The English Garden 200905

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MAY 2009 £3.60 A$8.95FOR EVERYONE WHO LOVES BEAUTIFUL GARDENSMAY 2009 £3.60 A$8.95

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FORTHE PERFECTMAYDAY� Meet Devon’sRHODODENDRONexpert� Rich pickingsin the KITCHENGARDEN� Great gardenswithTIMELESSPLANTING� BORDERTIPS from Parham’shead gardener

FOR EVERYONE WHO LOVES BEAUTIFUL GARDENS

WINA HAYTERPETROLMOWER

SHOWTIME!GET READY FOR

NATURE AT WORKABOUT BEES

Chelsea

In a classic cottagegarden

ALL THE BUZZ

TEGUK140 Covertwsm v1:UK 19/03/2009 15:31 Page 1

002-TEG-May-UK:Layout 1 31/3/09 08:42 Page 1

EDITORIALTel:+44 (0)1242 211080 Fax: +44 (0)1242 211081

Email: [email protected]: www.theenglishgarden.co.uk

EditorTamsinWesthorpeEditor at Large Jackie BennettArt Editor FrancesWallace

Assistant Editor Cinead McTernanSub Editor/Writer Stephanie MahonEditorial Assistant Vicky Kingsbury

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Production Co-ordinatorMatt GriffithsTel: +44 (0)1799 544300

NORTH AMERICAN AD SALESGroup Sales Manager Dan Robinson

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PUBLISHINGHead of Commercial & Consumer Marketing Catriona Bolger

Circulation Manager Richard KirbyHead of Events David Storrar

Archant Specialist Managing Director Miller HoggArchant Lifestyle Managing Director Johnny Hustler

Archant Lifestyle Finance Director Ian Fish

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TEGUK140 Masthead final:UK 31/03/2009 17:22 Page 3


It’s time to bringthe honey bee backto our gardens byplanting a host ofnectar-richplants

My introduction to the art of keepingbeeswas as a horticultural student.This wasbefore the now endemic Varroa mitehad made its devastating markin the UK. The parasitic mite is largely

responsible for the dramatic reduction in the domesticbee population, down30% between2007and 2008.Thisshould be of great concern to everyone. We’ve dedicatedseveral features to our precious bees - you’ll find a galleryof NECTAR-RICH PLANTS (pg 115) and discover howtraditional BEE SKEPS (pg 98) are making a comeback.

My uncle has recently createda series of bee boles in hisgarden (right), purely for decoration. The mission is toencourage him to use at least one for bees; after all, thebenefits to his garden will be great. Now is the time toguard and provide for this valuable insect - I hope thisissue will encourage you to do your bit.

On a lighter note, it’s showtime! THE RHS CHELSEA

FLOWER SHOW 2009 runs from 19-23 May. This year,The English Garden is sponsoring one of the courtyardgardensentitled‘EntenteCordiale’(standnumber RM14)designedby Janet Honourand Patricia Thirion,so if you’revisiting please come and meet the team. In our indepthpreview (pg 55), we interview plantsmen and designersold and new to the show; give you a sneak preview ofsome of the exciting new plants; and offer tips on getting

the most out of your visit. I’m eager to know what thetheme will be this year - although the gardens are allcreated as unique features, it’s amazing to find anunderlying theme. Last year it was foliage - we’ll let youknow our findings in our show review in the July issue.

For those who’d rather harvest the riches from their owngarden, Francine Raymond has ideas for vinaigrette andFLOWERS FOR PICKING . This issue also brings awonderful collect ion of gardens to view, offeringinspiration on many levels and celebrating the arrival ofMay. Enjoy the warmer weather and all the buzz ofthis great gardening month.

On the cover A private city garden designed

by Charlotte Rowe (page 81).

Photograph: Clive Nichols

Tamsin Westhorpe, Editor

Congratulations to the winner of the March issue Raglan Hall competition:Mrs A. Nicholls of Pontefract,West Yorkshire

EDITOR’S LETTER

TEGUK140 EdLetter final 31/03/2009 10:50 Page 5

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Contents

73

MAY9 Photo of the month Dawn breaks over a Devon garden -

and we find out how the photographer captured it

10 Wordof mouthAll the latest things to do and gardens to see

13 A year at Bodnant The laburnum arch and white wisteria

are in full flower up in north Wales

18 Testing…Testing…HelenYemmtries out trowels

21 The vegetable gardener’sdiary Jackie Bennett gets

sowing Frenchbeans and peas in her Norfolk garden

30 Focus on GloucestershireNurseries,gardens and

places to eat in the heart of the Cotswold county

55 RHS Chelsea FlowerShowpreview In this special

section, we chat to designers,photographersand plantsmen,

and introduce the gardens, new plants and products that will be

launchedat this year’sshow

Glorious gardens22 GLOUCESTERSHIRECotswoldcharmSheephouse

garden has been transformedinto the perfect potager

32 WEST SUSSEX A room of one’s own Cowdray’s

TudorWalled Garden gets a wonderful new lease of life

39 EAST SUSSEXA walk on the wild side The long quirky

cottage garden that’sa natural haven for all sorts of creatures

46 HAMPSHIRE The art of abundance A painterly

plantswomanis behind the flower-filledgardens of Wren’sFarm

Bees98 A skep in the rightdirection Meet the man who makes

traditionalskeps - bee houses - for bee-keepingand decoration

100 Plight of the humble honey bee The top five things

you can do as a gardener to help save our buzzing busy friends

115 Sweet treats Attract bees and other essential insects with

a gallery of colourful nectar-richplants for your garden

Design66 GUIDETO... In search of perfect paving?Give your

outdoor floor a new look with our top picks and handy tips

73 DESIGNGUIDE The New Classic EnglishGardenThe gardens of BadmintonHouse may look like a dream from

eras past, but they are actually only 25 years old

81 DESIGN FOCUS Lawn free and leisurely An urban

contemporary garden that successfully links inside to out

2218

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Regular features88 From the kitchen garden Francine Raymond brings us

asparagus soup and a range of tasty oils and vinaigrettes

92 Eco-watchAnne Gatti looks at ways to keep the noise down

and eco-count low when using gardenmachinery

130 In a green shadeHelen Gunn is inspired by lovely lilac

Plants105 Islands in the greenNigelWright is still madly in lovewith

rhododendrons,even after collectingand selling them for 30 years

112 Border lines Joe Reardon-Smith of Parham House in Sussex

warns of being tempted by too many plants

Offers & competitions70 Insurance Special rates for homes and gardens for our readers

85 MalvernSpringFlower ShowMark 7-10May in your diary

86 MajesticTreesWin an incredible£10,000makeover

95 www.theenglishgarden.co.uk Latestnewsfromthe

websiteand special offersat our garden shop

97 Special offersScentedblooms fromThompson& Morgan

103 Subscriptions HaveThe English Garden delivereddirect to

your front door everymonth

110 The English Garden ReaderDayYourlast chancetojoin us for an outing to the house and gardensof RenishawHall

118 Roadshowseason Joinour expertsfor educationaldaysout

119 CompetitionWIN one of two HayterHarrier 48 petrolmowers

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TEGUK140 Contents final 31/03/2009 11:36 Page 7


The Eng lish Garden 9

This shot was taken at 5am as the sun rose from behind the hills at Bertie’s

Cottage, Devon. I was precariously balanced on top of a chicken shed, trying

not to fall through, as gardener Patti O’Brien worked away on her vegetable

plot. I had a couple of minutes to get the shot right before the sun got too

high - two exposures and it was in the bag.’

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHERJason Ingram is a freelancephotographerliving in Bristol.He specialisesin images of

gardens,plants, food and people,workingall over the country for variousmagazines,books

and design groups.Tosee more of Jason’swork, go to www.jasoningram.co.uk

Gardening at first light

www.gpauk.org

‘ Click on to

www.theenglish

garden.co.uk

to see more garden

pictures and upload your

own photos.

PHOTO OF THE MONTHMAY

TEGUK140 Photo of Month final:UK 24/03/2009 16:37 Page 9

COMPILED BY STEPHANIE MAHON

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May day!May day! Gardens, fairs, sales and shows,where it stops no one knows.Let our pick of events come to your rescue - you can evenwin tickets for Chelsea

OCEAN BREEZEIndian Ocean’soutdoor

furniture collection, on sale

now at Selfridges, Oxford

Street, includes a range of

new accessories in

stainless steel including a

sundial, garden globes,

bird feeder,watering can,

torches and these snazzy

windmills (above) in sizes

20-30cm tall, from £8.95-

£14.95. Also available by

calling tel: +44 (0)20 8675

4808 or visiting website

www.indian-ocean.co.uk

Word of mouth

Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Richmond Developed

in 1993, the bee garden at Kew has three styles of

beehive from simple skeps to modern wooden hives.

Tel: +44 (0)20 8332 5655. www.kew.org

The National Wildflower Centre, Liverpool A great

place to learn about how to be wildlife friendly.

Home to 19 species of butterfly as well as bees

and birds in 35-acre Victorian park grounds (above).

And The English Garden readers get 2 for 1 entry!

Tel: +44 (0)1517 381913. www.nwc.org.uk

Garden Organic Ryton, WarksThe insect-attracting

attributes of a wildflower meadow and a cornfield as

well as lots of lavender and a host of different roses.

Open seven days a week, 9am-5pm. Tel: +44 (0)24

7630 3517. www.gardenorganic.org

RHS Wisley, Woking A great place to see bees in

the trees, buzzing away pollinating the blossom of

apple, pear and other fruits. Tel: +44 (0)1483 224234.

www.rhs.org.uk/wisley

Highgrove, Glos HRHThe Prince of Wales has a wild

flower meadow with endangered native plants, and

his royal bees are so happy with the set-up they

make organic honey now sold directly from the

Highgrove shop in Tetbury.To visit, apply in writing.

www.princeofwales.org.uk

For more on bees, turn to pages 98 and 115.

5 bee-friendly gardens

NEW SHOWThe

Grade I-listed gardens

of HoldenbyHouse near

Northampton (above) are

the location for a new

gardening and flower

event.The Holdenby

Garden Show,sponsored

by Haddonstone,will

include a programmeof

talks and demonstrations;

stands for plants, garden

accessories and gifts; live

music and activities for

kids. Saturday9 and

Sunday 10May,11am-5pm.

Tel:+44 (0)1604820011.

www.holdenby.com

YUMGUM Eucalyptusdebeuzevillei, the snow gum

(left), is now availablefrom BarchamTreesin Cambs.The

container tree nursery is offeringmature specimensof this

Australiangem, whichstands out becauseof its white bark,

with branchessometimestouchedwith pink or orange, long

wide leavesand flowersstraight from the branchesthat

resemblespider chrysanthemums.It is one of the hardiest

eucalyptusand eventuallyforms a broadly pyramidshape to

9-13.5m.Youcan now order a 3-4m specimen in a 65-litre

pot for £475 from their website, www.barchamonline.co.uk

TEGUK140 Word of mouth fianl 31/03/2009 09:46 Page 10

OUT AND ABOUT� Mon 4 May,Hereford. Hergest

Croft FlowerFair. In aid of the Gateway

GardensTrust,with unusual plants on

sale.Tel:+44 (0)1758730610.

www.gatewaygardenstrust.org

� Sun 3 May,WestYorksThe

Great OuseburnGarden Festival,with

12 open gardens, vintage steam bus

rides, craft fair and more.

www.great-ouseburn.co.uk

� Mon 4 May,Hants Plant Heritage

Hampshireand Isle ofWight Plant Fair

with specialistnurseries,member’s

plants and food stalls at Longstock

Nursery,near Stockbridge,from

10am-4pm.Tel:+44 (0)1489894206.

� Fri 8 and Sat 9 May,WarksPlanting

To Impressday atWhichfordPottery,

with a talk on topiary at 11amand a

class on fusion planting in pots with

head gardenerHarrietRycroftat 2pm,

as well as plant sale, home-madeteas

and offerson pots.Tel:+44 (0)1608

684416. www.whichfordpottery.com

� Sun 10May,Dublin The annual

Rare and Special Plant Fair at St Anne’s

Park, Raheny,with free admission.

www.rareandspecialplantfair.com

� Thurs 14 May,WestSussex The St

Catherine’sHospiceGarden and Local

ProduceFair in Billingshurst,with

specialistplants as well as local food

producers.The event opens at 8.30am

with a Champagnebreakfast:to book

tickets,contact ElizabethCurry, tel: +44

(0)1293447367.

� Sun 24 May,HertsOpen gardens

afternoonat Preston,near Hitchin,with

15 gardens to visit, flower festival,plant

and preserve stalls, and teas in the

villagehall.Tel:+44 (0)1462433859.

� Mon 25 - Sun 31 May,Brighton

GardensWeek 2009 is a celebrationof

the Grade II-listedgardens at Brighton’s

RoyalPavilion,with a full programmeof

talks, tours,workshopsand activities.

www.royalpavilion.org.uk

AND FINALLY...The Society of Garden Designers’

second masterclass in sustainable

garden design will take place in

Edinburgh on Sat 9 May. Nigel

Dunnett, Mark Laurence, Jennifer

Lauruol and Robert Grant are the

keynote speakers. Tel: +44 (0)1989

566695. www.sgd.org.uk

The English Gar den 11

ELIZABETHANDREAMOn Saturday

2 May, the recreatedgarden of Kenilworth

Castle inWarksopens to the public for the

first time. Lost for centuries,English

Heritage and a team of historians,

craftspeopleand gardenersare now ready

to unveil this 16th-centurywonderwith an

18ftmarble fountain,bejewelledaviary

(above) and carved arbours.Created

originallyby RobertDudley,Earl of Leicester,

it was a garden to impress visitors, including

Elizabeth I, who at that time he still hoped

to marry.Formore details and garden

opening times, tel: +44 (0)1926852078 or

go to www.english-heritage.org.uk

MAY

VICTORIANAMANIA A five day fixtures and fittingssale atThe Shambles (above), a museum of Victorian life,

begins on site in Newent,Gloucestershire,on Monday

18May.Simon ChorleyArt & Antiqueswill be selling

4,000 lots including the original shop facades,metal

advertisementsigns, wooden carts and wagonwheels,

bakery tools, biscuit tins, smocks, hats, library books, oil

and gas lamps, bottles, barrels and music boxes, to name

but a few.A small town of over one acre with cobbled

streets, alleyways,cottages,shops and houses,The

Shambleshouses one of the largest collectionsof everyday

Victorianain the country,now selling for estimatedprices of

£10-£1,000.Formore information,tel: +44 (0)1452344499

or go to www.simonchorley.com

WIN CHELSEATICKETS! Fancy goingto the RHS ChelseaFlowerShow 2009, on

19-23May?We have two pairs of ticketsto

give away to our readers - simply answer

this question:Howmany buses could you fit

in the ChelseaGreat Pavilion?(It may help

to read our special Chelsea preview,page

55). Send an email by the closingdate of

Tues5 May to [email protected]

with the subject line ‘Chelseacompetition’.

Ticketsare now on sale from the RHS

tickethotline, tel: 0844 2091810or on

www.rhs.org.uk/flowershows

OPEN SEASON HelminghamHall in Suffolkhas

extended its opening times to four days a week during the

months of June, July and most of August.The gardens

surroundLord and LadyTollemache’sred brickTudorHall,

with moat and drawbridge,set in an ancient 400-acre deer

park (below). Visitorscan experiencethe borders, kitchen

garden, herb and knot garden, parterre,apple tree walk,

borders and the newwoodlandwalk on Sundays,Tuesdays,

WednesdaysandThursdaysfrom 2-6pm.The Hall is

also the site for the SuffolkPlant Heritage spring plant sale

on Sun 24 May,when 800 plants of the rare Iris sibirica

‘Roanoke’sChoice’will be given away to visitors.

Tel:+44 (0)1473890799. www.helmingham.com

TEGUK140 Word of mouth fianl 31/03/2009 10:47 Page 11


Head Gardener and expert plantsman Troy Scott-Smith demonstrates the practicalmonthly tasks carried out by the team at the National Trust’sBodnant Garden in North Wales.

In May, it’s all about pruning and blooming as spring’s grand garden party begins

PHOTOGRAPHSTROY SCOTT-SMITH

The Eng lish Gar den 13

TROYSCOTT-SMITHPORTRAIT/R

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A year at BODNANT

Troy leads a team of

20 gardeners at

Bodnant but still gets

involved with the

potting and planting.

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MAYIN ACTION

TEGUK 140 Bodnant TroyMay final:UK 26/03/2009 15:10 Page 13

14 The English Gard en

FromMarch through to July the

garden looks at its most striking,

the light is at its most intense and

the colours are at their most saturated.

The peak month is May and the mood at

Bodnant is one of exuberance and joy.

There is a garden party, in its truest sense,

in full swing and it’s not to be missed.

As soon as you enter the mood is set; a

border planted with rich colours with a

gauze of the luminous blood-redGeranium

sanguineum, and annual Lychnis coronaria

whose soft, rich velvet magenta flowers sit

amongst its foliage like Belgian chocolates.

As you explore further there are more

earthy toned borders on the LilyTerrace

whose highlights are provided by rich

swathes of the coppery orange daisy,

Helenium ‘Moerheim Beauty’,partnered

with the plum-coloured eupatorium.There

are dozens of other perennials as well such

as iris, rodgersia, verbascums and sedums,

all of which have been added to the mix to

inject colour accents, knitted together with

Stipa tenuifolia and the light and airy

Knautia macedonica.The wine-coloured

flowers punctuate the air like a swarm

of hovering flies.

THE LABURNUMARCH IN FLOWER

Conceived and built in the 1880s by Henry

Davies Pochin, the Laburnum Arch at

Bodnant (right) is one of the world’s great

iconic garden features. Beautifully

proportioned, the slightly curving metal

tunnel is minimal and elegant in winter, but in

May it erupts into a blaze of golden racemes,

with flowers that hang from the tips of long

drooping stalks, each up to 45cm (18in) in

length. This is the famous hybrid, Laburnum x

watereri ‘Vossii’, whose flowers are far

superior to either of the parent species.

When flowering has finished, two of our

gardeners spend several days dead heading

using secateurs. This not only removes the

highly poisonous seed pods - a must in a

public garden - but also directs all the plants’

energy into performing this amazing act again

next year.We also feed them with a balanced

fertiliser such as blood, fish and bone.

CUTTINGBACKESTABLISHEDSHRUBSPruning in any garden is essential, but particularly in smaller scale and more compact gardens.The sense of

order, definition and scale that pruning injects to a scene is invaluable.Each plant will have differentrequirementsas to when and how to prune; if in doubt,

checkup in a good pruningmanual.Then it’s a matter of striking a balance between pruning everything to look like a currant bun (contrivedand

manipulated) and ‘tinkering’ (which amounts to not pruning at all). Get in there and be ruthless, but also be sympathetic to the plant’snatural character.

MAYIN ACTION

THE BATHINGPOOLRHODODENDRONS

There is an oval pond at Bodnantsome 15m

across, in a sunkengarden (right). A formal path

surrounds it, and between it and the pond is a

continuousbed, plantedwithout interruption

with Rhododendronwilliamsianum, of which

Bodnanthas a good pink formwith large

flowers.The effectis of a ring of pink bells

around the pond, with some of the fallenbells

driftingupon the water.A fewweeks later,the

pink will be gone and the ring will be bronze

with new growth.


Thalictrum ‘Elin’ A vigorous and imposing

thalictrumreachingup to 2.5m in height. Rosy

lilac flowerswith prominent stamens provide

an enchantingdisplay.

PaeoneamlokoswitschiiThe floweringis

brief but glorious - they come and go in less

than a week; or as ChristopherLloydsaid, ‘at

its ravishingbest for about four hours’.

Polygonatumx hybridumA plant that

seems to epitomiseMay,with its arching

sprays of pendant green-tippedwaxy

flowers.Best if planted above eye level.

RodgersiaaesculifoliaThe bold rugged

leavesof this perennialare only half the

story; later,white or pink panicles

emerge that last well into autumn.

Aesculus x neglecta ‘Erythroblastos’ A

spectacular, slow-growing chestnut from the

southeast US. Its leaves are an eye-catching

prawn pink when young.

Lilium martagonNative to Britain, it likes

retentive,rich soils with dappled shade.

This is an excellentchoice for naturalising

in shrub borders or thin grass.

Out now in the garden...

LAWNWEARANDTEAR The turfedareas

around the garden, particularlythe ‘pinch

points’,are severelyaffectedby visitor foot

traffic.We employ a variety of strategiesto

combat this: the use of deep-rootedturf on

areas of particularlyheavywear; and irrigation

of all high-impactareas, such as theTerraces,

to reduce stress levelsduring drought and to

maintain the aestheticquality of the design. If

the ground conditionsare going to cause long-

term damage to the turf/grassswardwe do

restrict access altogether.At this time of year,

short term cordoningoffwith pigtails and string

(above) allowsus to repair certain areas using a

mix of hard-wearingdwarf ryegrass, a little

browntopbent and creeping red fescue.



NOW’STHETIMETO...� It is incredibly easy to root fuchsias

from cuttings and now is the time to

take them. Snip non-flowering shoots

5cm long and put them into a rooting

medium. After only 10-14 days, these

will have rooted and be ready to pot

on into larger pots.

� Sow hardy annuals where they are to

flower if you have not already done so.

�Wait for the water to warm up if you

are thinking of adding fish to your

pond - the shock will be less if you

introduce them into warmer water.

� Prune all montana, alpina and

macropetala type clematis now, after

flowering. Remove any dead or

damaged stems and then cut back

to fill their allotted space.

� Start thinking about which biennials

you want to grow next year, as sowing

will start soon.

� Stake, stake and stake again.The

effort made now on staking perennials

will be rewarded later.

� Keep up the mowing and edging

of lawns. It’s vital to the look of the

garden and will show off your

perennials to their best advantage.

� The weather can be unpredictable,

so continue to protect tender plants.

Ventilate greenhouses on warm days.

NEXT MONTH:Troylooks at irrigationand staking the

perennials.BodnantGardens,Tal-y-Cafn,

ColwynBay,ConwyLL28 5RE.Tel:+44

(0)1492650460.Book now for a Head

Gardener’swalk, 3 June; Falconrydisplay,

28 June. www.nationaltrust.org.uk

WISTERIA PRUNINGAND CARE The Croquet Terrace fountain and steps are shrouded in a

web of wisteria in May, a joy of the early summer garden, deliciously scented and often

carrying a light second crop of blossom in August. The longest flowers (up to 45cm long) are

those of Wisteria floribunda, but W. sinensis has the best fragrance. Prune in February to short

spurs and then simply remove the long wispy extension growth in summer; around June, after

the flowers have faded. Birds can sometimes nip off the early buds - black cotton stretched

over the growth should deter all but the most determined of these pests.

TOPFIFTYTheKurameAzaleasoriginatedin

Kurame in Japan. Plant collector E.H. Wilson

was responsible for their introduction to the

West when in 1920 he released his famous

‘Wilson’s Fifty’.At Bodnant, we grow all 50

including, ‘Hana-asobi’, ‘Hinode-no-taka’,

‘Irohayama’ and perhaps the most famous,

‘Hinomayo’.All are characteristically

smothered with colourful blooms in May.

GOOD BEDFELLOWS I think the best way to

display rhododendrons is to choose plants

with slightly different flowering times - then

the flowering extends over two or three

months, and the individual plants each get in

turn a green background from their

neighbours upon which to flower.

MAYIN ACTION



How many different garden tools isit possible to re-inv ent? Are thereteams of young design buffs pacing

offices up and down the country with theirsleeves rolled, earning their crust weighingup the merits of changi ng the length ofspade shaft here, or the precise dimensionof wheelbarrows there, or arguing heatedlyabout the colour of the spots and stripeson the handles of the lates t range ofdandelion weeders?Well,okay,probably not in thesedark days.

However,when presented with the latest cropof trowels to review,I did wonder if perhapswe have become a little spoilt for choice. Atrowelis a trowel is a trowel,youmight think.There are, of course, trowels for specific

purposes: for example, bulb-planting trowelswith helpful measurements, to help you getplantin g depths just right; long- handledtrowels that enable you to reach deep intoyour borders; slim Jims for shoe-horningplants in to tight spots; and even, I learnedrecently , really skinny Minni es that callthemselves ‘fern trowels’.For the most part - with a couple of

except ions, one of which is the ground-breaking copper alloy trowel - we arelooking at the bog-standard item this month(apologies for the puns - irresist ible I amafraid). These are the sort of tools withoutwhich you simply cannot garden.There was a plethora of options to look

at, so how did we narrow it all down? Ilooked for the usual qualities you need inany garden tool you are going to userepeatedly,such as balance (how nice it feelsin the hand), as well as lightness, sharpnessand general overall ‘wieldability’.In my experience, wooden-handled trowels

have a built-in fault: The point at which themetal shaft joins the handle is covered witha shiny metal cover. Keeping a trowel dry isan unrealistic proposition and wood naturallyswells and shrinks. Therefore with time thismetal covering can come adrift, andeventually the shaft may even start to turnwithin the handle. This is utterly infuriatingand quite a performance to get sorted out -so I thought I would mention it here in thehopes that one of those aforementi oneddesign chaps might take heed and comeup with a solution.As often with these tests, it is about how

much you want to pay, but everyone needsan all-purpose trowel that will last a goodwhile and make planting and repotting apleasure.Here are the results of my findings.

