Plant Writings from Box Court

Garden Design

2010-10-13T07:12:00.000+01:00

I have had a number of emails and comments about this blog since may when I decided to finish writing it. If you have read it and enjoyed it you can read my new guest column at Garden Design Magazine's website by Clicking Here. Once agin thank you. Paul

Chelsea Flower Show 2010 & GoodBye

2010-05-30T10:19:00.000+01:00

The Chelsea Flower Show was rather an amazing experience by any standard. I was very lucky to be next door to some lovely people whilst creating the Biodiversity Garden for Bradstone which was awarded a Silver Medal. The garden set about highlighting biodiversity issues whilst being a beautiful place to escape into from our modern busy lives. Luckily for me this combination and some what simple approach was in tune with two lovely gardening television presenters from Australia and Austria who decided to do lengthly pieces on biodiversity from the garden.

The garden highlighted simple nectar rich flowers planted in shades of purples and yellows. These colours are, through our eyes, particularly attractive to bees and pollinating insects according to research carried out at Universities. The planting was also multi-layered as we know that different layers are in habited by different insect life. Towards the rear of the garden larger foliage plants created dappled shade for small mammals and a Hornbeam hedge acted as the wildlife alternative to the motorway as a green corrider connecting the urban space back out to the countryside. The garden also had decomposing log walls for stag-horn beetle and I designed the classically inspired portico which was bespoke made by Bradstone to encourage crevice nesting birds such as House Sparrow which has declined in numbers by over 70% in the last 20 years.

These messages were endorsed by the Wildlife Trust and Trees for Cities, two charities who are passionate about wildlife and the importance of urban greening.

One of the really important aspects of the garden for me was that it be beautiful. In order that people looking at the garden were to go home and recreate some of the habitat spaces we were talking about I felt strongly that people would need to feel it was something they could live with and then almost by default the important messages would become second nature. I really hope that idea worked and I would like to say thank you to all the well wishers and people who took the time to stop and be so lovely and encouraging throughout the show.

The Chelsea Flower Show also marked the end of my time as Chris Beardshaw Scholar and I hope that Maria-louisa really embraces the opportunity and runs with it. My year has been challenging, exciting and went very fast and I am intensely proud of it. It is one of two very important mile stones in my horticultural life so far and the other caught up with me in the most unexpected way at Chelsea this year when I met George Anderson, former Head of Horticulture at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. It was a sheer delight to be able to talk to him again, tell him what I have been up to these past years and simply listen to snippets of his incredible plant knowledge.

Now lastly I started writing this blog as a diary of my year as Scholar, it has actually turned into something very different, a diary of plant based thoughts, but now my year is over and my work load has increased so dramatically I think its a good time to call time on it. I will still be writing for Garden Design USA as a guest contributor as well as a few other publications. So thank you for following the journey, I hope it was an enjoyable read I have certainly enjoyed writing it. Best wishes Paul.

Off to Chelsea

2010-05-12T10:33:00.000+01:00

(Photo: Wormcast Garden, Chris Beardshaw) Well at last the day has come. After spending a great deal of last night packing, after a very fun afternoon with the children who are creating a show garden based on Renoir's Umbrella's at Painswick Rococo Garden, everything is packed, wrapped and labelled stretching down the drive ready to go to Chelsea Flower Show.

Its been a bit hectic, Wednesday onwards I was a guest of the 3 Counties Agricultural Society at the Malvern Spring Gardening Show, where on Sunday I also was asked to do the afternoon slot in the Project Pavilion. This actually was huge fun talking to gardeners about their gardens, plants and design ideas. The afternoon was gone before I had even got comfortable in my 'experts' chair. The new Chris Beardshaw Mentoring Scholar was chosen on Press Day and I think Maria will make a fantastic Scholar and she has a truly unique and exceptional year ahead of her. I hope and I know she will seize the year really gaining from the guidance and creative stimulus it provides.

Yesterday morning we spent a couple of happy hours wandering through a woodland on a private estate making our final selections of rotting timber for our decomposing wall and then the afternoon as I said with the children sowing seed and weaving willow.

Lastly I would just like to say to anyone planning to visit the Chelsea Flower Show it will be a privilege to meet you and say hello outside of the electronic world.

Garden Design Magazine

2010-04-21T13:10:00.000+01:00

You may remember that a month ago I said a I would be writing a guest blog on the website of the one of America's most popular and informative garden design magazines, Garden Design.

The people at Garden Design have recently had a total overhaul of their website making even more informative and it looks really fresh. My blogs can now be found under this link and I will adding more over the coming days to bring it up to date.

There are some other really fun guest bloggers currently with lots of interesting ideas, along with galleries of mouth watering gardens from across the world.

Rhubarb

2010-04-18T09:00:00.000+01:00

One of springs 'love it or hate it' vegetables which is in season now is Rhubarb. Dreadfully sour or deliciously sharp depending on your taste buds there is no denying its return to favour over recent years.

(Photo: Rheum palamtum var. tanguticum)

Traditional culinary Rhubarb is a hybrid cross classified by the Royal Horticulutural Society as Rheum x hybridum, but one of its parents is Rheum rhabarbarum. In England and similar cooler climates Rhubard is forced from early spring to produce sweet pale shoots before being left to grow naturally for the rest of the growing season but interestingly the same plant will produce good edible shoots all year round in warmer climates.

(Photo: Rheum officinale) In China Rhubarb has been grown for 1000’s of years as a traditional form of medicine and was written about as early as 2700BC in The Divine Farmer’s Herb-Root compiled by the Emperor Yan. Its roots are rich in anthraquinones a strong laxative being used for well over 5000 years and it also has an astringent effect on the mucous membranes. For this reason Rhubarb has occasionally found itself fashionable as a slimming agent.

Rhubarb also naturally occurs along the banks of the river Volga but it is technically a separate species and known as Russian Rhubarb. During the Mediaeval period Rhubarb was so expensive to transport from these far flung places to Europe that it cost several times that of cinnamon, saffron and opium and it was in the Tangut Province of China that Marco Polo, rather excitedly found it being farmed on the mountainous hillsides.

Rhubarb was first introduced to the United Sates in the 1820’s first arriving in Maine and Massachusetts before traveling with early settlers across the country. In England Rhubarb was first grown in the 17th century with the advent of cheap sugar to improve its sharp taste and was most popular in the interwar years.

(Photo: Rheum palaestinum) The name Rhubarb is derived from the Greek for the Volga, rha and barbarum. As a genus it belongs to the Polygonacea family which includes Rumex, Muehlenbeckia and Persicaria. Within the Rhubarb clan there are some stunning showy plants which given a large herbaceous border make a fantasic addition, Rheum Palmatum has a number of garden worthy selections, but outside of some of the most unusual species plants Rheum palmatum var. tanguticum with its deeply cut rich red leaves which age green and its huge plumes of blood red flowering bracts would be my plant of choice. Although thought of as an ornamental we grow this one to eat first and become decorative later in the year, finding its stems naturally a little sweeter then the better known culinary Rhubarb.

(Photo: Our Rhubarb Fool) If I have made you slightly curious about Rhubarb and you want to try it another way than crumbled to death this really is a lovely Rhubarb Fool Recipe, which we made today.

Woody or Fluffy

2010-04-13T12:30:00.000+01:00

Recently I saw the most rigid plant its curious almost stunted growth make me think it had grown up in a draught. The plant is question was Ilex crenata ‘Tee Dee’.

(Photo: Ilex aquifolium 'Lichtenhalii)

I have to admit I was rather smitten by it and at the other end of the spectrum its cousin Ilex aquifolium ‘Lichtenhalii’ was also a ‘to die for plant’. In fact recently I have found my self liking and wanting to collect and grow a number of woody plants. For a firm herbaceo-file (I have made this up) its been rather an odd experience swooning over Danea and obscure crataegus sp. and a wonderful Chinese Betulus to name a few.

Therefore I have had to be strict on myself and think about a few really fluffy herbaceous plants which capture my attention and none seem to do that currently as much as the wild free flowing types, such as Epilobium angustifolium ‘Album’. The white flowering form of the rose bay willow herb just screams ‘Love me’. Its soft elongated green foliage and tall spikes of simple white flowers are made for the garden and being slightly invasive it also means it grows fast and will make a good sized plant. Of course such a beauty which spreads like wildfire can become the ‘Plant Gift’ we all seem to give at dinner parties. Sometimes you get something really thuggish, after all if you are digging something up to give it alway its never because its the most precious plant you have! But in this case you will be forgiven by 90% of the people you pass it on to.

(Photo: Epilobium angustifolium 'Album')

It naturilses well also colonising those places which you want to look nice but don’t hit the radar as the place to weed, such along the edges of drives and banks. Another delicate looking beauty which colonises well and looks stunning in combination with the Epilobium is Anthriscus. Now I can remember when dark purple form of this plant was still rather unheard off and customer to the specialist nursery I started out at almost had kittens upon seeing it. It is a beauty the lovely fern like leaves of Queen Anne’s Lace but in rich maroon topped with frothy white umbells and all coming true from seed makes this something special and tough in the garden. You can raise it easily from seed or buy a couple of plants from a nursery or increasingly a garden centre and let it seed merrily around. A bit like the purple leaved celandine, Ranunculus f. ‘Brazen Hussey’, I can’t imagine you would get to the point where you needed to start removing it from the borders.

(Photo: Daucus carota)

So the combination of white spires of the Epilobium with the dark foliage and white umbells of the Anthriscus certainly do look good but I would add to this naturalised bank another Umbelliferae (Apiaceae) to the mix and its something you can go into the hedgerows and collect. Its soft grey-green fern like foliage has a slightly transparent edge to it which catches the sun and the fluffy creamy-white flat topped flowers make this really worthy of being in the (rougher) garden. In England we call Daucus ‘Bishop’s Lace, and I say this because I know in parts of America Daucus is known as Queen Anne’s Lace and I have already mentioned that. But Daucus carota makes for a lovely plant in these slightly wild free parts of the garden. If eaten when young the wild carrot is perfectly edible and a teaspoon of crushed seed has long been used as a form of birth control, first recorded by Hippocrates over 2000 years ago. I have to admit there is a point just after flowering when the flower begins to pull inwards on itself that I really love this plant. The outer most flowers are just still in flower but the centre has been pulled down forming a a bowl or bird nest like shape. For a short second its like a black hole in the center of a plant.

(Photo: Todaroa montana)

Sticking and also ending on a carrot note the last plant I might add would be Todaroa montana, the Giant Mountain Carrot. We have been growing this plant from collect seed for a couple of years now and it is such a fun plant. Native to the Canary Isles it reaches up to 2.5m and is reliably perennial given rich soils partial shade or sun. The only difference here it its a rich acidic yellow but towering about the pastoral scene I rather think it would add a touch or drama or at least humour to the scene.

The Starting Pistol

2010-04-04T20:34:00.001+01:00

Easter weekend is the traditional start to the gardening year. I never fail to be excited by the thought that this is the real beginning, the soil is warming and the days are longer, nature herself appears to want to get growing. The Sorbaria at the nursery seems to be breaking bud as we watch and Thalictrum, Astrantia and Geranium to name a few are stirring.

I read over the weekend that two of England's most well known and respected Garden Centre groups planned to open on Easter Sunday. Hillier, a distinguished named which needs no introduction and Wyevale both said they would open, in Hillier's case only its planteria's and Wyevale only to its garden club members. I have to admit if I had not been busy potting on at our own Nursery then I think I would have made my way to the garden centre and had a little look. I love unusual plants and finding something new to me, however this does not always have to happen in an obscure seed catalogue or from making collections abroad. Often under our own nose's new exciting introductions along with the everyday gardening essentials can be found in a garden centre. Once at one of the above mentioned I found a staggering array of Pseudopanax an evergreen New Zealand native with roughly 20 species rare to cultivation in England and perhaps not so surprising but equally staggering in sheer quality of plant a vast array of Hamamelis. At this time of year they are stuffed with a mass of exciting plants from vegetable plugs to fresh shrubs and a staggering choice of seasonal plants. Most importantly you can actually smell growing at this time of year in garden centre's and nursery's, its terribly exciting and I often think it does not matter what we grow as long as we enjoy it and can stand back at the end of the day with a cup of tea and reap enjoyment from our gardens.

So the starting pistol has been fired and the growing year is upon us.

Plants & Then More

2010-03-29T14:58:00.001+01:00

I am going to nail my colours firmly to my flag pole. Recently I have been delighted to be invited to a number of really fun gardening clubs and societies. Talking about plants with people who really enjoy their gardens and the collections of plants they make is endlessly rewarding.

It makes me feel very strongly that firstly I am a gardener. It was getting my hands in the soil which got me hooked and it was growing some dreadful plants in equally unpleasant combinations during my teenage years which make me know that this was for me. Later when I developed taste, and learn’t how plants work I became increasingly aware of how they make you feel.

(Photo: Arley Hall, a garden I love to visit) After studying plants I went to work in Europe. I was quite lucky to work in large estates and in all cases the garden’s were about feel. This sense of place and mood cannot be created without the key ingredient - plants!

To my mind you cannot successfully design with plants without knowing them intimately. The equivalent would be like asking someone to build a house without knowing the components or who they work with each other, their lifespan, durability etc.

With plants its more than simple training. An untold desire to be around plants is needed, to know them as seedlings, young plants with juvenile foliage and later in their maturity. I don’t believe any beautiful garden can be created by landscape material’s alone. They play a hugely important role but they are the framework from which the garden will hang, if you will - the stunning model without the Channel dress. Once you combine the two you have something near perfect.

That ‘perfect’ is always a rather relative and sometimes very private thing. Often we walk past gardens, particularly at some of the great summer shows and think hideous! I am sure some of us will do that this year and there are some golden rules which apply to aid us in deciding what is truly hideous and what is truly inspirational.

