The Tortworth Chestnut

A wrong turn from the M5 yesterday put me in striking distance of Tortworth, in South Gloucestershire, so instead of turning round imediately I thought I'd A) get a baguette from the excellent Tortworth Estate Farm Shop, and B) take the opportunity to visit the Tortworth Chestnut.

This is an ancient specimen of Castanea sativa, though as with so many old trees, its dating is open to question. The wildest claim is that it was planted in 800 AD, but that it was a notable feature by the early middle ages seems more certain. When it was first measured, by Strutt in 1766, it was 50' round, but since then the measurement of the main old trunk has diminished as it has decayed: when measured by the famous dendrologist Alan Mitchell in 1988 it was 33.5' (approx. 10 m) round.  H.J. Elwes's comment about it in The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 'at present it is by no means a beautiful tree, and so much of the original tree is decayed, that no measurement is of much value', despite being written a century ago, remains apt today. What is of interest, however, is that the old trunk is surrounded by  several vigorous trees that have arisen from branches that have rooted where they touched the ground and have assumed an independent existence as the connection rotted away. The result is a grove composed of the same ancient clone, but the trees are all freely fertile and are currently bearing nuts. A free-standing chestnut in the adjacent paddock is presumably a seedling from the old tree.

Whatever its age and current shape, it is evident that this is an important and much-loved tree. A plaque, now mounted on a gate to the enclosure, reads:

This tree supposed to be Six hundred years old, 1st January 1800
May Man still Guard thy Venerable Form,
From the Rude Blasts and Tempestuous Storm.
Still mayest thou Flourish through Succeeding time
And Last, Long Last, the Wonder of the Clime.

More prosaic is a plaque announcing its selection as one of fifty Great British Trees in 2002, selected by the Tree Council to commemorate the Queen's Golden Jubilee. The Tortworth Estate has numerous fine trees, the legacy of the third Earl of Ducie, who was a great dendrologist in his day and developed a fine arboretum at Tortworth Court, though he is perhaps most famous for having discovered the Corkscrew Hazel, Corylus avellana 'Contorta' in a hedge on the estate.

A warm sunny day

Reflections in the Colesbourne Park lake

After a spell of rather poor weather we had lovely warm sunshine today. Here are a few images from Colesbourne in early autumn.

Crocus pulchellus x C. speciosus: a vigorous clone of this lovely hybrid - the white anthers show that it is not pure C. speciosus, which it rather resembles.

Close-up of Kniphofia caulescens 'Oxford Blue'

Begonia grandis subsp. evansiana 'Claret Jug'

An unidentified South African Oxalis

Chrysanthemum 'Dixter Orange' - one of my top ten plants

Colchicum 'Glory of Threave'

Anemone hupehensis 'Bowles's Pink'

Poppies

Last of the cherry tomatoes

A tomato tarte tatin, with goat's cheese added later - delicious!

Moving an old friend

In 1997, when I was looking after Primrose Warburg's garden following her death, I dug up an old tree peony that had belonged to Nancy Lindsay (d. 1973), and gave it to Elizabeth Parker-Jervis for safe-keeping. Following her death in March, her family are now placing her property on the market, and I was called in to move the precious peony for a second time. A couple of hours of digging got it out, and tomorrow it will find a hopefully permanent home at Colesbourne Park.

It has been identified as 'Guardian of the Monastery', whether reliably or not, but for me it will always be my old friend 'Nancy Lindsay's peony', a memory of two great gardening friends and a conection with a third. Elizabeth did have it propagated and a few plants have been distributed, but this is clearly something I have to work on. Thanks to Celia Sawyer for the photo of the flower.

Garden pictures from the weekend

First-flowering of a seedling poker, grown as Kniphofia ichopensis, but certainly a hybrid.

Argyranthemum 'Jamaica Primrose' (with Calamagrostis 'Overdam' behind). This is the clone maintained and distributed by Pam Schwerdt and Sibylle Kreutzberger: it is much superior to the clone currently offered commercially, being more compact and much more floriferous, but its willingness to flower makes it difficult to find vegetative cutting material from the plants.

Clematis brevicaudata and Viburnum opulus 'Xanthocarpa'.

Impatiens kilimanjari subsp. kilimanjari

Comma on Aster x frikartii 'Monch'

Aster 'Monch'

Malvern Autumn Show

Michaelmas daisies shown by Old Court Nursery

The Three Counties Showground at Malvern, Worcestershire, hosts two horticultural shows each year. The first, in May, is a major event; the Autumn Show, on this weekend, is smaller and attracts less attention from the media. It is less exclusively horticultural, with poultry, rabbit and guinea pig shows, and displays of canines and other quadrupeds to divert attention from the plants - or the superabundant shopping opportunities.

Crocus banaticus and Asian gentians on the Hartside Nursery stand

The RHS Show, consisting of nursery displays and sales tables, was held this year in the large display sheds at the southern end of the showground. While spacious enough for the smaller number of nurseries attending, they're not really suitable for the purpose,  being poorly lit, and the whole thing seemed rather pushed off into a corner: it didn't have the 'buzz' of most big shows. Nevertheless, there were some attractive displays to be seen, reminding us of the abundance of good plants for the autumn garden. I liked this combination of Kniphofia 'Toffee Nosed' and Orlaya grandiflora on Chris Cooke's stand, and elsewhere an attractive pairing was Miscanthus 'Malepartus' and Verbena bonariensis.

Heuchera (etc) shown by Plantagogo

The show held in the Harvest Pavilion is more of a classic flower and produce show, held under the auspices of the Three Counties Agricultural Society and the Midlands Vegetable Society. The giant vegetables attract most attention, as well they might, for their sheer improbability and the skill needed to produce them, but the majority of the produce on display is  more normally proportioned (and looks much more appetizing).
The first prize for the display of giant vegetables (above right) was won by A. Jones, and the trug (below) by A. Young.

A noteworthy success was achieved in the Chrysanthemum show by Colesbourne resident George Proverbs, who won first prizes for all five classes he entered, including for this entry of five vases of three stems. To produce such top-quality blooms is a huge challenge, requiring meticulous attention through the growing season, including the protection of the developing flower head in an inflated paper bag.



There are classes for all sorts of flowers, ranging from alpines to roses, and of course dahlias. Although many of those exhibited are too large-flowered to be attractive in the garden, there are many smaller-flowered cultivars on display that offer the promise of being useful additions to the summer border; after admiring it for several years I really must acquire plants of 'Weston Spanish Dancer' (right) next spring.

A new edition of a classic tree book

Hugh Johnson's Trees has just been published by Mitchell Beazley (£30) (in North America it is entitled The World of Trees, University of California Press). It is the successor to his enduringly popular International Book of Trees (1973), now updated after nearly forty years and illustrated with new images chosen to inspire and inform. I have to declare an interest, as I was consultant editor, but this is a lovely book, packed with both information and reminiscence. The first edition was written when Hugh was just starting to plant his garden at Saling Hall in the heat of his first enthusiasm for trees; the enthusiasm has not waned, but this is a maturer vintage that can be enjoyed now, but will remain drinkable long into the future.