VII Gardens

The unpredictable nature of the weather has again played a key role. Again, the seasons seem to blur or no longer exist; daffodils flowering in early December, no frost all winter, a rather dry April followed by torrential rain and hail throughout June! Even when it seems as if climatic conditions are conspiring against the humble gardener it is easy to forget the times when it is our ally. Last autumn’s strong winds meant the bulk of the leaf fall had occurred by the second week of November, and we have not had to water First Court the first half of this year.

The Fellows’ Garden in Spring, with the Pepys Building in the background (Photo: Mark Scott)

The rainfall over winter certainly helped the early and rapid growth of College’s ever expanding bulb collections. In the autumn many thousands of bulbs were planted around various areas, River Court being the most high profile, where several thousand Crocus were planted between the two specimens of Prunus. A blend of two hybrids, Crocus vernus ‘Remembrance’ and C. tommasinianus ‘Ruby Giant’, was used here as the modern cultivars perform very well in longevity of flowering period and flower size. The areas of rough grass at either end of the lower lawn were restocked with a variety of diverse bulbs including: Galanthus elwesii, Fritillaria meleagris, Anemone blanda, Camassia esculenta, Ornithogalum umbellatum. For good measure and a touch of yellow, 25kg of the classic Narcissus ‘Dutch Master’ were also planted. The intention is to give this area a long flowering period with the specimens of Prunus flowering after the bulbs, followed by the Wisterias on the facade of College and thereafter by the Dahlia bed.

The mild weather over winter also aided the establishment of the spring bedding in First Court. Maintaining the tradition of planting with Wallflowers, a blend of two traditional cultivars was sown from seed in the nursery back in July. The deep crimson was provided by Erysimum cheirii ‘Vulcan’ and the orange was E. cheirii ‘Fire King’. In late April, pushing through this carpet of reds and oranges, came a wonderful display of the classic bedding Tulip ‘Apeldoorn’.

As always in May, our small nursery area, with every square inch taken over to summer annuals, demands we pull up the spring bedding so that they may take its place. Carrying on last year’s theme based around the College colours, we have introduced some more scented varieties. This year’s scheme incorporates New Guinea Impatiens, Cosmos and Cleome with scent coming from Nicotiana ‘Perfume series’, Alyssum ‘Crystal mix’ and a Victorian favourite, Heliotropium ‘Marine’, also known as Cherry Pie.

A variety of hanging baskets once again adorn different locations around College. Cripps Court has mixed baskets containing blues, whites and yellows and Benson Hall has similar planting with warmer hues. The baskets on the Pepys Library were planted with a semi-trailing fibrous Begonia called Dragon Wing Red.

The moist mild winter also helped with the establishment of two new trees. A specimen of Salix x sepucralis has been planted in the Fellows’ Garden to fill the gap left by the three Populus nigra which were felled because of safety concerns. It should develop into a fine weeping willow. In Mallory Court, a fine specimen of Prunus serrula has been planted. The tree is a native of West China; described from specimens collected by Abbé Delavay in Yunnan province and introduced by Wilson in 1908 from the region of Tatsien-lu in W.Szechuan and again by Forrest in 1913 from Yunnan. There are two main characteristics which make this Prunus distinct from others. The first is the narrowness and fine toothing of the leaves which are rather willow-like; the other is the bright brown peeling bark, especially on juvenile specimens, which gives good winter interest. The notion is to gradually theme this part of College towards Himalayan species which Mallory himself would have encountered on his journeys in the region.

Winter 2015–16 also afforded the opportunity to renovate all of the wooden garden furniture in College. The benches and chairs behind the Pepys Library, as well as Sparky’s circular bench, along with Sir Derek Oulton’s bench, by Benson N, and all the tables and chairs in the Master’s garden have have been washed, sanded and painted with several coats of teak oil.

A great deal of clearance has happened in certain areas of College as part of an ongoing effort to replant and renovate tired and overgrown parts of the grounds. These beds are being left fallow to allow a thorough eradication of pernicious weed species, predominately Convolvulus, Anthriscus and Aegepodium. Mark Scott