E 46 Usy 5 S

All greenhouses are see-through
But ours have a remarkable transparency
We began as a family business in 1952 and we are intent on being here in 2052, and beyond. Designing and
building the finest greenhouses is a personal commitment shared by everyone at Alitex. We are partners of the
National Trust and endorsed by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Our reputation rests on every joint, every fixing
and every finial. We underpin all this with a lifetime guarantee. We would like to invite you to inspect our range,
scrutinise our expertise and examine our ethos.
G R E E N H O U S E S A N D C O N S E R VAT O R I E S
www.alitex.co.uk 01730 826900

Welcome
CONTRIBUTORS
Helen Billiald
Helen is a freelance
garden journalist who
T he garden may be a quieter place
as winter gets under way, with
fewer tasks on the to-do list, but
that diminishes neither its value nor how
pleasurable it is to be outside at this time of
has a background
in plant science year. That’s especially true on those cold,
and ecology. She’s
passionate about the perfectly crisp days of winter, like those we were lucky enough
stories behind the
creation of a beautiful
to capture in the gardens featured in this issue: Rodmarton
plot, visiting Newton Manor with its chunky, frost-dusted Arts and Crafts topiary, or
House on page 26.
the invigorating new winter garden at Wakehurst, for example.
In fact being outside in the garden can sometimes be such a
tonic that the weather doesn’t matter a bit. I spent a very soggy
session planting my spring bulbs recently, but relished the time
outdoors so much – after months stuck indoors renovating and
decorating – that I really didn’t care about the rain trickling
down my neck or my damp socks. But that’s the power of
gardening, as anyone bitten by the bug will testify.
Gordon Hayward
Gordon is a garden This issue we’re revealing the winners of our Nation’s
writer, designer and
lecturer based in
Favourite Gardens competition, and each one of them is truly
Vermont. His garden, aware of gardening’s power – not just to raise phenomenal
created with his wife
Mary, who is from amounts for the National Garden Scheme by opening to
Chipping Campden,
is registered with the
the public, but to continually inspire them to strive for such
Smithsonian’s Archives perfection. The heartiest of congratulations to them all!
of American Gardens.
CLARE FOGGETT, EDITOR
ON THE COVER DIGITAL PLATFORMS

Perfect frosty Purchase digital
Carole Drake
IMAGES JOSEPH VALENTINE; NEIL HEPWORTH
symmetry in the Arts editions of The

Carole is a garden and Crafts garden of English Garden for
photographer and Rodmarton Manor, phone and tablet
writer interested in near Cirencester, from the App Store
foliage, conifers and Gloucestershire. for iPhones, and
green gardens. Her tiny Photographed by Google Play for
Somerset courtyard Clive Nichols. Android.
is full of bamboo,
succulents – and ivy,
which she writes about
on page 73. The-English-Garden-Magazine @TEGmagazine englishgardenuk theenglishgardenmagazine
DECEMBER 2019 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 3

For everyone who loves beautiful gardens
DEVELOP
theenglishgarden.co.uk YOUR
The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd,
Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London SW3 3TQ
PASSION
Tel: 020 7349 3700 Email: theenglishgarden@chelseamagazines.com
FOR
PLANTING
Editorial
EDITOR Clare Foggett
DEPUTY EDITOR Vivienne Hambly
DESIGN
ART EDITOR Jeremy Bird
PRODUCTION EDITOR Vanessa Longworth
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Phoebe Jayes
Advertising
SALES DIRECTOR Cameron Hay
HEAD OF MARKET Freddy Halliday At the London College of Garden Design our
SENIOR SALES EXECUTIVE Sachin Patel
aim is to provide world- class, inspirational
Tel: 020 7349 3733; sachin.patel@chelseamagazines.com
SALES EXECUTIVE Astrid Elsen garden design training. Our six month
Tel: 020 7349 3743; astrid.elsen@chelseamagazines.com
ADVERTISING PRODUCTION allpointsmedia
Planting Design Diploma has been created
to enable students to learn from the very best
Publishing
CHAIRMAN Paul Dobson
designers and plants people.
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Kevin Petley
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Vicki Gavin
DIRECTOR OF MEDIA James Dobson
PUBLISHER Caroline Scott
EA TO CHAIRMAN Sarah Porter
CIRCULATION MANAGER Daniel Webb
Chelsea Create
MANAGING DIRECTOR Steve Ross
PARTNERSHIPS DIRECTOR Lyndal Beeton
Online
GROUP DIGITAL MANAGER Ben Iskander
DIGITAL EXECUTIVE Jenny Choo
Production
REPROGRAPHICS MANAGER Neil Puttnam
PRINTING William Gibbons Ltd, Willenhall, UK
Through practical workshops, inspirational lectures
The English Garden (UK issue) ISSN no 1361-2840. Printed in England.
and visits the Planting Design Diploma explores
contemporary and traditional approaches to support and
develop your planting design skills. This is a unique course
SUBSCRIPTION ENQUIRIES
not found anywhere else in Europe, delivered over 30 days
01858 438854 from January to June at our home in the Royal Botanic
EMAIL theenglishgarden@subscription.co.uk
Gardens at Kew.
SUBSCRIPTION OFFICE SUBSCRIPTION RATES
The English Garden, CDS UK £72 (13 issues) The course is led by Andrew Fisher Tomlin, designer
Global, Sovereign Park, Overseas £84 (13 issues) and Chartered Horticulturist, and we are fortunate to
Market Harborough, have leading specialists lecturers including Neil Lucas
Leicestershire LE16 9EF, NEWS DISTRIBUTION
UK. Tel: 01858 438854. Seymour Distribution Ltd,
of Knoll Gardens, Tony Kirkham from the Royal Botanic
Europe and Rest of World: 2 East Poultry Avenue, Gardens, Kew and Nigel Dunnett from the University
+44 (0)1858 438854. London EC1A 9PT, UK. of Sheffield. Designer tutors include James and Helen
Tel: +44 (0)20 7429 3667.
Basson, Jo Thompson, Ann-Marie Powell, Carolyn Willitts
and Amanda Patton.
The Professional
Publishers Association
CONTACT US
Member
+44 (0)1483 762955

© The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd 2019. All rights reserved. Text and pictures are info@lcgd.org.uk
copyright restricted and must not be reproduced without permission of the publishers.
The information in The English Garden has been published in good faith and every effort
has been made to ensure its accuracy. However, where appropriate, you are advised lcgd.org.uk
to check prices, opening times and dates etc before making final arrangements. All
liability for loss, disappointment, negligence or damage caused by reliance on the
information within this publication is hereby excluded. The opinions expressed
by the contributors of The English Garden are not necessarily those of the publisher.
www.chelseamagazines.com: Publishers of The English Home, Artists & Illustrators, Baby,
Little London, Wedding Ideas, BRITAIN, Discover Britain, Cruise International,
Independent School Parent and associated guides, Racecar Engineering, Classic Boat,
Sailing Today, Yachts & Yachting and Popshot.
December 2019
CONTENTS
Gardens
26 Newton House The gargantuan task of
restoring a crumbling Jacobean manor in
Somerset and its extensive grounds was
undertaken by Jane and Robin Cannon.
34 Wakehurst This new Winter Garden in

Sussex rejects a formal botanical layout
in favour of immersive swathes of plants
chosen for seasonal scent and colour.
40 Craigfoodie James and Lindsay Murray

couldn’t resist the challenge of the large
walled garden and surrounding woodland of
this grand home and gardens in Fife.
48 Rodmarton Manor In winter, Rodmarton

Manor in the Cotswolds provides a
masterclass in structure and containment,
two of the principles of Arts & Crafts design.
57 The Nation’s Favourite Gardens We

announce the regional and overall winners
of our competition, in association with the
34
National Garden Scheme, to find the Nation’s
Favourite Gardens to visit.
Design
67
95 The Modern Gardener Don’t be daunted
by technology: it can work with traditional
gardening techniques to help with watering,
weeding, lighting and lawn mowing.
101 Sarah Paxton Joseph Paxton was one

of the foremost gardeners of the 1800s. Yet
his astonishing career would not have been
possible without his capable wife Sarah.
Plants
67 Top 10 Plants This selection of evergreen
trees and shrubs will colourfully transform as
winter temperatures plummet.
73 Plant Focus The fantastic wildlife

benefits, diverse shapes and forms and
cunning growth tactics of ivy, put it in a class
17
of its own, says Carole Drake on a visit to
Warwickshire’s Fibrex Nurseries.
79 Double H Orchids Exotic phalaenopsis

orchids sell in their millions across the UK and
thrive in our homes. Jane Perrone visits the
26
country’s main grower, in Hampshire.
85 Armchair Botany This month, Jim Cable

investigates the massive, interlinked daisy
family, also known as Asteraceae.
6 THE ENGLISH GARDEN DECEMBER 2019

The Perfect
48 Winter Warmer
Create magical evenings
throughout winter with outdoor
gatherings around a warm and
glowing firepit...
01694 771800 /kadaifirebowls
73 9
91 In Season Slow to grow but a real treat
to eat, parsnips are improved by a hard
frost, which sweetens their creamy flesh.
Regulars
IMAGES CLIVE NICHOLS; HEATHER EDWARDS; GAP/LIZ EVERY; CAROLE DRAKE; SHUTTERSTOCK
9 This Month Our guide to gardens to visit,

places to go, things to do and nature to note.
17 Christmas Gift Guide Our ultimate guide

to gifts for the different gardeners in your life.
107 The Reviewer December’s literary

digest, and a chat with Prof. Roderick Floud.
114 Last Word Katherine Swift on the

festive garden gifts that keep on giving.
Offers
32 Subscribe & Save Subscribe to
The English Garden and save money.
77 Sarah Raven 20% off Christmas lights

to add sparkle to your garden this winter.

DECEMBER
Gardens to Visit
Seek inspiration for your own garden by visiting one of Britain’s best
SGS GARDEN
Glenwhan
Gardens
Stranraer, Scotland
Described as one of the

most beautiful gardens
in Scotland, Glenwhan
Gardens is perched 300
feet above sea level,
overlooking Luce Bay
and the Mull of Galloway,
with clear views to the Isle
of Man. Forty years ago
there was wild moorland
here, but now there are
visionary collections
of glorious plants from
around the world. Paths
wind through all-season
planting, sculpture and
Winter WONDERLANDS
well-placed seats, all
set around small lakes,
which add to the tranquil,
Enjoy the stark beauty of these winter gardens, with an emphasis on sheltered atmosphere.
scent and sculptural forms, enlivened with the odd splash of colour Open daily 10am-5pm.
Adults £6; concessions,
Cambridge University RHS Harlow Carr Bressingham groups and students
Botanic Garden Enjoy winter shapes, colours Six distinct gardens occupy £4.50; season ticket £18;
Cambridge Botanic’s winter and textures on this winter these 17-acre grounds in family ticket £13 (up to
garden (above) is a sensory walk in Harrogate. Clipped Norfolk. The winter garden three children). Tea rooms
haven with a diverse range yew, evergreens and conifers is not to be missed – it’s a on site. Dunragit, Stranraer,
of striking plants. Seasonal form the main backbone of brilliant riot of coloured stems, Wigtownshire DG9 8PH.
highlights include the headily the display, which is lit up by snowdrops, hellebores, early Tel: 07787 990702;
WORDS PHOEBE JAYES IMAGES HOWARD RICE; NATIONAL TRUST/CHRIS LACEY; RHS
fragrant Daphne bholua salix and cornus. Tel: 01423 bulbs and winter-flowering scotlandsgardens.org
and the intense red stems 565418; rhs.org.uk heathers. Tel: 01379 686900;
of Cornus alba. Tel: 01223 bressingham.co.uk
336265; botanic.cam.ac.uk
Anglesey Abbey
Dunham Massey Lord Fairhaven designed this
Spread over seven acres Cambridge garden to include
in Greater Manchester, this areas of interest in every
winter garden (right) is the season. The winter garden is
largest of its kind in the UK. filled with fragrant sarcococca,
You’ll find over 1,600 winter while glorious colours blaze
shrubs alongside beeches, from scarlet willow and red-
oaks and birches. Tel: 0161 barked dogwood. Tel: 01223
9411025; nationaltrust.org.uk 810080; nationaltrust.org.uk

DECEMBER
Places to Go
Unmissable flower shows, plant fairs, courses and exhibitions to attend this month
Bare BONES
Winter beauty at
Sissinghurst Castle Garden
2 November-6 March, Kent
Sissinghurst is now opening its doors on
winter weekends so visitors can enjoy the
garden’s bare beauty. The colder months
are the best time to see its architectural
framework, and the Tower provides a
perfect viewing platform. Visitors can also
peek at Dan Pearson’s Delos, designed to
reflect the inspiration Vita and Harold took
from Greece. Adult: £9.90; children £4.95.
Tel: 01580 710700; nationaltrust.org.uk
Winter GLOW
Enchanted Christmas at Westonbirt Arboretum
29 November-22 December, Fridays to Sundays, Gloucestershire
The Enchanted Christmas trail returns to Westonbirt this winter, with a new
pathway through illuminated trees to an enchanted wonderland. Visitors can
meet woodland characters and enjoy light displays along the way, before
warming up at the Christmas village with festive market stalls, arts and crafts
activities and mugs of hot chocolate or mulled wine. Adult: £15; children 5+:
£7.50. Tel: 03000 674890; forestryengland.uk
LOOKING AHEAD: Festive ACTIVITIES

Christmas Gift Visitors will travel the globe, Christmas Floral Art
Fair at Hyde Hall from a Nordic winter to a at Polesden Lacey
29 Nov -1 Dec & 6-8 Dec, blossom-filled Japan. Adult: 5 & 12 Dec, Surrey
Essex £25; children £15. Tel: 01246 This workshop teaches how to
WORDS PHOEBE JAYES IMAGES NATIONAL TRUST/MARK WIGMORE
Handmade gifts and a chance 565300; chatsworth.org create a festive floral display.
for kids to make their own and Tickets: £35. Tel: 01372
meet Santa. Normal admission Christmas Past and 452048; nationaltrust.org.uk
+ extra for children’s activities. Present at Fenton House
Tel: 01245 402019; rhs.org.uk 30 Nov-15 Dec, London Christmas Trail Gardens this Christmas, where
Festive magic, including early at Claremont you’ll help Ruby Robin find her
Christmas at Chatsworth choral music, workshops, 7-23 Dec, Surrey friends along the way. Normal
9 Nov-5 Jan, Derbyshire and mulled wine. Adult: £9; Take the kids on a magical admission + £1 for trail.
‘In a land far, far away’ (right) children: £4.50. Tel: 020 743 trail around the gardens Tel: 01372 467806;
is the theme this Christmas. 53471; nationaltrust.org.uk at Claremont Landscape nationaltrust.org.uk

The Professionals
Tutors that run our courses run their own studios
Inchbald School Of Design
Full time, part time and online garden design courses available.
020 7630 9011 | gardens@inchbald.co.uk | www.inchbald.co.uk
60 Heritage counts
CREATING
CAREERS
YEARS
DECEMBER
Things to Do
Keep up to date in the garden with our monthly guide to key gardening tasks
Checklist
Check that
greenhouse heaters are
fully functioning and
that their thermostats
are working – ready for
the colder nights.
Make sure any

pruning required on
birches, acers and
vines is done before
Christmas (after which
their sap rises) to avoid
the wounds bleeding.
If hard frosts are

forecast, dig up any
crops needed for the
Christmas dinner, such
as parsnips or leeks,
while you can still get
them out of the soil.
AGELESS Beauty As leaves fall from

deciduous shrubs, take
hardwood cuttings
Use garden-foraged or bought dried flowers to make an everlasting
of any you’d like to
posy this Christmas, to give as a gift or to decorate the house propagate.
Dried flowers are back as a Method 2 Take a couple of stems of Insulate taps and
stylish floral trend this year. 1 Group your selection of flowers and foliage in your left outside pipes to
Rachel Wardley of Tallulah dried flowers by type. This will hand if you’re right-handed, or prevent damage.
Rose Flower School at Levens make choosing them more vice versa if left-handed. Take Turn pots of growing
Hall, Cumbria, explains how to straightforward and will mean a couple more and cross them amaryllis regularly so
create a naturally everlasting that your stems are less likely to over the ones in your hand. their lofty flowers don’t
WORDS RACHEL WARDLEY; PHOEBE JAYES IMAGES JESSICA REEVE; SHUTTERSTOCK

posy of flowers this Christmas, become tangled. 3 Rotate stems anticlockwise, tilt towards the light.
swaddled in vintage fabric and add more stems and rotate
tied with a silk ribbon – a wintry again. Keep adding and
gift that will last. rotating, building up the posy.
Rachel sourced the dried 4 Alternate the heights of
flowers, foliage, seedheads flowers and foliage and use a
and grasses for her winter mix of different-sized flowers
posy from Lincoln flower too. Add foliage, pods and
farmer, Sandra Bright. You seedheads for interest.
can dry your own at home or 5 Once all the stems have been
keep it seasonal and British used, tie securely with twine.
by finding your local Flowers 6 Gift-wrap with fabric and tie
from the Farm grower at with ribbon to finish your posy.
flowersfromthefarm.co.uk. tallulahroseflowers.com

DECEMBER
Nature to Note
Your monthly guide to encouraging and caring for garden wildlife
Seeds of CHANGE
Feeding goldfinches is boosting numbers
Appearance: These colourful little birds have black wings
with a bright-yellow wing patch, a black tail with white
spots and a noticeably pointed beak. Unlike juveniles, adult
goldfinches also carry a splash of red across their face.
Habitat: Goldfinches can be spotted across the UK all
year round. They reside anywhere with trees, bushes and
seeding plants – gardens, parks, heathland and orchards.
Nesting in trees in late spring, they migrate south for winter.
What you can do: Some good news for once: goldfinch
numbers are increasing, largely due to people leaving food
out for them. Put out Nyjer seeds in a special Nyjer feeder
in winter and plant your garden with teasel. Teasel flowers
feed pollinators in summer, while their seedheads attract
goldfinches, who literally ‘tease’ the seeds out.
WILDFLOWER FOLKLORE
Help wildlife this DECEMBER
Winter heather Give birds a high-fat diet; keep ponds free of ice; put up
Over the long, bleak winter months, nest boxes for robins; gift a wildlife charity membership
when most of the other heathers
In the coldest weather, birds benefit a Wildlife Trust or RSPB gift membership,
and wildflowers are lying dormant,
from a high-fat diet, which will help them both of which come with various benefits
Erica carnea, which is otherwise
put on insulating weight. Leave suet and support the brilliant work these
known as winter heather or heath,
balls or cakes out in a feeder or on a bird organisations do for UK wildlife
emerges triumphant to brighten
table for them, but always remove any
up the gloomy scene.
netting, which can trap feet and beaks
The name ‘heather’
If you have a pond that is prone to
is derived
freezing over, float a ball on it to help
from the
prevent ice so that fish, newts and
Old English
frogs have enough oxygen. Float a
word ‘haeth’,
ping pong ball in bird baths so a small
meaning
area stays ice-free, letting birds drink.
untilled land,
WORDS PHOEBE JAYES IMAGES SHUTTERSTOCK
Put up an open-fronted nestbox for

and this forms
robins. They are one of the earliest
the root of the
birds to nest – sometimes as early as
word ‘heathen,’
January – although they don’t usually
which refers to someone
start breeding until March.
who is living out in the
Unsure what to give a fellow
wilderness and away from
wildlife lover for Christmas? Try
the church.