However in my opinion the really beautiful gardens will be created by designers who are plantsmen first, who can combine plants in a way which appears effortless and is a joy to behold. They will have the magic touch which makes our mouths water and want to take the garden they have created home with us. Hopefully not in those irritating small plastic cube trollies however you can’t have everything (Irritating because I seem to have a habit of standing backwards into a passing cube or am shinned by them in copious numbers). I must stress here that by plantsman I don’t mean simply having a qualification, I mean something deeper than text book knowledge.

Even if you only use an extremely limited palette of plants in a scheme the choice and they way they relate to each other will tell a story, good or bad.

(Photo: Bryan's Ground, extremely exciting open after being closed all of last year)

Plants which appear jumbling, jar in colour and confused will highlight all that is wrong elsewhere with a garden. Its instant, somewhere in a gardeners brain with or with out design knowledge, they will know why plants don’t work together and why ultimately the garden as a space will fail.

Don’t get me wrong good design will always shine and should be sought out, however the plants used will make that good design, if used well, just shine that little brighter and that little bit more joyfully.

I am rather looking forward to seeing some truly stunning gardens, private through the Yellow Book and in the ‘Show’ setting this year. I have avidly gone through the said Yellow Book and marked gardens which from the description alone sound like a plant heaven and we shall set off in the 2cv for countless jollies across the country - can’t wait!

Win a Chelsea Flower Show Garden

2010-03-27T08:46:00.000Z

If you are popping out to purchase a weekend paper today, make sure its The Times.

Today Bradstone with the Times Newspaper have opened a competition to win the Bradstone Biodiversity Garden created for Chelsea Flower Show 2010.

The garden is to be given totally free to one winner who will be invited down to Chelsea Flower Show. The winner will be shown around the Show by myself before I arrive in their garden to recreate a little piece of Chelsea Magic.

Below are the links for the Times terms & conditions and the RHS Chelsea website preview of the Bradstone Garden.

Times Online Terms & Conditions

RHS Chelsea Flower Show - Bradstone Biodiversity Garden.

Should you purchase the Times today, you will also get to read an interview with me - there had to be a down I hear you cry!

If you decide to go for it you will need to purchase the newspaper (Open to UK Residents only) - And Good Luck, fingers crossed I will see you in May!

2 Thank You's

2010-03-17T08:58:00.000Z

Thank you to everyone who has emailed me thanking me for giving my talk at the RHS Halls in London recently. It was fun, I really enjoyed the other speakers subjects. It was a really interesting day with a great mix of people speaking.

Secondly I wanted to thank everyone who came last night to hear me speak at Wotton Under Edge Gardening Club. I was so pleased to have been invited. What a fun, informed, plant loving crowd. I hope your spring sale goes well and look forward to meeting those of you who are coming to Chelsea Flower Show and the rest of you at other horticultural places over the summer.

Retrospectively February

2010-02-28T10:28:00.000Z

February - I shall remember you as a month of bitter cold and snow. Having said that the snow at the nursery last week came as a total surprise as I had been working in Hampshire, which was a fantastically enjoyable experience, but under glorious sunshine.

I did spend a day as an invited speaker at Vincent Square and even there through the windows of the horticultural halls I could see a mixture of driving rain and sleet descending on London.

Its hard to think about plants during such dreary weather especially if you cannot get outside to see them. This is such a pity as February had some wonderful plants to offer us.

At the Rococo Garden, in between the showers, I have been cataloguing the different Galanthus in the garden on behalf of the Trust. Amongst the varieties in the garden I found pleasingly large collections of :

Galanthus atkinsii - Named after John Atkins who lived on the Painswick estate.

Galanthus atkinsii ‘James Backhouse’ - The charming irregular form which is my current favorite.

Galanthus ‘S. Arnott’ - Lovely large blunt outer petals slightly lifted.

Galanthus ‘Lynn’ - Most people agree this is superior to G. atkinsii, being larger and hanging beautifully.

Galanthus ‘John Sales’ - slim and understated.

Although some clumps are small, the garden has one of the United Kingdoms largest natural plantings of both G. nivalis and more dramatic on sight, G. atkinsii.

Of course February is also one of the best month’s for Witch-hazel, and outside of species collections in Botanic Gardens one of the most stunning collections can be found at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens just outside of Romsey.

(Picture: Hamamelis sp)

I first fell for the subtle charms of the witch hazel whilst studying horticultural taxonomy at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh and I have found it an endlessly interesting genus ever since.

The horticultural name means, ‘together with fruit’ as the fruit, flowers and next years leaf buds all appear on the branch simultaneously, quite unusual in the plant world. For a long time the Persian Ironwood was treated as a Hamemelis, but it is now known in its own right as Parrotia persica.

One of my favorite yellow flowering species is Hamamelis virginiana which is native to North America predominantly from Nova Scotia to Minnesota. Like all Hamamelis it makes a stunning deciduous large shrub. The branches whilst not horizontal do produce a distinct inverted vase shape with time. The flowers are pale yellow to intense butter yellow with a wonderful fragrance. The bark and leaves were used by native Americans in the treatment of external inflammations. I am also very found of Hamamelis virginiana var. mexicana, it just looks special.

(Picture: Hamamelis virginiana)

Hamamelis virginiana is most likely the origin of Pond’s Cream. A healing cream invented by a scientist called Theron T. Pond in around 1846. Pond extracted a tea from Witch Hazel with which he could heal small cuts and ailments.

In 1925 Queen Marie of Romania visited the United States and enjoyed the product so much she wrote to the Ponds company requesting more supplies, the letter was used as a precursor to the modern day ‘Celebrity’ endorsement in an advertising campaign. Pond’s today is owned by Unilever.

(Picture: Hamemalis vernalis)

Another American species I am fond of is Hamemalis vernalis, often occurring with H. virginiana it does not cross pollinate and hybridise and can be easily identified as it flowers in Late winter. Also the leaves are dark green with a glaucose underside and most tellingly the flowers are bright red to orange. This species has a number of popular cultivars selected from it including H. ‘Red Imp’ which has strong red petals with orange tips.

Many of us will know Hamamelis mollis, this genus is native to China, particularly in the East. H. mollis with its golden autumn colourings was first introduced to the United Kingdom in 1879 by Charles Maries and the form H. mollis ‘Coombe Wood’ which has a more spreading habit and larger than average flowers is the form he originally brought back. Later H. mollis was also introduced by Ernest Wilson and the form H. mollis ‘Jermyns Gold’ is believed to be one of the forms he brought back in 1918.

Crossed with Hamamelis japonica to form Hamamelis x intermedia, it has gone on to produce some of the most well loved garden Witch Hazels.

(Photo: Hamamelis japonica)

After spending so much time talking about Witch Hazel it may come as a surprise that I don’t have a single plant in my garden. I claim as an excuse the fact that we are scaling down our garden and collection of plants in an attempt to move but rest assured when space allows they will make a welcome appearance.

Creating a Garden on 3 t's

2010-02-10T11:37:00.004Z

At last the sun has shone down on the garden at Painswick and the snowdrops are looking stunning. I have to admit I have a new favorite in the form of Galanthus atkinsii ‘James BackHouse‘ its abnormal growth habit makes it look rather quite jolly and indifferent to the perfection of other types such as G. ‘Magnet’.

(Photo: The 3 Counties Showground)

I Travelled to the 3 Counties Agricultural Society Show Ground last week and was struck by the rich brown colours of the hedgerows, I wondered if against the moody backdrop of the overcast Malvern Hills the foreground colour’s were enlivened, seeming to almost leap out at us along the way. It would be naughty of me to spoil the surprises in store for Spring Gardening Show visitor’s this year, but I can say it is very exciting. I also notice the large number of Wellingtonia, or correctly named, Sequoiadendron giganteum around Eastnor Castle.

Sequoiadendron giganteum is the sole species of the genus and one of 3 species which make up the group of plants known as redwoods. All in Cupressaceae, the others are, Seqouia sempervirens & the rather beautiful Metasequoia glyptostroboides. Growing to a towering average height of 280ft, 85m in the English landscape with the sun behind them Sequoiadendron giganteum dominate in an electrifyingly prehistoric way. The oldest recorded specimen is 3500 years old and on average each tree bears 11,000 cones dispersing 400,000 seed annually. In 1853 John Lindley gave the tree its invalid name of Wellingtonia gigantea. Wellingtonia had already been given to Wellingtonia arnottiana, in a different floral family.

(Photo: Sequoiadendron giganteum)

Wellingtonia is the most common name for this plant in England but sadly it was not the last, in 1854 Joseph Decaisne renamed the tree as Sequoia gigantea but again this name was invalid for the same taxonomic reasons and later in the same year it was renamed as Washingtonia californica, which you will guess was invalid as the name Washingtonia applies to a genus of palms. This naming process carried on until 1939 when it was final given its current name. Sequoiadendron first appeared in Britain in 1853 and spread through Europe from then. The great plant collector William Lobb collected a large amount of seed in 1853 for the Veitch Nursery. In England it is a fast growing tree, reaching at Benmore, Scotland 177ft, 54m in 150 years.

(Photo: Sequoiadendron giganteum immature cone)

That is my first T, my second was an amusing encounter I had in Thomas Cook, not very plant orientated you may say, but I was actually trying to book flights for a plant observation and seed collecting trip we are beginning to organise. There is a lot of, and rightly so, paperwork and planning needed to ensure we are doing things correctly. I digress. So I approach a sun kissed lady and asked if she knew about direct flights to Tel Aviv from the United Kingdom, to which she replied ‘No I don’t know really, its not a beach destination is it?’ Suffice to say we are now flying British Airways.

My last T for this imaginary garden of T's is slightly tenuous but is linked by travel and my writing if not person are travelling abroad this month.

(Photo: January's Garden Design Magazine Issue Cover)

From now until June I will be publishing a series of posts mostly relating to elements I am including in a Show Garden I will be creating at Chelsea Flower Show this year. I have been invited to do this by the editorial team at Garden Design Magazine. This is a fantastic American gardening magazine which has a great content formula not to mention their annual awards for design projects. The online portion of the magazine is also fantastically interesting with a huge mix of content.

You can read my first contribution here.

An Extraordinary Stroke of Luck

2010-01-30T18:38:00.003Z

We have had a stroke of unbelievable luck, and as such we have been in and out of the house checking if it has really happened.

Normally such erratic behavior is the precursor to a batch of rare seed being sown and the time leading up to their germination. However this is no plant and as such this is a blog which as a rule I rarely make.

Recently whilst returning from a client we stopped in Minchinhampton for lunch and a stretch of the legs, in a shop window quite by chance, we discovered an advert offering a 1979 2cv6 for sale.

Almost immediately I was carried away thinking about it, a sign I decided as I was born in 1979 and we had had a 2cv before. A 1984 special in bright red which we loved unconditionally but we were forced, reluctantly, to sell it. We had always missed our 2cv and always imagined owning one again.

The 1979 model is the first of the modern 2cv, complete with the body we all love and having the 6 window openings.

Over the past few days whilst top dressing and working on various projects we have began talking tentatively about the 2cv. Our comical conversations would start along the lines of, ‘If I link the social characteristics of the space by creating unified street furniture could you imagine driving to Paris in it with the roof rolled down?’ or ‘Have you printed all the labels for the woronowii and how many crates do you think we could put in the 2cv if we took it with us when we give a talk?’ More and more the conversation left the real world and centered on the world of the 2cv. We decided to go and view it on Friday afternoon.

The advert told very little of its condition or history, and the gentleman we met on a windy street in the cotswolds was slightly erratic to say the least. He told us how he had owned it for 20 years and used it everyday. He had replaced the chassis, a wise precaution to old age sagging. We sat in every seat and felt quite comfortable, it seemed the wire hooks and rubbers which keep you upright were in good condition.

The old man rolled the roof back and even with a biting wind we felt rather excited at the thought of driving off in it, leaving the luxury of my mothers ultra modern volvo behind us.

A test drive did not take place, we had seen, and heard enough and asked if he would be happy to sell it to us. Luckily for us he liked us and agreed so now we are the extremely happy owners, once again, of this little piece of motoring history, a dare I say it rather economical icon.

We have already begun to make plans of a trip through France into Italy for this August and several weekend trips to Cornwall & Suffolk.

I know this is a plant blog but I feel we will have many plant hunting trips and journeys of horticultural discovery in our new little car.

One Year On

2010-01-26T22:47:00.000Z

Swimming my lengths this morning at the gym I realised the past year has been a long journey in many ways but in reality a small time of a few months and I thought it would be interesting to look at the changes over the course of a year at our nursery.

We took over the nursery at the Rococo Garden last December and opened eagerly but knowing we wanted to do a lot more with the site over time.

(The Entrance to the Nursery January 2010)

During the closed period, November & December we ordered new tables from StageCraft and laid ton’s of hoggin, all by hand, a job which is much more satisfying retrospectively.

We incorporated a new show border, greenhouse, new signage and working areas. To add to the tables we bought last year we purchased a further 8 and plan for a further 10 mid-season.

Overall we are pleased with the shape the nursery has taken and since the Garden opened on 10th January we have seen a steady flow of customers, both new and old who have been very complimentary.

All this change means we can continue to trial plants in the borders and increase the number of plants we grow. We will be going to a number of plant fairs this year which is really exciting. One thing we are still undecided on is the creation of a paper catalogue, we keep an up to date on-line encyclopaedia, but I often wonder that there is something very magical about a paper plant catalogue and the ability to dream gardens into creation from them.

Every time we stop for a tea break we seem to sit and gaze out over our collection of plants which we have seen in most cases from seed to 2 ltr plant, we never stop feeling very lucky to have our nursery at the Rococo Garden, its a business, an escapism, a joy and an intrinsic part of our plant hoarding characters.

(The potted Snowdrops - January 2010)

(Our dogs - January 2010)

(Buxus Balls - January 2010)

(Primula 'Lady Greer' & Scilla - January 2010)

Snowdrops

2010-01-20T12:05:00.002Z

Taking my last post about Snowdrops I have created using a great application called wordle this word montage.

