CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW S ubtle, natural hues were the order of the day when it came to stonework at Chelsea 2016, whether it was chunky boulders in Cleve West’s M&G garden, globes in Catherine MacDonald’s garden for Hartley Botanic, Jekka McVicar’s centrepiece water bowl, or the stone-filled gabions on Sarah Eberle’s Hilliers plot. This year, James Basson’s garden inspired by a Maltese quarry will feature large pillars of stone, while Tracy Foster is using chalk boulders to recreate the landscape of Yorkshire. Stone in shades of creamy grey and buff add structure to gardens without compromising a natural look Solid rock NATURAL STONE GET THE LOOK Pale stone has a classic look that is ideal for formal gardens, while urns are always a pleasing addition. Linford urn, £148.80, chilstone.com JUNE 2017 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 101 IMAGES GAP PHOTOS: JOANNA KOSSAK/HEATHER EDWARDS/JENNY LILLY Jekka McVicar Cleve West Sarah Eberle Catherine MacDonald
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JUNE 2017 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 103 I t is no coincidence that purple is often in evidence at Chelsea – so many plants whose flowering time coincides with the show, such as alliums and salvias, have purple blooms. Hay Hwang used mauve irises and Phlox last year, while purple-leaved Leucadendron ‘Burgundy Sunset’ featured on Charlie Albone’s Husqvarna garden. On the Papworth Trust garden, entire walls were painted purple. And this year, the Breaking Ground garden, by Andrew Wilson and Gavin McWilliam, will feature patches of purple heather. Instantly inject Chelsea style into your garden by using one of the show’s most prevalent colours Regal colour PURPLE SHADES GET THE LOOK Add purple in small amounts for a subtle look by using accessories or painting furniture. Cuprinol Garden Shades paint in Summer Damson 2.5L, £15.50, cuprinol.co.uk CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW IMAGES GAP PHOTOS: ANNA OMIOTEK-TOTT/JS SIRA; SAM CHURCHILL The Papworth Trust Hay Hwang Leucadendron ‘Burgundy Sunset’ Lee Bestall
Artists have been drawn to Cornwall’s shimmering seas, coastal towns and wonderful gardens for over a century — and it’s little wonder. See the fruits of their labour in sculpture gardens and museums, and take your own inspiration from the incomparable scenery. Departures: 4 September 2017 4 nights from £625 Single Room Supp. £140 Arts & Gardens in Cornwall Departure: 25 September 2017 6 nights from £1,595 Single Room Supp. £480 The balmy climate of the Amalfi Coast is heaven for lush exotics and tender trees. And with its dizzying cliff-top villas and historic botanical gardens, grand grounds designed for Bourbon kings and elegant cypress-studded borders, it’s certainly heaven for garden lovers, too. Naples & the Gardens of the Amalfi Coast Wildlife, wildflowers, and world-class wines — South Africa has it all. Explore the immense Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, home to a huge variety of indigenous flora; marvel at the Southern Right Whale migration, and even take in the view from the top of Table Mountain. Departures: 24 August 2017 15 nights from £4,395 Single Room Supp. £520 Gardens & Wildflowers of South Africa: Western Cape Quality Garden and Special Interest Tours at Home and Abroad Call: 01334 657155 | Email: [email protected] | www.brightwaterholidays.com Brightwater Holidays Ltd, Eden Park House, Cupar, Fife KY15 4HS 5020 Watford’s hidden gem – Cheslyn House and Gardens Have you ever seen a sweet gum, Indian bean or tulip tree? You can see all of these, along with spectacular collections of flowers at Cheslyn House and Gardens, Nascot Wood Road, Watford, WD17 4SL. Designed by Henry Colbeck, renowned architect, the house and gardens are one of Watford’s best kept secrets. The grounds also host a pond, rock garden, large herbaceous borders and an aviary. Entrance to the gardens is free, 9am to 8pm during the summer. The house is available for hire by charities, voluntary and community groups. Please visit watford.gov.uk/cheslyn for more information ANTI-SLIP DECKING OIL: Highest quality top coat for wood decking NO MORE SLIP UPS! Call us 01296 481220 Learn more osmouk.com MICROPOROUS | NATURAL | SLIP-RESISTANT | OIL-BASED | HIGH COVERAGE 99 9 9 9
JUNE 2017 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 105 Enduringly stylish and long-lasting, wood is used at Chelsea in every way possible: an imposing red cedar deck in Sam Ovens’ 2016 Cloudy Bay garden; timber-edged beds in the AkzoNobel garden; a sheltered pavilion made out of sturdy oak in Chris Beardshaw’s garden; and a path of chunky oak slabs in Dan Bristow’s Garden of Potential. It will play an important role in Beardshaw’s 2017 garden too, with sculpted oak and limestone creating the Morgan Stanley garden’s pavilion focal point. For essential hard landscaping or simply a finishing touch, timber will never be out of style Timeless wood CHUNKY TIMBER GET THE LOOK Wooden planters sit well in all styles of garden, from contemporary to classic country, and are ideal partners for topiarised plants. Planter in spruce, 60cm, £150, gardentrading.co.uk CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW IMAGES NEIL HEPWROTH; GAP PHOTOS: JOANNA KOSSAK/ANNA OMIOTEK-TOTT Sam Ovens AkzoNobel garden Chris Beardshaw Dan Bristow
106 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2017 Aline of turquoise ran along the colourful path in Rosy Hardy’s Forever Freefolk garden; turquoise cladding framed a circular view inside Senri-Sentei’s ingenious garden that incorporated a car. On Chris Beardshaw’s garden, Jilly Sutton’s Fallen Deodar sculpture in Himalayan cedar was finished in a compelling shade of blue-green. Add a note of this vibrant colour as simply as Ann-Marie Powell did, with coloured furniture, glazed pots and ceramics or verdigris bronze. Turquoise notes were all over Chelsea 2016, and can be used to introduce a lighter, brighter mood at home, too Uplifting hues TURQUOISE ACCENTS GET THE LOOK Glazed containers are the simplest way to introduce a highlight of colour such as turquoise. Woodlodge Falling Rainbow palm planters, £5.99-£29.99, see woodlodge.co.uk for stockists. CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW IMAGES GAP PHOTOS: HEATHER EDWARDS/ JACQUI HURST/ANNA OMIOTEK-TOTT Rosy Hardy’s Forever Freefolk Senri Sentei Rosy Hardy’s Forever Freefolk Ann-Marie Powell Jilly Sutton for Chris Beardshaw
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FUTURE FUND Want to fulfill your dreams of becoming a garden designer? Enter this year’s competition to win The English Garden’s Future Fund bursary, in association with Inchbald School of Design Take a New Direction The Beauty of Islam garden at Chelsea 2015, designed by an Inchbald graduate: Kamelia Bin Zaal. IMAGE ALAMY JUNE 2017 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 109
