A Gardening Woman

Chelsea laughs - James Alexander Sinclair gets a Toasting

Chelsea Press Day and I headed off to see Ann-Marie Powell's garden for the British Heart Foundation whose progress I'd been following on Twitter (@AnnMariePowell). And what do I find? Crowds of press, Ann-Marie and I wearing the same dress and no hiding place! So thanks to Camilla Swift for capturing the moment and to Toast for coming up with the dress. What good taste we both have! Who's the bloke in the middle? Oh, just some guy who knows a good photo opportunity when he sees one!

Incidentally, I loved Ann-Marie's garden. Brave and bold just to have two strong colours, the red and the green - so appropriate for its theme. I only wish everyone could have seen it at night when the blood red stepping stones were illuminated - stunning.

PS Thanks to @ArabellaSock, there is an X-rated version of this photograph on Twitter which we may be tempted to share with you

Alys Fowler and Cleve West's horticultural itch

One of the less known sides of blogging is that you are occasionally sent emails asking you to promote one product or another or accept a 'guest' blogger writing about some commercial product. A polite reply usually sends them packing but this week, an email came through that made me stop and think and then watch the accompanying video. I'm a great fan of Alys Fowler and miss her enormously on GW, and I have great respect for her writing. So when she says she's got something to say on protecting hands during gardening, I thought it was worth listening to.

Anyone with eczema as Alys knows from personal experience needs to be extra careful with certain plant saps. Even if you don't have eczema, you still have to be careful. Only this week, if you've been following the Chelsea Flower Show coverage of Cleve West's Best in Show garden, you'll know that he used parsnip flowers from his own allotment. But when it came to stripping out the garden on Saturday, he found out that even the innocuous parsnip can have a pretty nasty bite on the skin. If you can bear looking, here's a link to his inflamed arm: http://lockerz.com/s/105999997

Some people can't bear gardening in gloves. Having encountered euphorbia sap too many times, I always wear them - the thinnest type which I buy in bulk at the Chelsea Flower Shop and last me for ages. So thank you, Alys, for this timely reminder as to why it is so important for all of us to cover up.

 

Gloucestershire Gardens Review Part II

Anticipation could not have been higher as a group of us met at Banbury Station last week to visit nearby Broughton Grange with its famous 'walled garden' created ten years ago by Tom Stuart-Smith. I'd seen the photographs, read T S-S's thinking behind the garden and like everyone else, couldn't wait to see it in the flesh.

Met by the delightful Head Gardener, Andrew, we were let loose on this icon of contemporary garden design. First impressions were as expected; one cannot help but be blown away by the scale of the design and scope of the planting.

This is an astounding garden which will undoubtedly influence other less ambitious gardens (including my own) for years to come. It oozes modernity yet also harks back to the eighteenth century. Money, patronage, and a strong sense of male-ness.

Small niggle: In general I'm a fan of labels as long as they are used discretely. But these are just too in your face and high. Some will get hidden by foliage eventually but those that don't give it the look of a botanical garden. I wonder what T S-S thinks of them? Maybe it's a boy thing...

Of course, Broughton Grange isn't just about the walled garden even though that's what everyone wants to see. There are other areas, an 80-acre arborteum in its infancy, a peat-block ericaceous garden, a stumpery (groan....), a Spring garden walk, a parterre in front of the house which is reassuringly modest for such a grand estate. And I'm delighted that the garden is now open to the public both for groups and for the NGS in high summer (see the Yellow Book for dates).

So did I come away exhilarated or disappointed? A little of both. I still believe it is one of the most influential gardens so far of the 21st century. There are planting combinations galore that I will be copying. But I didn't expect it to be quite so masculine and impersonal. Perhaps I should have done.

Marks out of 20:

Atmosphere 3; Planting 4; Design 4; Upkeep 3

So on to Upton Wold. Where? Yes, that's just what we said. I hadn't heard of it either. Quite a long coach journey brought us to some corrugated barns which did not auger well. But minutes later we were greeted by the ebullient owner, given plant lists and we sensed we were in for something special.

