Spring here in the UK has been very wet and cold although the Met Office tells us the average temperature has been slightly above normal . Enjoy a tour of the garden with me to see what is adding light to the gloomy weather.
The Crab apple tree has been spectacular this spring much visited by honey bees.
Malus Golden Hornet
One of six apple trees in the garden is Grenadier, an excellent cooking apple.
Malus Grenadier
Some Sun lovers.
Edging the sunny iris bed is ‘Lost Label’The Wall Flower Red Bedder.Geranium Sanguineum in an alpine pot.
Shade-loving plants.
Polygonatum x hybridum ‘Striatum’Polygonatum x hybridum in the White and Green garden.Athyrium niponicum f. metallicumLigularia przewalskii is a lover of damp growing conditions.As is Rheum ‘Ace of Hearts’
They are both grown in pots in the shade and well watered because our garden soil is free draining.
In the White and Green Garden.
Flowering to the left of the standard holly is Clematis ‘Miss Bateman’
Acers in the Oriental Garden and in pots are providing wonderful leaf colour.
In the Blue Border.
Lunaria annua ‘Rosemary Verey’Euphorbia ‘palustris’ with common Honesty.Geranium phaeum var. phaeum ‘Samobor’Weigela ‘Victoria’Euphorbia dulcis Chameleon RedPhiladelphus coronarius ‘Aureus with a young Physocrpus opulifolius ‘Brown Sugar’ providing a colour contrast.
Around the never-ending woodland walk.
Dicentra ‘Stuart Boothman’ among the For-get-me-nots.Lamium, Dead Nettle with Buff Tailed BumblebeeMeconopsis cambricaParthenocissus tripcuspidata (Boston Ivy)The Great Tits are busy nest building in here.
The Clematis alp. ‘Broughton Bride’ is flowering up into the Liquidamber slyraciflua ‘Stella’
After this you pass the Prunus serrula tree which is now in flower and covered with honey bees.
Time to sit on the Banana Bench and listen to the bees, relax and view the Blue Border.
The Hosta row looks very vibrant,
Especially ‘The Prince of Wales’.
Hosta ‘The Prince of Wales’
Just above is the white wisteria looking full of promise, I hope it will be in full flower for our National Garden Scheme open day on May 13th.
An opportunity to sit and enjoy the garden with some refreshments.
Whilst enjoying the afternoon sunshine in the garden I started to take photos of some of the few spring plants in flower. As I listed them I began to think of why I had planted them in the garden.
William Robinson was a great Victorian gardener. We visited his garden at Gravetye a few years ago where it is still managed in his style by a Head Gardener who previously worked at Great Dixter.
Robinson bred many plants at his garden Gravetye Manor. One he described as the most beautiful of all Anemones is Anemone nemorosa Robinsoniana. It is a beautiful lilac colour now flowering in the spring bed.
His book, The Wild Garden, is probably even more influential today due in no small measure to it being a source of inspiration for Christopher Lloyds’s mother at Great Dixer where his gardening philosophy is still practised today.
Growing next to the Anemone is Ranunculus ficaria ‘Brazen Hussy’ discovered growing in a wood at Great Dixter and named by Christopher Lloyd.
Alongside these in the spring bed is the Mahonia aquifolium ‘Apollo’ it is unusual due to it being low spreading with evergreen glossy leaves which turn a purple hue in winter. I planted it following a recommendation by the garden designer Rosemary Verey, who influenced my design of the main herbaceous border here.
One of the first gardeners to inspire me was Geoff Hamilton, I have several of his books. This rose named after him had to be in the garden, besides having beautiful flowers I do like the early red foliage it produces this time of year.
Rose Geoff Hamilton
This is Iris Crimson King and was given to me by a lady I used to help in her garden. She shared them with me when they needed dividing. She is not as well known as those above however she was special to those who knew her.
The self-sown cherry tree at the rear of the garden was in full flower. I could hear the bees working on it from the potting shed.
Yesterday was a lovely sunny day to carry out some spring work in the garden. A new rope swag for clematis and roses to clamber over.
A small area of one raised bed was cleared of celandine to plant out broad beans grown in root trainers. I grow the red flowering one for extra interest.
Last year plants in the raised bed.
Celandine, a pretty wildflower enjoyed by the bees has become an invasive problem in the garden.
Some of the more welcome spring flowers brighten my day in the garden.
Leucojum aestivumLonicera fragrantissima
As its name suggests Lonicera fragrantissima has a sweet scent on warmer days.
Magnolia stellataThe old hanging basket is squirrel protection for the tulip bulbs.Crocus tommasinianusEuphorbia Amygdalodes Robbiae
A favourite spring plant Pulmonaria Blue Mist.
Along with the Helleborus orientalis
I was not expecting to see the Clematis armandii ‘Apple Blossom’ flowering just yet, the mild weather has brought it forward, and it is lovely to see it from the house along the side of the Veranda.
John Brookes MBE has designed and built well over 1000 gardens, here and overseas, during a career spanning 50 years. Based at Denmans, his acclaimed world-famous garden in West Sussex, he is best known for his ability to create gardens that relate to their environment, designing gardens that fit into the wider landscape; that best suit the style and period of the house.
John Brookes first used the phrase “room outside” or “garden room”, he thought of a garden as an outdoor living space. His garden plans used a simple “grid system” for each site, linking it to proportions he found relating to the house. He said that this grid unified a garden and helped its designs to flow.
He has won numerous awards throughout his career including 4 gold medals at Chelsea, he was also a successful and prolific author, having written 24 best-selling books. The Clock House and stable block were both the home and studio of the late John Brookes.
Denmans is four acres in size, originally owned by Lord Denmans and then by plantswoman and author, Joyce Robinson, who initially devised the garden design we see today, she created a planted dry river bed and experimented with gardening with gravel, a planting medium later pioneered by Brookes in the early 1960s.
When he moved to Denmans he created a pond and redesigned beds, creating a contemporary garden that retained Robinson’s planting style.
Spot the Moorhen chick.
The garden layout is such that the visitor enjoys many small areas within the overall. it is punctuated with pieces of statuary,
a well-designed pot
It’s a garden full of inspiration with ideas that can be recreated in smaller spaces. The benches are painted blue to draw the eye and stand out as a focal point.
Inspired, I have painted some of our garden furniture blue thereby creating The Blue Border.
One of the most interesting features of the garden is the use of gravel. This is the dry stream bed,
this allows for more random planting in it, simulating what might grow in such a spot, for no water runs here. The gravel allows seedlings to over winter and not rot in damp soil.
Here in the walled garden, it is used both to walk on and as a growing medium so that you progress through the plantings rather than past them. It creates a casual, jungle effect, particularly here in the walled garden, whilst allowing the plants to develop naturally.
In the south garden, they cut the grass to different lengths. The rough grass around the edge has bulbs and wildflowers in it in the spring and then is cut once a month with a rotary mower. The rest is cut weekly with a cylinder mower to give an interesting contrast of texture. I think this is a good idea instead of having a whole area as a wild meadow. In July when we visited the effect was not so visible due to the hot summer, you can just see the outline, in these photos, of different mowing regimes.
The effect is a sanctuary for wildlife.
Although he travelled the world designing gardens he always said he ‘gardened’ at Denmans. I do like the hydrangea in this picture, I think it is Hydrangea villosa.
The refurbished conservatory was alive with the chatter of budgerigars. Denmans Garden reopened its doors to the public following a period of renovations by John Brookes during the winter of 2016-17.
The garden, plant centre, and gift shop are Open Monday-Saturday from 9.30-4 & Sunday 11-4 pm.
Entry is free to the plant centre, gift shop orMidpines Caf Proceeds will go to support the garden which will be part of the John Brookes-Denmans Foundation whose mission is to perpetuate John Brookes’ design legacy through education and the maintenance of Denmans.
When John Brookes MBE died in March 2018 he was working on renovating portions of the garden near the Gardener’s Cottage. The Garden continues to be under renovation and will become part of the John Brookes-Denmans Foundation so it will continue as the garden he and Joyce Robinson created.
The Blue Border in Our Garden@ourgarden19
Rose Francis E.Lester
It is useful to name different areas of the garden for when we open for the National Garden Scheme. Visitors often ask for information about plants so having some reference to where they are in the garden helps.
We visited John Brookes’s garden Denmans in July 2009.
I think we should continuously review and question the way we manage our garden.
With increasing environmental pressures including changing weather patterns, reduced use of peat and a concern for the loss of wildlife especially I think the insect population which is often an essential part of the food chain, we gardeners have to be open to change.
With this in mind, these are some of the garden management practices I have either adopted over time or am now introducing into my garden.
NO DIG – NO PRUNE.
I have never dug this garden.
When we moved in, having killed off the grass in the autumn, the plants we brought from our previous garden, were then planted, in the spring, straight into the ground with just a handful of compost, blood, fish and bonemeal and then some mulch around them. I did not lose one plant. Maintaining healthy topsoil through minimal cultivation and mulching is beneficial to the plants, wildlife and the gardener’s back!
NO PRUNE WITHOUT CHECKING FOR NESTS. It is recommended to prune spring flowering shrubs after flowering. I once found a robin sitting on a nest in such a shrub I was about to prune so I walked away from doing it. I now closely inspect the shrub for a nest before pruning, if disturbed birds, especially robins, will often desert a nest.
MULCH.
I read an article about the Millennium Garden at Pentsthorpe Natural Park in Norfolk, which we visited in 2012. This garden was designed by Piet Oudolf, the internationally famous Dutch nurseryman and garden designer, known for his prairie-style planting. Historically, the many perennials and grasses were not cut down in the garden until February, to provide winter shelter for insects, and then removed to giant compost heaps. According to the article, they now cut it all down in small bites, or pieces, leaving it on the ground as a mulch, to continue providing homes for the wildlife.
While I do not claim the blue border to be ‘prairie planting’, it does contain perennials and grasses so I decided to experiment with cutting it down in small bites, leaving it as a mulch. I did this using garden shears, I now use a hedge cutter.
I added my usual mulch of leaf mould/council-recycled compost on top of this in March. I only apply a thin layer as I do not wish to smother the desirable self-seeding plants.
I have now done this for three years, I don’t think it will suit the tidy gardener. However, it is soon hidden by the growing plants, and we are constantly being advised that as gardeners we should be a little more untidy to help the wildlife.
o Part of the Blue Border April 2023 no sign of the mulch
POTTING COMPOST.
The choice of compost can be a controversial area. Legislation regarding the use of peat is driving the move to peat-free compost here in the UK with peat being banned by 2024
I have been experimenting with peat-free composts for three years, the first one I tried was Melcourt ‘sylva grow’, a peat-free one recommended by the RHS. It is based on composted wood bark.
In 2023 I experimented with using Fertile Fibre, a Coir product. This is dehydrated making it light to carry and is easily rehydrated for use.
I did not find the results so good, with poor growth. I tried using a liquid feed with it but this caused dampening off of the seedlings. It was more successful when I added a third of peat-free John Innes Number 3 for extra nutrition.
I always use perlite or vermiculite in my mixes.
There is no doubt that peat-free compost requires more feed, which Number 3 provides, this may explain why some comparisons show poor results.
I do not throw away used compost it is stored in dustbins for either mulching or as a 50:50 mix when I repot plants with some added feed.