HelenYemm unearths the most appropriatetrowel for a spot of light diggingPHOTOGRAPHS RICHARD HANSON

DIG FORVICTORY

TEGUK140 Testing Testing final:UK 31/03/2009 11:18 Page 18


I looked for the usual qualities you need in a garden tool you will use repeatedly,such as balance, lightness, sharpness and general overall wieldability’

TOOLS ONTESTTROWELS

PRICESDO

NOTINCLU

DEPOSTA

GEANDPA

CKAGING

Duchy Hand Trowel £15This high quality stainless steel

trowel is slightly heavier than

the others I tried, but it is

beautifully made with a

pleasantly traditional-looking

wooden handle (all tools in the

range are based on Victorian

designs and the handles made

from ethically sourced ash). A

chap’s trowel for serious work.

FromThe Duchy of Cornwall

Nursery.Tel: +44 (0)1208

872668. www.duchyof

cornwallnursery.co.uk

Sneeboer FlowerbedTrowel £29.95I really liked this Dutch-made

traditional stainless steel

trowel with a sharp blade that

is both slim and quite rounded.

The smooth wooden handle

really sets it apart as it is

much longer than other types.

The rounded end enables you

to get good leverage too.

Visit www.sneeboer.com

Also from Harrod Horticultural.

Tel: 0845 4025300.

www.harrodhorticultural.com

Spear and JacksonHand Trowel £7.48This stainless steel tool has a

soft, contoured rubber handle

just a couple of inches longer

than traditional ones and

slightly curved at the end.

It won’t get Wonky Handle

Syndrome (as mentioned

opposite), though it could

get easily lost in the border.

www.spearandjackson.co.uk

Also fromTool-Shed.

Tel:0845 6441808.

www.tool-shed.co.uk

Mira BronzeTrowel £26I had no way of proving if the

bronze blade of this trowel

‘assists the flow of nutrients’ to

plants, or ‘disturbs soil

magnetism’, as the makers

claim. However this wooden

handled, slim, straight, pointed

trowel was a joy to use. Slicing

through my claggy clay soil as

if it were chocolate cake, it was

the lightest trowel of all those I

tested. From Implementations.

Tel: 0845 3303148.

www.implementations.co.uk

Wolf Garten Multi-Change Range £10.95These tools come without

handles, the idea that you buy

the ‘business ends’ and then

choose a handle length to suit.

This trowel would therefore

make perfect sense if you

already use some tools in the

range. The trowel itself is

robust stainless steel and the

handled clicks on to the metal

shaft with Germanic precision.

Red and yellow = unloseable =

good. www.worldofwolf.co.uk

Alan TitchmarshTrowel£8.99This has a traditional crooked

shank attached to a pleasant

enough wooden handle.

The point where the blade is

welded on to the metal shank

part of the handle looks a bit

crude. This is one of the

trowels I tried that could suffer

fromWonky Handle Syndrome

(as mentioned opposite).

From Quality Garden Tools.

Tel: 0800 7832202.

www.qualitygardentools.com

Helen’sfavourite

Helenalso liked

TEGUK140 Testing Testing final:UK 31/03/2009 11:19 Page 19



Can the night frosts really have gone for good?

Nothing can stop the march of spring and once into

May, there is no more need to be cautious- whatever

yourheartdesires, plant it now.In vegetable terms,thismeans

sowing or planting out all those things that havebeenwaiting

for ‘nomore frosts’. French beans and peas,mangetout, basil,

Florence fennel, coriander and, in the cool greenhouse,

young tomato, pepper and chilli plants.

MAY 4 I am trying two packs of peas; one of sturdy

‘Onward’, a main crop variety that produces marrowfat peas

on short plants 60cm (2ft) high and a slightly taller

mangetout (those grown for the fleshy pod rather than the

peas inside) called ‘Reuzensuiker’,both fromMr Fothergill’s.

Sowing is easy.Make a shallow trench with a hoe and stagger

the peas across it, pulling the soil back over with the hoe

afterwards.Pay heed to the old saying - ‘One for the mouse,

one for the crow, one to rot and one to grow’ - and be

generous. Peas are tasty to all sorts of creatures, so I cover

mine with mesh tunnels and draw the ends tight.

MAY6 The tulipsare havingtheir final flourish and it is a real

treat to go andpick them fromthe cutting bed to bringinside.

Because the soil was so poor in this bed, they are not tall and

lush, but short and sturdy.Nevertheless, each has its own

personality; sophisticated pale creamandgreen‘SpringGreen’,

neat and petite ‘Claudia’, soft and subtle ‘Mistress’ and the

peony-flowered‘OrangePrincess’havedonetheirwork. I pick

themall andputeachvariety in a single vase aroundthe house.

I will lift them later when the leaves have died down, not

becausetheywon’tsurvive the winterhere,but because I like

to ring the changes and try some different ones next year.

MAY 17 After a trip to France, I came back with two packs

of Haricots Nain. The French naturally take beans very

seriously and there are more varieties in the average garden

centre than one can possibly load into a handbag. Like any

French beans, they need to be sown 5cm (2in) deep and

about 23cm (9in) apart in rows, and given some sticks and

stringfor support.Haricot beans are traditionallyleft tomature

in the pod and then harvested and dried for winter use, but

they can just as well be eaten fresh - they should be ready to

pick in eight weeks. My varieties are ‘Triomphe de Farcy’,

which looks as if it will be mottled, and ‘Fin de Bagnols’,

which is a fine, green one.

The lettuce sown last month has germinated and it looks

so healthy I can’t bring myself to thin it out. I know I must,

In her regular series, Jackie Bennett gets serious for springwith peas, French beans, lettuce, tomatoes and chillies

A vegetablegardener’s diary

but it’s so satisfying to get a 100% success rate. Make a

mental note to sow some more to stagger the crop and to

sow some spring onions such as ‘White Lisbon’.

MAY 20 A greenhouse without glass can be an asset. Ours

has several panes missing, which makes it perfect for plants

once they are established, allowing good air circulationand

stopping it overheating. I buy a mix of young tomato plants

from the local DIY store, and at the Malvern Show (see page

85) I pick up two beautiful organic chilli plants. All are put

in pots with fresh compost to avoid any soil problems and

seem to put on growth in days, not weeks.

� Sugar snap or mangetout - to be picked young,

before the peas inside develop.

� Petis pois - small seeded peas, eaten young

and fresh.

� Dwarf French beans - ideal for pots and window

boxes.Try ‘Dwarf Opera’

� Climbing French beans - to be grown up poles

like runner beans. Try purple-podded ones or those

with purple flowers like ‘Climbing Cobra’.

PEASAND BEANSTOSOWIN MAYAND JUNE

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TEGUK140 Veg Garden Diary final:UK 25/03/2009 15:09 Page 21

The prim and perfect

potager of Sheephouse in

Painswick. Roses, beans,

sweet peas, onions, salad

and more are abundantly

obvious in this ornamental

vegetable garden that

tastes as good as it looks.

TEGUK 140 Sheephouse final:UK 26/03/2009 12:00 Page 22

�

GLORIOUS GARDENSGLOUCESTERSHIRE


CotswoldIt would be easy to be daunted by making a garden in a county known forquintessential country style, but over the past 12 years the Gardiners havecreated a masterpiece that stays true to its salubrious surroundings

PHOTOGRAPHS JERRY HARPUR WORDS VANESSA BERRIDGE

charm



So often when I visi t a garden, I’m told

that ‘there was nothing here when we

came’. It’s always very impressive to see what

people have done with a blank sheet, but

somehow - I don’t know why - it’s even more

cheering to hear that garden owners have worked on

or around what was there.

That seems to me to be the case with Lawren ce and

Lindsa y Gardiner at their home in Painswick in

Gloucestershire. Gardening here must be a tall order - it’s

one of the Cotswolds’ prettiest villages, with ancient

yews lining the churchyard path and a number of well-

known gardens within the vicinity. Born and bred in the

county, the Gardiners have a real feel for the Cotswol d

countryside, and, perhaps because of this, when they

bought Sheephouse in 1996, they worked with the lie of

the land. The garden slopes down from the house, with

views down a valley of woods and cattle grazed fields. Hills

rise up again gently on each side away from the garden.

The house itself dates from three periods: its core is an

early 15th-century farmhouse, with later additionsof a barn

in the 1600s and then a Georgian façade. The Gardiners

created new terracing immediately in front of the latter, but

kept a wide lawn below, flanked by two large herbaceous

borders. This façade is covered with a creamy ‘Madame

Alfred Carrière’ rose and an unidentifiedwisteriathat flowers

abundantly in May. It was part of the appeal of the house.

‘I’d always wanted a wisteria,’ says Lindsay, ‘but we’d never

managed to achieve such a wonderful one before.’

The barn was converted into part of the house with a

large galleriedroom.Outside, one wall is covered with Vitis

coignetiae. The facingbed, edgedwith Lavandulax chaytoriae

‘Sawyers ’, is plante d with Allium holland icum ‘Purple

Sensation’ for May,followed by Lilium regaleand roses, such

as ‘Prosperity’. A rambler rose, the pale pink ‘Belvedere’,

foams over a wall, and acts as a backdrop for a knot garden

designed by Robert Bryant, who also worked closely with

the Gardiners elsewhere in the garden.

Although it had slippedintodeclineunderpreviousowners,

therewas a structureof existingtreesand hedging.One area,

originally intendedas a tennis court,was framedon one side

by a hedgeof Thuja plicataand on twoothersby green beech.

This was enclosed on the fourth side by espalieredBramley

apples and turned into an ornamental potager, inspired by

RosemaryVerey’spotager at BarnsleyHouse.

Because the enclosure was slightly irregular in shape,

Robert decided to design it as a circle broken up into five

segments, edgedwith box, with gravel pathwaysconverging

on a central stone urn planted with trailing surfinias and

Gardening here must be a tall order - it’s one of the Cotswolds’ prettiestvillages, with a number of well-known gardens in the vicinity

RIGHTThe borders are

backedwith the glorious

rusty red of a copper beech

hedge. Planting includes

Stipa gigantea, white

‘Prosperity’ and ‘Little

White Pet’ roses, yellow

hemerocallis, Yucca

filamentosa, white phlox

and Spiraea japonica

‘Goldflame’. FAR RIGHT

Bamboo and Cornus

controversa ‘Variegata’ by

the ponds. BELOW

Whitebeams contrast with

the acid yellows and deep

pinks of bergenias.

OPPOSITE PAGEAn

unnamedwisteria blesses

the front façade.

�







Turn over for garden notebook

�

a cordyline, ‘to give airyness,’ says Robert. At the point of

each segment are two box pyramids and a standard

Winchester Cathedral rose, and there is a steel archway at

the entrance to each pathway. Cordons of dessert and

culinary apples and pears are trained up the arches, with

a range of varieties to allow cross-pollination.

The beds are planted with a mixture of vegetables and

flowers, such as sweet peas, dahlias and chrysanthemums,

which Lindsay cuts for decorating the house. In summer,

the Gardiners are self-sufficient in vegetables, with multiple

croppings of shallots, onions, leeks, lettuce, rocket, cress,

beetroot, runner beans and broad beans - Lindsay says she

finds herself run off her feet, picking vegetables and fruit,

and making jams and chutneys.

Beyond the potager is a series of swirli ng borders,

a mixture of shrubs, such as yellow Spiraea ‘Goldflame’

and Potenti lla fruticosa ‘Abbotswood’ and perenn ials.

Early snowdrops, hellebores, narci ssus and Crocus

tommasinianus are followed by pink tulips and bergenia in

spring, and then by yellow hemerocallis and fiery red

Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ later in the summer. Yuccas and stipas

given contrasts in texture.

Paths of Berkshire flint lead down to a gazebo.

Below are two pools, which cascad e into one another

(and are filled with ‘monster’ koi carp). They drop away

towards a statue of Galatea, hands on hips. ‘It is lovely to

sit there on a summer’s evening with a glass of wine,’ says

Lindsay, ‘listening to the sound of water, and watching

insects and birds flitting in and out.’

Beyond is a southwest-facing ericaceou s rockery,

with rhododendrons, azaleas and magnolias for spring

colour, and a woodland bed of cherries and acers, and

Galanthus nivalis, Viburnum x burkwoodii and, for autumn,

Cyclamen hederifolium.

It is high maintenance, Robert admits, but he provides

interest for the Gardiners throughout the year. ‘It is full

of colour in high summer, and in winter, it doesn’t

look devast ated. There are a number of evergreen trees

and planting through out is carefully designed for

successional interest: there are, for instance, great drifts

of Hydrangea arboresc ens ‘Annabelle’, which blooms

profusely in July and August, but has flower heads that

are attractive in mid-winter too.

Sheephouse, Stepping Stone Lane, Painswick, Gloucestershire

GL6 6RX. Tel: +44 (0)1452 814282. The garden will be open

for the Red Cross on Sunday 28 June, 2-6pm.

OPPOSITE PAGE ‘Rosalie’

tulips beneath the

blossom of the whitebeam

trees (Sorbus aria

‘Lutescens’) and, behind

the gazebo, a variegated

weigela. FAR LEFTThe

view from the gazebo

towards Painswick, framed

by beech hedging and a

vine-covered wall with

graceful wands of Dierama

pulcherrimum in front.

LEFT Spiraea japonica

‘Goldflame’,marguerites

and hemerocallis in

borders near the gazebo.

BELOW Lilium regale and

roses in the border beside

the barn.

‘It’s lovely to sit by the pool on a summer’s evening with a glass of wine, listento the sound of water and watch insects and birds flit in and out’




The notebookSheephouse in Gloucestershire is a south facing, ornamental garden covering one and a half acres.The soil is limey, with heavy clay in parts but loamy in others

� Layers give year-round interest. Robert chooses spring flowers such as

Narcissus ‘Tête-à-tête’ and Crocus tommasinianus without huge amounts of

foliage, so it disappears under the new planting and doesn’t look a mess.

� Townand CountrySeries roses such as ‘Kent’ have a long floweringseason,

are comparativelyhealthy,and the flowersdie cleanly,so it’snot the end of the

world if you don’tdeadhead them.

� Hellebores: we cut off the previousyear’s

foliage in December to show off the flowers

to their best advantage in Feb and March.

� The boulders in the rockerytend to

leach into the ericaceousplants. So we use

sulphur granules to keep up the acid levels.

� Wemake all our own compost in six

timber-sidedbays,with pumpkinsplantedon

top.We exhibiteda huge pumpkin at last

year’sMalvernShow and won fifthprize.

� Tomaintain a nice clipped edge, hoe

away from the lawn. It makes the garden

look a million dollars immediately.

GARDENS & NURSERIES IN THE AREA� HumphreysEnd HouseWildlife-friendlygarden

with organic veg. Open for the NGS Sat 6 and Sun 7

June, 2-6pm. Randwick,nr StroudGL6 6EW.

Tel:+44 (0)1453765401.

� PaulmeadLandscaped,with formal veg garden.

Open for the NGS Sun 21 June, 2-6pm. BisleyGL6

7AG. www.ngs.org.uk

� PainswickRococoGardenFlamboyantearly

18th-centurygardenwith fine views.Open daily

until 31 Oct, 11am-5pm.PainswickGL6 6TH.Tel:

+44 (0)1452813204. www.rococogarden.org.uk

� The LavenderGardenPlants for bees and

butterflies.Openweekendsand BHs; ring in week.

AshcroftNurseries,Tetbury,nr DursleyGL8 8YF.Tel:

+44 (0)1453860356. www.thelavenderg.co.uk

� ShadyplantsAriseaemas,aroids and hostas.

Ring ahead. Edge, nr PainswickGL6 6NF.Tel:+44

(0)1452812459. www.shadyplants.com

TIPS FROMTHE GARDINERSCONTACTS

KNOT EASYThe knot garden (above) was designedby RobertBryant,

who used a design from 1600 that he found at the RHS

LindleyLibrary in London.VigorousRosa ‘Belvedere’,which

runs over the wall, grows as muchas 3-4m (10-15ft)a year.

GORGEOUS GALATEAFromGreekmythologyand

neo-classicalliterature,a

representationof ‘She who is milk

white’ (above) stands on a pedestal

by the ponds, flankedby tall

evergreensand grasses.She is

Galatea, the statue Pygmalion

sculptedand fell in lovewith,

whichwas brought to life for him

by Aphrodite.

NICKING AND NOTCHINGThe fruit trees are grown as cordons

around the arches (below), but

sometimes they can grow a bit one-

sided. To get an even distribution of

leaves and branches, cut a notch

above a dormant bud, where the

sap rises in spring, removing a piece

a bark no more than 1mm into the

wood. It heals over again and

encourages a branch to grow.




Focus on... GloucestershireOur pick and mix of the Cotswold gem’s formal gardens, private plots, nice little nurseries and places for nibbles

PLANT PICK UP

COMPILED BY STEPHANIE MAHON

SPLENDID AND STATELY

SPOTLIGHTGLOUCESTERSHIRE

RodboroughCommon is known for rolling hills and far-reachingviews across the county. It is also

renownedfor wild flora such as the pasque flowerand early purple orchids in spring, as well as rare

butterfliessuch as the Adonis blue, whichhas reappearedhere after a 20-year absence.Right on the

common standsThe Bear of RodboroughHotel, a 17th-centurycoachinginn with the choiceof

garden room, terrace,walled croquet lawn or gardens in which to take afternoontea.The traditional

option comprisesa selectionof finger sandwiches,sconeswith clottedcream and jam, and sliced

cakes servedwith coffeeor a selectionof teas.The Champagneversionhas all of the abovebut also

a dish of strawberriesand a glass of bubbly each.The Bear of RodboroughHotel, Rodborough

Common,Stroud,Glos GL5 5DE.Tel:+44 (0)1453878522. www.cotswold-inns-hotels.co.uk

TIME FOR TEA?

‘Two of our Gloucestershire gardens have opened for us annually since 1927,the first NGS year - Stanway Water Garden and Icomb Place’

Norman Jefferys, NGS county organiser for Gloucestershire

New to the NGS this year is Herbs for Healing, a nursery specialising in medicinal plants with an

educational show garden. It is set in a rural and tranquil spot in Barnsley,near Cirencester,and run

on organic principles by DaviniaWynne-Jones, the daughter of RosemaryVerey.Beautiful plants,

workshops,events and tours to learnmore about the healing properties of plants, as well as a huge

variety of herbs for sale. It is open for the NGS on Sunday 5 and Saturday 18 July, andThursday 20

August, 2-6pm; and open everyWednesday fromMay to mid-September,10am-3pm.Group visits can

be arrangedby appointment.Tel:+44 (0)1285 851457. www.herbsforhealing.net

Westbury Court Gardens (right) was the

NationalTrust'sfirst garden restoration,

completed in 1971.It is a truly rare

beauty in being the only surviving Dutch

water garden in the country, and

perhaps the best preserved example

anywhere, including the Netherlands.

Laid out between 1696 and 1705 by

Maynard Colchester I, co-founder of the

Society for the Propagation of Christian

Knowledge, it has been recreated largely

to the original plan and solely planted

with species from before 1700. It is a

garden of canals and long ponds (one

with a two-storey pavilion), topiary and

symmetrical beds, and has what may be

the oldest oak in England.Westbury-on-

Severn, Glos GL14 1PD.Tel: +44 (0)1452

760461. www.nationaltrust.org.uk

Hoo House Nursery (below)

specialisesin alpines and

hardy perennials, just what

you need for those biting

Gloucestershirewinters.

Owner Julie Ritchie is

happy to offeradvice and

suggestions,which is

worth its weight in plants

consideringshe has been

growingand propagating

her own stock for more

than 22 years - using peat-

free compost for the past

six.With most of her 900

varietiesavailableat the

beginningof May,but no

mail order facility,you’ll

have to visit in person.

OpenMon-Sat from 10am-

5pm; or Sun, 11am-5pm.

GloucesterRd,Tewkesbury,

Glos GL20 7DA.

Tel:+44 (0)1684293389.

www.hoohouse.plus.com

GARDENER, HEALTHYSELF

WESTBURY©

NTP

L/ST

EPHEN

ROBSO

NCREAMTEA/W

WW.COTS

WOLD

-INNS-HOTE

LS.CO.UK

TEGUK140 Focus Glos Gardens final:UK 25/03/2009 15:18 Page 30



A room of

Restoring a forgotten walled garden, where Tudor kings and queens once walked, has been adream come true for gardener Jan Howard and a source of inspiration for her design business

PHOTOGRAPHS CLIVE NICHOLS WORDS PATTIEBARRON

ONE’S OWN

TEGUK 140 Cowdray Walled Garden final:UK 25/03/2009 17:03 Page 32

GLORIOUS GARDENSWEST SUSSEX


With flowery parterres, ornate pavilions

and lavender-l ined walkways, the

Walled Garden at Cowdray seems like

an enchanted, timeless place. It is no

surprise to learn that this was once a

Tudor pleasure garden where Henry VIII as well as

Elizabeth I strolled when they visited the castle. It is far

harder to beli eve that just eight years ago it was

undiscovered, the least interest ing part of the Cowdray

Ruins at West Sussex. Nobody would know that, however,

because the door to the one-acre walled garden was

closed to the outside world.

The person responsiblefor opening that ancient wooden

door and restoring the walled garden is garden designer

Jan Howard, who is also the creator of a range of fanciful,

rusted iron plant supports and structures called Room in

the Garden. She started her business in 1995 when she

walked through a black archway in her garden, decided

she hated it, and realised she could do better. ‘Back then,

there was nothing on the market that was both beautiful

and functional,’ she says. ‘I had a eureka momen t and

decided to design and manufacture elegant plant supports.’

She chose rusted iron so that the supports - soon to

incorporate gazebos and pavilions - would look like they’d

been in the gardenforever, and thus give even a new garden

a feelingof age. The businesswent well; all gardeners know

LEFTTheWalled Garden at Cowdrayis constructedof bite-

sized box-edged beds of Allium hollandicum ‘Purple

Sensation’ and nepeta, with Jan’s own design of gazebo

in the centre. ABOVEThe astoundingburst of Paeonia

lactiflora ‘Bowl of Beauty’. BELOWTakea seat at theAlitex

glasshouse afterwalking down this path past beds of

alliums, peonies, cotton lavenderand pottedolive trees.

�



the importance of good underpinnings for perennials,

climbers and roses. These are what you might call the

gardeningworld’shaute couture corsetry,so had great appeal.

However, Jan needed a showcase, not just a presence

at flowe r shows. ‘A lot of people seemed to think that

the next stage after rust is disintegration, so I wanted a

timeless place in which the supports could be seen to last

through the seasons. I also wanted a place where I could

show how to integrate them with plants. In winter, quite

bare, they look wonderful; in the summer, covered with

plants, they almost disappear.’

Jan and her husbandMike, a teacher, looked for a house

with office premises and a small garden, but couldn’t find

anything within their price range, so tried to lease. They

approached the nearby Cowdray Estate, were shown a

couple of place s, and then, as an afterth ought, the old

walled garden, a one-time allotment patch for standing

tenants, with an adjacent cottage. ‘Althoughthe gardenwas

hidden, forgotten, the atmosphere within the walls was

tranquil and beautiful. This was the place,’ she recalls.

There was no question of failure, because they had sunk

their last penny into the proje ct. ‘It was a tough ride

because the garden was an offici al ancient monument

as well as Grade I-listed. Engli sh Heritag e had to give

us permission to even touch the Tudorbrick walls, which

needed repo inting. The landscap ing team needed to

level the soil, but they weren ’t permitted to remove

even a spadeful from the site.’

Jan’s vision was clear from the start: she would reclaim

the romantic pleasure garden. ‘I wanted it to be traditional,

with parterres filled with flowers, and no enclosed rose

tunnel s to detrac t the eye from the fantast ic borrowed

landscape that Capability Brown designed, or, of course,

from the ruins of the old castle.’

There were two trees worth keeping: a Judas tree and a

venerab le old walnut, which still fruits prolifically. She

�


ABOVE Sedums and

heucheras also edge some

colourful beds. RIGHTTwo

large trees, a walnut and a

Judas tree, provide shade

for any modern regal

guests who wish to visit,

while water trickles from

the many spouts of this

Le Blanc bronze fountain.

BELOW, LEFTTO RIGHT

Relax by the bananas

at the glasshouse;a

sculptureof a bugling

angel peeks out from

behind some planting;

clematis climb obelisks

made by owner Jan,

beside yellow roses.