Rated ‘Excellent’
Gravity.
Low and deep seats can make rising from a chair
or sofa challenging. HSL chairs and sofas are
designed with CleverComfort™ incorporating a
higher, less deep seat and arms in just the right
place to enable you to rise with ease.
The Glenmore, shown

in Solway Check Amber
BRITISH MADE
BY
Allow our experts to

find your true comfort
Call 01924 507050 Quote BBG19 with a personalised
Visit www.hslchairs.com
To request a FREE CATALOGUE or book a FREE HOME VISIT
COMFORT STORES NATIONWIDE
Michael Michaud Jewellery captures the beauty
and exquisite detail of nature using soft patinas
on bronze cast from plants, leaves and flowers.
Michael Michaud Jewellery is renowned for its beauty and

workmanship and is featured in the finest museums, galleries
and speciality retailers internationally. Many collections are
commissioned by leading museums such as The Victoria &
Albert Museum, The Art Institute of Chicago, The National
Gallery of Art and the Château de Versailles.
www.michael-michaud.com
GIFT GUIDE
Gifts for
WORDS: PHOEBE JAYES. ALL PRICES CORRECT AT TIME OF GOING TO PRESS.
Gardeners
Find the perfect present for gardeners and garden
lovers with our inspiring selection of Christmas gifts,
from affordable stocking fillers to high-end treats

GIFT GUIDE
1
Flower Power 4
Floral-themed accessories for

the home and practical gifts
for out on the cutting patch
10
1. 6 wild flower napkins, £85. crafteditions.co.uk
2. Sweet pea tin with seeds, £3.50. Tel: 01476
530063; visiteaston.co.uk 3. Block print cushion in
small lotus jal blue, £62. themewsfurnishings.com
4. Linen cross back apron, £69. Tel: 0333
4005200; toa.st/uk 5. Small terracotta
tapered modern pot, £115. Tel: 0800 1114699; 5
davidaustinroses.co.uk 6. Sentei garden scissors,
£29. Tel: 01747 445059; niwaki.com 7. Sutton
Lane Meadows kneeler, £20. Tel: 0300 1232025;
shop.nationaltrust.org.uk 8. Coral pink canvas
women’s classics, £38. Tel: 0800 0281816; toms.
co.uk 9. Orange scarf, £65. Tel: +45 88 77 93 98;
ilsejacobsen.com/gb/en 10. Ceramic mini floral
vase, £6. Tel: 0845 1308229; tch.net
9
6
7
8

2
3
Herbal Remedy
10 Choose from scented salves and 5
oils or gift these accessories for
growing and making
1. Herb pots in raspberry, £15.95. Tel: 0345
5480210; annabeljames.co.uk 2. Amber glass
dropping bottle, glass dropper, £33 for 12.
Tel: 01480 272279; coleparmer.co.uk 3. Le’Xpress
900ml infuser teapot by KitchenCraft, £30.99.
amazon.co.uk 4. PROVENCE essential oil blend,
£14. petitsrituels.com 5. Rustic cast iron plant
etagere, £130. Tel: 0344 5672400; thefarthing.
9 co.uk 6. Old herb choppers, from £26. Tel: 01434
634567; re-foundobjects.com 7. Victor traditional
cast iron kitchen scales, £82. Tel: 0345 2591410;
artisanti.com 8. Withington bowl – large, £15.
Tel: 01993 845559; gardentrading.co.uk 9. Green
wood herb marker bundle, £3. Tel 0845 1308229;
tch.net 10. Eucalyptus salve, £10. Tel: 01747
834634; nealsyardremedies.com
6
8
7
GIFT GUIDE 1
Plot to Plate
Inspiration and essential
tools to ensure a bumper crop for
10
grow-your-own enthusiasts
4
1. Bespoke greenhouse, £POA. Tel: 01730 826900;
alitex.co.uk 2. Vegetable cart, £595.
Tel: 01434 409085; ibbidirect.co.uk 3. Classic
VegTrug – medium, £179.99. vegtrug.com
4. Natural Elements vegetable jute sack, £10.95.
Tel: 01722 506045; dinghams.co.uk 5. Garden
apron, £25. Tel: 01993 845559; gardentrading.
co.uk 6. Long thin trowel, £17.95. Tel: 03332
401228; sophieconran.com 7. Aldsworth
vegetable store, £125. Tel: 01993 845559; 5
gardentrading.co.uk 8. Stainless steel long-
handled Dutch hoe, £29.99. Tel: 0345 2668010;
9 dobbies.com 9. The Vegetable Garden by
E. R. Janes, £12.54. countryhouselibrary.co.uk
10. Weather clock, £385. bramwellbrown.com
6
8

3
1
Natural Beauty 5
Gifts inspired by the natural

world for the garden wildlife
lover in your life
10
1. Hanging outdoor plant pot, £19.95. Tel: 01302
741000; melodymaison.co.uk 2. Emma Bridgewater
garden birds large tray, £33. Tel: 01769 579077;
daisypark.co.uk 3. Acorn bird house, £18.95.
6
Tel: 01270 812717; idyllhome.co.uk 4. Hanging
beaded beetle, £10.95. Tel: 01434 634567;
re-foundobjects.com 5. Planting for Honeybees by
Sarah Wyndham Lewis, £12.50. Tel: 020 8332 3123;
shop.kew.org 6. Patrick and Philippa robins bird
bath, £19.99. Tel: 0344 567400; thefarthing.co.uk
7. Bird feeder and scoop, £18.95. Tel: 0345 5480210;
annabeljames.co.uk 8. Copper seed feeder, £24.99.
Tel: 0345 2668010; dobbies.com 9. Shetland wild
bee house, £25. Tel: 01993 845559; gardentrading.
co.uk 10. Emma Bridgewater robin 1/2pt mug,
£19.95. Tel: 01769 579077; daisypark.co.uk
9
7

GIFT GUIDE 1 3
Neat Freaks
For those with a love of topiary
here are the perfect accessories for
creating the smartest shapes
1. Gardening lopper, £39.95. Tel: 03332 401228;
sophieconran.com 2. Great Warwick pot, £1,550.
Tel: 01608 684416; whichfordpottery.com
3. Practical guide to pruning, training & topiary by
Richard Bird, £15. Tel: 0808 1188787; waterstones.
10 com 4. Cordless long-reach hedge trimmer, £359. 6
Tel: 01276 417678; shop.stihl.co.uk 5. Darlac
lightweight ladies shears, £18.99. Tel: 01344
578833; rhsplants.co.uk 6. Ball topiary frame,
£21.99. Tel: 01344 578 800; waitrosegarden.com
7. Botanical botanica topiary wallpaper, from
£95 per 10m roll. Tel: 020 8442 8844; cole-and-
son.com 8. Darlac expert topiary shears, £22.99.
5
H £2
Tel: 01344 578111; crocus.co.uk 9. RHS lead lite

T
cube, from £10.99. Tel: 01344 578111; crocus.co.uk

WOR
10. 6ft platform tripod ladder*, £275. Tel: 03333

EET
444229; henchman.co.uk
ER F
UBB
7
EE R
R FR
S FO
XMA
LISH
8
ENG
E
COD
*USE

1
For Foodies 4
Delicious things to nibble and
sip, plus stylish kitchen kit for
budding masterchefs
1. Sprouts medium oblong plate, £39.95.
Tel: 01782 210565; emmabridgewater.co.uk
2. Tales and Recipes from the Kitchen Garden by
The Pig, £30. Tel: 01590 622354; thepighotel.com
3. Christmas village apron, £26. Tel: 03333 202663;
cathkidston.com 4. Hand print oven mitts, £24. Tel:
10 03332 401228; sophieconran.com 5. Granite pestle
& mortar, £20. Tel: 01993 845559; gardentrading.
5
co.uk 6. Embroidered calendar and biscuits, £183.
Tel: 03332 401228; sophieconran.com 7. Silent
9 Pool gin, £37. Tel: 01483 229136; silentpooldistillers.
com 8. Leeden handle basket, from £12. Tel:
0800 0831233; daylesford.com 9. Blackbird &
bramble placemats, £24.95. Tel: 0345 5480210;
annabeljames.co.uk 10. Mature cheddar truckle,
£36. Tel: 01392 851 222; quickes.co.uk

GIFT GUIDE
1
Classic Style 4
For gardeners with more
10 traditional tastes, these timeless
accessories will be just the ticket
1. Woodland seat, £6,720. Tel: 01420 588444;
gazeburvill.com 2. The English Garden binders,
£6.99. chelseamagazines.com 3. Blue Arden cup 5
& saucer, £35. Tel: 01773 740740; burleigh.co.uk 4.
Lorenzo water feature, £299.99. Tel: 0118 9035210;
primrose.co.uk 5. Louis Phillipe teapot, £295.
Tel: 020 7734 8040; fortnumandmason.com 6.
Hemispherean armillary with squared base, £181.
Tel: 0800 6888386; blackcountrymetalworks.
co.uk 7. Silk foulard scarf, £145. Tel: 020 7734
1234; libertylondon.com/uk 8. Feathers pot, from
£24.95. Tel: 03332 224555; highgrovegardens.
com 9. Rose arch, £300. Tel: 0800 1114699;
davidaustinroses.co.uk 10. Clarence urn, £155.
Tel: 01604 266084; haddonstone.com
9
6

NEWTON HOUSE
Salvaged DREAM
The gargantuan task of restoring a crumbling Jacobean manor and its extensive
grounds was undertaken by Jane and Robin Cannon, who sought to preserve
the legacy of its previous inhabitants by revealing existing vistas in new ways
WORDS HELEN BILLIALD PHOTOGRAPHS HEATHER EDWARDS
The frosted box squares

of the formal garden,
with topiary spirals rising
from terracotta pots set
on cushions of lavender.
A
long the banks of the River Yeo,
wrapped in a tapestry of walled
gardens, orchards, avenues and
woodland, sits a fine Jacobean
manor. On a cold clear morning, Above Fine views of dream really,” explains Jane, of their decision to buy
frost picks out the long lines of box hedging the restored Jacobean the house. “It was foolish, but it needed to be saved
manor house from
crisscrossing the formal gardens and splinters and we wanted to breathe life into it for the next 100
across the formal
a course across greenhouse glass. It sharpens garden, with deep-red years. Our view is that we’re only the custodians,
the pleached limes, turns rosehips to sugared roses in the foreground. and we wanted to salvage the dreams and memories
confectionery and rims topiary and bulrushes alike. of those who had lived here for so many centuries.”
None of this settled beauty suggests the reality Spurred on by this mixture of hope and ambition,
facing Newton House just a decade ago. Half a the Cannons became custodians of the once-splendid
century of decline had seen its former gardens Newton House in October 2007 – the first time
subside beneath waves of brambles and scrub until the property had been sold in its 400-year history.
only their ivy-clad walls, crumbling outbuildings The emotionally exhausting task of restoring and
and a fragment of the former 90-foot glasshouse updating the house would continue over the next ten
remained. Inside the house, dwindling family years, ultimately resulting in the impressive family
fortunes meant only 12 radiators heated 40 rooms, home of today. At the same time, work began in the
electric lighting could best be described as ‘sparse’ grounds with a tree surgeon and three gardeners
and the leaking roof urgently needed replacing. cutting back and clearing decades of undergrowth,
The task of coaxing this Grade I-listed property with bonfires burning daily for the first four months.
and 60-acre grounds back from the brink was taken From here Jane and Robin could begin to lay out
on by Jane and Robin Cannon. “It was a romantic the structure of the gardens, viewing it as a complete

redesign rather than a restoration. “We started with
a blank piece of paper,” explained Jane, “and we just
pored over it.” From the start, their guiding principle
was that the garden must have vistas and focal
points, whether statues, sculptures or trees: “There
always had to be something at the end of each vista.”
Access and layout needed to be sensitively
arranged to knit together different areas of the
new garden. Of the five original medieval carp
ponds only two remained, and these were carefully
dredged so as not to damage the clay liners. A new
12m bridge was built to
Above The restored
span the larger pond,
greenhouse contains
leading across to the crops of sweet potato,
huge old Wellingtonia melons and cucumbers.
(Sequoiadendron Right Lutyens benches
surround the formal
giganteum) and what
garden’s central feature:
was once a small formal a finial that echoes the
pleasure garden. Today roof line of the house.

immediate gravitas, while underneath their pleached
branches sit four gleaming white Lutyens benches.
Planting across the gardens is a marriage of Jane
and Robin’s individual styles. For Robin, formality
it is a strikingly simple white garden, marked out Above A quirky troupe and structure were essential, while for Jane a cottage
with alternating birch trees and mock orange, whose of bronze frogs plays garden atmosphere was key. The result is a space
jazz at the edge of a
late-autumn foliage glows even brighter against the that has strong bones, yet is softened with pools
carp pond spanned
icicle-white tree trunks to either side. by a new 12m bridge. of informal colour from thousands of naturalised
New access links the kitchen to the walled kitchen Below Lingering rose daffodils in spring, followed by a succession of irises
garden where the restored greenhouse stands in blooms are dusted with and alliums, roses and agapanthus.
sparkling winter frost.
pristine glory. By using the original 90ft footprint At first, all of the formal garden’s box squares
and copying old metalwork discovered in one of the were intensively planted with beds of cut flowers,
outbuildings, the expanse of glass could be faithfully and perennials, but three years ago Jane and Robin
reconstructed. Today it gives Jane the freedom made the decision to simplify this area and pare back
to experiment with new harvests. As well as the its planting, both to reduce its intensive nature (have
peaches growing against its back wall she produces you tried deadheading 74 standard roses lately?) and
sweet potatoes, melons and cucumbers to enhance the strength of its design.
along with a precious winter supply of Today, many of the box squares surround
squeakily fresh micro-salads. spiral yew topiary pots sat on lavender
Behind the kitchen garden is the new ‘Hidcote’ cushions and edged by sharply
formal garden, where more than 3,000 box mown lawn. “We found this simpler form
plants trace out a network of low hedges, of gardening was pleasing to the eye,”
their sharply clipped sides a visual anchor says Jane. It also meant that the gardens
for the winter months. At its centre, the could be maintained with the help of just
Cannons struggled to find a suitably strong one gardener and one groundsman. In
focal point until in the end Sarah had “one winter, the repetition of pots runs through
of those three-o’clock-in-the-morning every corner of the garden, from the
ideas, to scale up a finial from the roof line standard bays edging the kitchen garden’s
and make it a feature in the centre of the glasshouse, to yew cones framing the front
garden”. Around the finial they planted a of the house and the spiral centrepieces of
square of lime trees that brought the area the box hedge squares.

Further repetition appears in
the newly planted avenues where
alternating green and purple
beeches frame a vista up to the
summerhouse, while to the east a
shorter avenue of limes and urns
entice you down to the river where
kingfishers flash by. The cider
orchards have been pruned and
gaps filled with new fruit trees,
while the discovery of tin-pressed
tree names and letters written by
former head gardener Mr Priddle
and sent from the trenches of the
First World War mean original
fruit trees are once again growing
along the garden’s walls.
At the front of the house the
Cannons have planted a simple
staggered willow grove, which,
as Jane points out, is not a
conventional formal plant choice
for a Jacobean manor. But their
colour and form add a lightness
of touch and complement the deer
and peacock sculptures that are
scattered across the front lawn.
With sculpture, it’s the quirky
elements that catch Jane’s eye:
“it’s all about enjoyment and the
things that make you smile,” she
says. In the stripped-back winter
months these sculptures
entice you on through
Clockwise from top left
the garden, from a girl Frosted rosehips; an
skipping through a hula- armillary sphere within
hoop along a gravel path the walled garden;
Eye-catching FEATURES
to a hippo hiding at the seedheads of rudbeckia
are left in place to add Jane Cannon offers her advice on creating a
edge of a pond or a 20ft structure during the visually exciting garden filled with focal points
urn from India that was cold, winter months.
unearthed at Toby’s
Reclamation Yard near Exeter. Structure the garden around Reclamation yards are wonderful
Quirkiest of all is the six-frog jazz ensemble, a selection of vistas and focal places to buy statues and quirky
poised mid-performance on the edge of the carp points – essential parts of garden objects that will make you smile.
pond, as if they might leap in to cool off once the design that people often forget. It helps to think outside the box in
show is over. “They’re wired up to the house,” says Even when you’re designing a tiny order to achieve success and add
Jane, “and when we open the garden, we play jazz garden, it’s so important to ensure that extra wow factor.
on them. It’s a real Marmite moment: people either you always have focal points.
Gardening evolves and that’s the
love it or don’t like them disturbing the peace.”
Create exciting spaces to take exciting thing about it. You plant
As a rising sun begins to melt the hoar frost from
people on a journey. From our something and if it’s in the wrong
the lily pads and gunnera at their feet, it’s difficult
dining room your eye is led to place you can change it. Nothing
to imagine anything disturbing the peace in this
a large urn; from the urn you’re is set in stone.
enchanted valley. ■
pulled up the beech avenue to Seek out the work of sculptors
Newton House, Newton Surmaville, Yeovil, the summerhouse; from the who make you smile. Personal
Somerset, BA20 2RX. No open days are currently summerhouse you look through a favourites include Vanessa
planned for 2020 but details will be added to the sculpture to find that it frames the Marston, Lloyd le Blanc and Judith
website at newtonsurmaville.co.uk face of a statue in the distance… Holmes Drewry.

ORDER BY POST
Yes! I would like to give a subscription to The English Garden
PAYMENT OPTIONS
UK:
Direct Debit: 13 issues for £41.50 - SAVE OVER £30 + FREE GIFT
Credit / Debit Card or Cheque: 13 issues for £46.95 - SAVE OVER £25 + FREE GIFT
Overseas:
Credit Card or Cheque: 13 issues for £49.95 - SAVE OVER £29 NO GIFT
NB: You can also pay for your subscription in Euros, USD$ and AUD$, go online for further details.
YOUR DETAILS
Name
Address
Postcode Country
Email
Telephone
RECIPIENT'S DETAILS (if applicable)
Name
Address
Glorious gardens
From cottages to castles,
Postcode Country owners and gardeners
share their knowledge and
BEST UK OFFER - SAVE 33% - PAY BY DIRECT DEBIT
FREE pass on valuable advice
Annual Direct Debit (UK only): Yes, please send me the next
13 issues for just £41.50 – Saving 33% GIFT
Please fill in the whole form using a ballpoint pen and send to:
Name and full postal address of your Bank or Building Society
Plants and planting
To the Manager
Discover more about
different varieties and pick
Bank/Building Society up wonderful ideas for
Address
your own garden
Postcode
Name(s) of Account Holder(s) Originator’s Identification Number
■■■■■■
9 1 3 3 1 7
Bank/Building Society account number Bank sort code
■■■■■■■■ ■■ ■■ ■■
Reference (for office use only)
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■
Signature
Instruction to your Bank or Building Society

Please pay The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd, Direct Debits from the account detailed in this
instruction subject to the safeguards assured by the Direct Debit Guarantee. I understand that
this instruction may stay with The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd and, if so, details will be passed
electronically to my Bank/Building Society.
CHEQUE / CREDIT / DEBIT CARD ORDERS

I enclose my cheque for ________ payable to The English Garden
Please debit my Visa/Mastercard/Maestro/Delta the sum of ________
Card no. “The English Garden is a
■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ constant reminder of the
Expiry Date Maestro only: Issue no. Security no. beauty of English gardens,
■■ ■■ ■ ■■■ and keeps alive not only the
Signature Date
British tradition of
COMPLETE THE FORM & SEND TO:
gardening but the passion
The English Garden, Sovereign Park, that all gardeners feel for
Lathkill Street, Market Harborough, LE16 9EF, UK the plants and flowers that
If you wish to gift more than one subscription, you can write additional recipients’ name and address details
on a separate sheet of paper. Unless you request otherwise, gift subscriptions will commence with the first
issue to be published after Christmas.
do so well in our cool temperate climate.”
CTEGXM18
Privacy Policy: The English Garden may send you details of our products and services which we think would be of Alan Titchmarsh
interest to you. Please tick if you do not wish to receive such offers . Occasionally we may pass your details to
selected companies. If you do not wish to receive their products or offers please tick this box .
Give a subscription this Christmas
THE PERFECT GIFT
OR FAMILY & FRIENDS
THE english
GARDEN
OCTOBER 2019 For everyone who loves beautiful gardens www.theenglishgarden.co.uk
How to choose
SAVE
up to
the perfect tree
33%
plus
STRETCH FREE
the SEASON
limited edition secateurs
from Spear & Jackson
O worth
Inspirational autumn Delici £32.99
planting ideas wildli
Celebrate October
Top 10 autumn WILDLIF
Colourful DAHLIAS at
Use up homegrown A
Plant ‘Claus Dalby’ CONTA
UK EUROS AUSTRALIA ROW

£41.50 €53.95 AUD$85.95 £49.95
One year (13 issues). Free gift available for UK subscriptions only
+44 (0)1858 438833

www.chelseamagazines.com/CTEGXM19

Sensory DELIGHT
The new Winter Garden at Wakehurst in Sussex rejects a formal botanical layout
in favour of immersive swathes of plants chosen for seasonal scent and colour,
including deliciously fragrant witch hazel, vivid dogwood and drifts of heather
WORDS SARAH GILES PHOTOGRAPHS CLIVE NICHOLS

