Chelsea Flower Show 2010 & GoodBye

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

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

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

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

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

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

Off to Chelsea

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

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

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

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

Garden Design Magazine

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

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

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

Rhubarb

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

(Photo: Rheum palamtum var. tanguticum)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Woody or Fluffy

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

(Photo: Ilex aquifolium 'Lichtenhalii)

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

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

(Photo: Epilobium angustifolium 'Album')

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

(Photo: Daucus carota)

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

(Photo: Todaroa montana)

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

The Starting Pistol

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


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


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

Plants & Then More

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Creating a Garden on 3 t's

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

(Photo: The 3 Counties Showground)

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

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

(Photo: Sequoiadendron giganteum)

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

(Photo: Sequoiadendron giganteum immature cone)

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

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

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

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

You can read my first contribution here.

Snowdrops

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

I hope you like it.

Brilliant even on the darkest winter day.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Starting Over

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

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

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

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

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

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

Italian Villa's & Their Gardens

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thoughts of Autumn

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Photo: Autumn Colour in the garden)

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

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

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