I hope you like it.

Galanthus (A New Kind of Mania)

2010-01-15T21:07:00.002Z

With January reaching the midway point and the mornings begin to lighten, I thought I should make mention of a particular plant which like the tulips a couple of centuries prior, drives people almost insane. I have to add that after merrily labeling 1400 pots of them I am feeling a touch insane, for all the wrong reasons.

Galanthus is a relatively small genus of about 20 species, predominantly flowering in Spring although Galanthus cilicicus, native to Turkey, flowers in the Autumn.

(Photo:Galanthus ciliicus)

Although many think of Galanthus nivalis, the common snowdrop, as our native snowdrop it is actually only native to mainland Europe having been introduced to the United Kingdom in the early 16th Century. G. nivalis has given rise to a number of really good double varieties including G. nivalis ‘Flore Pleno’ with is large almost fluffy doubled flowers with green edges to the inner petals.

There are over 500 available snowdrop cultivars which must be the inspiration for many a collecting galanthophile, further inspiration must be the lists of snowdrop cultivars which are lost, waiting in a long neglected garden to be re-discovered in the same way as Rosa ‘Souvenir Du Docteur Jamain’.

Some of the most notable species I like, and grow are:

(Photo: Galanthus plicatus)

Galanthus plicatus, the Crimean snowdrop is a tall early flowering form with long green leaves and big flowers. An exceptionally good form which is hard to come by is Galanthus plicatus ‘byzantinus’, its absolutely spectacular with huge ovoid petals which bear two markings and broad grey-green leaves.

Snowdrops seem to have a history with the Cotswolds, take Galanthus elwesii, the famous Collesbourne snowdrop and Galanthus atkinsii collected by John Atkin's in the late victorian period in Southern Italy and named G. imperator. Atkins may well have planted many at the Rococo Garden, it must have one of the largest naturalistic plantings of them but it was not until the early 1930's that the name atkinsii was applied. Many refer to this as one of the most striking snowdrops. The Royal Horticultural Society have award G. elwesii, & G. nivalis with their Award of Garden Merit.

(Photo: Galanthus elwesii)

The Giant snowdrop, Galanthus woronowii, has been grown in the United Kingdom for roughly 100 years and is native to N. E. Turkey through to Southern Russia. Naturally occurring in woodlands, ditches and grassy meadows it forms a basal rosette of chunky rich green leaves which are waxy to the touch and single stems of delicate white flowers which are fairly large and bear small green markings on the inner petals.

In the nursery we grow and sell in limited numbers Galanthus ‘Magnet‘ a dramatic hybrid with long slender pedicels hanging on heavy flowers.

(Photo: Galanthus Lynn Sales)

Being very large like a parachute they tend to catch in the slightest breeze, which when planted through a skeletal woodland looks enchanting. In fewer numbers we also propagate the rare Galanthus ‘Lynn Sales’ named after it’s discoverer who lived locally to the Rococo Garden in Cirencester. Lynn Sales is a tall growing variety with pure white large flowers which appear earlier and are much fatter than Galanthus atkinsii.

(Photo: Galanthus woronowii)

Other varieties I particularly like and hanker after include Galanthus ‘Wendy’s Gold’ this might be the snowdrop which might at first put you off but most growers can’t keep up with demand. A rare yellow form of Galanthus plicatus it is fairly vigorous and makes handsome clumps. I think its best grown on its own where its colour can be enjoyed for its own merits and the white snowdrops are not smudged by the yellow colourings.

Galanthus hippolyta is an almost perfectly formed double snowdrop with very large flowers held high on tall sturdy stems. The inner petal segments are so neatly arranged they appear to have been sliced with a surgical blade. This really is a very special snowdrop and its rarity seems odd compared with its merits.

Another lovely and slightly rare double form is Galanthus ‘Lady Elphinstone’, its a form of Galanthus nivalis, but with yellow markings. The markings have a habit of turning green in the same season but seem to revert back. (Photo: Galanthus 'Lady Elphinstone)

(Photo: Galanthus Magnet)

Everyone knows the best time to lift bulbs is when they are in the green, however snowdrops multiply by producing bulb-lets which can be removed when the clump is lifted. Species Galanthus will also come true from seed and the more rare and unusual varieties are generally propagated by means of ‘twin-scaling’.

Snowdrops have a substance called galantamine in them, as do narcissus, which is a useful substance in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Some scholar’s also say that the magical herb moly in Homer’s Odyssey is actually a snowdrop.

(Galanthus n. Flore Pleno)

I will leave the last word with the home of Galanthus n. ‘Atkinsii’ & ‘elwesii’, the Rococo Garden Painswick, they have a new blog and have asked me to make a guest blog there in the future.

Snowdrop Family

2010-01-10T18:19:00.003Z

For those of you who know that our nursery and design business is based at the Rococo Garden Painswick, which is 928ft above sea level, and yes covered in snow currently, you will also know that the Rococo Garden is famous for its snowdrops. The woodlands dating back to the 18th Century are covered in the 1000’s. There are some unusual varieties with the first plantings taking in place in the Victorian period.

(Photo: The View From Painswick Beacon)

Before I post about snowdrop’s and the current craze for them I wanted to talk about the family of plants they belong to, Amaryillidaceae, and at first glance they don’t share to much in common with Amarylllis, the genus the family takes its name from. In fact there are sixty genera and across the world 800 species which belong to this group.

Some of them are well known, from Narcissus, Crinum, Clivia, Leucojum, Nerine, Eucharis and Sternbergia. The family is therefore mainly bulbous, although Clivia is tuberous (a rare occurrence in the family) and they are often deciduous in habit. The most diverse range of genera belonging to the family is found in Peru, where you will find treasures such as Clianthus.

(Photo: Clianthus variegatus)

These bulbous perennials, the size of a golf ball produce long rich green strap like leaves and on Clianthus variegatus, produce clusters of hanging ivory flowers with green petals. They prefer pot culture in the United Kingdom, protection from frost, humus rich soils and partial shade. A slightly more brash, and somewhat boring orange can be found in the flower of Clianthus coccineus. Another Peruvian native you will find in many alpine houses is Zephyranthes, these little bulbs produce open starry flowers in a range of colours. Zephyranthes primulina, native to Mexico, can be found flowering from April until October when grown in cultivation. In the wild it needs a drought to flower which is a shame as its soft lemon flowers are both delicate and cheering to look at.

(Photo:Zephyranthes primulina)

Amaryillidaceae was first described, or grouped scientifically by French naturalist Jean Henri Jaume Saint-Hilaire in 1805. The name Amaryllis comes from descriptions, by Theocritus, Virgil and Ovid of a beautiful sheperdess. The family is closely related to Alliums, Alliaceae and Agapanthus, Agapanthaceae.

(Photo:Heamanthus albiflos)

A South African genus I quite like the history of is Haemanthus. First described by Linnaeus in 1753, they are a genus of about 22 species. The genus was illustrated in 1797 in a series of paintings made at the Schonbrunn, bring it to popular attention.

Heamanthus albiflos in one of the most famous, being an evergreen bulb extremely tolerant of neglect. In its natural habit it prefers cool shady coastal spots. Sitting high in the soil up to half of the bulb can be exposed and green. The leaves are produced in pairs and may be covered in tiny soft hairs and occasionally has yellow spots on the underneath. It produces two leaves annually. Perhaps the most unusual aspect are the flowers looking more like artists brushes dipped in golden paint. These are produced from April to July. In the United Kingdom this is generally grown as a houseplant, which it quite enjoys or in a heated conservatory. It will produce offsets which are best removed after the flowering period.

These warm climate bulbs almost make me forget that the countryside around me is covered in a thick layer of snow. However being a gardener the snow becomes very quickly, a beautiful nuisance. After a long cold winter I am eager for the signs of spring and the burst of buds. Even the robin’s, blue-tit’s and woodpecker at the nursery are rather hoping for an improvement in the current conditions.

Starting the New Year with a Horticultural Bang!

2009-12-29T08:41:00.005Z

The New Year dawns as our busiest time at the nursery. In January & February the Rococo Garden becomes a magnet for Galanthophile’s, traveling from across the United Kingdom & Europe to see them. The garden is literally covered in the thousand’s.

(Photo: Snowdrops at the Rococo Garden) Being so consumed by snowdrops at this time of year it is easy for us to slightly forget other early flowers, after all, for us the snowdrop comes after some very delicate and beautiful early flowers.

(Photo: Eranthis hymalis) One of my favourites is the winter aconite, Eranthis, the tiny collared buttercup flowers which make such a bright carpet. They are in the same family, Ranunculaceae, as the rather more brash, Ranunculus ‘Brazen Hussy’ and are native to Europe, Asia and Japan. Eranthis is a fairly small genus with about 8 species.

If you thought Eranthis was a bulb you would be quite mistaken, it is actually a herbaceous perennial and division is exceptionally easy by simply digging up the tubers once the plant begins to die down and cutting sections off. Pot these on and keep in a cool place before planting back out next spring when in leaf.

Eranthis hyemalis, the species native to Europe, generally grows in deciduous woodland in the wild and is used by lots of gardeners as early ground cover. I have often paired it with Acer griseum when using the acer as a specimen tree. If you plant the acer to catch the winter sunlight the papery bark glows golden with a buttercup yellow carpet of the aconite's underneath. Because Eranthis is summer dormant, aestivation, they are gone long before you need to start either cutting the grass around the base or a successive plant begins to take its place.

(Photo: Eranthis stellata) Now I really enjoy the yellow cheerfulness of the traditional winter aconite but recently I was introduced to a rarer russian cousin, Eranthis stellata. Imagine the depths of winter the forest floor is extremely cold and in Russia crisp. A slender green stem appears with a refined green collar and large pure paper white flower with purple to white anther’s. This little treasure will sit reliably and happily through the worst weather for weeks before disappearing before April and all it asks is a well drained humus rich soil in exchange.

(Photo: Eranthis pinnatifida) Another white flowering species is Eranthis pinnatifida, this is native to Japan and produces a tuft of heavily divided purple tinged leaves. The pure white open flower has deep purple anthers and waxy yellow pronounced styles. It prefers light shade, and again a humus rich soil. E. pinnatifida is as the name suggests a tiny species so if you grow it put a marker in, like I would, or have a good memory.

All parts of the plant are poisonous and according to Greek Mythology, Medea tried to kill Theseus by putting aconite in his wine. Greek's believed the plant came from the salvia of the 3 headed dog Cerberus, guardian of the underworld. As Hercules pulled the dog from the underworld Cerberus turned his head away from the light and as he did salvia fell from is mouth hardening into the aconite. If you are not a follower of mythology more likely is the the reasoning that aconite comes from the Greek for akone, meaning whetstone, a stoney soil where Eranthis occurs naturally.

Mistletoe - Not Just For Christmas

2009-12-11T15:00:00.000Z

Mistletoe seems to be everywhere this year. At the Rococo Garden and all through the Painswick Beacon up to Minchinhampton, the trees seem laden.

Mistletoe belongs to a rather large and complicated family. In the plant world parasitism had only evolved nine times and of these the plants which make up mistletoe have evolved independently 5 times creating families Misodenraceae, Loranthaceae, Santalaceae, and to complicate things here, the modern family Santalacea contains the old Viscaceae & Ermolepidaceae.

Our Mistletoe, common European Mitstletoe, Viscum album (Pictured Left) belongs to the family Santalacea, and is the only species native to the United Kingdom. There are a number of sub. species belonging to the species Viscum, including Viscum album subsp. austriacum, with yellow fruits preferring larix and pines as its host. It is uncertain where the name Mistletoe came from but many think it comes from the German Mist, for dung & Tang for branch. This could be due to it being spread in bird dropping as they move from tree to tree. If you have ever read old english herbal’s which I have written about before or really old cook books, you will have heard of mistel. This is the old English for Basil and not Mistletoe, which is not edible and will give you a rather unpleasant bout of diarrhea and a low pulse if digested.

Our mistletoe is unmistakable with long broadly ovate green leaves always occurring opposite each other, fairly brittle woody stems and clusters of up to 6 waxy white berries.

(Photo:Tristerix aphyllus)

European mistletoe grows on a fairly broad range of host trees but it is particularly fond of old orchards in the English Countryside. Lost to parts of the South Coast it is particularly prevelant in the rolling subtle Herefordshire landscape. Mistletoe has developed a form of hemi-parasites, which means, that in most species it develops evergreen leaves which are able to photosynthesis and therefore using the host predominantly from water and mineral nutrients only. In most cases it will only reduce the vigour of its host shrub or tree, but with heavy infestation this removal of resources from the host can kill it. In such a large family there are some odd exceptions such as the Cactus Mistletoe, Tristerix aphyllus, native to the Andes, Chile and Columbia which lives deep inside the vascular tissues of its hosts appearing only to flower with rich red flowers once a year. Before rushing out to the Garden Centre with a renewed interest in Rhipsalis baccifera, it is not this plant, although this was brought from the New World as a Mistletoe substitute.

In Europe Mitsletoe is generally spread by the Mistle Trush and is a source of food to many grazing animals which help transfer pollen between species.

(Photo: Arceuthobium abietinum) In The United States and Northern America the genus Arceuthobium, manufactures considerable less sugars than it needs and lives off its host much more. It is a dwarf species and makes tight witches brooms which in turn become roosting and nesting locations for Northern Spotted Owls and Marbles Murrelets. Arceuthobium is made up of 42 species with 21 being native to the United States. Unlike European Mistletoe its host of choice are pines and cypress. Arceuthobium abietinum is dioecious, meaning they are individually male or female. Uniquely following fertilisation hydrostatic pressure builds internally when ripe, shooting single sticky seeds up to 50 miles per hour into the forest. The seed is covered in a glue like substance, viscin, which enables the seed to stick and develop of its host.