110 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2017 FUTURE FUND We are delighted to launch The English Garden’s Future Fund bursary for 2017, an incredible opportunity for budding garden designers to start a brand new career. In partnership with Inchbald School of Design, our Future Fund winner will have the chance to study garden design at the college, with course fees paid. The winner will also help build a garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2018 and take part in a week of work experience at Janine Pattison Studios, the garden design practice in Poole. In addition, the Society of Garden Designers (SGD) will give the winner a year’s free student membership and two tickets to its much-anticipated conferences. Inchbald is one of the most prestigious design schools in the country and claims several Chelsea-gold-medal winners among its alumni, including Luciano Giubbilei and Marcus Barnett. Our winner will study for the One Year Online Diploma in Principles and Practices of Garden Design – a part-time, distance-learning course with a minimum of 10 hours formal learning a week and assignments for tutor feedback – worth £7,015. For your chance to win this fantastic prize, entrants must design a small garden for a terraced house (see page 112 for how to enter). Sketches will go before our judges – Inchbald managing director Andrew Dufi, garden designer Janine Pattison and SGD chairman Philippa O’Brien – to be shortlisted and then it will be over to readers of The English Garden to vote for the scheme they think most deserves to receive the Future Fund in 2017. This is a brilliant opportunity to launch a new career in garden design, network with some of the best in the industry and gain priceless experience. IMAGES ALAMY; SHUTTERSTOCK
JUNE 2017 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 111 Last year’s winner Textile designer Ruth Bridgeman jumped at the chance to combine her love of gardening and the outdoors with her passion for design when last year’s Future Fund was launched. “I’d been considering a garden design course for some time and the brief fi t perfectly with the spaces I’m interested in,” she says. “It must have been fate because that issue of the magazine was the fi rst I received as a gift subscription from my parents.” Ruth was keen to develop her plant knowledge and explore di erent styles of design during her time at Inchbald, where she has just started on her year-long diploma course. “I’m excited to learn about applying design to 3D spaces and develop planting schemes that work throughout the seasons. I’m also going to relish working on briefs that are outside my own taste and interests.” In the lead-up to this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Ruth also helped Lee Bestall on his show garden ‘500 years of Covent Garden’, which celebrates the long and varied commercial and social history of London’s Covent Garden. “I was delighted to help support the Future Fund and welcome Ruth to our team,” Lee says. “Playing a part at Chelsea was a great experience,” adds Ruth. “It was a brilliant opportunity to be at a place that is so familiar from having visited the show, but to see it in the early stages. It was helpful in terms of realising what can be done in such a short space of time. Lee shared lots of hints and tricks on building a garden, too.” At the end of her studies, Ruth hopes to work as an independent garden designer. “I’d like to be able to develop a portfolio of work and experience so I can take on private clients. Winning the Future Fund should enable me to do that as the prize gives you experience as well as a qualifi cation.” For entrants to this year’s competition, Ruth has the following advice: “Read the brief carefully and if it is not the kind of specifi cation you normally like, then research that type of garden well before you enter. Try and think about it from the client’s point of view – how they’d experience the garden from the inside and outside and care for the space.” WHAT IS THE FUTURE FUND? The English Garden Future Fund is an annual bursary scheme launched by the magazine in 2014. The English Garden was left a large sum of money by a reader in her will, as thanks for all the joy and knowledge she had gained from reading the magazine. This gave The English Garden an exciting opportunity to pass on that generosity to the benefi t of the gardening community, through the launch of the Future Fund. Last year, Ruth Bridgeman won the public vote with her inventive roof garden design. Previously, a £5,000 bursary was awarded to assist with the funding of Flower Pod, a cut fl ower and confetti social enterprise in Nottinghamshire.
112 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2017 Judging panel Our three judges will shortlist this year’s entries before handing over to you, readers of The English Garden, to choose our Future Fund winner FUTURE FUND TERMS AND CONDITIONS If your application is successful, you agree to the terms and conditions, which can be found at theenglishgarden. co.uk. You confi rm that the information given in your entry is to the best of your knowledge true and accurate and are willing to provide further information if requested. If your application is successful, you agree that The English Garden magazine/Chelsea Magazine Company Limited, Inchbald and the Society of Garden Designers may use you and your entry for publicity. Please note that we cannot return any supporting documentation and will not be notifying unsuccessful applicants. THE DETAILS ■ Produce both a plan and a 3D drawing on A3 paper, with colouring where appropriate. List on the plan your choice of hard landscaping materials and plants. Make a copy of your drawings before submission. ■ Provide a 100-word supporting document explaining the design. ■ Include a 200-word personal statement explaining why you would be a worthy winner of the Future Fund 2017. ■ Send the entry to theenglishgarden@ chelseamagazines.com or post it to The English Garden, Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, Chelsea SW3 3TQ by the closing date of 7 August 2017. ■ The shortlisted entrants will appear in the October edition of The English Garden, and after the vote has closed, the winner will be announced on 8 November 2017, in the December 2017 edition of the magazine. THE PRIZE ■ A £7,015 bursary to study the Online Diploma in Principles and Practices of Garden Design at Inchbald. ■ The chance to help with the build of a show garden at Chelsea 2018. ■ Take part in a week-long work experience placement at Janine Pattison Studios, Poole ■ A year’s free student membership of the Society of Garden Designers and two tickets to use at the SGD’s annual conferences. Held in spring and autumn, the winner can go to both conferences by themselves, or take a friend to one, and gain unparalleled access to the garden design world. HOW TO ENTER Design a back garden for a middle-aged couple with no children. They have recently moved to a new house and are ready to focus on the garden, which is a blank canvas. The house is terraced, was built in the 1900s and is made of red brick with a slate roof. There are neighbouring gardens on all boundaries, and the garden is overlooked from houses to the left and right, but not at the rear. The garden can be located wherever you wish – in a country village or a city suburb – but think carefully about how it will link to its surrounds, which you will have chosen. Its size is 6m wide by 20m long with the house at the narrow end. The garden faces south-west. JANINE PATTISON Janine is an award-winning landscape designer and horticulturist who trained with English Heritage at Eltham Palace in London, and Kingston Maurward College in Dorchester. A registered member of the Society of Garden Designers, she also writes for national magazines and newspapers. ANDREW DUFF Andrew has been a garden designer for more than 20 years, since graduating from the University of Greenwich. Now working in his own practice and specialising in country gardens, he previously worked with the White Dutton Partnership and John Brookes OBE. He is managing director of Inchbald School of Design in Belgravia, London. PHILIPPA O’BRIEN Philippa is chairman of the Society of Garden Designers and has her own garden design practice. She studied horticulture at Reading University, has lectured on garden design at Capel Manor College and has been designing gardens since 1991. Prior to setting up her practice, she was a horticultural journalist.