WA K E H U R S T
Slim birches and skeletal

stands of Calamagrostis
x acutiflora ‘Karl
Foerster’ edge paths
and add structure.
I
f you need some inspiration to keep your “Then the cherry trees add another strong bark
garden looking good right through the colour that picks up the winter sun really well.”
colder months, a visit to the Winter Garden There has been a Winter Garden at Wakehurst for
at Wakehurst in West Sussex is an absolute nearly 40 years, but the previous planting had started
must. Also known as Kew’s ‘Wild Botanic to lose its edge and when the gardens received a £1m
Garden’, Wakehurst is owned by the National Trust, legacy from an admiring benefactor in 2014, it was a
but is used and managed by the Royal Botanic good opportunity to rethink the design – a task that
Gardens, Kew. As well as being the home of the was undertaken by Francis Annette, Wakehurst’s
Millennium Seed Bank, which houses and protects garden supervisor. “I wanted to key into our ‘wild
seed from the world’s most threatened and useful botanic garden’ theme and think about what the
wild plants, it’s a lovely place to visit, and the Winter winter landscape outside of Wakehurst looks like,”
Garden, which opened in January this year and is he says. “On walks along the South Downs, the
now maturing nicely, has been designed using plants sense I got was that what you engage with in winter
and planting ideas that make the most of winter is not lots of individual plants but the shape of
scent and colour. All this is brought to life by the them en masse, and I used that as my inspiration.
special kind of low sunlight that’s a key characteristic While the old winter garden was all about admiring
of the colder months. each specimen separately, the new one is more
At the garden’s heart is a collection of elegant about putting them on a larger canvas for a more
West Himalayan birch trees (Betula utilis var. impressive visual effect.”
jacquemontii), their dramatic white trunks Ed agrees: “The palette of plants that we’ve used
interspersed and contrasting well with the coppery is not dissimilar to what was in the previous winter
tones of five Tibetan cherry trees (Prunus serrula var. garden, and some of the existing plants worked really
tibetica). Both the birch and the cherry trees were well and had earned their right to remain. But the
planted as mature, ten-foot specimens to give instant old layout was very traditional, with big island beds
impact, and that’s certainly had the desired effect. and as much soil and mulch on show as there were
“The birch trees provide the framework that ties plants. Our aim was to present plants in a different
everything together. As your eye roams through the way and create a new version of the garden that no
garden, it’s constantly picking up the one could feel ambiguous about when
Below Gleaming white
lovely white lines of their trunks,” they walked through it – we wanted
trunks of West Himalayan
notes Ed Ikin, who is the head of birch are illuminated by to really stir the senses. The Winter
landscape, horticulture and research. glowing, golden grasses. Garden exemplifies our aim of evoking
emotion in our visitors Above Wide curving
– after all, if we can’t paths are edged with
local Horsham stone to
get people excited about echo the construction
the beauty of plants, of the manor house.
we’re never going to Right The rich, lambent
get anyone involved in colours of dogwood and
leathery bergenia add
conserving them. The lustrous focal points.
stereotypical botanic
garden is made up of lots of individually interesting
plants, but we don’t want to be pigeonholed like that
at Wakehurst. Instead, we prefer to play with form,
style and beauty and create something that is a really
immersive experience.”
A prime example of the en masse planting that
typifies this new space is a vast swathe of Bergenia
‘Eroica’. As it gets colder, its foliage turns a fabulous
burgundy and the effect is all the more breathtaking
because of the large numbers planted together. Its
reddish tones are set off by bushy tufts of semi-
evergreen Carex morrowii and echoed in the bright

red stems of dogwoods Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’ and Clockwise from top left Dotted through the whole space are tall stands
C. sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’. These contrast with Shapely box balls with of Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’,
spiky Yucca filamentosa;
yellow C. sericea ‘Flaviramea’, and all three varieties frosted, fragrant flowers
contrasting beautifully with shorter Pennisetum
are stool-pruned once a year at the beginning of of Hamamelis x alopecuroides ‘Little Bunny’. “I used the tall grasses
April to keep their colour. intermedia ‘Pallida’; in the same way as the birches, to lift the eye as you
The dogwoods are underplanted in some areas Hamamelis x intermedia look across the space,” says Francis, “but whereas
‘Feuerzauber’ glows with
with swathes of the pink, winter-flowering heather deep russet tones; waxy
the birch trunks are solid, the grasses pick up the
Erica x darleyensis ‘Rubina’ and in others with white flowers of Daphne slightest breeze and add movement.”
bronze-leaved Carex comans. Elsewhere, a sea bholua; deep pink Naturally, witch hazels are included in the garden
of the white-flowered heather Erica x darleyensis Daphne bholua var. too, both for the colour of their flowers and for
glacialis has an almost
f. albiflora ‘Silberschmelze’ is interspersed with crystalline beauty.
their scent. The fiery orange flowers of Hamamelis
compact round hummocks of Rhododendron x intermedia ‘Jelena’ work particularly well
yakushimanum, mahonia and gorgeously scented with the white birches, and a venerable ‘Pallida’,
daphnes – both the standard pink-white D. bholua retained from the old garden, has grown into a
‘Jacqueline Postill’ and the less well-known, darker splendid shape, its sulphur-yellow flowers setting off
pink D. bholua var. glacialis. everything else around it beautifully. A Horsham

stone bench with a bespoke oak
top in front of this witch hazel is
carefully positioned so that anyone
pausing there will catch its delicate
fragrance. Carpets of hellebores
(H. x hybridus ‘Red Lady’, ‘White
Lady’ and ‘Harvington Lime’) and
pink Cyclamen coum under a huge
copper beech complete the scene.
Winding paths are edged with
local Horsham stone to echo the
stone of the mansion house. “The
former winter garden had just a
single pathway, making it hard to
engage with the plants, so we added
a series of curving paths to give a
sense of journey and lead visitors
around the space, with elements of
surprise around corners and views
through the planting,” says Francis.
The garden is flanked by a
south-facing wall with Wakehurst’s
imposing stone mansion house at
its western end, both of which offer
a degree of shelter. Along the wall,
cloaked in Clematis cirrhosa and
backed by a vast yucca, is a border
designed to complement the Winter
Garden but with a separate and
rather more formal personality of
its own. Box balls in three different
sizes provide structure, interwoven
with grasses and edged with Festuca
glauca ‘Intense Blue’. In summer,
tender plants and succulents in pots
from the glasshouses are plunged out
along this wall. There is also a series
of three incomplete box
circles here, with stands Above A vivid sweep
of pennisetum in the of pink, winter-flowering
‘missing’ parts of the
circles, as if spilling over
heather Erica x
darleyensis ‘Rubina’ with
Hamamelis ‘Rubinstar’.
Work with the SEASON
from the informal to the Tips on designing your own winter garden from
formal part of the garden. Francis Annette, garden supervisor at Wakehurst
Ed and Francis have taken great pleasure in
watching the garden mature and fill out over the
past 12 months. “The heathers have knitted together A good rule of thumb for any Use shape and texture to create
beautifully and even the young daphnes put on 30 garden is to design with three impact, since you will find yourself
or 40cm of growth over the summer,” says Ed. “In tiers in mind: it’s an approach that restricted in terms of colour at this
all, 33,000 plants, including bulbs and corms, have works particularly well in a winter time of year.
gone into making this a very special place to be, garden where you have limited
Add colour sparingly, making
especially on a cold and frosty day, and it’s become colour to play with. I used several
sure the colours balance and
the immersive space we always hoped it would be.” ■ different plants as groundcover,
complement each other.
planted en masse for maximum
Wakehurst, Ardingly, Haywards Heath, Sussex impact, including pink and white Keep your palette of plants to a
RH17 6TN. Open 10am to 6pm every day except heathers and pink cyclamen. Then minimum. Avoid the temptation
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Tel: 01444 I worked in a series of small shrubs to try to create a stamp collection
894066; kew.org and, finally, small trees for height. of winter specimens!

Second CHANCE
Craigfoodie in Fife was last on sale when James and Lindsay Murray were
househunting in the 1970s. When it returned to the market in 2002 they couldn’t
resist the challenge of its large walled garden and surrounding woodland
WORDS JULIA WATSON PHOTOGRAPHS RAY COX
Quadrants in the walled

garden feature a clock
lawn on the right, a
parterre on the left and
a vegetable garden.
CRAIGFOODIE

E
ven towards the tail end of the abruptly in the middle of the garden, areas of rough
year, as autumn turns into winter, grass dotted with old raspberry canes – that they
Craigfoodie’s garden pleases the eye. knew they would want to change.
Perched on the side of a hill in Fife, “The attraction of the garden is that Craigfoodie
the white-harled, 17th-century house sits in an elevated position, south-facing, with lovely
looks out across a walled garden that is every bit as views of the valley, and that it is set into the Walled
decorative underneath a dusting of frost as it is at the Garden rather than having it miles away,” says
colourful height of summer. James. “It had great potential to become a rather
Craigfoodie has been the home of James and interesting garden.” What they needed was a way of
Lindsay Murray since 2002, when they decided bringing everything together.
to leave nearby St Andrews, where they had lived The Murrays tackled the challenge with landscape
and worked for many years – James as a solicitor designer Michael Innes, who recently worked on
and Lindsay as a teacher. “Our children had grown the garden of Dumfries House in Ayrshire, after it
up and it was time for a move,” says Lindsay. By was rescued by the Prince of Wales. Michael gave
coincidence, Craigfoodie had been on the market the Murrays’ Walled Garden coherence by dividing
when they had been house-hunting as a young couple it into four quadrants, each with its own character,
in 1972, and now here it was, up for sale once again. and he and his team carried out much of the hard
Top Looking up the
malus lawn towards The chance to acquire this historic gem second time landscaping: widening paths, raising the hillside
the house, with a tilted around seemed irresistible. terraces next to the house and building stone steps.
slate sphere sculpture The house, built by Edinburgh lawyer John Michael also gave invaluable advice on planting.
working with the slope. Bethune in 1680, needed work, and the garden, “We’re on our own water supply,” James explains,
Above Gardener Tom
Spence takes down old too, would prove to be a challenge. Although the “so we wanted to ensure that we didn’t have to water
plant supports. Murrays had had a large garden in St Andrews, they all the time, particularly in these sustainable days.”
recognised that they would need help at Craigfoodie, As the garden was transformed, Michael worked
especially in rethinking the Walled Garden. It had closely with Tom Spence, who has been the gardener
elements they liked, such as the clock lawn onto at Craigfoodie since the Murrays moved in. Today
which the drawing-room windows looked, but there the Walled Garden has a strong underlying structure
were other aspects – a row of leylandii, a path ending with a long central path leading to the tennis lawn,

Above These old steps and a cross-shaped path lined with crisply pleached
from the drive are now limes underplanted with ‘White Triumphator’ tulips,
strictly ornamental,
planted up with ferns,
bearded irises and nepeta. Near the crossing point,
iberis and aubrieta. a yew topiary bird, a legacy from the past, still holds
Left Delicate yellow sway and is regularly pruned to keep it in shape.
flowers on Jasminum The clock lawn below the house fills one of the
nudiflorum.
Below Box pyramids and
quadrants, its ‘hours’ marked by the grass between
old staddle stones form the beds. The beds themselves hold calamintha and
a striking feature. geraniums, with standard bays, Laurus nobilis, and
‘Iceberg’ roses for height.
Four plats, each with a clipped dome

of weeping pear, surround a circular
pattern of box, underplanted with thyme
In planning the balancing parterre on the other
side of the path, the Murrays wanted a design
that would look similarly clock-like and found
inspiration in the roundel of the gate to the tennis
lawn. Four plats, each with a clipped dome of
weeping pear, Pyrus salicifolia, surround a circular
pattern of box, underplanted with thyme (a jokey
nod to the clock theme), and a central pyramid of
yew. And down the far side, against the garden wall,
runs a generous herbaceous border that comes into
its own in summer.
Beyond the clock lawn, in an area where soft
fruit was once grown, there is now a malus lawn,
where a dozen Malus ‘Evereste’ crab apples provide
a spectacular display of spring blossom followed
by glowing colour in autumn. They are set into a
simple pattern of four mown-grass rectangles, which
are planted en masse with Crocus tommasinianus

CARRIER COMPANY
RURAL WORKWEAR & ACCESSORIES FROM NORFOLK.
Since 1995 Carrier Company has produced beautiful heritage rural workwear. Manufactured in the
locality with environmental care and attention to detail. Good looking, hardwearing and made to last.
Visitors are always welcome and the work shop in Wighton is open Monday to Friday 9.30 am to 4
pm. Weekends are by appointment.
carriercompany.co.uk +44 (0)1328 820699 Church Farm House, Wighton, Norfolk, NR23 1AL
in pale and dark blue to add to the
wonderful spring show.
A slate ball built by artist Joe Smith
acts as a centrepiece to the malus
garden: lovely in its own right, and
a perfect solution to the fact that the
walled garden slopes from top to
bottom and also has a slight tilt from
west to east. “We realised that you
couldn’t have a traditional statue,
because nothing would look straight,”
says James. “This is a tilted sphere, so it
works very well on the sloping ground.”
Next to the malus garden is the Pump
Above The orange crabs Garden, which has an ancient pump as its focal
of Malus ‘Evereste’. point. A row of leylandii once stood here and it
Left Red persicaria and
was while he was looking at the path beneath them
hesperantha enliven the
border by the house. that Michael Innes noticed that what looked like
Below The youngest ordinary pavers were, in fact, the upturned surfaces
branches of the row of of old staddle stones. Set back the right way up,
pleached limes that runs
and interplanted with box pyramids, they make an
across the centre of the
walled garden glow a unusual and strikingly sculptural feature.
vibrant red in winter. “We originally thought we might like to have
a rill there,” remarks James, “but it turned out to
be too complicated in terms of electricity and so
on, so we decided to have, in effect, a dry rill.” In
the bed between the staddle stones, blue ripples of
chionodoxa are followed by ‘Purple Princess’ tulips,
centaurea and thyme.
Craigfoodie, means ‘the crag above the

bog’ and the house has always drawn
its water from natural springs on site
The fourth quadrant of the Walled Garden
features vegetable beds and orchard trees. The
name of the house, Craigfoodie, means ‘the crag
above the bog’ and just as the stone to build it was
quarried from the hill on which it stands, the house
has always drawn its water from natural springs on
site. Nowadays, the streams are channelled together,
and the ground is no longer boggy, yet the tilt of the
garden means that the bottom left-hand corner is
the most reliably moist area, well suited to growing
produce in Craigfoodie’s neutral, loamy soil.
On the middle and upper terraces beside the
house, where the garden is at its driest, the Murrays
grow drought-tolerant species such as euphorbia,
phlomis, cordyline and phormium. The palm tree
Trachycarpus fortunei thrives here, and so does
Melianthus major – a fairly tender species that
sometimes gets cut back by a hard frost, but is
nevertheless capable of surviving the Scottish winter.
The Murrays grow their soft fruit up here, too,
conveniently close to the kitchen, and there are

several seating areas for Right No one is sure
leisurely meals and for quite what type of bird
the inherited ancient
enjoying the view. Birds
topiary is supposed
made out of scrap metal to be, but it is kept in
by artist Helen Denerley meticulous shape.
perch by the steps.
Beyond the Walled Garden are various woodland
walks. A gate below the middle terrace leads up
to the knoll, where the Murrays have created a
viewpoint in memory of their son, Duncan, who died
in a tragic accident in France in 2009. A curved seat
made from dark Trossachs slate by sculptor James
Parker offers a bird’s-eye view of the garden, backed
by eucalyptus and with a bed of spring and autumn
heathers at its foot. It is a peaceful and lovely place.
James and Lindsay are always adding to the
woodland. Over the years, they have planted
hundreds of native trees such as aspen, birch
and sorbus, and they recently put in a group of
ornamental trees that included weeping golden
cedar, Dawyck beech and ginkgo in celebration of
James’s 70th birthday.
Snowdrops, aconites, daffodils and primroses
have gone in by the thousand to light up the walks in
spring, and Lindsay is eager to plant further shrubs
such as azalea, pieris, magnolia and camellia for
extra spring and autumn colour. Craigfoodie is set
fair to become even more beautiful. ■
Craigfoodie, Dairsie, Fife KY15 4RU opens

occasionally for Scotland’s Gardens Scheme.
Tel: 01334 870291.
Gardening for WINTER INTEREST

Craigfoodie’s Tom Spence offers his expert advice on maintaining an attractive winter garden
Jasminum nudiflorum flowers or our own home-made back hard. They have their easier to locate gaps in the
on the green stems of one- compost. A good rule of flowers taken off and the planting scheme where extra
year-old wood, so to ensure thumb is to feed the soil rather leaves are cut back by half to bulbs may be required.
a strong show of blooms the than the plant. Inorganic make them look tidy without
Planning is very important,
following year, prune it after fertilisers may result in short- leaving them susceptible to
although it is also important
flowering. We do this in late term benefits, but organic cold-weather damage.
compost applied to a depth to remember when gardening
January if the weather has
of 2-3 inches, which is then Winter is a good time to carry that the weather is nothing
been mild. If it’s been cold,
broken down by invertebrates out jobs such as repairing if not unpredictable, so you
we will prune in March.
and microorganisms, produces timber edging in the vegetable need to be adaptable.
For a sharp edge to box a healthy soil structure, better garden and maintaining paths
In a formal garden like this,
hedges use a tight string line nutrient availability, and good with the addition of pea gravel.
features such as clipped
and make sure trimmer blades plant growing conditions. I pot up bulbs in autumn Laurus nobilis in various forms,
are properly sharpened.
I cut back most of the and plant them out in early Pyrus salicifolia ‘Pendula’
At Craigfoodie, we mulch herbaceous perennials, an spring. It is difficult in a large and the pleached lime hedge
annually with composted pine exception being kniphofia, garden to plant all the bulbs Tilia europea will add interest
bark, old potting compost which does not like being cut in autumn, and in spring it is during the winter months.

Your Perfect
Glasshouse
D esigned especially for you
P erfection is just a call away...

Griffin Glasshouses is a British family business with more than 50 years’ experience
delivering the highest quality glasshouses, backed by a lifetime structural guarantee.
Partnering NGS
with our select
range of
www.griffinglasshouses.com
or call: 01962 772512
free standing
glasshouses
Both house and garden
at Arts and Crafts
Rodmarton Manor were
designed by Sidney
Barnsley in 1909.
Exposed
STRUCTURES
In winter, Rodmarton Manor provides a masterclass in structure
and containment, two of the principles of Arts & Crafts design
WORDS VIVIENNE HAMBLY PHOTOGRAPHS CLIVE NICHOLS

RODMARTON
MANOR

Frost-sprinkled
geometric yew
topiary leads to
the summerhouse.
I
t is probably better not to calculate the
miles of hedging at Rodmarton Manor,
near Cirencester. Nor, for that matter,
the varied topiary animating the borders
and vistas that define this Arts and Crafts
garden. It is certainly not a task that owner John
Biddulph particularly wants to undertake any time
soon. “I dread to think how much there is,” he says.
“I think I’d be rather put off.”
Clipping the box, beech and yew is one of the key
tasks in this garden, and takes around three months
to complete. In a normal year, work begins with the
box in July and ends with the beech in October. “It
is a monumental task given the quantity of hedging
there is – and it is not just the clipping, but clearing it
up as well,” notes John. Yet the hedging and topiary
are precisely what provide this garden of rooms
with its identity. While fulsome planting may be
heaven to experience in summer, by winter, when the
architectural forms are picked out with a dusting of
frost or snow and low sunlight falls on the lawns, the
intrinsic nature of the garden is revealed.
Like most Arts and Crafts properties, it is
impossible to consider the garden without looking
at the house and appraising it within the ethos
of the whole. Rodmarton began as the vision of
John Biddulph’s great-grandparents, Claud and
Margaret Biddulph. In 1894, Claud, the younger
son of Michael, the first Lord Biddulph, was given
a tract of land from the larger Kemble Estate that
his elder brother inherited. Claud and Margaret
sought to build a principal family home on this land,
imagining a modest country house, towards which
Claud might put £5,000 a year.
At a similar time, brothers Ernest and Sidney
Barnsley, an architect and furniture maker
respectively, were growing disillusioned with
burgeoning mechanisation and urbanism and moved
their families out of London to the Cotswolds.
Their intention was to build a life aligned with the
Arts and Crafts ideals espoused by William Morris.
Judith B. Tankard, garden historian and author of
Gardens of the Arts and Crafts Movement, notes Fulsome planting may be heaven to
that the Barnsleys were among the first Morris
disciples to do this. They, along with their friend
experience in summer, but by winter, the
Ernest Gimson, easily one of the most influential intrinsic nature of the garden is revealed
Arts and Crafts designers, drew heavily on
vernacular designs and materials, and a number
of properties in the area bear their thumbprint, Top In the front drive, a focus towards Arts and Crafts, and what that meant
not least Owlpen Manor, which was restored by holly hedge and formal for community and village life,” explains John, who,
topiary introduce the
Sidney Barnsley. In time the trio caught the attention mood of the garden.
with his wife Sarah, took on Rodmarton in 2016.
of Lord Bathurst and settled, at his favour, in Above Early morning sun Construction began in 1909 but their
Sapperton, not far from Rodmarton Manor. picks out strong shapes wholehearted commitment to the project – and
Claud and Margaret are unlikely to have been against the soft tilt of the the hiatus enforced by World War I – meant that
Cotswold landscape.
early Arts and Crafts apostles, but an introduction it was 20 years before it was completed. By that
from Lord Bathurst led to the pair commissioning time, Ernest Barnsley had died and his son-in-
the Barnsley brothers to design and build law, Norman Jewson, had taken over. Moreover,
Rodmarton. “Claud and Margaret shifted their Edwardian visions had become outdated, but a

BARE ROOT ROSES
AVAILABLE NOW FOR
AUTUMN PLANTING
Rosa ‘WISLEY 2008’ (Ausbreeze)
Breeders of exquisite English Roses since 1961

Shop online at www.davidaustinroses.co.uk
Right Varied topiary
forms dusted with frost
in the Troughery.
Below A stone urn in
the Leisure Garden,
where early irises and
snowdrops bloom.
much as it was in Margaret and Scrubey’s day.

