52 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

Donadea Lodge’s lime avenue is locally famous and appears on old Ordnance Survey Maps from over 60 years ago.

JUNE JUNE2022 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 53

W

hen they took on Donadea Lodge ten years ago, Tony and Wendy Lander were looking for a new and exciting challenge. Based in Manchester, Tony was coming to the end of a rewarding career in the fire service and Wendy had recently lost her father. Both felt it was time for a change. They were fans of the TV programme Escape to the Country and, inspired by this, set about seeking their own little bit of rural paradise.

When they came across Donadea Lodge the house required modernisation and refurbishment, but as Wendy maintains: “I fell in love with the garden and that’s what sold us the house!”

Donadea Lodge is situated on a narrow country lane overlooking the Clwydian Hills in Flintshire, North Wales. The previous owners had created the garden, and the wife in particular was a keen plantswoman. The garden had opened to the public on several occasions through the National Garden Scheme, but by the time Tony and Wendy arrived in 2012 it was clear that it had not been formally tended for some years. While the garden fundamentally had good structure and some beautiful plants, it also had many overgrown trees and, says Tony, “the thugs had taken over”.

The garden stretches out at length in front of the house and is bordered by an imposing avenue of mature lime trees on one side. When the Landers arrived, the limes were so overgrown that the branches hung down to the ground, so they had the trees pollarded to reduce their size by a third. This raised a few eyebrows in the neighbourhood, but it was essential both Top Arches have been for reasons of safety and to restore the added to the existing avenue to its full glory. It is unclear how borders for height.

Middle Tony and Wendy old the avenue is, but Ordnance Survey Lander, the owners of maps show that it pre-dates the previous Donadea Lodge. owners who had been at Donadea Lodge This image Shrubby since the 1960s. It also contains a quirk in potentilla is smothered with white flowers. the form of a single sycamore that seems to have found its way in by mistake when the avenue was planted.

An outbuilding had been positioned immediately in front of the house, blocking the view down the garden. This was removed and replaced with a seating area enclosed by a low hedge of golden Rosa ‘Molineux’. A wooden archway covered by yellow Rosa ‘Graham Thomas’ completes this delightful feature and leads out to an expansive lawn. Otherwise, the approach to the garden has been one of restoration and quiet evolution. Initially it was a case of leaving things alone to see what would emerge. Some of the more invasive plants

The approach to the garden has been one of restoration and quiet evolution

54 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

Above The Landers inherited a fine collection of mature trees, which they have maintained and added to.

Right The deep-pink pincushion blooms of Astrantia ‘Roma’.

Below A seating area with views out towards the Clwydian Hills.

Left The imposing lime avenue counts a rogue sycamore in its ranks.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 55

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were cleared, allowing others to resurface, and, says Wendy, “there have been some lovely surprises”. For example, the shrub Exochorda x macrantha ‘The Bride’ was discovered squashed under the weight of other plants and, once released, was awash once more with masses of pure white flowers.

The deep mixed borders that run all the way down the long garden have been retained, but new paths have been woven through with archways adding height and support for climbing plants such as clematis and roses. Many existing shrubs provided good shape and form and have either been restored or replaced. Other plants have been added to complement those already present and weave in elements that reflect Wendy and Tony’s personal tastes. Perennials such as vivid pink Lupinus ‘Rachel de Thame’ have also been incorporated to add pops of colour. It has been a case of working systematically down the garden, border by border, clearing, restoring and replanting. The borders at the furthest end of this stretch of the garden even now are an ongoing project.

Wendy describes herself as “a sentimental gardener”. She is much more motivated by giving and receiving plants than she is by seeking out specific cultivars. “I tend to garden with my heart.

“I’m not precious about this plant or that. I always n l ce o l n s e een i e o e I’m not precious about this plant or that plant. I will always find a place for plants that have been gifted to me,” she insists. Her absolute passion though is propagation, and she raises as many plants from seed as possible. Driven by a desire to nurture she admits to ending up with far more seedlings than can be accommodated, “but it’s lovely to pass them on”.

The gardening bug took hold at an early age. She recalls a trip to a local market with her father when she was a child, where they visited a stall selling seeds. When he spotted Wendy picking up stray seeds that had fallen out of packets, the stallholder said she could keep them. So she took them home and planted them. “From the moment they popped up out of the ground I was hooked. I remember it so vividly and that’s how I got into gardening.”

Today Tony and Wendy enjoy sharing their garden with their family. Both their daughters held their weddings at Donadea Lodge and their grandchildren get involved in gardening activities on every visit.

Retaining a link to her late father has also been important for Wendy. He was a keen gardener himself and a champion carnation grower, winning

Above The lodge was in need of restoration when the Landers took it on, but is now the whitepainted epicentre of this delightful country idyll.

Left Iris sibirica produces its intriguingly patterned blooms in damp areas.

Below Two-tone lupin ‘Rachel de Thame’ is a key plant for punctuating borders with pops of vibrant hot pink.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 57

prizes at Southport Flower Show. As the only one of his children to share his love of gardening, Wendy inherited his trusty Hartley Botanic greenhouse when he passed away. It has since been re-erected at Donadea Lodge and, at over 50 years old, continues to provide the perfect environment for Wendy to raise her seedlings.

Tony and Wendy’s escape to the country has not been without its challenges. Back in Manchester the couple had a reasonably sized suburban garden along with an allotment. Wendy had primarily been interested in growing fruit and vegetables and continues to maintain a thriving kitchen garden at their current home. However, taking on 58 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

Top In shady areas, Alchemilla mollis, euphorbia, acers and mahonia create a restful green scene.

Above Lipstick-pink climbing roses twine around a wooden fence, contrasting with the indigo lavender beneath.

a large ornamental garden like the one at Donadea Lodge proved to be a steep learning curve. The environmental conditions in Wales are quite different to those in Manchester, and this has taken some getting used to. The soil is an acidic clay, which means some of the plants that thrive here were initially unfamiliar. And the garden has a fairly elevated and exposed position, which means it is frequently exposed to strong winds. “Every plant has to be staked,” says Tony, “and we quickly learned hanging baskets are no good here,” adds Wendy.

Numerous trees across the property have required maintenance or removal, and this has come at a significant cost. There have also been a few nearmisses between tree and building! This includes a row of leylandii at the rear of the site that were vastly overgrown, having reached some 75ft in height.

These have now been replaced with liquidambar, with a view to creating an area of autumnal interest.

Wendy and Tony have also established a small orchard, including three fruit trees they brought with them from Manchester along with a range of heritage varieties. They press the fruit from these to make their own apple juice and cider.

Wendy and Tony describe the garden at Donadea Lodge as “a labour of love”. Noting the old adage that ‘a garden is never finished’ they continue to develop new features and enhance the planting around the property. In this way they have not only restored the garden to its former glory but further developed it with their own imprint. n

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Inspired by the beauty of its rural setting, Jennie and Jethro Marles took on the site of an intensive pig farm at Dorset’s Am Brook Meadow and restored its lifeless soil with meadowland planting and water features to create an idyllic natural haven WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHS CAROLE DRAKE

60 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

Overhung by decking, the lower pond is used by swans, kingfishers and egrets and brings water right up to the house at Am Brook.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 61

O

n a warm June day, the garden at Am Brook Meadow in south Devon positively thrums with life. Its courtyard of Mediterranean plants, long borders of perennials and grasses, flowery meadows and large ponds are home to myriad invertebrates and other wildlife. Hard to imagine, then, that as recently as 2002 this earthly paradise was the site of an intensive pig farm; the smell was so strong that some people didn’t even get out of their cars on viewing day. Jennie and Jethro Marles were not so faint-hearted: “If you walked through the site, beyond the buildings, past the dark leylandiis and poplars and along the stream, you could see how beautiful it was. We knew instantly that it was the right place for us,” Jennie recalls.

As a child, Jennie learnt the names of her father’s prized rhododendrons by heart and has gardened ever since, taking early retirement from nursing in 2014 to spend more time on the garden. Jethro, a jeweller by trade, is enormously practical: “He’s very good at making things,” says Jennie, “and he’s always keen to learn new skills.” Jethro looks after the livestock too: the couple now keep ducks, hens and bees where there were once 3,000 pigs.

It took contractors 18 months to clear the site, dismantling buildings, crushing hundreds of tons of concrete, removing asbestos, abandoned cars, tractors and even a mobile farm shop. A new drive was then laid and Top left Tawny Iris fulva. bridges built across Top right The naturalthe stream for access. looking upper pond Finally, all non-native replaced a slurry lagoon. trees were felled leaving From right The house is a barn conversion by Hugh Jennie and Jethro with Wray-McCann; Geum a “very muddy, very ‘Prinses Juliana’; plumes barren garden”. Using a of fluffy Stipa gigantea second-hand excavator, catch the evening sun.

62 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 63

Pollinator-friendly yellow flag, Iris pseudacorus, fringes the lower pond, along with other natural planting.

64 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

Jethro dug two ponds: the larger one at the top of the site where a slurry lagoon had been, the smaller in the valley bottom. This lower pond brings water right up to the house where decking appears to jut out over the water. “Ducks arrived as soon as a shallow layer of rainwater had collected in the pond. It’s a magnet for wildlife,” Jennie observes.

In 2010 a pair of swans came and nested and have returned ever since; little egrets and kingfishers are also regular visitors.

The original small barn was converted and extended to make a home for Jennie, Jethro and their two teenage children, incorporating a sheltered, internal courtyard with shallow, poor soil suited to plants that enjoy good drainage and low fertility.

Inspired by the purple, copper and white colour scheme in Tom Stuart-Smith’s 2006 Chelsea Flower Show garden, planting includes fluorescent-flowered Geum ‘Totally Tangerine’ and Euphorbia griffithii, topped with carroty bracts, amid the purple blue of Nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’, and vivid azure Perovskia ‘Blue Spire’. Pools of silvery Stachys byzantina are mixed in among the spiky shapes of grasses, such as glittering Stipa gigantea and the narrow, greenand-orange-striped leaves of Libertia peregrinans.

Top left A vertical composition of golden Libertia peregrinans, purple catmint and white anthriscus.

Top right Wooden seats offer hillside views across natural meadow.

Above The delicate flowers of trailing climber Akebia longeracemosa.

“Unlike some grasses, the strong leaves of the stipa look good in winter when nearly everything else in the courtyard has gone to ground,” says Jennie. She also likes to use annuals that will self-seed, such as Collomia grandiflora, a delicate apricotflowered plant suited to dry, sandy soils.

Though the courtyard planting is drought tolerant, water weaves in and around it, pumped from the stream into the ‘trickling trough’ feature below the pergola that runs along the back wall; Jethro’s construction gives a nod to the site’s past by using copper pipes and industrial taps. Water spurts from the troughs into rills that channel it into the pond, wrapping moatlike around the corner of the house; the water then flows into the larger pond and back into the stream once again. Akebia longeracemosa twists around the pergola, producing long racemes of deep purple, chocolate-scented flowers in early summer.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 65

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“Humans like repetition but also contrast, so I used different plant shapes in ou s o es n se ens

Above Textural planting in the inner courtyard includes Geum ‘Prinses Juliana’ and pale apricot Collomia grandiflora.

Top right Twigs and prunings adorn this pleasingly rustic gate.

Right The sherbet tones of Euphorbia griffithii are part of a Tom StuartSmith-inspired scheme.

In the wider garden, the planting had to be on a much larger scale “to compete with the hillside rising behind it”. For the two long borders that run above the pond, one 50 metres, the other 70, Jennie took inspiration from the book Planting the Natural Garden by Piet Oudolf and Henk Gerritsen. “I applied the principal that humans like repetition but also contrast, so I used different plant shapes in groups of fives and sevens.” Daisies are mixed with spears, umbels, and spheres, and grasses are threaded through to tie it all together.

These borders peak in late summer, with a shimmering mix of herbaceous perennials and grasses. “I love mauves, silvers and pinks,” says Jennie, “and use white as a highlight. I steer clear of strong reds.” She also likes to use perennials with the look and feel of wildflowers, such as tall Joe Pye Weed, Eupatorium maculatum – a native of North America and a cousin to our own hempagrimony – and achilleas, which are cultivated forms of yarrow. In June, the yellow whorls of Phlomis russeliana, the mid-pink stars of Astrantia ‘Roma’ and the dark crimson pincushion flowerheads of Knautia macedonica announce the start of summer, blooming amid emerging foliage of later perennials.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 67

For all the beauty of these ornamental areas, Jennie has derived the most satisfaction from establishing a four-acre perennial meadow. “We visited Pam Lewis’s garden at Sticky Wicket in Dorset and were inspired by her approach to making meadows.

It was probably a mad idea because the ground was so rich after all those years of pig muck – meadows prefer low fertility.” The field was sprayed off and sown with a perennial seed mix that included yellow rattle, Rhinanthus minor, a semiparasitic plant that weakens coarse grasses. “Even now I collect its fresh seed by hand and sow it where the grasses are still too strong,” says Jennie.

“Each year the meadow looks different. Once we had masses of ox-eye daisies, and now there’s lots of knapweed, but we also have meadow scabious, geraniums and mallow. There are ragged robins in the damp areas near the pond, and in spring the whole area lights up with cowslips. I love getting up close and looking at all the life that’s in the perennial meadow, but I know a lot of people prefer the annual meadow that I sow each year down in the lower part of the garden, which is much more colourful.” Nowadays the hay is cut and baled every

autumn, and then sheep graze the meadow over winter.

Close to Orley Common, an area of undisturbed grassland and ancient woodland, planning stipulated that only native species be planted on the garden boundaries, so Jennie used hawthorn, blackthorn, hazel and wild roses. In wilder parts of the garden, nettles and brambles still thrive, valued for their benefit to wildlife. “At the end of the garden are log piles and mounds of earth that include disintegrating slurry, so the soil is soft and rich. Foxgloves do well, and I’ve introduced honeysuckle and white willow herb too.”

The aroma of pigs that once hung over this quiet valley has been replaced by the scent of gardens, hay meadows, woodland and water, a beautiful wildliferich environment created over 20 years by a couple with imagination and tenacity. “I really never dared to think ahead,” says Jennie, “but it’s much nicer than I ever thought it could be.” n

“There are ragged robins near the pond, and in spring the whole area lights up with cowslips”

68 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

Above left A pile of

rotting logs at the end of the garden is a bug hotel.

Top left The rich gold and burgundy petals of Iris ‘Supreme Sultan’.

Above right A froth of cow parsley and ox-eye daisies, part of a diverse tapesty of wildflowers across Am Brook.

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A wisteria scales the front facade of Old Allangrange House, on Scotland’s Black Isle peninsula.