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JUNE 2017 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 115 I t is easy to become stuck in a rut of thyme, rosemary and sage, but there are, happily, many other flavoursome herbs that will thrive in British gardens. Alongside parsley, mint, and our other familiar staples, we can liven up the kitchen by resurrecting some long-forgotten favourites cultivated by our ancestors, and by trying herbs that are used in international cuisines. If you don’t have room for a dedicated bed of culinary aromatics, they can be dotted through borders, since many have attractive flowers or foliage that vie with purely ornamental plants. A fair number will also thrive in containers, making for a colourful summer display and handy picking. These 10 lesser-known herbs will inject WORDS new life into the garden and the kitchen. HAZEL SILLVER IMAGE GAP PHOTOS/CHRIS BURROWS Herbs to Savour Ring the changes with flavoursome flowers and foliage 1 PELARGONIUM A scented Pelargonium will look gorgeous in terracotta pots during summer. The leaves of ‘Attar of Roses’, which has a Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit, have a hearty rose smell that can be used in pies, cakes and jams; and the pretty pink flowers last well in a vase. Buy plants, rather than growing from seed, and place these tender perennials in a sunny spot. Feed with tomato fertiliser during the growing season and as soon as there is risk of frost, bring the plants indoors, take cuttings, and trim back. TOP 10 PLANTS
116 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2017 2 SALAD BURNET In Tudor gardens, Sanguisorba minor was planted between the paving of paths so that its cucumber scent would be released by foot trafic. Although it is not a native, this evergreen hardy perennial has naturalised here, and its knobbly, 50cm-tall heads of red flowers are a common sight on chalk grassland. To grow it as a culinary herb, keep cutting it to encourage the production of new oval-shaped leaves, which can be used year round in salads, drinks and soups. 3 ANGELICA Angelica archangelica creates architectural impact at the back of the border, with huge umbels of lime green flowers atop stems of 1-2m. Adding the scented young leaves to rhubarb and gooseberries reduces the amount of sugar required. Angelica is biennial, so buy plants this year to flower next summer. It can be grown from seed, but as seed soon loses viability take care to buy from a good supplier. Grow Angelica in sun or semi-shade in moist, fertile soil, and deadhead to prevent self-seeding. 4 LEMON VERBENA The leaves of Aloysia citrodora AGM make a refreshing lemon-scented tisane for the summer months, and can also be used to flavour sorbet. This tender deciduous South American sub-shrub is said to ease indigestion, insomnia and anxiety. It can reach 2.5m x 2.5m in sun-baked, well-drained soil; trim in spring and after flowering, and cut to half its size in the autumn. Container plants are best over-wintered indoors, and those left in the ground should be protected with mulch. TOP 10 PLANTS
JUNE 2017 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 117 7 LOVAGE Loved by the ancient Greeks, who chewed its leaves to aid digestion, Levisticum oficinale is a great addition to the herb garden. The dark green leaves taste of celery, and can be added to salads, stocks, soups and stews. This Mediterranean perennial is tolerant of most sites, but rarely flowers in shade, and needs a roomy spot because it can reach 2m tall by 1m wide. Trim in summer to encourage new growth, cut to ground level in autumn, and remove seedlings to control spreading. 6 SHISO The claret purple leaves of Perilla frutescens var. crispa AGM add drama to the herb border. Said to boost immunity, this Asian annual is employed in traditional Chinese medicine to prevent and fight colds. It is widely used in Japanese cuisine, added to meat and fish dishes, sushi, and salads, and used to dye plums; having a taste similar to basil – albeit with a spicier, sharper edge – it can be used to make pesto, or sprinkled onto salads. Sow in moist, well-drained soil in sun. 5 BORAGE The hardy annual Borago oficinalis forms a frothy mass of silver and blue, which hums with honeybees all summer. The grey downy foliage can seem thuggish, and will form a drunken heap unless grown through support (such as a frame of hazel sticks), but you will forgive it when it glows in evening sunlight. Even orderly Louis XIV loved borage, despite its scrufflness. Make ice cubes with the cucumber-flavoured flowers to drop into glasses of Pimm’s on hot days. It reaches 80cm tall. IMAGES GAP PHOTOS: JOHN GLOVER/DIANNA JAZWINSKI/MEL WATSON/TORIE CHUGG/SHUTTERSTOCK
118 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2017 9 CHERVIL Anthriscus cerefolium, also known as French parsley, is not well known in the UK, but in France its green, ferny leaves are widely used to add a faint aniseed flavour to egg, chicken and fish dishes, soups, vegetables, salads and sauces. Plant or sow in well-drained soil; semi-shade is vital because too much sun will create flowering at the expense of the leaves. Sow it in late summer for leaves all winter, when the plant must be protected with a cloche. 8 SUMMER SAVORY The Egyptians and the Romans brewed love potions with Satureja hortensis but today this half-hardy annual is used to flavour salami; it is known as ‘bean herb’ since it reduces the flatulence caused by beans. It thrives in well-drained soil in a sunny, sheltered spot, resents fertiliser, and grows to 25cm. If you want the sweet peppery leaves to flavour vegetables and pulses, keep picking them to stop the plant becoming straggly – and do not let it flower. 10RED ORACH Atriplex hortensis var. rubra, also known as red mountain spinach, is a useful 1-1.5m tall annual with raspberrymaroon foliage and flowers. Use its bold colour in the border to offlset reds, oranges or lavender-blues (such as Perovskia ‘Blue Spire’); and pluck the young leaves to add colour to salads, or to make soup with potatoes, leeks, garlic and stock. Plant or sow in well-drained soil in full sun. It will self-seed with gusto, so thin out seedlings to prevent over-crowding. IMAGES GAP PHOTOS: ROBERT MABIC/FIONA MCLEOD/JONATHAN BUCKLEY TOP 10 PLANTS