Fertile Fibre brick
DROUGHT.
I have for two years been working towards a more drought-tolerant planting scheme for both the south-facing front border and the Blue Border the priority here was to remove the requirement to water during the summer. One of the best drought tolerant plants here is Lychnis coronaria.
This short video shows one of the new drought tolerant planted beds in the blue border with Iris Edward of Windsor, Allium ‘Purple Sensation’, Allium Nectaroscordum siculum, Cirsium rivulare ‘Trevor’s Blue Wonder’ and the self seeding Hesperis matronalis ‘White’
The front border is south-facing, in full sun, while the blue border is partly shaded by next door’s huge copper beech tree. We have four large water butts.
I have regularly used rose fertiliser around the garden not just for the roses but for any flowering plant including the iris, I did believe that the formula would suit anything that flowers. I now understand that it contains too much nitrogen for the iris causing the leaf rot some of mine have experienced, so I have now started feeding them with a bone meal as recommended by Doddington for their iris beds.
This train of thought led me to think about leaf disease in roses which in some years can be quite severe even in so-called disease-resistant varieties. While rose fertiliser is recommended by all the leading rose growers when I discovered that David Austin Roses employs all their staff to strip the leaves from their roses in February to ensure a clean start it made me wonder how disease-resistant some of their roses are if they require this to be done every spring.
Next year as an experiment I plan to feed my roses on bonemeal along with some sulphur chips to help prevent blackspot then add a good spring mulch.
Blackspot on a roseRose of the Year 2015 ‘For Your Eyes Only’
Rose of the Year 2015 ‘For Your Eyes Only’ has so far proven to be very healthy.
I use chicken pellets in the garden where nitrogen is required and liquid seaweed for pots or tonic.
EASIER MAINTENACE.
I redesigned the White and Green Garden in the winter of 2022/23 along with reviewing the planting palette for the whole garden to enable easier maintenance especially as I am not getting any younger!
I injured my right arm this spring in a fall which proved that while gardening may help keep you fit you do need to be fit to garden!
The new seating area in the W&G garden.Looking towards the ‘Metal Cow’ 2024
This time of year the colours of autumn are a joy whether viewed in the countryside as you drive or walk around or with the more up close views in the garden.
I mentioned in my previous post during wet days the bird feeders have been popular this year especially with the Blue Tit family, having raised a record number of young within our garden area.
The slide show includes the Long Tailed Tits with their autumn coloured feathers, visiting the feeders along with the blue Tits.
The annuals planted in the raised beds edging the patio have now come into their own. Rhodochiton atrosanguineum and Thunbergia, Black Eyed Susan are favourite climbers flowering this time of year.
Raised beds edging the patio.
I took the Canon camera with me around the garden to capture some close-up pictures.
The tomatoes are new to me, they were recommended as being blight-resistant with good flavour. I will be growing them again next year.
Dahlias are a favourite, I lost all mine last winter. Here in the UK they flower right up to the first frost, which can be into November. One I always grow is David Howard.
David HowardDahlia ‘Gudoshnik’Dahlia Kelsey Annie Joy
The late flowering perennials are invaluable during autumn, especially the Asters, (Symphyotrichum) I removed the ones that suffered during last year’s drought as part of my plan not to water this area of the garden. The galley below includes the survivors.
July this year has been one of the wettest on record here in some areas of the united kingdom.
Last year we were experiencing 40°C heat at this time of year.
Learning how to garden with these changing conditions, is going to prove very difficult It must be even more so for the wildlife around us.
The garden seems to be full of young birds this year, blue tits, sparrows, robin and goldfinches are all visiting the feeders along with their parents.
Whilst this weather has not suited the majority of insects, I think the aphids may have done well and helped support feeding all these young birds, along with the ready supply from our bird-feeders.
We have always had a good population of goldfinches, robins and sparrows. It is nice to see an increase in the blue tit Family.
However, this has led to the inevitable visit from the sparrow hawk, although I haven’t seen it make a catch yet, everything has to find food in the wild. Blue tits feed on aphids and sparrow hawks feed on blue tits and other small birds.
The garden has lots of trees and shrubs for the birds to hide in on the way down to the feeders, which is important in helping them to feel secure when feeding.
I feed the birds throughout the year in the garden. This gives me pleasure watching them, especially when you see whole families coming to the feeders.
We are hoping for the jetstream to move, bringing some sunnier weather here to the United Kingdom. I think the wildlife would appreciate it as well.
The slide show begins with the young robin who has yet to develop a red breast, there is also among the blue tits a young coal tit on the feeder, he has more black markings on his head. The young goldfinches are still to develop their full adult colours.
I have been reviewing Our garden@19 with an emphasis on reducing the need for watering which I wrote about here: Drought tolerant planting and secondly looking to reduce the work in maintaining the garden without losing its appeal. With this second aim in mind, I decided last winter to redesign the White and Green garden along with the seating area in front of it. I hope small steps in different areas of the garden will help to achieve this aim.
The original design and below.
I also took the opportunity to raise the height of the white wooden fence, in this picture, along the perimeter to discourage the badgers from ploughing through the hedge by adding a gravel board.
New fence completed.
This garden room is not very big it is divided in half by a path bordered with box hedging. First I removed the internal box hedging, then the plants within the W&G garden were lifted, and some were retained and replanted creating borders around the edge of the garden. A soaker hose was laid to help the moved roses fully establish during the summer.
The left half of the garden was measured to allow the seating area from just outside to be moved into this area, it is an ideal place to catch the morning sun.
The right-hand side was designed to have a brick-edged lawn covering a similar area. I was then able to turf the original seating area. Sadly the large Clematis Montana Wilsonii on this fence died last winter. (Next winters project to remove it!)
Some of the plants now in the garden.
Trained on the trellis behind the bench is Rose Climbing Iceberg.
Rose ‘William and Catherine’ edge this bed with Paeonia Lactiflora Duchesse de Nemours
Planted behind the bench.
I love Pulmonaria Sissinghurst White, I have weaved it in-between the roses.
On a beautiful sunny September day, we joined the members of the West & Midlands Iris Group visiting the garden of The Old Rectory, Eastnor, Herefordshire.
In 1848 Sir George Gilbert Scott surveyed the Church at Eastnor and made plans to build a new rectory between 1849 and 1850 with a large and asymmetrical house.
Around this, today’s owners have created a garden of 3.5 acres on Herefordshire red clay, much improved by mulching over the 15 years they have been developing it.
We first visited the walled vegetable garden designed in the style of a potager garden with a mix of fruit, flowers and vegetables, some in raised beds. This area was full of colours from annuals and dahlias, a particular favourite.
Nectarines and peaches are fan trained on the back wall of this greenhouse.
Reverend Wilkes
Here fruit trees are grown as either step-overs or espaliers, large apples on the Reverend Wilkes tree particularly caught my eye.
Pots of the beautiful species Pelargonium sidoides decorated the steps…
…down to the traditional orchard edged with two serpentine herbaceous borders.
Then on to a second greenhouse, this one dedicated to growing a variety of peppers and tomatoes. Speckled Heart, a stripy heart-shaped tomato and a black Queen of the Night were two of the more unusual ones.
Queen of the NightSpeckled Heart
A bed alongside the greenhouse was filled with more dahlias,
From here you had an excellent view of the ‘piece de resistance’ of the garden, the Tulip bed.
This bed was designed and built only three years ago in the shape of a tulip. In its centre are two curved weathered oak benches partly hidden by a mass planting of, I think, Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’.
Two large beds surrounding this are colour themed with white at the far entrance and gradually becoming warmer towards the greenhouse. There is a video link at the end of this post featuring the Tulip Bed.
We next visited the new woodland area and then onto the croquet lawn past rose-covered obelisks. Yew hedges at either end circled a Lutyens-style bench with roses planted behind it and in urns on either side.
Landscaping and different garden ornaments have been used throughout to create interest.
Steps led you up to a terrace packed with planting creating different garden rooms to suit shady or sunny situations.
Ornamental gates lead down to a rose garden and onto a large pond where members were happy to sit and enjoy the setting. Paths cut through the long grass here led you down to the Church.
A truly magnificent garden.
Welcome refreshments were served in the coach house and monies collected will be donated to the Church for repairing the stained glass windows.
Please click on “Watch on YouTube” for the Tulip Shaped bed video:
The open garden season is now getting into its stride here in the Uk. We are opening again this year along with other gardens within the village for the Church on April 29th, 30th and May 1st and for The National Garden Scheme on the 10th and 11th of June.
This movie will take you on a short tour of the four seasons in the garden. I believe the gardening year starts in the autumn preparing for the main show in the summer. Please select full screen. When the garden is open we do endeavour to provide visitors with a good show. We try to put on the Ritz.
During the heat wave in July, I wrote about drought-tolerant gardens: Here
I have for two years been working towards a more drought-tolerant planting scheme for both the south-facing front border and the Blue Border the priority here was to remove the requirement to water during the summer. The front border is south facing, in full sun, while the blue border is partly shaded by next door’s huge copper beech tree.
THE FRONT GARDEN.
A small front border edges the drive, it was planted with Bearded Iris, Roses, Nepeta ‘ Six hills giant’, Salvia Nachtvlinder, Eryngium Giganteum (Miss Willmotts Ghost), Eryngium planum and Eschscholzia californica. Last year our neighbours removed the conifer hedge bordering this bed, providing almost two feet of extra depth to the border.
Following lifting, dividing and replanting some of the bearded irises, with the extra space avalible, I have added more of the annual Eschscholzia californica, lavender, Hyssop, Helichrysum italicum (Curry Plant) Valerian phu ‘Aurea’ along with some Tulip ‘Johann Strauss’ and other species tulip bulbs.
There was a Myrtus Communis already growing against the house, I have added another one here which I propagated from cuttings.
Myrtus Com
THE BLUE BORDER.
In the Blue Border plants that did not perform during last year’s drought were removed, creating space for more drought-tolerant plants. Helianthus Lemon Queen was one, it really does not like dry conditions. Aster divaricatus was moved to the shade while others were lifted and potted for sale on our open days. Aster trinervius, ‘Asran’, Aster sedifolius and Symphyotrichum ericoides ‘White Heather’, were retained due to their flowering following the drought.
The Allium family do well in dry conditions so do the Bearded Iris, divisions from the front garden I have planted here in the space created. The blue Centaurea montana is a real survivor, we also have Centaurea montana ‘Lady Flora Hastings’ in the White & Green garden, it has white star like flowers.
Deep tap rooting plants such as Cirsium rivulare ‘Trevor’s Blue Wonder’, Echinops ritro, Eryngium Giganteum (Miss Willmotts Ghost) and Eryngium planum, with their deep tap roots are excelent drought tolerant plants with the bonus of being popular with the pollinators.
Cirsium rivulare ‘Trevor’s Blue Wonder’ Eryngium Giganteum
Pilosella aurantiaca (Fox and Cubs)is a wildflower, which could become invasive, I tolerate it for its orange splash of colour. (I think it was Christopher Lloyd who said if your friends do not like orange in the garden call it butterscotch.) More information can be found on the RHS Website.
Francoa sonchifolia, Geranium phaeum var. phaeum ‘Samobor’, Hesperis matronalis, Lunaria annua ‘Rosemary Verey’, Stipa arundinacea and Stipa tenuissima happily self-seed around the garden whatever the weather.