The smallest known mitsletoe species. A minutissimum lives only on Pinus wallichiana,a stunning, afghan hound,like pine, both native to the Himalaya’s.

(Photo: A. minutissimum)

The Mistletone most Americans will be familiar with and grown as a harvestable crop for Christmas decorations is Phoradendron flavescens. Known as the Eastern Mistletoe this has shorter broader leaves and longer clusters of up to 10 berries. Phoradenderon is in the family Santalaceae, like our own, but has over 35 species.

(Photo: Phoradendron flavescens)

One I particularly like and it’s not for purists, is Phoradendron californicum, the mesquite mistletoe. Native as the name suggests to Southern California it grows in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts under 4000 feet. Its a leafless species which sends out tiny, heavenly fragranced flowers in winter which are followed on the female plant by beautiful berries in shades of copper, garnet and dusky pink.

Oddly the numbers of mistletoe species are much large in the Subtropical and Tropical climates with 85 species in Australia and 900 genera in the family Loranthaceae.

Now not much more need be said of mistletoe and Christmas, our traditions of keeping some in the house from December through the year for good luck is largely unheard of in Europe, we are all agreed however that it is the last of the Christmas Greens to be removed from the house after Candlemas, so it remains for 40 days as stated in the Torah.

The other tradition we all take up, some not knowing its full history is the kissing. This comes from Scandinavian Mythology. Baldr was a god who was associated with light, beauty, love and happiness. His mother Frigg prompted by a prophetic dream, made every plant, animal and inanimate object promise not to harm him.

(Photo:Phoradendron californicum)

But Frigga overlooked the mistletoe plant — and the mischievous god Loki took advantage of this oversight, tricking the blind god Hoor into killing Baldr with a spear fashioned from mistletoe. Baldr's death brought winter into the world, until the gods restored him to life. Frigga declared the mistletoe sacred, ordering that from now on it should bring love rather than death into the world. Happily complying with Frigga's wishes, any two people passing under the plant from now on would celebrate Baldr's resurrection by kissing under the mistletoe.

Frigg herself has some lovely associations, such as Galium verum, known as Friggs Grass. Frigg was associated with married woman and Scandinavians used this grass due to its sedative qualities during child birth.

I know this has been a rather long post, but I will not be posting again until the New Year when, and not to keep you on tender hooks, I will have some exciting news.

Brilliant even on the darkest winter day.

2009-11-28T18:18:00.003Z

Whilst working at the nursery today I was struck by two things, firstly the cold silvery light and threat of darkening clouds rumbling overhead and the cheery almost diffident brazenness of a Coronilla in full flower.

Praised by Vita Sackville - West as ‘Flowering continuously between those two great feasts of the Church - a sort of hyphen between the Birth and the Resurrection," and "its persistence throughout the dreary months". This little shrub works wonders in the winter garden.

(Coronilla valentina subsp. glauca 'Citrina') Native to Portugal it was first introduced to Britain in 1569 and although never widely available has always been valued. Victorian’s would often grow it in cold greenhouses, giving us a clue that even although our climate is warmer today Coronilla still needs some protection if it is to be grown outside. A dry sunny spot is best.

Provided then that you have found it a lovely little niche of shelter and the winter sun comes out Coronilla will reward you with clusters of bright yellow pea - like flowers with a delicate faint scent of narcissus. The flowers are held in clusters of up to 15 and have something of a Galega about them.

(Coronilla valentina subsp. glauca 'Variegata') The plant itself is evergreen and a member of the leguminosae (or to please nomenclature standardisers, Fabaceae) family, it forms a matt of roots and is used in Portugal on banks to reduce soil erosion. Its growth tends to be a little be way-ward and just like the officinalis galega’s tends to make its own loose shaggy mound. The leaves are very attractive having a grey shade which harmonises with our English light.

(Coronilla valentina) Looking at my plant today at the nursery I was struck by its incredible vigour this year. Last winter was colder and dryer, to this point, in the Cotswolds but as it has been relatively warm and wet so the Coronilla has put on a fine burst of growth. This although welcome means we will be taking extra cuttings next year, not only for sale but also because like many transported Mediterranean plants it will lose vigour and become somewhat woody.

If I have sold the idea of this little treasure to you, don’t rush out and buy straight forward Coronilla valentina. It tends to be a bit brassy and brash, theres nothing refined or subtle about this form. The best is Coronilla valentina subsp. glauca 'Citrina' with its soft grey - green leaves and bright clear yellow flowers its an eye catcher but one which you will want to look at again.

Starting Over

2009-11-21T15:42:00.004Z

Since the Autumn of 2008 we have been managing and developing our own website, www.boxcourt.co.uk. With each new development we struggled to add more content and over time a little like an Apple Mac computer we have had to update and re - jig almost on the same 6 monthly basis!

Over the past year and a half we have given our site a few face lifts but the last, and ironically worse, seemed to make it even less clear to use and not terribly attractive.

Over coffee with friends in Minchinhampton a couple of months ago we realised there was nothing for it and prepared for a new website. We have patiently stood back and allowed the process to slowly evolve.

So our new website has been totally updated. I am please that all of the plants we sell at the nursery are now listed. This includes some really exciting new introductions we have been able to grow on from fragile seed sent from all over the world. We have grown them on and propagated over the Autumn ready for next year. It was much easier to grow them than think about the process of putting them onto the website, thankfully for me however that is all done now.

Another development is the number of courses we have added for next year from the few we offered with the Painswick Rococo Garden this year.
Now with some really talented people leading very informative and enjoyable courses along with a weekend break, learning the basics of growing your own, in association with Cotswolds88 Hotel I think next years courses look promising.
I am really pleased for everyone involved as 2 of our courses are now Royal Horticultural Society Recommended.

Lastly on this starting over blog, the nursery itself is getting a new broom. We are closed until the 9th January but in that time we are busy resurfacing the entire nursery site and adding additional tables for an increase in plant range. We have also created to new 11m long show border with some of our favourite plants in them. I hope visitors to the Garden next year will like the improvements, the resurfacing has made it much easier to walk on and the cows in the neighbouring field seem to like watching us move 50 tonnes of hoggin by hand & barrow!

Thank you Box

2009-11-18T08:31:00.001Z

To all members of Box Gardening Club who I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking to last night. Thank you for inviting me and for a really enjoyable evening with you all - It was a great deal of fun!

Italian Villa's & Their Gardens

2009-11-13T09:40:00.000Z

One of my favorite books about gardening and it is so much more than just about gardens, is Italian Villa’s & Their Gardens. Not a novel, or travel writing or purely garden writing this book still stands as a bible for those seeking the essence of an Italian Garden.

I read an original edition of this book whilst at University along with many precious original texts all stored for future generations at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh's Library. It was here that I first read Hortus No. 1 and many old RHS publications with articles by the likes of Vita Sackville - West.

Italian Villa’s does not bother with the tedious detail of how to get somewhere but rather assumes you to are intimate with the owner of each villa and knowledge of location and entry is rather a foregone conclusion. Edith brings to life the essence and it is her narrative which is the books biggest strength. She stresses that ‘ One must always bear in mind that it (Italian Garden Craft) is independent of floriculture’. Her persistent attention to the describing the layout of the gardens she visits and the visitor routes give the book its constant fresh appeal. After all gardens may fade, planting disappear but the spaces and voids remain and the book describes this effortlessly.

When I first read Italian Villas I was also reading Geoffrey Jellicoe’s Italian Gardens, between them they became my guides on my first trip to Italy and I went for 4 months in the summer of 1999.

One villa which has always remained in my mind which I visited more than once is the Villa Barbarigo. Jellicoe called it Villa Donna Della Rose and wrote ‘Consider an amphitheater of hills, the ends linked by a great avenue flung across the valley, and this valley an arrangement of lesser avenues furnished with all the delights of an Italian garden, box hedges, lemon trees, sculpture, pools and fountains, and you have an impression of the gardens at Valsanzibio'. The building was designed by Bernine for Zuane Francesco Barbarigo. The baroque gardens have seventy statues, cascades, fountains and water features’.

Edith Wharton called it Villa Valsanzibio and simply described it as one of the most beautiful pleasure grounds in Italy.

The villa itself dates from the 17th Century and the garden is divided by colossal 20ft High Buxus hedges each room as we would now call them divided between green structures, statuary and water. I don’t remember seeing a single flower here, but this garden stood out for me as a singular joy and lesson in proportion and taste.

The village of Valsanzibio is very near to the City of Padua, not only famous for the Pedrocchi Cafe, a favorite haunt of Byron, Dario Fo and Stendhal but also for having one of the oldest botanic gardens in the world with its original 1545 layout intact. Arranged over a circular format Padua Botanic Garden sets out each plant in its own bed so that the specimens could be observed and catalogued at ease.

When talking about Italian gardens I think I will leave the last words to Edith Wharton

“The traveller returning from Italy, with his eyes and imagination full of the ineffable Italian garden-magic, knows vaguely that enchantment exists: that he has been under its spell, and that it is more potent, more enduring, more intoxicating to every sense than the most elaborate and glowing effects of the modern horticulture.........”

Nothofagus - The Not So False Beech

2009-10-26T09:36:00.001Z

With autumn we often think of trees and colour. Sometimes if you look closely at a tree you will begin to notice the way it grows, or the way its branches hang. Often during autumn when our eye is concentrated we also notice the bark of a tree. Some trees have slightly grotesque bark which comes off in ragged edged plates whilst other have long scar like fishers of tissue which builds up into a micro-landscape. Other trees have smooth almost silky bark, which has a soft sheen and appears almost stroke-able. (Picture View from Painswick Beacon)

I wonder that it these similarities we attribute to trees must have been how one of my favourite non-native groups of trees was recognised. Explorers in Chile discovered Nothofagus oblique and named it ‘roble’ after the Spanish word for oak with which they thought it shared a resemblance. First introduced in 1902 Nothofagus, meaning false beech is related to Fagus and currently in the family Fagaceae, although it does have marked differences with some taxonomic experts suggesting it should move into its own family Nothofagacea. Bear with me, plant taxonomic identification is a pet subject for me, and one of my favourite plant family, although an artificial one was always Amentiferae, or as those who prefer all floral families to end with the same ‘acea’ (such as Umbelliferea, now slowly becoming Apiaceae) the group Amentaceae. Amentiferae is the family of plants, which bear their flowers in catkins, amenta. This includes Salicaceae, Corylaceae, Betulaceae, Platanaceae, Juglandaceae and Myriceae. This group was still widely used when I studied 10 years ago but most modern classification systems have not retained the group.

(Picture Nothofagus Obliqua) Nothofagus are a close relative of beech and look strikingly similar. N. Obliqua is a narrow crowned tree fairly fast growing reaching heights of around 100ft. At the top of the tree the branches grow upwards whilst in the middle they arch with smaller lower branches spreading out and down, resembling a young fagus. The leaves are small bearing pairs of veins reaching the edge if the leaf in-between the serrations of the edge as opposed to the tip of the serration which is more common in this type of leaf formation. The distinctive herringbone pattern the leaves of N. oblique make is shared by only one other member of the family, Nothofagus antartica.

Now the amusing thing with Latin is that the species name we are often taught tells us something indicative about the plant, such as Convolvulsu chilensis, or Aster novi-belgii, both referring to the place of origin or Viburnum sargentii and Crinodendron hookeri both referring to the person who discovered them. Therefore Nothofagus antarctica should be straightforward however it is in fact native to Chile and Argentina. It is also the most southerly growing tree occurring on Hoste Island, which is 2200 miles north of Antarctica.

The Antarctica in its names refers to its extreme hardiness, not surprisingly it does rather well in the United Kingdom. N. antarctica can reach heights of up to 80ft. It has a slender trunk with scaly bark and alternative small mid green leaves, which are covered in a sweetly scented wax. Unlike N. obliqua with its serrated leaves N. antarctica has broadly ovate leaves with crinkly rounded edges, which are almost wavy. (Picture Nothofagus antarctica)

N. obliqua and N. antarctica are both deciduous and turn rich shades of crimson and gold in the Autumn. Nothofagus betuloides is again native to Chile but is however evergreen. It can withstand cold temperatures down to -20C and is therefore a very hardy and valuable landscape tree. It has a columnar habit, up to 80ft and with maturity develops a large almost flat topped head .

(Picture Nothofagus betuloides) The leaves are very small, ovate, serrated and a rich glossy green. New growth appears on stunning bronze red shoots. It has been widely grown in Scotland and has lovely pinkish timber, which being a hard wood makes lovely furniture.

Although Hornbeam, Beech and Lime are my favourite landscape trees, Nothofagus comes very close to them for its merits of inclusion in broader and large scale planting.

Thoughts of Autumn

2009-10-16T09:34:00.001+01:00

As a gardener I approach the end of the year with a slight sense of satisfaction. The glorious weather of the last couple of weeks has allowed me to sit, at the end of a days toil I must add, with a cup of tea and just take stock of the garden.

Its easy to do yourself a dis-service and remember what hasn’t gone so well, the seeds that didn't germinate or the plants that no matter how hard you tried either died or were eaten. Overlooking this endless list I instead concentrated on what had done well and I could be pleased with.

(Photo: Rudbeckia in front of the Exhedra, Painswick Rococo Garden)

Our trial bed of grasses revealed which plants are indeed worthy of inclusion in the garden, Muhlenbergia glomerata really stood out, not only were the basel clump of leaves still buzzing with fresh green colour but the delicate seed heads and stalks have seemed to defy the winds and remain up right and perfectly posed. No mean feet in our wind swept garden and being over 5ft in height.