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JUNE 2017 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 121 Not many gardeners naturally associate roses with container growing, but if the right cultivar is chosen, they can help create a beautiful container. They work well planted individually in a large container; choose a pot that has a diameter and depth of at least 45cm to make sure there is ample room, and use a soil-based compost – John Innes No3 is ideal – that will provide the nutrients roses require. Good choices for planting individually include ‘Sweet Dream’, with its full-petalled flowers in apricot, or ‘Bianco’, smothered with pompom-like small white flowers in profusion, but roses also go well with other partners to make a rounded display. Here, in this eye-catching curved pot, Rosa ‘The Fairy’ is teamed with the rich maroon blades of Pennisetum ‘Rubrum’, pretty Caryopteris x clandonensis ‘Heavenly Blue’, with silvery infill from lavender. ‘The Fairy’ has all the attributes of a perfect container rose: compact growth the right proportion for a pot, and a floriferous display. Keep deadheading to encourage more flowers to form, and keep the appearance of the pot smart. Applying a potash-rich fertiliser such as Phostrogen will ensure the right nutrients for flowering are in ample supply, too. Above all, make sure the soil doesn’t completely dry out. When the plants outgrow their pot, all can go out in the garden. ‘The Fairy’ makes wonderful ground cover, efflectively smothering weeds with its bushy habit, and producing its dainty pink flowers in quantities that put other ground cover choices in the shade. ■ CONTAINERS Rosy Exuberance Don’t be afraid of growing roses in containers. Chosen carefully, they make fine plants for pots, being able to produce a long-lasting floral display Caryopteris ‘Heavenly Blue’ bears its powderblue flowers in early summer. Cut back, feed and water for a second, later flush. Lavender grows well in pots, particularly if a container oers welldrained soil when the garden doesn’t. Lightly shear after flowering to keep the plant compact. Pennisetum ‘Rubrum’ makes a dramatic counterpoint in both colour and form, with its arching, grassy leaves. Pink-tinted flowers appear in late summer. IMAGES GAP PHOTOS:FRIEDRICH STRAUSS; ALAMY; SHUTTERSTOCK
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Iris 'Kissed by the Sun' lives up to its sunny name with cheerful yellow falls. PLANT FOCUS IMAGES NICOLA STOCKEN JUNE 2017 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 123 Rise & Fall Their magnificent yet fleeting display makes bearded irises garden plants to treasure says Nicola Stocken. She explores the colourful range grown by Claire Austin, iris breeder and National Collection holder
124 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2017 Come early summer, dawn breaks over Claire Austin’s nursery to reveal countless bearded irises in a rainbow of glorious shades and colour combinations. “Not so long ago, bearded Iris flowers were restricted to blues, white or purples, with a few yellows thrown in, but today, as a result of hybridising, they come in almost every colour, except true red and black,” says Claire who holds a National Collection of more than 500 bearded irises at her nursery in mid-Wales, within sight of the Shropshire hills. It is now seven years since Claire and her husband, Ric Kenwood, moved to the 20-acre smallholding, delighted to have suffcient space to grow and trial a wide range of perennials, as well as developing large collections of both herbaceous hybrid peonies and bearded irises. “I inherited the initial collections from my father, David Austin,” she explains. “He started the collection in the early 1980s, with an eye to selling them in the nursery should his roses fail to sell.” Unlike her green-fingered father, Claire had originally trained in art, which, while proving invaluable for compiling plant catalogues, meant learning, largely through trial and error, about the plants she had inherited. Fortunately, she never found irises diffcult to care for. “They are a plant-and-go Above Claire’s home in the Welsh hills overlooks the collection of irises. Below left Claire Austin inspects some of her hybridised plants. Below right ‘Jazz Festival’ is a scented bu pink and violet variety. PLANT FOCUS type of plant, although the very sandy soil at my father’s nursery at Albrighton was a great benefit,” she recalls. Learning by dint of being very hands-on was to prove an excellent apprenticeship and marked the start of a love affiair with bearded irises. “I find their shapes and range of colour combinations especially appealing,” she says. Although there are some 300 Iris species (including irises without beards), all bear flowers composed of three upper petals, known as standards, above three lower petals known as falls. “Bearded irises
JUNE 2017 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 125 are distinguished by a caterpillar-like line of white or coloured hairs crawling out of the throat of the falls, which attracts pollinating insects,” Claire explains. Sporting greenish-grey, sword-like leaves, bearded irises vary in height between standard and miniature dwarfs – both around 20cm tall – to tall bearded irises which, standing at over 70cm, are the last to bloom. “These are often scented, and are ideal for using as a focal point, either grouped together, or mingling in with other perennials,” says Claire. Bearded irises stand tall amid the herbaceous planting in Claire’s own garden, with varieties such as lavender-and-white ‘Fogbound’ blending with blue aquilegias, or dark violet ‘Wild Wings’ contrasting against Geranium ‘Blue Cloud’ and pink Centaurea montana ‘Carnea’. “I tend to plant in groups of two or more, creating an outward-facing wall with the fan of leaves. This prevents nearby plants from swamping the rhizome, and reducing flowering,” she says. In another bed, burgundy-tinted ‘Fortunate Son’ is immersed in a sea of pink Pimpinella major ‘Rosea’, and the russet, ruffed flowers of ‘Copatonic’ stand alongside the lupin ‘Masterpiece’. Nearby, a clump of Cirsium rivulare ‘Atropurpureum’, a perennial with a long flowering season, is teamed with ‘Bethany Claire’, a blue remontant Iris that produces a second flush of blooms from August. “Flowering seasons Above Light blue falls are overlaid with deep violet on ‘Inside Job’. Below ‘Carnaby’ combines peach-pink with rose purple. How to grow irises Prevent over-crowding and divide regularly for best results O Bearded irises grow best in welldrained soil that is not acidic, and in a spot that is bathed in as much sun as possible. “In really wet, or very acid soils, the rhizome can rot, and the plant die,” says Claire. O They also dislike being crowded in by other plants. “Bearded irises resent competition, especially around their rhizomes,” Claire adds. O Traditionally, rhizomes are planted six weeks after flowering, placed in a hole deep enough to take the roots and half the bottom of rhizome, but with the top showing above the soil. Claire waits until late August or September, when the hottest, driest days have passed, the rhizomes are fully mature and the ground is still warm. O Irises multiply by sending out new rhizomes, abandoning the old ones to rot. Consequently, they need to be divided once every three years. Lift the clump from the ground with a garden fork and split it into smaller sections – they should snap apart. Throw away the old, central rhizome and replant those with fresh green tops, trimming the leaves to about 15cm tall.