Stipa tenuissima seeded in the Blue Bucket.
Fennel, Hollyhocks, Hyssop, Inula magnifica, Lychnis chalcedonica, Lychnis Coronaria (Red and White), Salvia Nachtvlinder and Verbena Bonariensis are drought-tolerant plants that I have grown from seed. Valeriana pyrenaica, also from seed, has been happy so far planted in the shade.
Fig leaf HollhockVerbena Bonariensis
Purchased Perennials are Kniphofia Banana Popsicle, Perovskia Blue Spire, Helichrysum italicum (Curry Plant) and Sedum Mr. Goodbud
Pittosporum Tom Thumb, Thuja Occidentalis ‘Rheingold’, Buxus and Taxus bac. Fastigiata (Irish Yew) provide winter interest. The Blue Border in winter showing the four central Buxus.
I am now waiting to see which plants have survived this winter’s low temperatures, especially the newly planted young ones. It will be interesting to see how this tweak to the planting palette performs this summer. Will we now have a wet one?
Drought tolerant plant list in Our Garden@19. Allium ‘Purple Sensation’, Allium Nectaroscordum siculum. Aster trinervius ‘Asran’. Aster sedifolius, Bearded Iris, Calamagrostis x a. ‘ Karl Foerster ‘, Centaurea montana, Cephalaria gigantea ( Giant Scabious ), Cirsium rivulare ‘Trevor’s Blue Wonder’, Echinops ritro, Eryngium Giganteum (Miss Willmotts Ghost), Eryngium planum, Euphorbia characias subsp. Wulfenii, Pilosella aurantiaca (Fox and Cubs), Fennel, Francoa sonchifolia pink, Geranium phaeum var. phaeum ‘Samobor’, Helichrysum italicum (Curry Plant), Hemerocallis Red Day Lily. Hesperis matronalis, Hollyhock Apple Blossom, Hyssop, Inula magnifica, Kniphofia Banana Popsicle, Lavandula, Lychnis chalcedonica, Lychnis Coronaria (Red and White), Lunaria annua ‘Rosemary Verey’ Miscanthus sinensis, Myrtus Communis, Nepeta ‘ Six hills giant’, Origanum Laevijatum ‘gentle breeze’. Perovskia Blue Spire, Persicaria amplexicaulis Firetail, Phlox paniculate, Pittosporum Tom Thumb, Salvia Nachtvlinder, Sedum Herbstfreud, Sedum Mr. Goodbud, Solidago Fireworks, Stipa arundinacea, Stipa tenuissima, Symphyotrichum ericoides ‘White Heather’, Taxus bac. Fastigiata (Irish Yew), Thalictrum aquilegfolium, Thalictrum flavum subsp.glaucum, Tulip ‘Johann Strauss’ Thuja Occidentalis ‘Rheingold’, Valerian phu ‘Aurea’,Verbena Bonariensis.
With a second period of cold weather here in sunny Worcester I thought it was a good time to repost this article.
‘Feed the birds tuppence a bag’ goes the song from the film Mary Poppins. I feed the birds in the garden all year round, it costs a little more these days.
Observing birds in the garden and feeding them is, for me, an important element of enjoying the garden, which occasionally provides some photographic material. These are some of the “Birdie” photographs I have taken in Our Garden@19 over the years.
The main bird feeders are on the patio just outside the dining room, ideal for bird watching, with three more around the garden.
Today all the feeders are inside these cages to prevent the pigeons and jackdaws from emptying the contents onto the floor. I have made trays for them from plastic flower pot saucers, with drainage holes drilled in them, to catch the spillages, which I empty onto a ground feeding tray for the pigeons and collared doves.
A Gardener’s Friend.
I spy food!
Going in for Breakfast.
Do you come here often?
28th November 2014, A Female Blackcap arrives on the bird feeders. Is this a sign of colder weather on the way? I have noticed in previous winters the female is the first to arrive. They are a very aggressive little bird, for the first few weeks after arriving it spends all its time chasing other birds away from the feeders.
Male Blackcap arrived 13th December 2014.
We have a family of House Sparrows that live under the roof tiles who regularly visit the feeders. I haven’t managed to photograph them they don’t stay still long enough, similarly with the Wren that visits, one November day I could hear one chirping away, from inside the house above ‘Jools’ on the CD player. How can such a small bird make so much noise!
From the smallest to the largest.
Well someone has to clear up any spillages!
The Collard Doves waiting to go down and help.
Mr & Mrs Blackbird arrive looking for their breakfast under the bird feeders.
Bath time!
Other ground feeders to visit are the Starlings…
…and very rarely the Chaffinch.
Great Tits and Blue Tits feed differently to most other birds, they fly in and select a seed.
Then they return to the safety of the trees, holding the seed with their feet, where they eat it, before returning for another.
One rare, welcome winter visitor is the Long Tailed Tit, they usually arrive in chattering family groups.
One winter I noticed a different bird on the feeders, it looked as if it had red head markings, I quickly took some photos and then consulted my Readers Digest Book of British Birds to discover they were Red Polls.
Red Poll’s on the niger seed feeder.
The main visitors to the feeders, both numerically and for colour, are the Goldfinches.
One day when idly looking out through the kitchen window, I noticed this brown bunch of feathers sat on the Pear Arch.
I dashed to grab the camera, hoping it would still be there.
I managed three photos from the kitchen window, before it flew away.
I think it was either a young or female SparrowHawk.
The foods I now provide are sunflower hearts, niger seed, fat balls and dried meal worms. I purchase them from Vine Tree Farm. Their food is reasonably priced, mainly UK grown and they donate 10% of sales to the Wild Life Trust in your post code area. (I have no commercial links to them). I am testing these feeders (2020) to see if there is less wastage without using the cages.
The majority of the pictures were taken through the dining room window with the flash turned off using my Canon 18-200mm lens.
Please click on any picture to enlarge
2023 update.
I now use these Ring Pull feeders and cages, they are easy to dismantle for cleaning.
The peanut feeders are in the old cages with the homemade trays. I also feed a Ground Mix, much enjoyed by the Blackbirds, Robins, Dunnocks, Sparrows and Starlings.
This year there is a new planting plan for the raised beds bordering the patio. This will be the first year I have not planted tulips here instead there are Wallflowers Persian Carpet, Digitalis Suttons Apricot and Forget-me-nots’. These have all been grown from seed a considerable saving on plants along with not buying tulip bulbs.
I have saved tulip bulbs from last year, these will all be planted in pots, then if they do not perform well they can be moved out of sight.
The tulip bulbs have spent the summer in the greenhouse they are now clean and ready for the planting.
The Foxglove, Digitalis ‘Pam’s Choice’ has been grown for the main border.
During our tour of East Anglia, this garden was high on my Wish list to visit.
When Alan Gray and Graham Robeson first came to the old vicarage there was no garden whatsoever, it was a blank canvas. Every garden was designed entirely by them as were the various buildings, their sole aim has been to try and enhance the setting of their home. Alan occasionally writes for the RHS magazine and has his own YouTube channel. Throughout the garden there are many rare and unusual plants growing. They propagate from these in small numbers so that they may be purchased from the plant sales area. There is a converted barn for a tea room with a wonderful display of vintage garden tools on the walls. The garden lies 1½ miles from the North sea.
The pedestrian entrance court.
The pedestrian entrance court with its free draining gravely soil is planted each spring with a variety of succulents, with Aeonium ‘zwartkop’ and the slaty blue Cotyledon orbiculata taking centre stage.
The garden spans 32 acres, containing many garden rooms to discover and explore. Herbaceous borders, gravel gardens, sub-tropical gardens, a box parterre, sunken rose garden, Mediterranean garden, Walled garden, large woodland garden and a Desert Wash garden.
The Desert Wash.
This area of the garden is designed to resemble parts of Arizona where, it probably only rains, once or twice a year, but when it does rain it floods and great rushes of water channel through the landscape tossing rocks and stones around and leaving behind dry channels and islands where succulent plants flourish.
The real work in making this garden started one metre below the surface where they broke up the sub-soil and incorporated lots of gravel. Then they built layer upon layer of gravel and gravel mixed with soil, the aim being to keep this area very free draining especially during the winter.
Many of the plants grown here are able to tolerate some cold provided they remain dry at the root. Some four hundred tonnes of flint of various sizes have been used in the construction of this area.
They are always experimenting and pushing the boundaries with the planting. Besides the usual drought tolerant plants you will find Puyas, Bromeliads, Agaves and Aloes. Nothing is wrapped for winter protection, the excellent drainage prevents water lying around their roots.
Slide Show The Desert Wash.
Viewed through a porthole cut in the shelter belt is this much photographed borrowed view of Happisburgh lighthouse.
St Mary’s church at the end of the garden.
This is one area of the garden, there is so much more to see not least its magnificent Walled Garden which was built to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
In 1955 when Dr and Mrs Robinson came to Hyde Hall in 1955 there were only six trees on the top of a windswept hill and no garden. They donated the 42-acre garden, Hyde Hall, to the Royal Horticultural Society in 1993. We visited there in August 2012 during our garden tour of Essex and East Anglia.
A dry garden was created in 2001 by Mathew Wilson, curator at the time, it aimed to show visitors how they can work with the environment and use drought-tolerant plants.
This path leads into the dry garden, described as one of the crowning achievements of Hyde Hall.
Work began in the winter of 2000, which ironically was one of their wettest winters. It is home to more than 400 different species of plant.
The garden has been built on a south-facing slope covering 0.4 acres, using Gabbro boulders and subsoil mounded over the rubble.
The topsoil was mixed with grit and sand to offer a free-draining environment for the plants.
On summer days, with the rolling hills in the backdrop, the garden looks rather like a Mediterranean outcrop, and it’s easy to forget that you are in the heart of Essex.
In spring, the garden shines with golden Euphorbia, conifers are included for winter interest and drought tolerance, while in summer it turns purple as Verbena bonariensis attracts hosts of butterflies and ornamental grasses towers high above the garden.
Such as the wonderful Stipa gigantea below. Alliums are planted for spring colour with Agapanthus, which you just see on the left for later in the year. Also on the left is Perovskia ‘Blue Spire’ which provides colour over a long season.
Echinops ‘platinum blue’ and Verbascum olympicum enjoy these conditions.
Also, the beautiful Crinum Powelli is here with Eryngium planum.
From here you could look down onto the gravel or scree garden which had more recently been developed.
Some of the stars up close.
Verbena BonariensisPerovskia Blue SpireStipa giganteaVerbascum olympicumCrinum Powelli
Hyde Hall is well worth a visit if you are in the area, this is only one of the many inspirational gardens within its boundary. Do you have any drought tolerant stars shining in your garden?
With the heat wave currently restricting me to the shade of my office and cooling fan, I thought it provided an ideal opportunity to write about drought-tolerant gardens.
We spent a week in August 2012 visiting gardens in Essex and East Anglia, one of the driest areas of the UK.
The first one we visited was Beth Chatto’s, famous for its gravel garden.
Beth Chatto’s Gravel Garden.
Beth Chatto was born in 1923 to enthusiastic gardening parents. After working as a teacher she married the late Andrew Chatto, his lifelong interest in the origins of plants influenced the development of the gardens and their use of plants to this day. Following Andrew’s retirement, they built their new home on wasteland that had been part of the Chatto fruit farm. The site presented many difficulties for starting a garden including low annual rainfall. It was to Andrew’s plant research that they turned.