Close to the house it is an exercise in enclosure,
containment and revelation. On the south side,
especially, walls of Cotswold stone and the many
hedges contrive to make such spaces as a Leisure
Garden, the Troughery comprising stone troughs
planted with alpines, and the Topiary Garden.
These all run off a path lined with spring and
white borders, with cyclamen, aconites, hellebores,
crocuses and snowdrops in winter.
“The east-west axes of the design are key to
the garden because they link each garden room,”
says John. West of the house, a double herbaceous
border, which appears to be planted in the Jekyll
style, terminates in a stone summerhouse, reputedly
a favourite place of Margaret’s in the day.
Beyond this, as with so many gardens of the time,
scale increases and planting relaxes. “There is an
overall declining formality as you move from the
house,” explains John. The dense rooms of the south
century on the Grade I listed house and Grade II* The garden reflects the influences of both
listed garden remain the embodiment of Arts and
Crafts principles. While the house is filled with William Robinson and Gertrude Jekyll,
handmade furniture constructed by Sidney Barnsley
and Gimson, as well as hangings and embroideries
the fashionable designers of the time
crafted by villagers, the garden reflects the influences
of both William Robinson and Gertrude Jekyll, the terrace give way to a ha-ha and farmland views of
fashionable designers of the time. the Marlborough Downs.
Before she married, Margaret Biddulph attended Rodmarton originally had two kitchen gardens: an
Studley Horticultural and Agricultural College for inner one, positioned within the Walled Garden by
Women in Warwickshire, and she later convinced the house, and an outer garden located beyond the
a tutor there, William Scrubey, to join her at garden rooms of the terrace. “That was all cultivated
Rodmarton as head gardener. Changes over the when I was a boy,” recalls John. Over the years it has
past 100 years are inevitable, yet the garden remains mostly been grassed over and today the outer kitchen

Arts & Crafts
DESIGN FEATURES
Judith B. Tankard extensively
studied this period in Gardens of
The Arts and Crafts Movement.
Here, she describes the style
The Arts and Crafts Movement, which was

inspired by William Morris, gave gardens a new
definition as a harmonious component of the
house rather than a separate entity. Gardens were
often designed in collaboration with architects,
such as Sir Edwin Lutyens, and garden designers
like Gertrude Jekyll. They are not meant as an
end in themselves but were conceived as outdoor
rooms that are married to the house.
Key characteristics include simple structuring and

romantic, medieval-inspired imagery derived from OTHER ARTS &
old English manor house gardens. Nothing about CRAFTS GARDENS
them is ostentatious, contrived or foreign. Snowshill Manor A
remarkable Cotswold
Designers used local materials and traditions,
property by Charles Wade,
hedged enclosures, artistic flower borders,
with a stone summerhouse
whimsical topiary trees, small hand-built
named ‘The Jolly Roger’.
structures, sundials, armillary spheres, and other
nationaltrust.org.uk
traditional ornaments.
Hestercombe Gardens
Some of the key designers are Gertrude Jekyll,
Sir Edwin Lutyens and
Edwin Lutyens, Baillie Scott, Robert Lorimer,
Gertrude Jekyll both
Thomas Mawson, Alfred Parsons, Ernest Gimson,
worked on this 50-acre
Sidney Barnsley and Edward Barnsley.
garden near Taunton.
hestercombe.com
Hidcote Inimitable garden
John and Sarah have reshaped a Top The east-west axis

in the Spring Border.
created by American
Lawrence Johnston,
sequence of limes, the tidied forms now Above Clipped birds
in the Walled Garden,
near Chipping Camden.
nationaltrust.org.uk
letting evening sunlight into the house which houses the inner
kitchen garden. Great Fosters A historic
Surrey hotel garden
with contemporary
garden is planted with ornamental trees and a vast been a success and it’s a return to how the borders influence from Kim Wilkie.
snowdrop collection, for which Rodmarton is well were in the 1930s. alexanderhotels.co.uk
known. This was initiated by John’s grandmother But in winter you can look out of the house and
Munstead Wood Erstwhile
in the 1960s and ’70s and continued by his father. really see the structure and form of the garden.
Surrey home of Gertrude
For all this, Rodmarton is not static. John and Once the herbaceous borders are cut back, the
Jekyll. The private garden
Sarah have inevitably made improvements, such as topiary, the pleached limes and the troughs
is open by appointment.
reshaping a sequence of limes that had been left to planted with alpines all become clear. ■
munsteadwood.org.uk
grow for 60 years, the tidied forms now allowing
evening sunlight into the house. “We took the Rodmarton Manor, Rodmarton, Cirencester, Bryans Ground Three-
plunge and repleached them but the clear-up was Gloucestershire GL7 6PF. Open Wednesdays, acre Herefordshire garden
immense,” notes John. The White Borders had Saturdays and Bank Holiday Mondays, May developed in 1913, now
also got out of hand, so Sarah came up with a to September, 2pm to 5pm. Snowdrop days on owned by David Wheeler
design that included grassing some of it over, and 2, 9, 13 and 16 February 2020. Tel: 01285 841442; and Simon Dorrell.
adding yew pyramids and standard roses. That’s rodmarton-manor.co.uk bryansground.co.uk

Chelsea Physic Garden
Christmas Fair
22nd, 23rd and 24th November
Over 100 curated stands including Niwaki, Partridges,
Cocoa Runners, Jane Means and many more
Tickets £7. Book now at chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk
NATION’S FAVOURITE GARDENS
Winners Revealed
You voted in your thousands for the shortlisted entries in our
competition to find the Nation’s Favourite Gardens to visit.
Here we announce the regional and overall winners
T
housands of you have voted for your
favourite gardens from our shortlist
of 30 of the country’s finest, all of
which open for the National Garden
Scheme. Now it’s time to reveal
the winners of 2019’s Nation’s Favourite Gardens
competition, supported by Viking. There’s a winner
for each of the scheme’s six regions, plus one
champion of champions with the most votes overall.
Turn the page to discover these six special and most
deserving gardens, and find out about the gardeners
who have worked hard to create these beautiful
spaces and generously open them for the benefit of
the nursing and caring charities the NGS supports.
IMAGE NICOLA STOCKEN
Coton Manor, near

Northampton,
is renowned for
its plant-packed
herbaceous borders.

Above The Old Rose inexperienced was that I didn’t recognise it was such
Garden at Coton now
features a parterre in
Coton Manor, Northants a major undertaking, so I never felt daunted.”
Overall Winner & Regional Winner: Midlands From the outset, she focused on the borders,
shades of pink and blue,
with sedum, agapanthus developing those created by her late mother-in-
and caryopteris. It’s only once you’ve parked the car, crossed the law and planting new ones, each with a distinct
quiet lane and headed through the stableyard that character. Now Coton is renowned for its beautifully
the gardens of Coton Manor are revealed, skilfully conceived borders, which are constantly fine-tuned
masterminded by Ian and Susie Pasley-Tyler on to supply co-ordinated colour and interest from
the land behind the warm honey-coloured manor spring to late summer. It’s a huge, labour-intensive
house. Actually, the framework of the garden was job and the couple are assisted by two full-time
originally laid out by Ian’s grandparents in the gardeners and regular part-time help, as well as
1920s, but it was when Ian and Susie took over the volunteers. “When we took over we had no idea it
house and garden 30 years ago that the garden began would become so central to our lives,” admits Susie.
to take its present form: an evocative, exemplary Coton Manor’s visitors clearly appreciate all
English garden with ancient bluebell wood, vistas the effort, voting it not only the regional winner
around every corner, streams, ponds and wildflower of the Midlands but also our overall champion –
meadows and, of course, sumptuous borders. “Back congratulations to the Nation’s Favourite Garden!
then, I was little more than a hobby gardener,” Coton Manor, Guilsborough, Northampton
recalls Susie. “But the advantage in being so NN6 8RQ. Tel: 01604 740219; cotonmanor.co.uk

Larch Cottage, Cumbria
Regional Winner: North
The hamlet of Melkinthorpe in Cumbria’s Eden

Valley may be quiet, but our regional winner for
the North, Larch Cottage Nurseries, is a hive of
activity. It was established in the 1980s by its owner,
landscape designer Peter Stott, originally to supply
plants for his landscaping work, but over the years
has developed into a destination in its own right.
Now, as well as browsing plants for sale, visitors
will find a romantic garden to browse for inspiration
with Italianate walls and pillars draped in greenery
– “more Umbria than Cumbria”. Meandering paths
take in abundant borders, urns and statuary as
well as a chapel, built from scratch by Peter for his
IMAGES NICOLA STOCKEN; VAL CORBETT
wedding to his wife, Jo. There is also the Red Barn,

a two-storey gallery with exhibitions by artists and
ceramicists, and an Italian
Above The romantic restaurant, La Casa Verde.
chapel, built by Peter Larch Cottage Nurseries,
Stott, in its idyllic
lakeside setting.
Melkinthorpe, CA10
Left Browse plants 2DR. Tel: 01931 712404;
among Italianate walls. larchcottage.co.uk

Perfect Moments
in the Garden
Juliana Premium
The Juliana Premium has become a classic
of Juliana’s product range and one of our
bestselling models. Such a large number of
satisfied greenhouse owners just can’t be
wrong.
The Juliana Premium is a greenhouse

brimming with potential. Here, tomato &
cucumber plants can grow a little taller and the
vines can creep a little further.
The sturdy profile structure provides a stable,

lovely greenhouse with plenty of space for
realising your personal gardening dreams.
Four sturdy wheels allow you to move the City

Greenhouse to the sunny spot on your balcony
or terrace and take it with you if you move
home.
Two removable plant shelves allow you to take

Juliana City Greenhouse herbs straight to the kitchen or dining table.
For a FREE brochure call 01242 662926

or email contact@greenhouses.com
Juliana Greenhouse Centre For more information please visit
2.4 Barnwood Point, Gloucester, GL4 3HX www.greenhouses.com
Another influence is the Browns’

The Manor House, Bedfordshire fascination with all things
Regional Winner: East Chinese, which has led to a large
collection of herbaceous and tree
Crunch up the gravel driveway towards our regional peonies, and inspired Simon to
winner for the East, the Manor House in Stevington, clip a sinuous yew hedge into a
Bedford, and it won’t be long before you are friendly-looking Chinese dragon.
immersed in its delights – and its surprises, too. His pruning skills are also evident
Garden designer and author Kathy Brown and her in the orchard, which is full of
husband Simon have been here since 1987. When apple, pear, damson, medlar and
they moved in, Kathy was in the middle of writing quince blossom in spring, the lawn
a book about container gardening and one removal below punctuated by cobalt-blue
lorry brought their furniture, while another one was camassias and scented pheasant’s
needed just to bring all their pots! eye narcissus. Elsewhere, Prunus
Over the past 32 years they have gradually shaped ‘Shirofugen’ is smothered in
and filled their four and a half acres with a series candyfloss pink, while mauve tresses of wisteria
of garden rooms that reflect their wide-ranging clothe the walls.
passions and interests, from the literature of John Behind the house, beautifully planted pots spill
Bunyan to the art of Mark Rothko and Matisse. over with bleeding heart, double English daisies and Top A round pool is
While it’s sympathetic to the rolling Bedfordshire other cottage-garden delights. There’s a playfulness ringed with ‘Spring
IMAGES CLIVE NICHOLS
countryside surrounding it, the couple haven’t been to the garden that, Simon says, is intentional. “You Green’ and ‘Queen
of Night’ tulips.
afraid to experiment with some unusual and daring can have a little bit of fun,” he says with a smile.
Above The yew hedge,
ideas: a red, blue, white and yellow painted wall that The Manor House, Stevington Church Road, reinvented as a Chinese
pays homage to Mondrian, for example. Stevington, MK43 7QB. kathybrownsgarden.com dragon by Simon.

ALITAG PLANT LABELS Andrew Crace
www.andrewcrace.com
www.alitags.com
nnual la elling is a thing of the

ast with litags. Sim l write
on litags aluminium la els
with litags or HB encil. The
encil will react with our
s eciall made aluminium tags
and ecome ermanent.
litags la els can also e

unched with litags character eagrave eater
unches ig.
o er, Tea , Bam oo la els

are also a aila le.
litags, 32 Bourne Lane,

Much Hadham,
Hertfordshire SG10 6ER, UK.
Tel 01279 842685
atfield eater
The Bronze Collection

www.the ron ecollection.com
Medium utyens eat
azy Frog - several sizes air of Mice cms high orse ead cms high
atfield efectory Table
are 5 cms high antern cms high reastplate cms high
harles ver Four eater
M T
hic en oc erel - sizes itting uc s cms long ungry Frog cms wide Made from a or ro o
ourne ane, Much adham
32 Bourne Lane, Much Hadham, Hertfordshire SG10 6ER, UK. Tel 01279 842685 erts , . Tel 5
Horatio’s Garden, Wiltshire

Regional Winner: South West
The first Horatio’s Garden at Salisbury Hospital’s

Duke of Cornwall Spinal Treatment Centre was
designed by the award-winning Cleve West and went
on to win several design award accolades. But it
has since gone on to win an even bigger place in the
hearts of those who spend time in it, whether that’s
patients, who often face long stays at the centre,
or friends and family visiting them. It’s a beautiful
sanctuary giving patients contact with the outdoor
world and helping their rehabilitation. A series of
curving limestone walls echoing the spine doubles
as seating, while planting includes grasses to catch
the wind, aromatic herbs and a froth of textural
perennials including fennel and aruncus.
The charity is named after Horatio Chapple, who
had the original idea for a garden after volunteering
on the ward at Salisbury Hospital where his father
was a spinal surgeon. Tragically, Horatio was killed
by a polar bear during an Arctic expedition in 2011 –
donations that followed his death allowed the garden
he had envisaged to be created. Since then, three
IMAGES CLIVE NICHOLS; NGS
more Horatio’s Gardens have been created at spinal

centres in Scotland, Stoke Mandeville and Oswestry.
Horatio’s Garden, The Duke of Cornwall Spinal
Treatment Centre, Salisbury Hospital, Odstock
Road, Salisbury SP2 8BJ. horatiosgarden.org.uk
Kew Green Gardens, London

Regional Winner: South East
The National Garden Scheme’s ‘Yellow Book’ is

chock-full of gardens that open to visitors as groups,
one entry ticket giving access to lots of lovely
gardens. This particular group of gardens, running
down to the River Thames from leafy Kew Green,
is “absolutely unique”, says the legendary county
organiser for the NGS in London, Penny Snell.
The group comprises five like-minded neighbours,
living at 65 to 73 Kew Green, all with slightly
different gardens, but all with the common aim
of supporting the scheme. “It’s such a community
effort,” says Penny. “Some have different conditions,
some are shadier and have more trees, but they are
all just lovely to be in – not particularly designed as
such, just gentle English gardens that are an absolute
joy to visit because they
Above Stipa gigantea
and Centranthus ruber are so tranquil.”
spring up within the walls Kew Green Gardens,
of Horatio’s Garden. Kew, TW9 3AH. Opens
Left Ferns and alliums
2-5pm 24 May and
thrive in the shade in one
of the gardens that open 6-8pm 31 May 2020;
in the Kew Green group. ngs.org.uk

Wollerton Old Hall, Shropshire

Regional Winner: Wales & The Marches
“It’s impossible to avoid clichés when talking about

Wollerton Old Hall. It’s the quintessential English
garden,” says garden TV presenter Carol Klein, who
has filmed several times at this Shropshire property
– the regional winner for Wales and The Marches.
“But as far as its concept, planting and the creativity
involved in its making is concerned, there’s not a
cliché in sight,” she adds. “From the moment you
enter, and wherever you wander, you’re aware this is
something special. It’s not so much a garden visit as
a series of treats, one after another.”
The garden has been lovingly created over the
past 30 years by Lesley and John Jenkins, the pretty,
pink-painted and rose-festooned Tudor hall where
they live setting the scene for the garden’s delights.
The garden is laid out around a series of paths,
IMAGES JOE WAINWRIGHT; CLIVE NICHOLS
creating rooms separated by hedges of yew and Top Blowsy roses and place of quiet contemplation, “but it is Lesley’s love
beech. Working out from the house, Lesley decided delphiniums in the Rose of plants that shines through,” says Carol.
and Sundial Garden.
on the nature of each of the rooms and planting Above Slender steeples
“The joyous lesson to be drawn from Wollerton
began in earnest, with ideas gleaned from other of yew line the wide is that gardens can both acknowledge their setting
gardens – the hot-coloured Lanhydrock Garden grass path of the Yew and place and simultaneously be creative. This is an
acknowledges its inspiration – and gardeners, such Walk, the first glimpse of English garden par excellence.”
the garden at Wollerton.
as Rosemary Verey. There are rooms that are more Wollerton Old Hall, Market Drayton, TF9 3NA.
pared-back, too. The Rill Garden for instance is a Tel: 01630 685760; wollertonoldhallgarden.com ■

The Perfect Christmas Gift
for All Gardeners
Superior Deerskin Gardening Gloves by GOLD LEAF
NOTHING COMPARES!
Endorsed by
Telephone: +44 (0)23 8040 2025 Website: www.goldleaf-gloves.com

DISCOVER · REVIEW · SHARE
Advent and Christmas at the
Priory Church of the Holy Trinity
Micklegate, York, YO1 6LE
Gourmet Charcoal | Biochar | Pizza & fires Logs | Accessories
Grow amazing herbs and food with our

Biochar. Simple to use, either mix in soil or
use as a replacement and watch your herbs
grow lush and healthy.
Biochar is charcoal that is used for gardening, horticultural and
agricultural purposes. It is carbon-rich
and specifically designed for soil
enhancement. You can use it to
nourish your soil, enhance growing
conditions and get better soil structure.
All are welcome at York’s only
Unlike other soil improvers, biochar remaining priory church
does not decompose. It will continue
to dogood in your soil almost
indefinitely, making it healthy and ADVENT CAROL SERVICE
fertile for decades to come.
And here’s a cool thing. Every time A service of carols and readings to start Advent
you dig in 1kg of biochar to your
soil, not only do you see great
with the Holy Trinity Choristers
results… you can be proud that Organic Sunday 1st December at 5.00 pm
together we have helped a forest Biochar 5
to take 3.6kg of CO2 out of the kg
£22.99
atmosphere and buried it in
£18.00
PARISH CAROL SERVICE
your veg patch!
A service of Christmas carols and readings
www.oxfordcharcoal.co.uk with the Holy Trinity Choristers
Thursday 12th December at 7.00 pm
CHRISTINGLE SERVICE
The Christmas Story told for young and old
Natural rubber shoes, Christmas Eve at 4.00 pm
boots and clogs
CHRISTMAS DAY
Sung Eucharist at 11.00 am
CHORAL EVENSONG
Evensong on the Eve of Epiphany
with the St Benedict’s Consort
Saturday 4th January at 5.00 pm
EPIPHANY CAROL SERVICE

A service to welcome the Three Kings
with the Holy Trinity Choristers
Fabulously floral, seriously comfortable Saturday 25th January at 5.00 pm
totally waterproof
www.holytrinityyork.org
#blingthemupnaturally
info@holytrinityyork.org
www.poddyandblack.com 01904 593608

TOP 10 PLANTS
All Change
These evergreen trees and shrubs transform as winter temperatures plummet
S
ummer has its blowsy flowers and bright the winter months because that’s when the season’s
colours, but winter brings with it more colder temperatures bring about an unusual effect.
subtle pleasures: diminutive flowers with All of them are evergreen, but their leaves often
delicious scent; interesting bark revealed change colour in cold weather. Reddening occurs in
by falling leaves; and unexpected some, as green chlorophyll production tails off and
changes noticed only by the most observant. The anthocyanins in the foliage come to the fore, while
ten plants here reward careful inspection during in others, summer colours become more intense.
1 Nandina domestica
‘Fire Power’
WORDS CLARE FOGGETT IMAGE CLIVE NICHOLS
Heavenly bamboo, as this shrub is also known, is a

semi-evergreen that sometimes drops a few leaves over
winter. But those that remain turn red and orange
in autumn, adding a splash of colour to the winter
border. ‘Fire Power’ is a dwarf form, reaching 45cm.

TOP 10 PLANTS
2 Podocarpus ‘Chocolate Box’ 3 Pinus contorta ‘Chief Joseph’

A conifer that forms a small, dome-shaped bush, this podocarpus Bright green for most of the year, this pine becomes a luminous
cultivar gets its name from the deep brownish-purple tint its foliage beacon during winter when its needles turn a brilliant shade of
takes on after the first hard frosts of winter. During the rest of the golden yellow. It forms a Christmas tree-shaped pyramid and is a
year, the leaves are dark green. Try it in a sheltered position with slow grower, reaching about 1.5m after ten years. Give it a spot in
grasses – and it also works well in a container. Grows to 1m. full sun to encourage the brightest winter colour.
4 Calocedrus decurrens ‘Berrima Gold’ 5 Cryptomeria japonica ‘Vilmoriniana’

This tough, easy-to-grow selection of the incense cedar will Forming a neat rounded globe, this cultivar of Japanese cedar
happily make itself at home in most conditions – except perhaps holds an Award of Garden Merit. It’s smothered in small, dark-
the most intense sun, which may scorch its bright lime-yellow green needles for much of the year and could easily be grown as an
summer foliage. As temperatures fall, that golden-green deepens alternative to a box ball. But unlike box, come the cold weather, its
to orange-bronze, infusing the garden with a warm glow. needles turn a distinctive red-brown. Grow it in a sheltered spot.

IMAGES GAP: LIZ EVERY/JOHN GLOVER/RICHARD BLOOM/S&O; CLIVE NICHOLS
6 Bergenia ‘Sunningdale’
There are lots of elephant’s ears with leaves that
change colour from green to maroon and purple over
winter. ‘Sunningdale’, with its carmine-pink spring
flowers and crinkly-edged foliage is a particularly
nice cultivar, but ‘Abendglocken’, ‘Eric Smith’ and
‘Bressingham Ruby’ are all excellent too: their glossy
leaves turn a striking burgundy in cold weather.

TOP 10 PLANTS
7Hedera helix ‘Parsley Crested’ 8 Cryptomeria japonica ‘Elegans’

An ivy with a difference, this climber’s wavy-edged leaves already Another Japanese cedar cultivar with colour-changing properties,
set it apart, but they also tend to flush with red-purple tones as the this one has fine, almost feathery foliage turning purple-bronze
weather gets colder, adding another element to the display. This is for the winter months, and back to green for the rest of the year.
a vigorous grower – good if you have a large expanse you wish to ‘Elegans’ is as elegant as its name suggests, forming a graceful
cover – reaching 5m if it’s not checked by a trim. pyramid of pendulous branches and reaching 5m in 20 years.
IMAGES GAP: DIANNA JAZWINSKI/NEIL HOLMES/RICHARD BLOOM
9 Euonymus fortunei 10 Leucothoe ‘Scarletta’

Variegated cultivars of this stalwart evergreen, such as ‘Emerald ‘n’ This shrub can often be found in garden centres at this time of
Gold’ and ‘Silver Queen’, furnish the garden with foliage all year- year, sold as a small winter container plant. It is an excellent choice
round and look super wall-trained or grown as groundcover. Take for a pot filled with ericaceous compost, but in the border it needs
a closer look at their leaves’ cream or yellow markings in winter acid soil. In summer its glossy green leaves are edged with red, and
and you may notice pink or red tints brought on by the cold. they deepen to a festive maroon in autumn and winter.