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JUNE 2017 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 127 vary, so a garden can be blessed with bearded irises from March, in the warmest, most southerly counties, until November,” she notes. It is now a decade or more since Claire began crosspollinating bearded irises, focussing largely on the taller cultivars growing in an ever-widening trial bed in her back garden. “I’m aiming for tall and elegant, not big and blowsy,” she says. Hens pick their way between these flowers; they are unchecked as they seek out the slugs that are the bane of an Iris-lover’s life. “Unfortunately, the hens won’t eat big slugs, so I tried ducks which were doing well, until the fox made off with them,” Claire says. Unwilling to use slug pellets so as to protect the hedgehog population, Claire instead uses beer traps to combat this ongoing problem effectively. “That is why there are so many glass jars dotted around,” she explains. To the untrained eye, every one of Claire’s painstakingly bred cultivars is a beautiful flower, ranging from an iridescent indigo-and-cream with gold-laced standards, to an unusual variety with caramel-coloured petals streaked with chocolate. But, it turns out that good looks and seductive colour are not enough. “It is tempting to focus on colour, but both my father and Piet Oudolf look first at form, and the way plants grow. I agree with this approach, so when I’m selecting a new variety to trial, I am primarily looking for a lovely branching habit with lots of stems and buds.” Claire is inspired by the work of other hybridists such as the American, Paul Black, who is breeding small-flowered but tall varieties. “Another consideration is the substance of the petals,” she points out. “If they are too thin, they are more prone to damage by rain and wind.” And it is not only flowers for which she looks. “Some sprout lovely leafy clumps with purple at the base of the leaves, and these are really useful plants.” When it comes to colour, she aims at producing something different. “I want to add to the diversity of what is already out there – I can’t see the point in doing otherwise.” As a result, Claire is especially selective, avoiding obvious crosses such as blue with blue. “You simply get another blue – it is a very dominant gene.” However, by crossing blue with a graceful white variety, for example, she has produced some lustrous flowers that stand proud in the trial bed. Here they are marked casually with a stick to indicate their selection for further trialling. Among the kaleidoscope of colours, only blacks and reds are missing. “There are no true blacks, most are purpleblack or blue-black, and red is impossible as this colour is not found among bearded irises,” she points out, adding: “It would be nice to get a near-blackwith-white combination.” It takes two seasons for an Iris to develop from fertilisation to flower. Then, Claire makes an initial selection to bulk up, and trial. After a couple of years of trials, she splits each bulked-up clump and keeps monitoring the individual plants. “By this stage I’m looking for a combination of beauty of form with a really garden-worthy plant that has either lots of stems, or up to 11 buds per spike, and a flowering season of around three weeks.” As each year passes, the numbers in the trial beds swell, so it is only a Above Dainty blooms of ‘Bumble Bee Delight’. Below right ‘Fortunate Son’ smells of oranges. Below left One of Claire’s as yet unnamed cultivars in caramel with chocolate markings. PLANT FOCUS
128 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2017 matter of time before she puts a name to the very best. “I am still trialling a lot of my own crosses, to see how they compare with what is already available,” she notes. In the meantime, Claire grows many well-established varieties. Among them, ‘Celebration Song’ stands out with soft apricot standards, lavender-blue falls and orange beards. In 2003, it received the Dukes Medal which is awarded annually in the USA to the best Iris following trials lasting some years. “More often than not these are excellent plants,” she says. Another, ‘Decadence’, has frilly apricot standards, dark magenta falls and orange beards, and is a particular favourite with Iris breeders. “It has been parent to many wonderful new varieties.” Then there are those with striking colour combinations: ‘Florentine Silk’ has pink standards above violet falls and orange-tinged beards. Newer introductions, such as ‘Ink Patterns’, have lovely patterning, while others still are grown for their fragrance: ‘Godfrey Owen’ smells of lemons, whereas ‘Fortunate Son’ is distinctively orange-scented. ■ The bearded Iris collection is open to general viewing from 10am-4pm on 2 and 3 June. Claire Austin Hardy Plants, White Hopton Farm, Wern Lane, Sarn, Newtown SY16 4EN. Tel: 01686 670342; claireaustin-hardyplants.co.uk Left Iris ‘Lady’s Friend’ boasts petals in a pretty shade of garnet. Above Some bearded irises have fragrant flowers, such as lemonscented ‘Godfrey Owen’. Below right The petals of pale blue ‘Cloud Ballet’ are defined by a slightly darker edge. Below left Contrasting blue beards on peachflowered ‘Concertina’. PLANT FOCUS
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JUNE 2017 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 131 PLANT PARTNERS IMAGES RICHARD BLOOM Kniphofia ‘Tawny King’ This striking red-hot poker with large orange and cream flowers stands out in contrast to the large rounded white heads of Hydrangea ‘Annabelle’. Cutting away spent flowers of ‘Tawny King’ will improve appearance and encourage a longer flowering period, as will dividing and replanting every few years. Eupatorium purpureum Being green at first and then turning to white, the flowers of ‘Annabelle’ contrast both in form and colour with plants that match its peak flowering period. The deep purple of statuesque Eupatorium purpureum ‘Gateway’ is an obvious and easy choice, creating summer-long interest. Rudbeckia fulgida ‘Goldsturm’ This is one of my top perennials for its long and cheerful late-summer display. It grows well in most sunny situations provided they are not too dry. This variety’s golden, daisy-like petals with their black centres contrast with the startling white flower heads of blowsy ‘Annabelle’ – the perfect complement. The Bressingham Gardens and Nursery, Low Road, Bressingham IP22 2AA. Tel: 01379 688282; thebressinghamgardens.com What an amazing plant popular Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ is. The Latin name might suggest it is a tree-like shrub, but in reality and uniquely ‘Annabelle’ is best treated as an herbaceous perennial – cut to the ground in early spring. From there, new vigorous bright green shoots emerge; and small lime green flowers begin to appear as early as June. Attractive though these are, the flower heads swell over the course of the summer months to become rounded balls of pure white bracts by August. Some arch over on slender stems, borne down with the exuberance of growth. The flowers continue looking good until autumn, then gradually fade following fruits. Once they have aged to a crisp brown, they are perfect for using as bold but delicate dried heads in flower arrangements that can last all through winter. Easy to grow in sun or part shade where the soil is not too dry, ‘Annabelle’ is a striking plant on its own or enhanced by other nearby perennials, shrubs or grasses. If it is pruned each year, it will reach 90cm to 1.2m in height. White Light Plantsman Adrian Bloom examines companions for Hydrangea ‘Annabelle’, including the partners he uses in the gardens at Bressingham, Norfolk Perfect partners for Hydrangea ‘Annabelle’