‘Although the garden was hidden, forgotten, the atmosphere within thewalls was tranquil and beautiful. This was the place’


divided the space into bite-sized areas with box hedging,

laying down plant-flattering pathways of sandy Bredon

gravel. On either side of a central lawn, she ran avenues of

crab apple trees underplanted with ‘Hidcote’ lavender (in

fact half the ‘Hidcote’ she ordered turned out to be paler

‘Munstead’, but Jan rather likes the contrast). The parterres

were filledwith antique roses, 10 differentkinds of peonies,

agastaches, catmint, lavender, aromatic silvery herbs and

massesof purple alliums.With this backdrop, her pavilions,

pyramids and obelisks look as if they have been rusting

there all the time, right through the centuries.

There is also a hot border, edged with purple heuchera,

crammed with cannas, banana trees, hot pink penstemons,

blood-red dahlias and apricot eremurus, that leads to an

Alitex glasshouse in which bougainville a, jasmine and

tropical hibisc us romp around a deep pink velvet

banquette. Jan took the garden’s colour palette from the

jewel tones of Tudor paintings. ‘If a white or cream

flower dares to creep in, like the occasiona l foxgl ove

or bluebe ll, I’ll rout it out, becau se the colour jumps

out too much . Even the glasshou se is painte d in a

biscuit shade so that it blends.’ Head gardener Rick

Wiseman and the occasional hiredhelp keep the sweet peas

blooming in summer and the box clipped to perfection.

‘There is this perceived wisdom that you shouldn’t see

a garden all at once, that it shou ld reveal its charms

gradually ,’ says Jan. ‘But I believe rules are there to be

broken, and the beauty of the walled garden is that as soon

as you’re through the doorway, you see the whole picture

laid out before you. And that makes peoplewant to explore

each area, to see everything more closely.’

The Walled Garden at Cowdray is at No 1 River Ground

Stable s, Cowdray Park, Midhurst, West Sussex GU29

9AL. Tel: +44 (0)1730 816881. For opening times, visit

www.walledgardencowdray.com

LEFT Cowdray Castle can be seen behind the wall of the garden,with a statue of a girl

by Judith Holmes Drewry of LeBlanc FineArt in the pond in the foreground. ABOVE

A mix of ‘Hidcote’ and ‘Munstead’ lavendersadds a dreamypurple haze. BELOW A pavilion

modelled on medieval jousting tents, topped with fun flags and weatherproof roof cover.




The notebookTheWalled Garden at Cowdray is an enclosed, sheltered garden of one acre with a south-facing aspect. The gardenis bordered by the River Rother and the soil is therefore very fertile, free-draining and a rich peaty loam

LEONINE LOVEJan fell for a pair of stone lions at a local

antiques shop. ‘It was important to me

that everything I chose for the garden

had a sense of antiquity,’she says. A

nightmare to move, they now stand

permanently, guarding the vegetable

beds, surrounded by flame-coloured

Heuchera ‘Marmalade’(above) and Iris

‘Sultan’s Palace’.

� Consider the overall garden. I try to pull

everything - plants, ornaments, structures - together

with a similar colour palette so they all blend in

together. If you have a blue pot in isolation, the eye

is pulled towards it, and the effect can be jarring.

� Think about plant props in the autumn, no later,

because it’s full pelt through summer, all systems go -

but if you get your supports in early, not only will the

plants benefit, but you can free yourself up to enjoy

the garden in its high season.

� I aim to hit all the senses when choosing

plants, so there is plenty of tactile foliage, scent,

colour and movement to engage visitors. It’s about

styling the garden, just as you would the interior

of your home.

� Takephotos of your garden throughout each

of the seasons. It will remind you of what you have

in your borders, and throw up weak areas that

need working on. Youwill also have a great pictorial

record of your garden.

JAN HOWARD’STIPSGARDENSTOVISIT ANDLOCAL NURSERIES� PetworthHouseA 700-acre landscape

park designedby CapabilityBrown.

Petworth,W. SussexGU28 OAE. Tel:0844

8001895. www.nationaltrust.org.uk

� WestDean GardensOrnamentalborders,

the 100m-longpergola, kitchengarden and

glasshouses.WestDean, Chichester,

W. SussexPO18OQZ.Tel:+44 (0)1243

818210. www.westdean.org.uk

� ArchitecturalPlantsExotic, large-

leavedhardy plants. LidseyRoad,Woodgate,

Chichester,W. SussexPO20 3SU.

Tel:+44 (0)1243545008.

www.architecturalplants.com

� PhoenixPerennialPlantsDiverseand

covetablerange of perennialsand grasses.

Paice Lane,Medstead,Alton, Hampshire

GU34 5PR.Tel:+44 (0)1420560695.

CONTACTS

FOUNTAIN FEATUREThe magnificent bronze fountain (below) is

the focal point of a walkway of lavender-

edged beds. It spouts water from a series

of boar’s heads around its circumference,

and was sculpted by Lloyd LeBlanc of

LeBlanc Fine Art. www.leblancfineart.com


UNDER CREATIVE COVERJan’s inspiration for Room in the Garden’s

rusted iron gazebos and pavilions comes

from medieval jousting tents - they even

have jaunty iron flags at their summit, and

the gazebos, square or hexagonal, have

their own rusted iron candle chandeliers.

Canvas liners in a multitude of colour

choices make them weatherproof. For

details, see www.roominthegarden.com



The perfect habitat for greater crested newts, grasssnakes and Burnet moths, this natural, eco-friendlygarden in East Sussex is a refuge for gardeners too

Sunniva Harte’sgarden

near Brightonhas several

different spaces including

this elegant lush area of

pastel colours and old

cottage garden favourites.

�


GLORIOUS GARDENSEAST SUSSEX

wild sidePHOTOGRAPHSJANE SEBIRE WORDS STEPHEN ANDERTON

A walk on the

TEGUK 140 Pevensey final:UK 26/03/2009 10:15 Page 39


�

ABOVE LEFT An old rustic bench adds a decorative touch by concretepaving that has been softened in appearance with self-seeded grasses and flowers.

Pevensey marshes lie beyond. ABOVERIGHTThe raised vegetable garden where runner beans, beetroot, Swiss chard and salad burnet grow. BELOWThe

buds and blooms of Rosa ‘Albertine’. RIGHT A table and chairs front a jungle of Geranium ‘Silver Queen’,Allium schubertii, euphorbia andWelsh poppies.

To be really green, doesn’t a garden have to be woolly round

the edges, to be extra well-endowed in the muck and out-of-

sight department? Sunniva Harte’scountrygarden at Pevensey

in East Sussex is living proof that it need not be so. It is

surroundedby organic farmland,yes; it

ends in romantic meadow grass, yes; but it is never

shabby. ‘Managed wildness’ is what she calls it, and

managed it certainly is, with very great care.

The garden began life 11 years ago as the blankest

of canvases, giving Sunniva the chance to design a

garden in line with her green principles, making what

she calls ‘a response to my environment, stylistically

as well as materially’. The result is a series of garden

spaces - you couldn’t really call them garden rooms -

that run down the length of the garden: first, a lawn

beside the house with tall walls and sophist icated

borders around it; second, a more informal area with

colourful curving beds and a small pond, with a sitting area beside her

west-facing studio, and an absurdly pretty outside loo; third, through a

wooden gate, lies a little vegetable patch; and finally, a meadow garden

running down to open fields at the far end.


Seeing no point trying to garden in the face of nature, she is keen for gardeners,including herself, to ‘acknowledge what they can and can’t have’

As a garden photographer and writer, and some-tim e professio nal

gardener, Sunniva has seen plenty of sophistication, and it’s a trick she

plays well in the first, smart part of the garden, with Magnolia ‘Goliath’,

roses and lavender preceded by hellebores and dwarf tulips. But it is

beyond this area that the garden seems more

comfortable with itself. The little pond tucked in

behind a bed draws little attention to itself, but it

is three feet deep and has becomehome to eight greater

crested newts. Impressive they are too, like little

dragons the size of trout.

Most meadow gardens focus on bulbs, early

perennials and perhaps orchids, and are then cut in

summer like a hay meadow,but in this garden the soil

is too rich for fine, flowery meadow grass, and Sunniva

sees no point trying to garden in the face of nature.

She is keen for gardeners, including herself , to

‘acknowledge what they can and can’t have’. Instead,

she just lets the rough grass flower and fall over in its own good time under

wind and rain, never mown or strimmed, and this is just what her newts

need, and grass snakes too. Burnet moths are also residents and in June

you can find their pupae attached to the sides of stalks like little yellow






slugs, before they turn into moths of the most glamorousblue-black, spotted

with magenta. If the meadow grass itself is coarse, it does not mean the

meadow garden is unromantic, and Sunniva has scattered it with crab

apples, swee t-scented phil adelphus, sand-lo ving Rosa rugosa and the

occasio nal paddle-lea ved clump of elecamp ane. A

mown, one-man-wide path weaves its way between

these on its way to the bottom of the garden and back

again. Where there is need for something a little firmer

than turf underfoo t, she has incorporated large flat

pieces of weathered, broke n concre te with grass

between them. The spaces between have filled with

grass and the mower can pass over the whole lot with

ease; the effect is most relaxed.

Sunn iva inherited her green leani ngs from her

grandmother, who actually welcomed blackbirds and

squirrels indoors and even let blue tits fly into her

bedroom. ‘It’s about being human,’ says Sunniva. ‘We

have no right to exclude anything from a garden.’ Except the odd slug

maybe, for which she puts down pellets if things get desperate; she uses a

little Weedol here and there on the paths, too, but nothing on the borders.

Her grandfather always planted by the moon and it’s a way of gardening

she is keen to follow, especially in her vegetable patch. ‘It makes sense,’

she says. ‘Things grow stronger and need less water if you plant them at

the right time in the lunar cycle. The system pioneered by Rudolph Steiner

and Emerson College at East Grinstead was incredibly helpful to me. I find

it really works.’ Her patch is not large, just four plank-

edged beds, but she raises generous crops of beans,

and on the sandy soil she has good results with carrots

and golden beetroot as well as salads.

She recycles too. Interesting tins are washed out

to make plant pots, and one of her water butts was

once a commercial plastic fruit juice container.

Garden canes she gets from thinn ing the fully-

hardened,mature stems from her own bamboo clump.

It’s all very, very organised, but relaxed at the same

time: that’s the garden’s charm.

Sunniva Harte’sprivate garden at Pevensey,near Brighton

in East Sussex, is open by appointment only, with all proceeds going to charity.

Please call ahead on tel: +44 (0)1323 762908 to arrange a visit.

LEFTA narrowpath is mown through the meadowgrass, past bushes of roses, to the vegetableplot. ABOVELEFT Lucca the cat takes a break at the foot

of the raised area between daisies and Rosa rugosa. ABOVE RIGHT Crataegus prunifolia, Daphne odora, foxgloves, geraniums,alliums, nepeta and

Bowles’ Golden Grass. BELOWThe caterpillar of a Burnetmoth chows down on the lovely grub.

Her grandfather always planted by the moon and she is keen to follow - ‘Things growstronger and need less water if you plant them at the right time’

Turn over for garden notebook

�




The notebookSunniva Harte’sgarden is a long and thin 90m x 12m (300ft x 40ft) with sandy, fertile soil. One end is tuckedamongst walls and buildings, while the other exposed to the wind and looks onto open farmland

� Don’t cut down your borders in November, do it in

February.The old foliage suppresses the weeds and then when

you clean up in spring the plants get off to a weed-free start.

� Relax about lawns. If you just keep mowing, the smaller

weeds will thrive - self-heal and daisies - and they look great in a

dry summer when the

grass is poor.

� If you have lots of

slugs, start off all your

vegetables in pots, and put

them out when they are

stronger. It’s really worth it.

� If you mow your

meadow grass, never do it

before the end of July or

August, because many

insects need that time to

complete their life cycle.

OWNER SUNNIVA’STIPS

� Highdown If you garden on lime, visit.Worthing,W. Sussex

BN126PFGTel:+44 (0)1903501054. www.highdowngardens.co.uk

� MerrimentsGardenand NurseryFour acres of variedmodern

gardening,with nursery attached.HawkhurstRoad, Hurst Green, E.

SussexTN197RA.Tel:+44 (0)1580860666. www.merriments.co.uk

� PashleyManorA series of elegant formal gardenswith parkland.

Ticehurst,E. SussexTN5 7HE.Tel:+44 (0)1580200888.

www.pashleymanorgardens.com

� StoneCrossNurseriesStone Cross Roundabout,Dittons

Road, E. SussexBN24 5ET.Tel:+44 (0)1323488188.

www.stone-cross-nurseries.co.uk

� Usual and Unusual PlantsOnslowHouse,MaghamDown,

Hailsham,E. SussexBN27 1PL.Tel:+44 (0)1323840967.

www.uuplants.co.uk

GARDENS AND NURSERIESTOVISIT

RESTFUL SPOTIt helps to extend the character

of a garden if its sitting places

have different characters. Here,

there are light metal table and

chairs beside the buildings, a

weathered old bench nestled

firmly into the meadow grass

(right) and a swing-seat at the

far end facing out onto farmland.

WATERWAYSIf you are serious about collecting rainwater, have a few attractive

watering cans that can be kept full beside your rainwater butts

(above), so that when it does rain the butt itself can fill to maximum

capacity. Sunniva’swater is metered and on her sandy soil she

must save every drop she can.

POTTY PIECESTiny terracotta pots lined up on

a wall (above) add a natural

decorative country touch, and

any that get broken by wildlife

make great crocks.

DON’T BIN THATTINGet creative and recycle at the

same time by using old food

containers around the garden.

Here, Sunniva makes the most

of an old olive oil can (below).



If the rose-covered walls of Wren’s Farm could talk, theywould tell of hard-working plant addict Petal Wilson’s

colourful collages of cottage classics

PHOTOGRAPHSAND WORDS NICOLA STOCKENTOMKINS

�

The art of


abundance

TEGUK 140 Wrens Farm final:UK 25/03/2009 16:27 Page 46

Wren’sFarm in Lower

Bordean,Hampshire, a

former farmyard. Roses

‘Albertine’andWhite Cloud

envelop the house; and

bedswith Rosa ‘Shropshire

Lass’, Mary Rose andTess of

the D’Urbervilles surround

a circular islandbed

centrepiecewith clipped

photinia standard.

GLORIOUS GARDENSHAMPSHIRE


Viewed from any angle on a hazy

summer’smorning, the gardenat

Wren’s Farm forms an enticing

composition of flowers and

foliage that embraces windows,

doorways and special places. ‘I’m not arty in the

conventionalsense,but you could say I paintwith

flowers,’ says Petal Wilson, who has transformed

an unappealing farmyard in Hampshire into a

classicEnglishcottagegarden filledwith an elusive

blend of fragrance and flowers.

It is no mean feat, especial ly since just 12

years ago when Petal and her husband Ra

moved to Lower

Bordean, there was

little growing in the

farmyard apart from

an old walnut tree, and the barns were only

partly converted. ‘We converted and renovated

the old farm buildings, adding an outer frame

of reclaimed bricks around the windows to

better define them against the light flint walls.’

Only once building work was complete could

she turn her attention to the farmyard. ‘We had

to remove tons of broken concrete,’ she explains.

‘Even now, I unearth enormous chunks of

concrete,stone or flint - somehowmoreand more

manages to rise to the surface.’ Nor did the

challenges stop once the rubble was removed.

‘The soil is poor, a free-drai ning chalk that’s

always hungry and absorbs loads of compost

each year. Planting anything involves the use of

a pickaxe and metal spike,’ she says.

Fortunately Petal is no stranger to compost

and challeng ing conditio ns. A keen gardener

since the age of 12, she established a fabulous

rose garden in her previous home, and is unfazed

by hard work - ‘It comes from a Scott ish

upbringing.’ Her garden at Wren’s Farm is

essentially walled, flanked by buildings on three

sides with the fourth partl y enclosed by a

detached, converted barn, now Ra’s office. There

are gaps to each side, allowing glimpses of a

lower garden set against a backdrop of the South

Downs. ‘We have a beautiful view of hills, fields

and woods - it was one of the main reasons for

moving here,’ Petal says.

Initially,she startedwork on the areas closestto

the house,concentrating on one bit at a time. ‘The

secretis to livewitha garden and to make changes

gradually,’ she explains. ‘I never put a design on

paper - I just started out by planting one border,

and it grew slowly from there.’ One of the first

areas she tackled was a raised York stone terrace

that runs parallel to the south-facing wall of the

house. ‘It’sa perfect place to grow tender plants,’

she points out. Amongst the treasures thriving

there are indigofera, jasmine, oleander, honey

bush and pelargoniums. ‘I keep them close to

the house where I can keep an eye on them.’ On

the easterly end of the terrace, she plant ed

climbing roses such as Rosa White Cloud,

‘Penelope’ and ‘Albertine’, the powerful scent of

its pink flowers discernible even from deep

within the kitchen. The kitchen door opens

directl y onto the terrace, flanked by a rather

magnificent clump of Euphorbia characias

‘Portugese Velvet’, its

flower heads turning

fluorescent green when

backlit by the early

morning sun. To the west is a pool which,

replacing a tumble-down greenhouse, is sunk

into the reclaimed York stone. A central fountain

sprays variegated iris, goldenmimulusand dainty

arum lilies. ‘A garden isn’t complete without the

sound of water,’ says Petal. Behind the pool

stands an imposing, cast-iron cistern that is fed

water by a lion mask fountain trickling into the

pool, from where it is recirculated by a pump.

As a final flourish, the curving top edge of

the cistern has a collar of ivy, and on each

side clumps of bamboo, hosta, cordyline and

‘The secret is to live with a garden and to make changes gradually.I started out by planting one border,and it grew from there’


BOTTOM,LEFTTO RIGHT Rosa ‘Penelope’climbs up the former barn behind herbaceous beds of roses, delphiniums,euphorbia, foxglovesand

stachys;also in the beds are Cirsium rivulare ‘Atropurpureum’,poppies, hardy geraniums and black elder; a bench on the lawn for a comfortable

rest beside climbing solanum and Rosa ‘Albertine’.




rodgersia create a leafy setting. Nearby, in the

centre of the terrace, stands a pergola clad in a

vine, various clematis and the unusual, much-

admiredwhiteRosa ‘Cooperi’,whichall intertwine

to form a leafy canopy above a dining table and

bench. ‘Wesit out here a lot during fine weather,

enjoying informal meals,’ says Petal.

The view encompasses the garden and the

distantDowns, a glorious pictureframed in white

roses,pinkClematis‘Carnaby’anda froth of flowers

in thebedbelow- yellowCephalariagigantea, white

Crambe cordifolia, baptisia, and the crimson

blooms of Rosa L. D. Braithwaite. ‘It’s such a

fabulous, deep velvety red - it’s without doubt

my favourite rose,’ she adds.

Rosesareclearlya greatloveandrun throughout

the garden, woven into a tapestry of perennials,

evergreen shrubs and topiary. ‘I like to describe

my garden as ‘cottagey’,but within a formalityof

clipped box or santolina,’ she says. It appears

artfully orchestrated, but Petal insists that there is

nothingexactabouther methodof gardening.‘I’m

forever moving plants around - if they don’t do

well in one position, I’ll try them in another,

but if they still don’t get on, then it is time

for the compost heap.’

Failure is rare, but among her many successes

are certain signature plants, including Stachys

macrantha, a hairy-leaved perennial with purple

spikes of hooded flowers that goes well with

roses. ‘I first saw it growing alongside roses at

Sissinghurst, growing at just the right height to

hide the bare, lower stems,’ she points out. There

are clematis - notablyClematis durandii, a variety

without tendrilsthat requires a lot of tyingin - that

skirts a small, lichen-coloured doorway until

meeting a climbing variegated euonymus. There

are also rarities such as Marrubium incanum

(horehound), a perennial that stands out in the

gravel bed withwhorls of lilac flowers, just one of

an ever-increasing collectionof unusual plants.

The gravelbed lies to the southof her husband’s

office, its walls decked with ‘Pink Perpétué’ and

Bonicaroses.‘Despitebeingon chalky, free-draining

soil, it needs no watering,’ insists Petal. Edged in

old clay roof tiles to separate the gravel from the

grass,thisbed is largelypopulatedwithself-seeding

plants such as poppies, linaria, foxgloves and

grasses. ‘And I just pull out any seedlings that

appear in the wrong place,’ she says. In addition,

there are aromatic plants such as catmint, lavender,

sage and santolina mingling with pineap ple

ABOVEOn theYorkstone terrace, a table and benchwait for visitors beneath the arbour,shadedwith vines,Rosa ‘Cooperi’, Clematis ‘Carnaby’,with

Euphorbia characias ‘PortugueseVelvet’ and roses visible beyond. BELOWA view over white peonies and roses to the gravel bed with catmint,

eremurus, grasses, lavenderand eryngium, as well as sanguisorba, linaria, genista, campanulas and poppies.

�


TOP,LEFTTO RIGHT Delphinium ‘Magic’,

a deep blue dwarf variety that needs little

staking; Cistus x purpureus, an evergreen

shrub with pretty single bright pink papery

flowers in summer; RosaTessof the

D’Urbervilles, which bears large fragrant

crimson flowers on red stems. MIDDLE

LEFT Clematis ‘Carnaby’,a summer-

flowering climber with large dramatic pink

blooms with deeper pink stripes along the

centre of each petal. MIDDLE RIGHT Rosa

Mary Rose, a shrub rose with scented

cupped double flowers. BOTTOM, LEFTTO

RIGHT Rosa ‘Shropshire Lass’,a modern

shrub rose; Rosa Calypso, a pink-carmine

rose randomly striped or flecked with white,

which bears large sprays of semi-double

flowers; spires of unusual perennial

Marrubium incanum.

TEGUK 140 Wrens Farm final amended:UK 27/03/2009 15:48 Page 50



plant, sea holly, cardoon,sanguisorba and Cirsium

rivulare ‘Atropurpureum’, all of them known for

being drought tolerant.

Opposite the gravel bed lies the lower border,

backed by a hawthor n hedge and a special

acoustic fence, designed to soundproof against

the noise of passing traffic on the neighbouring

road. Unusually,it is painted in an off-black shade

from decorative paint specialists, Farrow & Ball.

‘The normal black was too glaring, but this softer

shade makes the fence less obtrusive, while also

forming a great backdropto the catalpaand white

foxtail lilies, roses and peonies,’ explains Petal.

Backgrounds are all important in this garden,

not only ancientflint and brick, but also reflective

steel. On one wall, she has fixed a long mirror that

catches the unpreparedvisitorby surprise with its

surrealistically distortedreflections.‘I love showing

people round - gardens are for sharing,’ she notes.

With its wonderful flowers, it is no surprise

that visitors come in summer, but winter too has

its subtl etie s with a permanent struc ture of

evergreens and topiary. Set into the lawn lies a

knot garden crafted from two kinds of box,

‘formality with chaos in the centre.’ To each side

stand island beds, a tiered arrangement of roses

and perennials - astrantia, trifolium, delphinium,

salvia and lupin among st others - rising to a

central, evergreen standardPhotiniax fraseri ‘Red

ABOVE Looking beyond the roses, euphorbia and geraniums to the topiary lonicera on the lawn and the hills beyond.The box-edged island bed on

the left contains groundcover of astrantias and roses. BELOWAn almost hidden door is edged in climbing Euonymous fortunei, Rosa ‘Aloha’ and

Clematis x durandii, and fronted by box pyramids.

Robin’. ‘It needs to be pruned twice a year to

keep the distinctive red shoots,’ she adds.

With little help apart from a gardener who

mows the lawns, and Ra who digs holes and

prunes the climbers, Petal gardens for countless

hours throughout spring and summer.‘I’m a fair-

weather gardener, though, and during the winter

I have a total rest - I hardly go into the garden,

and even forget the plants’ names.’ It is a time

for reflection, planni ng and dreaming of new

additions. ‘I’m a plantaholic, so whenever I find

new plants, I have to create a new border for

them,’ she says. ‘That’s how this garde n has

grown - it’s totally plant-led.’

Turn over for garden notebook �

Wren’sFarm,LowerBordean,HampshireGU32 1ER.

The garden at Wren’s Farm opens in aid of

charity for the NGS on Saturday and Sunday 20 and

21 June, 2-6pm. Groups are also very welcome by

appointment, and there are usually plants for sale.

Tel: +44 (0)1730 263983.




The notebookWren’s Farm is set against the background of the south Downs, with poor, free-draining chalk soil. It has many areasincluding a south-facing terrace with pond, climbers and tender plants; gravel bed; knot garden; and borders

� Prune in early spring, cutting out one main

branch a year on each rose to encourage growth.

� Apart from liberal

doses of well-rotted

farmyard manure, feed

with a proprietary fertiliser

in early spring and July.

