Cotswold Garden A few considered

This image In a font from Haddonstone, ‘Angélique’ tulips complement Prunus ‘Kanzan’ blossom. Opposite ‘Uncle Tom’ tulips in a parterre by the thatched barn.

The Cotswolds are renowned for their rolling countryside, glorious gardens and quaint, stone-clad villages. On the outskirts of Burford, part way up a single-track lane, with views across adjoining meadows to the picturesque village church, this 17th-century former farmhouse and its one-acre garden seem to single-handedly encapsulate the springtime spirit of the Cotswolds. “The character and location of the property were irresistible – almost part-and-parcel of the landscape,” explains its owner, Simon Gill.

In spring, the garden’s skyline is fringed with clouds of blossom from mature, ornamental cherries, their boughs thick with candy-floss-pink or snow-white flowers. Neighbouring lilacs perfume the garden’s air and masses of naturalised bulbs enjoy the free-draining, stony soil and spread

Above Prunus sargentii in the orchard, where swathes of daffodils are naturalised in the grass. Below Ribes sanguineum, the flowering currant, is a classic spring shrub. thickly through the garden. Daffodils dominate the rough grass of the orchard, while wild garlic, grape hyacinths and bluebells fringe the parterres and stony pathways of the main garden. Tulips adorn urns, fonts and box-edged parterres and bring an early flush of colour to awakening beds and borders.

None of this was apparent, however, when Simon moved to the property in December 2006. It was midwinter and the appeal of the house, with its exposed beams and open hearths, overshadowed the merits of the south-facing garden, which merely provided an appropriate setting. Simon had noted the swathes of lawn, orchard grass and the trees along the boundaries that afforded some privacy and a barrier to noise. “I was drawn to the house, the thatched barn and outbuildings, but I knew very little about gardens and plants,” he confesses.

Fortunately, he inherited an expert: Tony Davies, the gardener who had tended the plot here for over two decades and understood it almost as well as his own. Tony has continued to dig, prune, train, tie in, pull out, nurse, weed and feed the garden, advise Simon on new introductions and keep everything looking better than it should.

The bare bones of the garden, essentially the same stone landscaping that is intrinsic to this part of the Cotswolds, lay fully exposed in winter: a stone-clad terrace and several dry stone walls, some in a state of poor repair. Two rectangular, low-walled garden rooms were also visible, the remnants of ancient barns no longer standing. “My neighbour and longterm resident, Joan Smith, who is 101, has a painting that indicates how the barns once looked,” Simon reveals. Later on, he keenly embraced this historical anecdote and, after waiting a year to see what actually grew in the garden, he designed and planted

Top A craggy old lilac, in full, perfumed bloom. Middle Ruffled, plumpurple tulip ‘Uncle Tom’ has peony-like flowers. Bottom Grape hyacinths, Muscari armeniacum. Above right Box-edged parterre beds are full of peony foliage, plus drifts of bluebells and their pink and white forms. flower-filled box parterres in the area incorporating the former barns’ footprints.

“My predecessors had created a peony garden in one partition; the other was overrun with Japanese anemones that were cleared to make way for the box-edged parterre,” Simon explains. “Directly opposite, in the elbow of two outbuildings, was a neglected, gravel-filled, south-facing corner, used for drying washing.” He removed the whirligig washing line, brought in a small digger and carved out a second, matching parterre. The mirror-image gardens were planted with herbs – rosemary, thyme and purple-leaved sage, Salvia officinalis ‘Purpurascens’ – interspersed with tulips in spring, followed by ‘Princess Alexandra of Kent’ roses in summer. “We chose deep raspberry-pink, peonyflowered tulip ‘Uncle Tom’ to complement the preexisting, pink-flowering currant, Ribes sanguineum and to reference the colour and form of the adjacent

Beautiful BULBS

A selection of pretty spring flowers for formal areas of the garden or for naturalising

TULIPA ‘YONINA’

This lily-flowered variety with elegantly reflexed, deep pink petals flowers from late April, on 45cm tall stems.

TULIPA ‘WHITE TRIUMPHATOR’

This 50cm tall tulip’s flowers have a purity that belies their strong and sturdy nature.

HYACINTHOIDES HISPANICA

Both common bluebells and the Spanish kind (above) can pop up in pink or white forms.

NARCISSUS POETICUS

One of the last to flower in May, pheasant’s eye daffodils are delightfully fragrant.

HYACINTHUS ‘BLUE JACKET’

A very heavily scented hyacinth, with dense flower spikes of deep Prussian blue.

ALLIUM URSINUM

Be warned that wild garlic is quite invasive, but if you have room to let it romp, expect carpets of spring flowers.

Above Beyond clumps peony garden,” adds of daffodils in the Simon, who is now orchard, the pleasing, old, dry stone walls that experimenting with divide sections of the inter-planting tulips garden can be seen. in the peony bed itself to give the illusion of peonies a month before their due date.