Informed by his knowledge Beth selected plants for a series of gardens that could thrive under different conditions. Beth Chatto’s first book, “The Dry Garden”, was published in 1978.
The gardens began in 1960 and from an overgrown wasteland of brambles, parched gravel and boggy ditches it has been transformed, using plants adapted by nature to thrive in different conditions. Thus an inspirational, informal garden has developed.
A light and airy tearoom allows visitors to relax and take in their surroundings over homemade cake.
The world-famous gravel garden inspired by the low local rainfall, is full of drought-resistant plants from the Mediterranean. The site was originally the nursery car park.
It was first subsoiled to break up the pan. The soil is largely gravel and sand, mushroom compost was added to help plants become established.
This picture shows Agapanthus Evening Star & Verbena bonariensis with large-leaved Berginias, in the bed across the path. The Berginias are a favourite for edging borders, providing all-year-round interest with many developing a rich red tone in winter.
Self-seeders such as Fennel and Verbena thrive in these conditions……….
along with Stipa tennuissima and Verbascum.
A few conifers were included as accent plants, Beth wrote in her book, “they, surprisingly, survived due, I think, to mulching in the early days” here also Stipa gigantea and Euphobias.
Perovskia blue spire and Alliums are some of the plants that make up the planting palette of this garden.
The Mount Etna Broom in the centre, has grown to become a 15ft tree. Clean gravel is added to the paths from time to time to help conserve moisture and suppress germinating weeds.
Trees, such as Eucalyptus and shrubs were also chosen for their drought-tolerant qualities.
The Scree Garden.
Planted in 1999 in part of the old mediterranean garden, the Judas tree in the centre of the island was planted over 45 years ago and forms a focal point.
On the day we visited succulents and alpines were on display along with the washing
The accompanying plant nursery stocks over 2000 plants, all displayed by growing conditions. They do provide a mail order service.
If you are in the area I would recommend a visit, there is also a water garden, woodland and reservoir gardens. You can visit the restaurant, plant centre & gravel garden free of charge.
July can be an anticlimax in the garden following the excitement of June with its roses, peonies and Iris. These are some of the plants trying to fill the void here in our garden.
The sunny front border is always home to some self-seeded Eryngium Giganteum (Miss Willmotts Ghost) as popular with the pollinators as the gardener.
In the silver birch border, the Anthemis tinctoria is in full flower perfectly complimenting the Clematis ‘Blue Angel’.
One of my favourite July plants is the Francoa sonchifolia with its orchid-like flowers. It is very drought tolerant and easy to grow from seed.
The blue border is in some areas living up to its name with Geranium Johnson’s Blue and a self-seeded Campanula lactiflora ‘Prichard’s Variety’ matching the garden furniture.
On the other side of the blue border around the sundial are planters of Zantedeschia Contor, Agapanthus and two Cotyledon orbiculata a striking drought-tolerant succulent
Either side of the Banana Bench is the delicate Dianthus carthusianorum, ideal for dry areas.
We recently visited a garden owned by a garden designer who had classic urns set back in a border planted with annuals. I had these two lovely Yorkshire pots, inspired, I built two wooden stands and planted them with Fuchsia and mini Petunias to provide some extra colour in a shady area against the fence on either side of the never-ending path around the banana bench
In another shady area on the patio is a small display of Ferns and Hostas.
On the fence by the raised herb bed is a fan-trained red currant bush laden with fruit. I need to cover them with a net before the birds find them!
Proving that July doesn’t have to be dull in the garden is the Clematis ‘Perle d’Azur on the trellis behind the banana bench. Please turn your sound on, select watch on YouTube and select full screen when you play the video.
We recently visited a group of gardens in Worcester who were opening for the National Garden Scheme, I don’t think many of the visitors would have expected to find such a wonderful Bonsai collection in Worcester.
From the NGS website,
“The garden has been 14 years in the making. It was designed around a collection of Bonsai trees which needed to be displayed sympathetically in fairly natural surroundings. It is a low maintenance garden with many oriental influences and a studio designed to look like a tea house. There are also two small ponds with fish and wildlife.”
The owners are Malcolm & Diane Styles.
I am sure you will agree with me this is a wonderful garden and bonsai collection.
On June the 4th and 5th six gardens in the village of Hanley Swan opened in aid of the National Garden scheme.
Thank you to all the supporters who baked cakes, helped with serving the teas and selling plants in support of Saint Richards Hospice, especially the garden owners who put a lot of work in to ensure their gardens looked wonderful and not least of all the visitors without who we would not raise any money for the two charities.
Some pictures from our garden just before opening.
We also had a group visit from Evesham U3A on Wednesday.
Despite poor weather on Sunday we raised £1619 to share between the two charities.
I guess, if you asked any gardener how to sow seeds, you would receive a different answer from each one.
I recently gave a zoom presentation to the Worcestershire Careers Association gardening group on seed sowing.
These are my thoughts.
Containers.
There is a wide range of pots and containers for seed sowing, generally, I prefer to use small pots rather than seed trays because they provide a deeper root run until you get round to pricking out the seedlings.
Large seed trays also encourage the sowing of too much at a time.
I also use root trainers. The large ones are useful for growing sweetpeas, beans and sweet corn, and they save pricking out. You can then plant them directly into the garden. You can buy smaller ones, ideal for starting vegetables such as lettuce or annual flowers.
A free alternative is used toilet rolls centres which fit nicely into the plastic containers grapes are sold in.
Compost.
The choice of compost can be a controversial area. Legislation regarding the use of peat is driving the move to peat-free compost.
I think you only need one type of compost, multipurpose. I use Melcourt ‘sylva grow’, a peat-free one recommended by the RHS. This year I am experimenting with using Fertile Fibre, a Coir product. This is dehydrated making it light to carry and is easily rehydrated for use.
This Coir brick is rehydrated with 3 litres of water.
There is no doubt peat-free compost requires more feed, which may explain why some comparisons show poor results.
I also use fine grade vermiculite for seed sowing, it is light to carry, helps prevent seedlings from damping off and benefits root development. Vermiculite is a naturally occurring mineral that is heat-treated. Traditionally horticultural sand or grit would have been used and as a gardener with recurring back problems, reducing the weight of materials is an important consideration.
Sowing.
For small seeds, I sieve multipurpose compost, to remove the larger pieces, mixing it 50/50 with vermiculite. When planting small seeds, I water from above before sowing or from below afterwards.
After sowing I lightly cover with vermiculite and label. You can cover it with a polythene bag and place it on a well-lit window sill. I use a heated propagator which negates the need to cover individual pots. You will need to remove the individual cover when the seeds have germinated, keep warm with good light to prevent them from becoming leggy.
Coir Jiffy pellets are useful for propagating seeds and cuttings, they require soaking before use.
Jiffy pellets before soakingTomatoes just starting to germinate.
Once germinated they can be planted out into pots to grow on, this also saves pricking out.
I use a mixture of compost with around 25% vermiculite for growing on.
I grow larger seeds such as sweet peas, broad or runner beans in the same 50/50 mix without sieving, planting into root trainers or toilet roll centres.
I have been thinking for some time that the wooden bridge crossing the dry river in the Japanese garden would soon need replacing. It had developed a certain amount of spring when crossing!
It gave way the other day as I was crossing to the shelter, so the decision was made for me as to when I would replace it!
The path leading to it contains slabs set at the diamond so it was an easy choice to add two more as stepping stones, through the dry river bed, along with some more small cobbles.
These should not rot!
I can now carry my coffee/wine to the shelter without fear of spilling anything!
Following my post ‘Peace and Tranquility’ I thought it would be interesting to post some pictures, as slide shows, of Japanese gardens we have visited here in the UK.
Tatton Park.
From their website:
“The Japanese Garden was almost certainly the result of Alan de Tatton’s visit to the Anglo-Japanese Exhibition at the White City in London in 1910.
Inspired by what he saw there, Alan de Tatton decided to introduce a Japanese garden to Tatton. A team of Japanese workmen arrived to put together what is now rated to be the “finest example of a Japanese Garden in Europe.”
The Shinto Shrine and artefacts contained within the garden are all reputed to have been brought from Japan especially for the construction of the garden.” More Tatton Japanese Garden.
Compton Acres.
From their website. “The Japanese Garden encompasses Thomas Simpson’s love for the unique elegance and incomparable beauty of Japanese horticulture.
He imported genuine stone and bronze artefacts to enhance the garden. The Tea House is draped with Japanese wisteria (Wisteria floribunda) and plants native to Japan have been used including the spectacular Kurume Hybrid azaleas, Japanese cherries and maples together with hostas, Hakon grass and a Ginkgo. The pool is home to large Koi carp best viewed when crossing the water on the stepping stones. The Japanese garden is still regarded as one of the finest in the country.” Website: Compton Acres Japanese Garden.
Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons.
From their website: “It would be difficult to find a poet who hasn’t opined on the changing seasons, it is equally relevant for gardeners, be they amateur or professional, who wait with eager anticipation for the first signs that the earth is thawing.
Raymond Blanc OBE is no different and along with his garden team, waits patiently for spring to arrive, taking time to remember the different destinations he has visited and how these trips during different times of the year have coloured his visions.
When East and West meet
His visit to Japan in the early nineties was one such occasion, which ignited his imagination and inspired him to create a Japanese Garden in the environs of the 15th century Belmond Le Manoir. Captivated by the Japanese tradition of Hanami, a longstanding practice of welcoming spring (held between March and May), which is also known as the ‘cherry blossom festival’, Blanc wanted to bring part of his Japanese adventure back to the UK.
The Japanese Tea Garden at Belmond Le Manoir entices guests to become more mindful as they explore, crossing the oak bridge to find sanctuary and was influenced by Taoist, Buddhist and Shinto traditions.” More details of the Japanese Garden.
National Botanic Garden of Wales.
From their website: “This Japanese garden is called ‘Sui ou tei’, which refers to the national flowers of Japan and Wales, the cherry blossom and the daffodil.
It combines three different traditional Japanese garden styles: the pond-and-hill garden, the dry garden and the tea garden. Japanese garden styles have developed over a 1400-year history, each style celebrating the changing seasons in different ways.
Such changes illustrate the transience of life, and tiny details, such as leaf buds opening in springtime, play an important role by drawing attention to the passage of time.
In the last 150 years, Japanese gardens have been created all over the world, adapted to local conditions. They are appreciated for their tranquillity and sense of calm when visitors take the time to absorb the scenes presented by the garden.” Website.
Botanic Garden of Wales
Bridges Stone Mill.
Closer to home and on a more modest scale is Bridges Stone Mill, they open for the National Garden Scheme in Worcestershire.
“Once a cherry orchard adjoining the mainly C19 flour mill, this is now a 2½ acre year-round garden laid out with trees, shrubs, mixed beds and borders. The garden is bounded by a stretch of Leigh Brook (an SSSI), from which the mill’s own weir feeds a mill leat and small lake. A rose parterre and a traditional Japanese garden complete the scene.” Bridges Stone Mill NGS link
Then there is our garden with its small Japanese garden, open for the National Garden Scheme with five gardens in the village of Hanley Swan on the 4th and 5th of June. Details of all the gardens here: Hanley Swan NGS Open Gardens.
