Hampton Court Preview

A mellow evening at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

I had the pleasure of spending yesterday evening at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show Preview and Gala as the guest of the garden designer Louise Venter. When I arrived she had just heard the news that the garden 'Heathers in Harmony', on which she had collaborated, had won a Gold Medal, plus Best Small Garden and Most Creative garden, so it was an exciting moment.

'Heathers in Harmony'

Louise Venter & Will Quarmby

The garden had been designed by Will Quarmby, undertaking a commission by the British Heather Growers Association, with the aim of promoting the use of heathers in the garden, as a start in rehabilitating the perception of the versatile plants. It was a charming, sunken garden on three levels, each accented by a standard Parrotia persica, with borders planted (by Louise) with a mixture of heathers, perennials and shrubs, showing that heathers can indeed be used in mixed plantings to good effect (though of course in real life you'd have to ensure that they were not swamped by taller plants). The innovation came in the spectacular green wall composed of over 14000 heather plants in plugs installed in a Vertigarden system with an integrated irrigation. The effect of a mosaic of different shades of green was extremely pleasing and as they are all winter-flowering cultivars the colour effect in winter could be amazing too. Above all, it worked as a garden: one could imagine it being installed on a small urban site and being enjoyed as an outdoor living space. The lowest level has just enough space for a table, and seated at it one felt comfortably enclosed, with everything around in balance: our picnic supper there demonstrated its appropriateness.

That was a real garden, but for many the conceptual gardens are a big draw at Hampton Court. These are whimsical fancies, created to stimulate the imagination. Some induce thoughts along the lines of wtf, but others are more significant: it depends whether one can suspend one's expectations of  reality and practicality enough to get anything from them.

Conceptual gardens: in the foreground is 'Landscape Obscured' by Dan Lobb, in which one peers through 'periscopes' to see mushroms growing in a cavity below ground.

The CoppaFeel! Garden, by RHS Young Designer of the Year Hugo Bugg, is promoting breast cancer awareness, with breast-shaped cushions left around to be felt-up, passing on the message Touch, Look, Feel.

A mirrored ball in the 'Excuse me while I kiss the sky' garden made by Anoushka Feiler for Bestique, reflecting the upside-down plants suspended above it. Around it is a great sweep of Agapanthus reflected in angled mirrors.

This garden by Flemons Warland Design for World Vision was a Gold Medal winner in the Large Garden category and was rather lovely, with cedars in the background providing strong reflections on the dark water. Pale planting between the uprights was also very good.

Poppy patrol

'Fairy Wings' poppies. The flower on the left opened 'today', the paler one on the right opened 'yesterday'. The anthers produce pollen on the first day and collapse on the second, when the stigmatic surfaces become receptive.

An undesirable red.

At this time of year one of my important daily tasks is to go round the garden to see all the newly opened poppies: it's a nice thing to do while the kettle is boiling for early tea. What the neighbours think of a dressing-gowned figure stalking round at 5 am is another matter, but I suspect they're not up to see. The garden always produces a nice lot of 'Fairy Wings' poppies every year, and it's lovely to see them opening, but I'm particular about ensuring that they stay pale and don't become dominated by reds. I've nothing against red poppies, but I don't want them in the garden here, so each morning I go forth and pull out any newly opened red-flowered plants, hopefully catching them before the pollen has been carried to other flowers. It seems a shame, but red would soon come to dominate, and the pale shimmering colours so carefully selected for by Sir Cedric Morris would become much less frequent. Here's a selection of ones I like.

An under-rated Iris

Iris latifolia - the English Iris.

It is a mystery to me that Iris latifolia, one of the most striking irises, and an exceptionally good plant for naturalizing in grass, is so poorly known and seldom seen. Its common name is even English Iris, derived from a misunderstanding from 400 years ago, when Matthias de l'Obel saw it growing near Bristol and named it Iris bulbosa Anglica, a name that rapidly established itself in botanical literature and has stuck to the present day in the bulb catalogues, at least. It is in fact native to north-west Spain and both sides of the Pyrenees, growing in meadows, so must have been brought to England by traders at quite an early date. The species was known for a long time as Iris xiphioides, but Philip Miller's name I. latifolia has priority and is now in general use.

Iris latifolia in John Sales's garden.