� Limit spraying against

blackspot and aphid attack

to a preventative spray in

spring and again in early

summer, only if necessary.

If blackspot attacks after

that, life’s too short to

worry about it.

OTHER GARDENS INTHE AREAThese gardens are all local and open for the NGS on

the same days asWren’sFarm. www.ngs.org.uk

� BramdeanHouse, Bramdean,Hants SO24 0JU.

21 June, 2-5pm.Tel:+44 (0)1962771214.

� Down Place, South Harting, Petersfield,

Sussex GU31 5PN. 20-21 June, 2-6pm.

Tel: +44 (0)1730 825374

� HintonAmpner, Alresford, Hampshire

SO24 0LA. 20 June, 11am-5pm.

Tel: +44 (0)1962 771305.

OWNER PETALWILSON’STOPTIPS FOR HEALTHY ROSES

WET AND MILDSet into the York stone terrace is a small pool planted with mimulus, arum lilies,

irises and waterlilies (above). Behind this, a lead cilstern is fed a trickle of water

by a lion’shead spout, topped with a crown of ivy. Other planting in this area

includes cordyline, astilbe, hosta and bamboo.

CONTACTS

HANGINGOUTThis hangingbird table (above) has a

real copper roof with a 'verdigris'finish.

Get a similar one by Bempton,made

from FSC wood and completewith

hanging cord. H12inxW8in. £21.99at

www.gardenbird.com

REFLECTIONS OF SURPRISEA clever illusory touch of Petal’s lies

in the shade of the walnut tree, where

she has fixed a longmirror that is

cleverlydisguisedby a windowbox

of Iris laevigata, a leafy fig and golden

philadelphus(below).

AVIAN AMUSEMENTThese two topiary birds (above) are formed from

Loniceranitida. ‘When I started clipping the bushes,’

says Petal, ‘they lent themselvesto these shapes.

They’rejust a bit of fun, as are the balls and spirals.’



Architectural Trellises made to order in a widerange of panel designs and lattice options.

[email protected]

Arbour seats, Gazebos, Pergolas, Pavilions,Planters and Decking.


ChelseaFlower Show

RHS SHOWPREVIEW


19-23 May 2009The great spectacular begins right here with our preview

� Going For GoldKey themes for thisyear’s show gardens

� Show ShoppingNew practical and fungardening accessories

� The InterviewBehind the scenes with aplantsman and a designer

� Flower PowerWhat to look out for inThe Great Pavilion

� Insider InfoTips and advice to helpplan your visit

COMPILED BY CINEAD MCTERNAN

SU

SA

NN

AH

HU

NTE

R/R

HS

TEGUK140 Chelsea cover final:UK 30/03/2009 09:13 Page 55


RHS SHOW

Going for

GOLD

PREVIEW

THE PILGRIM’S RESTInspired by the herb gardens that were attached to

monasteries in the Middle Ages, Chris O’Donoghue

hopes to ‘recreate the spirit of these small, peaceful

plots’.All the plants used are easy to grow and many

can be incorporated into modern dishes, such as

meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) and elder

(Sambucus nigra) for fritters, and young side shoots of

hops that can be cooked like asparagus. Stand RM16

Showcasing an exciting array of garden design at thevery highest level, key themes at this year’s RHS Chelseainclude sustainability, foreign influences and edible gardens

Eco-friendlyFUTURE NATUREAn ingenious design from the green

roof gurus at Ark DM and the

University of Sheffield Landscape

Department, this garden is ‘a joyful

celebration of water’. It is built around

a water cycling system that is visible

at the core of the garden - a novel

approach to normal concepts for

rainwater harvesting. Stand MA13

A green roof that feeds water into a stormwater planting box, withplanting able to tolerate both flooding and normally dry conditions

look out for...

THE HESCO GARDENLeeds City Council took inspiration from

American-style rain gardens for their

design, as the dampYorkshire climate

so familiar to the team proved to be the

ideal environment for them.Water is

directed into a pond flanked by shallow

overflow pools, planted with iris, hosta

and Primula beesiana. This system

also creates free-draining areas that

are perfect for geums, aquilegia and

geraniums. Stand MA21

Locally sourced, reclaimed steel mesh gabions densely plantedwith ivy to make a living wall to further help absorb water

look out for...

THE GILES LANDSCAPES FENLANDALCHEMIST GARDEN‘Using only reclaimed or discarded materials, this

garden highlights the importance of recycling and

sustainability in today’s gardens,’say Stephen Hall

and Jane Besser. Using many native and wild

plants with cultivars from the same genus, the

pair demonstrate their interest in what they see is

a horticulturist’s form of alchemy.Stand RM10

Fen Ben’s hovel - a traditional Fenlandshed made from reclaimed materials

look out for...

ALLILLUSTRATIONSCOURTESYOFDESIGNERS

TEGUK140 Chelsea show gardens final:UK 30/03/2009 17:16 Page 56

From plot to plateTHE CHILDREN’S SOCIETY GARDENDesigner Mark Gregory says ‘this is a chic,

modern space for the urban family where you

can grow seasonal vegetables and herbs for

the table without your garden looking like an

allotment’. Raised vegetable beds stand

alongside buxus cubes and decorative planting

and it is enclosed by a pollution tolerant, multi-

stemmed ginkgo tree and Pratia pendiculata

as a living alternative to fencing. Stand MA25

Authentic touches, including a thatcheddovecote, a medieval pattern wheelbarrow,a chamomile seat and straw bee skeps

look out for...

Hidden composting and water-saving facilities. Plus an innovativesolution for drying laundry, which reduces electricity consumption

look out for...

FRESHLY PREPPED BYARALIADesigner Pat Fox claims ‘absolutely everything can be eaten’ in her garden. ‘I’ve

approached it as an extension of the kitchen - somewhere to whip up a sandwich or

a smoothie using the freshest ingredients

picked directly from the garden. I hope it

will also show owners of small spaces

how to start preparing and eating home-

grown food’. Stand RM15

A Chelsea first: the garden’sliving wall, which is entirelycreated using edible crops

look out for...

ENTENTE CORDIAL‘All is not as it appears on first glance in our garden,’

explain designers PatriciaThirion and Janet Honour.

Sponsored by The English Garden and sister title

Francemagazine, it explores cottage garden style on

both sides of the Channel: the planting is typically

French - formal and elegant - while the plants

themselves are quintessentially English. Roses,

peonies, delphiniums and foxgloves jostle for position

against columnar Taxus baccata, used for structure.

The pair have chosen drought-tolerant plants to

reduce watering and specific species to attract

insects into the garden. Stand RM14

CALLING ALLFRANCOPHILESSubscribe to our sister title

Francemagazine for £24

and save 50% on 12

issues. To subscribe, visit

www.subscription.co.uk/

france/EG59 or contact

Tel: +44 (0)1858 438788

and quote EG59.

Clever container ideas, including planters filled with allium, chervil, artemisia andcurly leaf parsley as well as hanging baskets spilling over with colourful annuals

look out for...

A world of ideas

TEGUK140 Chelsea show gardens final:UK 30/03/2009 09:39 Page 57



RHS SHOWPREVIEW

TABLE MANNERS 2008 RHS Chelsea Show Garden

designer Sarah Eberle has joined forces with sculptor

TobyClayton to produce a range of furniture and products

in glass, concrete, steel and textiles. Our favourite is the

G-table (above), made from galvanized steel and features

an innovative idea: a charcoal grill in the middle so

barbeque treats are in easy grasp. 2.4m x 1.2m.£5,200

(inc. six chairs) From Sarah Eberle and HME Ltd, stand

SR35. Tel: +44 (0)1865 400753. www.hmeng.co.uk

THROUGHTHE LOOKING GLASS Enjoy the fun of

growing under glass with the new Vista greenhouse.

Featuring a contemporary curved roofline it is available

in a standard width of 209.8cm and a length of 303.3cm,

fitting most gardens. Manufactured from rolled BS

aluminium and glazed with toughened safety glass.

£4,095. From Hartley Botanic, stand TR1.

Tel: 0845 4348882. www.hartley-botanic.co.uk

FLYAWAYHOME These colourful Byrdhouses (below) by Chris Eckerlsey,£325

each, are just one example of what's available from Design Nation at this year's

show. Other pieces include Sharon Elphick’s limited edition prints, Ella Doran's

outdoor-inspired home range, CaroleWaller's textile and glass installations and

Katy Holford’s abstract floral sculptures. Design Nation, stand CW4. Tel: +44

(0)20 7320 2895. www.designnation.co.uk

GRASP THE NETTLE

These 100% cotton gloves

with a protective nitrile

coating fit like a second

skin, allowing you to tackle

delicate gardening jobs

with ease. Available in

pink, green, yellow and

turquoise. £5.99.

FromTownand Country,

stand EA28.

Tel: +44 (0)1530 830990.

www.townandco.com

Show shoppingEnjoy our sneak preview of great new products that will be unveiled atthis year’s show by leading gardening and horticultural suppliers

IN A NUT SHELL These adorable ceramic ‘Baby

Horsechesnuts’ are created using moulds made

from real fruit. All pieces are glazed and painted

by hand. From £20. Penkridge Ceramics,

stand EA11.Tel: +44 (0)1922 625181.

www.penkridgeceramics.co.uk

BYTHE LIGHT OF THE MOON

Imagine being able to tell the time

by moonlight? This new Moon Dial,

a contemporary take on a classical

16th-century French sundial

design, allows you to do just that.

It can also be personalised with an

etched inscription. Diameter 70cm.

£7,958.From David Harber, stand

MA5. Tel: +44 (0)1235 859300.

www.davidharbersundials.co.uk

TEGUK140 Chelsea products final:UK 30/03/2009 09:44 Page 59

ChelseaStandRHW9



What’s it like preparing for the greatest show on earth?We asked leading rose grower and Great Pavilion veteranPeter Beales (far left) and Chelsea newcomer, designerLuciano Giubbilei (left) to share their thoughts

Peter, this is your 41st RHS Chelsea Flower

Show;do youstillgetnervousbeforetheshow?

Yes, I have sleepless nights and have a reduced

appetite during the lead up to Chelsea.

And Luciano, is designing a show garden for

the first time an overwhelming experience?

I have been focusing so much on all the details

that I haven’treally thoughtwhat it will be like,but

I don’t have particular expectations.

What’s the most daunting aspect of Chelsea?

PB: Definitely the worry about the roses not

coming into flower in time.

LG: Forme, it is organising the diary - it has been

quite a challenge.

How long have you spent preparing?

PB: Almost immediately after the show the next

year’sone is forming in my mind. But in terms of

design, it starts to come together in January.

LG: I presented the garden to Laurent-Perrier in

early July, and from that moment onwards I

started to researchall the elementsthat I needed:

the stone; detailing the water feature; speaking

to the artist, Nigel Hall; planning with the

contractor,Crocusand the water featurespecialist

Andrew Ewing; and travelling to plant nurseries

all over Europe to find what I needed. So,

yes, it has been quite some time, but I

suppose you can never have enough time

to prepare everything.

How do you feel about following in the

footsteps of designers likeTomStuart-Smith

and JinnyBlom,who havecreatedgardensfor

Laurent-Perrierin the past?

LG: I have great respect for previous designers.

In fact it was an introductionbyTomStuart-Smith

that enabled me to meet with Laurent-Perrier.

I havealwaysadmiredTomfor his workbutmostly

for his approach. I see him as an ambassador for

our profession,someone that makes you want to

be better. Mostly though, I am enjoying this

experience without thinking too much about

the past or the future.

Luciano, you’renot normally known for using

many plants in your designs, but this is not

the case with this garden. Was it difficult to

choose which ones to use?

I had the colour combination and the key plants

that I wanted to use in mind from the start, and

from there everything has developed through

visiting Crocus, my plant supplier.

Peter,have you seen Chelsea change over the

years you’ve been doing the show?

PB: The changes I’ve seen are not about the

ambience, which always remains enjoyable, but,

from a plantsman’s point of view, the hard

landscaping seems now to be more important

than the plants. I suppose we have to live with

the ever-changingfashions.

Do you think Chelsea needs to change to

reflectthe shifts in horticultureor do you think

it is doing enough to include topical issues?

PB:TheRHS are constantlyremindingus to reflect

the changes that are taking place in horticulture

and lifestyleand so these issuesare alwaysin the

front of our mind when we design our stand.

LG: I feel that it needs to find its simplicity

because the whole thing about gardening and

designing is simple.The show and the public can

only benefit if there is clarity and direction in its

intent. I understand the need for the commercial

The interview

RHS SHOWPREVIEW

side, because horticulture is a business after all,

but the balance must be carefully considered.

If Chelseais theOscarsof the gardeningworld,

who or what should win...

Best supporting role?

PB: Roses of course!

LG: Grasses.

Best newcomer?

PB: Obviously,a rose! And probably one of ours.

LG: Iris ‘Coeur d’Or’.

Best nursery?

PB: Blackmore and Langdon.

LG: I have to say Crocus, but they are the best!

Best designer?

PB: Chris Beardshaw

LG: TomStuart-Smith

And finally…Peter,do you rememberwinning

your first gold medal?Who did you tell first?

The companywasmuchsmallerthen andmywife

was with me at the show, so the first person

I told was my mother.

Who will you call when you find out what

medal you’ve been awarded, Luciano?

It will be my adopted British grandmother

Vera Gordon. She is adorable and someone

that I really value. She brings me back to earth

every time I meet her.

BELOW Peter Beales Roses in the

Great Pavilion, stand GPE10, promises

a lavish displays of magnificent roses.

ABOVE Luciano’s Laurent-Perrier Garden, stand

MA18, sees geometric lines blurring boundaries

between nature, art and architecture.

TEGUK140 Chelsea interview final:UK 30/03/2009 09:50 Page 61


The delicious grapefruit scent and vigorous

climbing habit of this English Musk hybrid

make it a good choice for pergolas and arbors.

Also, its large flowers bloom from the main

stem all the way up the plant.

Height 3m. £14.96 for bare root.

DavidAustin Roses, stand GPC22.Tel:+44

(0)1902 376333. www.davidaustinroses.com

IRIS ‘NUIT DE NOCES’A fast grower, this eye-catching iris flowers

from May to July.They like to bake in the sun,

so plant with the upper section of rhizome on

the surface of well-drained soil. Plant with

alliums, aquilegia and cranesbill for country-

style borders. Height 80cm. £12.75.

Cayeux Iris, stand GPC11.Tel:+33 (0)238

670508. www.iris-cayeux.com

Big enough for 500 London buses, the Great Pavilion is packedwith treats. Here is our guide to some of the wonderful newplants to be launched at the show

HOSTA ‘WAR PAINT’Brighten up shady spots with this large-leaved

hosta. If slugs and snails are a problem in

borders, grow in containers on copper feet or

with tape around the rim. Mulch in spring to

keep moist, mixing with fellow shade lovers

like fern and Solomon’sSeal. Height 1m. £15.

Bowden Hostas, stand GPC4.Tel:+44 (0)1837

840989. www.bowdenhostas.com

CORDYLINE ‘SUNRISE’At home in a courtyard or exotic garden,

this structural plant looks equally good in a

container or border. Feed monthly and water

regularly throughout summer. Bring indoors or

protect in winter. Height 1.2m.

£15 for a three-litre pot.

Hillier Nurseries, stand GPD15.

Tel:+44 (0)1794 368944. www.hillier.co.uk

Flower power�

�

ROSATHEWEDGWOOD ROSE

��

TEGUK140 Chelsea new flowers final:UK 30/03/2009 09:57 Page 62

HEUCHERA ‘TIRAMISU’The latest in the popular SweetDelightsseries,

‘Tiramisu’changescolourwith the season;

flushingbrick red in spring and autumn,with

a silvery veil appearing in summer.Good for

containersor as ground cover.Lift and divide

every two to three years.Height 50cm. £8.

Hillier Nurseries, stand GPD15.

Tel:+44 (0)1794 368944.

www.hillier.co.uk

CLEMATIS FLEURI ‘EVIPO042’Flowering all the way down its stems

from early to midsummer, this floriferous

climber is absolutely perfect for small

gardens and containers. Remove dead and

damaged stems before growth starts in

spring. Height 1.2m.For more information,

such as other varieties, as well as stockists

and prices, visit the website.

Raymond J Evison, stand GFP14.

Tel:+44 (0)1481 245942.

www.raymondevisonclematis.com

SCABIOSA AFRICANA ‘JOCELYN’Bred by nursery owners Rosemary and Robert

Hardy, this is an excellent cut flower.Attracting

bees and butterflies, deadhead to prolong

flowering. Height 45cm. £3.50 for a 9cm pot.

Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants, stand

GPF13.Tel:+44 (0)20 3076 1331.

www.hardys-plants.co.uk

IRIS ‘BROADLEIGH FENNELLA’This evergreen orchid iris prefers a neutral to

acid soil, in part shade. Flowering from late

April to early June, it’s a gorgeous gap filler in

late spring borders. Height 30-40cm. £5.

Broadleigh Gardens, stand GPE6.Tel:+44

(0)1823 286231. www.broadleighbulbs.co.uk

Water, water everywhereThis year’sGreat Pavilionsees water

as the main theme for a number of its

exhibitors.GatesheadCouncil is working

with renownedfashiondesignersWayne

and GerardineHemmingway(of Red or

Dead) to create a display that highlights

the importanceof water recyclingand

the role of water in a healthy lifestyle.The

Cayman IslandsDepartmentofTourism

with NewingtonNurserieswill create

an ‘underwater’display to represent

the marine life of the Caymanian

waters,while the NationalAssociation

of FloralArrangementSocieties,which

celebrates its 50th anniversarythis year,

will create an arrangementthat appears

to float on water.

New exhibitors to the pavilion� VictoriaViolas, stand GPG19 - violas

� Todd’sBotanics,stand GPC5 - hardy

exoticsand unusual herbaceousplants

� Coldharbour,stand GPC12 - hostas

� Plant a Go Go, stand GPG18 - alpines,

rockeryplants and dwarf shrubs.

Floristry gets competitiveA new professionalfloristry competition

will be launched,in associationwith the

British FloristAssociation.It will

culminate in the announcementof the

‘ChelseaFlorist of theYear’and the

‘YoungChelseaFlorist of theYear’.

Best of BritishExhibitors in the Great Pavilionwill be

‘CelebratingBritishHorticulture‘.This

special initiativemeans visitors to the

showwill be able to easily identifyBritish

plants and nurseries.ShowmanagerAlex

Baulkwellsays: ‘Exhibitorssupportingthe

celebrationwill highlightplantmaterial

that has been grown in the UK for a full

season, so shopperswill knowwhen

they are buyingBritish.’

Look out for...

RHS SHOWPREVIEW

A windowof opportunity- plans for the

Gateshead stand by the Hemmingways

�

�

�

�

ALL

PHOTOGRAPHSFROMNAMEDNURSERIES

TEGUK140 Chelsea new flowers final:UK 31/03/2009 10:56 Page 63



All you need to know about the show from our very owneditor TamsinWesthorpe, as well as expert tips from designerThomas Hoblyn and garden photographer Jason Ingram

Insider info

RHS SHOWPREVIEW

…a great subscription offer. Visitus at stand numberEA106, and don’t

forget to seeThe EnglishGarden Julyissue forour showreview.

Look out for...

VISITOR ESSENTIALS� Buy the catalogue - it is

essential. To order your copy in

advance by tel: 0844 2090353.

Call by 29 April. £6.50 inc. p&p.

� Make sure to book your ticket

in advance - you will not be able to

get in without one and you can’tbuy one on the gate.

� Plan to eat at the showground as you can’t go in

and out of the show.There are picnic spots on site.

� Most of the shopping you’ll do will be by way of

making orders. Few items can be bought and taken home on the day.

� If you’re visiting on the Saturday you’ll be able to take part in the sell off at the end of the day.

Make sure you take some plastic bags (above) and cash - not large notes!

PICTURE PERFECT� If possible, take

pictures first thing or in

late afternoon when the

light is softer. Don’t use

flash; you’ll get better

results if you stick with

daylight - even in the Great Pavilion.

� Get a snap of the label when you are

photographing plants. It’s easy to forget the

names once you’ve left the show.

� When it comes to capturing show

gardens on camera, less is more. Look for

interesting details rather than trying to get

the entire garden in one shot (see above).

� Make sure you look to the four corners

of the frame before pressing the button.

It’s amazing how often you are including

something you don’t want in the picture or

cropping out something you do.

� Finally, take a spare memory card - it is

frustrating to run out of space for pictures.

We’d love to see how you get on:

email your favourite shots of the

show to [email protected]

DESIGNER KNOWHOW� Don’t be afraid to put tall plants at the front of planting schemes. It’s good

to create surprises for the onlooker to discover from different viewing points.

I consciously create ‘curtains’ of grasses to screen off little treats for later on.

� Repeat one variety throughout a scheme. I always make sure my gardens,

this year the Foreign and Colonial Show Garden (below), have an unobtrusive

plant randomly placed everywhere. Try self-seeding Digitalis purpurea ‘Alba’.

� Regardlessof the weather,time of year and the

conditionof the plant,water plantswhen they

arriveat your garden and as soon as they’re

planted.Wateringthe plantedplant also ensures

good soil to root contact and preventsair pockets.

� If, for some reason, a plant becomes completely

dry and wilts, fill a bucket with water and put in

the tiniest drop of washing up liquid in. Then

submerge and weigh down the plant. The washing

up liquid will ease permeability allowing water to

hydrate the compost and get to the roots.

Surprisingly, it will not harm the plant.

TRAVEL INFORMATIONRail: Victoria is the nearest mainline station. Sloane Square tube station (District and Circle Lines)

is just a 10-minute walk from the showground.

Bus: Once in London, the showground can be easily reached by a number of buses. Jump on a

number 11, 137,211, 239, 360 or 452. For more travel information visit www.tfl.gov.uk

Car: The showground is within the congestion charge area. However, you can park at Battersea

Park, a 20-minute walk away. Expect to pay about £25 a day per car.

If you’re being dropped off, head to the Bull Ring Gate entrance on

Chelsea Embankment.HANDYTIP

CHELSEA

2008/JON

ENOCH

JASON

INGRAM

TEGUK140 Chelsea insider info final:UK 30/03/2009 10:02 Page 65

In search of

Give your courtyards and pathways a new look with ourselection of contrasting paving ideas. There’s more scopefor design underfoot than you may think...

COMPILED BYVICTORIA KINGSBURY

ITALIAN STYLE Pietra Serena Italian sandstone from

Stone Age is honed with a sawn finish, which gives a

smooth and smart appearance. The contemporary

result suits country and urban style planting alike.

Priced at £63 per m² plus labour. For more information

and prices, tel: +44 (0)20 7384 9090 or visit

www.estone.co.uk

perfect paving?


ISLAND LIFE This contemporary paving from Organic Stone (above) can be set in grass or

gravel, is hand crafted and made with 100% recycled materials. There is a range of textures

to choose from, and packs are also available in wave and cobble designs. Prices range from

£40 to £1,060. For more information, tel: +44 (0)1452 411991. www.organicstone.com

POLISHED PERFORMANCE Add a touch of colour to your garden with polished

pebbles, which are quick and easy to lay.There are five colours in the range from Global

Stone (four shown above), perfect for any style of garden - and they have the added

benefit of sound, a great security measure. They can also be used in water features and

around planting. For more information, prices and stockists, tel: 0845 6060240 or go to

www.globalstonepaving.co.uk to see more of the company’s range (right).

STONE ME! ArcadianCountry

Paving (above) is availablefrom

Haddonstonein three standard

sizes, and in Portland,Bath,

Terracotta,Slate and Coade

finishes.Made of reconstituted

limestone,the smallest size is

450mmx 225mm. £4.95 to £11.

Tel:+44 (0)1604770711.

www.haddonstone.com

TEGUK140 Paving shopping final:UK 27/03/2009 10:09 Page 66


GUIDE TOPAVING

MAGIC EYE Add interest to your terrace with 3-D effect paving Natural Sandstone

Optique (above), from the Bradstone range. Available to buy in a 11.3m²pack containing

36 diamonds, 36 mini diamonds and 72 inserts. Each pack is made up of two colours of

paving - Fossil Buff and Autumn Green - in order to create the contrast. For more

information and stockists, tel: +44 (0)1355 372289 or visit www.bradstone.com

‘When you’re choosing paving, consider the other texturesand materials in your garden to help unite the finished

design. For a traditional garden, go for ethically sourced,rather than concrete or reconstituted stone. Sawn and

smooth is best for a smart, contemporary look.’Charlotte Rowe, garden designer

(turn to page 81 to see one of Charlotte’s designs)

FRIEND OF THE EARTH?

Marshalls are signed up to the

Ethical Trade Initiative and are

committed to improving the

lives of the workers who make

its products. The Haworth

Moor Range offers a selection

of sandstone and natural stone

(Antique Natural Stone, right),

that is bought from an

independent source to ensure

the imported natural stone

paving has not been produced

by young people.