Ever since we have opened our garden for the National Garden Scheme our family has been part of the team. You can read about them and the part they play by clicking on ‘The Garden’ heading and then the ‘Garden Team’.
Our two granddaughters have always helped with the refreshments, when they were younger clearing the tables, then delivering orders to the tables, more recently baking cakes to sell to visitors on open days.
Rebecca the eldest granddaughter, who is now at university, has created a website where she will blog about her baking adventures. It is called Becky’s Baking Adventures. Why not go along and see her first post for Pancake day.
Rebecca ready for NGS open day.Becky’s Baking Adventures.
It has been said many times during the pandemic how important gardens and outdoor spaces have become to people from all walks of life. Whether walking in the city parks or exploring the countryside everyone feels a benefit. Those of us with gardens have also found them sanctuaries either to sit in enjoying a beverage of your choice or with your head down planting, weeding or sowing, when you soon forget everything else that has been going on. When gardens have been able to open to the public there has been an increase in visitors, delighted to be able to visit gardens again.
Historically, gardens have always been considered sanctuaries, from the ancient Islamic gardens to the tranquillity of Japanese gardens. Irene and I have, for some time, been attracted to Japanese style gardens, inspired by visits to Japanese gardens with the Japanese Garden Society. Most notable to Tatton Park where we meet Professor Fukuhara who helped with the restoration of their Japanese garden. He took us inside the Japanese garden at Tatton and gave us a tour explaining the restoration of this famous garden.
The Shinto Shrine at Tatton Park.
The professor lectures on Japanese garden design in Japan and designed the gold medal and best in show Japanese garden at Chelsea in 2001, now relocated to the National Botanical Gardens in Wales, which we have visited several times.
National Botanic Garden of Wales.
He also redesigned and supervised the construction of the rock garden at RHS Wisley for the bicentenary of the RHS.
The Rock Garden at RHS Wisley.
Those of you who have visited our garden will know we have a small enclosed area designed in the style of a Japanese stroll garden. Many visitors comment on the different atmosphere when they enter and sit in the shelter. With the three essential elements of a Japanese garden, rocks, water and plants, there is at the one entrance a Cherry tree.
Inside there are flowering spring trees, shrubs, bamboo and Acers, for their wonderful leaf colour, with rocks and a dry river bed leading to the Bamboo water spout.
The other gateway is covered with the stunning Japanese white Wisteria, floribunda ‘ Alba .‘
These elements can, I think, be easily incorporated into any garden or even just on a patio to help bring that sense of peace and tranquillity that many have searched for during these times.
Little did I realise when I booked this month’s speaker, for our garden club, on Japanese garden design history how important some of these elements in a garden would become to those of us who are fortunate to own a garden.
A window into our Japanese Garden.
Wishing you peace and tranquility were ever you find it.
I have written about the village of Pirton in Worcestershire before, every two years they hold a Christmas Tree Festival to help raise money for the church maintenance. The village of Pirton was originally part of the Croome Estate and is located one mile north of Croome Park (now owned by the National Trust).
This year there were 26 Christmas trees individually decorated by local families. I have created a video of the festival set to seasonal music. Please select full screen on YouTube and enjoy.
Thank you for reading brimfields.com during the year and leaving your comments. I enjoy reading your blogs they provide a touch of sanity during these mad times.
Merry Christmas. I leave you with this Christmas Cracker joke.
With encouragement from the Government and countryside organisations such as the RHS and NT there is an increasing interest in planting trees and the benefits to the environment of doing so. While most of these reported on are on a large scale, if chosen correctly there are some wonderful ornamental and fruitful trees for even the smallest garden.
Our garden is approximately 125ft by 45 and within it we have 12 ornamental and 12 fruit trees.
One favourite, Acers can be grown in a pot for many years. They will grow in any reasonable soil although they do prefer soil on the acid side which can be achieved by mixing some ericaceous compost in the pot or planting hole. You can purchase simple soil test kits to find out if you have acid or alkaline soil.
Acer palmatum ‘Senkaki’’
We have several Acers in our garden, Acer griseum is a special one. It looks wonderful with the winter sun shining through its peeling cinnamon-like bark.
In the oriental garden, a favourite one is Acer Negundo Flamingo, its variegated leaves consisting of green centres splashed at the edges with salmon pink, which later turn cream. The trunk of this tree is now four foot tall, the branches above this are pollarded in January to help keep it compact along with preventing it from reverting to all green leaves.
Also in the Oriental garden is the Ginkgo biloba it’s autumn foliage turning a deep saffron yellow. It is a member of a very old genus, with some fossilised leaves found dating back 200 million years. They can grow up to 100 ft tall, I purchased a young 4 ft one which I prune in January to keep it as a column shape.
The Sorbus family is worth considering, Sorbus Eastern Promise is a lovely small tree, perfect for the small garden, its dark green leaves turn deep purple and orange before falling onto our garden during the autumn.
Sorbus Olympic Flame is one to seek out, it is a small, highly colourful Japanese Rowan tree with a columnar habit distinctive for its large foliage that starts coppery in the spring before turning green in summer and fiery red come autumn.
You cannot mention autumn colour without considering the Liquidambar we have Liquidambar slyraciflua ‘Stella’.
One in our neighbour’s garden is particularly stunning in the autumn, always turning colour before ours. This will eventually become a large tree, fortunately it is slow-growing.
Spring colour can be provided by the magnolia family, ‘Lennei’ with its pink-white flowers can grow to 20ft without pruning. A more compact variety is Magnolia stellata.
There is a wide selection of ornamental Cherry trees for the garden. This unknown one in our garden is loved by the honey bees.
Although normally associated with spring blossom, there is Prunus Autumnalis, an Autumn-Winter flowering cherry with white blossom. It is a small tree, suitable for most small gardens. Choose a variety with a single rather than a double flower for the pollinators.
I call Prunus serrula our Champion Tree, it is grown for its wonderful mahogany bark although its delicate flowers are loved by honey bees.
Decorated as a mug tree for our open gardens.
The Silver Birch Betula jacquemontii is considered the best for white bark. With its upright habit it can be grown as a single or multi-stemmed feature. It can reach 4metres within ten years when some carful pruning will be required if you need to control its eventual height and shape.
I think the first choice of tree for any small garden should be fruit trees. The modern grafted Apple tree is well suited to any size garden. We have in our garden Malus ‘Blenheim Orange’, ‘Grenadier’, ‘Hereford Russett’, ‘Kidd’s Orange Red’, ‘Rosette’ and of course Worcester Pearmain’. We also have the Cherry ‘Sunburst’, the Pear ‘Invincible’, Plums ‘Opal’, Victoria the ‘Cambridge Greengage’ and the Crab Apple ‘Golden Hornet’ trained as a globe.
Malus Golden Hornet
The smallest of the trained fruit tree are the step-over apple trees, 18 inches to 2ft tall with a level side branch trained each side, you can literally step over them. They are very productive, often found in French Potagers and are excellent for edging a vegetable border or herb garden. Apples, pears and cherries can be decoratively trained into fan shapes, espaliers and cordons. Plums can be trained as a fan. Ensure it is grown on a ‘Pixy’ rootstock or it will be too vigorous. Plums should not be pruned during winter because silver-leaf and canker can enter through the cuts. Young trees can be trained in the spring with more established ones in the summer.
Fan trained Cherry, Prunus ‘Sunburst’
You can purchase any of these already trained, although expensive you are buying time. Alternatively, you can buy much cheaper bare-root two-year-old whips during the winter.
While many people find pruning daunting it is very rewarding to see a trained fruit tree in blossom knowing there is fruit to follow. I would recommend obtaining a copy of the RHS book Pruning and Training it covers everything from trees to shrubs, climbers, roses, soft fruit and tree fruits.
When visiting gardens and nurseries look out for some of those mentioned above and talk to garden owners. It is worth taking your time before buying a tree as it is a worthwhile, long term investment but can be an expensive mistake to rectify.
Malus Rosette in the raised bed with Malus Blenheim Orange trained as an espalier on the Oriental Garden fence.
The wildlife enjoy the trees all year as a safe landing area before visiting the bird feeders or as a source of food. You see them feeding on the insects hiding in the trees during the spring and summer or the fruits during winter.
That time of year thou mayst in me behold When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang …
From Shakespeare to Donovan the colour yellow inspires words.
Broughton Grange featured on the BBC Gardeners World this week, if you have not seen the programme I would recommend watching on catchup for an up to date view of this outstanding garden.
We visited in July 2016 when it was open for the National Garden Scheme. It was on my must see list having seen pictures in magazines and reading about Tom Stuart-Smith design of the walled garden. It did not disappoint, seeing it again on Gardeners World inspired me to post pictures from our visit.
This garden description below is from their NGS entry.
“Broughton, Banbury, Oxfordshire
An impressive 25 acres of gardens and light woodland in an attractive Oxfordshire setting. The centrepiece is a large terraced walled garden created by Tom Stuart-Smith in 2001. Vision has been used to blend the gardens into the countryside. Good early displays of bulbs followed by outstanding herbaceous planting in summer. Formal and informal areas combine to make this a special site including newly laid arboretum with many ongoing projects.”
The Greenhouses.
The Walled Garden.
Arboretum, Topiary, Plant Sales and Teas.
The garden is open on certain days, please visit their website for more information: broughtongrange.com
Goldfinches feeding on sunflower hearts.Vitis ‘ Spetchley red ‘ Fuchia ‘Mrs Popple’Malus Golden Hornet and Tithonia ‘Torch’The Alpine Boxes and pots.Nerine Bowdenii
Please select Watch on YouTube then full screen for video.
What is giving you Autumn Joy in the garden or countryside?
September is one of my favourite months in the garden, it could be nostalgia because we always had a wonderful show of Michaelmas Daises (Asters/Symphyotrichum) in our cottage garden at home. Many other plants also provide interest at this time of year, the annuals such as dahlias, late flowering perennials, trees and shrubs with changing leaf colour.
The Asters.
Symphyotrichum n.a ’ Harringtons Pink’ with Bee.Symphyotrichum ‘Little Carlow, Solidago ‘Fireworks’ & Calamagrostis BrachytrichaSymphyotrichum na ‘ Barrs Violet ‘
Some of the others.
Sedum Herbstfreud Canna.Vitis ‘ Spetchley red ‘ over the arch.Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ and honey bee.Verbena Bonariensis and friend.Miscanthus sinensis Calamagrostis x a. ‘ Karl Foerster’ . These white Asters flower in October.Cyclamen hederifolium.Malus Blenheim Orange
The Movie.
Please turn on your sound, watch on YouTube and select full screen.
We visited Ravelin on Sunday, one of their National Garden Scheme open days. It is situated in the next village to us, Hanley castle. The description is from their NGS page.
“A ½ acre mature yet ever changing garden with a wide range of unusual plants full of colour and texture. Of interest to plant lovers and flower arrangers alike with views overlooking the fields and the Malvern hills.
Thought to be built on medieval clay works in the royal hunting forest. Small pottery pieces can be seen interspersed with sedum planting.
Designed to enable you to move through areas ranging from perennial and herbaceous planting, gravel, woodland and pond. Seating provides different views and experiences and the opportunity to appreciate the unusual plants collected by the owner.