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A vision of nostalgia, cottage-garden style is as coveted today as it was when Victorian aristocrats reimagined their tenants’ humble gardens, says Sandra Lawrence Halcyon Imaginings A well-tended cottage garden is an image of perfection, and belies humble origins. JUNE 2017 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 133 COTTAGE GARDENS WORDS SANDRA LAWRENCE IMAGE GAP PHOTOS/ELKE BORKOWSKI
134 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2017 Drifts of colourful perennials jostle fragrant climbers; joyful self-seeders jumble past the odd, random exotic. Rustic fruit and vegetables clamber up characterful hazel poles behind a half-timbered, thatch-roofed idyll deep in the countryside. A topiary beast, weathered sundial, battered arch or homemade obelisk may act as an eye-catcher; more usually the plants are the stars. “It is a contrived image to sell an idyllic lifestyle,” admits Patricia Foster, chair of the Cottage Garden Above A climbing rose around the front door – here ‘Félicité Perpétue’ – epitomises cottagegarden style. COTTAGE GARDENS Society. “The original cottage dwellers had a pretty hard time of it.” The precursors to the classic English chocolatebox gardens would have been simple afiairs. Potagers supplied working-class households with basic crops and somewhere to keep a pig or a few chickens. Some found room for a beehive, which would have been a welcome source of sweetness before sugar became widespread. Home-grown vegetables were essential and, in the days before universal health care, herbs formed the
JUNE 2017 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 135 IMAGES GAP PHOTOS/RICHARD BLOOM; SHUTTERSTOCK Ideal plants for a cottage-garden border Pretty flowers over the summer months are a hallmark of most cottage-garden favourites ROSES Ramblers happily scramble through trees and hide unsightly outbuildings. Choose a highly scented variety for heady summer evenings. ALCHEMILLA MOLLIS Lady’s mantle is quietly elegant ground cover best enjoyed in the mornings when overnight dew shines like diamonds on the leaves. SWEET PEAS Choose a traditional cottage-garden mix for perfume; varieties bred for the show bench often prize stem-length and colour over scent. VIOLETS Sweet violet (Viola odorata) brings a fragrant whi of Victoriana to quiet corners. It will grow in sun or dappled shade, and in most soil types. ORIENTAL POPPIES All poppies work nicely in the cottage garden, but the furry leaves and buds of the oriental varieties are particularly lovely. DAY LILIES The brightly coloured trumpets of Hemerocallis flower constantly for weeks on end over clumps of bright green strappy leaves. HOLLYHOCKS A variety of colours against a wall or at the back of the border lend height and structure. Grow as an annual to avoid problems with rust. FOXGLOVES One of the oldest traditional plants in the cottage-garden lexicon. Introduce these biennial plants two years running for annual blooms. HONEYSUCKLES It is hard to beat our scrambling native woodbine (Lonicera periclymenum) as the sweetest smelling honeysuckle of them all.
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family medicine cabinet. Scented flowers masked unpleasant household smells and tempted pollinating insects to the vegetable patch, while stone and soft fruit supplemented a monotonous diet. Gardens would have been tended after long working hours, sometimes by moonlight, merely because that was when there was time. Yet it was aristocratic garden lovers, celebrating their tenants’ humble homes as a nostalgic image of Olde England, who started reinventing and reimagining cottage gardens on a grander scale. The Cottage Gardener magazine (1848-1861) set the scene for the style’s late Victorian heyday. Irish gardener and writer William Robinson’s influential books, The Wild Garden (1870), The English Flower Garden and journal The Garden, promoted ideas of ‘natural’ planting, eagerly adopted by devotees of the Arts and Crafts movement. By the Edwardian age, gardens by trailblazers such as Gertrude Jekyll began to truly resemble what we now call the cottage garden. This inclination towards cottage gardens continued well into the 20th century. By 1982, however, cottage gardening was increasingly outmoded. With the rise of garden centres and massproduced bedding plants, some gardeners feared the ‘old plants’ were endangered. Below A melee of bright perennials jostle in densely-planted borders; brick paths add to the informal style. COTTAGE GARDENS IMAGES GAP PHOTOS/JONATHAN BUCKLEY; SHUTTERSTOCK You don’t need a huge garden,” says Patricia Foster. “If you have the space you can have an oldfashioned cottage garden and it will be a riot, but modern cottage gardens are more streamlined, there’s more of a design element. Nature doesn’t think about design, though. Plants will selfseed and there is sometimes a happy accident. “Lots of people have to grow in pots and tubs these days and cottage garden plants are very forgiving. They grow happily in baskets, containers, even gravel.” There is no specific cottagegarden style. “We’re all dierent, by virtue of geography if nothing else,” says Patricia. “You can enjoy elements of cottage gardening in any garden.” Classic materials include wood, brick, local stone, rusting metal and those found objects that seem to turn up just at the right moment. Hedges from native species such as hawthorn, holly, crab apple and hazel work beautifully. Lavender, once strewn about the house, remains much loved by humans and bees. Many gardeners follow their forebears’ tradition of passing cuttings over the garden gate; the Cottage Garden Society holds sales of unusual varieties grown by its members and, once a year, organises a giant seed swap. Pick a few favourites, allow them to spill across paths, grow up walls and scramble through each other to create something unique. “Most cottage garden plants are tough,” says Patricia. “They have no rules and are forgiving of the British climate.” Creating a cottage garden Use key materials and plants, and let nature take its course ‘‘ JUNE 2017 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 137