Tel: 0845 8205000 or visit

www.marshalls.co.uk

CELTIC CHARACTER

TruststoneCotsdale, a new

dolomitic limestone Celtic

Knot with infills from

Stonemarket (left), has

fantastic durability, colour and

weather resistance. With

plenty of character, it’s the

perfect focal point for any

garden, with hand-dressed

edges giving a natural look.

Tel: +44 (0)24 7651 8700.

www.stonemarket.co.uk

WHOWILL LAYTHEM?� Installation and ground preparation will often cost

more than the paving itself. Aim to get a couple of

quotes. If you are opting for Marshalls paving why

not use one of their Registered Installers? For details,

tel: 0845 8205000, or for other contractors contact

the British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI)

on tel: +44 (0)24 7669 0333 for your nearest quality-

assured BALI landscaper.

� Make sure your chosen contractor is aware of the

current drainage regulations and takes the appropriate

action to avoid flooding. For more information on

regulations contact BALI (see above).

� If undertaking the installation yourself, seek advice

from the manufacturer of the paving - they will often

provide guidelines. Make sure you have all the

appropriate safety wear.

� Instead of buying plate compactors and stone

cutters, why not hire them? www.hss.com

THINK ECOBefore ordering new paving, have you considered

using old stone or paving in your garden? Gaps can

be infilled with gravel or planting if the paving is of

different sizes or damaged.

Where possible try to buy locally.Youmay be lucky

and find paving for free or aged paving at reclamation

yards. Try placing an advert in the local paper or visit

www.freecycle.org Be aware that this paving won’t

be guaranteed.

For Indian sandstoneand Chinese slate, try sourcing

from ethical importerswho are signed up to the Ethical

TradeInitiative(ETI). If you are environmentallyminded,

when buying concretepaving ask if it has been created

using recycledaggregatessuch as pulverisedfuel ash

or ground granulatedblast furnace slag.

Ask your neighbour if they’re undertaking similar

paving work - it is far more eco friendly to make one

large order than two smaller ones.

CARING FORYOUR PAVINGIn order to keep your paving looking as good as

new, follow our care guide:

� Avoid slippery paving by using a pressure washer

or yard brush and a drop of Jeyes’ Fluid.

� Keep weeds at bay between cracks. In extreme

cases you may have to resort to a weedkiller.

� Sweep up fallen leaves and berries in autumn to

avoid accidents.

� Use a product such as Biozyme OT8 Biological Oil

Stain Remover to remove petrol and oil. Tel: +44 (0)23

8025 8966. www.blue-diamond.co.uk

Things to considerbefore you buy

eco-

friendly

TEGUK140 Paving shopping final:UK 27/03/2009 10:10 Page 67


STONECRETE

Concrete and stone garden paving

The Cottages

Scratby Hall

Scratby

Great Yarmouth

Norfolk NR29 3PQ

Tel: +44 (0)1493 384188

www.stonecrete.co.uk

STONE AGE

Natural stone products for domestic,

buildings and landscape

Unit 3,

Parsons Green Depot

Parsons Green Lane

London

SW6 4HH

Tel: +44 (0)20 7384 9090

www.estone.co.uk

STONE FLAIR

Patio paving and natural stone

Aggregate Industries UK Ltd

Hulland Ward,

Ashbourne

Derbyshire DE6 3ETF

Tel: 0870 600 9111

www.stoneflair.co.uk

STONE MARKET

Pavings, driveways

and landscaping

Oxford Road

Ryton-on-Dunsmore

Warwickshire

CV8 3EJ

Tel: (0)2476 518700

www.stonemarket.co.uk

TURNSTONE PATIOCENTRE

Manufacturers and suppliers

of wet cast patio flags

Rectors Lane

Pentre

Deeside

Flintshire

CH5 2DN

Tel: +44 (0)1244 539601

www.pavingslabs.net

ACORN STONE

MERCHANTS LTD

Natural stone specialists

Kirby Road, Lomeshaye Ind. Est.

Nelson, Lancashire

BB9 6RS

Tel: +44 (0)1282 612211

www.acornstonemerchants.com

BRACKLA PATIOCENTRE

Wet-cast paving manufacturer

Unit 2, Heol Ffaldau

Brackla Ind Estate, Bridgend

South Wales CF31 2AJ

Tel: +44 (0)1656 647595

www.bracklapatiocentre.co.uk

BRADSTONES

Decorative garden Paving


Hulland Ward, Ashbourne

Derbyshire DE6 3ET

Tel: (0)1355 372222

www.bradstones.com

CATHEDRA STONE

Creamy flags, blocks and other

hard-landscaping elements

Unit 10, Brooks Lane Ind. Est.

Middlewich, Cheshire

CW10 0JH

Tel: +44 (0)1606 833200

www.cathedrastone.com

CHARCON

Patio Flags, BS Flags, CBPs, Kerbs


Hulland Ward, Ashbourne

Derbyshire DE6 3ET

Tel: +44 (0)1335 372222

www.charcon.com

COUNTY STONE

Wet-cast patio flags

Unit 10, Dockray Hall Mill,

Burneside Road,

Kendal,

Cumbria LA9 4RU

Tel: +44 (0)1539 723600

www.county-stone.com

ENVIROGLASS

Flags made using recycled glass

Shetland Amenity Trust

Garthspool, Lerwick

Shetland ZE1 0NY

Tel: +44 (0)1595 694688

www.enviroglass.co.uk

EVEREDGE

Path and lawn edging

PO Box 9,

Stroud, Gloucestershire

GL6 8HA

Tel: +44 (0)1453 731717

www.everedge.co.uk

GLOBAL STONE

Natural stone paving

Mill Race, New Road,

Aldham

Nr Colchester,

Essex CO6 3QT

Tel: 0845 606 0240

www.globalstonepaving.co.uk

HADDONSTONE

Interior and exterior stone solutions

Haddonstone Ltd,

The Forge House,

Church Lane, East Haddon,

Northampton

NN6 8DB

Tel: +44 (0)1604 770711

www.haddonstone.com

LAKELAND CONCRETE

Block paving

Flusco House, Penrith

Cumbria CA11 0JB

Tel: +44 (0)1768 483617

www.lakelandconcrete.co.uk

LIVING STONE

Patio and garden flags

Riverside,

Skellingthorpe Road

Saxilby,

Lincoln LN1 2LR

Tel: +44 (0)1522 704158

www.livingstoneuk.com

MARSHALLS

Gardens, driveways and

commercial landscaping

Landscape House,

Premier Way, Lowlands Business

Park, Elland HX5 9HT

Tel: 0870 1207474

www.marshalls.co.uk

MINSTER PAVING

Patio flags

Bromag Ind Est.

Downs Road

Witney, Oxon

OX8 5SR

Tel: +44 (0)1993 771697

www.minsterpaving.co.uk

ORGANIC STONE

Sculptural flooring for exterior

spaces

The Canalside,

Merchants Road

Gloucester GL2 5RG

Tel: +44 (0)1452 411991

www.organicstone.com

PEYTON’S PAVING

Concrete and natural stone flags

121 High Street,

Harston

Cambridge

CB22 7QB

Tel: 0845 130 1730

www.peytonspavings.co.uk

ROGERS GARDENSTONE

Patio Flags and edgings

Sand Hills, Faringdon

Oxfordshire SN7 7PQ

Tel: +44 (0)1367 240112

www.gardenstone.co.uk

SILVERLAND STONE

Landscape experts supplying natural

stone and concrete products

Holloway Hill, Chertsey

Surrey KT16 0AE

Tel: +44 (0)1932 570094

www.silverlandstone.co.uk

Paving directoryFor decorative delights to spruce up your outdoor floor, look no further than our stockists list

DIRECTORYPAVING


TEGUK140 Paving Directory final:UK 26/03/2009 11:20 Page 69


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TEGUK140 Insurance final 24/03/2009 17:24 Page 70



THE NEW CLASSICENGLISH GARDENThe elegant planting at 17th-century Badminton House in Gloucestershirehas the feel of a centuries-old English country manor garden, but it wasdesigned just 25 years agoPHOTOGRAPHSGARY ROGERS WORDS JANINEWOOKEY

�


DESIGN GUIDENEW CLASSIC

TEGUK140 Design Gd Badminton final 26/03/2009 11:08 Page 73


Badminton House was restored andrebuilt in the 1660s by the 1st Duke ofBeaufort, Henry Somerset, who was

given his title by Charles II in 1682.In its heyday in the 1680s, it had marvellous

pleasure gardens falling away from the house,and period drawings show it with a plethoraof magnificent formal parterres comingright up to the house.

Successive dukes were very enthus iasticabout the Beaufort hunt, but less so aboutthe gardens. Badminton - apart from givingits name to the medieval battledo re andshuttlecock game in the 1870s - has alwaysbeen associatedwith hunting and, since 1949,equestrian events includin g the famousBadmintonHorse trials. When the 11th Duke,David Somerset, inherited the title in 1984

at the age of 56, there real ly was notmuch of a garden left. He and his wifeCaroline, who died in 1995, were keengardeners, and together they set down thebones of a beautiful garden.

There were friends to help. The landscapearchitect Russell Page visited and, steppingout of the terrace on the east wing, jotted afew sketches and notes on the back of aenvelope. Alas, he died a few days later, andthe present Duchess, Miranda, is sad that theenvelope is now long lost.

Page’s associate, Belgian designer FrançoisGoffinet, stepped forward to help completethe scheme . His main contri butions werethe four box parterres on the south side ofthe house . Gardenin g advice was also athand from the well-known garden historian

and author Avilde Lees-Milne, who lived onthe estate with her husband James from 1975until her death in 1994.

All was done informally and no recordskept, making it a challenge for the presentDuchess, but giving her the freedom tomake changes as she and the Duke feelnecessary. ‘I see my job as looking after thismarvellous garden as it was meant to be.The person who is the biggest influenceon my ideas is my husband, as he has anexceptional eye for scale.’

The result is a structured but luxuriousl yplanted garden of many parts that wraps itselfaround the elegant house with great style,with flower planting in a soft base palettewith dark tones of burgundi es, plums andpurples threaded throughout.

GardenprofileOWNERSDuke and Duchess

of Beaufort

DESIGNERSRussell Page and

François Goffinet

GARDEN DETAILSBadminton,

Glos GL9 1DF.

www.badminton-

horse.co.uk

SITEOpen Cotswoldcountry site

SOILBrash claySTYLE Formal designwith informal planting

ILL

US

TR

AT

ION/NEILGOWER

TEGUK140 Design Gd Badminton final amended 27/03/2009 16:13 Page 74


This area owes its existencewith its

dense box beds to landscaperRussell

Page. It sits betweenthe conservatory

wings,whichmirroreach other across

the lawn.The rosesused here include

white Iceberg,and yellowCharlotteand

‘ArthurBell’ to reflect the sunny feel.

THE BOX PARTERRE

This feature (left) has become so deep that

the Duchess is looking for longer legged

plants. Hosta sieboldiana var. elegans and

Geranium macrorrhizum ‘Album’are doing

well, as is Euphorbia characias subsp.

characias ‘Humpty Dumpty’, and this year

she is adding Teucrium fruticans and

Artemisia ludoviciana ‘Silver Queen’.

POTSFOR DRAMA

Large pots of white Tulipa‘Triumphator’are

sunk into the ground for a dramatic touch

early in the season, to be followedby soft

waftingwhite cosmos.

The east wing

‘I see my job as looking after this marvellous gardenas it was meant to be’

The English Garden 75

�

The rose gardenThe 16 geometric box beds filled with

roses and divided by box hedges and

yew pyramids make this a magnificent

display of both colour and fragrance

in early summer.

THE COLOUR PALETTE

The palettemoves from the white of

WinchesterCathedral to palest pink ‘Fantin-

Latour’, to the richer tones of the burgundy

‘Cardinal de Richelieu’and crimson ‘Tuscany

Superb’.Soft yellowsof ‘Buff Beauty’ are

interspersed throughout and the ground

cover comes in the form of violas and

alliums in spring, and assorted geraniums,

such as Geranium x magnificum and G.

macrorrhizum ‘Album’in summer.

TEGUK140 Design Gd Badminton final amended 27/03/2009 16:14 Page 75

The hornbeam hedge at

the back of the parterres

was a François Goffinet

choice. It requires

clipping twice a year

and the Duke would

really prefer yew,

although the Duchess

enjoys its lighter green

colour and feels it lifts

the atmosphere.

The base of the

rectangular pond is

concrete topped and

edged withYorkstone.

The Duchess recently

made the seal at the top

lip more watertight and

then raised the water

level to get an ‘infinity

feel’ which has greatly

improved the look.

The paving flags for the

paths were found stored

away in a stable on the

estate, saved from a

previous life.They are

Pennant stone.

76 The English Garden

Reflecting the influence

of Russell Page and

François Goffinet, box is

a major part of the south

garden design, but two

decades down the line,

the Duke and Duchess

are finding it hard to

keep it all in good

health and good shape.


The symmetrical spheres

are of small leaved privet

(Ligustrum ovalifolium)

which the Duchess feels

is much underestimated.

It needs clipping just

once a year and is well

behaved apart from a

tendency to throw out

an occasional long shoot.

The flowers that infill

behind the box and in

front of the hedge are

mainly Japanese

anemone,A. x hybrida

‘Honorine Jobert’ and

the occasional pink

‘Königin Charlotte’.They

need to to be watched

as they have a tendancy

to be invasive.

The grass paths are kept

immaculate with a strict

regime of mowing and

feeding.The gardens are

fortunate that they do

not suffer a very heavy

footfall of visitors.

�


The peony and pool bedsFrançoisGoffinet,a Belgiandesignerwho had workedwith Russell Page,came to BadmintonafterRussell’s

death in 1985 and designedthe south garden,verymuch in Russell’sgeometricstyle.The result is a lovelyset

of fourmatchingsquaresbalancedarounda circular lawn.

Some of the plantinghad to be removedlater,for,as the Duchesssays slightly ruefully,‘It came up so close

to the house, it was almost claustrophobic,and if he had his waywewouldhavemoved the house tomake

way for the garden!’So two sectionsand some hedgeswere removed,leaving just two yew pyramidsin a

manicuredlawnon to which you step out from the house.

Beautifulpeoniesare a favouredflower in this gardenand they seem to thrivein their small rooms.Among

them are Paeonia lactiflora‘MarieLemoine’,‘Bowl of Beauty’,the creamy‘Duchessede Nemours’,rose pink

‘ShirleyTemple’,large flowered‘SarahBernhardt’,and ‘Primevère’.‘I do love them,’says the Duchess,‘but I wish

someonewould come and giveme a lesson in how to hold their heads up.’

The colour theme is

kept to soft pink and

white with a little blue.

Peonies are the favoured

flower although white

foxgloves are allowed to

self-seed within reason,

and the spheres of

Allium hollandicum and

A. cristophii match the

privet balls.


The Badminton Estate proudly

boasts two magnificent long

conservatories as well as a splendid

orangery.

THE CONSERVATORIESTo the east of the house stand the present

conservatories, which were built in 1780

and have fantastic high apexed ceilings

(top row, right).

The walls of both are covered from

floor to ceiling in wooden trellis, painted

pale blue, and they are packed with

scented geraniums.

The Duchess’ absolute favourite is

the very pretty hybrid shell-pink ivy

Pelargonium ‘Millfield Gem’, which

climbs to the top of the conservatory.

THE ORANGERYSituated down by the swimming pool,

the orangery is used these days mainly

to keep the splendid array of tender

summer-flowering bulb agapanthus

(below left and below centre). All of

the varieties at Badminton are so old, no

one knows their names anymore.

Some just come in for the winter

with the Mexican orange blossoms

(choisya), alongside Aloysia triphylla

(lemon verbena) and also the African

hemp, Sparrmannia africana. Climbing

roses such as ‘Alister Stella Gray’ and

wisteria cover the outside walls (right).

In front of the orangery is a dense

planting of long established iris ‘Jane

Phillips’ (below right), which were

replanted in the past month after

building work.

Garden rooms

The splendid array of agapanthus in the orangery areso old no one knows their names anymore



THE OWNERMIRANDA, DUCHESS

OF BEAUFORT is married to David,

the 11thDuke of Beaufort.With

the help of head gardener Richard

Preest, Miranda has been actively

continuing and improving the

garden, which was begun in the

1980s. She has been designing

gardens with Jane Nicholas

since 1980, and they collaborated

on a book, Easy Gardening, in

2004 (published by Frances

Lincoln).

Russell Page (1906-1985)

(right) After a short partnership

with Geoffrey Jellicoe, he settled

in France, and designed gardens

at Ditchley Park for Nancy

Lancaster, Landriana in Italy and

at the National Arboretum in

Washington DC, USA. His The

Education of a Gardener (1962)

became a garden design classic.

� François Goffinet trained at

RHSWisley and the Chelsea Physic Garden in London.

www.francoisgoffinet.com

DESIGNER PROFILES

THE SWIMMING POOLAND FOUNTAINThe stunning swimming pool and

fountain (above) sits in front of the

orangery and was designed by the

Duke himself.

THE SHELL FOUNTAINThe Duchess first came across the idea

for a shell fountain in a French garden,

and then, to her delight, discovered there

were a number of old large shells tucked

away in barn on the estate - a remnant

of some earlier ornate decoration at

Badminton. The result is this wall display

(right) that provides the soothing sound

of trickling water.

Water features



RU

SS

ELL

PAG

E/M

ARINASCHINZ

FROM

THE

GARDENS

OF

RUSSELL

PAGEBYMARINASCHINZAND

GABRIELL

EVA

NZU

YLE

N.

£30(FRANCESLINCOLN

).



LAWNFREEAND LEISURELYA small contemporary space with enough blooms to satisfy anyardent gardener connects house and garden with aplombPHOTOGRAPHSCLIVE NICHOLS WORDS DAVIDANDREWS

�


DESIGN FOCUSURBAN

CHARLOTTE ROWEA designer known for her bold

architectural style matched with

soft planting, she is based in

London but has also taken

contracts in the US and Europe.

Suite 10, 2 Station Court, Imperial

Wharf, London SW6 2PY.

Tel: +44 (0)20 7736 8672.

www.charlotterowe.com

TEGUK140 Design Focus Charlotte Rowe final amended 27/03/2009 16:17 Page 81


The garden seamlessly stems from the house,running on the same level as the kitchen andlounge. A timbercapsulehousingan extensionfor the lounge boldly connects the house totimber decking and adjoining fence panels,something that designer Charlotte Rowe waskeen to see happen from the start.

Before the capsule had been installed, shemet the owners and sketched ideas to ensurethe architecture and garden intertwined. Theresult is an outdoor space inherently attachedto the indoors. The structural prowess of thecapsule is echoed in the great blocks ofplanting, bringing both elements together -the compact form of Buxus semperv irensprovides a solid outline around which Salviax sylvestris, Lavandula angustifolia and alliumsmove in the wind, attracting wildlife andfilling the air with delightfu l scents. Thepredominant tones here are greens, purplesand deep maroons, providing a haze of colourthat contrasts with a striking block of Carexbuchananii running parallel to the fence.

Creating a sense of journey, access downinto the garden is only permitte d alongstepping stones made from rectangular lengths

of Egypti an limeston e and interj ected bygroups of Erigeron karvinskianus and Thymusserpyllum. The same stone is used in both theupper and lower terraces. Its colour is almosta perfe ct match to the flooring used in thekitchen, helping keep a strong link betweenthe exterior and interior design. In the sameway, the Western red cedar deck connectswiththe timber capsule extension.

The lower terrace provides a restingarea disconnected from the house - a place todetach from the inside of the house andrelax among the plants.

At the end of the garden, two largelime-washed free-standing walls sit proud.The larger of the two is a reces sive greycolour mostly screened by a multi-stemmedAmelanchier lamarckii; the other a vibrant yetunobtrusive blue. The owners were inspiredby this shade after a visit to Jardin Majorellein Marrakesh, Morocco, and were keen to seesome of the rich blue colour found thereappear in their garden.

The two walls draw the scheme together byreflecting the colours found in the garden andthe bold geometric layout as a whole.

The brief for this contemporary

design inWest London was simple:

a modern garden full of life for avid

plant lovers.With over half of the space

allocated to plants and no lawn.The result

is an intriguing design that more than

meets the owners’ needs.

CLOCKWISE FROMTOP LEFTThis platform is the perfect place for an al fresco

meal; wooden decking by the water conjures thoughts of sunny pierside

holidays; a Majorelle blue wall demands visual attention;a treat of a seat to

paddle your feet; take a rest on this bench to appreciatethe luscious planting.

BOTTOMLEFTThe house seamlessly extends out and merges into the garden.

TEGUK140 Design Focus Charlotte Rowe final 24/03/2009 17:30 Page 82

DESIGN FOCUSURBAN

A 2m x 4.5m pool sits

below the edge of the

timber capsule, allowing

people to hang their feet

over the edge.The

pool is an essential

connection between the

indoor space and the

garden - its calm

reflective surface is a

perfect match for the

wooden extension and

its large glass screen.

The deck is made of

Western red cedar, as are

the benches.This

softwood has a charming

natural-washed appeal.

Anything darker might

detract from the

surrounding plants and

contrast to detrimental

effect with the light

and bright qualities of

the terrace.

The use of Cornus

alba ‘Sibirica’ with

Trachelospermum

jasminoides against the

fence, underplanted with

sedums, miscanthus,

akebia, euphorbia and

monarda, creates a more

natural, wild habitat

along one side of the

path leading to the

bottom of the garden.

Structured blocks of

planting create a jigsaw

of lines that connect

with the deck and

terraces, pulling the

whole garden into a

single working unit.The

evergreen blocks are

separated by perennials,

creating a relaxed

balance of naturalistic

wild planting against

formal arrangement.

The free-standing,

lime-washed walls

provide colour and act

as effective screens for

objects the owners don’t

want on show, however,

they also have sculptural

appeal in that they work

visually to draw your

eye down to the

bottom terrace.

TEGUK140 Design Focus Charlotte Rowe final 24/03/2009 17:30 Page 83


SHOW PREVIEW

Malvern Spring Gardening ShowTake a trip to the UK’s first big gardening event of the year, from 7-10May

As you drive towards the showground, you’ll take

in the breathtaking views of the spectacular

Malvern Hills, recently been voted one of AOLTravel’s

worldwide holiday hotspots.

The Malvern Spring Gardening Show, now in its 24th

year, is a fundraising event and a joint venture of the

Three Counties Agricultural Society and the Royal

Horticultural Society.This year sees an unprecedented

collection of some 40 gardens and borders of varied style.

You’ll also find trade stands selling products and plants, a

new Eco Home & Garden Area, Creative Cooking

demonstrations, Chickens In The Garden display and

UK skills in Association with British Association of

Landscape Industries (BALI), which is using the show

for the regional heat of its World Skills Landscape

Gardening Competition 2009.

This year also sees 11 new designers go head to

head to win the second Chris Beardshaw Mentoring

Scholarship, sponsored by Bradstone. They face the

challenge of building a show garden and facing the

judges in front of a public audience on the Thrusday.

The biggest treat of the year is the new Spring Fashion

Day, which will be held on Friday 8 May.The Design For

Living Theatre will be home to a contemporary garden

catwalk where young designers fromWorcester College

of Technology’sSchool of Art and Design will parade their


MALVERNSPRING SHOW, 7-10MAY2009Thursday 7 May: Advance tickets only on first day - Adults £28; RHS and

TCAS members £25. First day price includes car parking.

Friday 8 May: Advance - adults £16, members £15. On the gate - £17.50.

Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 May: Advance - adults £14, members £13.

On the gate - £15.50.

� Parking available

on site.

� Located eight

miles from the M5

and M50 - follow

brown signs to

showgroundand

then the yellow

AA signs.

� Shuttle buses

available from

Great Malvern

Station.

Tobuy tickets: www.threecounties.co.uk/springgardening or tel: + 44 (0)1684 584 924.

colourful outfits in front of a guest celebrity judge. This

exciting event will be hosted by gardeners Joe Swift and

James Alexander-Sinclair.And, of course, there is the

magnificent 1.6-acreRHS Malvern Floral Marquee with

thousands of exquisite floral displays from 100 of the

country’s top nurseries.

TRAVELINFORMATION

TEGUK140 Malvern Show final:UK 31/03/2009 11:08 Page 85


THE ENGLISH GARDEN MAJESTIC TREESCOMPETITION - MAYISSUE 140

Every garden, large or small, needs trees. For spring

blossom, autumn leaf colour or for textured bark in

winter, nothing adds drama to a garden like trees.

Howwouldmature trees changeyour garden’scomplexion?

Would a stately avenue give your newly built home the

gravitas it lacks? Would a tall, living screen instantly

transform an unattractive view into the tranquil outlook

you have alwayswanted?