Back to NATURE

At Old Allangrange, on Scotland’s rural Black Isle peninsula, JayJay and David Gladwin aim to redress the balance between agriculture and nature by applying organic, wildlife-friendly principles to both its garden and farmland WORDS CLARE FOGGETT PHOTOGRAPHS RAY COX AUGUST JUNE 2022 2021 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 71

Above The layout of the parterre was inspired by the Scottish Saltire.

Right JayJay Gladwin, garden designer and, with her husband David, Old Allangrange’s owner.

H

istoric aerial photographs of Old Allangrange show the 18th-century house marooned on a little postage stamp of greenery surrounded by vast swathes of brown farmland, every inch of it ploughed into uniform stripes.

If it wasn’t for the colours and knowing that the house sits on the Black Isle peninsula, just north of Inverness, you might easily imagine it as an oasis in the centre of a barren desert.

Intensive farming that strips the countryside of hedgerows and habitats is a subject close to Old Allangrange’s owner JayJay Gladwin’s heart. She grew up on a Northumberland farm, where her father worked the land according to the prevailing thinking of the 1960s and ’70s. “He lived through the war as a child and all the consequences of it, including rationing in the 1950s, so he was absolutely convinced that what he ought to be doing was maximising production to feed the country,” JayJay says. “It was a model farm for hedges, but my father dug them up, which was exactly what everyone else was doing at the time. I went away to school and every time I came home, where I might previously

72 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

Below the parterre, the garden blends into large, packed borders; it’s also where you’ll find the historic ice house.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 73

have walked by a hedgerow with all sorts of birds flying in and out, there would just be whatever he was growing. It really, really bothered me,” she recalls. Clearly in tune with nature from an early age, her earliest memory, she says, is of causing annoyance by escorting a slug across the road.

So in 1995, when JayJay and her husband David moved to Old Allangrange, in its setting of monocultured sterile fields, they knew they wanted their garden to redress the balance. “Planting for wildlife was fundamental, as was using native species and single flowers for invertebrates,” she says. But first came work on the dilapidated house: “It wasn’t totally ruinous, but we made it so because we had to take its roof off, and some of the rooms needed electricity.”

As a setting for a home and garden, the sleepy Black Isle peninsula couldn’t be more bucolic. It juts out from the Scottish coastline, surrounded almost entirely by water, and when the couple moved to the area in the 1980s, the bridge carrying the A9 over the Moray Firth from Inverness had only just been built. Until then, JayJay says, the remote setting and lack of easy access meant that a trip to the peninsula felt like stepping back in time. “It really felt like the 1950s – almost otherworldly,” she recalls.

Apart from a stand of historic yew trees, there was little of note in the garden when JayJay and David arrived. “There were a couple of ancient and decrepit apple trees that I had no compunction about taking out, and a really nasty laurel hedge… but we had -17°C that winter and it died,” JayJay remembers. Shortly after they moved in, a national survey of Scotland’s ancient yews estimated the Old Allangrange trees could be up to 2,000 years old; JayJay speculates they could be linked to Cistercian priories in nearby Beauly and Fortrose. Other large trees were left, including sycamores. When fully grown, JayJay explains, a single sycamore provides as much nectar and pollen as six acres of meadow.

The area at the front of the house was the first to be tackled, motivated partly because JayJay wanted to ensure it was garden rather than parking, which was the other idea mooted for the space. “I didn’t want cars at the front of the house, I wanted garden, so I was pretty keen to get something in fairly promptly!” she says. The facade of the house is beautifully symmetrical, with a central Dutch gable, so a mirroring symmetrical parterre was an obvious choice. Inside the house, doors adorned with Scottish Saltires inspired the layout: a simple St Andrew’s cross. Box hedging bounds the beds, which contain clipped standards of Pyrus salicifolia and a mix of perennials, while arches turn the dividing paths into tunnels of vines.

Shelterbelt hedges to alleviate the wind also went in, although JayJay admits mistakes were made.

A line of pleached limes are “the wrong type”, she 74 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

Above A mist of forget-me-nots, Alchemilla mollis and bluebells below limes.

Right Wands of flowers on Tellima grandiflora.

Below The ice house has had many uses over the years, but it has now been left to the many toads that have made it their home.

says. “It’s a suckering Above The house enjoys uninterrupted views out lime, but it doesn’t over the parterre and matter, you just go the farmland beyond. along and rub off the Left Curved borders suckers – it’s tiresome, disguise the garden’s boundary with a deep but fine.” There are mixed planting of shrubs also substantial beech and herbaceous plants. hedges, but one thing JayJay hadn’t foreseen when she planted them was the “fast and furious” but comparatively short growing season this far north. “There’s a saying up here that all the growth happens after the longest day, and there’s a certain amount of truth in that – things gallop ahead after that point.” Until then though, trees and shrubs are slow to bud, the beech waiting until the end of May to green up. “The point is, if you’re gardening up here you really need structure because if you don’t have that structure in place, you’ll be looking out at not very much for a long time,” she observes.

Nowadays, the parterre beds are filled with a mix of perennials chosen with insects and bees in mind.

“We’re untidy gardeners,” JayJay confesses. “We JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 75

RHS Chelsea Flower Show

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leave lots of weeds and Above The viewing mound was made in a it’s not just because day by a digger, using we don’t always get spoil from a pond; “I just round to digging them thought, ‘wouldn’t it be out!” Dusky pink fun’,” says JayJay. deadnettle is left to provide nectar for bees for much of the year. “It’s in flower in February and by November it has its fourth generation of flowers – and it acts as a good foil against Sedum telephium. There are other plants most gardeners would think I was mad to let in,” she adds, with a nod to a little purple-flowered sage bees swoon over but which thuggishly throws out runners. She plants leeks instead of ornamental alliums, finding their flowers just as beautiful: “And they’re 1p a seed instead of £1.50 a bulb. They look like minarets when they’re in bud, then they get half undressed, and then they turn into glorious balls.”

Below the parterre, the garden drops down to the narrow lane that runs along the boundary, and it’s here that you’ll find the old ice house. “We tried to use it to grow mushrooms in – that didn’t work – and we’ve used it to store homemade wine and cabbages, which worked quite well… but what a pong! Now it is the grandest toad house. Many toads overwinter in it and we have little baby toadlings who spend a large part of their youth there.” Behind the house an area of lawn is set up with croquet hoops and, off to the side, a huge viewing mound, created with spoil from a pond excavation, offers views over the garden and the farmland beyond.

Fifteen years after moving in, the couple had the opportunity to buy 120 acres of the surrounding farmland and with it a chance to apply the wildlifeJUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 77

first, organic principles of the garden on a much grander scale. Now the land is roamed by Hebridean sheep and produces the barley David uses for his on-site business, the Black Isle Brewing Co. Producing a range of organic craft beers for over two decades, the brewery was light years ahead of the current vogue for craft brewing. There’s also a large, organic, no-dig vegetable garden, run on permaculture and agroforestry principles, which is cared for by gardener Alexander Davies. It’s recently been revamped so its beds form a swirling Celtic triskele shape, and produce is sent to the kitchens of the brewery’s bars in Inverness and Fort William.

Meanwhile, JayJay – who spent 25 years as a furniture restorer before deciding to concentrate on garden design – is on a mission to make a difference through her passion for gardening and wildlife. No-dig champion Charles Dowding has held a workshop at Old Allangrange and bee expert Dave Goulson has visited to give a talk. JayJay has designed and planted gardens in the community and holds garden design workshops to encourage more people to make the most of their gardens. She has set up Flourish, a charitable initiative aiming to put productive gardens into schools across Scotland starting with a pilot scheme on the Black Isle. Local children already visit the brewery’s vegetable garden to learn about growing, harvesting and cooking, and Alex leads workshops so people can find out more about organic growing and permaculture.

78 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

Top A smartly pleached beech hedge bounds the croquet lawn sited at the back of the house.

Above The vegetable garden keeps the brewery’s kitchens well stocked with fresh, organic produce and also hosts workshops.

“There’s just so much ugliness about – I think, let’s make the world more beautiful wherever we can,” says JayJay. “I don’t want to be dramatic about it, but if people aren’t frightened by gardening, maybe they’ll get a taste for it and then they’ll feel happier as a consequence.” n Old Allangrange, Munlochy IV8 8NZ. Opens 19 June and 11 September for Scotland’s Garden Scheme, and by arrangement at all other times. Visit scotlandsgardens.org, blackislegardendesign.com and blackislebrewery.com

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SCULPTURE

The Perfect Fit

IMAGE JULIETTE MILLS

Kerryn Harper-Cuss talks to three leading sculptors working in wood, stone and bronze, to garner inspiration and advice on choosing and positioning a piece of garden art

The smooth lines of a piece by Dominic Welch, who works with Kilkenny limestone and Carrara marble, among other stones.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 81

SCULPTURE

Fruits of the Wind Philip Walker creates beautifully fluid organic sculptures in wood as well as bespoke pieces using fallen and storm-damaged trees from his clients’ own gardens

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He works in several species, although English oak is a favourite. “Grain patterns and colour can be recognised and exploited using various techniques. A timber with very little interesting character or colour is an opportunity to focus entirely on form, and that can be quite freeing as I don’t need to worry about showing off existing features,” he says.

“There are a few species that will last for a long time outside, namely oak and cedar. They will always lose their colour and turn a wonderful silvery grey. For large works I use green timber. Its high moisture content means it will crack and move, and wind and the elements will change its surface over time; all of this has to be considered and accepted. Sculptures in oak can last for decades outdoors, evolving over the years and mellowing into their surroundings.” philipjameswalker.com 3

4

1 “The Darkness Within series has been important in my growth as an artist and I am keen to push it further,” says Philip.

2 Sculptures by Philip range from £250 to £25,000, depending on scale and complexity.

3 Philip designs and makes seating as feature sculptures, as with this solid English oak bench.

4 Formerly an arborist, Philip Walker first learnt his craft assisting sculptor Alison Crowther. He has been sculpting from his Stroud workshop since 2016.

82 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

IMAGES SARAH SHELDRAKE; BRITT WILLOUGHBY-DYER; PETER VAN DEN BERG

G

ouging, carving and scorching are just some of the techniques used by Philip Walker to magnify the hues and textural contrasts in wood when creating his undulating sculptures. “I’m obsessed with wood and the variety it offers,” says the Hampshire-based sculptor. “The range of properties across the thousands of species can make two different timbers seem like different materials entirely, and I enjoy the challenge that brings.”

Around 50 per cent of his work honours trees fallen in private gardens, and almost all of it transforms wood felled due to damage or disease. “A tree from the client’s own garden is often significant to them, so it’s important to honour that tree the best way I can, working closely with the client to deliver a design that they are happy with and showing the character of the tree,” says Philip.

Stories Set in Stone The pure lines and subtle grain of the stone sculptures hewn by Dominic Welch settle serenely into their natural surroundings and have garnered international recognition

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elebrating the strength and serenity of stone, Dominic Welch composes poetic sculptures that feel strikingly contemporary and yet agelessly at home in natural settings. He sculpts in creamy-coloured Carrara Marble and blue-grey Kilkenny limestone: yin and yang in terms of hue but sharing the same barely discernible grain. “Both types have subtle marbling. I don’t like stones that are too noisy,” he explains.

Working solo in his Devon workshop, Dominic extracts forms from blocks using hammer, chisel and air tools as well as stone grinders. The final polish is done by hand, although Dominic might put in more marks with a chisel.

He can have as many as ten pieces on the go at a time: some to commission, some for sale through exhibition.

“During the first three days a piece can come on enormously from a rough block, but then it slows down.

Working on larger pieces is very physical. You have to stand them up to have a look and lay them down again to work,” he explains. Dominic can work for up to three years on a piece until he feels everything is just right.

“Natural stone lasts forever and weathers almost imperceptibly, although it ages more quickly if it’s in a damp, shady spot,” says Dominic. “Gentle regular cleaning with water is all that’s required, although many like to let pieces grow into their landscape. This way they become more organic, like living sculptures, which can be amazing.” dominicwelch.com

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3 2

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1 Dominic Welch works from his workshop located deep in a remote valley on Dartmoor.

2 Beautifully curved Galaxias VI in Kilkenny limestone.

3 Geotropic Sphere, raised on a pedestal for closer inspection.

4 Dominic’s work can be viewed by appointment at his Devon home.

He is represented by Messums in London and will be exhibiting at this year’s On Form outdoor exhibition at Asthall Manor (12 June-10 July).

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 83

The Cotswold Sculpture Park

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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 2022 exhibition.

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SCULPTURE

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5 Dominic wasn’t formally trained in sculpture, but was apprenticed to stone master Peter RandallPage for ten years. “I thought the whole idea of an apprenticeship was a very romantic thing,” he says. “You know straight away if you have an aptitude and a feel for holding tools in your hands. I obviously had that, which was quite unusual because I’d had no practical experience before.” Carrara Form III is typical of his work, displaying subtle curves and purity of form.

6 Working in Carrara marble and Kilkenny limestone, Dominic’s meditative forms have been exhibited around the world. This is Contemplation VI in Carrara marble at a previous On Form exhibition. Some of his work is also moulded for casting in bronze.

IMAGE JULIETTE MILLS; PETER VAN DEN BERG

Thoughts on locating sculpture Dominic Welch advises that placing sculpture in a garden is an art in itself and says that points to consider include the fall of light over the course of a day and throughout the year, the position and impact of leaves on surrounding trees and whether you want to see the piece through the windows of the rooms you spend most time in or locate a sculpture in a secluded, meditative spot.

He keeps in touch with clients for years, reconnecting when they move home or want to re-site a sculpture.

Even though stone is heavy, he says it’s always possible to find the perfect location, transporting a piece over swimming pools, or even locating a work within a pond.

“The plinth needs careful consideration and is quite often one of the most difficult parts of the process because the bases tend to be submerged in a bed so that the sculpture appears to be growing out of the ground,” says Dominic. “I tend to use solid oak with a cap of stone on the top or below: oak will last – if oiled – for years.”

He advises that it is always important to think about the sculpture with its plinth and consider whether the plinth will add height, how it will be fixed or if it will be hidden to avoid the formality of a visible pedestal.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 85

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SCULPTURE

Stop Motion Sculpting in a variety of media and casting in bronze or bronze resin, Jane Shaw creates dynamic sculptures that capture the energy and movement of animals and wildlife

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orking in her Dorset studio, Jane Shaw sculpts in clay, wax or plaster and scrim to create sculptures that are then moulded to be cast in bronze or bronze resin at her chosen foundry. From race horses to boxing hares, her bespoke and limited-edition pieces are bought by private clients, galleries and garden designers. “I’ve always loved the three-dimensional aspect of art and focusing on form and shape,” she says.

“If someone gave me a piece of stone to carve I could only take away from it. Whereas when I work I can take away and add, and I like to leave my thumb marks as well as tool imprints as an integral part of the finished surface to create a sense of movement and emotion.”