I planted Aster l. 'Calliope' for the first time last year, after admiring its rich black stems, dark green leaves and almost neon purple flowers in other peoples garden. Mine is now looking looking just perfect, reaching well up to 6ft and covered in flower it looks stunning. I planted it in a border which is backed by Eucalyptus. The combination of the peeling pinkish - brown bark and silver foliage with the aster works really nicely. I have noticed however that the Elymus canadensis does not work here at all as there is to much green in its leaves and its delicateness would be better shown off elsewhere in the garden, perhaps with the long lasting Eupatorium ‘Gateway’?

In the spring we planted a long border in front of our chickens run. We have 8 in total, a mixture of Rhode Island Red, Brahma and Crested Cream Legbar. We keep them within a sizable run due to scratching. However this did not stop them escaping and in one afternoon turning the border into something which resembled a newly plowed field. Rather than be annoyed at the loss of Agastache schropulariaefolia amongst others, we realised what great workers chickens are and we have devised a pen which fits over the raised beds in our kitchen garden where a pair of birds can be set to work bug clearing and turning over the top layer of soil before planting. An added bonus will be the free manure they will deposit.

(Photo: Autumn Colour in the garden)

Of course gardening is an unending series of lessons. Nothing is ever in vein, earlier this year I was asked to be involved on a gardening course and I talked about the history of herbal gardens. In the afternoon a young lady lead a practical session on herbal remedies. We all learn’t many valuable lessons on different plants and use’s. One plant was lemon balm, Melissa officinalis. I left the day thinking I must plant more of this wonder herb and now after forgetting to cut down the flowering stems to get a second crop of fresh foliage I fear that the herb garden may actually become a lemon balm garden. If only it was enclosed by protective walls I would be able to bring in lemon trees and olives in huge terracotta pots long with olive jars and claim it was for underplanting in a courtyard I hoped would catch something of essence of Grasse over the happy mistake it will become.

For many of us the coming winter is a great time to sit down and start searching through seed catalogues and nursery lists, as they seem to arrive almost daily in the post with renewed promise captured in each page. By January I have written and rewritten so many lists that I wonder where the space will come from to grow everything on. This problem is always added to by listening to talks and lectures. I am sometimes invited to speak to gardening groups and often, like many speakers, get told off for adding a fresh suggestive list of plants to be included along side the seed catalogue and nursery list. Still this is a part of gardening which is inevitable, the addictive need to grow more plants and ones we haven’t got! - or perversely ones which insist on dying!

(View Across the Valley from Painswick) However whilst the sun is still shining then we will continue to be working at the nursery and out on clients projects enjoying the changing autumn landscape around us. Tillia and Oak are turning rich shades of yellow and gold each day now and will soon begin their progression to the ground. Liquidamber is a great choice for the garden being amongst the first to start turning to rich burn’t sugary colours and one of the longest lasting, holding its leaves well into November. I love to crush the leaves and breath in the cinnamon fragrance.

A Starting Block

2009-10-04T17:11:00.002+01:00

As a boy I was lucky growing up a stone trows distance from the Botanic Garden in Oxford and I would spend many happy hours wandering around pretending it was my garden - this would lead to some slightly hairy moments when the gardeners rightly wondered what I was doing in the midst of the herbaceous borders!

At the weekends I found myself a little job working in a small plant shop in Summer Town, I never asked for money but rather took home seeds, plants and all manner of bits and bobs to make my own garden at home.

Although, looking back I had the most dreadful sense of 'taste' (I was only in my teens). My own garden felt very much an escape from everything, school masters, noise etc, and I was encouraged by our elderly next door neighbours who had seen the War first hand and knew lots about plants and nurturing not only a garden to life but also my growing gardening ambitions.

At Malvern Autumn Show I was approached by a young lady who, as we got talking, told me about a school she was involved with in the centre of Worcester. The children there were starting up their own school garden. I was very excited for them and asked how it was all going, sadly it was not going as well as you may take for granted and finding plants and materials to get started was proving difficult. I made some suggestions and also offered them a couple of plants from the show garden. I gave them a couple which are good hard working plants and can easily be propagated either from seed or cuttings.

Over the weekend a letter arrived for me at the Rococo Garden, nothing unusual about that so I opened it with little thought as to what may be inside. The school children had all written to thank us for the plants, each member of the gardening club had signed the letter. I was slightly taken back and felt very happy that something I had done without thought of reward had been so sincerely received.
It took me back to my school days and our next door neighbours patiently teaching me about gardening and instilling a passion for plants. Their garden was well tended and carefully considered, my own little plot was a jumble of colour, textures and a collection of my latest finds. However that didn't matter, it was a starting block and I rather feel that the children who took the time to thank me for just 3 plants I gave, have found a starting block in the lady who approached me at Malvern.

Because I know that they are really keen to make the most of their garden, Sean and I will be sorting through our bags and packets of half used or forgotten seed as soon as the nursery closes to send to them. If you have any spare packets or half packets and would like to pass them on please let us know.

Autumn, The Equinox & The Show!

2009-09-29T11:43:00.017+01:00

Autumn is almost always thought of as a glorious last chance, a celebration of the year passing. Harvest festivals offer a blaze of colour and opportunity to reminisce with friends old and new, over the joys of the summer.

For me the Autumn also signaled the approach of the Malvern Autumn Show and my first public test as the Chris Beardshaw Scholar 2009. Since my first show garden at Malvern a year ago I have felt a connection with Malvern. The drive for me through the Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire countryside before opening up on Birtsmorton common is filled with natures signals. Along the way hedgerows seemed to be bursting this year with rich berries, juicy blackberries seemed to jostle for space with glossy burgundy hawthorn and darker sloes. Through Eastnor a canopy of fine landscape trees was beginning to flush golden as Tillia begin to draw energy back for the winter ahead. Another sign that a different season is becoming to us was the numbers of pheasant across the fields as the traditional game season begins.

At Malvern the hills both seemed to bask in the late sunshine whilst both taking on a brooding presence with clouds hanging low. Natures signals prompted the theme of my own garden at the show.

During September a natural event takes place which is natures sharpest signal of the approaching change. It effects us also and this year I noticed that almost everyone on the show ground complained for one brief day of feeling ‘out of sorts’, the Equinox had arrived.
My garden was designed to ask what it means. For many and traditionally the calendar tells us this is the beginning of the end, the warm summer days are over and the dormancy of winter is almost on us. Pagans had a tradition for this time of year and saw winter as a time to sit and reflect over the past years successes but also the things which haven’t gone so well or as we may have hoped.

For the garden I wanted people to reflect on this but also ask if the Equinox removed from our Gregorian calendar is actually the small sparks and beginnings of the process of renewal? Without this clear natural message to produce seed and the chill period which many genus need to germinate in the coming spring then spring itself may not actually happen. I took the average day length hours of the seasons and built a wall which surrounded a garden planted to celebrate the joys of the autumn season. Through this wall I cut 4 openings with paths, all calculated in size to give a hypothetical window on to Autumn from another season allowing the on-looker to engage with this time of year from points you would not normally engage with it from. To add to this sense of questioning I placed a large urn, deliberately off centre with a carpet of textural green planting to signify our own hopes and desires through the seasons. Just like Pandora’s mythical box with only hope left inside the urn disappeared when you saw the garden from the opening with represented Autumn and Summer but became very dominate when you looked from the opening representing Spring and Winter, both times when we as gardeners project a lot of hope in the coming seasons.

Over the course of the show the garden was very well received by the public and its sponsor Bradstone. The Royal Horticultural Society awarded it a Silver-Gilt Medal and Best in Show for the show garden category, which I was utterly delighted with and which came as a total surprise.
Now just 72 hours after the closure of the show all that remains of the garden are photographs and a collection of materials waiting to live again. Bradstone very kindly allowed me to give the materials to a school local to my design practice, who with a little guidance from me will create a long term show-garden based on ‘The Umbrella’s’ by Renoir at the Rococo Garden, Painswick.

More peaking

2009-09-14T14:12:00.004+01:00

I have included a few more pictures from the 'Fashion Through the 20th Century' shoot for you to enjoy and as way as my saying thanks to all the guys involved who worked so hard!

A sneak peak

2009-09-14T13:38:00.007+01:00

Its said that Alfred Hitchcock used to put footprints on the floor for the actors to know where they were expected to move to in a scene. The Legendary Marlene Dietrich studied stills of actresses wearing gloves and came up with idea of adding little wooden blocks to the tips of her own gloves to give an elegant silhouette on film. Marlene also had a full length mirror to the side of the camera so she could see herself, and the lighting to ensure it was perfect and you will never see a picture of her without the butterfly shadow just under her nose.

What I love about these stories and the countless other ones like them is the attention to fine detail, obsessive perfectionism and down right potential to trick you get from the camera. With all that said, and the reason why I am saying it is because we had an opportunity to be part of a 'Fashion Through the 20th Century' photo shoot over the weekend which gave us the ideal close up to study what is an art form.

With countless models, makeup artists, stylists, hairstylists, costumes and not to mention photographers it was a very busy and very much

fun time. Another love of mine is vintage machinery so you can imagine my delight when an original 1940's jeep which saw action on the beaches at Dunkirk along with 1960's scooters and a 1950's ford pick up all turned up to be part of the show. I could have spent all day just breathing in the scent of oil and worn leather! Some of the props where rather amazing, our own Cavalier Kings Charles Spaniels were used in a 1950's shoot with 3 stunning young ladies and some flower arrangements over 6ft high were also created for the show.

Now I spent quite a while looking at the flowers, burnt spindle berry foliage had been combined with dried Eucalyptus gunni to amazing effect. If you have not seen it dried the Eucalyptus takes on a much deeper metallic sheen which looks although moodier and brooding. Other nice touches which made these arrangements stand out from the ordinary was the addition of grasses such molina and muhlenburgia. I also spotted some tree lupin foliage which was soft to the touch and silky from the tiny hairs.

I have included my own, bad pictures of the day but sadly they do not convey the atmosphere or the excitement of the day however I can assure you I did learn a few tricks of camera!

Gothic Gardens

2009-09-01T21:18:00.004+01:00

I don't want to appear lazy but this post has recently appeared as an article in one of Archant's 'Life' magazines, and as it was quite a while ago, combined with a recently visit to a fantastic garden which prompted my mind to colours, themes and style I thought this article would make a nice post.

I have always been attracted to gothic styles of planting and the heavy macabre black foliage which is used to create ‘The Gothic Garden’. One of the most instantly recognisable plants almost made to be planted en-masse in a gothic garden is Anthriscus sylvestris ‘Ravenswing’ also known as the black Queen Ann’s lace. Having highly decorative delicate filigree blackish purple leaves and during late spring and early summer, stunning black stems topped with white umbel flowers held over pinkish bracts. It looks go

od at the back or front of the border and I love it combined with purple sage, much maligned and ‘common’ it is transformed with the right combination of plants and really earns it keep holding the Gothic together. Another useful black foliage plant which is ever-green or should I say ever-black and incredibly useful for flower arrangers is Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Tom Thumb’. ‘Tom Thumb’ is a low growing variety only up to roughly 1meter (3ft) in a neat mound with rich, glossy ovate leaves which range in colour from golden green when young through to deep purple bronze all borne on conspicuous black twigs. P. tenufolium is one of the hardiest species and ‘Tom Thumb’ also bears highly scented chocolate coloured flowers.

Another stalwart of the gothic style is the aptly named, Geranium phaeum ‘Mourning Widow’. Although it has green foliage irregularly blotched with brown markings, the flowers are the most sombre blackish flowers and it copes well with shade. Expect it to flower from May through to July.

It can grow fairly tall up to 80cm (2.5ft) and looks excellent when planted with the black leaved Sambucus nigra ‘Black Lace’ as a back drop. Not only are the Sambucus leaves really deep in colour but the foliage is finely cut turning rich red in autumn. It also grows well almost anywhere including normally difficult situations such as waterlogged and chalky ground. During its flowering period it can look breath taking with a mass of creamy flowers against the back foliage. To keep its youth the Sambucus can be pruned back to the ground every spring.

I like traditionally laid out Gothic gardens and two which I think worked very well were the Gothic Garden at Arrow Cottage, Herefordshire which was complete with gothic grey gates and black reclaimed bricks for the paths. This garden also had mandrake, Mandragora officinarum, growing which added to the sinister feel. The other garden is the Crackenthorpe at Bryans Ground; I don’t know if this is strictly Gothic but it has one of the best melancholy feels I have seen. The two long stretching borders, terminated with large rust coloured stone urns at one end and the Sulking House with Gothic detailing at the other certainly have a gothic influence on me. The garden has a couple of features that really stand out, the large yew hedges and when I visited, masses of Astrantia. One of best Astrantia’s is Astrantia major ‘Hadspen Blood’ which will take full sun or partial shade, flowering from June through to August. Astrantia has been cultivated in Britain since the 16^th century. A. Hadspen Blood has deeply lobed, dark green leaves with imperceptible black margins. The deep red button flowers are surrounded by a ruff of nearly black bracts and make long lasting cut flowers.

A really good hard working border addition to the Gothic Garden has to be the Ajuga. There are a number of dark foliage varieties from the very large leaved A. Catlins Giant through to A. Black Scallop. One of the most widely available is Ajuga reptans ‘Atropurpurea’ which again grows well in partial shade to full shade. It is a mat forming ground cover plant growing up to about 15cm (6in) and is very robust. The leaves are held in rosettes and range from pinkish purple to deep purple black. During spring small upright spikes of blue flowers appear and are a lovely added extra.

One of the most recent dark foliage plants which has been introduced to gardeners is Anglica ‘Ebony’. This form has to have the darkest foliage of any Angelica available. The foliage is deep, almost black, finely cut and highly glossy. Back purple buds appear opening up to sprays of pink flowers reaching a height of 1 meter (3ft). I have under planted mine with Tulip ‘Black Hero’ having deep maroon silky flowers appearing slightly ruffled like old damask. The Angelica flowers during May and reach about 60cm (2ft) and do best in a sheltered position.