Bespoke sculpture for the home,
garden and public spaces.
Discover more at
www.jamesparkersculpture.co.uk
For further information or to request

a brochure:
T: +44 (0)7729 705257

E: enquiries@jamesparkersculpture.co.uk
Care. 01386 750585
lindsay@readyhedge.com
matthew@readyhedge.com
Our instant hedging is cared for by experts at every stage - in www.readyhedge.com

the field, in the container and during despatch.
Ideal for roses&

vigorous climbers…
Munton’s obelisks& cages
come in six styles and three
sizes. Use them singly or
in pairs to support scented
columns of sweet peas,
Catalogue requests and enquiries: roses or other annual
01285 706511 climbers.
Delivery across UK and beyond www.muntons.net

PLANT FOCUS
Upright, non-climbing
Hedera helix, ‘Congesta’
is an unusual, evergreen
non-flowering ivy.
Ivy League
The fantastic wildlife benefits, diverse shapes and forms and
cunning growth tactics of ivy, put it in a class of its own, says
Carole Drake on a visit to Warwickshire’s Fibrex Nurseries
PHOTOGRAPHS CAROLE DRAKE

PLANT FOCUS
resistant to pests and diseases, will

thrive where just about any other plant
will wither and die – including the
dreaded ‘dry shade’ – and is ideal for
clipping and shaping.
Cultivars of Hedera helix come in
myriad colours, patterns and shapes:
not all ivy leaves are ivy-leaved.
H. helix ‘Cockle Shell’ has apple-
green, cupped leaves with prominent
veining and pale purple stems, while
H. helix ‘Clotted Cream’ has the look
of a heuchera, with blotched cream-
and-green leaves edged with a frill.
There are even non-climbing bush
forms, such as non-flowering upright
dwarf Hedera helix ‘Congesta’.
Interestingly, ivy produces two
distinct forms of growth, juvenile and
adult, which are often present on the
same plant. The juvenile form has
three- to five-lobed leaves, grows in
a twining fashion and clings onto the
nearest support with tiny rootlets.
After climbing for a couple of years,
it enters adulthood as leaves lose their
distinctive shape, stems thicken and
the plant becomes shrubby, flowers
and produces berries.
Most ivies grown in the garden
are cultivars of Hedera helix and
H. colchica, and some rarely or
never make adult growth, staying
forever young. Fibrex Nurseries
in Warwickshire holds a National
Collection of 390 varieties; visit their
stand at a flower show to see ivies
trained as standards, over arches
and as dense columns, where regular
pruning keeps the plants in their
A
juvenile form, behaving themselves
and looking strikingly architectural.
t Christmas, hearing ‘The Holly Above Neatly clipped, Myths about ivy abound. In the ancient world,
and the Ivy’ transports me straight perfectly symmetrical Dionysus, god of wine, wore a wreath of ivy, while
ivy frames a door at
back to junior school, the smell Herterton House in
both holly and ivy have long been brought into
of floor polish and school dinners Northumberland. houses during the winter along with other evergreens
hanging heavy in the air. While both to give us hope in the renewal of spring. More
woodlanders are mentioned in the first line of the recently, unhelpful myths have arisen about ivy’s
carol, the other verses are all about holly; poor old threat to trees and buildings. Ivy is not parasitic:
ivy doesn’t get much of a look in. when it climbs trees the rootlets do not penetrate
Holly is a respectable garden tree nowadays too, the bark, though when the plant reaches the top of
whereas ivy, by contrast, is seen as something of the tree and produces its adult, bushy form it may
a pest if the shelves of ivy killer in garden centres become dense, acting like a sail in high winds. Dead
are anything to go by. Granted these are aimed at or diseased trees may break or fall as a result, which
controlling the native species, Hedera helix, which is perhaps nature’s way of culling the old to make
can get out of control if you don’t show it who’s way for the new. On buildings with existing damage
boss, but even that can make a wonderfully useful ivy will indeed make it worse, but on sound walls
garden plant. It’s great for wildlife, evergreen, it can be a benefit: research by English Heritage

and Oxford University Right At Bourton House
showed that ivy keeps in the Cotswolds, ivy is
trimmed so it cossets
walls 15% warmer in just the lower trunks of
winter, and 36% cooler these trees, like a pair
in summer – as well of leafy leg warmers.
as protecting masonry
from frost, salt and pollution.
Ivy is a must for any wildlife garden worth the
name. In autumn its tiny yellow flowers are an
essential food source at a time when invertebrates
have few other options and adult plants can be noisy
with bees, wasps, hoverflies and butterflies such
as commas, red admirals and small tortoiseshells.
It’s also an important food plant for some butterfly
and moth larvae including the iridescent holly
blue butterfly, Celastrina argiolus, whose spring
brood feasts on holly, its autumn brood on ivy. Ivy’s
spherical black berries are a nutritious food for birds,
staying on the plant long after many other fruits
have gone; and ivy provides shelter for insects, birds,
bats and other small mammals. A thick curtain of
High SOCIETY
Fibrex Nurseries’ Angela Tandy, advises on the best ivies – from climbers to groundcover
H. helix ‘Buttercup’ H. helix ‘Manda’s Crested’ H. helix ‘Golden Girl’ H. helix ‘Silver Ferney’
Slow-growing climber or Fast growing with a medium, A versatile, medium-sized, A compact grower ideal for
groundcover, with medium- wavy-edged leaf, shaded red five-lobed leaf, with gold pots with small, forward-
sized, five-lobed gold leaves. in winter. A great all-rounder. margins and a crinkly edge. pointing, variegated leaves.
H. helix ‘Tripod’ This strong H. helix ‘White Ripple’ H. hibernica ‘Rona’ Offering H. pastuchovii ‘Ann Ala’
climber has very narrow A slow-grower with finely fast-growing groundcover, An elegant, fast-growing
three-lobed leaves and pointed dark green and grey this ivy’s young growth is ivy, with long, shield-shape
a medium rate of growth. leaves edged with white. marbled cream and green. dark-green leaves.

PLANT FOCUS
GROWING ADVICE
Caring
variegated ivy hanging down Above left A sea of In the garden at Herterton for ivies
a wall in my garden serves as groundcovering ivy House in Northumberland, ivy
at Wollerton Old Hall. How to get the
a ladder, which resident frogs has been so carefully shaped
Top right An insulating best from these
use to clamber up to the pond blanket of ivy on a wall and clipped that it appears
on the terrace above. at Broadwoodside in almost painted onto the wall,
diverse plants
Ivies work well in formal Gifford, East Lothian. forming wide green arms that
Above right Ivy is trained Ivies grow best in limey soil;
settings too. At Wollerton rise to embrace a doorway.
to form a padded arbour in acid soil, variegated forms
Old Hall in Shropshire, it laps at Bourton House. Is this a northern trope? The
will throw up a lot of green
around the base of wooden only other place I’ve seen
trails and the leaf form will
barrels sprouting neat lollipops and slender it done so carefully is Broadwoodside in
not be so pronounced.
pyramids of box in a courtyard beside the Scotland where thick panels of green ivy are
house. New leaves emerge a paler green than hung on the wall, as precise and sharp-edged Golden variegated forms
the older foliage, giving a gorgeous painterly as wallpaper, with a strict margin between show best in full sun; silver
effect. At Bourton House in Gloucestershire, ivy and gutter, providing vivid contrast with and green varieties grow as
a small-leaved ivy is wrapped tightly around the purple cotinus and acid-yellow euphorbia well in shade as in full sun.
an arbour, giving it a soft, padded look, while growing in front.
Trim annually to keep ivies
at the Mill House in Dorset another small- Take another look at ivy and think
in shape, restrict their size
leaved form colonises chicken wire shaped creatively: it could turn out to be your best
and – if you want only the
into a low hedge, a combination that mimics friend, not your enemy. ■
juvenile form of the plant –
clipped box edging very effectively. Used for
ensure they do not become
topiary, ivy stems can also be trained over a Fibrex Nurseries, Honeybourne Road,
adult. Use shears to trim
wire framework to form substantial pieces Pebworth, Stratford-upon-Avon,
wall-grown plants.
– a far quicker process than growing and Warwickshire CV37 8XP. Tel: 01789 720788;
clipping a single shrub into shape. fibrex.co.uk

READER OFFER
Sarah Raven
CREATE A MAGICAL
CHRISTMAS GLOW
20%
“Sparkling lights are the remedy for
cold December evenings, and
OFF
CHRISTMAS
*
create welcoming cheer.” LIGHTS
Receive 20% off* indoor and outdoor lights,

exclusively for readers of The English Garden.
Solar LED Light String Super-fine Allium Table Light Giant Hogweed Stem with Lights
Tried and tested in my garden, these look A fantastic sparkler for your Christmas My absolute favourite! These are
lovely trailing over a tree or bush, perfect table, with 120 warm white LEDs. brilliant for any time of year. Battery
for when you’ve no power source close by. Height: 31cm. Battery operated operated with timer.
White, 100 LEDs, £22.36 (RRP £27.95) with timer. Small H:78cm, £31.96 (RRP £39.95)
White, 200 LEDs, £31.96 (RRP £39.95) £27.96 (RRP £34.95) Medium H:90cm, £39.96 (RRP £49.95)
Other options available, see website Code: 490007 Large H:110cm, £47.96 (RRP £59.95)
Code: 460024 Code: 460049
Visit sarahraven.com for more Christmas inspiration
HOW TO ORDER
Order online at www.sarahraven.com and enter offer code TEG19XMA at checkout,
or call 0345 092 0283 and quote offer code TEG19XMA
*T&Cs Offer ends 18th December 2019. 20% discount applies to indoor and outdoor lights only. Other products may be added to the same order at full
price. Cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or discount. Standard p&p charges apply. Not redeemable against: previous orders, gift wrap, sale
items or items purchased from the shop at Perch Hill or other retail outlets.
Winter flowering Clematis rare | unusual | exciting
urophylla Winter BeautyH: 3.6m (12')
BUY3
POTS JUST
£8
EACH
napaulensisH: 3m (10')
W INTER FLOWERING CLEMATIS, with their evergreen foliage, give a much-

appreciated floral display at a notoriously sparse time of year. In a mild winter
they can even start flowering before Christmas! Wonderful trained up a trellis, obelisk
or through shrubs. Prefer well-drained soil in sun or part shade with feet in the shade.
Hardy perennials. Your order will be confirmed along with a copy of our latest catalogue
and your 9cm pots will be delivered within 14 days with our No Quibble Guarantee. cirrhosa Freckles H: 9m (30')
ORDER • ONLINE hayloft.co.uk • PHONE 0844 335 1088 QUOTE EG1219

SEND THE COUPON TO: Hayloft Plants, FREEPOST RTGR-JAGJ-JETG, Pensham, Pershore WR10 3HB EG1219
NAME & ADDRESS PLEASE SEND ITEM CODE PRICE QTY TOTAL
3× NAPAULENSIS PTCLN03-EG1219 £24
3× WINTER BEAUTY PTCLB03-EG1219 £24
3× CIRHOSSA FRECKLES PTCLF03-EG1219 £24
3 PLANTS (one of each) PTCLM03-EG1219 £24
P&P (UK ONLY) £4.95
PostcodeTel TOTAL DUE
I enclose Cheque/PO made payable to Hayloft Plants Ltd or please debit my Mastercard/Visa/Maestro Please enter the last 3 digits of your
security code (CV2)
Card no. Expiry date Start date Issue no CV2
Thank you for your details which will be kept securely and will not be
shared with third parties. We may send Hayloft gardening catalogues
EMAIL in the future, if you prefer not to receive them, please call 01386
Your order confirmation will be sent by email along with any future special offers and you may unsubscribe at any time. 562999. Occasionally the advertised delivery date may change,
however, this will be clearly stated on your order confirmation.
HAYLOFT PLANTS, MANOR FARM NURSERY, PENSHAM, PERSHORE, WORCESTERSHIRE WR10 3HB
DOUBLE H NURSERIES
A phalaenopsis or moth
orchid in full, vibrant
flower is unsurpassed;
Hampshire-based
Double H nurseries is the
country’s largest grower.
Tropical Touch
Exotic phalaenopsis orchids sell in their millions across the
UK and are comfortable in our homes. Jane Perrone visits
the country’s main grower, Double H nurseries in Hampshire
PHOTOGRAPHS IAN THWAITES

PLANT FOCUS
DOUBLE H NURSERIES
W
andering through the acres a Swiss cheese plant on steroids. Account manager
of glasshouses at Double H Dan Pass – more romantically known as Double H’s
nurseries, you can’t help but ‘chief orchid enthusiast’ – says this is reflected in
feel you are being watched. the nursery’s own figures. “Orchids are definitely in
Moth orchids are ranked demand, with a ten per cent growth in our customer
hundreds-deep on the benches, their face-like base last year,” he notes.
flowers unfurling to the light: a breathtaking sight. Pass is keen to dispel a few myths about moth
This nursery, situated in the market town of orchids, aka phalaenopsis or ‘phals’ as they are
New Milton, Hampshire, is famous for being the often known in the business. While they may look
UK’s biggest grower of moth orchids, as well as fragile and exotic, they can thrive in absolutely any
chrysanthemums and roses. It’s a family-run firm, home, without the need for specialist knowledge or
established in 1961, which is still proudly flying the equipment. “People think that because phalaenopsis
Below Steamy conditions flag as a producer of indoor plants in an industry look so beautiful, they are really delicate, but
in the hot glasshouse
that is traditionally dominated by Dutch growers. actually that’s a fallacy. They are far hardier than
where millions of young
orchid plants grow on This is a great time to be growing houseplants, as we give them credit for,” he explains.
until flowering size. the trend for indoor jungles is expanding faster than In the wild, in Southeast Asia, particularly
Indonesia and the Philippines, moth
orchids are epiphytes, meaning they
live anchored on tree branches.
Living up a tree may seem quite a
leap to the average British home, but
surprisingly we can provide exactly
what phalaenopsis need: the bright,
indirect light of an east- or west-
facing window, centrally-heated
rooms offering steady temperatures
around 20ºC, and regular watering.
Over the course of 2019, around
two million orchids have left the
gates of Double H, headed for sale at
retailers everywhere from Waitrose
and Marks & Spencer to Tesco and
Sainsbury’s. Flowers come in almost
every conceivable colour, some pure
white, others splashed with carmine,
others flushed yellow or lined with
pink. The nursery sells an array of
phalaenopsis hybrids, bred to adapt
easily to life in our homes, including
nine cultivars that hold Awards of
Garden Merit from the RHS.
The process of raising so many
plants is tightly controlled using
technology from start to end and
takes 13 months. The orchids arrive
from the nursery’s partner growers
in Germany as year-old seedlings,
packed into large trays with their
thick roots tangled together. A
combination of people and machines
separates and pots each plant in
orchid bark, spacing them evenly for
transport onto the huge glasshouse
benches where a computer-controlled
environment keeps them growing at
exactly the right rate.
For 28 weeks the plants are kept
in the nursery’s hot zone where the
temperature hangs at a sultry 28ºC: as far as the Above left A sea of orchid home, advises Dan Pass, letting them droop
eye can see, there are clusters of fleshy young leaves, orchids in bud, with naturally as they would do in the wild.
flowering initiated by
gathering strength ready for the task of producing Double H pushes innovation in the orchid market
cooler temperatures.
astonishing flowers. For the human visitor, it’s a Top right Each seedling in order to keep up with its competitors; in recent
relief to push open the dividing door and move out is potted by hand into years that’s included introducing a range of scented
of the soupy heat and into the 19ºC cool zone, which a bark potting mix. moth orchids. All trace of perfume has been bred
Above right Flower
is where the plants are headed next. out of phalaenopsis over the last few decades, so it’s
spikes are clipped to
For the phalaenopsis, the change in temperature stakes and hoops prior delightful to stand in front of Double H’s scented
gives them the short sharp shock they need to to being dispatched. orchid trial bench and sniff blooms that smell of
kickstart flowering: there’s nothing that makes an lemon, or even a delicious nutmeg. Look out for
orchid begin to bloom more quickly than thinking ‘Sunny Smell’, ‘Diffusion’ and ‘New Life’ which are
it’s about to die. Sensors that monitor light intensity, already on sale, with more in the pipeline.
humidity, temperature and carbon dioxide levels But it’s an area that Pass refers to as “the bench
ensure that the sprinklers overhead kick in when of craziness” that really catches the eye. Here,
the plants need water. Sticky traps placed among experiments in artificially coloured orchids produce
the plants allow staff to monitor for pests, so that a rainbow of odd blooms, some more pleasing than
biological controls – using beneficial insects to kill others: plants are injected with dye and the hole is
pests – can be quickly deployed rather than having then sealed with a tiny wax plug to create colours
to resort to chemical pesticides. that are not currently possible by natural means.
After around five weeks at 19ºC, the orchids are “It’s a Marmite product,” admits Pass. “Some people
warmed to around 22ºC to encourage the buds to love them and others hate them.”
develop and open. Once the plants have achieved Most will never find their way to a supermarket,
the required leaf size and number of flower spikes, including a particularly lurid combination of pink
these stems are clipped onto stakes or trained into and neon green, but it’s indicative of the lengths
different shapes – spirals, hearts or cascades – to suit these growers will go to in order to stay ahead of the
the ever-changing fashions of the orchid market. game. If you do fall for a dyed orchid, says Pass, it’s
If you don’t like the look of the stiff stems, it’s fine worth remembering that the plant will revert to its
to remove the stakes and clips when you get your natural colour when it reblooms.

DOUBLE H NURSERIES
Right now, reducing Right Shorter-stemmed

the amount of plant orchids are easier to
transport and need less
packaging used is at the plastic packaging – a
forefront of Dan Pass’s move Double H are keen
mind: “There’s always to support with new
been a lot of plastic ranges in development.
in indoor plants, and
we’ve been at the forefront of reduced packaging
or even better, no packaging,” he explains. Taking
part in Waitrose’s plastic-free Unpacked scheme has
provided Double H with ample evidence that change
is certainly possible. “I’ve been banging on about
going packaging-free for years and it’s clear that
the appetite is there,” he notes. “Demand is there
and awareness has gone up.” It helps that orchids
are actually tough plants, unlikely to be affected by
the odd knock on the journey from nursery to shop
floor. Now Double H is working on a new range of
orchids with shorter stems but more flowers, which
Pass hopes will be even better suited to transport
without plastic sleeves.
If you need another reason to choose British next
time you shop for an orchid, consider this: Double
H’s phalaenopsis spend less time in delivery lorries
than their Dutch-grown counterparts, meaning they
arrive on the shelves fresh and ready to make an
impact in your home. It may be a long way from its
native lands, but phalaenopsis looks set to remain
a fixture in our homes for many years to come. ■
Caring for MOTH ORCHIDS

Phalaenopsis growing advice from Dan Pass at Double H nurseries
Since orchids are native to tropical pot under a tap and let water run To get phalaenopsis to reflower try
climes, the average living room over the surface of the orchid bark, moving them to a cooler room for
provides the ideal temperature for down through the roots and out of a few weeks to trigger new blooms.
them, but make sure you don’t put the bottom of the pot for about 20 Make sure you cut off any old flower
plants close to radiators, or heating and seconds. Tap water is fine and watering stems once they finish blooming. When
cooling vents. Keep phalaenopsis in should be done weekly. there is just one flower left, cut back
bloom away from fruit bowls, since the Make sure your orchids aren’t left to just above the node where this
ethylene gas given off by ripening fruit sitting in a pool of water for longer than flower emerges from the stem. This
can encourage flowers to drop early. half an hour: waterlogging will rot the way you will prompt a quick rebloom:
roots and is the most common cause of cutting flower stems right back to the
Phalaenopsis don’t like to be baked
orchid death. base will produce larger flowers, but it
in bright sunlight, so placing them near
will take longer.
an east- or west-facing window is ideal. The roots act as a watering indicator.
The surface of an orchid’s roots is Phalaenopsis leaves can become
Orchids benefit from moist air, so
covered in a layer of cells know as dusty, so wipe them with a damp cloth
putting them in bathrooms or kitchens
velamen, which can photosynthesise. every now and again. Fertilise every
will help to keep them happy.
If the roots are plump and green, the four weeks during the growing season
The best way of watering is to place plant is getting enough moisture. with any orchid fertiliser or use a high-
the pot in a sink of water for a few Dried-out, silvery roots indicate the potash feed such as Tomorite, applied
minutes. Alternatively, place the orchid needs more water. at a quarter strength.

GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS
Wednesday & Thursday 22/23 April and 6/7 May 2020 BOOKING NOW
One of our most popular courses, led by master horticulturalist Ben Pope, which aims to take each student through
all the practical elements of caring for a garden from soil, tools, maintenance, seed sowing and propagating, weed
control and pests and diseases.The first 3 days will be spent at the Chelsea Physic Garden and the final day will be
spent gaining practical experience in Rosemary Alexander’s much praised garden near Petersfield and the garden
nearby, where Ben is in charge. Participants will be given a chance to prune, plant, sow seeds and regular maintenance
tasks will be discussed.A light lunch and refreshments will be provided daily.
THE ESSENTIAL GARDEN DESIGN DIPLOMA
January – March 2020 BOOKING NOW
Based at the Chelsea Physic Garden and led by Rosemary Alexander and architect Catriona Rowbotham, the course
is an overview of Garden Design, covering all the elements needed to rethink an average garden.Taking students
step by step through site surveying, using the grid, horizontal and vertical features, garden layouts and planting plans,
costing and specification, plus drawing tuition and homework on design and plant portfolios.Tutors are well respected
in the industry and will guide students on how to succeed in this diverse profession.
(2 days a week (Wed & Thur) 10.30am-3.15pm, plus 2 days homework)
Garden of Medicinal Plants – Chelsea Physic Garden Photo: R Alexander
ONE YEAR GOOD GARDENING DIPLOMA
September 2020 – end June 2021 Not sure which Diploma course is for you?
Covers the best in planting design while training in the more serious aspects of horticultural techniques. Practical Come along to an information session to see our
sessions held at Arundel Castle under the guidance of head gardener Martin Duncan and at Sandhill Farm House, location and find out more.
Rogate. Lectures by many leading gardening personalities and regular visits to exclusive private gardens. Students also
learn to draw up planting plans. www.englishgardeningschool.co.uk
(1 day a week (Tues), 10.30am–3.15pm, over three terms) Email: info@englishgardeningschool.co.uk
GARDEN DESIGN & CARING FOR YOUR GARDEN Tel: 020 7352 4347
Distance Learning Courses study anytime, anywhere in the world
A stepping stone to a new career.These two correspondence courses are a step by step guide to either designing your Long established as the leader in all design
own garden or learning how to plant and maintain an existing garden: drawing up plans, hard landscaping, site analysis, and gardening tuition and based at the
planting, month by month tasks etc.Taught through a comprehensive course book, with projects submitted by post. unique and historic Chelsea Physic Garden
1-3 years to complete and individual assessment.