Most of her large garden sculptures are cast in bronze resin – a mixture of bronze powder and resin – although increasingly clients are investing in bronze. Bronze is

1

heavier, cold to the touch and more costly due to the complicated ‘lost wax process’ that is used for casting.

Bronze weathers to an alluring shade of green over hundreds of years, but an immediate patina can be created by applying chemicals and heat. It can also be lacquered to prevent natural ageing. Bronze resin, meanwhile, can be given a patina with specialist painting and buffing. This will dull over time, but it can be reconditioned.

“Some sculptures take years to create and others as little as a month, dependent on scale, intricacy and whether it is a special commission or my own more spontaneous exploration of a subject,” says Jane. “For bespoke pieces I spend time with clients and their animals in their own surroundings taking photos and videos before developing several maquettes to help clients agree upon the position of the final form.” janeshawsculpture.com

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3

4

1 Jane Shaw studied sculpture at school and returned to her passion eight years ago.

IMAGES MILLIE PILKINGTON

2 Jane’s work will be exhibited at MoncrieffBray Gallery in Petworth, Sculpture by the Lakes in Dorchester and at the Burford Gallery in Gloucestershire this year.

3 Jane says: “Location is everything. The choice of position needs to make you look, smile and think.”

4 Colourful finishes can be applied to bronze and bronze resin, Blue Hare being a case in point.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 87

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SCULPTURE

Directory

Sculptors and suppliers of outdoor art in the mediums of stone, wood, metal and resin

Stone specialists ANDRIAN MELKA Sculptor known for figurative forms, with clients including Lord Rothschild and HRH The Prince of Wales. Tel: 07788 654626; melkasculpture.com

JOE AND JENNY SMITH Joe Smith has been sculpting large-scale slate forms since the 1990s and continues with daughter Jenny. Urns, pears and globes are a speciality. Tel: 01556 690632; joe-smith.co.uk

ANTHONY TURNER Abstract stone sculptures, many inspired by the forms of fruit or seedpods such as beans. Tel: 01647 252285; anthonyturner.net

MARCIA BENNETT-MALE London sculptor formally trained as an architectural stone carver, letter cutter and stone mason.

Email marciabm@ntlworld.com; mbennettmale.co.uk

CAVENDISH STONE Stone garden statues including stags and pairs of dogs, as well as bronze sculptures. Tel: 01747 842214; cavendishstone.com

TRISTAN COCKERILL Tristan works in reclaimed slate and driftwood on pieces with a nautical theme. Tel: 07917 320572; tristancockerill.com

CHILSTONE Cast stone sculptures in a wide range of classical and contemporary styles. Tel: 01892 740866; chilstone.com

WILLIAM PEERS Cornwall-based stone sculptor working mainly in marble, with organic forms exploring figuration and abstraction. Tel: 01288 321988; williampeers.com

HADDONSTONE A wide range of cast stone pieces includes reproductions of historic designs, statuary and garden ornaments. Tel: 01604 770711; haddonstone.com JACK EAGAN Fluid forms in cast bronze, including Dancers, commissioned by designer Richard Miers for his RHS Chelsea show garden in 2022.

Email: jackeagen@outlook.com; jackeagen.com J’S GARDEN ANTIQUES Specialists in gardenalia, with occasional stone statuary and ornaments suitable as focal points and features. Tel: 07930 576881; jsgardens.co.uk JAMES PARKER SCULPTURE Slate sculptor of fruit, twists, cones and spheres, now expanding into glass sculpture. Tel: 07729 705257; jamesparkersculpture.co.uk JEREMY HASTINGS Slate spheres and water features.

Tel: 07770 885130; jhastings.co.uk

Sack of Black Berries by Anthony Turner

Wood specialists ALASDAIR CURRIE Minimalist designs inspired by Japanese arts and crafts in wood, lead and concrete. Tel: 01465 861148; alasdaircurrie.com

Thread by Alasdair Currie

ALISON CROWTHER Large pieces and benches in oak. alisoncrowther.com EMMA STOTHARD Willow sculptor in Whitby, creating characterful animals such as hounds and hares. Tel: 01947 605706; emmastothard.com JAMES DORAN WEBB Life-sized wildlife and equestrian pieces in driftwood. jamesdoranwebb.com JILLY SUTTON Best known for carving large heads and figures in fallen wood, Jilly sandblasts and limes or dyes the pieces to magnify their grainy character and contours. Tel: 01803 722384; jillysutton.com

The Fallen Deodar by Jilly Sutton

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 89

SCULPTURE TOM HARE Willow and living sculpture in whimsical forms. Clients include the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Tel: 07776 405990; tomhare.net WILD WOOD CARVING Andy O’Neill is a chainsaw carver of wildlife sculpture including ladybirds and owls. Tel: 07791 211515; wildwoodcarving.co.uk VICTORIA WESTAWAY Willow and wire sculptor in mid-Devon. Tel: 01884 216409; vikwestaway.co.uk

Metal & Resin specialists A PLACE IN THE GARDEN Decorative balls made from zinc. Tel: 01403 864866; aplaceinthegarden.co.uk ANDREW KAY Cumbrian sculptor working in finished steel to create life-size wildlife forms, including stags and herons. Tel: 07740 306412; andrewkaysculpture.co.uk ANNE CURRY Large resin or bronze pieces, inspired by natural forms. Tel: 01799 550368; annecurrysculpture.co.uk

GARDEN ART AND SCULPTURE Cut-out metal sculptures with a rusted finish. Tel: 0750 1213800; gardenartandsculpture.co.uk GILES RAYNER From his rural studio in the Cotswolds, Giles Rayner crafts water sculptures that often take inspiration from plants. Tel: 07989 320335; gilesrayner.com HAMISH MACKIE Large bronze pieces, inspired by wildlife such as roe or fallow deer and owls. Tel: 01608 737859; hamishmackie.com JENNY PICKFORD A contemporary art blacksmith creating sculpture in blown glass and architectural ironwork in Herefordshire. Tel: 07985 246056; jennypickford.co.uk NIGEL HALL Recent work includes circular forms in varied materials, from bronze to beech wood.

Email: info@nigelhallartist.com; nigelhallartist.com ROBERT JAMES WORKSHOP Whimsical characters from children’s stories made using bronze or bronze resin. Tel: 07515 126119; robertjamesworkshop.com

BORDER SUNDIALS Elegant and timeless armillary spheres and sundials. Tel: 01873 840297; bordersundials.co.uk

RUPERT TILL Animalia with a special focus on equine forms fashioned from wire, in steel, bronze and aged zinc. Tel: 07921 771284; ruperttill.com

CAROLINE BARNETT Works to capture the essential character of domestic animals such as dogs, hares and sheep. carolinebarnett.co.uk

SIMON ALLISON Artist-led fountain designs.

Commissions include the Water Garden at Kiftsgate. Tel: 01295 758066; allisonfountains.co.uk

DAVID GOODE Mythical bronze figures exploring the imagery of folklore. Tel: 07977 546087; david-goode.com

STEVE JAMES Metal sculptures in contemporary abstract shapes. Email: stevejamessculptures@gmail.com; steve-james-sculptures.com

DAVID HARBER Arresting outdoor pieces often with beautiful reflective finishes that offer a sense of movement and light. Tel: 01235 859300; davidharber.co.uk DAWN CONN Figurative sculptures in bronze resin that express wonder and joy.

Tel: 07534 055813; dawnconn.com 90 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

Bite II by David Harber

Flight of Keys by Anne Curry

SUSIE HARTLEY Figurative sculptor working in bronze and bronze resin. Tel: 07719 917480; susiehartley.com WILLIAM PYE Acclaimed sculptor working in large-scale stainless steel and cast bronze, often with a water element. williampye.com

Woven mushrooms by Tom Hare

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Learn & Grow

IMAGE ALAMY

Take an online course from Learning with Experts and personalised feedback from your specialist tutor will help you develop your skills to become a better gardener

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JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 93

PA R T N E R F E AT U R E

“S

ometimes you meet your students. I became involved with the garden of one of my earliest students in Ireland, and I’m still involved with it today. I’ve got another student who is now studying horticulture at Pershore. He emails me regularly and asks my advice – he’s done well and it’s been great to see.”

So says Andy McIndoe, one of Learning with Experts’ longest-serving tutors.

“The thing I enjoy the most,” adds fellow tutor Noel Kingsbury, “is when somebody makes a really nice garden following their course. Especially when it’s in a climate you’re unfamiliar with.” Noel co-tutors courses for Learning with Experts with landscape designer Piet Oudolf, as well as teaching his own courses on Planting Design with Perennials, and Propagation.

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Each one is a specialist in their field, and by selecting the ‘Expert option’ when you pick a course, you’re signing up for tailor-made, personal feedback from your tutor as they set assignments and guide you

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through the course’s modules. “If people have supplementary questions, we can have a more engaged discussion,” explains Noel.

“If they want further information, I think it’s important to be generous with it.”

In addition to direct contact with your tutor, you’ll be part of an online community of fellow students, so you can share knowledge and ideas with others during the course and after it has finished.

There are never more than 20 students, so these intimate classes ensure that all learners receive individual attention.

“I enjoy meeting people who could be at any stage, but are all keen to learn,” says Noel. “You have a real mix of people: those who are changing career; keen gardeners who want to add to their knowledge; and, with the RHS Level 2 courses, more so since Covid, younger learners.”

Andy McIndoe agrees: “A lot of professionals take the courses, particularly on trees and shrubs, because some design

courses don’t focus on plants. Then there are private gardeners or garden owners, from those with acres to people with a tiny courtyard. We’ve had people on the Gardening for Wildlife course who are in urban environments working with their local community, encouraging neighbours to get involved. That’s been really good.”

The flexible platform lets students work when it suits them, in their own time zone and at their own pace – particularly helpful if you are balancing work or family

Clockwise from below Noel Kingsbury and Piet Oudolf co-tutor courses; Chris Beardshaw teaches students about container gardening; Noel Kingsbury loves seeing students’ projects from around the world; Andy McIndoe was responsible for Hillier Nurseries’ Chelsea exhibits for 25 years.

CASE STUDY

“I had no idea I’d be this busy!”

IMAGE ANDY MCINDOE; PIET OUDOLF

Sallie Boge increased her knowledge and skills with Learning with Experts and grew her business as a result Winters are harsh in Chicago, where Sallie Boge practises as a garden designer, so they’re the perfect time to stay indoors and take a course. She’s finished the entire Garden Design Diploma programme, a collection of twelve courses that brings the wide-ranging skills of garden design together. “Every single one of them was important to take, and each had something to offer to increase my knowledge and the skills I could transfer to my clients,” she explains.

For Sallie, it was important to back her garden design business up with the credentials of the Learning with Experts qualification. “I love gardening so much and I take being a garden designer seriously. I thought these courses would help, but they

really exceeded my expectations.

Regardless of how you intend to apply the knowledge in your gardening life, for me the expert level was completely worth it: I wanted feedback from the tutors, and these people are experts at what they do.

“They are all very positive in the feedback they give you. If you’ve done something wrong, they don’t crush you with criticism. They tell you what they would do instead – and they’re always right in my experience!”

Now, Sallie’s garden design business has grown. “I had no idea I’d be this busy with clients!” she says. “I’m delighted, and I honestly think that Learning with Experts caused this to happen because my skill levels are so much better having taken the courses.

I was already a passionate gardener and I felt like I knew quite a bit, but my knowledge has been raised to a completely different level.”

commitments. What’s more, you’ll have lifetime access to your course and can re-watch the video lessons as many times as you like. This explains why Learning with Experts has one of the highest completion rates for online learning providers: 80 per cent of Learning with Experts students finish their course, compared to just 20 per cent for other online courses.

Students work on practical assignments, applying their new skills straight away and getting feedback from other students and their expert tutor. “I’ve always said to students, don’t just do the assignment, tailor it to your own requirements – it’s more beneficial,” Andy McIndoe advises.

“You might get someone who comes on the course and says ‘I’m landscaping a square in a small Spanish town.’ Then they can share the plans and work on it, so the course covers exactly what they need.”

Learning with Experts was founded by CEO Elspeth Briscoe in 2015. It was the first online learning provider to combine small interactive classes with broadcastquality videos, an accredited curriculum and expert teachers. More than 100 experts JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 95

PA R T N E R F E AT U R E Clockwise from left Sally Nex is a specialist in self-sufficiency; learn about the plants that will extend your garden’s season of interest; Jimi Blake of Hunting Brook Gardens joins Learning with Experts this year, with two in-depth courses on planting.

CASE STUDY

“It has totally changed my life”

Ane Hoffmeyer studied with Learning with Experts when she changed career to become a garden designer Ane Hoffmeyer started out as a textile and fashion designer.

She decided she wanted to work with gardens instead and looked to Learning with Experts when she couldn’t find a suitable course at home in Denmark.

“I considered taking courses at university in Copenhagen but they just weren’t right for me,” says Ane. “Then I found out I could study a course from Britain – the best place for anybody who works in garden design – study with people I already knew from books, and that I could take a lot of courses and kind of make my own degree. It has changed my career and it has totally changed my life.”

96 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

“If I lived in London, I’d have taken a real-life class, but because I’m in Denmark this was a fantastic way to do it, and way better than anything else,” she adds. Ane has now completed all twelve courses that make up the Garden Design Diploma and is working full-time as a garden designer. “I loved studying again and it gave me confidence. I’m really busy now working all over the place. I’m even designing a garden in Japan this autumn – I’m fully booked, actually.”

“For me, being new in the field and able to get in touch with these stars was quite something,” she says. “I can actually interact with the people who strongly influence my work and inspire me – even though I’m sat here in the frozen mud of Denmark! – and that’s so powerful.”

The whole thing is really plant-heavy, and because it was filmed in the garden last summer, you can see the borders building up over the season,” Jimi adds.

It’s not just your garden that could benefit. A 2020 Demos / Google survey of online learning found that the more you learn, the more you earn: one in five people in the UK have got a pay rise or a new role as a result of online learning. In addition, 77 per cent of people say their online learning improved their mental health.

“Compare these courses to other education that’s available, and what you can get for your money here is amazing value,” says Andy. “Take the plunge,” advises Noel Kingsbury. “It’s all straightforward and it’s a great opportunity to make contact with people with a lot of experience: that’s what makes it totally different.” n Save 15% off your next Learning with Experts course. Use code TEGMCHELSEA at the checkout (valid until 30 June 2022). learningwithexperts.com

IMAGES SALLY NEX; JIMI BLAKE

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The line-up of gardening tutors includes: Piet Oudolf; best-selling author and garden designer Dr Noel Kingsbury; awardwinning designer Chris Beardshaw; Andy McIndoe, who has 30 years’ experience as a horticulturist; garden design lecturer Annie Guilfoyle; self-sufficiency specialist Sally Nex; and landscape designer Tom Stuart-Smith. New to the team this year is Jimi Blake, the passionate plantsman of Hunting Brook Gardens in Ireland.