138 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2017 These concerns led to the formation of The Cottage Garden Society, the purpose of which was to help preserve them. Today, 35 years on, and 3,000 members and 34 regional groups later, the wheel of gardening fortune has turned once more. Small in scale, natural and organic, cottage gardening is fashionable again. Plants like the dark-leaved cow parsley Anthriscus sylvestris ‘Ravenswing’, preserved by Cottage Garden Society members, are easily available in garden centres. “People’s interest in gardening has changed,” says Patricia. “It used to be something people did when they retired. We’re now getting younger families who are interested in grow-your-own and beekeeping. We’re still doing what the original cottage gardeners did, though,” she continues, “growing plants they knew would be useful.” Those plants have proved useful in unexpected ways. Science has found cancer-cures from yew, heart treatments from foxgloves and is open to new discoveries. There is still much to be gleaned from the cottage garden, and not just as a welcome retreat from the punishing pace of the 21st century. ■ See thecottagegardensociety.org.uk COTTAGE GARDENS BARNSDALE GARDENS Muchmissed TV gardener Geo Hamilton created two demonstration plots for his 1995 BBC TV series Geoffi Hamilton’s Cottage Gardens. Both the Gentleman’s and Artisan’s gardens remain at Barnsdale, in Rutland. Geo ’s son Nick is president of the Cottage Garden Society. barnsdalegardens.co.uk HARDY’S COTTAGE When Thomas Hardy was born in 1840, his little thatched cottage in Higher Bockhampton, Dorset, was probably not as bucolic as it is now, but it is hard to imagine a more traditional cottage garden with its perennial-packed flower borders. nationaltrust.org.uk/hardys-cottage EAST LAMBROOK MANOR GARDEN Celebrated plantswoman Margery Fish took elements of traditional cottage gardening and added her own touches, creating a relaxed style with a hint of something more contemporary. Paths wind through abundant borders in this Somerset garden that has been restored since the early 2000s. eastlambrook.com BLUEBELL COTTAGE GARDENS Wide borders of stalwart cottage garden plants such as heleniums, salvias and Sidalcea, a wildflower meadow and a bluebell wood feature in this Cheshire garden, where you’ll also find a nursery specialising in flowering perennial plants, with more than 700 varieties in stock. bluebellcottage.co.uk ANNE HATHAWAY’S COTTAGE In Stratford, this chocolate-box thatched cottage, once home to Anne Hathaway, is fronted by large beds of perennials, which are currently being redeveloped and planted. A productive vegetable patch and wildflower orchard complete the idyllic setting. bluebellcottage.co.uk Below Beehives, whether they’re working or purely decorative, immediately conjure up the cottage garden look. Great cottage gardens to visit IMAGES NATIONAL TRUST IMAGES/ROBERT MORRIS; GAP PHOTOS; GARY SMITH; ALAMY; THE GARDEN COLLECTION
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JUNE 2017 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 141 Long gone are the days when edible flowers on a plateful of food were eyed with suspicion. Now, they are almost as familiar to diners as peas or potatoes, thanks to chefs exploring their full potential for adding flavour and colour as well as the prettiest garnish. They are certainly on the repertoire of the chefs at The Pig, where edible flowers are an important crop in the kitchen garden. They’re sown by gardeners Ollie Hutson and Fran Chilet-Olmos in large batches to supply petals, flowers and, later on in the season, seeds. The flowers may be prized by chefs, but they also add swathes of colour to the vegetable garden to keep it looking decorative for hotel guests; and they help attract pollinating insects, such as bees and hoverflies, that many crops rely on to set a plentiful harvest of fruit. On these pages Ollie suggests a few good ways to add these pretty, productive plants to your own garden; if they are sown now, there will be flowers to harvest in late summer. The Pig near Bath, Hunstrete, Somerset BS39 4NS. Tel: 0345 2259494; the pighotel.com Above Ollie picks the bright orange, peppery tasting flowerheads from Calendula ocinalis, the pot marigold. Incredible Edibles Ollie Hutson and Fran Chilet-Olmos, kitchen gardeners at The Pig near Bath, start to harvest this summer’s first crops of colourful edible flowers THE PIG | EDIBLE FLOWERS IMAGE JASON INGRAM
142 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2017 1. Harvest sunflowers’ edible petals 2. Leave some flowerheads intact so seeds can develop 3. Gently remove the seeds and dry them before eating. LAVENDER Lavender flowers have a strong floral flavour and are best used to add flavour to other foods, such as sugar or honey, which can then be used in baking. ROSES The most fragrant roses tend to have the most flavourful petals. Try crystallising the petals or using them to flavour drinks, sugar or icing. ELDERFLOWER Elderflowers make delicious cordial. The dark-leaved garden varieties such as ‘Black Lace’ and ‘Eva’ have pink flowers that turn the finished cordial pink. Shrubs with edible flowers 1 2 3 Immediately grabbing attention in The Pig’s kitchen garden is a large block of satsuma orange Calendula oficinalis, the English or pot marigold. Its vibrant petals have a spicy, peppery taste and are picked in vast quantities by Ollie and Fran. All of the edible flowers are sown in modules in the polytunnel earlier in the year, although it is not too late to sow a quick batch of a hardy annual like Calendula directly in the soil now, for flowers later in summer. “Once they’ve germinated, we transplant the seedlings into 9cm-pots and keep them growing in the tunnel. Then we normally transplant them into the garden during the last week of April,” explains Ollie. Borage is another hardy annual grown in the same way here; it forms lovely swathes of fuzzy-leaved plants, topped by starry flowers in sky blue, although Ollie also grows the white version (Borago oficinalis ‘Alba’) to give the chefs extra choice. “Germination tends to be better with the blue variety, but the white flowers are more interesting,” he says. The blooms have a mild taste of cucumber but, if left on the plant rather than picked, established borage will self-seed to produce new plants. In milder parts of the country, it will flower almost continuously through the winter. The leaves are also edible, best picked young and used in salads. ‘Shungiku’ chrysanthemums may be better known as chopsuey greens, which is what they are normally called in seed catalogues. They are more usually grown as a leafy crop, its feathery bright green foliage, which is cooked and used in similar ways to spinach, having an aromatic flavour. Ollie grows it for its flowers. “They have lemon-yellow and orange petals which have a really interesting taste,” he says, “but everyone who tries it has a different opinion on what they taste like. We’ve THE PIG | EDIBLE FLOWERS Floral feast