For me gothic gardens work best when flower colour is limited which means some great dark foliage plants are sadly excluded. These include one of my favourite Dahlia’s, D. David Howard, which I believe has some of the deepest coloured foliage of any of the dark leaved Dahlias. It grows up to 75cm (2.4ft) and is topped with stunning rich orange flowers in late summer and early autumn and as we all know, Dahlia’s make excellent cut flowers. If you have a damp garden or want something a little special for marginal planting then Ligularia dentata ‘Britt Marie Crawford’ is a fantastic choice. Its leaves scream gothic, large flat glossy chocolate black leaves with deep purple reverses. Its only draw back for my taste of gothic are the brilliant orange/yellow flowers, appearing in August and reaching up to meter. It is highly attractive to slugs in the early part of the year, so beer traps at the ready and be prepared to give a generous mulch of manure or garden compost for really good results.

Lastly, I quite like the idea of incorporating topiary into the gothic garden, buxus hedging is a must to keep the gardens shape over winter but I rather like the idea of terminating a pair of gothic borders with purple beech, fagus sylvatica Atropurpurea, columns. Beech makes fantastic hedging, holding its crisp dried leaves long into winter. Giving the hedge a trim in later summer will actually encourage the plant to keep hold of its dried leaves longer. The purple varieties will turn the same stunning golden bronze as green varieties in autumn. Beech doesn’t do well in frost prone areas or if its feet are wet for long periods.

We Went Away

2009-08-17T21:18:00.007+01:00

We have not long returned from a couple of days away camping in our 1971 Blacks of Greenock ‘Good Companions Major’ tent. We are the second ever owners, having purchased it recently from its original owner in York. Older readers will remember the good old days of camping, with the rich scent of canvas above your head and near pitch black in the inner tent safely tucked under the flysheet. We motored to the Gower, an area we have been to on a number of occasions being not to far away from home for a short stay but isolated on its peninsula far enough away from the main landmass for the water to be blue and the invading arcades, ye oldie’s and the like to yet have moved in.

Fresh from a first nights sleep under canvas we set of on Saturday morning for, reportedly, a particularly stunning isolated beach. Over the winter the path had eroded, its not global warming, just a lack of investment in our coastal defences causing the demise of our route but eventually over rocks and through gorse we made our way. The beach was beautifully isolated, soft golden sand surrounded by rock pools and the rumbling sea in front of us; with a hint of sun there was nothing for it but to strip off and head for the sea. Now battling waves for a fewhours is tiring work, not to mention making you a bit hungry. So we made our way over the rock pools to find lunch, literally! I had noticed on our scramble down to the beach a host of wild marjoram, salad burnet and some plump blackberry’s. From the rock pools we had easy picking of winkles, mussels, clams and cockle’s, lunch with the aid of some collected up drift wood was served, Sean ate the salad, and I predominately ate the shell fish.When we go camping we like it basic and often imagine how good it would be to pitch up on the coastal paths away from the people in blissful isolation. On this trip we stayed in a new site to us, it was just a field backing on to the cliffs and coastal walks.

Looking over the rock pools it struck me of the wealth of food available and what fun we had collecting up our lunch, considerably more fun I regret to say than our weekly trip around Waitrose. Lovely as it is.

During the afternoon we went for a walk along the coast and were rewarded with the sight of a cliff face covered in deep magenta heather flowering amongst the Gorse interjected with cranesbills and more marjoram. The smell of the gorse was heavenly and the cliff looked like to was covered in gold. From the coastal face of the rocks we walked through a drift of oak, and hawthorns all gnarled and bent over by the fierce winter gales which must mercilessly beat their way inland from the sea. I also noticed a lot of bay seeded almost everywhere along with little holly seedlings and Eupatorium topped with dusky pink flower heads.

Sunday after breakfast cooked outside the tent, saw us take to the waters again and never tiring of wandering with our faithful four legged companion’s, well one out of the two because the other is not in the best of health and has to travel a la rucksack, we again headed out over the rocks until late in the afternoon.

Sadly the weekend was over fair to quickly, and eager plans of our next snatched break were happily hatched as we folded, tied and packed ourselves back into the car for the trip home, joining us on the way back was some seeds I collected of lavatera arborea, there are no lighthouses on the Gower so I suspect it has blown in from the neighbouring Devon coast, once an important livestock food its got itself a bit of a bad name especially on the islands of Scotland, but as we grow the variegated species I will give it go, for comparison if nothing else.

What’s in a Name 1.1.2

2009-08-12T10:56:00.007+01:00

Sometimes you stumble over information and think, gosh! Sometimes you see or hear something,which takes not only your breath away but transports you to another placein your mind. I’m not sure after such a build up this will do either of those things but you never know!

Monarda’s are an unusual plant, always stunning in pictures, some even manage to pull it off in the flesh, for which we adore their showy pom-pom like rich flowering bracts. Often they sit trying thier best, in our climate not to be blighted by mildew and look generally miserable with one or two weak flowering spikes. At the nursery I have in equal measure a stunning looking M. Beauty of Cobham and very sorry for its self M. citirodora. Monarda’s are named after Nicolas bautista Monardes.

His works included Dialogo llamado pharmacodilosis (1536) amongst roughly seven others with the most well known Historia medicinal de las cosas que se traen de naestras, or translated into the rather historically joyful, ‘Medical study of the products imported from our West Indian possessions’. Published first in 1665, and enlarged over 3 further editions in 1569, 1774 and 1580. Monardes was a botanist and physician who was extremely well known at the time, his survey of medical plants was printed in English in 1577, 1580, and 1925 where is names was changed to ‘Joyful News out of the New Found World’

Information about the chap is scarce but whats more interesting to me is the sense of adventure such works spark in the mind. Its easy to forget the extreme conditions the explores would have encountered on their trips to new lands, the plants they brought back would have been very exciting, think only of plants such as Dahlia brought back firstly as a possible edible crop, just like Funkia, what a lovely named plant better known to us now as Hosta which was also originally brought to Europe as a vegetable which can be steamed and eaten in a similar way to Spinach.

Imagine the long sea voyages, and the untouched, virgin landscapes, awaiting the somewhat sea weary, free of sight of modern conveniences they must have been filled with a mixture of trepidation, excitement and bewilderment all at once. Its no wonder so many of these travellers returned to inspire great social change across the face of Europe in the 1700’s.

Whats in a Name?

2009-08-06T14:36:00.006+01:00

Recently, I bought yet another mathiasella, why they dislike my garden and refuse to live and offer up their jade green flowers to me remains a mystery however that is a side issue and if anyone else has enjoyed unbridled success - let me know!

What I love about taxonomy and botanical nomenclature is the story behind the words and mathiasella has a particularly good one. The plant is native to Mexico but was discovered rather recently in 1954 and named in honour of Mildred Mathias.

Born in Sappington, Missouri in 1906. Her father was a teacher and her intense love of study showed it’s self early. Whilst still at senior school she was the first student to enroll at the newly established Junior College of Flat River and each day would attend her high school typing class at 7.30 am before catching a train to college. In 1923 Mildred registered at Washington University in St. Louis and went on to major in mathematics before transferring on to botany earning an A.B in 1926 & a Ph.D. in 1929 while conducting her graduate research at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Her doctoral dissertation, then aged 22, was a taxonomic monograph on Cymopterus and the relatives of the carrot family (Umbelliferae). New world umbellifer were at that time fairly unknown but Mildred’s work was set to change all that. During the summer of 1929 Mildred in a trusty Model T Ford and two companions traveled across the western United States to visit numerous communities of Umbelliferae. From 1929 through to 1939 she carried on her study often unpaid only stopping to marry Gerals L. Hassler in 1930. From 1939 she was joined in her work by Dr Lincoln Constance at the University of California, Berkeley and together, from 1940 to 1981 they jointly published over 60 scientific papers on Umbelliferae of the New World. Together they wrote descriptions of over 100 new species and several new genera. Her expertise on umbellifers earned her international recognition in taxonomy and when I studied at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh you certainly could not talk about Umbelliferae without mentioning her name. In 1964 she became the first woman President of the American Society of Plant Taxonomists.

From the early 1950’s Mildred started publishing her first articles on Californian horticulture. She along with other leading horticulturalist started introducing a diverse palate of botanically interesting and diverse sub-tropical plants onto nurserymen and gardeners in the coastal & desert areas of southern California. With such a strong taxonomic background she was a staunch advocate of correct scientific identification and nomenclature of horticultural material and her education displays at gardening shows won many awards.

In 1956 Mildred Mathias was appointed director of the Botanical Garden at UCLA and served there until retirement in 1974. This position provided a platform for tireless work to the great benefit of institutions across California and she attracted a huge following from amateur gardeners to landscape designers and the public at large. From the late 1950’s through to 1964 Mildred joined Dermot Taylor to collect and screen plants from tropical forests for new medicines. She traveled from Zanzibar to Amazonian Peru and Ecuador to name a few, learning from local herbalists and medicine men along the way. These efforts earnt her the accolade of being named Medical Auxiliary Woman of Science Award in 1963. Working in the tropics Mildred was acutely aware for the need to preserve these vast resources and spoke critically about the careless destruction of rain-forest's, becoming a major voice and later President for its first 10 years of the Organisation for Tropical Studies. Amongst this work during the same time she also championed conservation work in California and amongst the accolades this work brought were: Merit of Award of the California Conservation Council in 1962 and The Nature Conservancy National Award in 1964.

Her long career earned accolades and awards through to 1993 when she was named as Distinguished Economic Botanist by the Society of Economic Botany. Other awards included Award of Merit by the American Association of Botanic Gardens in 1976, Medal of Honour from the Gardening Club of America in 1982 and becoming the first executive director of the Association of American Botanical Gardens & Arboreta from 1977 to 1981.

From 1974 to 1994 she had led 53 groups with a thousand participants, to foreign natural areas of horticultural interest and gardens in over 30 countries. Her last tour, at the age of 88, was in November, 1994, to Chile. Sadly Mildred Mathias died on 16th February 1995 leaving a glittering path behind her built on a insatiable appetite for horticultural knowledge.

So I ask whats in a name? Sometimes you may just think ‘What a long complicated illegible name this is, why can’t it just be called tea-cup flower!’ but that would do a huge inservice to the people who’s life's work and obsession it is identifying and naming plants - and they do deserve some recognition surely?

A Quick Tour of a Most Useful Plant.

2009-07-15T21:46:00.004+01:00

I start with an apology that this may be slightly short, and as summer seems to have passed us by leaving a rather dreary, damp relation with a relentless appetite for wind in its place, so I am left struggling to keep the plants at the nursery upright today.

One of my all time favorite plants is Melissa, yes it sends it's copious off spring rioting across the garden like the hoards attacking the Bastille, but I wouldn't be without it , and a lot of it at that.

It’s native to southern Europe but was introduced to England very early and as such was for a while thought to be native to the southern counties. Melissa is highly attractive to bee’s and its from the Greek for bee that their name is derived. The common name of Lemon Balm or older, Sweet Balm comes from an abbreviation of Balsam. One of its oldest reputed properties is as a restorative and elixir of life.

Paracelsus believed it would, ‘completely revivify man’, and it was often used in treatments of the disorders of the nervous system. In the London Dispensary of 1696 it says, ‘An essence of balm, given in canary wine, every morning will renew youth, strengthen the brain, relieve languishing nature and prevent baldness’. John Evelyn believed it to be an aid to strengthening memory and ‘chasing away melancholy’.

Llewelyn, Prince of Glamorgan, lived until he was 108 and breakfasted on sweet balm tea, as did a gentleman called John Hussey who reportedly lived until he was 116. Carmelite water, of which balm was the chief ingredient was drunk by the Emperor Charles V daily. Carmelite water is made with a mixture of spirit of balm, lemon peel, angelica root, and nutmeg.

Gerard and Dioscorides both stated that it helps in the healing of wounds, Pliny wrote, ‘Balm, being applied, doth close up wounds without any perill or inflammation’, and this is now recognised by modern science as the balsamic oils of aromatic plants are used to make surgical dressings.

Lemon balm will propagate readily from seed and cuttings in late spring through to early summer. I tend to sow the seed ripe however as I find this gives better germination rates. In our herb garden I tend to grow the plain green leaved plant, Melissa officinalis and Melissa officinalis ‘Aurea’ as this tends to be used a lot in salads in our house as each leaf is irregularly splashed with bright drops of golden sunshine like colour. However, both the variegated form and pure golden, or yellow form, tend to suffer from the harsh mid-day sun so offer them partial shade.

Historically melissa was always grown near bee’s and not just because of there attractiveness in terms of it flowers, Gerard stated that, ‘It is profitably planted where bee’s are kept. The hives of bees being rubbed with the leaves of bawme, causeth the bees to keep together, and casueth others to come with them’. Pliny echoes this theory by stating, ’When they strayed away they do find there way home by it’.

Apart from drinking teas made with it and eating its leaves, melissa gathered in a bunch, tied and hung under a hot tap makes for a wonderfully invigorating bath. As the hot water runs over the leaves its oils are released, giving you a renewed sense of cheer and energy after a long tedious day.

Recently we started growing Melissa officinalis ssp. altissima, this wonderful balm has fast become my favorite, the leaves are slightly thicker, darker, and more pubescent. It is fast growing making a dense mound of foliage, however its best quality it the strong lime fragrance it emits either by brushing against it slightly or simply with the sun on it for a few moments. I find myself strangely addicted to its fragrance and when at the nursery, I repeatedly go over to it for another ‘hit’.

Being native to Crete I wonder if its strange lime fragrance is more evocative of the warm seas and recipes belonging to Patience Grey than just the sum of its parts. I am yet to plant one of these new found glories as I am waiting for the Autumn and a new ‘show’ border of plants at the nursery. Sean has worked fairly hard tracking down plants we are interested in trialing and we hope that the new border will be a trial bed of the new and exciting at the nursery.

Fenkel

2009-07-09T20:52:00.005+01:00

Fenkel

You may ask when I fit the time in to write about these plants, and in honesty I spend brief moments almost snatching the words onto my macbook.