Seasonal interest provided by a wide variety of hellebores, hardy geraniums, aconitums, heucharas, Michaelmas daisies, grasses and dahlias and a fifty-year-old silver pear tree complemented by self-seeding plants adding colour, vitality and encouraging wildlife.”
Below is a short video showing some of the garden during our visit. Please select Watch on YouTube then full screen on the video.
Along with many garden owners, we originally decided not to open our garden this year due to the pandemic. However, with the improving situation, we have now held popup openings in June and September supporting the charity National garden Scheme. ngs.org.uk
During these days we have also sold plants for St Richards Hospice and at the village of Pirton church fair. These events have raised just over £1000.
We have to say a big thank you to all our visitors who purchased tickets, refreshments and plants. To the volunteers who manned the stalls and the staff at the National Garden Scheme for their support. The pictures are from the garden just before the September opening.
We are going forward with more confidence with five other gardens in the village joining us next year on the 4th and 5th June for the National Garden Scheme.
Three plants in the garden offering attractive foliage as well as flowers.
Galtonia candicans has white bell flowers with lance like blue green striped leaves.
The Pholx are just starting to flower here, this is Phlox paniculate ‘Harlequin’, variegated leaves with a touch of pink.
This is the first time Colocasia ‘Black Dragon’ has flowered in the four or five years we have had it. We have always being pleased with just its stunning foliage.
Do you have any double value plants in your garden?
This is the first time this colourful garden visitor has been seen this year. These markings are of a juvenile, thankfully it stayed feeding long enough for me to fetch my camera.
Thalictrum flavum subsp.glaucum and Campanula lactiflora ‘Prichard’s Variety’Clematis ‘Perle d’Azur and Dianthus carthusianorumGeranium Johnson’s Blue and Lychnis chalcedonica
Who would have thought a runner bean flower could be so beautiful?
In the raised beds edging the patio Runner Bean White EmergoWith Sweet pea Air Warden.And Self-seeded Poppy.On the Patio.
A video tour of Our Garden@19 in early June. Please select Watch on YouTube and select full screen.
We are opening our garden for the National Garden Scheme on the 28th June, whilst some of these will be over the climbing roses among others should be in full swing.
With the tentative easing of lock down restrictions our first garden visits have been to Spetchley Park Gardens with 30 acres to roam there is space for everyone.
Spetchley Park, Worcester has been privately owned for over 400 years, with a good garden history due to its connection with Miss Willmott. It also has tea rooms, a heritage centre and plant sales. http://www.spetchleygardens.co.uk
This gallery of pictures was taken during our visit in early May.
The plants in the new planter I built in April have settled in well and are starting to grow.
As this is on the North side of the house I selected shade loving plants. These are plants I already had in pots except for a new Trachelospermum jasminoides which I hope will eventually provide an evergreen scented screen.
Fatsia japonica ‘Spiders Web’Podophyllum versipelle ‘Spotty Dotty’, this will soon have bright red flowers. Polygonatum x hybridum ‘Striatum’ a variegated Solomons seal.Skimmia Hermaphrodite does not need a pollinator, the white flowers are just going over and being replaced by red berries.
Viburnum Rhytidophyllum and Hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolaris ‘Miranda’ are trying to cover all the pipes and boxes on the wall. However they are both in pots partly to contain their vigour especially the Viburnum, the mother plant I layered it from was around 15ft high and wide!In a pot on the table is Trillium chloropetalum, some of the leaf markings have now faded.
The rear of the house is not the most attractive however the plants make an attractive diversion.
‘Maggs’ the family cat approves of her new seat in the dry!
A tour of the greenhouses in May, the cold winds and frosty nights dictate that tender plants have to remain inside. This time of year is always over crowded greenhouse time!
The tomato, Amateur, new to me this year, Amelia from https://afrenchgarden.wordpress.com mentioned it as a favourite of her fathers. I was attracted to it because he grew it as a bush tomato.
Amateur tomato plants.
On the side shelf are trailing pelargoniums growing on for the hanging baskets. Pelargoniums are one of my favourite summer plants.
Pelargonium cuttings and three purchased P. Ardens on the heated propagation bench.
Alongside are Courgettes, Genovese Basil in pots. In the root trainers are Coleus, ‘Festive Dance’ seedlings. Thunbergia plata, ‘Susie Series’ White and at the back Hordeum Jubatum an ornamental barley that I first saw growing in Aberglassney garden
On the top shelf are climbing French and Runner Beans, Sweet Corn ‘Swift’ and Dwarf French Bean ‘Purple Teepee’.
Spinach and Rocket seedlings growing on ready to plant in the raised beds later on.
These are Dahlia Merckii seedlings pricked out into root trainers, a seed swap from Fiona Wormald at https://thegardenimpressionists.com two years ago. I did not manage to sow them until this spring, the germination has been fantastic.
The Dahlia tubers are proving to be a little slow to show this year, one of the Striped Vulcan, new this year, has started.
Rainbow Chard in root trainers along with Fennel. This is the first time I have grown bulb fennel.
These young Alstroemeria plants are from seeds collected by my brother last autumn from the ones in his garden.
In the raised beds are crimson flowering Broad Beans.
With Spinach, Sweet-peas on the obelisk and newly planted lettuce.
I have begun an experiment with tulips this year, following an article I read by Fergus Garrett from Great Dixter regarding which tulips they found to be perennial.
The most reliable ones being the Darwin Hybrids, I planted three varieties in November, two in pots and one in the borders. The real test will be next year if they flower as well. One indication mentioned in the article was whether the bulbs had divided into several small ones or remained as one big bulb, these being the ones worth saving.
I planted Tulip ‘Apeldoorn’ in pots placed in several areas around the garden. Please Click on gallery pictures to enlarge.
These remind me of the traditional cottage garden tulips similar to the ones I brought home from my Great Aunt’s garden.
Tulip Hakuun aka ‘White Cloud’ in large white pots in the White and Green garden.
Tulip ‘Daydream’ was planted in bulb saucers in the borders along with Forget- Me-Nots and Wall Flowers.
Tulip ‘Abu Hassan’ has already proved to be perennial here, these tulip bulbs were purchased three years ago.
Tulip ‘Ballede’ was planted in the borders ten years ago and while its numbers have reduced over time, I think for such a beautiful tulip, it will be worth topping up next autumn.
Providing some spring cheer in the welcome rain is Clematis ‘ Pamela Jackman ‘ with pots of Azaleas at her feet.
Along with Apples ‘Rosett’ and ‘Blenheim Orange’…..
….is the Crab Apple ‘Golden Hornet’.
Have you found any tulip varieties to be perennial in your garden?
This winter in Our Garden@19 has been busy with ‘Estate Maintenance’. I previously posted about replacing the trellis and fence in the white and green garden, then as now my brother Derek has been my right hand man.
Replacing the entrance to the propagation area was the simplest of our recent efforts. We gave it an oriental look.
Continuing with the oriental theme, our neighbour’s fence at the back of the oriental garden started to fall over with the weight of the ivy and snow. I decided to cut back the ivy and erect a new fence on my side.
Note the badger path underneath the fence.
Then painted it black to tie in with the rest of this area.
A moon window was added to look into the room.
Next on the list was rebuilding the raised beds.
The old obelisks I built when we came here were dismantled and rebuilt, hopefully with more style, to a design by Geoff Hamilton.
Broad Bean Scarlet Flower and Sweet Peas started in pots now planted out.
These early spring bulbs and flowers have been cheering me up on sunny days. Please click on gallery pictures to enlarge.
Back to the oriental garden.
Black Bamboo
In the rest of the garden…
Discovered in woods at Great Dixter.
The pollinators have also been taking advantage of the sunshine.
Having read some impressive reviews about the garden at Aston Pottery, Aston, Oxfordshire, we visited in August 2016.
On this occasion, they were open in aid of the National Gardens Scheme charity.
Created by the owners since 2009 and set around Aston Pottery’s Gift Shop and Cafe, borders flower from June until November.
In the spring 5000 tulips are planted in pots around the shop and cafe, these are then followed by lilies and agapanthus. They created a wonderful pot display when we visited.
The Garden.
60 hornbeams flank the 72-metre Hornbeam Walk, opened in 2012 by the local MP David Cameron, planted as a year-round garden with a summerhouse at the end, and a mix of perennials and annuals which are enjoyed by pollinators.
You then arrive at the 80-metre Hot Bank with kniphofia, alstroemeria, cannas, dahlias and salvias.
There are stunning Double Dahlia Borders 5m deep with over 600 dahlias and grasses edging the back.
New in 2015 was an 80m x 7m deep Annual Border full of over 5000 annuals grown from plug plants.
A traditional Perennial Border with over 50 different perennials offers a wonderful view from the country cafe.
The garden has featured in the Telegraph, Country Living, RHS The Garden and BBC Gardeners’ World. They have been producing pottery for over thirty years suppling Liberty’s of London.
When garden visiting begins again, this is a garden I would recommend, it is a stunning riot of colour. They are planning to open for the National Garden Scheme this year on the 21st and 22nd of August and are normally open seven days a week except over the Christmas period. The pottery shop and cafe make it ‘A Grand Day Out’.
I have created the video below from photographs I took during our visit, to remind us all of the joy of Garden Visiting!
Leonie is a knowledgeable and enthusiastic gardener she is the minutes secretary to the Black Pear Gardening Club. I have invited her as guest publisher for this seasonally appropriate article she wrote for the club newsletter.
IRIS UNGUICULARIS.
One of my favourite plants at this time of year is IRIS UNGUICULARIS (I.stylosa) Algerian Iris.
This lovely flower is native to Algeria, Tunisia, Turkey , Greece and Syria where it grows in light scrub,open pine woods and rocky places.
It flowers from late autumn to early spring when so few plants are in flower. The flowers are beautifully scented, in shades of lavender to deep violet with a yellow throat.
This winter flowering Iris is easy to grow in well drained soil in full sun. Plant near a wall to help maintain the soils heat. I grow it in a raised bed that’s in full sunlight for most of the day, but that said I also grow it in a woodland area in partial sunlight and it is still happy but doesn’t flower quite so well. It is also useful to grow at the base of clematis as they like their heads in the sun and their roots in shade and it helps to hide the bare base of the clematis and keep its roots cool.
Plant it so that the rhizomes are just below the surface of the soil and 10cm (4in) apart.
It produces an evergreen mound of narrow, arching grass like foliage. This foliage does become brown and bit untidy but can easily be trimmed back to keep it looking good.
A top dressing of bone meal or potash in either autumn or spring is beneficial but look out for snails hiding among the leaves.
It dislikes being moved, but if you have to disturb it do it in spring after flowering. It may sulk for a while before it starts to flower again.
This is a long lived plant. I grow the species variety from divisions taken off my mother’s plant that has been growing in her garden for probably fifty years.
Two other very nice named varieties are ‘Mary Barnard’ which has a lovely velvety blue-purple flower, a much more intense colour than the species.
‘Mary Barnard’
Also, ‘Walter Butt’ a ghostly pale grey-blue , but with a heavenly scent.
‘Walter Butt’
Flowering: November-March
Hardiness: Fully hardy
Height: 30-45cm
Did you Know : Iris was a Greek goddess, the personification of the rainbow, which she used as her pathway though the sky.