 The bulb is quite large, with a shaggy dark tunic and strong roots: I don't think it likes to be dried out for long, which may partly explain its scarcity in gardens. The shoot emerges in early spring and the long narrow leaves expand until about early June, when they begin to die off as the flowering stem emerges. They're only broad-leaved (latifolia) in comparison with other bulbous irises in the Section Xiphium, such as I. xiphium itself and the prolific hybrid group of Dutch Irises. The inflorescence is about 40-45 cm tall, with a series of broad bracts towards the top, the uppermost two protecting the two flower buds. They sometimes open more or less simultaneously, giving the impression of being one very large flower with double the complement of floral parts (as seen below). The normal flower colour is deep purple blue with white and yellow on the falls, but many selections have been made for different colours, including white, pale blue and variously mottled (though I suspect this a viral effect). A reddish-purple form appears among seedlings in John Sales's garden, Covertside, just down the valley from here, and is rather striking.


A reddish-purple form that appears among seedlings at Covertside.

John Sales, former Gardens Adviser to the National Trust, has the finest display of English Irises I know, in the meadow garden he has created adjacent to his home. He and his wife Lyn have a coffee morning and plant sale each year for charity, timing it to coincide with the flowering of the irises, which were duly admired last Sunday. His are a few days ahead of mine, being a couple of hundred feet lower, but the more modest numbers in my 'long meadow' here are now at their peak and look lovely amongst Oxeye Daisies (Leucanthemum vulgare), Aconitum ferox and Astrantia major. I think it's helpful to grow them in grass, as it conceals the dying foliage somewhat; this year the earlier dry weather seems to have encouraged the leaves to die back earlier than usual, so they're showing yellower than they usually are at flowering time. Most flowers set seed, so although seedlings take several years to reach flowering size it is easy to raise a batch of seedlings. It ripens in August, so this is usually the signal to mow the grass before the autumn bulbs emerge, though of course mowing can occur at any time from now as the leaves have finished their work.

Iris latifolia in the meadow here. The dying leaves need to be concealed by tall vegetation.



Quite a buzz

At lunchtime I heard a loud buzzing noise - and then found a huge swarm of bees in the air behind the cottage.

They settled on the eaves...



... but by the time our village beekeeper, George Proverbs, arrived five minutes later, the queen had got in under the tiles and the rest of the swarm followed her in, so they are now ensconced under the roof and we are wondering what to do about it!



Oaks at Chevithorne Barton

The new growth of Quercus texana 'New Madrid' flushes in shades of red and bronze.

Members of the International Oak Society discussing oaks at Chevithorne Barton

The International Oak Society held a study day today at Chevithorne Barton, near Tiverton, Devon, which is home to the most complete collection of different oaks in Britain. It has been put together over the past 25 years or so by Michael Heathcoat Amory, who kindly asked me to join them, enabling me to catch up both with the trees, which I last saw about five years ago, and a lot of friends from home and abroad. There are over 400 different oaks in the collection, including cultivars, ranging from the small and shrubby, such as Q. monimotricha from the Tibetan borderlands, to the potentially enormous, such as Q. castaneifolia, and from the very familiar to the latest introductions as acorns last autumn. As such, it provides an unrivalled opportunity to study the species and their hybrids - oaks are very promiscuous - and begin to get an understanding of what they look like. Since oak foliage varies between the different flushes in the year, and with the age of the tree this is by no means an easy matter. Winter hardiness was also a  subject for much discussion, with some surprising survivals and some sad losses.

The pachydermatous bark of Quercus affinis, a very hardy Mexican species

The death of the former champion Quercus candicans from the winter cold was greatly lamented.

Quercus intricata from the Chihuahuan Desert in the USA and Mexico seems to be unscathed by the low winter temperatures (-15 was recorded).

Quercus lamellosa is recovering after the winter.

Quercus ithaburensis subsp. macrolepis from the Balkans and Turkey is perfectly hardy.

Michael Amory's book The Oaks of Chevithorne Barton  (2009) is the most comprehensive illustrated guide to the genus Quercus in English, and a new website with the same title has just been launched, providing an extremely useful online guide to the collection and the diversity of oaks.

A short trip to Yorkshire (part 2)

The immaculate parterre and border in front of Harewood House.