While the estate is enormous, the garden is traditional Cotswolds, divided into various rooms all with a different atmosphere. At the heart of this garden is the owner's astounding collection of walnut trees. While not the most exciting trees to look at, knowing that this collection is probably the best in the world makes it exhilarating. But for me it was the special touches like 'windows' cut into beech hedges, a tunnel made through a yew hedge for chasing grandchildren, and excellent specialist planting throughout that made this garden very special for me. It is only open to groups but is well worth seeking out.

Atmosphere: 5  Planting:  4  Design:  4 Upkeep: 4

Gloucestershire Gardens Review Part I

Being based mainly in Suffolk, I don't get over to the Cotswolds as often as I'd like so the opportunity to visit gardens between work commitments last week was not to be missed! Homework done on Twitter to find gardens I hadn't been to before (thanks to @DrFrond, @AnneWareham et al) gave me a short list of Snowshill Garden (NT) and Mill Dene (which came with a warning) to be followed the next day by Broughton Grange and Upton Wold with a Garden Museum tour.

Snowshill Garden (NT)

Most people visit Snowshill to see Charles Wade's eccentric and eclectic collections of weird and wonderful objects. He had so much that the house was given over entirely to the collect and Wade lived next door in the small Priest's House. He had just as firm ideas about the garden, distrusting roses for their short season and spiky look, and banning green paint in favour of his own mix of turquoise known as Wade's Blue. I couldn't resist taking this photograph since the woman's outfit almost matches one of Wade's painted plaques seen round the garden.

I loved the atmosphere here. A long walk from the car park and commercial NT aspects give it a feeling of other-worldliness just as Wade would have wanted. Some roses have been allowed back in by the Head Gardener who's been there 20+ years.  The planting is mostly familiar - lots of cottage garden favourites allowed to seed in a rather un-NT way. Some species peonies I coveted but this is not a garden to come to for rarities but rather to be transported by its magical atmosphere.

My marks out of 20:

Atmosphere 5; Planting 3; Design 3.5; Upkeep 3.5 = 15

 

Mill Dene, Blockley

I had been warned. But I wanted to make my own mind up. And I did. First the parking is a nightmare. Friendly greeting with that day's food menu and a returnable map of the garden. It's on a tricky site with the mill stream running through the middle but I have an instant hatred of black weed suppressant material showing through brash home made chippings. And then I turned to see what has to be the saddest auricula theatre ever.

Please, if you open your garden to the public - not for charity - try and see it as others see it on arrival. Wombles, etc, are not my taste but may be for others but there is no excuse for sad auriculas and large clumps of nettles in herbaceous borders. Don't be fooled by the photograph below - they are there. There are pluses - they've made the best of this sloping site and it is clearly a much-loved family garden. But I left hearing the words 'we told you so' ringing in my ears.

Atmosphere: 1.5; Planting 2; Design 3; Upkeep 1.5 = 8

Having expected to spend more time at Mill Dene, I left needing a fix of a good garden. The old stalwart Hidcote is closed on Thursday but luckily Bourton House Garden was just nearby.

Bourton House Garden, Bourton-on-the-Hill

Bourton House Garden calls itself the 'Cotswolds' best kept secret' but it was no secret that it was put on the market and sold a couple of years ago much to many people's distress. The good news is that the new owners appear to be carrying on the traditional of this marvellous garden since the previous owners had to sell due to ill health.

The design of the garden has always made the most of the imposing house and surrounding open countryside. It is immaculately kept as it has always been - the box topiary looks like a Firth of Forth bridge job to me but it's clearly a labour of love by the loyal but small gardening team.

I was too early for the sumptuous tubs and tender perennials that have been a feature of Bourton House Garden but a peek into the greenhouse gives a taste of what's to come.

The barn is to re-open later in the year for refreshments and exhibitions. I came away with my faith restored in private gardens open to the public on a daily basis. Bourton House Garden is grand but accessible at the same time. Long may it stay this way.