Recently I heard someone say, ‘A gardens not complete without a geranium’ and I thought, ‘what plants would I not want to be without?’. I don’t think I believe any gardens to be incomplete without the addition of a certain plant but I think as a designer I tend to have a backbone of plants I use and rely on to help construct a planting

scheme or use to achieve drama and scale.

Fennel, be it giant, bronze or green to name the most obvious, is one of those such genus that adds so much. Freely growing in most temperate parts of Europe and self-seeding along riverbanks it seems to have left its more native mediterranean and migrated almost with the Roman conquests to now stretch from North Wales across mainland Europe to Russia, India and parts of what was Persia.

Foeniculum was the named used to describe this plant by the Romans, derived from the Latin word for Hay, which for those who studied latin will come as no surprise. Foenum was then corrupted in the middle ages to Fanculum, which in turns gives rise to the alternative name and now largely disused common name of Fenkel.

The Romans used to eat the sweet edible young shoots and aromatic seeds. So popular was it, that Pliny attributed 22 medical remedies to it. He observed that, “Serpents eat it after casting their old skins and that they sharpened their sight by rubbing against the plant”. Now luckily in England we don’t see many serpents, and most ‘snakes in the grass’ are ones people talk about, (at least we know where the phrase originates) but the idea that fennel improves sight certainly has stuck.

Throughout medieval England, and Europe I imagine, on midsummers eve you would have seen fennel hung together with St Johns Wort to ward off evil spirits and witchcraft. On its own and a use it it still employed for it was served with fish, in this instance salt fish, during Lent.

Although references are made in early anglo-saxon cookery and medical recipes prior to the Norman conquest fennel was not widely cultivated until Charlemagne ordered it be grown on imperial farms, stimulating popular growth.

In 1650 one of the most amusing descriptions of its uses was written, I laugh when I read it and imagine what a reaction such a statement might cause in todays world, “Both the seeds, leaves and root of our Garden Fennel are much used in drinks and broths for those who are grown fat, to abate their unwieldiness and cause them to grow more gaunt and lank”, its from William Coles Nature’s Paradise but it was also mentioned by the great herbalist Gerard in 1597. However, much earlier the ancient Greeks knew fennel as Marathron from the greek maraino meaning to grow thin. In Edward I’s reign the poor used to eat fennel seeds to satisfy hunger cravings on fasting days and to make unpalatable foods taste better, along with I presume suppressing hunger so ensure a small portion.

Along with its now well known hunger suppressing capabilities it is also thought to convey longevity and to give strength and courage.

One of the most well known uses of fennel is as an accompaniment to fish, in 1640 Parkinson writes, ‘being sweete and somewhat hot helpeth to digest the crude qualitie of fish and other viscous meats. We use it to lay upon fish or to boyle it therewith’. Its this culinary use with Salmon or mackerel, in much the same way as parsley which saw patches of fennel in country house kitchen gardens.

Fennel also has calmative qualities, fennel tea can be made from a teaspoon of bruised seeds and used chiefly for those suffering from over excitement. I generally use small young shoots in salads or in soups. In Italy the stalks are eaten stripped with olive oil and pepper.

In the garden, it grows to make a billowing cloud of feathery foliage, a great foil in the middle of the border. When the flowers are open deep sulphery yellow, you can smell its presence on the air and I always associate the smell of fennel with high summer. It works really well to reduce the ‘weightiness’ of some plants. The light almost dancing foliage seems to lift other plants in its company and one really good example of this effect was dark leaved Dahlia ‘David Howard’ planted en mass with purple fennel. If your a minimalist fan I have seen a rather forward thinking piece of urban planting recently where purple fennel was planted by the 1000’s against a backdrop of bleached timber walling. The foliage seemed to resemble a bubbling moving piece of art as it stretched its way along the lengthy facade.

Hampton Court, Talks & Walks

2009-07-08T22:40:00.005+01:00

On the social front I am fresh from Hampton Court. We had a good lengthy nose around on Tuesday and really enjoyed ourselves. The Show Gardens were all interesting from a designers point of view, it is endlessly engrossing studying the way people interpret the space they create along with looking and evaluating your own design take on the garden. I often imagine the gardens with ‘this’ added or ‘that’ moved slightly. I am sure many other garden designers would tell you a similar story. Being so large, I am sure there was plenty we missed. One thing which sets Hampton apart, like Malvern, is its setting. The Wren facades are your constant partner when walking the show ground and their subtle, rather understated but large presence it a lot to live up to as a designer when in such close proximity.

Naturally you take something away from going to the show and for me it was a beautifully constructed, grey painted Shepards Hut complete with wood-burner. Its proportions where immaculate, the height of the hut in relation to the wheels was actually a rather joyous affair. I have decided that this is the Office to aspire to!

The other more subdued feeling I took away from the show was, ‘Don’t look for more merit than your learning deserves’, take what you want from this but for me, the wider landscape of Hampton Court was an unquestionable lesson. Away from the din and razz mataz glamour, if you want, of the show and the right here and now, the architecture of the palace and the gardened landscape are there for much longer, lasting as a testament to well executed design. This is the same with a La Notre design its sheer brilliance doesn't persist due to a retrospective historical need. Far from it the French are a forward thinking people, in their V Republic, the gardens from Versailles, Vaux le Vicomte and the garden at Chateau de Gourdon have all survived principally because there were good enough to last.

The best show gardens last in photographic sense and the best designers will be commissioned to create lasting testaments to their skill as designers and artists using plants and landscape as their medium. I leave Hampton Court rather looking forward to Malvern Autumn Show. In just under 3 months time I will be there with all the other designers who have a passion for plants, gardens, and the ways they can be used to create a sense of place.

Now with one left to go on the 29th July, I thought I would just touch on the series of garden walks I had been asked to do at the Rococo Garden, Painswick. These walks have all attracted good numbers of people wanting to, rather nicely for me, spend an afternoon strolling the garden talking about its history and more often than not, talking about plants and gardens in general. It has lead to a number of other garden walks and talks with gardening groups which has been really enjoyable and unexpected. Luckily for me I love to be involved in a conversation about horticulture and you always find something out you didn’t know before and I have to confess I have been invariable invited along for lunch or tea and cake so I can’t complain.

Scolymus, Stachys, Helianthus & Cynara.

2009-06-29T09:24:00.004+01:00

After writing about Tea, which I adore, I began to think about other plants which have had such an influence. Immediately there were two many options and some of those, although I am sure interesting to pursue, where not terribly exciting to me.

I have therefore struck upon a plant who’s immature flowers I positively gorge upon through the first parts of summer and after its over I look forward to eating copious amounts of its unrelated counter part. Artichokes, or as none artichoke lovers may call them, ‘make me chokes’.

Globe artichoke, Cynara scolymus, is one of the oldest continually cultivated vegetables and was a main stay of ancient Greek & Roman tables. Prepared in a earthen glazed bowl, ours all being chipped, with some plump over ripe tomatoes, a liberal splash of olive oil, torn basil leaves and a good course grinding of salt & pepper, you could when staring into the mixture, be transported back to Imperial Rome. The combination oozes not only the warmth but the intensity of a Mediterranean summer.

Artichokes were introduced into England in the 16th century and was grown in monastic gardens both for decorative reasons and as a vegetable. However, history is littered with references to them, in the 4th Century BC Theophrastus stated that they were most pleasant boiled or eaten raw.

In 1730 and a description of culinary variation I particularly like, Tournefort says, “ The Artichoke is well known at the table. What we call the bottom is the thalamus on which the embryos of seeds are placed. The leaves are the scales of the empalement. The choke is the florets, with a chaffy substance intermixt. The French & Germans boil the heads as we do, but the Italians generally eat them raw with salt, oil and pepper”. Something which I can testify as true from a conversation I had with Felice Tocchini of Fusion Brasserie. Whilst visiting our nursery he picked out an Italian variety and told me the best way to eat them was raw with pepper, salt & oil.

However, I have made a delicious Artichoke au Gratin from a 1950’s french cookery book which belonged to my grandmother and with the addition of a little garlic, cheese and cream it is unrecognisable and utterly more-ish.

We grow two varieties which we sell at the nursery, the original ‘Green Globe’, which is a french variety not to be confused with the F1 modern hybrid and an Italian ‘Violetta di Chioggia’

The thistle like flowers when not being eaten do make highly attractive border additions, rich violet blue set of against the grey-green scales stoutly reaching up to 6ft. Some gardeners use globe artichokes in exactly the same way as Cardoon’s, Scolymus cardunculus, blanching the inner leaf stalks in the early part of the year. Cardoon’s need a lot of room and are renowned for there spiny growth, however it has its followers, Pliny recommended its medical properties and Dioscorides makes reference to large scale production around Great Carthage.

Both Cynara scolymus and Scolymus cardunculus, although different genus, are related being members of the Compositae family, which is the 2nd largest flowering family. Also a member of the same family and therefore related sharing the floral number/key is Jerusalem Artichoke, Helianthus tuberosus. The only ‘Artichoke’ which is in no way related is the Chinese Artichoke, Stachys affinis, which is a member of the mint family, Labiatae or as its known for standardisation Lamiaceae.

There is an irony with Jerusalem Artichoke, its native to the Northern American Plains, prolific in lakes of Canada and reaching Sastatchewan but it does not grow naturally in the lands historically known to us as Judea. I really enjoy slow roasting the Jerusalem Artichoke and have always been a little disappointed that there are no traditional indigenous jewish recipes using it, especially for a plant I had always taken to grow on their soil. However, enlightenment came as to the origin of the Jerusalem Artichoke and sadly for me it was not some mystical story created in the City of Gold, no King David on Temple Mount tucking into a plate of Artichokes, at least not this artichoke, beneath his temple, no it actually is a corruption of an Italian word. Italians referred to Helianthus Tuberosus as the sun-flower artichoke, due no doubt to the small golden flowers it produces. So in Italian Jerusalem Artichoke is Girasola articiocco, Girasola meaning, ‘turning to the sun’.

Joseph Hooker writing in 1897 states, “In the year 1617, Mr John Goodyer of Mapledurham Hampshire, received two small roots of it from Mr. Franqueville, of London. In October of the same year, Mr Goodyer wrote an account of it for T. Johnson, who printed it in his edition of Gerard’s ‘Herball’, which appeared in 1636 where it is called Jerusalem Artichoke. Prior to that is was also called by the same name in ‘Paradisus’ published in 1629. He also gives the reader some recipes, boiled and skinned to be eaten with butter and wine along with baking in pies. He also informs the reader that in some parts they are known as potatoes of Canada, being introduced by the French from Canada and cooked in milk served with beef”.

On a cultivational note, I have found it is best to grow them in the same spot for 3 years and then relocate the best tubers, as left in the same spot they seem to grow smaller in following years. However, the trick here is to be able to clear the ground of the original bed as they grow from the smallest of tubers.

My last ‘choke’ is the Chinese artichoke. I find this is grown best in a permanent cold frame because it seems to disappear over winter otherwise. In china, Chinese artichoke is known as Tsanyungtzu & in Japan its known as Chorogi. It was first introduced in 1888 by Dr. M. T. Masters and is widely eaten in France. Just like Jerusalem artichoke you harvest over winter. A light scrub and a bake in the oven makes for a nice nutty addition to roast potato’s. They are rather too easy to look after, plant in the cold frame, leave them to do there own thing and harvest in winter as needed or you can eat them raw in salads.

Camellia sinensis – A plant that changed the nation.

2009-06-22T18:51:00.006+01:00

I am rather fond of tea. It has an addictive quality far above its contents as a beverage, being steeped in exotic, nostalgic and nationalistic history. The plant which produces tea may not be native but I like to think that the customs we have built around the drink made from it, go some way to identifying ‘Englishness’.

The Dutch were already importing tea from China in 1610 at an equivalent rate of £60 a lb of leaf or more regularly at a rate of 1lb sage leaf, which the Chinese adored, for 4lb of tea leaf. Tea was also enormously popular in pre-revolutionary France with Madam de Maintenon being amongst its ardent followers with Louis XIV ordering two investigations into the medical and health benefits. Now it’s a well known fact that by dilating the blood

vessels tea does improve the flow of blood to the brain, a lack of which does cause migraines something I have never suffered thankfully. Rather sadly to my mind like so much of the ‘acienne regimé’ it was lost to the French as they took up coffee.

In Britain, the once great lover of tea, we have consumed huge volumes. Starting out as a luxury item, tea was presented to Charles II by the East India Company at a rate of 50 shillings per pound. At this time imports of tea stood at 20,000lb a year with a cup, porcelain you would hope, costing a shilling in 1706 at Thomas Twining’s Golden Lion in the Strand.

Although around the 1790’s we were using 16 million pounds of tea annually, knowledge of the actual plant was limited to a very few. One of the first Tea plants, Camellia sinensis var. sinensis was brought from China by Dr. James Cunningham around 1702. In Hortus Kewensis, Thea bohea is listed as having been planted by John Ellis in 1768 along with an illustration of the Duke of Northumberland’s tea plant in flower in 1771 at Syon House. Perhaps the most horticulturally important ‘grower’ of tea to us was Carl Linnaeus, who reportedly tried 20 times to successfully grow a specimen. There are many accounts of the misadventures of trying to get specimens to Linnaeus, from plants being eaten by mice on ship to being blown over board but in 1763 two plants were successfully taken to Uppsala where they were grown, enabling Linnaeus to study them in depth. Europe’s first commercial crop of tea came, incidentally in 2005, at Tregothnan over looking the River Fal in Cornwall.