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Call of the Wild

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Dedicated to increasing the biodiversity of the Herstmonceux Castle estate, Guy Lucas favours native planting and has ten suggestions for meadows

INTERVIEW VIVIENNE HAMBLY IMAGES SHUTTERSTOCK

uy Lucas is the head of gardens and estates at 15th-century Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex.

The estate is introducing rewilding projects across its grounds and Guy has been working to increase its biodiversity. He has introduced meadows that peak in June and July and replaced petrol mowers with a flock of Herdwick sheep. “Where possible, we select a method that favours

nature. The sheep turn over the grass and encourage a diversity of wildflowers and orchids not seen for decades,” he explains. Here he suggests ten good plants for biodiversity. “I’ve chosen natives that are attractive and have the greatest value to wildlife,” he notes.

Herstmonceux Castle, Hailsham, East Sussex BN27 1RN. Tel: 01323 834444; herstmonceux-castle.com

1 Ox-eye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare) Blooming from May to July, this tall, jolly flower signals the start of summer and is loved by pollinators.

It covers bare earth quickly and naturalises in grassy spaces, preferring well-drained soil in full sun. Sow seed in spring or autumn for flowers the next year.

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2 Common spotted orchid ( c lo i uc sii)

3 Common knapweed ( en u e ni )

If orchids appear in your meadow, they are jewels to be treasured.

Notoriously fussy and tricky to propagate, they may be hiding in your sward without your knowledge. Reaching 70cm tall, common spotted orchids also occur on chalk grassland and woodland edges.

This hardy perennial is a good doer. It can dominate if given the chance, but its generous architectural bracts carry pinky-purple florets stuffed to the gunnels with nectar for bees, butterflies and beetles. It grows to 75cm tall in semi-shade or full sun.

4 Yellow rattle (

5 Betony ( e onic o cin lis)

in n us ino )

This semi-parasitic annual keeps dominant grasses in check, letting an array of wildflowers establish. The plant produces a yellow flower with a green calyx, and from late summer the ripening seedheads rattle in the breeze, giving it its common name. It grows to 50cm tall and prefers moist but well-drained soil in full sun.

100 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

Bare, square stems rise from a rosette of leaves to form purple flower spikes of up to 60cm tall. The flowers also come in white, (B. officinalis ‘Alba’), pink (‘Rosea’) and magenta (‘Hummelo’).

This is a well-behaved plant that works in a border or a meadow, although it has a preference for dry soils in a sunny spot.

IMAGES SHUTTERSTOCK

6 Lady’s bedstraw (Galium verum) From June to September, this perennial produces a froth of yellow blooms with a honeyed hay scent. Once used as a fragrant mattress stuffing, it’s now most useful to the caterpillars of the hummingbird hawkmoth. Fully hardy, it prefers poor, well-drained soils.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 101

7 Ragged robin (Silene flos-cuculi)

8 Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)

Perfect for wetter areas of soil, ragged robin produces distinctively lacy, star-shaped blooms in a deep shade of pink from May to August. Growing on slender stems, the flowers appear to hover in the air and are enjoyed by butterflies. They are also perfectly constructed to meet the needs of long-tongued bees.

With its clouds of flat-topped flowerheads, yarrow looks wonderful amid long grass. Predominantly a creamy-white, plants sometimes naturally express pink or yellow tints, while cultivated forms offer more vivid colour: Try ‘Terracotta’, ‘Summerwine’ or ‘Walther Funcke’. All forms are attractive to butterflies, bees and hoverflies.

9 Cowslip (Primula veris)

10 Field scabious (Knautia arvensis)

Cowslips’ nodding yellow heads appear in early spring, when most plants are only starting to emerge from winter slumber. In the wild, its numbers were in decline until efforts to restore its habitat improved numbers. Grow it in a meadow, at a roadside, along a hedge or under trees in moist and partially shaded soil.

This beautiful perennial is equally at home in an informal border or in the meadow. Its lilac-blue pincushion flowers, which bloom from mid- to late-summer, are the perfect landing pads for hungry pollinators, while its autumn seedheads offer sustenance for birds.

It is comfortable in most soils and in full sun or semi-shade.

102 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

IMAGES SHUTTERSTOCK

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P L A N T FO C U S

The simple, pale pink flowers of Potentilla fruticosa ‘Pink Beauty’ reveal potentilla’s links to the rose family.

Key Workers Undervalued and overlooked for years, versatile and dependable potentilla flower nonstop, providing vital sustenance for pollinators, and are often the saviour of a tired border, says Louise Curley PHOTOGRAPHS ANNAÏCK GUITTENY JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 105

P L A N T FO C U S

growing herbaceous perennials.

Both have flowers in a good range of colours, from vibrant shades to pretty pastels, with the small, saucer-shaped flowers of P. fruticosa resembling those of species roses, and the herbaceous types having pleated leaves and simple flowers like those of their close relative, the strawberry. The fruit they produce, however, is dry and inedible, hence the common name: ‘barren strawberry’. Potentilla are also known as cinquefoils, referring to the leaves, which are usually divided into five leaflets.

Potentilla are native to the northern hemisphere and are distributed across a range of habitats in North America, Asia and Europe.

Marsh cinquefoil (P. palustris) thrives in wet soil and P. crantzii can be found growing on exposed rock faces. In Britain, yellow-flowered P. fruticosa is a rare wild plant, growing in only a handful of places in the Cumbrian Fells and high in the North Pennines of Upper Teesdale, where it takes root in rocky crevices by the river edge. Its existence in these harsh climates is an indicator of how hardy this genus is. Like a host of other garden plants, P. fruticosa has been subject to a recent name change by botanists to Dasiphora fruticosa. However, the horticultural trade continues to refer to these plants as potentilla.

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lants have been subject to changing tastes and trends ever since we started to cultivate them for their beauty rather than just their medicinal properties.

We’ve moved from tulip fever in the 17th century to the recent New Perennial Movement, which has popularised ornamental grasses and perennials. The downside of following the latest fashions, however, is that some great garden-worthy plants end up being overlooked. Once popular, potentillas have suffered this fate, but if you’re looking for low-maintenance, long-flowering plants they are very much worth considering.

Potentilla are a member of the Rosaceae family and are divided into two distinct types: the shrubby, bush species (Potentilla fruticosa) and the lower106 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

Above Featuring

hot pink flowers with raspberry centres, P. nepalensis ‘Miss Willmott’ is a readily available perennial type.

Shrubby potentilla P. fruticosa makes a mid-size deciduous shrub, around 1-1.5m high and 1m wide, with dense, twiggy growth that’s covered in small, oblong leaves. It can be difficult to find shrubs that stay neat in habit and don’t outgrow their space, so it’s a valuable plant for small gardens in particular. “Some people are a bit sniffy about the shrubby ones because they’re seen as ‘car park plants’,” says Peter Chapman, who has just retired from owning and running Perryhill Nurseries in East Sussex. “But they’re tough as old boots and the bees love them. If you’re a beginner you can’t go wrong with them. I think they’re unjustly out of favour.”

Its loose, mound-like habit makes P. fruticosa a good choice for an informal, flowering hedge, an easier-to-grow alternative to lavender, or in the middle to back of a border, intermingling with herbaceous perennials. Coming into flower in late

Top left Perennial P. thurberi ‘Monarch’s Velvet’ bears rubyred flowers from June through to August.

Top right With its cascading habit, try P. fruticosa ‘Katherine Dykes’ over a low wall.

Below right Potentilla. atrosanguinea var. argyrophylla has silvery leaves and vivid flowers.

Below left P. recta var. sulphurea needs full sun.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 107

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P L A N T FO C U S

Above left ‘Daydawn’ makes a compact, bushy shrub with flowers from June to October.

Above right ‘Elizabeth’ bears masses of canary yellow flowers on compact shrubs.

Below ‘Abbotswood’ is at its best in full sun, and can be grown as an informal hedge.

spring, many cultivars will still be in bloom in early autumn. While the wild-growing species has sunshine-yellow flowers, cultivars are available in striking reds and oranges, and more subtle shades of pink, pale yellow and white.

Potentilla fruticosa ‘Abbotswood’ holds an RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM) and has elegant, pure white blooms emerging from blushed red buds set among mid-green leaves. For a splash of yellow there’s ‘Elizabeth’, whose blooms are a golden shade, or you could try lemon-coloured ‘Katherine Dykes’ or the exceptionally long-flowering ‘Primrose Beauty’, a favourite of Peter’s, which has exquisite pale primrose-yellow flowers with darker yellow centres. “I’d also suggest ‘Vilmoriniana’, which has an upright habit, creamy-white flowers and silvery leaves,” says Peter. For more colour try ‘Daydawn’, which is a beautiful shade of pale apricot; ‘Pink Beauty’ (AGM), which has rose-pink blooms; ‘Red Ace’ in an eye-popping shade of reddish-orange; or ‘Hopley’s Orange’ in vivid tangerine.

Perennial potentilla The herbaceous potentilla are similar to geums, but in most cases they have a longer flowering season.

Their stems have a lax habit and some gardeners may find them straggly, but they look lovely growing through other plants such as hardy geraniums JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 109

P L A N T FO C U S

or nepeta, which will act as a natural support.

Alternatively, plant them so they tumble over the edge of raised beds or at the front of a sunny border where they’ll provide good summer groundcover. In general, these potentilla grow to around 30-40cm high with a spread of about 50-60cm.

They include a range of species and hybrids, with plant breeding having created some eyecatching flowers. Renowned French nurseryman Victor Lemoine (1823-1911) was the first to breed a double-flowered perennial potentilla in the mid-19th century, and there were 32 double-flowered cultivars listed in the company’s 1938 catalogue, including ‘Velours Pourpre’, ‘Arc-en-Ciel’ and ‘William Rollison’. While the latter two are still available commercially, most have sadly disappeared.

For a long-flowering perennial worthy of as much attention as hardy geraniums, it’s hard to beat P. x hopwoodiana, which has long, arching stems studded with salmon-pink and white petals and eye-catching red centres for months on end.

If these colours don’t appeal, try sumptuous P. thurberi ‘Monarch’s Velvet’, which has velvety, rubycoloured flowers with darker centres, or ‘Flamenco’ and ‘Gibson’s Scarlet’, recommended by Peter for their blood-red flowers. These dark hues make a particularly striking contrast against the backdrop of the bright green leaves.

P. nepalensis ‘Miss Willmott’ is readily available and has hot pink blooms with raspberry-red centres, while for yellow shades there’s Himalayan cinquefoil, P. atrosanguinea var. argyrophylla.

“I like P. megalantha, which has big, golden yellow flowers and woolly, silvery leaves,” says Peter.

P. x tonguei, which has soft apricot-yellow flowers and scarlet centres, is often sold as an alpine, but its vigorous prostrate growth would work just as well at the front of a border.

110 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

GROWING ADVICE

Caring for potentilla Peter Chapman, newly retired owner of Perryhill Nurseries in Sussex, shares tips on how to get the best out of these hard-working plants Choose a sunny spot Shrubby potentilla varieties will tolerate partial shade, but avoid growing them under trees since they won’t flower as well. Those with particularly strong colours, such as ‘Pink Beauty’ and ‘Red Ace’, are best grown somewhere that is shaded from intense midday sunshine to prevent their colours from bleaching.

They prefer moist but welldrained soil. Mildew can affect shrubby potentilla, especially if the plants are grown on dry soil.

Mulch with well-rotted compost

Above left Potentilla atrosanguinea or ruby cinquefoil has bright, blood-red flowers.

Above middle P. x hopwoodiana blooms are flushed with different shades of pink.

Above right Scarlet ‘Flamenco’ is known for its generous flowering.

to lock in moisture, but avoid using manure since it’s too rich.

Divide perennial types every three to four years, in October or March.

The shrubby types flower on the wood they produce during the current growing season, so if you need to hard prune them do that in early spring.

Generally speaking, a light trim after flowering will be sufficient.

Keep an eye out for vine weevils, which are attracted to the fibrous roots.

Both types of potentilla suit traditional cottage garden-style planting, but there’s no reason why they can’t be incorporated into more contemporary designs alongside ornamental grasses. The understated flowers, which are attractive to pollinators, would work well in a naturalistic planting scheme, too. Whether it’s shrubby or perennial potentilla or both, these obliging plants deserve a place in your garden. n

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A N N A PAVO R D

Perfect Pairings

INTERVIEW VIVIENNE HAMBLY IMAGE CLAIRE TAKACS

Anna Pavord’s new book, The Seasonal Gardener, considers creative planting combinations throughout the year. Here she reflects on her gardening life and, in exclusive extracts from her book, offers ideas for planting arrangements

A cool purple and grey scheme at Gravetye Manor, with Iris ‘Jane Phillips’ at its peak, along with Allium atropurpureum, A. cristophii and Cerinthe major.

A

fter a lifetime spent gardening, Anna Pavord has reworked her 2001 classic, Plant Partners.

In its new incarnation as The Seasonal Gardener, the book presents favourite plants with companions to make them sing, be it pale blue Iris ‘Jane Phillips’, openflowered Rubus ‘Benenden’ or the firework forms of Allium schubertii.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 113

A N N A PAVO R D

Her Own Words We’ve been in our current house in West Dorset for 18 years. I’ve gardened furiously here, and I’ve made a garden far larger than I should have. I plant quite a lot of trees and say, “Look, you know I won’t be here to see you when you’re really doing your stuff but good luck.” I always talk to them. It doesn’t worry me that I won’t see these things. I love to feel that I’m actually putting something there for somebody to perhaps enjoy much later on.

You can’t really assess a plant until you’ve grown it yourself and looked at it through a season. I’ve definitely got more into shrubs. I’ve said, time and time again since we’ve been in this garden, “Why have I never grown you before? You are so beautiful!” So shrubs found their way into the selection in the book. It was also a way of making a big change from the Plant Partners brief, since that book didn’t include any shrubs at all.

Star plants still have something to offer once their peak has passed. I’m looking at a plant and thinking, ‘What are you like when you aren’t in your best clothes?’ You could say ferns peak at their unfolding, but they look wonderful for 12 months of the year. Star plants tend to be plants with good foliage. You realise the flower is great in the peak, but if you want something to give you a sustaining garden you are mostly looking at leaves. Plants should have more than one act; bulbs, however, are the exception.

Ferns are so quiet, so staggeringly elegant, and I am very, very taken with them.

They’ve had millions of years of breeding and they’ve never thought that they’ve got to produce a flower. I make no apology for the fact that among the 60 star plants in the book and also among the outriders (which are equally important), there are quite a lot of ferns. People think shade is a problem but there are many wonderful plants that need and do best in shade, and ferns are magnificent there.