As an exclusivecompetitionforTheEnglishGardenreaders,

MajesticTreesof Hertfordshirewill design, plant and/or build

up to £10,000worthof hard and soft landscapingfor the lucky

reader who presents the most persuasive case for

a garden makeover.The winner will be announced in a later

issue of the magazine, and The English Garden

will follow the design and build process over the summer,

culminating in a special feature on the winner’s garden to

be published in the autumn.

To enter, answer the question on the entry form (below)

and submitphotographsof yourgarden(digitalor prints),along

with a summary of up to 200 words as to why you believe

your gardenwould be most dramatically transformedby the

addition of mature trees. Send the entry form and additional

information to The English GardenMajesticTreescompetition,

ArchantHouse, Oriel Road, Cheltenham, Gloucester GL50 1BB

or alternativelyenter online at www.theenglishgarden.co.uk

WIN a £10,000 MAKEOVERfor your gardenwithMajesticTrees

Question:Why does an Airpot-grown tree (right) establish so quickly compared to trees grown

in conventional containers?

Answer:

Name (Mr/Mrs/Ms):

Address:

Postcode: Tel: Email:

Enter our competition to have trees established in your garden

�

In addition to your answer please submit:• A photo of the proposed planting site to illustrate your case.• At least three photos of your garden and house, to show existing planting.• At least one photo showing access path from proposed parking/offloading position to planting site, to show anyobstructions such as steps, gates, or walls.• Measurement of the narrowest point along access path, e.g. gate opening or side passage.• Measurement of the height of any vertical limits along access path, such as overhanging eaves.• Details of access restrictions close to your home (for narrow lanes, HGV restriction, no parking etc).These are needed for planning purposes only and will not adversely affect your entry.

HOWTO ENTER: Complete the entry form and include the correct answer to the question below (it may help to

read pages 59-61 in our March issue). On a separate piece of paper, describe, in no more than 200 words, why

adding trees to your garden would yield the most dramatic transformation, and what effect would be achieved.

Please tick if you subscribe to The English Garden. � Please tick if you do not wish to receive information about products and services from Archant Specialist by phone � by post � or fromother carefully selected companies by phone � by post. � Please tick the box if you do not wish to receive further information from Majestic Trees. �

COMPETITION

Entries limited to

one per household.

Entrants must be

18 years or over.

The competition

is not open to the

employees of Archant

Specialist or Majestic

Trees, or their families

and agents.

The winner is the first

correct entry chosen

after the closing date

of 15 May 2009. The

prize must be taken

before the end of

2009. No cash

alternative available.

Full competition rules

available on receipt of

SAE.The judges’

decision is final; no

correspondence will be

entered into. Youmay

photocopy this form.

RULES

TEG UK140 Majestic Trees Competition final:UK 27/03/2009 11:05 Page 86

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SEASONALFOOD

The recipes we follow and

ingredients we use to enhance

salads are totally a matter of

personal taste, but there’s no better way

to customise dressings than with flavours

from your own garden, by making infused

oils and vinegars.

Use seasonalingredientsand blendyour

oils in tiny quantities, because they won’t

keep. Choose a small, glamorous bottle

that has been througha dishwashingcycle,

add a few pretty chillis cut lengthways,

or garden herbs with a ribbon of lemon

peel - or for pure luxury,the tiniest amount

of grated truffle. Top up with light olive

oil, making sure all the contents are

covered. Shake occasionally to release

the aromas, keep in the fridge and

consume quickly; sloshed on pasta, over

risottos, on bruschettaand in vinaigrettes,

dressings and marinades.

LIQUID GOLDFrances Bissell, in her sensational book

The Scented Kitchen, suggests blending

flower oils with grapeseed oil, then

brushing scallops with rose oil, or roast

peppers with lavender oil, and making brilliant

blue borage or stunning marigold oil by bruising

their petals and mixing into a pesto.

Extracted from nuts, seeds and fruits, cooking

oils vary hugelyin quality.Somepremiumoliveoils

are so special, they shouldn’tbe desecratedwith

extra flavours, just drizzled onto cooked dishes of

warm new potatoes or baby garden vegetables.

From the kitchen gardenFrancine Raymond shakes it up this month with oils, vinegars and a serving of asparagus soup

PHOTOGRAPHSSARAH BUSH

Other oils, such as sesame, walnut and

hazelnut, are too strong to countenance

adulteration. Sesame should be sprinkled on a

dish of noodles or finely sliced cabbage, and I

love the nut oils rubbed into a crumble mixture,

with nuts, sugar and oats topping baked fruits.

Virgin olive oil is fabulous in dressings, but use a

light olive or safflower oil for cooking. All oils are

�

CREAM OF ASPARAGUSSOUPHefty overgrown spears and tiny grassy sprue can be thriftily used up in soups like this

one, saving your textbook asparagus for finer dishes. Serve with snipped chive flowers

and swirled crème fraîche for a luscious garden lunch or dinner party treat.

� Finely chop a bunch of whole spring onions and a stick of celery.

� Sweat gently in a little butter for a few minutes.

� Chop 450g/1lb asparagus - the thicker the spears, the smaller the bits - and add to the pan.

� Add 570ml/20fl oz of good stock and a little chopped mint.

� Simmer gently for 25 minutes and liquidise.

� Re-heat gently, adding the crème fraîche just before serving.

healthierthan hard fats, but every now

and again, a new seed oil appears,

with high hopes in the health stakes.

Hemp and pumpkin are the current

crop. The best that can be said is that

they taste healthy.

QUITE A PICKLEVinegars last indefinitely.Youcan even

make your own by adding a ‘mother’

starter to wine or cider, but like

other home cultures such as yoghurt

or yeast, you can soon become

overwhelmed, producing mountains

of food to press on long-suffering

friends in an effort to keep the beast

caged. Premium vinegars, like strong,

aged balsamic and sherry or the

more delicate champagne, are best

treated with respect. Cider vinegar

has proven health properties - I often

add a spoonful to my hens’ drinking

water for a springtime purge. Save

malt vinegar to scour the limescale

from your kettle.

Flavouredvinegarsare not a modern

invention - 17th-century diarist John

Evelyn insisted that his vinegar should always

be ‘impregnated with the infusion of clove

gillyflowers, elder roses, rosemary, nasturtium

and thus enrichedwith the virtuesof theseplants’.

Take a clean bottle, pop in a few sprigs of your

chosen flavouring (bruising any herbs beforehand

with a rolling pin) and top up with the vinegar of

your choice, completely covering with liquid.WWW.BRITISH-ASPA

RAGUS.CO.UK

TEGUK140 Francines Kitchen final:UK 24/03/2009 17:39 Page 88



SEASONALFOOD

DRESSTO IMPRESSTradition decrees one part vinegar to three parts

oil as the basis of a dressing. Add sea salt and

black pepper to taste, definitely, and a little Dijon

mustard, some harissa orWorcestershire sauce,

maybe.Make up your dressing in a screw-topjam

jar, blending the ingredients by shaking them

vigorously. Save in the fridge, but refresh

frequently,as dressingsgo stale, especially those

with added crushedgarlic.Try experimentingwith

a little mashed anchovy for a Caesar dressing;

add some crumbled blue cheese for protein; or

for a healthier option, replace the oil with low-fat

yoghurt and the vinegar with lemon juice.

A favourite dressing: Take a bunch each of

watercress and parsley, a sprig of tarragon and a

bundle of chives;then add two dessert spoons of

champagne or mild vinegar, four tablespoons of

oliveoil and a cartonof softwhitecheese.Sprinkle

BUNCHES OF COW PARSLEYWhether you call it Queen Anne’s lace, cow

parsley or wild chervil, the lanes here in Suffolk

are fringed with creamy froth. Cut huge

bunches to bring into the house. Place in a large

galvanized vases, adding a little bleach to the

water. Keep until they start to drop their tiny

dusty petals, and replace with fresh bouquets

before the plant emits its characteristic smell.

Make your own dressing in a screw-top jam jar, blendingthe ingredients by shaking them vigorously

From the garden

with sea salt and black pepper, and whizz briefly

in a blender.This is particularly delicious on crisp

cos lettuce, topped with poachedeggs.

A favourite marinade: In a soup dish, add a

splash of light olive oil, a sliced lemon and the

juice of another, some capers, a little garlic and

salt and pepper, and marinate a sliced aubergine

in the mixture for a fewhours. Drain and grill, and

serve with the marinade reduced as a sauce.

I love this with soft goat’s cheese in herby oil

with black peppercorns, or some feta bathed in

lemon oil with mint.

VISIT FRANCINE ATTHE KITCHEN GARDENFrancine’s garden in Troston, near Bury St Edmunds, is open to the public for the NGS on

Bank Holiday Sun and Mon, 24 and 25 May, 2-5pm. Come and visit the hens, ducks and

garden, and see the new iris bed and willow pond fence. www.kitchen-garden-hens.co.uk




One of the perks of being a gardenwriter

is that occasionally you are offered (or

can beg) gadgets to try out. A couple of

years ago, I tested two leaf blowers, the kind that

vacuum as well as blow, and chop the leaves to

boot. Even thoughmy garden is small, I thought

this bit of machinery would be a nifty time saver,

especially for the leaves that settle on the gravel

part of the garden. It’s a year-round job as the

eucalyptus drops leaves in all seasons, but one I

put offas longas possiblebecause itmakes a racket

like an industrial-sized vacuumcleaner.

A MORI Research poll found that 1 million

peoplemoved homein 2007 becausethey couldn’t

stand the noise produced by neighbours. I don’t

know how many of those involved noise in the

garden, but if you visit the forums on the Noise

Abatement Society website

you’ll find plenty of cases.

One ladyput leaf blowers at

the top of her list of garden

machinery that causes

‘anguish’ to neighbours, followed by trimmers,

shreddersand high-pressurecleaners.

I would add petrol-driven lawn mowers too.

When we are sitting out having lunch and our

neighbours choose that particularmoment to cut

their large lawns, we are forced to eat, without

conversation,listening to the roar of the engine.

The legal limit for a mower with a 50-70cm

cutting width is 98 decibels (a boiling kettle

measures 50) but the NationalNoise Association

says that levels above 85 decibels may harm our

hearing. Presumably short blasts of this kind of

noise are not likely to do permanent damage, but

if every time you step into the garden you are

subjected to a battery of mowing, trimming,

shredding, and power hosing, then yourmood is

unlikely to be tranquil. ILLU

ST

RA

TIO

NM

AEV

EC

LAN

CY

A necessary evil for all but the most dedicatedof green gardeners,Anne Gatti looks at environmental ways to use mowersand more

Garden machinery

Eco-watch

Then there’s the potential damage to the wider

environment that gardenmachinerycauses.Tools

poweredby fossil fuels are responsible for carbon

dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases,

which are directly associatedwith climatechange.

Scientists warn that the need to cut our CO2

emissions in particular - and the Energy Savings

Trust says we in the UK are the least efficient

energy users in Europe - is critical if we are to

avoid the extinctionof up to a quarter of all plant

species and land animals.

So whatshould the eco gardenerdo about using

machinery? Well it’spossible, of course, to do all

these jobs by hand - think of the calories you’d

burn and the savings you’d make by cutting the

grasswitha pushmower.Butmanygardeners just

don’t have the time, especially if they have miles

of hedging to clip or hectaresof lawn tomow. The

greenest option is to choose your machineswith

noise, energysourcesand emissions inmind.Many

manufacturers now offer ‘quiet’ models, which

typically run at 84 decibels (Robomow and also

the Automower range fromHusqvarnapurr along

at an impressive 64 decibels). Unfortunately,they

are often more expensive to produce. Electric

models will be quieter than petrol-driven ones,

and if your supplier uses energy from renewable

sources suchas wind,wateror solar(see opposite)

then youwill be makinga significantreduction in

your personal carbon emissions. One provider

claims thatswitchingto greenelectricitycan reduce

the annual carbon footprint of an average

household by two tons. Less than 1% of our

electricityis currentlygenerated from thesesources

and environmentalists say that the more people

sign up, the more money there will be for the

developmentof green energy in the UK.

If you arenotwith a greenenergysupplier,then

you should consider battery-operated tools and

machines, especiallyones that run on lithium-ion

batteries. This technology has impressive eco

credentials:testing by independent technicianshas

given results of 60g of CO2 emissions for a lithium-

ion-powered mower cutting 300 sq m of grass

comparedwith 780g from a petrol-powered one.

These batteries are used by companies like Bosch

and Wolf Garten in a range of machines from

hedgecutters and shearsto shreddersandmowers.

According to Roger Tombs of Bosch UK, the

batteries used in their mowers will power the

machinesfor up to 30 minutes,dependingon the

height and condition of

the grass, and take one

hour to recharge, which

makes them a viable

option for most gardens.

At the end of their lives, these batteries should be

returned to the manufacturer so the various

elementscan be extracted and reused.Husqvarna

offers a self-propelled mower that tops up its

nickel-metal-hydride battery (better for the

environment than a nickelcadmiumor lead) with

solar power, is quieter than a householdvacuum

cleaner and runs for up to an hour on one charge.

Youcould also considera recyclerlawnmower,

which shreds the grass very finely and then

fires the clippings back to the base of the plants

where it acts as a mulch, reducing the need to

water and feed the grass, and saving you time.

Some models are petrol-driven but Toro and

AL-KO offer an electric one, which if combined

with a green energy supplier would make for

a sound eco choice.

What should the eco gardener do about using machinery? It ispossible to do jobs by hand, but many of us just don’t have time

GREEN ISSUES

TEGUK140 Ecowatch final:UK 24/03/2009 17:47 Page 92

ABOUT NOISE ISSUES� www.noiseabatementsociety.com

� www.noiseresourceservice.co.uk

� www.ukna.org.uk

Quiet!Accordingto the NoiseAbatementSociety,under the

EnvironmentalProtectionAct, 1990, if a noise is deemed a

nuisance,an abatementnoticemust be served by the local

authority.If the offenderfails to complywith the notice,

proceedingscan be taken in the MagistratesCourt or an injunction

sought in the High Court.An occupierof premisesaffectedby

noise nuisancecan complaindirectly to the MagistratesCourt and

civil action can also be taken.Also, a local authorityofficermay in

some cases enter a dwellingand seize and confiscateequipment

which it is thought is or has been used to emit noise.

ON LAWNMOWERS� www.bosch.co.uk

� www.automower.co.uk

� www.enviromower.co.uk

� www.worldofwolf.co.uk

� www.toro.com/int/uk_en/

� www.alkogarden.co.uk

A bit of TLC Looking after your mower is a great way to be

environmentally friendly - a few simple checkswill keep it

running at its optimum level and reduce how often you have

to replace it too. Ideally mowers should be professionally

serviced each year, but there are a few basic things you can

do to keep them in good working order: keep blades sharp

(if you’re unsure how to sharpen them, your local dealer or

garage can help); tighten bolts and screws if they have worked

loose during mowing; check belts and gears for wear, replacing

when necessary and clean off excess cuttings after mowing

to stop rusting.

ON GREEN ENERGY AND ENERGY SAVING� www.energysavingsecrets.co.uk

� www.ecotricity.co.uk

� www.goodenergy.co.uk

� www.greenenergy.uk.com

� www.ntgreenenergy.org.uk

Fair share If you are a member of a garden society, why

not think about sharing garden machinery? Create a general

pool of tools that everyone can use when they need them is

kinder to the environment. It is a great way to cut down on

the amount of gadgets you need to buy and working out a

rota between the group will ensure you only use them when

it’s really necessary.

FIND OUTMOREStan Fairbrother

Bespoke Architectural Garden Structures

HAND CRAFTEDWESTERN RED CEDAR GARDEN RETREATS

For the finest in summerhouses, gazebos, outdooroffices & garden studios visit our website to inspireyourself with designs for your own garden hideaway,

or telephone for our brochure.

01772 814274

WWW.STANFAIRBROTHER.CO.UK

TEGUK140 Ecowatch final:UK 31/03/2009 17:31 Page 93


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TEGUK140 T& M offers final:UK 26/03/2009 14:17 Page 97


CRAFTSBEES

Bee-keepingin Britain dates frombefore Roman times, and DavidChubb keeps the traditi ongoing, making a quarter ton ofhoney each year.

Primarily a sheep farmer, of South Cerneyin Gloucestershire, he infuses his goldengoodness with the flavoursof local snowdrops,crocuses, horse chestnut, borage and lime.And since 1982, this Cotswold bee-keeperhas also kept alive another, more unusualtradition: weaving bee skeps.

Skeps are straw bee houses, hollow basketswith a bees’ entrancecut in the side. Folk builtthem long before the 19th-century inventionof wooden hives, from whatever materials lay

to hand: wicker ones covered in clay and cowdung to keep off rain; and straw ones sportinghackles (roofs), sometimes made of cabbageleaves. These stood on stone or woodplatforms, in shelters or bee boles.

Bees attach their honeycombs to the insideof the skep walls. ‘At one time, people killedthe bees to scoop out the honey,’ David says.‘To avoid that, you put a smaller skepon top of a larger one and take the comb-filled smaller skep for your honey withoutdisturbing the main hive.’

He taught himse lf to make skeps from abook almost 30 years ago, because he wantedone for collecting swarms. This is still how heuses them today. ‘I have a flat-topped skep

Aright direction

SKEP in the

Many people are turning back to traditionalmethods in these unsure days, and what couldtaste sweeter than a sup of honey from an old-fashioned, handmade bee skep?

PHOTOGRAPHSPAULFELIX WORDS SIAN ELLIS

for the job, placed openin g upwards ona sheet , beneat h a tree where the bees are.Then I shake the swarm into it, wrap it upand take it home.

‘People like skeps because they’re naturaland made from sustainableresources,’ he says.‘Lots of peoplewho don’t keep bees buy them.They use them to create an ornamental focalpoint in a garden or conservatory. It’srecrea ting a dream of a past period, a timewhen most cottage dwellers had bees.

‘I weave them in different sizes, usuallyabout 35-60cm (14-24in) tall, for major beecompanies, period filmmakers and individualcustomers in the UK and Europe. I also getenquiries from America.’ One year, he made

giant versions for the Chelsea Flower Show.David weaves in the early morning and

evening, fitting it around his farm work.He favours long-stemmedwheat straw,and inthe past he has obtained supplies from theroyal farm nearby. ‘I am a bee-keeper atHighgrove and I’ve also made Prince Charlesa swarm-collectin g skep, but I don’t like tosay too much about it.’

He may be a modest man, but David looksto the past to make his future, and obviouslycreates skeps fit for a queen… bee.

Cotswold Bee Skeps, Box Bush Farm, SouthCerney, Near Cirencester, Gloucestershire GL75UB. Tel. +44 (0)1285 860648. See more designsand products at www.cotswold-beeskeps.co.ukA brief history of bee skeps can be found atwww.homepage.mac.com/mreddygbr/skepFAQMore information and links also available fromthe Guild of Straw Craftsmen - visit the websitewww.strawcraftsmen.co.uk

‘Skeps are natural and made from sustainable resources. They recreate a dream ofa past period, a time when most cottage dwellers had bees’

LEFT David Chubb prefersto use long-stemmed wheat straw, which he sometimes gets from

Highgrove. MIDDLETOP His handmade tools: a ring of cow horn throughwhich he feeds straw to

keep coils a consistent thickness, and three wooden-handled metal pipes that act like needles, guiding

the cane through the coils. MIDDLE BOTTOM It beginswith a special straw ‘knot’; he then coils up

the straw,sewing it into placewith rattan cane. RIGHTThe finished product, filled with honeycomb.

TEGUK140 Bee Skeps final:UK 24/03/2009 17:52 Page 98

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT David Chubb specialises

in handmaking old wheatstraw bee skeps;

tending his hives; two different models on

display in the garden;David also sells beeswax

candles from Boxbush Farm; sheep farmerby day,

skep artist by night; David’shoney,ready for sale.

TEGUK140 Bee Skeps final:UK 24/03/2009 18:00 Page 99


WILDLIFEBEES

Plight of the humble

Our bee population is in seriousdecline, but gardeners can make a differenceWORDS CINEAD MCTERNAN

HONEY BEE5 bee-friendly ideas

PLANT THERIGHT FLOWERSEncouragehoney bees to

visit your gardenwith cottagestyle

annuals and perennials.If you have

enough room,why not let a patch

go wild? It’sworth considering

alternativesto pesticidestoo, as

chemicalsare harmful to bees.Try

organic productsor encourage

friendlypredators to control pests.

Visit www.organiccatalog.comor

www.just-green.com for more.

Turnto page 115to find out the

best nectar-richflowers to grow.

1 PERKUPPUBLIC SPACES

If guerrillagardening isn’t for you,the BritishBeekeepers’

Association(BBKA)suggest encouraging

your local authority toplant flowers to attractbees in areas they lookafter, like roundabouts,parks and gardens. Ifits staff resourcesare

limited you can alwaysget a group of friends

together and volunteer.

2

BECOME ABEE-KEEPERTakeup a new hobby

and become a bee-keeper, it’sthe ultimateway to help honeybees. For all the informationyou need, contact your localbranch of the BBKA, which youwill be able to locate through itswebsite www.britishbee.org.ukHere you’ll also discovercourses, essential equipment toget you started and how tomanage the bees themselves.If this sounds a little daunting,why not offer your garden as ahome for a beehive?Your local bee-keepingassociation willhelp you find akeeper in need ofmore space andbefore you know ityour flowers willalso be enoyingthe benefits.

3 HUNT OUT LOCAL HONEYYoucan’t beat the flavour of local honey

and it is evenmore deliciouswhen it has been

made from the flora of your area. Find your

nearest honey producer by visiting your farmer’smarket or go to

www.beedata.com/localhoney to search the database. Honey

Fairs take place throughout the year; speak to your local bee-

keeping association for details and make a note in your diary of

the National Honey Show,29-31 October at St George’sCollege,

Weybridge,Surrey KT15 2QS. www.honeyshow.co.uk

4

LOBBY YOURMPAccording to the BBKA, over the next five yearsbee related activitieswill contribute £800 million

to the agricultural economy.Yet the government onlyspends £200,000 a year on honey bee research.Many, including Lord Rooker - formerministerfor the Department of the Environment, Food

and Rural Affairs, and responsible for thisfinance until last October - believe this sum to be

insufficient to prevent the impending disaster.Sign the BBKA petition and write to your MP todrum up support for The Bee Health Research

Funding Campaign. Visit www.britishbee.org.ukfor campaign details.

5

WHAT IS COLONYCOLLAPSEDISORDER?� The bee population in the

UK fell by 30% between 2007

and 2008, according to British

bee-keepers,and tragically,

last winter alone one in

three colonies died.

� It’snot completely clear

why bees are dying. Scientists

believe the Varroamite is

responsible in part, sucking

blood of infected insects and

weakening their immune

systems.As honey bee

colonies are so densely packed,

disease spreads quickly.There

are physical and biological

remedies, such as hygienic

bees that remove dead,

infected larvae from hives,

but the mites are developing

resistance to chemical

treatments,with the result

that nearly all wild honey bee

colonies have died out. Bee-

keepers are the last hope to

treat these infections.

� Pesticides,prolonged spells

of wet weather - such as our

past two summers - and

declining habitats of traditional

hedgerows, chalk grassland,

hay meadows and wildflowers

are also an issue for honey and

other types of bee.Tohelp

combat the problem, the

BumblebeeConservationTrust

is encouraginggardeners to

plant traditional native plants

such as bluebells, rosemary,

geraniums and honeysuckle.

READER BOOKGIVEAWAYWe have 10 copies of

Beekeepingby

Joanna Ryde to give

away,published by

New Holland and

on sale for £7.99.For a chance

to win a copy,send an email to

[email protected]

with the subject line ‘Bees’,

answering this question: How

much is spent on honey bee

reseacheach year?

TEGUK140 Keeping Bees final:UK 25/03/2009 09:14 Page 100





A local enthusiast’s ardour accidently sparked NigelWright’s profound passion for rhododendrons. Thirtyyears on, his garden and nursery are still flourishing

PHOTOGRAPHSROWAN ISAACS WORDS CINEAD MCTERNAN

Islands in

NURSERYRHODODENDRONS

the greenN

igel Wrightlooks out over the manicuredlawn. ‘It took me three years to get thefield flat, mowing the bumps and pits togradually level it,’ he says. It’s amazingto think that nearly 30 years ago, much

of the land around The Old Glebe House in Devon wasno more than a sloping field used for grazing horses.Its transformation into the beautifully landscaped gardenit is today is testament to the imaginationand hard workof rhododendron specialist Nigel and his wife June.

It soon becomes clear that smoothing out the fieldwas one of the simpler jobs undertaken to create thisgarden. From hulking earth to fill a dip, digging a lake,constructing a bridge, building a summer house andcreating a wild meadow, the Wrights have been boldwith their plans. And this doesn’t include making 30borders and island beds, which over the years have beenplanted with hundreds of different rhododendrons and

�

Island beds are dotted

around NigelWright’s

rhododendron garden,

showing off more than

800 different varieties. In

the background, azaleas

have been used to edge

a bog garden.