LIFE SIZEANIMALSCULPTURE Free UK delivery
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY 2020
SPRING OPEN DAY NGS OPEN DAY

Sunday 3rd May, 2020 Sunday 5th July, 2020
Enjoy the beauty that Spring brings Enjoy Tea, Coffee, Cakes or a
to Mitton Manor Gardens. Treat Champagne Afternoon Tea and help
yourself to Afternoon Tea and a glass us raise money for nursing and
of beer or champagne to round off health charities!
the weekend.
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE
www.andrewkaysculpture.co.uk mittonmanor.co.uk
07740 306412 Telephone: 01785 291391 Email: info@mittonmanor.co.uk

Mitton, Near Penkridge, Staffordshire ST19 5QW
The finest sweet pea seeds
Stoneballs Company supply the finest quality,

Sold in a beautiful keepsake tin
solid sandstone balls to domestic and commercial projects Choose from the best sweet pea seed varieties
across the UK and throughout the world. from our garden to create a collection of heritage,
E: email@stoneballs.co.uk
scented and cutflower sweet peas for your garden.
W: www.stoneballs.co.uk
M: +44 (0) 7754 845398 Available to buy from our online shop
T: +44 (0) 1636 626704
www.visiteaston.co.uk/shop
ARMCHAIR BOTANY
Daisy Chain
Jim Cable continues his series exploring the most important plant
families and their garden-worthy members. This month, it’s the turn
of the massive, interlinked daisy family, also known as Asteraceae
A
sk a small child to draw you a flower efficient with a visiting insect, attracted by the showy
and you will probably be presented ‘rays’, likely to pollinate several disc florets.
with the classic daisy shape. This Pollination results in a head of seeds, and each
may be largely due to its pleasing fertilised floret produces a one-seeded fruit with
simplicity but will doubtless also hairs to aid dispersal. This brings us back to childish
have something to do with the ubiquity of the daisy delight, in the form of the dandelion (Taraxacum
family, which contains over ten per cent of the officinale), which also has a taproot and leaves in
world’s flowering plants. a basal rosette: common features of Asteraceae. The
ILLUSTRATION DIANNE SUTHERLAND
Your young friend may struggle to process the fact latex that bleeds from a picked dandelion can be
that, in the real world, the flowerhead atop the stalk used to make rubber: German company Continental
is actually hundreds of tiny flowers or florets. The launched Taraxagum bicycle tyres earlier this year, Rudbeckia’s flowers are
central boss is made up of tubular structures known made from Russian dandelion. Latex is also found in typical of those plants in
the Asteraceae family,
as disc florets and what we tend to call petals around another Asteraceae member: Lactuca or lettuce.
with petal-like, showy
the edge are, botanically speaking, ray florets and Find ten of the best daisy family plants for an ray florets radiating from
usually sterile. This composite arrangement is highly English garden, over the page. a head of disc florets.

ARMCHAIR BOTANY
Left Achillea ‘Terracotta’. Middle Cichorium intybus or chicory. Right Chrysanthemum ‘Anne Ratsey’.
Achillea ‘Terracotta’ mid-border herbaceous plant. Throughout summer, prettily

The daisy flowers of this yarrow are small and numerous, lobed, olive-coloured leaves clothe the stems, which slowly
grouped in level, umbel-like clusters. It is these strikingly reach a height of 80cm. Plant it behind fellow November
flattened plates that make them such a favourite of garden bloomer Hesperantha coccinea ‘Major’ for a joyous red-
designers: their form serves the same purpose as members of yellow colour clash, with wispy Stipa lessingiana layered
the cow parsley tribe, contrasting with upright and rounded between the two.
elements in a scheme. Their colour is a treat too, evolving as
the flowers age from burnt orange to a soft yellow against a Dahlia ‘Bishop of Auckland’
foil of ferny grey foliage. The ‘Bishop of Llandaff’ seems to steal all the attention
from the other episcopal dahlias. But there are other
Cichorium intybus dark-leaved beauties in the series – all loved by pollinators
Also known as chicory, this European native perennial – including this crimson-flowered specimen. On light,
develops a large taproot and a basal rosette of leaves in its free-draining soils, dahlias won’t need lifting after the first
first year. At this stage it is often mistaken for a dandelion frost. Instead, cut back the blackened stems and protect
and weeded out. This is a shame, since in succeeding years the underground tubers with a deep mulch of homemade
it sends up tall stems bearing a wealth of soft blue flowers compost, or fallen leaves held in place with chicken wire.
with ‘petals’ that appear blunted with miniature crimping
scissors – hence its delightful common name of ‘ragged Pilosella aurantiaca
sailors’. This is a plant for a sunny spot in a wilder area of As the trend for looser, more pollinator-friendly planting
the garden. The roots are used to make Camp Coffee, a schemes gathers pace, weeds are now becoming rather
cheaper and caffeine-free substitute for the real thing. trendy. True, you will have to keep an eye on this enthusiast
but forgive its seeding around and rampant runners: the
Chrysanthemum ‘Anne Ratsey’ two-tone, burnt-orange flowers are a unique delight. They
A reliable and hardy chrysanthemum that keeps the spirit of are delivered all summer long and look lovely in a vase with
summer alive in the late-autumn border with its soft yellow grasses and cornflowers. Control freaks can grow it in pot
daisies that don’t appear until October. This is an ideal, and deadhead before it sets seed!

IMAGES ALAMY; GAP/MARTIN HUGHES-JONES/JS SIRA/ROB WHITWORTH; CLIVE NICHOLS
Top left Dahlia ‘Bishop of Auckland’. Top right Pilosella aurantiaca.

Above left Onopordum acanthium. Above right Bidens aurea ‘Hannay’s Lemon Drop’.

ARMCHAIR BOTANY
Left Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’. Centre Gerbera ‘Sweet Sunset’. Right Echinacea purpurea ‘White Swan’.
Onopordum acanthium adored by pollinators – particularly hoverflies. The flowers

The Scotch thistle is a biennial worth introducing to a wane in a charming manner losing their ray florets and
wide mixed border for its bright silvery presence. When leaving centres that fade to brown within a green calyx. The
grown from seed, in its first year it forms wide rosettes of clump spreads freely, so dig up chunks during the dormant
spiny leaves covered in light-reflecting white down. The season to keep it in check and share with fellow gardeners.
following summer it will send up flowering stems to a height
of 2m bearing purple thistle heads. It self-seeds but not in a Gerbera ‘Sweet Sunset’
problematic way. Simply thin out the conspicuous seedlings Once very much florists’ plants for interior decoration, the
to keep the right amount of vertical drama. gerbera clan now includes the ‘Garvinea Sweet Series’ bred
as garden plants. They have a contemporary feel so work
Bidens aurea ‘Hannay’s Lemon Drop’ best in simple modern planting schemes or containers. The
Bidens aurea deserves to be more widely grown and this flowers are held well proud of a lush cushion of foliage.
superior form even more so. It injects a fresh delicacy into ‘Sweet Sunset’ displays large dazzling orange daisies over a
the late summer and autumn border. In the first half of long season and can remain outdoors over winter in mild
IMAGES GAP/NICOLA STOCKEN/JOANNA KOSSAK; CLIVE NICHOLS
summer, low shoots bearing spear-shaped, serrated leaves gardens. Keep them on the dry side all year round.
form a humble chorus to the main cast. But when summer
perennials begin to fade, it gets into its stride, reaching Echinacea purpurea ‘White Swan’
80cm in height and displaying an abundance of pale-yellow Echinaceas have a reputation for dying in the winter,
daisies on willowy stems. Each ‘petal’ is tipped with white, but if you plant in a sunny spot in free-draining soil and
which adds a pinch of quirkiness. choose a reliable cultivar such as this one, you shouldn’t
be disappointed. A basal crown of foliage sends up leafy
Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ stems from July bearing flower buds that open to reveal
No herbaceous border should be without this easy perennial green discs surrounded by white ‘petals’. The central cones
sunflower, which reaches a height of around 1.2m but become more prominent and turn orange while the ‘petals’
doesn’t usually need staking. From August until the first drop down as these elegant flowers mature. Deadheading
frosts, the mid-yellow daisies just keep on coming and are prolongs flowering well into autumn. ■

Supporting Great British Gardens
Plant Supports (UK) Limited is a family-run business

with a passion for gardening and we are proud to say
we manufacture high quality products in Britain,
using British materials.
For details or to order visit
www.plantsupports.co.uk
or call 01584 781578
Plant Supports (UK) Ltd. Skipperley, Rochford, Tenbury Wells, Worcs WR15 8SL
RODMARTON MANOR
GLOUCESTERSHIRE
Open May to September

Wednesday and Saturday afternoons
www.rodmarton-manor.co.uk
The only
shepherd’s
hut makers
endorsed by
SUPPLIERS AND GROWERS OF SEMI-MATURE & MATURE, ROOTBALL the RHS
& CONTAINERISED TREES, SHRUBS AND INSTANT HEDGING
From our Buckinghamshire nursery we are conveniently located to

service the whole of the UK, which we do with our own fleet of fully
equipped vehicles.
With over 15 miles of Instant hedging troughs and more than 3,000
pleached and shaped trees from box heads to multistem umbrellas.
plankbridge.com
01300 348414
Contact Us: 01296 399585 © The Royal Horticultural Society 2019. Endorsed by the Royal Horticultural Society.
sales@instanthedges.co.uk www.instanthedges.co.uk Registered Charity No 222879/SC038262. rhs.org.uk

IN SEASON
The Root of the Matter

Slow to grow but a real treat to eat, parsnips are improved by a hard
frost, which sweetens their creamy flesh in readiness for the roasting tray
T
WORDS VIVIENNE HAMBLY IMAGE GAP/JONATHAN BUCKLEY
here is a battery of greenhouse on the shoulders. Any larger and they are likely to
equipment to help us outfox the be woody and inedible, although some varieties are
winter cold and dark, and it is true chunkier than others.
that there is pleasure in extending Parsnips are denizens of the roasting tray and the
the growing season. But as the days soup tureen. Slice them into batons, roast, then top
shorten, keep in mind the vegetables that are all with parmesan before a final flash under the grill;
the better for a frost: leeks, certain kales, Brussels make a creamy gratin with honey and wholegrain
sprouts and, famously, parsnips. Icy cold converts mustard to complement their peppery sweetness; or
Above Wait until the first
starch to sugar, making for sweeter, less floury roots. dot them around the sides of a winter roast, where
frosts have worked their
A comparatively slow crop to grow, parsnips are their spongy flesh will soak up pan juices – the more magic to harvest the
best eaten when they’re smaller, at about 5cm across oniony and caramelised the better. sweetest parsnip roots.

IN SEASON
Growing
advice
Parsnip seed loses

viability quickly. Sow it all
in one year – don’t save it.
Sow seed in warmed,
RECIPE: SPICED PARSNIP SOUP loamy soil, from April

to June, at 15cm intervals
bring to the boil, season, in rows that are 30cm
Serves 4 METHOD
and simmer gently for apart. Germination can
1 Set a large saucepan over
30 minutes, or until the take up to a month.
INGREDIENTS a medium-low heat. Add the
ingredients are soft. Harvest when their leaves
4 tbsp sunflower oil oil and, once hot, stir in the
4 Purée and return to the start to turn yellow.
1 onion, roughly diced onion and garlic. Fry gently
1 clove garlic, chopped for 8 minutes, or until soft pan, then thin to taste with Carrot fly larvae feed
1 tbsp mild korma curry and golden. about 565ml water. Reheat on the root, causing
powder 2 Mix in the curry powder, the soup when it’s ready to rot. Protect plants with
680g parsnips, peeled and cook for a couple of minutes, serve. Add the lemon juice, Enviromesh or create
roughly chopped then add the chopped salt and freshly ground black a two-foot-high enclosure.
320ml organic coconut parsnips. Cover and continue pepper to taste.
Parsnip canker, from
cream to cook gently for ten From Simply Veg by Sybil
under-watering, physical
sea salt and freshly ground minutes, stirring occasionally. Kapoor (Pavilion Books,
damage or over-fertilising,
black pepper 3 Add the coconut cream £17.99). Images by
can also cause rotting.
½ lemon, juiced and 400ml water, then Karen Thomas.
Use a rot-resistant variety.
Varieties to grow Try these tasty varieties next season
IMAGES SHUTTERSTOCK; GAP/SARAH CUTTLE; ALAMY
‘Tender and True’ ‘Gladiator’ ‘Pearl’ ‘Albion’

This is a traditional parsnip This F1 hybrid has good A fairly new late-crop F1 Keep ‘Albion’ in the ground
choice with a good flavour canker resistance and an RHS hybrid that stores well and over winter until you need
and girth as well as resistance Award of Garden Merit. If has good resistance to canker. its slender, uniform roots. An
to canker. Being almost you are showing parsnips, it’s Pale-skinned, uniform roots AGM and canker-resistance
coreless, it is slow to develop a good one to choose with are longer and slimmer than means it should perform well
a woody characteristic. smooth skin and even roots. those of other varieties. in most circumstances.

Navy
Sleeveless
Green
Half-Zip
Fair Isle
KNITWEAR
£112 NOW £59
OR BUY 2 FOR £49 EACH
HALF-ZIP CODE MKFAHZ
SLEEVELESS CODE MKFASL
• 100% pure lambswool
• 7 gauge knit • Hand wash or dry clean only
To fit chest sizes (inches):
S 36-38 M 39-41 L 42-44 XL 45-48 XXL 49-52
ORDER NOW
www.josephturner.co.uk/MAEG03
FREE UK 01845 575 100 quote code MAEG03 UP TO
DELIVERY &
60 Day Free
Call centre opening hours: Monday to Friday
8.30am - 6.30pm and Saturday 10.00am - 3.00pm
Closed Sunday and Bank Holidays 55 %
USE CODE
OFF
RETURNS Despatched within two working days of receiving your

order subject to stock. Offer ends 22/12/19. MAEG03
“This is my second of these Fair Isle jumpers.

I love it - it looks good and is very warm.”
Mr Romilly 03/03/19
Green
Half-Zip
Navy
Sleeveless Green
Sleeveless
Navy
Half-Zip
BACKDOORSHOES® - PERFECT GIFT FOR EVERYONE!
A range of
beautiful hand
• Lightweight
crafted steel • Waterproof
plant supports • Durable
and obelisks
designed • UK Sizes 3-14
to provide • Price from £26.95
architectural
structure within
• Mens’ range available
the garden
whilst also
Stylish Chelsea ‘Jumpy’ Boots
complimenting • UK Sizes 3-14
and enhancing
the plants
• Waterproof
features. • Durable
• Price £45
Please visit our website for the full range
www.backdoorshoes.co.uk
01202 232357
Give Genus garden

for Christmas art and
sculpture
Technical outdoor
clothing packed
with special
gardening features
Inspired
gifts for
serious
gardeners
Endorsed by the Royal Horticultural Society
Registered Charity No 222879/SC038262
© The Royal Horticultural Society 2019
Contemporary Sculpture for the Garden

T 0750 121 3800 • E design @ gardenar tandsculpture.co.uk
Visit us at: www.genus.gs
rhs.org.uk
or call: 0203 617 1166 w w w.garde nar tandsculpture.co.uk

THE MODERN GARDENER
The low-voltage LED

lights in Philips’ Hue
range can be controlled
through an app on your
smartphone.
Brave New World

Don’t be daunted by modern technology – it can work in tandem with
more traditional gardening techniques to help with tasks such as
watering, weeding, lighting and lawn mowing

THE MODERN GARDENER
But where to begin, in the world of

apps, software updates and sensors?
Let’s start simply, with one of the most
straightforward gardening tasks of
all: mowing the lawn. It’s easy to see
why someone might choose a robotic
lawnmower if they particularly hate
cutting the grass, but keen, ‘proper’
gardeners are supposed to relish the
weekly ritual, aren’t they?
“I quite like mowing the lawn.
When you’re walking up and down
behind the lawnmower you can
let your mind wander and think
about things – it’s therapeutic,” says
gardening broadcaster, author and
RHS judge Martin Fish. “So when
I agreed to trial a robotic mower, I
did initially feel like it was doing my
job and I was a bit sceptical about
how well it would do it.” But, as
Martin confesses, his robotic mower
(now affectionately named Monty)
has grown on him. “When I’m away
at shows I can be gone from two
or three days or up to a week and
I used to dread coming back and
having to cut the lawn if it had grown
too long, but with Monty we come
back and the lawns are mown.” The
mower is programmed to go out
daily in all weathers and cut just a
few millimetres of growth each time
and, as a result, Martin’s lawn is
now thicker and healthier than it has
ever been under this little-and-often
regime, and he seldom needs to use
fertiliser. “There are no stripes but the
lawn does have a lovely billiard-table
finish,” he explains.
T
Martin still keeps a regular mower,
using it in autumn with the bag
here’s an unavoidable dichotomy Above Hozelock’s clever attached to collect fallen leaves, and says he and
between gardening and technology. Cloud Controller lets you Monty work ‘in partnership’. “He’s cheap to run,
programme and adjust
For most of us, the garden is a place garden irrigation using
there are no emissions and no petrol fumes, the
to escape the modern world, where your phone. process has a low carbon footprint and it recycles
we can unwind, relax and enjoy the nitrogen in grass so I don’t have to use artificial
being closer to nature. The last thing we want to fertilisers. If I moved house I’d definitely use a
do is ruin those moments of tranquillity with the robotic mower again,” he confirms.
pinging and beeping of a demanding smartphone. Monty is a Husqvarna Automower, but all the
That said, the judicious introduction of a little mower manufacturers now include robotic mowers
helpful technology could free up precious garden in their range, including Worx Landroid, Honda’s
time. If modern aids to watering or lawn mowing, Miimo, STIHL’s iMow, Gardena’s Sileno, John
for example, minimise the time spent on more Deere’s Tango and Robomow. When they first
mundane gardening tasks, there may be time to arrived on the scene, robotic mowers did seem quite
spare for more enjoyable or creative activities, or expensive compared to conventional push mowers,
simply more time to sit back and enjoy the garden, but there are plenty of budget-friendly models
and who wouldn’t love more of that? available now as well as those at the top-of-the-

range. Choice of model depends on the size of lawn
that needs to be covered, then there’ll be some initial
set up – robotic mowers use a perimeter wire around
the edge of the lawn area to sense where they can
mow up to and you will need to install its docking
station, where it heads to recharge – but once they
are in place you can sit back and let your new
robotic friend do the work, or go on holiday with no
worries about the state of the lawn when you return.
Many robotic mowers, such as Gardena’s Sileno
and its Smart System, can be controlled via apps
on your smartphone, so you can adjust its mowing
programme from wherever you are in the world.
Gardena’s Smart System also links up with the
company’s irrigation equipment. It’s possible to
install drip irrigation and sprinklers in up to six
separate zones and control the watering of them all
from afar. Add Gardena’s Smart Sensor and it can
detect whether or not water is required, eliminating Top left Sit back and let The same kind of control can be applied to
wastage. Hozelock’s Cloud Controller does the same an automatic irrigation garden lighting as well. Systems such as Philips
system do the hard work
thing, linking with its app so that watering schedules Hue include outdoor lights that can be connected
of watering.
can be set up and adjusted – it can also send local Top right Gardena’s to a smart lighting system and controlled from the
weather updates so you know whether it’s torrential Sileno robotic mowers accompanying smartphone app or, for those who
rain or blazing sun back at home. include models for have them, via voice assistants such as Amazon’s
smaller lawn sizes.
You could take watering accuracy to the next Alexa. The lighting is low-voltage LED, so you don’t
Above An easily installed
level by installing a home weather station that also Philips Hue spotlight. need an electrician to install it, and includes spots,
connects to your smartphone, letting you adjust wall lights and lighting strips. Colour and ambience
irrigation to meet the precise conditions your can be adjusted, and timings programmed. Set the
garden is experiencing at any given moment. front garden lights to come on just before you get
Netatmo’s Smart Home Weather Station can be home, for example, or team them with traditional
IMAGE GAP/ELIZABETH MERCER
set up with a rain gauge, an anemometer for wind motion sensors to deter unwanted visitors.
speed and direction, and sensors that measure This new technology isn’t all purely functional;
temperature, humidity and air pressure. The data some can enhance our enjoyment of the garden
feeds back to your phone so that you know exactly too. Lots of us snap photos of our plants and
what the weather is like and are able to adjust garden using smartphones rather than traditional
irrigation accordingly. cameras these days – a really handy way to keep

THE MODERN GARDENER
Left STIHL’s cordless a record of planting

range of tools, such as scheme successes, and
its HLA 56 long-reach
failures, while we’re out
hedge trimmers run on
lithium-ion batteries. in the garden. Modern
smartphone lenses
capture brilliant images, but you can view plants
and flowers in even closer focus by adding a clip-on
macro lens such as those from Olloclip, which are
perfect for capturing those fine details.
If all this technology seems a step too far,
remember that some new technologies have
revolutionised gardening so completely and have
been adopted so eagerly that it’s quite difficult to
recall how things were before they came along. Last
month the Nobel prize in chemistry was awarded
to the three scientists who, in the 1970s, pioneered
lithium-ion batteries, those revolutionary light-
weight and compact batteries that now enable
gardeners to trim hedges, strim edges, mow the lawn
and even saw through woody branches completely
free of fossil fuels or risky electric cables. Their
modern incarnations are powerful with excellent
run times and they’re much quieter than traditional
power tools too. Proof that technology and garden
tranquillity can coexist. ■
Good Apps FOR GARDENERS

A few taps and your smartphone can become an invaluable helping hand
Gardena The GardenTags Gardenize Instagram

brand’s Smart This app will Organise your The place to
System links with also identify garden and its go for beautiful
Gardena’s range of robotic unknown plants, using plants by using this app to pictorial inspiration from
mowers, irrigation controls digital plant recognition gather photos and notes fellow gardeners, the
and sensors, so they can be and a community of other about them all in one place. gardens you love to visit,
controlled from your phone gardeners. Subscribe to A good planning tool that cutting-edge florists,
(or from a PC, if you’d the premium version and helps you keep track of famous designers and
rather). Set their schedules an unlimited personalised what’s growing where – anyone else you care to
to take your garden’s plant task calendar can be ideal for crop rotation in the follow – and you can post
conditions into account. tailored to your garden. vegetable patch. pictures of your own.
SmartPlant Candide Another Moon & Garden RHS Grow Your

Good for new good app for If you’re an Own A helping
gardeners, identifying advocate hand for fruit and
especially for identifying mystery plants, with a of sowing and planting vegetable growers that
plants. New plants from marketplace so you can according to the lunar helps you choose the most
some garden centres come buy, swap and sell plants calendar, this app will help suitable varieties for the
with SmartPlant barcodes with other Candide users, you keep track of its waxing space and time available,
that can be scanned. The plus like-minded gardeners and waning and lets you advises on how to grow
app then logs the plants to chat to. You can also keep on top of what to do them and helps you look
you buy and tells you how find garden centres and in the garden according after them – with calendar
and when to care for them. gardens to visit nearby. to the lunar cycle. alerts each month.

for the finest British Alpaca socks
PLANT SUPPORTS
& Garden Artefacts
Made in England
Beautiful designs for perennials, roses, shrubs & climbers
www.leanderplantsupports.co.uk perilla.co.uk
Tel. 01773 550495 tel: 01886 853615
STAN FAIRBROTHER
GARDEN STRUCTURES
BEAUTIFULLY HAND CRAFTED BESPOKE DESIGNS
Handcrafted Swing Seats, Pergolas,
Swinging Day Beds, Benches & Rope Swings
Large Rope Ball Swing
Personalised messages
Round Rope Swing ideal for Christmas gifts
Christmas gifts for youngsters and the young at heart
www.sittingspiritually.co.uk or call us on 01297 443084
01772 814274
The only bespoke swing and bench maker
WWW.STANFAIRBROTHER.CO.UK licensed by the RHS
© The Royal Horticultural Society 2018. Endorsed by the Royal Horticultural Society Registered Charity No 222879/SC038262 rhs.org.uk

Enjoy your garden all year round
WITH A GLASS ROOM FROM
AUTUMN
S A L E
SAVE UP TO
25%OFF* Redfield’s make the highest quality lead planters, cisterns, fountains.
Wide range of bespoke Professionally installed
FOR AN EXTRA ● ●
See online now and contact us for your bespoke planter or water feature
5% OFF
* designs, frame colours by skilled craftsmen
& weatherproof finishes Redfields.co.uk 02392 870000 sales@redfields.co.uk
● Optional energy efficient
quote code EG091119 ● 10 year guarantee heating and lighting
CALL FOR A FREE NO OBLIGATION QUOTATION AND BROCHURE
0800 107 2727 Quoting

EG091119 Hand cast lead signs are unique to every customer.
www.edenverandas.co.uk They’re easily attached to a wall, gate and can bend to a curved wall or tree.
Online shop open – leadsigns.co.uk - brochure 02392 870000
*Terms & conditions apply.