Rubus ‘Benenden’ is like a blackberry on speed. I’ve paired it with enchanting lily-of-the-valley and Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’ with those marbled leaves. It’s an all-pale planting, it will work in shade, and it isn’t difficult. You’re not looking for things that are trying to be different; you’re choosing plants that are good friends with each other, and have a way of passing the baton on.

114 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

What has changed in the way we garden is the way in which we combine plants. Generally, our planting in the broad sense tends to be much looser now, and this allows plants to show their own souls more. They aren’t being constrained, they’re given more of a chance to show what they can do, and we’re perhaps more aware of their own needs and checking those out before we buy them.

You can get a pretty good indication of what a plant might like by looking at where something comes from in the wild. Thinking about our plants’ needs before our own is perhaps something we’re all much better at these days.

Convallaria majalis

Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’

IMAGES GAP/MATT ANKER; ALAMY; GARDEN EXPOSURES/ANDREA JONES; CLAIRE TAKACS

Rubus ‘Benenden’

White Light Star plant Rubus ‘Benenden’ is supported by Convallaria majalis and Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’ in this wonderfully light and silvery planting composition There is a wildness at the heart of all three of these plants, which makes this a combination to use in areas of the garden set away from more controlled effects around the house. The shrubby rubus sends up fresh light brown stems from the base each season – a useful habit, as it means that by pruning out old growth, you can keep the whole thing to a manageable size.

By pruning too, you encourage the shrub to produce the fresh growth that will flower most profusely each year. Pale brown stems arch up and out, bearing three-

cornered leaves like those of a blackcurrant bush. In late spring, charming white flowers (like wild roses but without the prickles) are produced all along the stems, weighing them down in graceful arcs. Prune as soon as the flowers have finished. They are scented though, as, of course, is lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria), which you can plant in swathes under the shrub’s canopy. There will be plenty of room for brunnera, too, either the silvered ‘Jack Frost’ or, if you want a more genuinely wild look, plain-leaved Brunnera macrophylla.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 115

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Allium schubertii

Camassia leichtlinii subsp. suksdorfii Caerulea Group

Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’

Purple Fireworks Here is an outrageously wonderful allium, flowering in June but hanging on to its huge spherical seed head well into winter. Silvered, these make dramatic Christmas baubles. Half of the pinkish mauve flowers are clasped quite close to the centre of the orb, while the other half zoom out on long, pinkish green stalks like a firework exploding. At maturity, the heads make a complete globe and can measure 40cm (16 in) across. Half the height of this allium is in the stem, half in the head itself, so it is slightly topheavy and may need some discreet support. To be 116 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

seen at its best, the umbels need air about them. Use the feather reed grass (Calamagrostis) as a backdrop, not too close, and interplant the clumps with sturdy blue camassias. This grass is earlier into flower than many and depending on the season may overlap with the allium. Although the camassias will disappear, both the grass and the sculptural seed heads of the allium will remain through autumn into winter, providing a splendid contrast with each other. The allium is not reliably perennial, but that is not a good enough reason to do without it. n

The Seasonal Gardener: Creative Planting Combinations

by Anna Pavord.

Published by Phaidon. £29.95 phaidon.com

IMAGES CLAIRE TAKACS

Allium schubertii is the star, supported by Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ and Camassia leichtlinii subsp. suksdorfii Caerulea Group

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Based at the Chelsea Physic Garden January – March 2016and led by Rosemary Alexander and architect Catriona Rowbotham, the course is anall overview Garden to Design, covering the elements neededsubject, to rethink anincluding average garden. Taking Covers youofneed know inallthis diverse studentsreal step bydesign step through site surveying, using CAD the grid,tuition. horizontal and features, garden in layouts and TWO projects and (3vertical days a week school, planting plans, costing and specification, plushomework) drawing tuition and homework on design and plant portfolios. Tutors 10am-3.15pm, plus 2 days are well respected in the industry and will guide students on how to succeed in this diverse profession.

(2 days a week (WedMAKERS & Thur) 10.30am-3.15pm, plus 2 days homework) GARDEN DAY October 2015 GARDENING

FOR BEGINNERS

Wednesday & Thursday 19, 20, 26, 27 April 2023

Distance Learning Courses studyhorticulturalist anytime,Ben anywhere world.

One of our most popular courses, led by- master Pope, which in aimsthe to take each student through 1-3 years complete. all the practicaltoelements of caring for a garden from soil, tools, maintenance, seed sowing and propagating, weed control and pests and diseases. The first 3 days will be spent with lectures at the Chelsea Physic Garden and the final GARDEN DESIGN & CARING FOR YOUR GARDEN day will be spent gaining practical experience in Rosemary Alexander’s much praised garden near Petersfield and garden nearby, where is in charge. Participants will be given a chancedrawing to prune, plant,up sow seeds Aanother stepprivate by step guide to Ben designing your own garden: and regular maintenance tasks will be discussed. light lunch andplanting refreshments will be Taught provided daily. plans, hard landscaping, site A analysis, etc. through a comprehensive course book, with projects submitted by post.

GARDEN DESIGN & CARING FOR YOUR GARDEN Distance Learning Courses study anytime, anywhere in the world

A stepping stone to a new career. These two correspondence courses are a step by step guide to either designing your and maintain an existing garden: drawing up plans, hard landscaping, site analysis, planting, month by month tasks etc. Taught through a comprehensive course book, with projects submitted to us.

1-3 years to complete and individual assessment.

own garden or learning how to plant Gardening School_B634393_2mg.indd 1

Garden of Medicinal Plants – Chelsea Physic Garden

Photo: R Alexander

© Marianne Majerus

Not sure which Diploma course is for you?

We prefer potential students to attend an Information Session when Rosemary explains the Not sure which course is for you? Come along whole course content and you can seeto ourfi facilities to an Information Session nd out more. at the historic Chelsea Physic Garden.

For CONTACT full details,US dates, prices visit our website JUST TO SET UP A DATE/TIME www.englishgardeningschool.co.uk www.englishgardeningschool.co.uk Email: info@englishgardeningschool.co.uk Email: info@englishgardeningschool.co.uk Tel: 020 7352 4347 Tel: 020 7352 4347

Garden of Rosemary Alexander, Principal EGS Sandhill Farmhouse, Hampshire

Long established as the leader in all design and gardening tuition and based at the unique and historic Chelsea Physic Garden

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 117

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ROSES

All About Roses

IMAGE JAYNE LLOYD

Award-winning garden designer and ardent rose lover Jo Thompson suggests two exquisite planting schemes for roses and recommends her favourite varieties

Jo’s garden at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2019; she outlines its sherbet-themed planting scheme on page 123.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 119

ROSES

At Clinton Lodge, borders of pretty pink roses and airy companions lead to a focal point of rambling rose ‘The Garland’.

120 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

IMAGES MIMI CONNOLLY; CLIVE NICHOLS; MIKE SLEIGH; WIKI COMMONS; JOANNA KOSSAK; SHUTTERSTOCK

Rosa ‘The Garland’ A rambling rose with pink buds opening into creamy blooms.

Rosa ‘Comte de Chambord’ A robust old rose sometimes known as ‘Madame Boll’.

Alchemilla mollis This herbaceous plant is perfect to grow around shrub roses.

Rosa ‘Impératrice Joséphine’ A bushy 1.5m shrub with lightly scented flowers.

Nepeta racemosa ‘Walkers Low’ Perfect for planting underneath pink roses.

Rosa x centifolia ‘Cristata’ A historic moss rose with heavenly, heady scent.

Air & Grace Sumptuous pale-toned roses define a simple scheme shot through with the lime-green flowers of Alchemilla mollis and airy spires of sky-blue Nepeta racemosa ‘Walkers Low’

W

hite grabs the attention: when we work with this, we get the best results. A clever way of using white is to keep it high: white height, in fact. Here at Clinton Lodge, the fadingto-white flowers of Rosa ‘The Garland’ start off cream-blush, a neat link to the pink old roses in the borders. As they get paler, the flowers shift their linking power to the sky: all is pale above, with the dark shadows of yew spinning out in perspective lines on either side.

Here’s what we expect of a rose garden, with the blush of the roses matched gently by the lime of the inflorescences of Alchemilla mollis and the blue-violets of

Nepeta racemosa ‘Walkers Low’. The air colours of the nepeta are another link to that all-important sky above, while the pale green of the lady’s mantle connects to the fresh, almost spring green of the summer grass beneath our feet.

So simple, so clever and so effective.

Remember this one and do it at home. Just because it’s simple, doesn’t mean you need to try to better this palette. The soft pastels are so pleasing and easy on the eye; you want to stay in this secret garden forever.

You can almost touch the atmosphere of nostalgia: the senses are totally absorbed by the associations and connotations of this most familiar of colour schemes.

It would be easy to want more, to shake up the colour and introduce some contrasts.

Tulip games would be fun, each year changing the scheme and indulging in wild colour before the soft-to-bright pink of Rosa ‘Impératrice Joséphine’ and the warm pink of R. ‘Comte de Chambord’ (one of the better old garden roses, according to Peter Beales) have even suggested their arrival. Before R. x centifolia ‘Cristata’ has started putting on its pure pink flowers, before the mid-pink scent-stuffed flowers of R. ‘Ispahan’ start to bloom. I’d love to know if these roses were chosen purely for the colours and scent or whether their names also had something to do with it.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 121

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ROSES

Sweet Treats

Sherbet hues and children’s fairy tales set the mood for this rose-filled scheme of pinks, lemons and corals

IMAGES RACHEL WARNE; JOANNA KOSSAK; ISTOCK/TONY BAGGETT

S

herbet colours mark this garden out as something different. I wanted to achieve something other than classic yet still pretty, without resorting to obvious blues or lilacs. The result evokes a scene glimpsed from an Italian rooftop, where in the buildings below you can see every shade from terracotta through coral and pink and lemon. I took beautiful apricotyellow Rosa ‘Buff Beauty’ and clearest pink R. ‘Bonica’, placed them together and built up the layers in my head, shifting from palest lemon through to dusky plum.

The pale yellow of Eschscholzia californica ‘Ivory Castle’ reappears in the petals of Phlox drummondii ‘Crème Brûlée’. The damask of Verbascum ‘Helen Johnson’ and flat-topped heads of Daucus carota ‘Dara’ are in harmony with the shades of pink. Geranium x oxonianum ‘Lace Time’ with its petals of mother-ofpearl gently twinkles pink at the foot of this exuberant planting, which was inspired – looking back on it – by sweetshop shelves full of multi-coloured jars.

Adapted from The Gardener’s Palette: Creating Colour Harmony in the Garden by Jo Thompson, £35, Timber Press.

Daucus carota ‘Dara’

Geranium ‘Lace Time’

Iris ‘Pink Charm’

Phlox ‘Crème Brûlée’

Rosa ‘Buff Beauty’

Verbascum ‘Helen Johnson’

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 123

ROSES

Jo’s favourite ROSES

‘MEG’

‘FÉLICITÉ PERPÉTUE’

‘ISPAHAN’

This climbing rose’s habit is poetic: it’s all floppy and laid-back romantic.

The same goes for her colour; one day pink, the next day anything from apricot to buff yellow. I first saw her scaling a wall at Sissinghurst.

Frilly, creamy-white, fragrant flowers appear in hundreds of delicious clusters all the way along her stretchy flexible arms, which are relatively thornless. This rambling rose is a powder puff personified.

Slightly dishevelled, on close examination the blooms are asking to be tidied up, but en masse they produce a perfumed pink ‘pow!’

When in full bloom, this shrub is absolutely smothered with flowers.

‘THE LARK ASCENDING’

‘MUNSTEAD WOOD’

ROSA BANKSIAE ‘LUTEA’

I can’t begin to explain the sheer joy this rose gives when the great big fat buds explode into bloom. The heavy flowers can weigh down the stems, but the sumptuousness of her colours earns this broad and bushy shrub rose a place in the garden.

Tiny, sweet, joyful clusters of buttery, pale sulphur, primrose flowers explode into bloom around late April and early May. The early buds, which start tempting you in March and make you think the best bit of the year is nearly here, are so seductive. n

The name brings to mind exquisite harmony and the flowers do just the same. Apart from the how-is-thatpossible translucence and deceptive fragility of this shrub rose’s wonderful flowers, I can never get over the light that they bring into the garden.

124 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

IMAGES GAP/HOWARD RICE; GARDEN WORLD IMAGES; CLIVE NICHOLS

An avowed rose fan, Jo Thompson outlines the characteristics of some of her preferred varieties, from ramblers smothered in blooms to repeat-flowering shrubs

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Keep Them Coming

IMAGE GAP/RICHARD BLOOM

The potted displays at East Ruston Old Vicarage are one of the triumphs of this renowned Norfolk garden. Owner Alan Gray suggests star plants for containers and advises on what to plant now for a sustained show as summer progresses

For successful, eyecatching containers that last all summer long, think bold and cast the planting net wide.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 127

CO N TA I N E R S

B

y late summer, colour is often fizzling out in containers, especially as bedding plants start to wane. But now our autumns are so much milder, we’re able to extend the show. In late May we encourage this by sowing a crop of late bedding plants, such as cosmos, cleome and the weatherresistant French marigold ‘Konstance’, which often flowers well into November. Other ingredients we divide to make more of, or we propagate with cuttings, for in summer plants grow fast. Foliage is the ingredient that makes late-summer containers interesting, so I plant with this in mind. As the

128 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

Above Combine plants

for height and plants for edging – here, silvery grass Elymus magellanicus arches below solanum lollipops.

flowers of bedding plants wane, foliage takes over, adding extra freshness and a boldness that disguises the remains of those blowsy petunias and phlox.

With its increasingly large silver leaves, Plectranthus argentatus is a true statement plant that will get bigger and better as the season progresses. As a bonus, it produces thin spires of pretty mauve flowers in autumn. It is large, imposing and architectural and will cascade vigorously over the edges of containers, softening them and efficiently disguising any dying remnants of summer planting.

As a complete contrast, Hibiscus acetosella ‘Panama Red’ resembles an acer in growth, but its warm, rusty-coloured foliage makes a good foil for the bright colours of summer. It is a tall plant that benefits from frequent pinching out to keep it bushy as the season progresses, whence it disguises dying annuals beautifully. It rarely blooms in this country because our summers are too short, but the foliage is enough and it can easily be increased vegetatively.

Solenostemon, formerly known as coleus, can be found in garden centres in late summer, but is easily grown from seed sown in late May. Select leaf colours carefully – easier if you buy plants from a garden centre – because when grown from a mixed packet of seed, the jumble of colours and patterns can jar. Pinch out flowers to encourage fresh, bright leaf colour that lasts into autumn and feed plants regularly.

We use a feed from PlantGrow; it stinks, so it must be good!