Atmosphere: 4; Planting 4; Design 4; Upkeep 5 = 17

Next blog: Part II - Did Tom Stuart-Smith's Walled Garden at Broughton Grange live up to the hype? And where and what is Upton Wold?

Porcoipins for snowdrips

Instead of being able to be outside on the first really spring day this year, I'm stuck indoors with a bad back - caused it must be admitted by lifting terracotta pots. So instead I've just sent off an order for some special snowdrops 'in the green' from the snowdrop King, John Morley. [To receive John's catalogue, send six 1st class stamps to North Green Snowdrops, North Green Only, Stoven, Beccles, Suffolk NR34 8DG.]

I say 'some' but I'm paying more than I've ever done for just thirteen bulbs. I'm a complete beginner when it comes to collecting snowdrops. This is the first year I've had a garden where they would be happy. There are some growing here already but the ones that I covert are the ones that remind me of my grandparents' home in Grantchester near Cambridge. I've never been able to find out what variety they were but they seemed particularly big compared to the ordinary ones seen everywhere at this time of year.

When the house was sold in the 1980s, my mother dug up a few to  keep the memories going. Last year her house was sold as well but in the autumn so I had no chance of digging some up to carry on the thread. So now I've picked three choice varieties from John's catalogue in the hope that one of these will be the illusive variety and the other two just as good. I've gone for Galanthus 'Cedric's Prolific', G. 'Atkinsii of Finnis', and G. 'S. Arnott'. They have pretty good provenance anyway which I love. G. 'Cedric's Prolific' came from Benton End, the artist and gardener Cedric Morris's home (and mentor to John Morley, himself a leading artist) via Beth Chatto, another friend of CM. G. 'Atkinsii of Finnis' is a variety from the garden of the late plantswoman Valerie Finnis while G. 'S. Arnott' came via the garden of E. A. Bowles. Some pedigrees!

And finally, no, I haven't been at the sherry - the title of this post is a lovely entry I found in the oven books at the Wedgwood factory when I was researching for my book Potted History. The Story of Plants in the Home.  It was referring to this black basalt 'hedgehog' which was used to grow or display snowdrops in the eighteenth century hence the misspelled heading.

Since the Wedgwood business has been sold, there is a real possibility that the marvellous museum will close and the unique contents of the archive collection dispersed. It would be a cultural disaster if that were to happen. Snowdrops are one thing, but losing our heritage is much more serious.

A trip to Tenerife's Botanical Garden

I'm just back from a short break to Tenerife. We were staying on the North side of the island in Puerto de la Cruz, much lusher than the arid Southern strip where all the big brash bars and hotels are. There's more rain and cloud in the North as well but given the sometimes tropical weather, the planting is much more varied. We were moments away from the island's botanical gardens - not a deliberate plan on my part but convenient nevertheless!

The garden has an interesting history. It was created by King Charles III of Spain in 1788 as somewhere for the plants that were being brought from the tropics to acclimatise before their final journey on to Spain. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, all the plants that were held there were catalogued by the French naturalist P. Ledrú, according to the Linnaean system. It claims to have important collections of tropical and subtropical plants together with a herbarium of mostly Canarian flora, with over 37,000 dried specimens.

I have to say I was rather disappointed with the garden. It's laid out as a formal 18th century walled garden, quite small (20,000 m² though it is currently being enlarged by adding another 40,000 m²). Maybe it was the rather repetative planting: bed after bed of Ficus, Bromlieads and Dracaena made it look rather like the houseplant section at Homebase. We were too early to see the Brugmansias and Clivias doing their thing but the palms were impressive, dating back some two hundred years judging by their size.

Surprisingly few plants went on my 'Wanted' list. My one real wish plant was Euphorbia atropurpurea (below). No immigrant from the tropics, this is native to Tenerife but I wasn't able to buy seed of this beauty anywhere. Probably just as well - it isn't hardy and I don't think my greenhouse is big enough!