For centuries all tea came from China, this trade was called tribute by the Chinese who refused to converse in any language except Chinese referring to the European traders as barbarians. From our dealings with the Chinese the word ‘cash’ passed into the English language. In the 1840’s whilst trying to set up tea growing in India, Robert Fortune who had collected material in China for the Royal Horticultural Society donned a disguise and returned to China to purchase seed of tea plants. He wanted only the finest seed from the prime tea growing plantations and using his knowledge of Berberis japonica, which he knew only grew in prime tea districts, he told his collectors to bring samples of the berberis along with the tea, no berberis no cash. Cash being the Mandarin word for money. However, for all this hard work the preference for Chinese tea to make plantations in India was soon replaced with the local indigenous species, camellia assamica, for which we have developed a greater taste over time and interestingly is self-sterile.

Tea also had a precarious start in Ceylon and it was only the coffee blight of 1869 that turned a few hundred acres of plantations into the worlds largest exporter for a while during the 20^th century.

During the 20^th century tea was truly characterised as England’s national beverage. From the strains of high society and the importance of when to add the milk and handle the tea cup properly, to Imperial Britons returning home from dangers abroad being welcomed not by ‘glad your safe’ but ‘delighted to see you, cup of tea?’. During the Second World War, tea cars cheerily went out at great danger to themselves to ensure those bombed out during the blitz could be offered a ‘cuppa’.

It’s from these great heights of affection that today tea seems to be confined for the greater part to a sorry state of ‘dust’ in a bag. I know you can buy leaf tea, ours is procured at Fortnum & Mason, we have a broad selection ranging from Smokey Earl Grey, Earl Grey, Russian Caravan, Rose Pouchong and Osmanthus in our cupboards at home, but sadly when out at a restaurant or, dare I say it, one of the multitude of dull bland high street ‘coffee houses’, I never take tea, generally because it is bland and badly made. What happened to our national love of the drink made by the great camellia, a plant that changed the world, sent men halfway across the globe to discover its secrets or die trying? In 1956 we consumed 10lb per person of tea, today its roughly 4.85lbs annually. On the whole I think I would have joined the five thousand who were secretly being trained to ‘brew tea’ should we have been invaded in the 1940’s, an exercise which would have been as essential to our national resistance as any guns and explosives.

The Ups & Downs

2009-06-15T12:48:00.013+01:00

The new office is almost finished. Painting has been expertly carried out and all at once the sheds have taken on a new feeling. Sadly the colour, although 'cotswoldian', of which we have been assured, seems more to resemble the green of pistachio ice-cream in Italy rather than the lush moss colour we were aiming for.

I have been pricking out plants again, odd when you consider we have a nursery! However with great excitement I can report for those who got in touch and asked & for those who did not, that we do have a very limited number of Phytolacca insularis available this year along with even fewer phytolacca chilensis. It initially struck me as strange that the rarer to cultivation P. insularis should be more prolific in germination, I am please however as P. chilensis is native to chile and adds to my current fetish for pokeweed. The other good news is that we have a good number of papa cimarrona, Phytolacca bogotensis available this year. Again its native to S. America and completely hardy and the flowers on this species are pale rose in colour. On the down side we have no Phytolacca acinosa, maybe next year.

The other nice surprise was finding that we have a good number of Origanum syriacum which is a relatively uncultivated Lebanese marjoram. It has densely pubescent, highly aromatic leaves and clusters of white flowers. In Lebanon it has been used in traditional cookery for years and is essential in the making of Manaeesh. However that aside, I think it makes for a very decorative border plant and would look good in grey combinations or white gardens along with being a great foil plant for more 'unconventional' combinations.

If you can take your eyes off the pistachio office, I hope you notice a rather nice Plantago in the top picture.

Days Out & Days Out

2009-06-06T17:44:00.008+01:00

I had a 'Day Out' yesterday which was fascinating. I was telephoned to see if I would like to accompany Michelle from Chris Beardshaw's office on a fact finding mission to look at trees. We set off at 6 am to travel to Bedfordshire to visit two of the leading tree growers in the country, the sheer size of the operations was very impressive. Huge trees 30-ft plus, grown in state of the art air-pots laid out in rows like an enormous chess board.

Not wanting to let this opportunity slip by I took along my camera for any cheeky shots that might arise, or just to take pictures of items of stock I wanted to 'log' mentally for later. There were some stunning pleached Pyrus along with the most enormous pleach Hormbeam I have even seen in or out of the ground.

Lunch was a disappointing, rather tasteless affair curtsey of Sainsbury's, my suggestion here might be, 'Try Something New Today', such as adding flavour to the sandwiches! However, this was more than made up for by the lovely tea (in a pot) and biscuit selection we were offered at stop number two, where again not only was the site immaculate but the scale mind blowing. I took notes furiously of the trees which caught my eye and pondered new and exciting ideas about the instantaneous scale of these wonders. In the picture the lady is holding a 5m fully extended measuring tape to give you an idea of scale. I have made a note of some trees which may make their way to Malvern for my Autumn garden fingers crossed, so all in all it was a rather useful day out.

The other piece of excitement was being asked by the Rococo Garden in Painswick if I would give a series of walking tours around the garden. For those of you who don't know much about the Rococo Garden, it is the last surving example of the short lived Rococo style of garden art in the world. Lately it has become very well known for its stunning displays of snowdrops at the beginning of the year, however it has a rather amazing history and restoration has been ongoing since a trust was set up to maintain it. My walk will last up to 2 hours and we will look at the design history, use of plants and the use of the numerous buildings around the

garden such as the pink and white Eagle House which I have included as a picture for you to help get a flavour of the garden. These walks will take place in June & July this year and hopefully, with the down pours this weekend on my mind, the weather will be rather much better.

Hello Office

2009-05-29T08:31:00.010+01:00

Before winning the scholarship I seemed to exist in a slight daze of 'one days' and 'what ifs'. One of the luxuries of this seemingly pleasant existence was my 'office' however with a busier work load and some rather exciting projects coming up (I'll keep you posted) the old office has to go - replaced by a rather more business like version. Now I should explain, our old office was in our house. Not in the room we lovingly call the study, due more to its pokey size over any activities which should take place there, and its use is curtailed to only late spring and late autumn. Our house is a small farm workers cottage with a series of un-heated extensions - a gentle blend from victorian to the 1940's and during winter a rather pleasing pattern appears on the window in our little study thanks to Mr J. Frost, however closer inspection of these patterns, sadly for the use of the room, reveals its generally on the inside pane.

Our office therefore up until this coming weekend has been our faithful piano stool come filing cabinet, a Georgian wing-chair for stationary storage and our dining table for any written and drawing activities. This collection will now be over taken by a shiny wooden summerhouse building to be erected at our nursery complete with a secondhand old pine bookcase for storage and a nicely weather beaten desk. The best thing about this new office is that we can have the dining room back for starters and secondly have a great new usable space at the nursery where we can store collected seed and all manner of bits and bobs and I have already collected up some great old wooden seed trays. It will also mean either Sean or myself will be at the nursery almost every day, so if your passing in our direction then please pop in and let us know what you think to this upgrade.

Mrs Pettigrew lives for another day

2009-05-22T19:08:00.007+01:00

Mrs Pettigrew did not live for another day as there was only one book without a sequel. The book by Winifred Watson lay almost forgotten for fifty years before becoming popular again. However we did live for another day as on Wednesday we (Sean & I) met up with Claire Potter, of Claire Potter Design and her partner Mark, for a lovely afternoon and evening looking at the finished Chelsea Flower Show. It was a great chance to look at the gardens complete and I have to say very interesting. When Claire and I went around the site the week before the gardens were part-furnished and we discussed at great lengths the merits, in our eyes, of each. Claire with her massive knowledge of construction pointed out many details in the finish of the construction work and gave me some great pointers of how to do it, and on some gardens how not. This was really interesting to me as I had a good chance to pick her fairly un-exhaustive brain over the details. For my part I hope I added something to our conversations. What I found really exciting about both trips around the gardens was how we interpret the spaces differently and coming from different view points how we saw the interaction between the plants and landscaping. I think its fair to say we both feel strongly about the role of plants in outdoor space and I really got a lot out of it.

Sean and I also enjoyed our discussions on the gardens and we spent the train trip back to rural Gloucestershire dissecting ideas which had come from the show. I really left the show with the overriding feeling that its not important if you like the gardens as much as the stimulus they provide to create ideas in your own mind about your own garden. These ideas can be really small like a plant combination, on the 'Dawn Chorus' garden Verbascum 'Helen Johnson' was planted with Aquilegia 'Ruby Port' which really brought out the dark centre of the verbascums flower. These little details are really clever and demonstrate the subtle plant knowledge needed to really combine plants to a higher level than just a pretty scene. Other larger ideas came to me from a garden I wasn't very enamored with but found the use of landscape material very interesting. I think with a little more work its an idea I will 'recycle' after all apart from selling your wares as a designer there is an element of idea 're-use' at these shows.

Pokeweed

2009-05-19T19:58:00.006+01:00

I am currently a bit too interested in Pokeweeds or to use their proper name Phytolacca. My interest started with the American species and has grown from there although I don't like P. americana 'Silberspinne' in my opinion its foul looking rather more diseased than variegated. This year I was lucky enough to source through a friend in Europe a whole host of exciting Phytolacca species including P. acinosa, P. bogotensis, P. chilensis and most excitingly due to its rarity P. insularis. I know in its native Korea P. insularis is very endangered and rest assured the seed I was given has come from a garden plant and not wild collected seed. The fantastic difference from a gardening point of view with the korean pokeweed is that instead of plump purple cone like flowers it has clear green-white flowers which are in turn followed by the alluring black/purple berry like seeds. I have 13 (lucky for me I hope) in 10-cm pots and hopefully along with the other Phytolacca, which all make impressive large back of border hardy herbaceous perennials , we will be able to steadily increase and offer for sale (a tiny amount this year) through our nursery. I am quite excited about them. I saw a stunning P. americana at the Bishops Palace in Wells last summer and I think they are a much needed larger perennial. The picture is the flower of Phytolacca insularis.

Strange callings

2009-05-17T09:20:00.001+01:00

I woke this morning, bright and early (5.30) and went to let the dogs out - nothing unusual here. In the garden I noticed our sadistic cat looking very pleased with herself and the panicked shrill callings of a game bird, possibly a partridge. Looking around I couldn't see the bird so I grabbed the lawn rake and proceeded to 'pacify' the cat away. That done I became more aware of being outside in the early morning, in a slight drizzle, unclothed, I therefore noticed: a - the cold and b - the bird still calling and a couple of tiny chicks darting around. To cut a long story short with the cat safely pacified I went in, least I lost something of my own and got dressed. At roughly 6.20-ish I opened the back door to find an abandoned lone partridge chick looking forlorn and cold standing slightly dazed. I proceeded to pick him up and keep him warm in the airing cupboard whilst we debate what next to do. We do have a hen who has recently hatched 5 chicks so our friendly Brahma may well be taking on our new addition.

Miss Pettigrew lives for a day

2009-05-16T08:26:00.003+01:00

Big lights, noise, expensive leather soled shoes - I have been to London. I have spent the last 3 days working along side Chris, his team and Lindsay Anglin on the 'Dawn Chorus' Chelsea garden. I arrived nervous and very unsure of what to expect and with some trepidation of what I had to live up to. Lucky for me the whole team was very welcoming and once I spotted Chris deep in the planting we had a chat and I set to it. I hope I settled in nicely and proved to be helpful.

I had a fantastic and rare opportunity to look at the flower show behind the scenes and I have to say it was an inspiration. I looked very closely at the way materials are used and with out giving anything away Luciano Giubbilei & Ulf Nordfjell's garden have given me hours of thought about how they work with landscape materials alongside plants and how to challenge myself.

I learnt a few priceless lessons from Chris and a wonderful lady called Nina, who I hope I have made a friend in. In all it was a fantastic trip topped of by meeting up with Claire Potter on Friday and taking a few minutes (sorry really hours) off to look around along with popping into Potterton Books in Chelsea and purchasing Gardens of the Loire Valley through the seasons by Marie-Francoise Valery.

I will be back at Chelsea, with Sean, on Wednesday to have a look around at the worlds most prestigious flower show, in all her finery.

More Malvern

2009-05-16T08:25:00.004+01:00

Well firstly I sat down for a brief rest to watch Gardeners World, I won’t lie I haven’t watched it since Monty Don departed but I wanted to see the Malvern coverage, glad I did I’m off to the Auricular nursery tomorrow morning. The reason I ramble was my shock at seeing my totally shocked face peeping out as Chris announced the winner. Anyway enough on me I wanted to share with you the most amazing border at Malvern. The creation is by Debbie Bird and she, the creation, is called Lola. Its so simple and clever but we watched Debbie struggle un-pinning the clematis from fan trained trellis and pin it back onto the most intricate wire work frame. The finished result is amazing and she was awarded a very well deserved RHS Silver Medal. See my picture of Lola and believe me my photo does not do her justice.

Malvern Spring Show 2009

2009-05-16T08:23:00.006+01:00

The first day of the show opened to initial disappointment when we received a Bronze Medal for our Show Garden ‘Il Ballo Della Vita Humana’. I must now explain the disappointment: Felice Tocchini, the amazing Tuscan chef had chosen the garden to turn into a scale model cake to be auctioned for charity. Not only this accolade but my friend and broadcaster Johnnie Amos had come over to the show to interview me............... with this there were so many other people who’s faith and belief I felt I had let down. After talking through the judging with the judges at feedback it became apparent where the mistakes (all mine) had be come all to clear. Sean ever pragmatic said to be ‘well you have learned for next time’ and by this time I had to agree and get ready for the show.

The other news and if you have studied the picture may not be a total surprise was that I was also entered into the Chris Beardshaw Mentoring Scholarship, sponsored by Bradstone. I had written myself off actually. When Chris introduced the winner I was sat thinking yep I know this person and yes its not me. When my name was said I went into total shock and disbelief. Anyway more later as its currently time to go back to Malvern for Friday’s Malvern Spring Show day.

I’ll leave you with a picture of me and the fabulous Sabrina Duncan International.

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