Another remarkable foliage plant is Centaurea cineraria, which makes a fountain of beautifully cut silver leaves. It has pink, thistle-like blooms, but these are best removed in favour of the foliage. We often include this in plantings of pelargoniums in garden urns. The pelargoniums are the centrepiece when first planted, but as summer progresses the centaurea takes over and shines: no longer the understudy, its fantastic foliage lends it a star quality. It grows easily from autumn cuttings, and the young plants are more vigorous than older ones.

Tibouchina urvilleana is a frost-tender shrub that we use in large summer pots. Its main attraction is

IMAGES GAP/RICHARD BLOOM/DAVE ZUBRASKI; GARDEN WORLD IMAGES

Above left Sow French marigold ‘Konstance’ now for fiery latesummer blooms.

Above right Plectranthus argentatus offers racemes of mauve flowers in autumn.

Below right Acer-like Hibiscus acetosella ‘Panama Red’.

Below left Petunias with Elymus magellanicus.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 129

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130 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

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CO N TA I N E R S

the copious quantities of large papal purple flowers produced from July onwards, so this takes over the flowering mantle from surrounding annuals and lasts well into autumn. If it’s taken into a frost-free environment, flowering will continue well into the new year. When the surrounding plants begin to pall, we put in a simple ruff of Oxalis spiralis subsp. vulcanicola ‘Sunset Velvet’. A fantastic foil to the purple flowers of the tibouchina, this has remarkable foliage in shades of lime, yellow, pink, bronze and green, with acidic yellow blooms as a bonus. It’s easily increased by division in early

Above Tibouchina

urvilleana makes a real statement; contrasting reds and purples add to the drama.

Top right With its downy, deeply cut leaves, drought-tolerant Centaurea cineraria makes an excellent candidate for containers.

summer: we start with three plants and by the time they are needed, we have 15 of them.

Tradescantia fluminensis ‘Maiden’s Blush’ was once a popular houseplant, but it has largely gone out of fashion. As an edging plant for summer containers, however, it is unbeatable. Here the foliage is green of course, but the new shoots and some of the mature leaves are bright pink and cream, a charming combination that gets better as the summer progresses. This plant couldn’t be easier from cuttings, so we take a few in spring to give us suitable fillers on hand whenever the need arises. Nowadays this plant is hardy in a sheltered spot, so we can help ourselves as needed.

Should your colour slump and you have no alternative to hand, then a visit to the garden centre is a must. I should look for fuchsias and, being parsimonious, would expect to see them at reduced prices by late summer – pelargoniums, too. Both of these will pep up a fading container, but be bold: go for no more than two varieties or colours to avoid a spotty look. Foliage can also play a part: a couple of ubiquitous spider plants used as an edge is fun, as is the grass Elymus magellanicus. This is too invasive to let loose in the garden, but the elongated, silverblue blades make a surprisingly good collar for a container, draping gracefully at the edge.

Containers on the north side of buildings often cause concern, but they needn’t. The simplest solution is an easy planting of white impatiens (busy lizzies) – colours of these other than white JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 131

are too brash, however. I should use these to edge the container, placing at its centre Hosta ‘Royal Standard’, which has green leaves and produces white, scented flowers in late summer. So easy, so simple, but so smart! Impatiens killimanjari x pseudoviola (white-flowered form) is even better, with smaller, slightly hooded flowers produced in quantity. There are pink and red forms, too, not readily available but worth searching for.

Another foliage plant we often use is Helichrysum petiolare, in either its silver-leaved form or, my favourite, ‘Limelight’, which has lime-green foliage.

You find these in the section for ‘Patio Plants’, a rather unpleasant name: I think ‘Treasures for the Terrace’ is much better. Its scandent growth will drape nicely over the edge of any container, but I like to take the odd shoot and tie it vertically to a cane so its shape will resemble that of a coniferous tree, the 132 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

Top left White impatiens thrive in shadier spaces.

Above right Planting on a grand scale: Oxalis ‘Sunset Velvet’ supports bidens, melianthus and pendulous brugmansia.

Above left Helichrysum petiolare is droughttolerant and long lasting.

side-shoots standing out horizontally from the main stem. The effect is simple but unexpected. Do this in mid-summer and, like the magician’s assistant, they will divert your attention from plants past their best.

Finally, do try to feed your containers regularly until the end of September. Use snips or secateurs to regularly deadhead plants like petunias, for once they set seed their work is done and the next generation of plants is assured. Also, summer prune to maintain shape and form. It is surprising what just a little titivating can achieve. n East Ruston Old Vicarage, East Ruston, Norwich, Norfolk NR12 9HN. Open Wednesday to Sunday and Bank Holidays, 12-5.30pm until the end of October. Plant fairs take place on Saturday 11 June and Saturday 10 September. Tel: 01692 650432; eastrustonoldvicarage.co.uk

IMAGES SHUTTERSTOCK; GAP/RICHARD BLOOM; GARDEN WORLD IMAGES

CO N TA I N E R S

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G R OW YO U R OW N

Singing the Season Spring slips into summer at Thyme in Southrop, bringing slender spears of asparagus, while the team busy themselves sowing cucurbits of every shape and hue WORDS VIVIENNE HAMBLY PHOTOGRAPHS SUSSIE BELL

A flush of lilac chive flowers brings a decorative twist to the kitchen garden at Thyme in Southrop.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 135

G R OW YO U R OW N

Right After eight weeks of harvesting, stop cutting asparagus spears so the crowns have chance to replenish.

Below Asparagus eventually develops fine-textured ferny foliage, which makes it an attractive addition to a mixed border.

S

ummer arrives at the kitchen garden at Thyme near Southrop, Gloucestershire, in a tumult of new growth. Sunlight slides between the trees on the lane to the kitchen garden, and wildflowers bloom in the water meadows. A cuckoo sings the season.

In the vegetable beds, every shade of green unfurls over the early weeks of June. The first harvests of the new season come to fruition, while beans twine slim tendrils around rustic tepee supports, their flowers blooming white, cream, butter-yellow, lilac and carmine. In humus-rich, alluvial soil the colour of dark chocolate, roots grow steadily larger and longer. Good-natured nasturtiums sprawl across paths, and calendulas, as bright as buttons, flower with abandon. In the cutting garden nearby, the summer fiesta of blooms is poised to begin.

136 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

Little Luxuries If there is one good reason to keep a vegetable patch, it is to be able to indulge in those crops that are scarce and costly. The short season of English asparagus starts in mid-spring, the stems being at first pale and stout, then slimmer, longer and greener as the weeks pass by. At home, an asparagus bed is a luxury given the space it requires: the plants are perennial and prefer not to have competition.

Crowns also take time to develop, and spears should not be picked until the second year after planting. That aside, asparagus is an undemanding crop. A bed of around 30 crowns should provide a steady supply, with new spears arriving every other day at peak season. Expect around ten spears from each crown, but stop picking after eight weeks to allow the crowns to replenish.

At Thyme, the asparagus beds are fairly new, with some created as recently as 2019. Head gardener Victoria Bowsher is excited for this year’s harvest.

“We picked tentatively in 2021 and I didn’t want to pick at all in 2020,” she explains. “Our main trouble is keeping the chefs off it.”

Ensure asparagus beds are well drained, particularly when gardening on heavy soil, since the crowns may rot. Incorporate plenty of manure and even a little grit to improve drainage. Plant crowns around 10cm deep, with 40cm between each one.

Buy crowns of a trusted variety such as ‘Connover’s Colossal’ or ‘Millennium’; try ‘Burgundine’ and ‘Pacific Purple’ for violet-toned spears.

In a mixed border, the ferny foliage of asparagus and the red autumn berries borne on female plants make for an interesting, ornamental addition.

Above Aside from its

good looks, the cutting garden introduces a host of valuable pollinators to the kitchen garden.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 137

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G R OW YO U R OW N

Above left Given plenty of water, frost-tender squash will romp away in sun-warmed soil.

Above middle Calendula is a handy companion plant to divert aphids.

Above right Comfrey readily self-sows so can be invasive, but it makes a valuable plant feed and is loved by pollinators.

Seeds to Sow Now Courgettes Beetroot Beans Florence fennel Chard and spinach Chicory and endive Peas

Harvesting Now Asparagus Broad beans Cabbages Broccoli Carrots

Consider Cucurbits Anyone who has grown courgettes will know that in summer they go into nonstop production. “I’m still having nightmares about the courgettes we grew last year,” Victoria recalls. “The chefs like them really small, so I went in with a lot of enthusiasm and planted plenty. Then the restaurant had to close due to the pandemic and the courgettes backed up!”

Being both disease-resistant and prolific, ‘Defender’, an F1 variety, is deservedly popular, but there is so much more to courgettes than this.

Chefs at Thyme enjoy the pale green, ribbed ‘Lungo Fiorentino’. Consider also striped ‘Striato D’Italia’, or ‘Lungo Bianco’, in an attractive creamy green, or sunshine-yellow ‘Gold Rush’. All are available through Seeds of Italy (seedsofitaly.com). Keep picking fruits so you don’t end up with marrows.

Pumpkins also make an appearance. ‘Crown Prince’ is the kitchen’s favourite culinary variety, but Thyme also uses pumpkins for decorative displays, so Victoria also chooses some varieties for their looks. ‘Celebration’ is small, pretty and speckled; ‘Uchiki Kuri’, the popular Japanese squash, is deep orange with sweet, nutty flesh; and ‘Rouge Vif d’Etemps’ is prized for its size.

Victoria starts the pumpkins under cover, so fruits have longer to ripen. “When the frosts have passed we plant them in mounds. This supposedly helps air circulation, which helps prevent downy mildew.”

All squash and pumpkins are heavy feeders, so dig in plenty of manure before planting. Regular watering encourages good fruiting and prevents water stress, which can cause downy mildew.

TECHNIQUE

Companion Flowers Purists may grumble, but flowers have every place in a vegetable garden. Many are edible, and their bright colours bring levity to ordered rows of plants.

More importantly, they attract crucial pollinators to a patch, helping to foster a hierarchy of predation that will ultimately mean fewer pests. If sacrificial plants are used, these can also lure pests away from prized vegetables. Nasturtiums, whose flowers and leaves make a peppery addition to salads, attract aphids, so grow them close to beans, which are prone to attack. At the end of the season, pickle their seeds to enjoy like capers.

For distinctive wine-red flowers, try ‘Black Velvet’. Calendula flowers also attract aphids, and are a pretty addition to summer salads and cake decorations.

‘Sunset Buff’ in creamy-pink tones is an alternative to the usual bright orange.

Strongly scented hyssop, which has indigo flowers, deters flea beetles from rocket and radishes and stops cabbage white butterflies from laying eggs on larger brassicas. Blue- or white-flowered borage is a rich nectar source for bees – add borage flowers to Pimm’s – as is comfrey, of which all parts can be used to make an effective organic plant feed.

Thyme, Southrop, Gloucestershire GL7 3NX. Tel: 01367 850174; thyme.co.uk JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 139

G R OW YO U R OW N

Strawberry shortcake Crisp, buttery almond biscuits are the perfect vehicle for decadent layers of cream, sharp lemon curd and sweet, seasonal strawberries Strawberry shortcake is a delectable teatime favourite. Charlie Hibbert, head chef at Thyme, introduces a sophisticated twist on this classic by using crisp almond biscuits instead of the usual cakier base, and a generous helping of sharp lemon curd, which perfectly balances the unctuousness of gently whipped cream and ice cream.

SERVES 4 Freeze any spare shortcake mix

FOR THE SHORTCAKE 200g butter 125g caster sugar, with a little extra for dusting 125g plain flour 200g blanched almonds Zest of 1 lemon 140 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

In a food processor, grind the almonds to a fine powder. Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy. Add the ground almonds, lemon zest and flour to the creamed mixture and gently combine until uniform. Spoon the mixture onto a sheet of greaseproof paper, shape it into a log about 4cm in diameter, wrap and chill for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160°C (fan). Slice the chilled log into coins 1cm thick, then arrange them on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Bake for eight minutes, or until the outer edges are golden. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with a little caster sugar and leave to cool.

FOR THE LEMON CURD 4 lemons, juiced 200g caster sugar 120g butter 3 large eggs

Bring to a simmer a small saucepan onethird full of water. Put all the ingredients except the eggs in a heatproof bowl and place the bowl over the pan. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs together. When the butter has melted, add the eggs, working

quickly with a whisk to combine the ingredients. As the mixture thickens, keep stirring it with a spatula until it is thick enough to coat the back. Transfer the lemon curd into a container and cover with a square of greaseproof paper to prevent it forming a skin. Leave it to cool completely.

TO FINISH 200ml double cream, whipped into soft peaks 1 punnet of strawberries, hulled and halved 1 tub of vanilla ice cream Icing sugar and edible flowers to decorate

Place a small dot of cream on a plate and push a shortcake onto it – the cream will stop it slipping. Add a small spoonful of cream and a scoop of ice cream onto the shortcake. Arrange the strawberries around the ice cream, then top everything with a spoonful of lemon curd and an extra spoonful of cream. Finish with a second shortcake to complete the sandwich, dust with icing sugar and adorn with a flower or two to serve. n

IMAGE KIRSTIE YOUNG

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SAL ADS

SALADS

WORDS CLARE FOGGETT IMAGE CLIVE NICHOLS

Early summer has arrived and with it the promise of seasonal salads. Nothing beats a bowl of crisp, fresh leaves harvested straight from the plot and whisked to the kitchen to be dressed to perfection

Little is prettier in the vegetable plot than contrasting lines of succulent, delicious salad crops.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 143

SAL ADS

I

f you believe salads are little more than a garnish at best, ‘rabbit food’ at worst, stop reading now. This is for salad lovers and anyone who revels in growing their own salad crops. Those of us for whom summer, with its abundance of sweet, crunchy leaves, is a joyous season of nonstop creative salads.

Sarah Raven definitely falls into the latter camp.

At a recent Perch Hill event, she demonstrated how she makes her ideal salad. First, at least four different types of lettuce to form the base, including such varieties as bronze ‘Merveille de Quatre Saisons’, ‘Batavia Red’ for its floppy, dressing-holding leaves, and ‘Cerbiatta’ for crunchy sweetness. Then come salad leaves: mustard wasabi for a hot kick, spicy mizuna, young beetroot leaves, spinach, peppery rocket and baby kale, followed by herbs including coriander and chervil, dill and lemony sorrel. Next, a salad vegetable, like thinly sliced fennel, shaved on a mandoline for fine slivers that mingle with the leaves rather than falling heavily to the bottom of the bowl. Finally, Sarah scatters in edible flowers such as violas and nasturtium. Seeds of all these, recipes and growing guides are available at sarahraven.com.

Then there’s the dressing: good olive oil, red wine vinegar, plenty of salt and a grind of pepper, poured over and mixed thoroughly with the leaves.