SARAH PAXTON
United Front
Joseph Paxton was one of the pre-eminent gardeners and architects of the 1800s,
enjoying an astonishing career that took in Chatsworth and the Crystal Palace. But as
Gordon Hayward argues, none of this would have been possible without Paxton’s
capable and devoted wife Sarah, who was every bit his equal
“ I
went to breakfast with poor dear Mrs. Sarah’s dowry of £5,000, the social disparity between
Gregory and her niece. The latter fell in love the two was clear, yet they married nine months later.
with me, and I with her, and thus completed During their decades of marriage, Sarah would
my first morning’s work at Chatsworth….” bear eight children. At the same time she played a
So wrote Joseph Paxton in his diary on the central role behind the scenes of her husband’s vast
evening in 1837 that concluded his first day as head enterprises in horticulture, glass-range design and
gardener for ‘the Bachelor Duke’, the 6th Duke of public park and urban planning, culminating in the
Devonshire at Chatsworth in Derbyshire. design and construction of the Crystal Palace in
Hannah Gregory, head housekeeper for the duke Hyde Park, which opened in 1854. Sarah was, in so
for 40 years, was the aunt of 26-year-old Sarah many ways, indispensable to his breathtaking rise.
Brown. Paxton, then 23, was the son of a farm Biographies and countless articles have been
labourer. He had trained as a horticulturist and written about Joseph Paxton. His contemporary,
gardener and was now on the cusp of a meteoric rise Charles Dickens, quipped that Paxton was “the
through the spheres of gardening and industry. With busiest man in England”. For 40 years Paxton was
IMAGE CHATSWORTH
Joseph Paxton met his

wife-to-be, Sarah, on his
first day as Chatsworth
House’s new head
gardener, in 1837.

SARAH PAXTON
head gardener at the Chatsworth estate, the Duke’s Above Now housing prosperous mill-owning family in Derbyshire. Unlike
Lismore Castle in Ireland and at Devonshire House camellias, plants in the Joseph, who had to earn his place as head gardener
1st Duke’s glasshouse,
in London. Paxton was everywhere: travelling across at Chatsworth, Sarah was already established in
which dates from the
Europe with the Bachelor Duke; in London founding 1690s, would have been society. Joseph’s accomplishments, many of which
one horticulture magazine, then another, then a under the Paxtons’ care. required him to be away for weeks and even months
newspaper; working with train lines; and designing at a time, were made possible in large part by Sarah’s
the Crystal Palace, requiring the work of 2,000 men strong character and willingness to remain at home,
at six times the size of St Paul’s Cathedral. All the ably overseeing the work in the garden as well as
while he was working away at Chatsworth to the Paxton’s myriad business ventures.
point where it became the pre-eminent garden in During their frequent periods of separation,
IMAGES CHATSWORTH; ALAMY
England. All this is astonishing when you consider Joseph and Sarah wrote to one another daily. These
Paxton was the youngest of the seven children of a letters, now in the archives at Chatsworth, reveal
Bedfordshire farm labourer, starting his career, aged a deep affection as well as a full partnership across
15, as a garden boy at Battlesden Park near Woburn. Joseph’s many enterprises. Sarah was his advisor. As
But what of Sarah Brown? She was three Margaret Flanders Darby writes in her essay ‘Joseph
years older than Paxton, taller and came from a Paxton’s Water Lily’: “Sarah was fully one-third of

a domestic three-pronged partnership, Above Paxton’s grandest she wrote: “There has been some
in which she was the bourgeois partner project, the Crystal splendid Orchidae in flower. Lately
Palace, built for 1851’s
to an aristocrat and a commoner… Great Exhibition.
Coelogyne gardnerianum… beautiful,
Sarah supplied the prudence, the Below Paxton became and many others equally.”
caution, the sense of propriety, and the one of England’s most One month later, Sarah wrote to
capacity for social detail.” extraordinary architects, her husband with a full report on the
while Sarah oversaw
While Paxton became the foremost works at Chatsworth.
Orchid House, a letter that reflects
gardener in England and the Duke’s her considerable knowledge of and
sole agent in all financial matters, Sarah acted appreciation for what was widely regarded as the
throughout their married life as his proxy in finest orchid collection in England: “The Orchideous
managing Chatsworth’s vast gardens and its many house (or as little George calls it the Orkediffidus
gardeners. On 4 March 1838, for example, she House) is quite gay. There are so many beautiful
wrote to her husband, who was travelling with the plants in flower: Maxillaria chlorantha with 25
Duke: “Gillingham and all his expanded flowers, Dendrobium moniliforme with
gang have been filling up the 50, Coelogyne barbata with 3 drooping spikes
plantation at Ashgate yellow and white, quite beautiful; a superb Laelia
this last month; it has taken dendrobium heterocarpum, sweet scented new;
57,000 plants. I hope it will Dendrobium coerulescens, and a most lovely little
be a good job. Noton of Pilsley flower a Sophronia, I am delighted with. It is on a
has been pleaching the hedge stick not flowered before. I wish you could see it.
by Pilsley road.” There are many others equally beautiful. Amherstia
For nine months, from nobilis and Daughter are growing most vigorously –
late 1838 into 1839, Joseph they will astonish you.”
travelled with the Bachelor Four months later, Joseph wrote to Sarah: “I
Duke through Geneva, Venice, wish the arboretum and all the gardens both at
Rome, Palermo, Pompeii, Chatsworth and the gardens to be kept in very
Athens and beyond. In his excellent order all through the summer… I dare
absence, Sarah oversaw say the Orchidea will have grown quite out of my
the work in the gardens, knowledge. I was delighted with your last account of
greenhouses and parkland, them and so was The Duke.”
keeping her husband abreast One of the more complex periods at Chatsworth
of all the changes. In one letter preceded the visit of Queen Victoria in 1844. Joseph
she wrote: “Jobs crowd thick wrote to Sarah on 16 November 1843, while trying
upon me at times, but my to get away from Devonshire House in London to
health is so good, I am able to make his return to Derbyshire: “Pray tell Andrew all
get through them.” In another the garden walks must be in the most perfect order
letter dated 29 November 1838, – a little new gravel to be got for the Orchard and

SARAH PAXTON
a bracelet inscribed with the words,

“Beloved and Worthy”. Four years
later, in March 1858, on the death
of the Duke, Joseph resigned his
position. The clerks and foremen
at Chatsworth duly wrote to Sarah,
whom they addressed as Lady Paxton:
“We the Clerks and Foremen of the
different departments under Sir Joseph
scattered over the old and every part to be perfect… Above left The Great Paxton at Chatsworth having had for a long time
The Lime Trees at Edensor must be cut immediately Stove, Paxton’s most business transactions with your Ladyship which
famous glasshouse
and every part of Edensor made perfect. The Queen in consequence of the lamented death of the late
at Chatsworth, was
will go to Church… Tell George all the cart road to demolished in 1920. Duke are now about to cease, and being desirous
the conservatory from the arboretum walk is to be Above right Sarah made of testifying our respect and esteem for you for the
covered with white or yellow gravel… There must sure orchids such as kindness and civility with which you have always
Coelogyne barbata
not be a drop of water crossing the arboretum walks treated us, we beg now to present you with a ring
flourished while her
and if any places are green or slippy, gravel must be husband was absent. with the words ‘Chatsworth March 25 1858’
put on. Near the grotto there wants gravel on a long engraved on the inside as a testimonial of the respect
lot of the walks… I have ten-thousand things to tell and esteem we entertain for you.” ■
you and ten-thousand kisses.”
Sarah had to order in just over 12,000 oil lamps to Gordon Hayward is an international garden
illuminate the Queen’s evening stroll in The Great designer, author and an honorary member of
Stove, a new greenhouse Paxton had designed and the Garden Club of America.
built. Theirs was an equal
partnership between a man
and a woman in a Victorian
society that regarded a Interactive history at Chatsworth
middle-class woman as Visit Chatsworth from mid-July through to late August
rather like a delicate hot- and you’ll be able to meet and talk with ‘Sarah Paxton’.
house plant on a pedestal: a Oddsocks Productions, a Derby-based theatre company,
being in need of protection. provides Chatsworth with professional actors in period
Sarah needed no pedestal, no costume who are there to talk with garden visitors each
protector. At the same time, day during those six weeks. The actors portray, among
her devotion to her husband others, Joseph and Sarah Paxton (who is pictured
is clear from the closing here, played by Carole Copeland), and gardener John
words of her letters to him: Gibson. Actors prepare by reading archived letters and
IMAGES ALAMY; JOSEPH VALENTINE
“Goodbye my own beloved.” biographies of the Paxtons. They also learn about the
The Duke had also been present gardens with current head gardener, Steve Porter,
deeply devoted to Sarah. As whose knowledge of Joseph and Sarah is extensive.
part of the celebrations for
the opening of the Crystal Chatsworth, Bakewell, Derbyshire DE45 1PP.
Palace in June, 1854, the Tel: 01246 565300; chatsworth.org
Duke presented her with

Vitopod
Heated Propagator BY APPOINTMENT TO
HRH THE PRINCE OF WALES
TIMBER GREENHOUSE AND
COLDFRAME MANUFACTURERS
WOODPECKER JOINERY UK LTD
BRAMSHALL, STAFFORDSHIRE
WESTERN RED CEDAR GREENHOUSES,

COLDFRAMES AND GARDEN BUILDINGS
UCT • MOST
OD
V
ST INNOVATI
VAT
IVE PRODU
MO
For more information Telephone: 01889 562 610

GreenhouseSensation.co.uk www.woodpeckerjoinery.co.uk
Save
£6O!
Luxurious Pure Cashmere
EXCLUSIVE OFFER NOW £79
Macaroon Incredibly soft and warm, our luxurious pure cashmere Heather Shirt Collar sweater
will see you anywhere in effortless elegance and comfort. At an exclusive price of
£79, free returns and 90 day refund guarantee this is an offer that cannot be missed!
Sizes: (underarm measurement): XS (34”), S (37”), M (40”), L (43”), XL (46”), 2XL (49”), 3XL (52”)
Style 106 Heather £139 EXCLUSIVE OFFER £79

Regent Bracken Teal Sunbeam Chutney
Macaroon Rockpool Winter Berry Lipstick Black
To order, or for a FREE 60 page cashmere

knitwear, pashmina and accessories
catalogue please call quoting EGN25
01908 523153
MONEY BACK www.cashmerecentre.com/egn25
Guarantee Enter code EGN25 at checkout. UK P&P £2.95. Offer expires 23.12.19.
90 DAYS FREE RETURNS
6 Fernfield Farm, Little Horwood, Buckinghamshire, MK17 0PR

For The
Serious NEW
Gardener British
manufactured
Proven to withstand wind speeds of 140mph

NOT JUST 100%
All year round growing SQUIRREL PROOF Large baffle
to prevent
ALSO PEST PROOF aerial
attacks fro
• INDIVIDUALLY spring
loaded feeding ports only
let the songbirds feed, not
pests as these are too
heavy and will close the
feeding port.
• AUTOMATICALLY pest proof
We are not a poly tunnel or glasshouse company, but designers and straight out of the box -
manufactures of the proven, next generation growing environments. No setting or spring tube.
calibration to adjust -
10 Year Guarantee Against UV Degradation So simple to use.
Steel plates
prevent
• Safe superior growing environment, no shadows
• Unique bubble cladding giving excellent heat retention
• VERY LARGE CAPACITY and so squirrels
gnawing.
easy to fill, simply open the lid.
• Ventilation systems perfect for healthy plant growth
• Resistant against extreme weather conditions
• WEATHER PROOF - No more seed
clogging. Woodpecker friendly
• The strongest and warmest greenhouses for the serious gardener and also baby squirrel proof!
• Excellent light transmission • FOUR VERSIONS of PestOff
• Low Maintenance bird feeders available to
• Can be extended suit all different seed types.
• Available in a wide range of sizes • EASY TO CLEAN - simply GREAT VALUE
Keder Greenhouses Limited

'clicks' apart, no bolts
to remove and replace.
.99
BUY TWO FOR
£24 PLUS P&P
Baffle keeps birds
and seed dry and
stops squirrels
Newtown, Offenham, Evesham, Worcestershire WR11 8RZ A B C D
£44.99 sliding down.
t: +44 (0) 1386 49094 sales@kedergreenhouse.co.uk

www.kedergreenhouse.co.uk @KederGreenhouse suet ball
Keeps Seed Dry
Bird seed
PORT OPEN PORT CLOSED NEW! not included.
Suet
Ball
Feeder
INDIVIDUALLY SPRING LOADED
Order online & view other great products at

www.homgar.com
CALL OUR CREDIT CARD HOTLINE: 0844 7010055
Quo te Ref EG0218
or return coupon below using our free post service.
Calls cost 5p per minute, plus your phone company’s access charge
HOMGAR GUARANTEE If not completely satisfied with purchase
return within 7 days for a full refund of purchase price.
Post to: Homgar, FREEPOST LON 12290, Borehamwood, WD6 1BR.

Please send me the following: Please allow 4 days for delivery
Item Price Qty Total
1 x RoamwildTM Pest Off Bird Feeder £24.99
2 x RoamwildTM Pest Off Bird Feeders £44.99
Please add £4.99 postage to complete order £4.99
TICK TYPE
REQUIRED A B C D Grand Total £
I enclose cheque (payable to Homgar)
for £ or charge my Mastercard/Visa/Maestro/Switch Card account
Card No
Security Code (last 3 digits) / / Expiry Date / Issue No (Switch/Maestro)
Name Signature
Address Designed in the UK
Post Code Email Address GUARANTEED

Tel No EG0218

BOOKS
The Reviewer
A selection of the best writing on the shelves this month
Wild about Weeds A Beautiful Obsession Planting the Natural Garden

by Jack Wallington by Jimi Blake & Noel Kingsbury by Piet Oudolf & Henk Gerritsen
Laurence King, £19.99 Filbert Press, £25 Timber Press, £30
When is a weed not a weed? That is Jimi Blake is known for developing “With Henk I learned that planting
the perennial question. Foxgloves, Hunting Brook Gardens in Co. is to do more with plants: ambience,
snapdragons, forget-me-nots and Wicklow, south-west of Dublin, where seasonality, emotion, these are
primroses all have decorative function his bold and imaginative planting important; with Henk we discovered
but given half a chance will quickly schemes have been winning plaudits plants that were good out of flowering,
consume more than their allotted space. ever since he opened the gardens on his he pointed this out to me a hundred
Others, like Japanese knotweed, began family estate in 2002. times, we looked at plants at times other
as ornamental plants but soon went In A Beautiful Obsession, fellow than their prime,” Noel Kingsbury
rogue, as well we know. Between these plantsman Noel Kingsbury sketches out quotes Piet Oudolf as saying of his
poles exists a world of plants that the path Jimi took to reach this point, friend and co-author Henk Gerritsen
deserve a second look. This is according exploring family influences, visits to in his introduction to Planting the
to Jack Wallington, the RHS-qualified Great Dixter and input from another Natural Garden.
garden designer, who neatly points to famed Irish gardener, Helen Dillon. Henk, who died in 2008, was the
the virtues of these enthusiastic growers Subsequent chapters detail the gardens person who introduced Piet to the
so scorned in discourse elsewhere. themselves. A final chapter that contains wonder of plants seemingly out of
Wallington begins with the ways a helpful directory of some of Jimi’s season and, in 1990, the pair wrote
weeds can be brought into the garden, favourite trees, shrubs and herbaceous their first directory of perennials,
with notes on collecting and storing perennials at Hunting Brook provides Droomplanten. This was re-issued as
seeds, as well as ways to manage rebel further food for thought. Planting the Natural Garden in 2003.
plants and echo natural design and plant Noel’s conversational writing style Twenty-five years on, this updated
communities. A second section belies the detail contained within these edition includes the better cultivars to
comprises a directory of plants grouped pages: it is clear that each of these men have emerged since initial publication,
by function: campanula and yellow is as passionate about plants as the plus plants that reflect Piet’s own work.
corydalis for steps, herb Robert and other, and this title presents a real Part I is an illustrated directory; Part II
white deadnettle for shady places. feast for fans of distinctive planting considers uses, for exuberance, structure
WORDS VIVIENNE HAMBLY
Chapters are interspersed with combinations and ideas. Michelle Noel’s or autumn; Part III offers planting plans
interviews featuring notable gardeners eye-catching contemporary page design and combinations.
such as Penny Snell and James Basson. does much to contribute to the mood The result is beautiful in its simplicity
In all, this is a helpful, stimulating here, as do dozens of superb images of and is nepeta for dreamers and
reference work. the gardens themselves. plantaholics. Irresistible and essential.

SEASON MOTION
Ch r ist ma s Gif ts
ening presents
This season’s perfect gard
Silent Pool Gin Welford Park Fabulous Fern collection

Silent Pool Gin is an award-winning Perfect presents for the Galanthophile from the RHS
spirit, handcrafted in Surrey from 24 in your life! Featuring snowdrops galore, The botanical trend continues to flourish
botanicals and water from The Silent these high quality aprons £17, tea towels with houseplants being the hottest ‘home
Pool. Their beautiful Christmas gift range £7, oven gloves £13 and table napkins accessory’ of the moment. The RHS
features glassware, candles and tea light £5 come in delicious apple green or sky exclusive Fern collection honours this
holders in their signature design, luxury blue 100 % cotton. Made in the UK. Visit with bold fern leaf prints adorning a range
crackers each containing a Silent Pool website for full range. of soft furnishings, indoor pots, stationery
Gin miniature, botanical infused smoked Exclusive English Garden code and accessories, all inspired by pressings
salmon, gin mists and Silent Pool Gin SNOWDROP19 for 10% discount. from the Herbarium at RHS Wisley.
itself. Perfect for gin lovers. www.welfordpark.co.uk Perfect for festive gifting.
www.silentpooldistillers.com Tel: 01488 608691 www.rhsshop.co.uk
Tel: 01483 229136 Tel: 01483 211320
ROSA – A Life in Roses Worx 2-in-1 battery pruner TLC for the green-fingered
This book by botanical artist Janie Pirie is A versatile and lightweight tool, the Worx Woods of Windsor Gardener’s range is the
a perfect gift for rose lovers and a book Zen is so easy to use, you will wonder perfect gift for any gardener. After days
to treasure. Hard-backed, linen bound and how you coped without it. Quick-change spent digging and planting, exposure to
presented in a slip box this luxury, limited blades transform shears to a mini hedge the elements can leave hands dry. The
edition (each one numbered and signed) pruner and trimmer. This 2-in-1 battery luxury collection includes a wash, scrub,
shows 36 exquisite illustrations by this pruner is comfortable to hold and makes cream and balm and is infused with the
double RHS gold medallist. An exhibition such light work of pruning. It’s great for refreshing fragrance of Blackberry &
of all original illustrations will be at The topiary! And the batteries share across Thyme. Naturally derived ingredients
Mall Galleries, London 5-10 November. any Worx 20V tools. restore hardworking hands.
www.janiepirie.co.uk www.worx.com www.woodsofwindsor.co.uk
Tel: 01473 311970 Tel: 0345 202 9679 Tel: 01264 320 433
BOOKS
Q&A
Economic historian Professor Sir Roderick Floud has turned his gaze to garden history.
An Economic History of The English Garden is the fascinating result of his research
it was applied elsewhere. Better metal and glass

constructions are a product of greenhouses, but
because people haven’t looked at the industry, this
hasn’t been noticed.
How did you research the topic?