In keeping with the garden’s stone infrastructure, Simon positioned an aged stone font between the two parterres. This is planted with pink and white tulip ‘Angélique’ to mimic the furze of pink and white cherry blossom in the sightline behind. Billowing with blossom, the pink cherry, Prunus ‘Kanzan’, was planted by Tony over 20 years ago. The garden’s former owner regularly returned from garden visits with new, must-have plants and this cherry was one of them. “Design didn’t really come into it. My task was to find the most suitable planting spot in the garden,” Tony recounts. Then a whippy, five-foot specimen, the cherry has matured to a fulsome six metres. “Its Barbara Cartland pink blossom is a bit messy,” confides Tony. “It’s like confetti at a wedding.” A second, pink ornamental cherry, Prunus sargentii, was already in the orchard. “It’s one of my favourite trees,” says Tony. “It cheers you as you walk along the lane, waving its blossom in spring, illuminating the garden with foliage in autumn.” He admits that the twisted old medlar at the back of the garden comes a close second.

The original stone terrace flanking the house has been sympathetically extended to accommodate

an outdoor dining table and chairs. Two square, boxedged parterres are stuffed with incredibly fragrant, bright-blue hyacinths ‘Delft Blue’ and ‘Blue Jacket’. “Their perfume wafts right into the house,” says Simon. These are shot through with white, lilyflowered tulip ‘Triumphator’ to complement the fragrant white flowers of Mexican orange blossom, or choisya, that are moulded to the house. Two weathered stone planters, bought at auction, stand either side of the main entrance; a third sits in the left-hand parterre. “We are looking for a fourth,” acknowledges Simon, glancing at the mismatch. The stone vessels contain an accidental cocktail of tulips, “by virtue of placing late bulb orders,” he confesses. “We were too late to secure enough of our preferred pink ‘Angélique’, so we substituted similar but shorter ‘Foxtrot’ and combined it with a complete newcomer to us, lily-flowered bi-colour ‘Yonina’.” It was a resounding success.

The handful of ‘Angélique’ bulbs Simon did manage to procure were planted in beds by the house, refreshing those already interred. “We only lift potted tulips; the rest stay in the ground and many successfully reappear the following year,”

Top right Old stone fonts are planted with tiers of tulips – ‘Yonina’ and the shorter, peony-flowered variety ‘Foxtrot’. Above An inherited ancient flowering cherry, with confetti-like white double flowers. explains Simon. They are engulfed with an eruption of baby blue forget-me-nots, which complement the pastel pink of the tulips. In the main rose border, battalions of tall single tulips bring colour to otherwise leaf-green beds. Bold, raspberry-plum ‘Pretty Princess’, huge-headed, rose-pink Darwin hybrid ‘Mystic van Eijk’ and glowing goblets of dark pinky-orange ‘Avignon’ add jolts of colour and pick out the reddish hues of emergent rose foliage.

These more formal alterations and introductions, geometric parterres, architectural stone planters, clipped box hedging and precisely planted tulips bring gentle order to an otherwise largely relaxed and sprawling garden that has evolved over time. There’s an ever-increasing colony of over 20 different narcissus in the orchard including swathes of pheasant’s eye daffodil, Narcissus poeticus var. recurvus and the late 19th-century introduction, golden-flowered ‘King Alfred’. “I’m pleased to have some of the older varieties, none of which we have planted – they are just part of this Cotswolds garden’s vernacular,” says Simon. Like the authentic stone framework, they are intrinsic and in keeping with the overall sentiment of this lovely garden. n

A FAMILY AFFAIR

Janssens Greenhouses and Garden Rooms, distributed in the UK by Vitavia, are made in Belgium by a family firm that has been passionate about quality design for over 70 years

You may not be familiar with Janssens Greenhouses and Garden Rooms, but this Belgian greenhouse specialist has a history dating back to 1946, when Constant Janssens set up his carpentry and construction business. His traditional wooden and laminated aches were used mainly to build sports and factory halls but before long the firm’s carpentry skills were adapted to making greenhouses.

Constant’s son, René, took over in the 1970s, replacing the traditional wood with long-lasting aluminium, and now his son, Peter Janssens, runs the business, which sells greenhouses, verandas, orangeries, conservatories and much more across the UK, Europe and the USA.

“My father strengthened the business in the 1970s and switched from wood to aluminium as professional greenhouses became the main business, says Peter. “At the same time there was a growing demand for hobby greenhouses in people’s back gardens. Developing an extensive range of hobby greenhouses became his main motivation.”

In the Belgian town of Lier, southeast of Antwerp, Janssens’ 37,000m2 workshop produces 30 greenhouses and four conservatories a day, most of which are exported to other European countries, Scandinavia and America. Their middle and high-end products mean everyone can find a greenhouse to suit their space and budget, without compromising on quality or style.