The Engli sh Gar den 105

TEG UK 140 Nursery Rhodos final:UK 26/03/2009 12:23 Page 103

azalea s. Meeting Nigel and June, however, you’d beforgiven for thinking they had merely made one or twominor adjustments to the original plot.They may be modest about their achievements, but

their enthusiasmand passionis infectious. June professesto be a hopeless gardener, and as an artist prefersvisualisinghow the plants,colours and structures shouldknit together. Nigel is hands on, and it is his loveaffair with rhododend rons that truly defines thegarden. It is a show case for more than 800 varieties ofrhododendrons and azaleas,which cleverlydemonstrateshow to use them indifferent settings, suchas a hedge or anisland border, on theperiphery of a boggarden or as a feature specimen, he now also runsa successful nursery from the grounds.It is surprising to learn that this wasn’t the original

intention for the garden. In fact, Nigel’s initiation intorhododendron fever was thanks to an introdcution to alocal enthusiast. Inheriting the troublesome Rhododendronponticum and a few other cultivars on buying the OldGlebe, he sought the advice of a local rhododendronexpert and nurser yman, Major Reynolds. With noexperience of these shrubs (previously gardening onthe chalky soil of their Buckinghamsh ire home),Nigel was captivat ed after a tour round the Major ’s

rhododendron-filled woodland. ‘I remember just takinga couple of plants home after that first visit,’ says Nigel,‘but as I soon started to buy more varieties, I needed tofind ways of displaying them in our garden. Island bedswere perfect and it was fun deciding on the differentcolour combinations. Grouping low plants at the front,with medium height and taller rhododendrons behindthemalsogives you thechanceto see themfromall angles’.He is particularly keen to include early and late

varieties for colour over most months of the year andspecies with different leaves to give year-round interest

too. ‘They are allindividual charactersand become like oldfriends,’ says Nigel.Nigel locatedanother

spot for his plants when he and June tackled awaterlogged area of the garden caused by a series ofnatural puddles running from the top of the lawn downto the field at the far end. Resolved to ‘make the mostof what was already there’, June designed a successionof pools, edged with marginals andsome of theirfavourite azaleas, including R. luteum, ‘Gibraltar’ and R.vicosum ‘Antilope’. Longing to have ducks, water liliesand reeds, she also seized upon the opportunity tochannel the run off from these pools to create a lakewith an island connected by a Monet bridge at thebottom of the garden.

It is Nigel’s love affair with rhododendronsthat truly defines the garden



�

FARLEFT,TOPTOBOTTOMRhododendron’s are ideal for attractingbees and insects;

R. ‘Ring of Fire’ flowers in mid- to late spring;‘W.F.H.’is a compact low-growing variety;

azaleas are closely related but generally bloom late May to earlyJuly. LEFT Dark-leaved

rodgersia is a perfect foil for mixed azaleas. BELOWThe rope bridge spans a rhododendron-

filled ravine and connects the garden,making a circularwalk for visitors to enjoy.


Quirkier addit ions followed, all designed to drawattention and accentuate the specimens. A favourite,especiallyfor the Wright’sgrandchildren, is a rope bridgethat spans a 26m (85ft) ravine that divides the gardenin half. ‘It was inspired by a bridge we had seen duringa trip to New Zealand,’ remembers June. ‘It took Nigel10 Saturdays to make with the help of a local chap andthey used half a mile of rope. I’m pleased to say so farit has lasted10 years, and when you stand in the middleof it you get spectacular views of the rhododendronsbelow, and those planted up along the gulley towardsthe house. You see the islands beds when you look backacross to the lake.’ A living eucalyptus gazebo, viewingplatform and box-hedge turret also amuse in differentareas and give refreshing aspects of the garden.

Behind the scenes (where visitors are welcome to takea guided tour), there are three-year-old plants in 11nursery beds, ordered by colour, and a series of nettunnels that are filled with one- to two-year-old plantsin 1.5-litre pots, ready to be sold to the public. Nigeluses NearingFrames, an American inventionspecificallyused to propagate woody shrubs, to take up to 1,000cuttings each year (see above ). ‘I did try breedingrhododendrons and azaleasin the early years,’ says Nigel.‘It was a painstakingly detailed process and the resultswere hit and miss. I also learned how to graft plants,but found species often reverted back to the rootstock,especially if I used the vigorous Rhododendron ponticum.

1. Takefrom midsummer until early autumn, choosing a 15cm (6in) tip. Remove the lowest leaves,

leaving the top four, cutting them in half to reduce overlap.

2. Dip the end into hormone rooting powder and plant in pre-prepared holes (use a nail board to make holes 5cm

(2in) deep and 5cm (2in) apart) in 15cm (6in) of 50:50 Irish peat and horticultural grit, in the base of a Nearing Frame.

3. Ensure that the compost remains moist until the cuttings are well rooted, shading the cold frame in hot weather.

During winter, remove any fallen leaves and dead cuttings, watering only if the compost is dry. Once cuttings have

rooted, place in a cold frame with a net cover (as it lets in rain) to semi shade from sunlight.

HOWTO TAKE SEMI-RIPE CUTTINGS



‘For me the most enjoyable method is taking cuttings.The frames make all the difference when it comes tosuccess rates, but the trick is to set their roofs in asouth-fac ing posi tion to give the greatest amountof shade during late spring and summer, when thecuttings can scorch and dry out.’Highly regarded within the gardening community,

Nigel is often called upon for his expert ise. He haschosen and supplied rhododendron s and azaleas forgardens all over the country, including the NationalTrust, the woodland walk at RHS Rosemoor and for theBritish Masters Marquess’ golf course at WoburnAbbey.Some of his rhododendro ns have even ended up asfar afield as St Petersburg (where, surprisingly, theJapanese species of yak thrive) and in a mountainresort of a Lebanese hotelier. He has also written forThe Rhododendron Society and teaches RHS traineeson day visits to his nursery.Despite this busy schedule, Nigel happily shares his

knowled ge as he takes visito rs on tours around thenursery and garden. And one thing is for sure: if youweren’t a rhododendron enthusiast when you arrived,you certainly will be when you leave.

The Old Glebe House, Eggesford, Chulmlei gh, DevonEX18 7QU Tel: +44 (0)1769 580632. Open for the NGSSaturdays and Sundays 9-10 and 16-17 May, 2-5.30pm.www.wrightrhodos.com

NIGEL’SFAVOURITE LOCAL GARDENS� RHS Garden Rosemoor, GreatTorrington,Exeter EX38 8PH. Open daily

10am-5.pm.Tel:+44 (0)1805 624067. www.rhs.org.uk

� Sherwood, nr Newton St Cyres, Exter EX5 5BT.Open Sundays only, from

March to November.Tel:+44 (0)1392851216

� Marwood Hill, nr Barnstaple, North Devon EX31 4EB. Open daily except 25

Dec. 9.30am-5.30pm. Tel: +44 (0)1271 342528. www.marwoodhillgarden.co.uk

� Lukesland Gardens, Ivybridge, Devon PL21 0JF.OpenWeds, Suns and BHs

from March-June. 2-6pm. Tel: +44 (0)1752 691749. www.lukesland.co.uk

� Rhododendrons need adequate drainage as they don’t like having their feet

wet - but what’s adequate? Try digging a hole and filling it with a bucket of water.

If water is still there in 20 minutes you need to do something about the drainage.

� A good rule for spacing: tall varieties will be about 2m x 2m (6ft x 6ft) in 10

years, so space 2m apart. Medium ones reach 1.3m(4.5ft) and low types 1m (3ft).

� Early rhododendrons suffer from frost. Plant them to the west of a tree and

they’ll benefit from the extra protection from early morning sun.

� Rhododendrons are shallow rooted so don’t mind being moved, preferably

in autumn or winter. If you’re moving them in summer, keep them well watered.

� One of the more low maintenance shrubs, regular dead heading is

important to promote new flowers and keep them looking tidy. Spend five to 10

minutes a day to keep on top of it.

� Don’t completely cut back

rhododendrons. Buds are formed

late summer the previous year, so

you risk removing the flowers.

Some types, often with shiny bark

like R. thomsonii, won’t shoot again

if you hard prune. Cut back one

third only and keep an eye on it. If

all’swell the next season, continue

pruning a different third each year.

CONTACTS

ABOVE LEFTThe net tunnels allow rain in, helping Nigel to keep plants wateredduring

the summer,and open ends allow air to circulate to keep plants healthy. ABOVERIGHT

Rhododendron ‘Cynthia’ bursts with colour under an oak tree. LEFT Foliage is often

overlooked,but can be just as attractive as the flowers.

NIGELWRIGHT’STIPS



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110 The English Garde n

Renishaw Hall, on the outskirts of Sheffield, has

been home to the Sitwell family for nearly 400

years.Today,Sir Reresby and Lady Sitwell live in the

imposing castellatedhouse of 1625within its 200-

acre grounds. Nine acres of formal gardenswere laid

out by Sir Reresby’sgrandfather,Sir George Sitwell,

who firmly based his ideas on the Italian Renaissance

style with yew hedges, statuary and fountains, all

divided into elegant garden rooms.

There is muchmore than this at Renishaw,however,

and we’ll enjoy an exclusivetour of the grounds and

inside the hall, which is as splendidlyartistic as might

be expectedfrom the home of such a literary family.

More than 1,000 roseswill be blooming in the rose

gardens; the bottomterracewill have beds of peonies,

oriental poppies and lupins.Themiddle borders,

replantedthis year under the guidanceof garden

designerAnthonyNoel, will be showingoff their new

colours and their sympatheticreplanting,and will be

explainedby head gardenerDavid Kesteven.

Join us for an exclusive visit toRenishaw Hall, home of the Sitwells

The borders magnificent and we’ll have a rare trip around the vineyard and inside the houseon our The English Garden reader day - it’s your last chance to book your place

THETIMETABLE10amWelcome with coffee

by head gardener David

Kesteven and short talk on

the Sitwells by tour guide

Christine Archer.

11am Tourof the garden

12.20pmTourwith David

around the vineyard

1.30pm A lunch in the cafe

with a glass of Renishaw’s

own sparkling wine.

2.30pmTouraround the

ground floor of the Hall.

4pm (approx) Day finishes,

with tea in the cafe and a

chance to buy Renishaw’s

own plants.

Payment details: subscriber,£80; non-subscriber,£85

I enclose a cheque/postal order for £…….made payable to The English

Garden or debit my Maestro/Mastercard/Visa the sum of £....................

Card number............................................. 3-digit security no........................

Expiry date ............................................... Issue no.........................(Maestro only)

Signature................................................... Date ..............................................

I’dlike to book.......placeson the RenishawHall ReaderDay

Name .............................................................................. ........................

Address .......................................................................... ........................

......................................................................................... ........................

Postcode .................................. Daytime tel ..................................................

�Send your application,marked ‘RenishawHall Reader Day’,to:The EnglishGarden,ArchantHouse,OrielRoad, Cheltenham,Glos GL50 1BB

Sir Reresby Sitwell, the 7th baronet,

is the son of Sacheverell Sitwell. In

the 20th century, the Sitwell family

was famed through the writings of

Edith, Osbert and Sacheverell, the

three gifted children of the eccentric

Sir George, who laid out the

gardens at RenishawHall.

Monday 15 June 2009Inclusive cost of day: subscriber,

£80; non-subscriber,£85.

Includes lunch,tea and coffee, the tours

and a souvenir of your day, which will include

a book, a plant and a bottle of Renishaw wine

Address: Renishaw Hall, Renishaw, Sheffield

S21 3WB. Tel: +44 (0)1246 432310.

www.renishaw-hall.co.uk

READER DAY

LASTCHANCETO BOOK

TEGUK140 Renishaw Reader Day final:UK 25/03/2009 09:48 Page 110

Chelsea

Flower Show

Stand No PW40


Border lines: PlantingYearning to fill every gap in the borders? For perfect results, says Parham’shead gardener Joe Reardon-Smith, try to resist temptation

May can be a dangerous time. Many

a border’s future season is now

compromised. How easy it is to

succumb to the beckoning Sirens that flaunt

themselves seductively in garden centres up

and down the country. Nurserymen are no

fools- theyneedtomakemoneyandknowthat

the gardenerhas a weakness,particularlynow,

for potfuls of well-presentedplants, especially

if in flower.And therein lies the danger.

In the not so distant past, the main

planting/borderrenovationperiodwasautumn.

At the end of summer,mistakeswere fresh in

the brain along with new ideas for correcting

possible shortcomings. These days, for the

nurseryman,it’snot that easy to sell a plant in

autumn, especially to novice gardeners who

find it difficult to believe that the pot full of

dyingstemsreallyis that gloriouslong-desired

flower(and that it wouldbe very contentto be

plantedthen, ready for action next spring).


Spring sales have risen and it has becomeeasy

to succumb to pots burstingwith buds and fresh

foliage,but if you’renot carefulyou’llunbalancethe

border. Putting the emphasis on early flowers

causes it to peter-out around July, leaving it (and

you) dusty and tired at a time when the border

couldbe buildingto its crescendo.Thewayaround

this is to thinkof springadditionsas ornamentsthat

you pin to the main costumeof the border.

LOOKING AHEADAquilegiasare promiscuous,thank goodness.This

means that by leavingall those littleseedlingsyou

will have a fabulous mix of flower shapes and

colours. Make a note of those that catch the eye

and carry leaves of emerging perennials to them

to see what exciting combinations should be

planned for the followingyear.

Trainyourself to envisagefutureseasonsat the

same time you’re experiencing the current one.

Start to learn to recognise the offspring of self-

FOR PERFECT BORDERS� I can’t stress it enough - keep thinking ahead

and keep a notebook of everything that happens

and when.This is essential for remembering colour

combinations,but also for noting which plants

have thuggish foliage and those that don’t fill the

‘holes’ exactly.Sometimes how a plant dies back is

as important to the look of a border as how it

looked in full flower.

� When choosingand buying plants, always

choose two ‘late’ (i.e. August/September/October)

perfomers for every early one.

� Don’tdrop oddments into holes: keep your plan in mind. It’seasy to make a spring border

look good - freshlymulchedand edgedwith paths swept - so don’tworry about the gaps.

� Drift the early flowerers through the main candidates and try to keep to the trusted rule of

groups of threes or fives to retain a natural rhythm.

� Allow the odd item to ’escape’ from the main grouping to inject a little joie de vivre.

JOE’S FAVOURITE BORDER FILLERS� The delicious ‘black’ sweetWilliam Dianthus barbatus ‘Sooty’ is a biennial that can be

slipped into place in the autumn from pots.

� Foxgloves:place them as the dianthus above, but anchor beside existing shrubs so they

don’t look too out of place.

� TellimagrandifloraRubra group: rosy-lippedgreen bells above scalloped foliage that

flushes crimson in the cold.

� Veronicagentianoides ‘TissingtonWhite’: place its pencil-thin spires of ghostly pearl

beside the liver-huedleaves of Bergenia ‘Sunningdale’.

TEGUK140 Parham Borders final:UK 25/03/2009 09:34 Page 112

PLANTSDESIGN

seeders. It’s far too easy to weed out desirables

or accidentally smother them with mulch.

The perennial wallflower,Erysimum ‘Bowles’s

Mauve’ will flower from May to July and

intermittentlythereafter.It revels in free drainage

and full sun,dislikingrichsoilswhereit willoutgrow

itself rapidly. A good frontal plant nestled beside

abelias or hebes, which afford it a degree of

protectionin thewinterfromwind-rock.Makesure

its neighboursare at theirbest later;perhapsCarex

buchananii or C. testacea as their early spring

foliage of copper-bronze contrasts well with the

wallflower’sdeep lilac flowers.

Cream camassias (Camassia leichtlinniisubsp.

leichtlinnii ) will seed gently around a border,

providing metre-high spikes of large stars of

primrose yellow you could contrast with the

chocolate filigree foliage of Anthriscus sylvestris

‘Ravenswing’. Later in May, alliums, peonies,

poppies and lupins all awaken, but keep in mind

that the foliage of the last two is apt to die once

they’ve flowered, so place them where the hole

won’tbe so noticeable,or selectneighbourswhose

main time is mid- and late summer and whichcan

be usedto concealthe hole.Gauralindheimeri‘The

Bride’ could lean over the poppies patch, and

perhaps Aster x frikartii ‘Mönch’over the lupin.PH

OT

OS

AMANDA

D’ARCY

‘Think of spring additions as ornaments that youpin to the main costume of the border’

PLEASURES OFTHE SEASONWith its low mounds of delicately cut

foliage and its nodding pale lilac flowers,

Polemonium‘LambrookMauve’(above) is

a spring gem. Flowering from April until

June, it goes quietly to sleep for the rest

of the season.That said, it does not want

to be completely buried by thuggish

neighbours, who may smother it with

their late growth. Instead, use it to fill

the ground between, perhaps, hostas,

peonies or hellebores, and contrast its

flowers with the emerging foliage of

Ageratina‘Chocolate’or perhapsHeuchera

‘Caramel’.In the lightsandysoil at Parham,

I find it prefers a little shade but it’s a

very tolerant plant and with a richer loam

will stand full sun.

Vital for flower arrangers, Solomon’s

seal (Polygonatumx hybridum) is a superb

plant. Revelling in shade, it makes use of

the early season’smoist soil, its arching

wands of apple-green leaves protecting

the cream bells beneath. Once settled,

this will sit forever,quite happily.Perhaps

contrast it with the much-sneered-at

Persicaria bistorta ‘Superba’. If split

regularly and mulchedwith rich compost

this will reward you with fat spikes of

flowers. These are of a rather cold pink

but it is a greatcolourto contrastwith late

tulips and biennial honesty (below).

WILD AND BEAUTIFULAllownative cow parsley,Anthriscus

sylvestris,to colonise the backsof

borders, but just don’t let it set seed

or youwill be overrun.Its refined cousin

Chaerophyllumhirsutum ‘Roseum’

(above) is a long-livedperennialwith

large heads of cool-pink flowers.Dare

to plant it beside the ruddy emerging

leavesof Rheumpalmatum

‘Atrosanguineum’and glaucous, fat

spikesof Hosta ‘KrossaRegal’.

TEGUK140 Parham Borders final:UK 25/03/2009 09:35 Page 113

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114-TEG-May-UK [pts/gdd]:Layout 1 1/4/09 10:50 Page 114

Sweet treatsIt’s easy to help pollinating insects like bees, butterflies

and hoverflies to thrive in your garden, says VVaall BBoouurrnnee:just provide them with an abundant source of food

�

Inula magnifica

The En glish Garden 115

PLANT FOCUSNECTAR RICH

TEGUK140 Plant Focus final 25/03/2009 09:06 Page 115

116 The English Garde n

which provides a bolt of bright light in deepshade, and the black-leaved perennial QueenAnne’sLace - AAnntthhrriissccuuss ssyyllvveessttrriiss ‘‘RRaavveennsswwiinngg’’.This dainty flo wer tolerates dappled shadeand it could be mixed with the pied blackand white bonne ts of AAqquuiilleeggiiaa vvuullggaarriiss‘‘WWiilllliiaamm GGuuiinneessss’’, which used to be soldunder the name ‘Magpie’. The aquilegia takesits generic name from a quila the Latin

Nectar, the su gar-ri ch liquid man yflowering plants produce, is a v eryimporta nt co mmodity. It sustains

bees, hoverfl ies and butterflies, giving themthe necessary calories to fly. More importantly,these pollinator s accidentally collect stickypollen on their legs, heads and bodies as theysearch for their ene rgy-boosting nectar fix.The yellow grains are transferred to the nextplant visited and, if the pollen is compatible,fertilisation takes place and seeds are set.

LET FLY WITH FLOWERS

Rich in nectar, astrantias flower in May whenthere can be a shortage of this food source. Amember of the umbellifer family, they have arounded pincush ion of flowers surroundedby a neat ring of jagged bracts. This delicatecharacteristic sui ts the small-mouthedhoverfly, which should be encouraged in thegarden because it pollin ates while searchingfor nectar, and its la rvae preda te a phids and other s mall pests. The dramatically dark AAssttrraannttiiaa ‘‘HHaaddssppeenn BBlloooodd’’, the candypink ‘Roma’ and the clea r red ‘Ruby Wedding’ are superb varieties. Other excellent May-flowering umbellifers

include the bi ennial Smyrnium perfoliatu m,

Flowers appear to vibrate when a bumble bee ‘buzz’for eagle, afte r its t alon-shaped spurs. Anyspurred flowers are rich in nectar. Both annuals and biennials, which live for

one or two yea rs respect ively, produce anabundance of nectar because being pollinatedand setting see d is vi tal to their s urvival.The blue cornflower, CCeennttaauurreeaa ccyyaannuuss, willattract scarce red-tailed bumble bees if you’relucky. The taller fo rms can be planted withladybird poppie s (Papaver commutatum) for a spectacular display.

GIVING BEES THE BLUES

Alternatively, le t the cobalt-b lue fl owersjar against hardy orange pot marigolds or theless hardy African marigold . Taller varieties,like ‘Bo Jangle’ from Suttons, and a mixtureof laced doubles and stri ped si ngles a reespecially good fo r hoverf lies, who ar eattracted to deep yellows and oranges.Bees, on the other hand, adore blues and

lilacs, but t he arching fl owers o f Phaceliatanacetifolia only seem attractive to honey beesduring the evening. I t may well be that thisplant doesn’t switch its nectar on until dusk.Plants wi shing to a ttract pollinat ing mothstend to be ev ening frag rant and pal lid incolour. Eve ning st ars include the silvered

Centaurea cyanus

FACTS� 80% of the world’s food crops

need a pollinator at some stage in

their life cycles.

� Many pollinating insects have to

ingest protein-rich pollen before

they can breed and some use pollen

to feed their young.

� Double flowers are usually sterile

with no value to insects. The anthers

and nectaries have been replaced by

petals and so can’t be fertilised. Try the

single flowering Inula magnifica, dog

rose or ornamental poppy instead.

� Plant your flowers in groups because

colour and scent en masse are easier

for insects to detect.

PLANT FOCUSNECTAR RICH

Verbena bonariensis Hesperis matronalis

Buddleja ‘Black Knight’

PREVIO

US PAGE G

PL/HOWARD RICE

CLO

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The Engli sh Gar den 117

pollinates and shakes stubborn pollen from the anthersflowers of sweet rocket, HHeessppeerriiss mmaattrroonnaalliiss;our ‘rhubarb and custard’ native honeysuckleLonicera peri clymenum ; and pa le-yello wevening primrose (oenothera).

SHOWING THE WAY

If a pl ant has veine d o r spo tted fl owers it’s advertising its presence to insects who cansee infrared light. They pick up the markingsrather than flower colour, so a heavily spottedspire of foxglove bells i s nectar o n a stick with neon lights attached. Hollyhocks, lupins, aconitums, delphiniums

and some verbascums all attract bumble beesand other pollinators. Often the flowers willappear to vibrate when a bumble bee ‘buzz’pollinates and shakes stubborn p ollen fromthe anthers. Some plants, including tomatoes,can only be pollinated in this way. Interestingly, the sug ar content of ne ctar

varies greatly from plant to plant. Marjoram(Origan um vulgare ) produces the mostconcentrated n ectar known, contai ning anamazing 79% sugar. It’s no wonder that thislow-growing, sun-loving herb is heavily visitedby gatekeep er but terflies and bees du ringAugust. I t makes an e xcellent e dging plantnear vegetables, and s howier forms i nclude

OOrriiggaannuumm llaaeevviiggaattuumm ‘‘HHeerrrreennhhaauusseenn’’ and O. ‘Rosenku ppel’. Both have d ark fo liage and two-tone flow ers held o n wiry stems from August onwards The warm day s of summer b ring anothe r

pollinator - the butte rfly - and they lov elanding pla tforms. Perennial asters such aspale-pink ‘Fellowship’, a bright yellow gloriosadaisy or a pink e chinacea are id eal . The flat heads of green-l eaved sedums, willowyVVeerrbbeennaa bboonnaarriieennssiiss and all fluffy eupatoriumsare butterfly magnets too, but none are as good as the hon ey-scented Buddle ja davidii and its hybrids. This Chinese nativeattracts 22 different species of British butterfly when planted in nectar-induci ng sunshine.Dead hea d ‘Pink De light’, ‘Ro yal Red’ and

‘‘BBllaacckk KKnniigghhtt’’ to prolong flow ering andencourage spectacular displays.The most vital nectar of all, however, comes

in January and February, and sustains solitarybees and bumble bees fresh from hibernation.The win ter-flower ing Clematis cirrh osa var.balearicademands a sheltered south-facing wallfor its cream bells, subtly spotted in maroon.‘Freckles’ is brasher with bright-red splashes,but it c an be cajo led into flower bef oreChristmas in sheltered gardens. Add crocus,winter a conites, a rosemary such as ‘MissJessopp’s Upright’, oriental hellebores and somepulmonarias - and consider the most fragrant,winter-flowering evergreen of all: Daphne bholua‘Jacqueline Postill’. Then early bees and insectscan get their nectar fix too.