Sarah keeps some leaves back to add at the end if the ratio of dressing to leaves requires it. Watching the

demonstration, the simple act of putting together a salad becomes an art form, every ingredient considered. In her vegetable garden, the same attention applies to the salad beds with red and green leaves in alternating rows; upright hearting lettuces next to looser oak-leaf types. Happily, as Sarah is keen to point out, salad leaves are the easiest edibles to grow, whether you have a balcony, a few containers, a window box or a vegetable plot.

Author Mark Diacono, whose book Herb: A Cook’s Companion was published last year, also

“We underuse herbs in salads in this country, but they are the clothes that everything else dresses up in” -

MARK DIACONO

Below left Sarah Raven picks gloriously colourful salads and edible flowers at her garden, Perch Hill.

Clockwise from below middle Lemon-flavoured

sorrel; edible Viola tricolor; from Sarah Raven’s seed range, lettuce ‘Cerbiatta’ and ‘Batavia Red’. Visit sarahraven.com

advocates for herbs in salads. “We underuse herbs in salads in this country,” he says, “but they are the clothes that everything else dresses up in. If you’ve got a leafy salad and you add small Greek basil leaves, it’s very different. If you add a little parsley or coriander, it turns the whole salad upside down.

Chive flowers are the greatest ingredient. Take one big chive flower and pull it apart into its little florets – they are full of sweet loveliness, adding oniony punctuation to a leafy salad without any harshness.”

Above left Abundant, bitter chickweed is rich in nutrients and makes a delicious pesto sauce.

Above right Soothing chamomile can aid a good night’s sleep.

Below Gardener, herbalist, forager and author, Becky Cole.

144 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

IMAGES SHUTTERSTOCK; SARAH RAVEN/JONATHAN BUCKLEY; MARTIN MORRELL

Mark recommends harvesting dill and fennel for their flowers, and he suggests adding seeds from herbs such as fennel and celery-flavoured lovage to salads, too. “You need very little of it, but it adds so very much,” he says of lovage, an easy-to-grow perennial herb that will seed around.

Mark’s also keen to promote different salad leaves, ringing the changes with such ingredients as salad burnet (Sanguisorba minor). Pick them young and its leaves taste of cucumber. “The succulent, newer leaves are wonderful: cool, fresh and highly recommended,” he says. Purple or green shiso is an underused, underappreciated leaf, he adds, describing its flavour as “somewhere between cumin and mint”. According to Mark, the sunnier the spot it grows in, the more concentrated the cumin flavour becomes. Shred the papery leaves finely “so you get all the flavour without the tedium of the texture”.

While salad crops are easy to grow, the tricky bit is ensuring a continuous supply, and the way to do this is by sowing successionally. Jez Taylor is the market garden manager at Daylesford Organic. “Managing growth is key,” he says. “Sowing little and often – small amounts of lettuce, spinach, beetroot, rocket and coriander three times at six-week intervals – will keep you in salad all summer and autumn, rather than delivering a vast amount that all goes to seed by mid-summer.”

“Another idea is to take ten pots and sow salad seeds into one pot per week for ten weeks. That way you’ll be able to eat the tastier young leaves without having a large glut all at once. You could put different varieties in each pot so you’re eating a different summer salad from week to week,” he suggests. Easy and convenient, containers have the

Above left Mark Diacono, author of Herb: A Cook’s Companion.

Clockwise from top middle Perennial herb

lovage; the leaves of shiso taste of cumin and mint; harvest dill flowers as well as its leaves; salad burnet leaves add a hint of cucumber.

Below Jez Taylor, market garden manager at Daylesford Organic.

added advantage of being raised from the ground, making slugs less of a problem. “Drying out can be an issue though, which can lead to ‘bolting’ in leaf salad, so if possible grow in large containers, which hold more soil and water,” Jez advises. Prolong the harvest by cutting leaves only from the outside of each plant, leaving the centre intact to regrow.

“I don’t think there is such a thing as too many different leaves in a salad. Try to get a good mix of colour, texture and shapes – put in something peppery and spicy, something bitter and something with some juiciness and crunchiness, bulked out with more neutral leaves,” he says. “Young spinach takes just four weeks from sowing to harvesting and oak-leaf lettuce is great. Mangetout or sugar

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 145

SAL ADS

Daylesford Organic’s New Potato Salad with Green Herb and Miso Dressing Ingredients (serves 6) For the dressing: 70g mixed fresh green herbs 1 ½ tbsp white miso paste 1 lemon 125ml olive oil 1 tbsp white wine vinegar 1 small clove garlic ½ tsp Dijon mustard 2 tsp capers Freshly ground black pepper

Method To make the dressing, place all of the ingredients into a blender and whizz to the consistency of a salsa verde, or smooth pesto, adding a little more olive oil or a dash of water to loosen if needed. Taste to check the seasoning, adjusting if necessary, and keep to one side.

Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and add the new potatoes.

For the salad: 500g baby new potatoes 1 lemon, zest only 1 tbsp capers 2 tbsp chives, roughly chopped A handful of pea shoots

Simmer gently for 12-15 minutes until tender. Drain and tip into a large bowl.

Pour half of the dressing over the potatoes, reserving the rest for another time. Add the capers, chives and lemon zest and stir well to thoroughly coat the potatoes.

Leave to cool to room temperature, toss the pea shoots through the potatoes and serve. n

“Managing growth is key, sowing little and often will keep you in salad all summer and autumn” - JEZ TAYLOR

snap peas climb up a vertical support and look pretty, too. Early on you can eat the tips, and later you can eat the pods.” Visit daylesfordorganic.com for recipes and more, including information on Jez’s workshop, ‘The Art of Market Gardening’.

At The Newt in Somerset, polytunnels extend the salad season. In June, the first ‘Pablo’ beetroot are harvested from the tunnels while they’re small and packed with flavour. It’s also when established plants of parsley, which have withstood the winter outdoors, burst into growth with abundant earlysummer harvests. Visit thenewtinsomerset.com for information about ‘The Great Garden Escape’ train trips from London this summer. n

Clockwise from top left

146 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

IMAGES SHUTTERSTOCK; DAYLESFORD ORGANIC

Sugar snap peas or mangetout pods make a crunchy addition, and you can eat the shoot tips; add chive flowers for flavour and colour; young beetroot leaves.

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For best value, buy in bulk 12, 25 or 48 x 13.5kg bags direct from us, or in 9kg bags from our online and nationwide stockists.

Professional gardeners see the benefits “The Alnwick Garden uses Strulch around our delphiniums and hostas to prevent slug damage. Strulch is also used to suppress weeds throughout our borders with great effect” Trevor Jones, Former Head Gardener “I have used it on the veg beds as a heavy mulch and experimenting in some areas as a no dig concept; laid it on cardboard on the beds and will sow wildflower seed into it. I have used it on two of the herbaceous borders to keep the weeds down and keep the ground warmer to help protect the crowns.

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S H A R I N G YO U R G A R D E N

Sharing & Caring

IMAGE GAP/ANDREA JONES

From selling or donating your home-grown produce, to organising a garden party for charity or even hosting a classical concert, there are dozens of ways to share your garden for good causes this summer

Set up a roadside table selling crops or bouquets of flowers to raise money for charitable causes.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 149

S H A R I N G YO U R G A R D E N

W

hen the roses are in full, glorious flush, the lawn is exactly the way it should be and the vegetable garden swells with produce, you might, in a modest way, consider how this exquisite profusion can be shared. Thoughts often begin and end at a garden party, yet gardens, multi-faceted as they are, present dozens of ways to be shared, with varying degrees of commitment and time, and often for good causes.

Grow to Give Anyone who has grown courgettes will recognise that point in midsummer where there are simply more fruits than anyone can bear. The simplest way to share excess produce is to leave it on a community table.

Yet with just a little more effort and an honesty box, this can become an excellent way to raise funds for a favoured charity. Set out a table with a pretty cloth and add to your glut other choice offerings: tussie-mussies tied with ribbon, surplus seedlings, or self-sown plants potted up. Pick a day when there is likely to be passing traffic – weekends are ideal – keep prices clear, low and to multiples of 50p for simplicity, and you may collect a surprising sum. While the stall needn’t be staffed, it’s prudent to check on it periodically, emptying the collection

150 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

Above The beauty of

a roadside stall is that quantities can be small and irregular.

Below With a little thought, the produce a vegetable patch and cutting garden provide can go a long way.

tin a couple of times a day and replenishing stock as necessary.

If you don’t want to leave out a collection tin, lay out envelopes with instructions to add money and put through your letterbox or door.

You can also use produce to support your community. Post offices are often the lifeblood of villages and may welcome produce, be it surplus eggs, chard or plums, to sell to people who cannot easily reach the larger, out-of-town stores.

Meanwhile those with larger vegetable patches could consider donating to food banks, which are facing increasing demand.

The 14 allotment sites allied to Buckinghamshire’s Grow To Give project donated 3.5 tonnes of produce to two foodbanks in 2021.

“It’s probably not a lot when you look at what the supermarkets plough through, but it is when you consider the love and attention that’s put into it.

The produce is fresh, it’s plastic- and pesticide-free and has low food miles,” explains co-ordinator Sheila Bees. Sheila advises checking with your local foodbank to see what will be useful. Grow To Give provides instructions on how to set up similar structures at growtogive.co.uk.

IMAGES SHUTTERSTOCK; GAP/MAXINE ADCOCK; SECRET GARDEN CONCERTS; CLIVE NICHOLS

Host a Concert An evening at Glyndebourne, Garsington or the Minack Theatre, presents the sublime pleasure of seeing a classical concert on a long summer evening, a rug over the knees and swifts wheeling overhead. Not all productions have to be on such grand a scale however. A host of touring companies will perform in venues large and small, and hosting a classical or jazz concert in the garden can be a fun way to raise funds for charity, be it for the local school, to help repair the parish church roof or for larger organisations such as Macmillan and Marie Curie, both of which saw donations drop off during the pandemic.

Faced with venue closures during this time, cellist Chris Gist decided to host concerts in his relatively modest southwest London garden and Secret Garden Concerts (secretgardenconcerts.com) was born. “We started Secret Garden Concerts to give musicians crucial work, and audiences an opportunity to watch performances without compromising their safety,” he explains. For one-offs, look to organisations such as nationwide agency Music Students for Hire (musicstudentsforhire.co.uk). If your ambitions are higher, consider Hartley Voices (hartleyvoices.

Top Secret Garden

Concerts take place in the relatively modest London garden of cellist Chris Gist.

Above The Opera Garden at the Wormsley Estate, Buckinghamshire, where the Garsington Opera season is held.

co.uk), a collective of classically trained professional performers or Rogue Opera (rogueopera.co.uk) for events that can be staged almost anywhere.

Wild Arts (wildarts.org.uk), founded by Orlando Jopling in 2020, performs operas at venues across the country, including Goodnestone House in Kent, Layer Marney Tower in Essex, and Iscoyd Park in Shropshire. For larger productions, health and safety regulations will need to be kept in mind, and you may also wish to explore catering options.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 151

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IMAGES CLIVE NICHOLS; SUSIE WATSON

S H A R I N G YO U R G A R D E N

Location, Location, Location Highclere might be well known as the setting for Downton Abbey, but you don’t need to live in a castle to offer your property as a shoot location.

Location scouts are always searching for new and interesting spaces to film anything from the next blockbuster movie to summer homeware catalogues.

Begin by registering your property with a location agency, but be aware that many will seek to list both the house and the garden. “If someone came to us with a house that was suitable as well as a garden that would be a bonus,” explains Sophie Hitchens, owner of Light Locations (lightlocations.com).

A garden in high demand can include a paved or decked dining area, a swimming pool and possibly a pool house. “The garden needs to be beautiful and well kept,” adds Sophie. Shoots can last for anything from a day to a week, and crew will need somewhere to store materials for longer filming sessions. They’ll also need access to tea- and coffee-making facilities, and toilets. It’s possible to block out weeks of availability if you have visitors or if children are on school holiday, but generally, as Sophie observes: “If people do shoots, they make themselves

Top A paved terrace

is on the check list of desirable attributes for properties that are used as filming locations.

Above Susie Watson, owner of the eponymous interiors brand, often uses her own garden as a filming location with rustic appeal.

available.” She continues: “The worst thing about a shoot outside is that it’s always weather dependent.

Shoots can be postponed at the last minute if the weather turns.” Fees range from £850 to £1,250 a day, with Light Locations taking a 20 per cent cut. Start by submitting shots of your home to the agency, which will then scrutinise them and arrange a visit to vet your property. Scan location websites to establish where to pitch your property.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 153

S H A R I N G YO U R G A R D E N

Get the Party Started The National Garden Scheme is renowned for its network of gardens opening for nursing and health charities around the country. Less well known is that if you don’t want to show off your garden to strangers, the NGS will support you in hosting a Great British Garden Party for friends.

The official week for hosting is 16-24 July, but it’s not essential to stick to these dates.

The event is sponsored by party company Talking Tables, and there are customisable posters, invitations, decorations, recipes and party games, as well as lots of styling tips, available to download from ngs.org.uk. On signing up, the NGS will distribute a digital fundraising kit to lead you through the process.

If you don’t want to manage cash yourself, the NGS can provide a QR code guests can scan and donate through, or you can set up a JustGiving page (justgiving.com). You could charge a basic fee or, depending on the size of the party, hold a produce sale or even arrange a raffle with a local business. Charities the NGS supports include Horatio’s Garden, Maggie’s and Macmillan. n

Above Gardeners often

IMAGES NGS/SUSSIE BELL. STYLING SELINA LAKE

see faults where others see only beauty. Don’t let self-doubt keep you from sharing your garden with friends.

This image Few things are lovelier than a cake and pots of tea on a summer afternoon.

154 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

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H O LY R O O D P H YS I C G A R D E N

A History of Healing A recreation of the medieval physic garden at Edinburgh’s Holyrood Palace evokes the original’s layout and medicinal planting and aims to educate visitors about the past, while providing a calming, beautiful space to enjoy in the here and now WORDS AMANDA HODGES PHOTOGRAPHS RAY COX

The garden employs a softer version of the 17th-century style of subdivision to create a library of herbs.

JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 157

HOLYROOD PHYSIC GARDEN

Lavandula angustifolia ‘Princess Blue’

Artemisia abrotanum

Erigeron karvinskianus

Santolina rosmarinifolia

Poppy

Allium schoenoprasum ‘Pink Perfection’

Agastache foeniculum

Chamomile

158 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

Valerian

I

n 1724, Robinson Crusoe author Daniel Defoe published his discursive travel memoir, A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain. In it, he made passing reference to Edinburgh’s flourishing Royal Botanic Garden, originating from the small physic garden at Holyrood Palace, Scotland’s first: ‘One is like our apothecaries garden at Chelsea, called a physick garden, and is tolerably well stored with simples [herbs], and some exoticks of value; and, particularly I was told, there was a rhubarb-tree, or plant, which throve very well.’ Rhubarb was highly prized due to its use as a purgative within the prevailing medical system, which used the four humours to balance the body.