This Erythrina speciosa from Brazil is impressive but again too big and too tender.

Lovely Erythrina speciosa var. rosea

I might try and hunt down this Begonia heracleifolia var. nigricans. Could look splendid in pots with the flowers held so high on those long stems.

So my advice is that if you're on the South of the island, it might not be worth the 2hr+ round trip to get there but if you're in the location with just a little time to kill, you might enjoy it.

I guess we mustn't forget that the very fact that so many of the plants were familiar to us now as houseplants across Europe is due to gardens such as these being created en route. But I couldn't help remembering the astounding public garden in Madeira which, while I'm no fan of the carpet bedding there, is beautiful maintained with a terrific variety of plants. Comment feedback please: Could this be the British 'nation of gardeners' influence in Madeira??

November day at Great Dixter

The hallmark of a great garden is to be able to see it at any time of year and come away impressed. I've just spent time at Great Dixter on a Gardens Illustrated day on 'Choosing and Using Good Plants' with Fergus Garrett.

Although officially closed for the winter now, the garden was still looking sumptuous and Fergus's talk (together with his almost 400 slides!) was inspiring. Worth the awfully long drive to get there and back in a day. I would never want to replicate GD's high-maintenance and high density plantings but I came away in awe of Fergus's plant knowledge determined never to accept anything but the best and most interesting 'forms' again.

Autumn contrasts

This is the first autumn I've had in my new garden in Suffolk and I'm entranced by this colour contrast between the Hydrangea petiolaris and the vine. One minute the hydrangea's leaves were green, the next the colour had drained right out of them and they looked bleached out - totally dramatic against the autumn red of the vine.

In another contrast, I've been finding it hard to look at the top of the garden where the foundations of the new greenhouse have been dug right in the middle of the vegetable garden. The idea is that it will be a vegetable garden again only bigger and better. But the digger has compacted all the soil around it and the piles of sub-soil are worrying.

I'm an impatient person - not a good quality for a gardener - and I just can't wait for Alitex to tip up with all the bits and pieces which will make up the greenhouse. Thank goodness, I won't have to wait much longer - it arrives on Monday. Perfect timing to start getting my tender perennials under cover especially the baby cuttings which will want some cossetting over the winter. Watch this space for an opening ceremony!

What am I doing with this megaphone?

Last Sunday I was thrilled to have the honour of starting the 2010 Watford & Dacorum Memory Walk in aid of the Alzheimer's Society. Authors rarely think of themselves as celebrities as we lead pretty solitary lives either heads down in a library or hunched in front of a computer. But the AS is very close to my heart and I've written in the national press about the shared link of gardening between me and my mother who suffered from Alzheimer's and the comfort that it brought me in her final days and after.

So it was just terrific to see so many supporters turn out for this fund-raiser - much needed. Final figures aren't in yet but over 100 took part and the aim is to raise £15,000 from this walk through the beautiful heritage site of Cassiobury Park. In the Watford area alone there are about 15,000 people living with dementia so support is desperately needed for them and their families. The Memory Walks are held across the country are the Alzheimer's Society's biggest fund-raising events and growing every year. Unlikely other 'races', these are great fun for all the family and movingly unite everyone who has been touched by living with dementia. Thank you to everyone who took part.

Sunglasses needed for Sarah Raven flowers

Just been down to the picking part of the garden in Suffolk and come back with these. The colours are even more electrifying in real life. The gladioli and dahlias are collections from Sarah Raven. Although never the cheapest, she does have a brilliant eye for colour combinations.

It's hard to see because it is so dark but the deep claret dahlia is a gem and has flowered and flowered for weeks. Just in front is the little orange pompom dahlia - not so floriferous but still a fun contrast.

Runner beans of course which should always go straight from the plant to the pot for the freshest flavour. So not a bad start for the first year of growing in Suffolk. It's all got to be moved next week to make way for the new Alitex greenhouse - SO exciting!