Astrantia ‘Hadspen Blood’

Aquilegia vulgaris ‘William Guiness’ Origanum laevigatum ’Herrenhausen’

Anthriscus sylvestris ‘Ravenswing’

READER OFFER - 10% OFF!We are offering readers 10% off at www.crocus.co.uk where you

can purchase these lovely nectar-rich plants and much more (but

sorry, no inula). With more than 3,000 plants and garden products

available on the site, Crocus has something to suit everyone. To claim

your discount, visit www.crocus.co.uk and enter Promotion Code

‘9132’when prompted, or call the 24-hour order line on tel: 0844

5572266. Offer valid until 30 June 2009. Excludes machinery, cut flowers, gift vouchers and

delivery (costs £5.95 per order). Crocus deliver to mainland UK, excluding northern Scotland.

ENGLISHGARDEN

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Roadshow seasonMay sees the start of an excitingnew season for

The English Garden Roadshows. Our team ofexpertswill be travellingaround the country to

answeryour gardeningquestions, with the first diary dateat the beginning of May at the South of England SpringGarden and Leisure Show inWest Sussex, where you’llenjoy a feast of stands to satisfy any plantsman.Readers in the Wiltshire area must not miss the

chance to join our experts at the WestWiltshire ShowinTrowbridgein July. This unique event runs every otheryear and is guaranteed to entertain the whole family.Go armed with your gardening questions and our teamwill be keen to solve them.Later in the year you’ll get the chance to join us at

Taunton FlowerShow and the RoyalCounty of BerkshireShow. Simply check the list of venues below and savea space in your diary. Questions can be anything fromhouse plant care to biological control, or a design query.Entry to the Roadshows is free once you are in the

showground itself and Q&A sessions are held two orthree times a day (see show plans to find our location).Plus everyone who comes along receives a free gift of

gardening goodies to take away asa memento of the day. We lookforward to seeing you soon.

THE ENGLISH GARDEN’S

THE EXPERTSSTEVE BRADLEY

Steve is gardening writer

for The Sun and a number

of gardening magazines.

A broadcaster and author,

he has more than 30 titles

to his name. Before taking

up a career as a writer and

broadcaster he was a

horticultural lecturer.

JONWHEATLEY

An international and national

flower show judge and dahlia

enthusiast, Jon has designed

and built eight Chelsea Gold

Medal-winning stands. He is

also a lecturer and horticultural

consultant and owns Chew

Valley nursery in Somerset.

MARY PAYNE,MBE

A garden designer whose

work includes the prairie

planting at Lady Farm in

Somerset. Mary is also a

regular radio show gardening

expert and is a consultant for

the redevelopment of the

famous Dorset gardens,

Compton Acres.

COMEANDMEET USATONE OFTHESEGREATGARDENINGEVENTS3 & 4 MAYSouth of England Spring Garden and Leisure Show,

Ardingly,West Sussex. Plant stalls from specialist horticultural

nurseries, demonstrations, craft stalls, events, trade stands and fine

food to buy.There are also children’sattractions and free parking. For

more details of the show, tel: +44 (0)1444 892700.

23-25 JULYWestWiltshire Show,Trowbridge. This event is run

once every other year and is designed to be a show for the whole

family. It has been running since 1989 and in previous years has

attracted more than 400 exhibitors. Expect live music and

entertainment, talks, demonstrations and plenty for the keen

gardener. Entry is free. For more information, tel: +44 (0)1225

402096 or go to www.westwiltsshow.org

7 & 8 AUGUSTTauntonFlower Show A traditional British flower

show held at the historic Vivary Park. Features designer show

gardens. Why not enter one of the competitions yourself and enjoy

the complete show experience? For more information and show

classes, tel: 0845 4381958 or visit www.tauntonflowershow.co.uk

19 & 20 SEPTEMBER Royal County of Berkshire Show This show

marks the centenary of The Newbury & District Agricultural Society,

featuring livestock, demonstrations, plant sales and trade stands, a

new wedding and travel marquee, craft tent, show jumping and

country arena. This is a full day out with something for every

member of the familly. For more information, tel: +44 (0)1635 247111

or go to www.newburyshow.co.uk

Plan a day out at one of the four shows mentioned below

and meet our team of experts. Entry to our roadshows is

free once you are in the showground.TamsinWesthorpe, Editor

SHOW PREVIEW

Join our experts as they travel the country to answer your gardening questions

TEGUK140 Reader Roadshow final 25/03/2009 09:38 Page 118


HOWTO ENTER Towin one of the two prizes,

simply answer the question on the entry form below

and send it to the address on the coupon before the

closing date of Friday 12 June. Entry also online at

www.theenglishgarden.co.uk/competitions/hayter

RULES Entries limited to one per household. Entrants must be 18yearsor over.The competition is not open to the employeesof ArchantSpecialistor Hayter,or their families and agents.Winners are the firsttwo correct entries chosenat random after the closing date of Friday12 June 2009.There is no cash alternativeavailable. Full competitionrules available on receipt of SAE. The judges’ decision is final; nocorrespondence will be entered into.

Name (Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss)

Address

Postcode

Tel: Email:

Q. What brand of petrol engine powers theHayter Harrier 48 lawnmower?

A.

Return this form to: The English GardenHayter competition,Archant House, Oriel Road, Cheltenham, Glos GL50 1BB

WINThe English Garden and Hayter have teamed up to offer two lucky readers

the chance to win a super petrol-powered lawnmower

You may photocopy this form. Please tick if you subscribe to The English Garden. �� Please tick if y ou do n ot wi sh to receive inf ormation about products a nd services from Archant S pecialist by phone �� by post �� or fr om other carefully selected companies by ph one �� by post . �� Please ti ck the box if you do not wish to receive further information from Hayter ��

THE ENGLISH GARDENHAYTER COMPETITION - MAY, ISSUE 140

a Harrier 48 Rear Roller mower

Hayter has been manufacturing grass-cutting machines

in the UK for more than 60 years, and was the

pioneer in the development of the rotary mower.

The Hayter Harrier 48 model is ideal for medium to large

lawns. The split-differential ribbed rear roller offers superior

traction, easy turning and the perfect striped finish on fine

lawns. With seven cutting heights, a large capacity fabric

grassbag and a cutting deck that extends beyond the

wheelbase for easy mowing around borders, the Harrier 48

was recently redesigned with clean, modern lines - and the

handles fold down for easy storage. The powerful collection

feature enables autumn leaves to be simply removed from

the lawn. The machine can also be used without a grassbag

as a rear discharge mower.

Powered by a Briggs & Stratton petrol engine, all Harrier

48 models offer variable speed between 1.5 and 3mph to suit

different conditions and match the operator’s walking speed.

An Operator Presence Control system ensures that it will not

move unless the operator is present.

Protected by the Hayter three-year warranty, Harrier

mowers are available from Hayter’s network of specialist

dealers. For more information and a list of dealers in your

area, tel: 0800 7818768 or visit www.hayter.co.uk

The prizesTwo Hayter Harrier 48 mowers worth £811 each

COMPETITION

TEGUK140 Hayter Competition final:UK 25/03/2009 09:46 Page 119

Project61:Layout 1 1/4/09 15:06 Page 1

In theJUNE issue…

ARDENTHE ENGLISHG

�Why sweet peas have become collectors’ items� Focusing on spectacular roses for perfume

� Sharing the garden with wildlife

On sale 19 May

SCENTSOF SUMMER

PLUS A selection of glorious open gardensand other great ways to enjoy the sunshine:

furniture, outdoor kitchens and tasty summerrecipes made from home-grown produce

TEGUK140 CNM final:UK 27/03/2009 10:45 Page 121

eng lish garden prom otion


GARDENS of the month8 acres of inspirational landscaped gardens featuring rose, alpine

and formal knot gardens, a water lily canal, riverside walk and

one of the finest purely herbaceous borders in the country. This

beautiful estate in the heart of the Oxfordshire countryside also

has a quality plant centre, art gallery, teashop and museum and

is famous for apple juice produced from our own orchards.

Arts, crafts and gardening courses are also available and there’s

a full programme of annual events including outdoor theatre.

For more information and ticket prices visit

www.waterperrygardens.co.uk

Waterperry,NearWheatley,OxfordshireOX33 1JZTel:01844339254Fax: 01844339883office@waterperrygardens.co.ukwww.waterperrygardens.co.ukOpeningtimes:10am to 5.30pmMarch to October2009. 10am to5pmNovemberand December2009.ClosedbetweenChristmasand New year.Party bookingswelcomeby arrangement.

WATERPERRY GARDENS

Denmans Lane, Fontwell, West

Sussex BN18 0SU.

Tel: + 44 (0)1243 542808.

Fax: + 44 (0)1243 544064.

[email protected]

www.denmans-garden.co.uk

Open daily all year round, 9am-5pm

(dusk in winter), except 25, 26 Dec

and 1 Jan.

DENMANS GARD EN

The special 20th-century garden, jointly owned by renowned

garden designer and author John Brookes MBE and Michael Neve,

is beautifully planted for all-year interest with emphasis on shape,

colour and texture. Although four acres in size, the garden is full

of planting and design ideas that can be adapted to suit any size

of garden. Gravel is used extensively in the garden, for paths and

as a growing medium. There is a walled garden, a conservatory

and a larger glass area for tender plants. There is also a fully

licensed, award-winning garden cafe and a beautiful plant centre.

Twentyacres of gardenswith three lakes. A haven for plants from

around the world. Colour from February to late autumn.

• Garden Tea Room

• Plant Sales

• Coach Car Park (new for 2009)

Groups welcome by appointment (group rates & special

menus available).

MarwoodHillGardensMarwood,BarnstapleNorthDevon,EX314EB

Tel:01271342528info@marwoodhillgarden.co.ukwww.marwoodhillgarden.co.uk

Open all year(closedChristmasday)10am – 5.30pmApril – September10am – 4.00pmOctober- March

MARWOOD HILL GARDENS

From the end of May, RHS Garden Hyde Hall is a wonderful place

to visit if you like roses. The Rose Garden comprisessix rectangular

beds of David Austin English Roses grouped according to colour

tightly bound by clipped hedges. There is also a Rose Rope Walk

with a selection of climbers, ramblers and clematis trained along

thick shipping rope making a heavenly scented walk. To celebrate

our fantastic rose collection we are hosting a Rose Weekend on

the 6th and 7th of June 2009, featuring a range of talks and

demonstrations as well as the opportunity to relax and enjoy a

garden filled with perfume and colour.

RHSGardenHydeHallWesternsApproach,RettendonChelmsford,Essex,CM38AT

Tel:[email protected]/hydehall

RoseWeekend:6th and 7th June 2009

RHS GARDEN HYDE HALL

122-TEG-May-UK [gotm]:UK103 HayterComp gj 1/4/09 10:14 Page 122

engl ish garden promo tion


CHELSEA flower show

123-TEG-May-UK [chels feat]:UK103 HayterComp gj 1/4/09 14:13 Page 123

BR OC HU RE DIREC TO RY

For more information visit us at www.theenglishgarden.co.uk

Brochure available upon requesttel: 01647 252995www.wggrace.co.uk

Design & Joinery of Traditional Greenhouses

EL IZAB ETH BRADLE YSpecial Editions from Elizabeth

Bradley Designs, Home Sweet Home

Elizabeth Bradley Designs Ltd37 St. Giles, Oxford OX1 6EL

Tel: 01865 339050www.elizabethbradley.comemail:[email protected]

ESTATEFENCING

Enclosing all your livestock includingcattle, horses, deer and sheep.

With an all steel construction thisfencing is easy to install.• End Posts/Corner Posts extra

Bowtop Gates to match fencing available.Price List available on request.

French Drove Farm, French Drove,Thorney, Peterborough, PE6 0PQ

Tel: 01733 270580 Fax: 01733 270891www.paddockfencing.com

124-TEG-Apr-UK [brochure]:Layout 1 1/4/09 10:27 Page 124


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THE DIR ECTORY


BLINDS

BRIDGES

COURSES

COURSES

DOOR SCREENS

GARDEN ARCHITECTURE

GARDEN LIGHTING

GREENHOUSE S

Aluminium

CHAIN SCREENSKeep Out Insects

Doors : Windows : Room DividersColours : Stripes : Patterns

Free colour brochureTel: 020 8560 3337Fax: 020 8560 4442C.I.C. SCREENSThe Metro Centre St Johns RoadIsleworth Middx. TW7 6NJwww.cicscreens.co.uk

www.baylissautovents.co.uk

‘Leaning on aLampost’

The Old Washouse, 15 BlakenhallEstate, Sunbeam Street,

Wolverhampton, WV2 4PGTel:01902 715550

British hand-made copperlantern, suitable for drive,

patio or porch.

Purveyors of Victorian Lighting

BOOK PUBLISHERS

AUTHORSPLEASE SUBMIT:

synopsis, plus sample chapters (3)for consideration.

www.olympiapublishers.com

60 Canon Street, LONDON, EC4N 6NP

Olympia Publishers

TO ADVERTISEHERE CALLRAKESH ON

020 7605 2218

125-129-TEG-May-UK [class]:Layout 1 1/4/09 14:56 Page 125

For more information visit us at www.theenglishgarden.co.uk126 The English Garden

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THE DIREC TORY

GARDEN BUILDINGS

GARDEN BUILDINGS

GARDEN DESIGN

GARDEN ACCESSORIES

GARDENARCHITECTURE

Traditional Seed boxes& Storage Racks

Brand your own:Family Name, House Name, Garden Name, Business Name

From £6.50 each + p&p(minimum order 6 for seed boxes)

From £24 each forstorage racks. Allow28 days for delivery

Tel: 01653 692055or

Mob: 07980 276820

Over the Garden WallSithean Mor,Achnaha,

Kilchoan, Argyll,PH36 4LW


For more information visit us at www.theenglishgarden.co.ukFor more information visit us at www.theenglishgarden.co.uk

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THE DIR ECT ORY


GARDEN FURNITURE

GARDEN FURNITURE

GARDEN ORNAMENTS/SCULPTURE

HEDGING AND TOPIARY

HEDGING ANDTOPIARY

HEDGING ANDTOPIARY

GREENHOUSE/CONSERVATORIES

POND PRODUCTS

PLANT SPECIALI STS

COMPOST AND GROWING MEDIA

Stephen Markham Collection LtdUnit 4, DominionWorks,

Freshwater Road,Dagenham, Essex. RM8 1RX

Tel: 0208 590 5619 Fax: 0208 590 8836Email: [email protected]: www.stephencmarkham.co.uk

STEPHEN MARKHAMCollection Ltd WATERLILIES &

AQUATICSPECIALISTS

Bog and moisture loving plantsButyl pool liners and accessoriesPlease send 2x1st class stamps for catalogue to:

Mimmacks AquaticsWoodholme Nursery, Goatsmoor Lane,Stock, Essex CM4 9RS (Dept TEG08)

Telephone: 01277 840204

www.mimmacks.co.uk

HEDGING, YOUNG TREES, AZALEAS &RHODODENDRONS, CONIFERS, CLIMBERS,GROUND COVER, ORNAMENTAL GRASSES,

SPECIMEN TREES & TOPIARY

THE WIDEST SELECTION OF 1ST QUALITY PLANTS.INDEPENDENT TRIALS CONFIRM US AS THE BESTSUPPLIER. WRITTEN GUARANTEE AND CULTURALINSTRUCTIONS ACCOMPANY ALL ORDERS. 1 MILLION

PLANTS ALWAYS IN STOCK

Our full colour brochure is FREE on request and containsover 300 photo’s. Visitors very welcome by appointment.

HOPES GROVE NURSERIES, SMALLHYTHE ROAD, TENTERDEN,KENT, TN307LTTel: 01580 765600 Fax: 01580 766894

Email: [email protected] Web: www.hopesgrovenurseries.co.ukAll enquiries and Credit/Debit card orders welcome. Mail order specialist: nationwide delivery.

Nursery open 9-5 Mon-Sat. Closed Sunday.VISA, SWITCH, M.CARD, DELTA, AMEX

PERHILL PLANTSSpecialistgrowers of rareandunusualperennials.Over 2000varieties grown.

Retail andmail order.Credit cards welcome.

(Forcataloguesendsix2ndclass stamps).Open 5 per a week9am– 5pm,Sat-Sun by appointmentonly

PERHILL PLANTSWorcester Road, Great Witley,

Worcestershire WR6 6JTTel: 01299 896329

Email: [email protected]

[email protected]

Britain’s biggest value in greenhouse shoppingTop brands at Lowest Prices

FREE STANDING, LEAN TO’S,MULTI-SIDED, SAFETY GLAZING,COLOURED FRAMES, ETC

MERCIA HOUSE, 51 THEGREEN, BANBURY,

OX16 9AB

BROCHURES - call 0800 389 8760SALES TEAM - call 0870 240 6528

VISIT US AND BE INSPIREDOne of the finest selections of topiary plus

specimen trees and shrubs all to create immediateimpact in your garden.

Send 6x1st class stamps for catalogue or visit usand see the exciting stock for yourself.

The Street, Swannington, Norfolk NR9 5NWopen Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, plus Bank

Holiday Mondays 10am-5pmTel: 01603 261488

www.romantic-garden-nursery.co.uk

Tel: 01823 412351 www.gardenseats.com

Tree Seat

Tree, garden and conversation seats in iron.


For more information visit us at www.theenglishgarden.co.ukFor more information visit us at www.theenglishgarden.co.uk

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THE DIR ECTORYGREENHOUSES PET PRODUCTS

PLANT SUPPORTS



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THE DIR ECTORY


WE B DIRECT ORYWATER PRODUCTS

Do you have agarden pond? Is it asclear as mud? Is itmurky, muddy, slimy,smelly, choked withalgae or weed and achore to clean out?If you have a pump,are you forever

cleaning or changingthe filter?

AQUAPLANCTON

AQUAPLANCTONcould be just whatyou’re looking for

No longer need you removethe fish and drain your pond,this natural powered mineraland nature could do it for you.

Used successfully with fishall the time. Safe for ducks,

plants, all forms ofwaterlife, U.V. andbiological filters.

AQUAPLANCTON hascleared greenwater, sludgeand BLANKETWEED forhundreds of happy pondowners. It could do the

same for youFor free brochure and price listtelephone 01298 214003anytime or send the approx.surface area of your pond to:

AQUAPLANCTON,River Lodge,Bishop’s Lane,BUXTON,

Derbyshire SK17 6UNwww.aquaplancton.comName ................................................

Address ............................................

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Pond surface sq ft

Does your pond have? EGPlease tick �

Algae �Full Sun �Green water �Sludge �Clogged filters �Blanketweed �Murky water �Odour �Koi carp �Ducks �

POTS AND URNS

ROSES

PLANT SPECIA LISTS

A La Carte DayliliesSpecialist growers of qualityDaylilies (Hemerocallis).For informative catalogueSend 3 x 1st class stamps toA La Carte Daylilies, LittleHermitage, St. Catherine’sDown, I.W. PO38 2PD

Encourage wildlife to your garden.Plants and seeds of wildflowers,native trees, shrubs, climbers,

bulbs, meadows, etc.Visitor centre openApril 1st-Sept 30th,

11am-5.30pm daily at Coach Gap Lane, Langar, Notts.Colour catalogue and growing guide,

send 4x1st class stamps.Naturescape (EG), Maple Farm, Coach Gap Lane,

Langar, Notts, NG13 9HPTel: 01949 860592Fax: 01949 869047

www.naturescape.co.ukemail: [email protected]

Established 1978

ROSESFor EverySPECIAL

OCCASIONTel: 01939 210380OVER 1000 Varietiesto Choose From

www.countrygardenroses.co.uk

Happy Birthday

Special Anniversary

[email protected] TEAM - call 0870 240 6528

WWW.QUALITYIRRIGATION.CO.UKAutomatic Watering Systems – Nationwide Service

Tel/Fax: 01252 328017

Seed Catalogue and “VegBook” offersaround 4,500 items covering every

horticultural interest.Tel: 01229 581137Email: [email protected] www.chilternseeds.co.uk

Quality stone or terracotta garden ornaments madein the UK - direct to you by Mail order.www.gardendelights.co.uk

www.gardenlines.co.ukLawnmowers, Hedgecutters, Strimmers, Garden Furniture



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HHeelleenn GGuunnnn considers a fragrant flower that has always captured artists’ imaginations

Reminisce on scented bliss

Looking through a dictionary of quotations recently, I noticed that,after roses and lilies, the most frequently mentioned flower is thelilac. It invites the question: why? Some plants are obviously more

than just themselves, and lay claim to a host of connotations beyond theirown mere person. This seems to be particularly true of lilac.The writers who use lilac to illustrate their thoughts are invariably

seeking to invoke a sense of yearning, to convey something lost, neverto be regained. When Ivor Novello wrote the song We’ll gather lilacs inthe spring again in 1945, he was describing, for a people weary of war, asense of nostalgia and a longing for peace. A century earlier, the Americanpoet Walt Whitman began his elegy on the death of Abraham Lincolnwith the words: ‘When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom’d’. Perhaps itcould have been any timely flowerer; but lilac seems to set the tone fora sense of loss, and the mourning to come. And it i sn’t just in poetry that lilac appears. Wh en the narrator at

the opening of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca is recalling Manderley,she ‘would th ink of the bl own lilac and t he happy valley’, symbols of a place to which she cannever return.I think lilac is still a plant

of nostalgia. We think of it asbelonging to an earlier generation. It has become like the grand piano:once everybody ha d one, bu t nowadays, unless you inhe rit it, youprobably wouldn’t go out and buy one new. Lilacs grew in grandparents’gardens, or flopped out of vases and scented the halls on interminablechildhood visits to d ark h ouses. The li lacs I grew up wit h werepermanently out of reach. They must have been 5ft shrubs when I wasborn, and they continued to race away from me until now they are lankytrees. They hang their heavy heads in the arms of a Bhutan pine, whereonly the jays and the wood pigeons can appreciate their scent.Lilac c ame originall y fro m the moun tains of the Balkans, that

intriguing region where south-east Europe slips into Turkey. An Austrianambassador to the Turkish court brought lilac cuttings back to Viennawhen he left Istanbul in 1563. When, seven years later, he moved onto Paris, he took his precious lilac plants with him. Perhaps this washow the French love affair with lilac began. Certainly, by the 19th century

it was so popular it was said you could buy forced lilac in Paris everymonth except July and August, when there was no demand. Monet hadbowers of purple lilac in his garden at Argenteuil and often painted hiswife and friends enswathed in shades of mauve.It has been known in this country since the 16th century. John Gerard

wrote of it in 1597: ‘I have them in my garden in great plenty, and theyhave an excee ding sweet savour.’ No peevish cavil here about theirplainness out of flower or their regrettable relation to privet.According to an inventory of 1650, lilac grew to striking effect at the

royal palace of Nonsuch. It describes ‘a fountain of white marble ... setaround with six trees called lelack trees, which bear no fruit, but a verypleasant flower’. At this time, it was also sometimes referred to as the‘pipe tree’, because the stem could be hollowed out and used for suckingor blowing. This is reflected in the Latin name syringa, which comesfrom the same origin as the modern word syringe.If you haven’t already marked the Royal Bo tanical Garden’s 250th

birthday with a visit, then take the advice of the poet Alfred Noyes and‘Go down to Kew in l ilactime’. Here in the speciallydesignated Lilac Garden aremore than 100 specimens in

10 overflowing beds, all at nose-height. None is more fragrant the commonlilac, Syringa vulgaris. There are some ravishing shades too - it is one ofthe few flowers to give name to its own colour (like violet and heliotrope).This magnificent array shows all the lush hues, from creamy white throughdeepening purples to a wine-soaked tinge that is nearly red.One of the finest double lilacs is ‘Katherine Havemeyer’, with large

pyramidal fl owers that start pale purple and fade t o pink. ‘MadameLemoine’ is a sumptuous, deliciously fragrant cultivar, with large doublewhite flowers that appear plentifully, even when the plant is quite young.Perhaps best-loved of all is the deep-purple ‘Andenken an Ludwig Späth’,with flowers up to 30cm (12in) long.There’s nothing heady or luxuriant about the poet T.S.Eliot and yet he,

of the modernists, most famously mentions lilac. Perhaps his lines arebest at conjuring the plant’s strange potency when he speaks of it ‘mixingmemory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain’.

Lilac has become like the grand piano: unless you inherit it,you probably wouldn’t go out and buy one new

IN A GREEN SHADE

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