And saw from elm-tops, delicate as flower of grass,
What we below could not see, Winter pass.
EDWARD THOMAS (1878-1917)
Thank you for visiting Brimfields.com during 2020, hopefully, some of you may be able to visit the garden in person later this year if we are able to open for the village church funds in May.
This December has so far been very mild here in Our Garden@19 with only one frost.
The cannas and dahlias are all lifted…..
….safely stored in the garden shed with fleece covering for the cold nights.
The tender plants are divided between the two greenhouses…
Two small areas have been planted with Tulips also Foxgloves, Wallflowers and Forget-me-nots, along with several pots in the hope that we will be able to join the village church open gardens in early May.
The majority of the pots are stored over winter on the patio in the hope that the squirrels do not find them!
One of the many ‘Estate’ maintenance jobs for this winter was to replace the trellis fence between the White and Green garden and the Blue Borders…
It edges the path where the badgers enter the garden, I was concerned, due to its poor condition, they would push through into this area of the garden instead of following their usual path via the ground bird feeder.
With help from my brother, we managed to replace it in one day with Rebar steel mesh normally used in reinforced concrete, without doing too much damage to the climbing Iceberg rose.
I have used Rebar before it is an excellent replacement for trellis.
In The Oriental Garden the Magnolia ‘Stella’ fury buds are forming.
One of my aims within the garden is to try and have something in flower or of interest in the garden throughout the year, this month it is the Hamamelis Moll Pallida (Witch Hazel).
Below is the last garden tour video for 2020, here’s hoping for a better 2021. Please turn your sound on select full screen, play and enjoy.
A video of the changing autumn colours in Our Garden@19 and some borrowed landscape. I filmed this over a two week period to record the changing colours. Please watch on YouTube
What is providing you with Autumn colour?
With the requirement in most countries to wear a face mask due to the Covid19 pandemic smiling at people is difficult. I have read that an eyebrow smile works, this Spike Millagan poem brought a smile to my eyebrows.
Why you should allow some ivy to grow in your garden.
I do grow some cultivated variegated forms, ivy does not produce any flowers until their adult growth stage when the leaf shape changes, usually at around 10years. They can be kept pruned to their juvenile stage and leaf shape when they will at least provide nesting sites for birds.
Ground cover under the Bug Hotel.Hedra helix Gold Child on a shady fence.
A favourite walk of ours even before lockdown was St. Wulstan’s Nature Reserve. Before it became a nature reserve, it had a fascinating history as a US army hospital, a TB hospital and a psychiatric hospital, it is managed by Worcestershire county council.
These pictures are from a visit in early July, the open areas around the shrubby were full of colour and insect life
With the Malvern Hills in the back ground.
Because of its sweet honey like scent ladies bedstraw was used for bedding
Wild Parsnip.
The sap from wild parsnip is toxic. Cultivated parsnip left in the garden for a second year has attractive flowers.
At the end of Matron’s Path, there was the Rowan covered in berries and the wild Clematis with its fluffy seed heads.
In a lane closer to home was this flower, it looks a little like an orchid. it is the Dyer’s Greenweed. historically used to create a yellow dye.
The Covid-19 restrictions have inevitably prevented any meetings of our club, The Black Pear Gardening Club..blackpeargc.org.uk Our family has been using Skype for keeping in touch so I decided to try and hold a trial meeting for the club with the opportunity for members to say hello, I then presented pictures from our garden with the aim to include pictures from members gardens at the next meeting. While technology can be challenging we did manage to hold the meeting.
July has been a busy month here in Our Garden@19 with the open garden visits cancelled I had been left with a large stock of plants that I had hoped to sell. We decided, with the village of Pirton, (Worcestershire), where my brother Derek lives, to hold a plant sale in memory of his wife and our late sister in law, in aid of St Richards Hospice who cared for Diana. When the plants had been made presentable for sale, a large transit type van arrived to transport all the plants the day before, ready for setting up the sale the next morning.
The sale was well supported by the village, both helping and purchasing plants along with several members of the garden club.
The tomatoes are a bush type? ‘Maskotka’ which crop well despite their vigorous growth.
This weekend six gardens in the village of Hanley Swan should have been opening in aid of the NGS nursing charities.
Due to the Covid-19, this has been cancelled, so together with the other garden openers, we have created a video tour of the gardens.
Please make yourself a cup of tea or any beverage of your choice. Imagine you are in the gardens, sit back, turn on the sound, click on play, select full screen and enjoy.
While we did not have many April showers the May flowers have, like us, enjoyed the sunshine.
Please join me on a video tour of Our Garden@19 to see our May flowers. Turn up the volume, click on the link below and select full screen, play and enjoy.
Orchards have long been a feature of the Worcestershire Countryside, apples for cider, eating and cooking and similar with pears and plums. The Vale of Evesham has a popular fruit blossom trail and because we are unable to visit it this year, I have created this blog post about the development of apple varieties in Worcestershire and a fruit blossom video trail of the fruit trees in Our Garden@19.
Following the Second World War government policy encouraged the grubbing up of orchards to grow more wheat, resulting in many old fruit varieties and orchards lost.
Today there is an increasing interest in restoring orchards with old local varieties of fruit, especially in village or community orchards. Hanley Swan and Welland both have a community orchard.
Worcestershire was responsible for the development of many varieties of apples.
I have listed some of them below with information from the Worcestershire Orchards (Please visit their very interesting website). http://www.worcestershireorchards.co.uk
Worcestershire Orchards.
Worcester Pearmain
This is the most well known of the county’s varieties and the only one still grown on any sort of commercial basis. It is believed to have originated from the pip of a Devonshire Quarrenden grown by a Mr Hale of Swan Pool, Worcester and was introduced as a commercial variety by Messers Smith of Worcester in 1874.
King Charles Pearmain
A dessert apple said to have been raised by Charles Taylor, a blacksmith of the village of Rushock in Worcestershire in 1821, is claimed by Hogg in 1876 to have been introduced commercially by nurseryman John Smith of Worcester. It is also known as Rushock Pearmain.
Lord Hindlip
A late dessert apple whose name suggests an origin at Hindlip just north of Worcester, yet it was a Mr Watkins of Hereford who first submitted it to the RHS fruit committee in 1896.
(Hindlip Hall is now the Head Quarters of West Mercia Police).
Newland Sack
This variety, as its name indicates, originates from the district of Newland just outside Malvern. According to the ‘Herefordshire Pomona’, the variety arose around 1800, supposedly from a pip that grew from a discarded pile of pomace (the pulp leftover from a cider press) at Newland Court.
William Crump
This apple takes its name from Mr William Crump who was the one time head gardener at Madresfield Court near Malvern. He is credited with raising the variety and personally exhibited it in 1908 when it received an RHS Award of Merit. It is believed to be a cross between ‘Cox’s Orange Pippin’ and a ‘Worcester Pearmain’.
Edward VII
Another of the older culinary apples that were no doubt displaced by the ‘Bramley’. It dates from 1908 when it was introduced by Rowe’s nursery of Worcester. Having been first recorded in 1902 it is thought to be a ‘Blenheim Orange’ X ‘Golden Noble’ and won a Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Award of Merit in 1903.
Pitmaston Pineapple.
A quite different and distinctive russet, claimed by Herefordshire but associated with Pitmaston in Worcester. Some might be attracted to this particular apple by its reputation as being everything the supermarkets hate, being small, yellow and spotty yet with a fantastic taste!
It makes for a good garden tree with its moderately vigorous and upright growth pattern and the small fruit is ideal for children. The flesh is crisp, beneath a thick yellow skin with a russet of dots. Flavour is intense, being of a sweet, sharp and slightly nutty character and as the name suggests, with the slightest hint of pineapple.
As a tree, it is notably scab resistant although very prone to biennial cropping, with huge crops thrown one year and virtually nothing the next. The variety is neglected because of the small size of the apples. They are ripe from mid-September onwards and if stored well will keep until December.
The variety is thought to have arisen from the pip of a ‘Golden Pippin’ and although recorded in Hereford in 1785 it was introduced by Williams of the Pitmaston district of Worcester, hence its inclusion in this county list.
Pitmaston Russet Nonpareil.
This dessert fruit claims (by name) to be the ‘Pitmaston Russet’ beyond compare. It was raised at Pitmaston near Worcester by nurseryman John Williams.
The variety first fruited in 1814 before being formally introduced in 1818.
The skin is a bright green with varying levels of russet over it. The fruits have firm flesh with a rich, aromatic flavour. Will keep up to Christmas and beyond.
You cannot write an article about Worcestershire fruit without mentioning:
The Worcester Black Pear
History of the Black Pear The iconic ‘Worcester Black Pear’ appears today in places such as the City coat of arms, the County Council crest and the cricket and rugby club badges, whilst an image of the pear blossom was borne as a badge by the Worcestershire Yeomanry Cavalry until 1956. The earliest reference to any pear associated with a crest is in relation to the Worcestershire Bowmen, depicting a pear tree laden with fruit on their banners at the battle of Agincourt in 1415. Drayton’s poem of Agincourt mentions the fruit, where it is referred to as the badge of Worcester: “Wor’ster a pear tree laden with its fruit”.
Tradition has it that during the visit of Queen Elizabeth I to Worcester in 1575 she saw a pear tree laden with black pears, which had been moved from the gardens at White Ladies and re-planted in her honour by the gate through which the queen was to enter the city. Noticing the tree Elizabeth is said to have directed the city to add three pears to its coat of arms.
The modern grafted Apple tree is well suited to any size garden. We have six in our Garden@19, Malus ‘Blenheim Orange’, ‘Grenadier’, ‘Hereford Russett’, ‘Kidd’s Orange Red’, ‘Rosette’ and of course Worcester Pearmain’. We also have the Cherry ‘Sunburst’, the Pear ‘Invincible’, a Plum, ‘Opal’, the ‘Cambridge Greengage’ and the Crab Apple ‘Golden Hornet’.
To view the fruit trees in blossom in Our Garden@19. Please turn up the sound select full screen, click play and enjoy.
Every year since 2011 our village church has held open gardens over this bank holiday weekend, we have taken part every year bar one. This year, along with all open gardens it has had to be cancelled. With the public unable to come to the garden, this weekend, I have produced a tulip video tour from Our Garden@19.
Please turn the sound up, select full screen on the video, click play and enjoy the tulip tour.
In August 2019 Irene and I were invited to a family event near Lincoln, this provided the perfect opportunity to visit a garden that has long been on my wish list ever since reading about their technique for growing Bearded Iris. Sadly when we visited the iris were over, however, as with all good gardens, there was much else to admire. We have many bearded Iris in the garden, several inherited from my Mother and Great Aunts’ gardens. Bearded iris have beautiful delicate, often fleeting flowers, due to our weather, which can make them even more precious.
Bearded Iris has fallen out of favour due largely to the traditional way of caring for them, with the need to lift and thin them, in the autumn, every three to four years. The “Doddington system” is a trouble-free way to divide them, requiring minimum attention. Some of their older iris have been in the same beds for over 30 years.
Their system is based on the fact that bearded iris set their flower initials in August and require the rhizomes to be warmed by the summer sun.
The iris are split every year after flowering in June, just as the new leaves start to grow. The iris are not lifted but split with a spade, leaving the healthy young rhizome with shoots, whilst removing the old rhizome. the aim is to leave 9-12″ between plants. Then you remove the early summer leaves and flower stems leaving the new late summer leaves. They topdress the bed with bone meal.