The National Archive has a vast amount of material
on gardens, as does every record office in the
country. The big estates like Longleat, Chatsworth
and Waddesdon all have lots and lots of records. For
the sake of scale, I deliberately looked at the records
of only a few of the great houses and six county
record offices. It took about ten years to complete,
with the last six years being full time – subject to
grandchildren. I couldn’t look at Scotland, Wales
and Northern Ireland, which probably have equally
exacting records. There is also much more material
to be found in the records of nurseries, greenhouse
builders and central heating specialists.
How does gardening contribute to GDP?

The direct contribution to Gross Domestic Product
No one has covered this area of garden history (GDP) was £12.6 billion in 2017, which is larger than
before. Why do you think that is? aerospace manufacturing. The indirect contribution
That’s a question I’ve asked myself throughout this comes to about 1.2% of GDP. Compared to a
work. Garden history has developed as a branch contribution of about a half a percent in the 1700s,
of the history of garden design, and it just doesn’t gardening is doing at least as well now as it has done
seem to have occurred to anyone to enquire about in the past. There are difficulties with measuring
the money. Insofar as anyone has tried to measure it, its contribution, however. GDP counts the value
the Retail Price Index or Consumer Price Index has of output only in monetary terms. It doesn’t value
been used. This produces much smaller numbers and things like work in the garden, which today is
that has minimised the question of how much it has generally unpaid, although the machines we use do
all cost. I’ve based my calculations on comparative get into GDP. Neither does the amount of land used
average salaries which has brought up a better for gardening enter GDP. Gardening takes up 15 per
picture. My own discipline of economic history has cent of the land area of our towns and cities and if
also ignored the topic. you ascribed a housing development value to that you
would get into trillions of pounds very quickly.
What are the consequences of this oversight?
We’re missing an important part of British economic How does perception affect gardening today?
and social history. In the great age of gardens, right The perception of gardening as a leisure pursuit, a
up until WWII, gardening took up a big part of frippery, and something ‘done by women’ has meant
INTERVIEW VIVIENNE HAMBLY
the labour force. Developments in gardening have it hasn’t been taken seriously and we are failing to An Economic
impacted everyday life – and our landscape. The train the professional gardeners of the future. Fifty History of the
only lakes in England south of the Lake District per cent of the population describe themselves as English Garden
are those in the great gardens. Central heating was gardeners, making it more popular than any other by Roderick Floud,
developed for greenhouses at least 100 years before activity, including football. It is a huge industry. Allen Lane, £25

GARDENS & NURSERIES FOR WINTRY INSPIRATION
WEASDALE NURSERIES HEDGING UK
Weasdale Nurseries have Hedging UK are specialist
been growing hardy trees growers of quality hedging
and shrubs on their site at plants.
850ft elevation in the Howgill Plants are available to purchase
Fells, at the heart of beautiful at wholesale prices across the
Cumbria, since 1950. UK through our mail order
Specialising in mail-order service.
from the outset, our careful Buy direct from the grower,
packaging system has delivered direct to your door.
become legendary and Readers of The English Garden
guarantees safe arrival of the get a 5% discount (quote
delicate contents anywhere TEG2019).
in the UK.
Contact us for your free copy
of our highly readable,
illustrated catalogue, listing
over 900 different plants
available from November to
April.
Tel: 01704 827224 or 07789 922457
Tel: 015396 23246 sales@hedginguk.com | www.hedginguk.com
sales@weasdale.com | www.weasdale.com Boundary House Farm, Holmeswood Road, Holmeswood,
Newbiggin on Lune, Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria CA17 4LX Lancashire L40 1UA
SPRING REACH NURSERY HARDY EUCALYPTUS

Spring Reach Nursery Grow your own cut foliage for
grows a fantastic range bouquets, arrangements, wreaths
of clematis, trees, and garlands!
hedging, ferns, shrubs, 23 different easy-to-grow species
fruit, perennials, roses, for gardens, allotments or farms.
climbers and grasses. See our website for plants and
our new book, “Fantastic Foliage
Stars of the early winter and how to Farm It” by the UK’s
are Daphne ‘Perfume Eucalyptus expert.
Princess’, Euphorbia
‘Tasmanian Tiger’, We grow over 60 species of
Libertia ‘Taupo Blaze’, hardy Eucalyptus from seed at
Leucothoe ‘Zeblid’, our UK nursery.
Phormium ‘Firebird’ High quality stock, all Air-Pot
and Nandina ‘Fire Power’. grown for a healthy root system.
Suppliers to the public and trade.
RHS Chelsea Gold winners.
FREE DELIVERY OFFER; QUOTE
“ENG19” (expires 31.12.19)
Excluding Highlands and Islands.
Tel: 01483 284769 Tel: 07515 261511
info@springreachnursery.co.uk | www.springreachnursery.co.uk office@hardy-eucalyptus.com | www.hardy-eucalyptus.com
Spring Reach Nursery, Long Reach, Ockham, Surrey GU23 6PG Hardy-Eucalyptus, Grafton Nursery, Grafton Flyford, Worcester WR7 4PW
DAISY CLOUGH NURSERIES LTD ASHWOOD NURSERIES

A busy nursery in rural A traditional working
Lancashire, Daisy Clough nursery situated in the West
specialises in a carefully Midlands. We specialise in
selected range of over 700 Hellebores, Hardy Cyclamen,
perennials and grasses. Open Salvias, Hepaticas, Dwarf
seven days a week, the Conifers, Hydrangeas,
nursery also offers a good Lewisias, Snowdrops, Primula
selection of shrubs, trees, auriculas and offer many
container plants and fruit. more choice plants.
Plenty of homegrown We feel Ashwood Nurseries
vegetable plants are available is a plantsman’s paradise.
through spring and summer. Our mail order service sends
The 2019 plant list is available plants, garden essentials and
to view on the website. There gifts to UK and EU
is a beautiful shop selling destinations. Special events
garden sundries and throughout the year. Please
homeware and a fabulous new visit our website for more
tearoom to round off your details. Open daily.
visit.
Tel: 01524 793104 Tel: 01384 401996

info@daisyclough.com | www.daisyclough.com mailorder@ashwoodnurseries.com | www.ashwoodnurseries.com
Daisy Clough Nurseries Ltd, Station Lane, Scorton, Preston, Lancs PR3 1AN Ashwood Lower Lane, Kingswinford, West Midlands DY6 0AE
BRADLEY GARDENS ROUSHAM HOUSE & GARDEN
Christmas shopping and Rousham represents the first
festive cheer all in a Victorian phase of English landscape
walled garden. design, and remains almost as
William Kent left it, one of the
Our late night shopping
few gardens of this date to
event is on the 28 November
have escaped alteration. Many
from 5pm-8pm so enjoy a
features which delighted 18th
Christmas inspired meal in
century visitors to Rousham
the Glasshouse café, visit one
are still in situ, such as the
of our many shops in the
ponds and cascades in Venus’s
garden and be tempted by
Vale, the Cold Bath and seven-
wreaths and winter planting
arched Praeneste, Townsend’s
in the nursery.
Building, the Temple of the
Browse ladies’ accessories Mill, and, on the skyline, a
and visit the festively sham ruin known as the
decorated interiors store and ‘Eyecatcher’.
gift shop filled with
OPEN: Daily from 10am, last
traditional decorations and
admission 4.30pm. No children
inspirational gifts.
under 15 and no dogs. Entry
Opening time Tuesday to fee £8 per person.
Sunday 9.30am to 5pm.
Tel: 01661 852176 Tel: 01869 347110
www.bradley-gardens.co.uk www.rousham.org
Sled Lane, Wylam, Northumberland NE41 8JH Rousham, Bicester, Oxfordshire OX25 4QU
ARDMADDY CASTLE GARDENS HEVER CASTLE & GARDENS

The gardens at Ardmaddy Wrap up warm and blow
Castle lie in a spectacular away the cobwebs, walk off
setting in a horseshoe valley the Christmas pudding and
with the elevated castle to take a stroll in the gardens
seaward. where the warm bark of the
The walled garden is full of redwood trees glows against
magnificent rhododendrons, the winter sky.
unusual shrubs and plants, a On the way up to the Castle
clock garden, crevice garden, the yew topiary stands
fruit and vegetables all within majestically and the Winter
dwarf box hedging. The Garden displays attractive
woodland walk, with its 60ft and interesting colours and
Hydrangea petiolaris, leads to structures. For the more
water gardens with damp- energetic take a bracing walk
loving plants and grasses. A around the Lake.
Plantsman’s garden. OPEN: See website for
Vegetables and Plant Stall. opening dates.
Open daily, 9am until dusk.
Tel: 01852 300353 Tel: 01732 865224

minette@ardmaddy.com | www.ardmaddy.com/places-visit/ www.hevercastle.co.uk
Ardmaddy, By Oban, Argyll PA34 4QY Hever, Edenbridge, Kent TN8 7NG
TENDERCARE NURSERIES WAKEHURST

Book a visit to our award- Wakehurst, Kew’s wild botanic
winning Nursery where our garden in Sussex, is home to over
experienced horticulturists 500 acres of dramatic landscape
will help you pick the best ranging from ornamental gardens,
choices for your budget and temperate woodlands and a nature
garden conditions. We reserve. In the winter months,
deliver and plant with an discover the newly redesigned
Establishment Warranty. planted Winter Garden, bursting
See our website for our with vibrant colours and fragrance.
Planting and Design Services. At the heart of Wakehurst, step
inside the Millennium Seed Bank,
Treat yourself to a HSP the world’s largest wild seed
Garden Room this conservation project, to see the
Christmas! Ex Display models important work of Kew’s scientists.
- up to 40% off.
OPEN: Daily from 10am. Gardens
close 4.30pm (November to
February), 6pm (March to October).
Gardens closed 24 & 25 December.
Please see website for details to plan
your visit and upcoming events.
Tel: 01895 837120 Tel: 01444 894066
sales@tendercare.co.uk | www.tendercare.co.uk. kew.org/Wakehurst
Southlands Road, Denham UB9 4HD. Next to Junction 2 on the M40. Ardingly, Haywards Heath, Sussex RH17 6TN
Shop with us ANIMAL SANCTUARY
FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT US AT WWW.THEENGLISHGARDEN.CO.UK

GARDEN TOOLS
Secateurs, hedgeshears and the world’s finest
pruning saws in superb, tempered Japanese steel
KST 230
KST217
Silky Fox Saws
KST103
Foxley Estate Office,
Hayauchi
490
Mansel Lacy,
Hereford HR4 7HQ
Pocketboy 170 Tel: 01981 590224
Fax: 01981 590355 COURSES
Gardening Courses
TO ADVERTISE • TEL: 020 7349 3700 • EMAIL: info@chelseamagazines.com
Visit silkyfox.co.uk to find your local stockist enquiries@silkyfox.co.uk

Home-study
The Horticultural
HEDGING
Correspondence
College
• For leisure or for a career
GLEBE FARM HEDGING

• Over 30 courses in Gardening, Garden Design,
Arboriculture, Forestry, Floristry and more
• Many courses prepare you for RHS or RFS/ABC quals.
Over 100 varieties of field and pot Free info FREEPHONE 0800 083 9191 or 01409 220 777
Or email: info@hccollege.co.uk www.hccollege.co.uk
grown hedge plants and young CLOTHING GREENHOUSES

trees. Nationwide delivery.
for advice or a catalogue contact us on Cornishwear
t: 01206 323200 Cornish smocks -
www.glebefarmhedging.co.uk perfect for gardening
Made in Cornwall
Glebe Farm, Langham, Colchester, Essex CO4 5PP
e: hedge-plants@btconnect.com www.cornishwear.com
hello@cornishwear.com
THE HEDGING SPECIALISTS 01736 732236
SKIN CARE
DermaGuard
Excellent protection for your hands against
the damaging effects of soils, sap, water
and all garden chemicals.
Just one application of our lotion guarantees
to protect for up to four hours – even when £69
free p&p
hands are wet. Safe for horticulture.
250ml £6.50 • 500ml £12.00
POST FREE
The Skin Care Company Ltd
St Asaph LL17 0HH
FREE Order Hotline: 0800 917 2219 Reversible Cotton Jackets – various designs
www.dermaguard.com 01263 732643
GARDEN FEATURES
Chairworks Ltd
www.chairworks.info | 0208 247 3700 | info@chairworks.info

BAMBOO CLOCHES www.giftsandgardens.com
GARDEN FRIENDS
Made from thick aluminium that will not rust, and painted beautifully by
hands on both sides. Cats, Chickens, Hens, Cockerels, Pheasants, Owls, etc.
Made of bamboo woven into an

open dome and available in 5
sizes. These attractive cloches
protect plants and seeding from
damage by animals, footballs,
light frost and wind-chill. Fleece
and newspaper can be used to
cover the plants inside the
cloches during periods of heavy
frost. The micro climate inside
the cloches promotes growth and
allows rain through to the plants.
CANDLE LANTERNS Made from iron with rust resistant paint. All candle lanterns have a
window which can be opened at the bak to place a night light candle on a tray within.
Sentimental Stones
Wooden Keyrings : 90 Locations
Hanging Wooden Signs : 70 Messages Topiary : Pig, Dog, Rabbit, etc Hanging Teak Baskets Wooden Doorstops
Gifts and Gardens, 32 Bourne Lane, Much Hadham, Hertfordshire SG10 6ER, UK. Tel 01279 842685 www.giftsandgardens.com
LAST WORD
Gifts That Keep on Giving

This Christmas, Katherine Swift suggests making a gardener’s bouquet
of herbs and shrubs for rooting, or a fragrant winter spray of dried flowers
T
here are two words for what major var. oxyloba, formerly known as ‘Dartington
we give at Christmas: gift is the Star’, with delicate, slender-petalled, violet-blue
Old English word, and the more flowers), which wouldn’t be in flower, but roots so
formal present comes from the easily at the leaf-joints that you would probably find
Norman French, originally used in a piece already rooted. Add rose hips for colour then
the sense of bringing something into the presence tie them all up in hessian. If you are lucky enough to
of someone, presenting something – a sense that we live in a mistletoe area (as I do), include a berried bit
still use in formal introductions. of that, for a properly Christmassy note.
I prefer the intimacy of the Old English word. Or you could go for dried flowers instead.
Gardeners are generous givers of gifts. We often have Lavender makes a lovely, long-lasting, fragrant
a garden full of flowers to cut, or fruit and vegetables winter bouquet. Pick the stems before the flower
to share, plants to divide and cuttings or seeds to buds are fully open for the best result. And pot
offer. A fondly remembered friend of mine once pourri made with herbs and rose petals from the
gave me as a house-warming present, a gardener’s garden never fails to please. Another friend of mine
bouquet of herbs and shrubs for rooting. There’s still never fails to include a few pressed flowerheads with
just about time to take hardwood cuttings now, so
a Christmas posy of evergreen or winter-flowering
A posy of his cards and letters. Gently opening envelopes with
his handwriting on them is always a delight.
shrubs would make a lovely gift. evergreen A gift of alcohol always goes down well at
Choose flowered shoots, but include unflowered
leafy ones, which your recipients could root for or winter- Christmas, and flavouring it with produce from
the garden or surrounding hedges adds a personal
themselves. Winter-flowering honeysuckle (Lonicera flowering note. Sloe gin, damson gin, quince gin – they
shrubs
purpusii) and Christmas box – sarcococca – would couldn’t be easier to make – but you need to plan
be good subjects for this, both of them divinely ahead. Damsons and sloes are ready for picking
scented and with a good chance of being in flower
at Christmas. To this you could add trails of ivy
makes a in September, quinces in October. One very good
tip I came across recently is to freeze the sloes
or evergreen periwinkle (my favourite is Vinca lovely gift” beforehand; this splits the skins, and avoids the
tiresome business of pricking the fruit.
Jars of jams or preserves, too, made from produce
in the garden, make a great gift at any time. If
sending to a child, you could team several little jars
of jam with a copy of Jam, the delightful picture
book by Margaret Mahy (now sadly out of print,
although second-hand copies are easy to find).
These days we are all conscious of the cost to
the environment inherent in the presents we buy,
whether in terms of air miles, plastic or the energy
expended in production. We don’t really need more
ILLUSTRATION JULIA RIGBY PORTRAIT BEVERLEY FRY
‘stuff ’. Give your loved ones a little bunch

of flowers, something cheering to drink
– maybe a little something to nibble – and
a good book: the best pre-Christmas gift
I received this year was a slim paperback
of Vita Sackville-West’s novel The Heir, in
which an English garden, rather than Union
Jacks and crosses of St George, exemplifies all
that’s best about England and Englishness. ■

The Greenhouse your Garden deserves
Black Friday Open Weekend

UP TO on Friday 29th November to
25% Sunday 1st December in
OFF
BLACK FRIDAY
both our Gloucester and
SALE Cheshire showrooms
Opening times 10am - 4pm
Order
accessories
today in time
for Christmas!
Grand Coldframe
BLACK FRIDAY SALE
£520
The RHS Portico
Upright Coldframe
BLACK FRIDAY SALE
The Classic Eight The Grand Grow and Store £770
Whether you choose our smallest cold frame or a large bespoke greenhouse,
you can expect the same class-leading quality, value and attention to detail that we’re famous for.
All our greenhouses are constructed using precision mortice and tennon joints, only the highest quality
Western Red Cedar and come with our renowned automatic full length ridge ventilation system,
even the fixings are solid stainless steel or brass.
You can buy online or design your own Greenhouse

at www.gabrielash.com
Order a Free Brochure today 01829 271888
The only Timber Greenhouse company endorsed by the RHS.

©The Royal Horticultural Society 2019. Endorsed by the Royal Horticultural Society. Registered Charity No. 222879/SC038262. rhs.org.uk

E 46 Usy 5 S

Загружено:

Сведения о документе

Оригинальное название

Авторское право

Поделиться этим документом

Поделиться или встроить документ

Параметры публикации

Этот документ был вам полезен?

Это неприемлемый материал?

Авторское право:

E 46 Usy 5 S

Загружено:

Авторское право:

All greenhouses are see-through

But ours have a remarkable transparency

www.alitex.co.uk 01730 826900

CLARE FOGGETT, EDITOR

ON THE COVER DIGITAL PLATFORMS

symmetry in the Arts editions of The

DECEMBER 2019 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 3

+44 (0)1483 762955

34 Wakehurst This new Winter Garden in

40 Craigfoodie James and Lindsay Murray

48 Rodmarton Manor In winter, Rodmarton

57 The Nation’s Favourite Gardens We

101 Sarah Paxton Joseph Paxton was one

73 Plant Focus The fantastic wildlife

79 Double H Orchids Exotic phalaenopsis

85 Armchair Botany This month, Jim Cable

6 THE ENGLISH GARDEN DECEMBER 2019

01694 771800 /kadaifirebowls

9 This Month Our guide to gardens to visit,

17 Christmas Gift Guide Our ultimate guide

107 The Reviewer December’s literary

114 Last Word Katherine Swift on the

77 Sarah Raven 20% off Christmas lights

DECEMBER 2019 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 7

Described as one of the

DECEMBER 2019 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 9

LOOKING AHEAD: Festive ACTIVITIES

10 THE ENGLISH GARDEN DECEMBER 2019

Tutors that run our courses run their own studios

Inchbald School Of Design

020 7630 9011 | gardens@inchbald.co.uk | www.inchbald.co.uk

Make sure any

If hard frosts are

AGELESS Beauty As leaves fall from

WORDS RACHEL WARDLEY; PHOEBE JAYES IMAGES JESSICA REEVE; SHUTTERSTOCK

12 THE ENGLISH GARDEN DECEMBER 2019

Put up an open-fronted nestbox for

14 THE ENGLISH GARDEN DECEMBER 2019

The Glenmore, shown

Allow our experts to

Michael Michaud Jewellery is renowned for its beauty and

DECEMBER 2019 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 17

Floral-themed accessories for

18 THE ENGLISH GARDEN DECEMBER 2019

20 THE ENGLISH GARDEN DECEMBER 2019

Gifts inspired by the natural

DECEMBER 2019 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 21

Tel: 01344 578111; crocus.co.uk 9. RHS lead lite

cube, from £10.99. Tel: 01344 578111; crocus.co.uk

10. 6ft platform tripod ladder*, £275. Tel: 03333

22 THE ENGLISH GARDEN DECEMBER 2019

DECEMBER 2019 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 23

24 THE ENGLISH GARDEN DECEMBER 2019

WORDS HELEN BILLIALD PHOTOGRAPHS HEATHER EDWARDS

The frosted box squares

28 THE ENGLISH GARDEN DECEMBER 2019

DECEMBER 2019 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 29

30 THE ENGLISH GARDEN DECEMBER 2019

DECEMBER 2019 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 31

Name(s) of Account Holder(s) Originator’s Identification Number

Instruction to your Bank or Building Society

CHEQUE / CREDIT / DEBIT CARD ORDERS

UK EUROS AUSTRALIA ROW

+44 (0)1858 438833

WORDS SARAH GILES PHOTOGRAPHS CLIVE NICHOLS

34 THE ENGLISH GARDEN DECEMBER 2019