Physic gardens are essentially herb gardens containing medicinal plants, and their origins can be traced back to ancient times. In the year 805, the emperor Charlemagne ordained that medicine should be taught at cathedral schools under the name of ‘Physic’, establishing the herbal tradition.

Until medieval times, physic gardens in Europe were predominantly the province of self-sufficient monasteries. Monasteries were medical and spiritual centres; people could visit free of charge when ill, since care was a charitable obligation. But eventually, medical science became secularised.

The physic garden at Holyrood had been the 1670 creation of two of the founding members of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Sir Robert Sibbald and Dr Andrew Balfour. Initially the men rented a small plot of land near Holyrood Above Raised beds of Latin names, but English ones too. He describes plants Abbey, planting it with some 90 medicinal plant medicinal plants, with like ‘hairy kidneywort’ (believed to cure epilepsy), species, their intention being to teach students valerian and poppies at ‘spotted lungwort’ (thought to cure pulmonary about the medicinal properties of plants and to the back and chives and infections) and ‘common hound’s-tongue’ – used for provide apothecaries (the pharmacists of their day) bay in the foreground. absolutely everything! with fresh supplies. Within six years space became Another notable figure of the era who made herbal medicine limited and the garden moved to Trinity Hospital (now Platform 11 at Edinburgh Waverley Station), and then subsequently to Leith, widely accessible was Nicholas Culpeper, a dynamic individual with a healthy distrust of the establishment. “For God’s sake finding its permanent home in 1820 in Inverleith.

James Sutherland, Trinity Hospital’s young, self-taught gardener build not your faith upon Tradition, tis as rotten as a rotten post,” he wrote. A university-trained apothecary, fluent in Latin, he and its inaugural Regius Keeper – a title now given to the head published his Complete Herbal cheaply in 1653 in English, making of the Royal Botanic Garden – recorded the plants in the physic it easily affordable for all. It was, he explained, ‘a treatise of Herbs garden, many of which were transported from Holyrood Palace. and Plants as my Country men may readily make use of, for their In Hortus Medicus Edinburgensis, Scotland’s first botanical own preservation of health or cure of diseases… that so by the help publication, he lists worldwide species, and, intending ‘that the of my book they may cure themselves.’ The book, full of wit and Catalogue might be more useful to all persons’ included not just

Monasteries were medical and spiritual centres; people could visit free of charge when ill, since care was a charitable obligation JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 159

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HOLYROOD PHYSIC GARDEN

wisdom is still in print to this day. A 17th-century ballad ‘The Cries of London’ demonstrates how the properties of herbal plants were in common parlance at the time: ‘Here’s fine rosemary, sage and thyme. / Here’s featherfew, gilliflowers and rue. / Come, buy my knotted marjoram, ho! / And heartsease which all do choose.’

Holyrood Palace had originally been an abbey and a monastery. The first gardens at the palace were medieval ones cared for by the abbey monks. In 1503 James IV used the site to build the first royal palace, and by the time of Mary Queen of Scots’ residence from the 1560s there were enclosed gardens here hosting hunting, hawking and archery and jousting tournaments. The palace even had the luxury of a tennis court and an intriguing menagerie that housed tigers, bears, a lion and a camel.

The idea of reintroducing a herbal garden at Holyrood originated a decade ago. “A decision to recreate the physic garden was made in 2012 during the planning for our Future Programme project to revitalise the experience of visiting the Palace of Holyroodhouse,” says a Royal Collection Trust spokesperson. “The intention was to create a calm and beautiful space for visitors, young people and the local community. It makes use of the palace’s spectacular setting within the natural landscape of Holyrood Park and Arthur’s Seat beyond.”

Prior to its transformation, the four hectares of garden had been mainly lawn, with trees, shrubs and flowering bulbs. Some of this has been retained within the three parts of today’s gardens that encompass Holyrood’s long history: there’s the new physic garden, a nearby grassy area filled with

Top left In the meadow area, planting includes ox-eye daisies, which were once used to treat liver disorders.

Top right Oregano’s purple flowers.

Above A small Betula utilis var. jacquemontii shades the raised beds.

spring-flowering tulips, alliums and crocuses, its geometric layout reflecting the popular 17th-century layout, and a meadow that bursts into vibrant life over the summer months – the latter two areas flowing into one another. This meadow is reminiscent of the 15th-century monastic garden and is studded with daisies, once used to treat coughs and wounds; sorrel, thought to cure ulcers; and mallow, intended to treat scurvy.

“Though the physic garden is designed to evoke its historic predecessors, it is laid out in a less regimented fashion than the physic gardens of old,” the RCT spokesperson emphasises. “The

“The intention was to create a calm and beautiful space for visitors, young people and the local community” JUNE 2022 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 161

HOLYROOD PHYSIC GARDEN

17th-century physic gardens would have been strictly sub-divided according to a map – a little like a library of herbs – so that apothecaries would know exactly which plant they were picking. Today’s garden is softer and more aesthetically pleasing, with more overlap between plants and herbs.”

Within the physic garden there are raised flowerbeds reflecting the 17th-century design. The year-round medicinal and culinary planting includes indigenous and non-native plants, chosen to reflect their 17th-century counterparts. There are ox-eye daisies, which were used for liver disorders; St John’s wort, used to treat wounds and bruises; fennel, for aiding eyesight or treating bites; and borage for eye problems, heart disease and jaundice. Adjacent beds contain plants such as lemon balm, lavender and bergamot, used as scents, dyes and insecticides.

162 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

Top left Aromatic

sage, Salvia officinalis ‘Berggarten’.

Top middle Rosemary, which was used as an anti-inflammatory.

Top right Tiny flowers and leaves of thyme.

Above The garden backs onto the Abbey Strand Learning Centre.

Folklore is also represented with chicory and thyme: in the medieval era, ladies would embroider sprigs of thyme onto the scarves of knights to increase bravery, while it was believed that carrying chicory would open locked doors. Chicory was also used to treat bleeding from the mouth or nose, lung disorders and gout.

Officially opened in 2020, its 350th anniversary year, the new physic garden conjures a sense of the past and promotes education for future generations.

To date there have been public history talks and an outdoors sensory session, ‘Plants, Painting and Potions’, exploring the role of the gardens in the Palace’s 900-year history. Accessible during the pandemic lockdowns, the garden was an invaluable resource. “We felt it was important to have part of the site open even when the palace was closed, particularly since outdoor space has such an impact on wellbeing,” says the RCT. Today, the garden sits in the shadow of the Abbey Strand Learning Centre, a space for education that opened in October 2021 and offers abundant inspiration. Looking to the future, the intention is that the garden will be used for art and horticultural workshops, maximising Holyrood’s advantageous location and taking creative inspiration from its beauty and history. Much is planned, all being offered to ensure that this garden becomes, as was the garden of Sibbald and Balfour 350 years ago, a space for community learning. n Holyrood Palace, Canongate, Edinburgh EH8 8DX. The palace gardens are included in a general palace admission ticket. Visitors don’t need a ticket to visit the physic garden on its own, since this is situated outside the palace gates and is freely accessible whenever the palace is open. Visit the website at rct.uk/visit/palace-of-holyroodhouse to find opening times and more information.

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GARDENS & NURSERIES TO INSPIRE THIS SUMMER BLUEBELL ARBORETUM & NURSERY

THORNCROFT CLEMATIS & CLIMBERS We are the UK’s leading clematis specialist with nearly 40 years of experience growing and selling high quality clematis and climbers. We are proud to have an excellent reputation, not only for the quality of the plants we sell but also the high standard of service we give our customers.

We have 12 Gold Medals at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, adding to a vast array of awards from other exhibitions and events, including a major award for our mail order service. We do not open our nursery but a Click & Collect service is now available.

Specialists in hardy trees, shrubs and climbers including a huge selection of unusual and rare species and varieties.

Expert advice is available from our helpful staff.

The nursery is surrounded by a nineacre woodland garden (RHS Partner Garden), and visitors are welcome all year round.

Informative website and reliable mail order service if you would like plants delivered.

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BEETHAM NURSERIES

SPRING REACH NURSERY A plant fanatic’s paradise on the edge of the beautiful Surrey Hills, just 10 minutes from the A3/M25.

Brilliant home grown shrubs, climbers, grasses, perennials, roses, ferns, trees, hedging and fruit, plus these June starlets: Cornus kousa var. chinensis, Hebe ‘Nicola’s Blush’, Nepeta kubanica, Romneya coulteri, over 150 stunning roses blooming in June and Sanguisorba ‘Pink Brushes’.

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.

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

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

ASHWOOD NURSERIES

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

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

Hedging UK are specialist growers of quality hedging plants.

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HEVER CASTLE & GARDENS

HESTERCOMBE GARDENS Experience Hever Castle at the height of its summer beauty, with one of the finest displays of roses and summer blooms in Kent. Hever in Boom (20-26 June) showcases the glorious gardens with floral displays in the Castle and free garden tours. Led by the gardening team, the delightful tour will explore the rose garden with over 4,000 roses on display.

Hestercombe’s 50 acres of gardens are simply delightful. Nestled away in the heart of the Somerset countryside, its exquisite period and landscape gardens span three centuries of history and design.

Throughout the majestic formal gardens, Gertrude Jekyll’s striking, ‘vibrating’ colour schemes perfectly complement Lutyens’ masterly hard landscaping. Find inner peace and tranquillity as you meander through the lush Georgian Landscape Garden, with ‘borrowed’ views from each of the exotic seats exuding unique magnificence.

OPEN: 10am - 6pm (last entry 4.30pm)

Tel: 01732 865224 www.hevercastle.co.uk Hever, Edenbridge, Kent TN8 7NG

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CHELSEA PHYSIC GARDEN

WATERPERRY GARDENS The gardens are ablaze with colour over the long summer days. Heading the way are lupins and roses followed by delphiniums within the world famous herbaceous border.

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. The Garden runs an exciting programme of events and family activities, read more online.

Waterperry Gardens: A place where you can explore, relax and shop in beautiful surroundings all year round.

OPEN: 10am to 5.30pm. Party bookings welcome by arrangement.

OPEN: Sunday to Friday, 11am to 5pm.

Tel: 020 7352 5646 enquiries@chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk | www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk 66 Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, London SW3 4HS

Tel: 01844 339254 office@waterperrygardens.co.uk | www.waterperrygardens.co.uk Waterperry, Near Wheatley, Oxfordshire OX33 1LA

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Primrose Hall Peonies is an RHS Chelsea Flower Show gold medal award-winning British specialist peony nursery holding the Plant Heritage National Collection for unusual Intersectional or Itoh peony varieties.

We nurture all of our plants until they are at least five years old ensuring they are well established mature flowering peony plants. Once settled in your garden your peony plant should give you decades of flowers from its first flowering season. Our peonies are grown in the most sustainable way possible with peat-reduced compost in 5.5-litre pots. www.primrosehallpeonies.co.uk customerservice@primrosehall.co.uk

Established in the UK in 1938, Parigo were the first in the world to grow alstroemerias commercially under glass. As well as breeding and growing alstroemeria, Parigo are now RHS Chelsea gold medallists.

We grow all of our alstroemeria in 3-litre pots. alstroemeria are full of vitality so once grown into this size pot they are super strong garden hardy plants. A wide range of colours and varieties suitable for garden borders, containers and cut flowers.

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Eat the Rainbow To add a glamorous, celebratory feel to your cooking, Non Morris suggests growing colourful edible flowers to create an intoxicating feast for the senses

P

lacing an entire cherryred nasturtium flower into your mouth feels intimate and seductive. To eat a nasturtium is to capture the fiery essence of summer in one velvety, peppery bite.

Edible flowers have a deep appeal. Their sheer prettiness is irresistible and never fails to feel celebratory.

During the first lockdown, I remember the pale sparkle of foraged wild garlic flowers on a salad of dark leaves – the cheering distraction of having something so beautiful for supper. Patrice Taravella, who designed the gardens at Babylonstoren and The Newt, once made an extraordinary birthday cake for my husband. We were sitting under strings of lights and trailing vine leaves in the restaurant of his utterly beautiful French garden, the Prieuré D’Orsan.

The cake was wrapped in a peeling collar of tempered chocolate and decorated with singing blue cornflowers and orange marigolds – a surprise flowerstrewn helter-skelter that felt magical as a gesture.

The Romans cooked with roses and violets sweetened with honey, while herb salads decorated with primroses and violets have been enjoyed in England since the 15th century. There seems to have been something of a lull in the Victorian kitchen – perhaps a reflection of the modern urban woman trying to emerge? – but you can now buy edible flower seeds at Sainsbury’s and wonderful jewelcoloured boxes of petals (tailored for weddings, Easter, cocktails…) from entrepreneurial suppliers such as Maddocks Farm Organics.

Growing edible flowers is one of the gardener’s greatest pleasures. The Sainsbury’s collection – marigold, viola, hyssop and nasturtium – is a sensible foundation, but, for me, borage is also essential for a constant supply of sky-blue (or indeed crisp white)

flowers, and I would turn to a specialist seed supplier for exactly the right shade of nasturtium. Chiltern Seeds offers ‘Empress of India’, a classic compact variety with seductive crimson flowers, or try the antique-looking, dusky-pink ‘Ladybird Rose’, or for a darker accent the sumptuous ‘Black Velvet’.

Before you sow a single seed, however, may I recommend Frances Bissell’s The Scented Kitchen, a book that will unlock a dreamy new world of edible flowers.

The very idea of delicately frosted yellow pompons of crystallised mimosa in the opening section on basic techniques (flower oils, vinegars, sugars, butters, the lot) is intoxicating.

Frances Bissell will inspire you to think again about your lavender hedge – how about a fragrant lavender and tomato tart for a summer evening? She is also exciting on how Calendula officinalis, long used as an inexpensive substitute for saffron, adds ‘a subtle spicy flavour and a golden tint’ to seafood dishes and risottos. Importantly, marigold also dries well for an injection of summer during the winter months. Bissell insists that borage is not just for garnishing Pimms and suggests you make borage pesto for a shock of blue on the plate. Her recipe for borage and spring onion frittata, on the other hand, is blissfully pretty.

I love a writer who takes you to the moon: ‘consider too, if you are serving a dessert buffet, that you might just want to perfume the air around it with rose water’.

You may never ‘deep fry daylily buds to serve as you would okra’ and decide instead on Bissell’s cheese and marigold scones (they are delicious), but your approach to every edible petal in your garden will have been heightened. n

170 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2022

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ILLUSTRATION MARIA BURNS PORTRAIT RACHEL WARNE

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