Delphinium, Clematis and Veronicastrum in the border seen above.

'Opheus' by Astrid Zydower is prominent on the terrace.

A male Great Argus Pheasat in the Bird Garden at Harewood House, scene of many happy youthful visits.

Cornus kousa flowering prolifically in the Himalayan Garden at Harewood.

On Thursday I took the oportunity of being in Yorkshire to revisit Harewood House, near Leeds, a place of annual pilgrimage when we were kids with a West Yorkshire Rover bus pass. The magnificent house lies in a park laid out by Lancelot Brown, with the expected lake and fine trees, and is full of treasures, but I discovered that RHS members have free entry to the grounds in the low season (which ended today) so I forewent the opportunity to go inside and instead enjoyed the gardens, lakeside walk and Bird Garden. A few pictures from Harewood are above.

Afterwards I went back to Harlow Carr to see more of the garden and enjoyed a pleasant visit in sunshine, though clouds were blackening. Luckily the downpour didn't start until I was back in the car after an excellent pot of tea on the terrace outside Betty's tea rooms.

A kaleidoscopic bed of primulas by the beck at RHS Garden Harlow Carr.

Another view of the outstanding display of  primulas.

Valeriana and Allium

A short visit to Yorkshire (part 1)

Common Spotted-orchids (Dactylorhiza fuchsii) and Fritillaria meleagris capsules in meadow grass, RHS Garden Harlow Carr.

Tom Stuart-Smith expounds his vision
for the Woodland Garden at Harlow Carr.

Members of the RHS Woody Plant Committee have been on a two day visit to Yorkshire this week, starting on Tuesday morning with a session at RHS Garden Harlow Carr to hear about and discuss plans for the Woodland Garden. This large and dismal tract occupies 40% of the garden area and desperately needs to be made more visitor-friendly and accessible. Thee RHS has commissioned the landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith to come up with a concept for the area and he explained this both in a presentation and on the ground. His vision includes opening up vistas into the woodland and connecting the existing open areas of meadow while improving the horticultural opportunities offereed by the site. Any such developments wll come about gradually, but if accepted the concept will provide guidance for the garden's managers over the next few decades.

A lovely inversion of the normal colour scheme: white Allium nigrum above purple Salvia x superba.

Another good combination at Harlow Carr; Eryngium 'Jos Eijking' and Salvia 'Caradonna'

In the evening we were invited by Chris Blundell, a member of the RHS Council, to visit his property at Mount Saint John, near Thirsk, and stay for dinner - a most generously hospitable offer. The grey dampness of the afternoon cleared and we enjoyed golden light in this beautuful new garden, with a stunning view across the Vale of York. Chris Gough, the Head Gardener, and his team, keep the place immaculate: one of the team is a trained greenskeeper, and it shows in the extraordinary quality of the turf, which was almost too fine to walk on...

The terrace garden (designed by Tom Stuart-Smith) at Mount Saint John, near Thirsk.

The swimming pool at Mount Saint John

The vegetable garden supplies produce to the house and the Provenance Inns group of local pubs.

 On Wednesday we held a committee meeting at the Castle Howard Arboretum. This amazing collection, undervalued and largely unknown, was started by the late Jim Russell (formerly in partnership with Graham Stuart Thomas at Sunningdale Nurseries in Surrey) in the 1970s. He developed a strong links with RBG Kew and after his death in 1996 Kew personnel were instrumental in setting up the Castle Howard Arboretum Trust, which looks after it, with management input from Tony Kirkham from Kew, and others. It now serves as a northern outpost for Kew, providing space for back-up collections or more extensive plantings of important material. While still comparatively new, with most trees being comparatively young, the arboretum is showing promise of being a really great collection of well-grown trees for the future: it deserves more support and more visitors.

Members of the RHS Woody Plant Committee at the Castle Howard Arboretum: Tony Kirkham leading the tour.

The beautiful immature fruits of  Pyrus 'Kansu pear'...

...attracted many admirers.

The immature cone of Pinus ayacahuite - a Mexican species totally hardy in North Yorkshire.

Young cones of Abies fargesii var. sutchuenensis

The great palace built between 1699-1712 by Vanbrugh and Hawksmoor for the Earl of Carlisle: Castle Howard.