Clockwise from top left Ample space in the freestanding Eos T-Model; tailormake your greenhouse with decorative additions; the Eos Royal in white with a brick base; the Helios Victorian is ideally sized for smaller gardens yet roomy within.

Over the years, Janssens has earned a reputation for high-quality design and innovation. Its products and special features are developed in-house, with a keen eye on gardeners’ needs. Janssens’ special aluminium profiles are among the most sturdy and solid on the greenhouse market, which means greenhouses can be bigger and higher without the need for additional supports inside. Their bases and ridges are equally well made, while all models come with gutters, condensation channels and downpipes as standard. Strong, 4mm toughened glass, which is far less likely to break than the 3mm glass many other greenhouses are usually

Left The Eos Royal greenhouse, built onto an attractive stone base; this well-sized model measures just under 4m x 4m.

hobby greenhouses. When it comes to developments, we will always start from a certain ‘need’ or ‘demand’ for a product and we then try to provide the best possible technical solution. We are very proud of what we have developed over the years: the company itself, but also the relationship of trust we have built with our customers.”

For more information on Janssens Greenhouses and Garden Buildings and the complete range from Vitavia Greenhouses, please visit vitavia.co.uk

supplied with, is held in place by rubber strips for a snug interior; polycarbonate glazing is o ered on some models. All the fi ttings, nuts and bolts are stainless steel and the aluminium frame itself is covered by a 13-year warranty.

Once you have decided on a greenhouse – choose between Helios and Eos, in various sizes and styles such as traditional ‘Victorian’ with a decorative ridge or the crisp, clean fi nish of the ‘Urban’ model – kit it out from the vast selection of optional extras and fi nishes. These include sliding or opening doors, decorative base panels, benches and shelving for growing and various window, ventilation and shading permutations. Janssens supplies lean-to greenhouses as well as freestanding ones, along with a range of stylish orangeries.

When he fi nished school and began working for the family business, Peter started out in a role supporting the sales team, but soon afterwards moved over to the technical department. “For 12 years I was responsible for production, preparation, drawings and technical developments,” he explains. “I’m a technical person, so everything to do with that side of things fascinates me.

“Where Janssens distinguishes itself compared to other companies, in my opinion, is in terms of quality and trust. We try to o er ‘better’

Growing under glass

Make the most of a Janssens greenhouse this spring

Buy small plug plants for summer containers and baskets and use the protection of your greenhouse to grow them on, before planting up the containers under glass and letting these establish. After the risk of frost has passed, move them into the garden. Grow half-hardy annuals under glass. This group of plants includes some of the most beautiful cut fl owers such as zinnias, cleome, nicotiana, cosmos and amaranthus. Once they’ve germinated prick them out and grow them on before planting them out into their fi nal positions when the frosts are over. Start o tender vegetables in pots and trays in the greenhouse, then plant out into your kitchen garden when the risk of frost has passed. Tender vegetables include runner and French beans, sweetcorn, tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, cucumbers and squashes such as courgettes and pumpkins. Pot up dahlia tubers so they can sprout and get growing in the warmth of the greenhouse before you plant them outside. This is often more reliable than planting tubers straight into cold soil. Grow summer-fl owering bulbs such as freesias, gladioli, begonias and gloxinia, all of which should be potted up in the warmth of a greenhouse in late spring. Exploit the warmth inside your greenhouse and force plants into earlier bloom. Dig up a clump of lilyof-the-valley and pot it up – inside the greenhouse it will bloom more quickly, fi lling it with fragrance.

Green Cuisine

Grow delicious vegetable varieties fi t for a feast, from this selection by Anne-Marie Owen, head gardener at Oxford’s Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons

Ahighlight of the grounds of Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons near Oxford is the potager where talented head gardener Anne-Marie Owen grows fi ne vegetables for the two-Michelin-starred restaurant. Anne-Marie has worked at Raymond Blanc’s renowned hotel for over 30 years, becoming head gardener at the age of just 24. Here she selects ten of the best vegetable varieties she grows at the hotel for taste and good looks, with her main piece of advice being to sow little and often to avoid gluts.

Simply Raymond, a new series featuring homespun recipes inspired by Raymond Blanc’s mother, can be watched on ITV. Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Church Road, Great Milton, Oxford OX44 7PD. Tel: 01844 278 881; belmond.com

1 French bean ‘Eva’

“These are so fresh and crisp, and they have a sharp snap,” enthuses Anne-Marie. ‘Eva’ is an early climbing French bean that develops slender pods about 25cm long. Its Award of Garden Merit points to its prolifi c cropping and disease resistance, and it will grow as well in a greenhouse as it does outdoors.