Large rhizomes can be divided with the spade with one part lifted to transplant, either to fill a gap, expand the bed or pot up to sell on open garden days.
I have been using this system since 2014, I was initially attracted because it entailed much less bending, having had a back problem for some years.
Bearded iris in Our Garden@19
I. pallida subsp. pallida
Unknown
I.Alcazar
I. ‘Ola Kala’
I.Gudrun
Another interesting fact with Doddington is they contain the Bryan Dodsworth iris collection. He was the most celebrated C20 British breeder of Tall Bearded Iris and was awarded the Dykes Medal for new varieties 12 times.
“For many, the Gardens at Doddington are just as spectacular as the Hall itself. Remaining faithful to the original Elizabethan layout, mellow walls provide the framework for the formal East Front and West Gardens. Beyond the West Gardens begin the lovingly restored Wild Gardens. Over the generations, most recently by Antony and Victoria Jarvis and Claire and James Birch, the gardens at Doddington have been restored, cared for, nurtured and developed to their fullest potential.
THE EAST FRONT
The point at which the dramatic nature of the architecture of the Hall becomes apparent. A regular pattern of box edging and topiary follows the outer original Elizabethan walls, leaving the central view of the Hall from the Gate House uninterrupted. Standing guard in the forecourt are four topiary unicorns, representing the Jarvis family crest.
THE WEST GARDEN
Reorganised in 1900 with the help of experts from Kew, the West Garden is a riot of colour from April through to September. Wide borders filled with botanical surprises such as the naturalised Crown Imperials, elegant Edwardian Daffodils and a Handkerchief Tree frame a tapestry of box-edged parterres bursting with glorious Bearded Irises in late May/early June.
THE WILD GARDEN
A spectacular pageant of spring bulbs begins in early February with swathes of snowdrops and Crocus tommasinianus, continuing through March and early April with drifts of Lent Lilies and our unique collection of heritage daffodils, winter aconites and snake head fritillaries until May when our famous Irises steal the show in the West Garden. There are also winter-flowering and scented shrubs, Rhododendron, and an underlying structure is given by topiary and some wonderful trees – the ancient, contorted Sweet Chestnuts that overlook the croquet lawn are still productive.
Meandering paths lead you to our Temple of the Winds built by Antony Jarvis in memory of his parents, a turf maze that he made in the 1980s, and if you look hard you may find the ‘dinosaur’s egg’ (a large boulder that he put in the branches of a field maple tree to surprise the grandchildren).
A nature trail starting from just beyond the Temple at the end of the Garden follows a circular route back to the ‘ha ha’ at the end of the Yew avenue and provides a pleasant and interesting walk of about a mile. The route passes through woodlands, open parkland and a wetland meadow from where the clay was dug to make the bricks to build Doddington.
THE KITCHEN GARDEN
Thanks to a grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the formerly neglected two-acre Walled Kitchen Garden was restored to its former glory in 2007. Just a stone’s throw from the Hall it now provides an abundance of fruit, vegetables, salads and herbs which take centre stage on the Café and Restaurant menus and are regularly for sale in our Farm Shop.
By implementing organic techniques including crop rotation, minimum tillage, biological controls, the use of green manures as well as no-dig beds, we are able to naturally maximise productivity and minimise pests so we have no need for chemical fertilisers, weed killers or pesticides.”
A photo garden tour.
East Front
West Garden
Wild Garden
Kitchen Garden
Bryan Dodsworth
A great name for an Iris!
If you have an opportunity I would recommend a visit to Doddington Hall, besides the hall and gardens, they have a cafe, restaurant, farm shop and several other shopping outlets, you can even get married there.
Despite the awful weather this winter, it has been a busy one here in our garden@19, see: (A Winter Project and a Wildlife-Friendly Experiment.) following on from several autumn projects.
With all the depressing news from around the world, just an hour working in the garden is welcome, ending with a quick photo tour accompanied by a chilly wind.
It is cheering to see that despite everything else, spring is coming in the garden.
On the patio.
The Alpine beds.
Looking colourful with some dogwood prunings inserted…
Arabis procurrens with Euphorbia myrsinites
…Also
Ipheion ‘ Alberto Castillo ‘
Crocus.
Corydalis cheilanthifolia
In the woodland walk.
Brunnera macrophylla
The Blue Border…
Narcissus ‘King Alfred’ in the blue border.
Under the arch…
Euphorbia characias subsp. Wulfenii
In the Oriental garden…
Camellia × williamsii ‘Donation’
What is spring bringing to cheer you up in your garden?
When we purchased the house, I designed the garden and the rear of the main border, now named the blue border, was planted with climbing roses, trained to rope swags. Unfortunately, the rope soon rotted and was replaced with trellis. Now several years later the trellis along with some of the posts required replacing this winter. With a coil of blue rope already in stock, I have gone back to plan A. The posts have been replaced, painted to match the colour scheme and furnished with new fittings. I also took the opportunity to remove two of the oldest roses. They came with us from our previous garden and there are still two identical ones elsewhere in the garden. Managing so many vigorous rambling/climbing rose was becoming quite hard work. (Old age, mine not the roses). These will be replaced with clematis, joining some already there.
You may notice, in the picture above, lots of plant debris on the garden. I recently read an article about the Millennium Garden at Pentsthorpe Natural Park in Norfolk, which we had visited in 2012. This garden was designed by Piet Oudolf, the internationally famous dutch nurseryman and garden designer, known for his prairie style planting. Historically, the many perennials and grasses were not cut down in the garden until February, to provide winter shelter for insects, and then removed to giant compost heaps. According to the article, they now cut it all down in small bites, or pieces, leaving it on the ground as a mulch, to continue providing homes for the wildlife.
While I do not claim this border to be ‘prairie planting’, it does contain perennials and grasses so I decided to experiment with cutting it down in small bites, leaving it as a mulch. I did this using garden shears if you had more to do you could use a hedge cutter (Mine has broken).
I will add my usual mulch on top of this in March, I do it then to smother the chickweed, which germinates here around that time. It will be interesting to see how it develops, I don’t think it will suit the tidy gardener. However, we are constantly being advised that as gardeners we should be a little more untidy to help the wildlife.
I will record progress with photos and publish them later in the year.
A winter tour, with the camera, around Our Garden@19 to capture some of the season’s shapes and silhouettes. This is an evergreen and topiary time of year, black and white pictures add to the wintery appearance.
Do you have a favourite winter shape in your garden?
The beginning of November saw the planting of pots with, crocus, iris, narcissus and species rock tulips.
Old hanging baskets used to keep the squirrels away.
Two large pots either side of the banana bench were planted with Tulip ‘Abu Hassan’, Siberian Wallflowers and Forget-me-Nots.
When the rain finally eased I managed to complete planting my remaining tulip bulbs.
Those of you who regularly follow my blog will know that I rotate dahlias with tulips in the raised beds edging the patio. Last year I used three bulb saucers for the tulips as an experiment to see if it was any easier, when it came to lifting them in the spring.
I was suitably impressed to use them for all the tulips in these beds this year. I purchased extra ones to have four 30cm ones for each bed. One hundred flaming spring green tulip bulbs were shared out between the eight saucers, four pots of Camassia leichtlinii ‘Blue Heaven’ saved from last year, Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ planted around the edge with Wallflower ‘Vulcan’, grow from seed planted in July, in between the bulbs. Forget-me-Not’s will be added in the spring from self-sown ones from around the garden.
Hopefully they will all be putting on a show for our opening on the 2nd and 3rd of May, in aid of the village church, when we will have a plant stall to raise funds for St Richards Hospice, based in Worcester.
This year I noticed that the Parthenocissus Tri. Veitch, Boston Ivy, behind the banana bench, had been almost completely replaced with wild Ivy. Now while I like Ivy in the garden for its benefit to wildlife, here I would prefer to see a more colourful plant. I decided that it was necessary to remove the ivy.
This revealed that the Ivy was holding up the trellis, with most of it rotten along with two of the posts at ground level. I was left with no other option than to replace it all.
Picture from behind where trellis would have been.From the front, with two posts waiting for sanding and staining.
I have, in previous blogs mentioned my inclination to watch TV gardening programmes for inspiration. On several occasions concrete reinforcing steel grid has been used to support climbing plants instead of wood trellis. With the advantages of not going rotten, not requiring painting (the rust look is on trend, so I’m told) and at 3.6m x 2m for just under £20 is cheaper than trellis. Two repair spikes were required with some rapid set postcrete to repair the two rotten posts, then a coat of wood preservative applied. Next grid was cut to size with a steel cutting angle grinder. The grid was fixed to the posts with 2×1” treated and stained timber screwed through to the posts.
I have long held the view that autumn is the beginning of the gardening year, preparing the garden and the plants for their winter rest before the explosion of spring and summer glory.
The main autumn project, this year, has been to move plants into their correct positions!
I am sure many of you can relate to the gardener’s curse of initially positioning plants in the wrong place.
Two of the first candidates for moving were the Cytisus, ‘Golden Cascade’ and Albus. While they produced wonderful spring colours and scent, they had become far too tall, even with some pruning.
I did not want to completely lose them, following a hard prune, I have moved them to the rear of the borders and hope with generous watering they will successfully establish. This has freed an area, which has been planted with Lupins and Foxgloves to flower in June for the open gardens. The lupins will be treated as annuals, in the Great Dixter way. Colourful exotics such as Dahlias and Cannas will follow.
I have for some time had a yearning for a Cornus Kousa ‘Miss Satomi’. After ordering one two years ago, I planted it in the garden. Sadly it died during the winter. The nursery that supplied it kept promising to replace it. When visiting Pershore College plant centre, they had some very reasonably priced Cornus Kousa ‘China Girl’. One was purchased, then planted in ‘Miss Satomi’s allocated position. Soon afterwards the nursery rang to say they had a replacement for me, although they could only obtain ‘Milky Way’. I decided this would have to live in a large pot, on the patio by the entrance to the oriental garden, while I decided where it was going to live permanently.
This turned out to be an ideal position, we could see it from the dining room windows. Three slabs were consequently lifted from the edge of the patio to provide a permanent home. Ironically the flower colours are more like ‘Miss Satomi’ than ‘Milky Way’, The nursery has not returned my email asking if there could have been an identification error!
Several years ago I was given a Rhus hirta Staghorn sumac. Because of its reputation for suckering, it has been residing in a pot on the patio where we could enjoy its beautiful autumn colour.
Last year we inexplicably lost a five year old Snake-bark Acer from the middle of the blue border. This completely unbalanced the border, there is an Acer griseum on the opposite side. Not wishing to risk another reasonably sized, quite expensive tree, I decided to plant the Rhus there, after seeing one looking stunning with it’s autumn colours, in a Piet Oldoulf garden.
I may pot up any suckers to sell on our open days. I think it looks very colourful in its new home among the Asters and grasses.
Moving the plant theatre in project one, freed up an area. This provided a space to plant a Greengage tree that I had purchased as a young bare root tree two years ago. It had been growing on in a pot, now it is planted along with the rhubarb, emptying more large pots.
Having admired large pots packed full of colourful exotics and annuals in other gardens, all these freed up pots will provide an opportunity to do the same.
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