JUNE 2017 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 143 IMAGES JASON INGRAM; SHUTTERSTOCK had verdicts ranging from pineapple to gin – it must depend on your palette.” Ox-eye daisies (Leucanthemum vulgare) are grown for their flowers, as are cornflowers (Centaurea cyanus), sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) and nasturtiums. Many brassicas are encouraged to flower for their small, cruciform edible blooms that pack a peppery punch (salad rocket is Ollie’s favourite). A few flowers are foraged from other parts of the garden rather than deliberately grown: primroses in spring, for example, and sweet violet (Viola odorata). Day lilies (Hemerocallis) are grown for their range of colours and flowering times. “A lot of them have other uses,” Ollie says. “In the case of nasturtiums, their leaves are edible and our chefs make a very nice nasturtium-leaf pesto. They also pick the seed pods and pickle them like capers – they taste of really strong black pepper,” he says. Sunflowers are grown for both their petals and their seeds. “It depends on what the chefs want. Earlier in summer they want petals, by July and August they usually want us to save the flowers for seeds.” When the flowerheads start to yellow at the back and the seeds have formed, cut them off. “The seeds are quite ‘juicy’ at that stage, almost milky, like sweetcorn kernels,” says Ollie. “They need drying, which our chefs do on a tray covered with paper towel which they place under the heated lights of the kitchen pass.” At home, try putting the seeds on a tray in a low oven of 120°C for four to five hours, checking regularly. Keep picking edible flowers to encourage plants to produce more flowers, and if you can’t keep up with the supply, deadhead them instead to prevent them from setting seed. Do this throughout summer, and spring sowings will easily supply all the edible blooms and petals you need. “Sometimes we sow a few later batches of borage and salad rocket,” Ollie says. “We also encourage a lot to self-seed within their beds, so they regenerate naturally to create beds of mixed edible flowers.” Edible flowers to sow now Plant a row of these pretty and productive plants CALENDULA Sow this hardy annual in spring and early summer and pick its vibrant petals for salads and garnishes. It can also be sown in autumn to over-winter. BORAGE Freeze the flowers into ice cubes for summer drinks, or use them to add colour to salads. Crystallise with egg white and sugar for the prettiest cupcakes. VIOLA Violas can be sown in spring or late summer. Try Viola tricolor for pretty mauve-and-yellow flowers that are easy to crystallise for gorgeous cake decorations. SALAD ROCKET The flowers oer as much flavour as the leaves, imparting a peppery taste to salads. Sow throughout summer to have your fill of both. DILL Try picking the aniseedflavoured flowers as well as the leaves of dill – good mixed through mayonnaise or a white sauce, or added to pickles. NASTURTIUM Push the seeds into weedfree patches of soil, or into the surface of compost in containers for tumbling leaves and bright flowers.
144 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2017 Stored garlic will last until autumn. HARVEST GARLIC It is important to lift garlic before it becomes too badly aected by rust, advises Ollie, of this crop’s inevitable deterioration caused by the fungal leaf disease. “We normally cut half to two thirds o the leaves first, before they’re aected, and the chefs in the kitchen use them in stocks, then we harvest the bulbs.” The harvested garlic is also woven into long, attractive plaits; once plaited and hung up to dry, the bulbs will last until late autumn. “We plant a lot of our garlic in September and then varieties you can also plant in early spring go in the ground between January and March as a catchup crop,” Ollie says. PICK SALADS Salad leaves, including strongly flavoured leaves such as rocket and Ollie’s favourite mustard ‘Ozaka Purple’, are harvested constantly. Keep sowing new batches of salad leaves regularly. PROTECT BRASSICAS Cabbage white butterflies will be searching for brassicas on which to lay their eggs at this time of year. The resulting caterpillars make short work of all plants in this family, including sprouts, broccoli, kale and cabbages, reducing them to skeletons in days. Protect plants with tautly stretched fine netting or mesh. This will keep pigeons o the developing crops, too. Ollie uses metal fencing pins to support the expanses of netting. SUPPORT TOMATOES To fit as many tomatoes as possible into The Pig’s polytunnels, Ollie and Fran grow cordon varieties up strings suspended from wires running along the tunnel’s length. Every week, the tomatoes’ lengthening stems are gently twisted around the strings, and their side shoots are removed. These are the shoots that spring out at 45° from the right angles formed by main stem and leaves. Left to develop, they will divert the plant’s energy into vegetative growth rather than allimportant fruit production. THE PIG | EDIBLE FLOWERS Elsewhere in the kitchen garden For continued success, pay attention to these summer crops Mustards have a sharp, peppery taste. Netting keeps pests o brassicas. Tomato stems twist up supports. Pick salads when leaves are young and tender. IMAGES JASON INGRAM
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CRAFTSPEOPLE Joe Smith’s childhood fascination with Yorkshire’s stone walls led to a career first as a dry-stone waller, then as a sought-after slate sculptor A Heart for Stone Slate sculptor Joe Smith at work in his “HQ”: a shed in his Dumfries and Galloway garden. WORDS GREG LOADES IMAGES RAY COX JUNE 2017 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 147
148 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2017 with the most rough and irregular of materials and each piece displays a simplicity that belies the intricacy of his craft. He started working with slate at the age of 12, sourcing it from derelict farm buildings near his home, to build a slate-roofed hen house for his family’s Rhode Island Red chickens. “It was big enough to stand up in. You could say it was the beginning of my stone work career,” he says. And this career wasn’t long in coming to fruition. Sent to board at Barony Agricultural College in west Scotland when he was 15, Joe had to spend more time milking cows than building, but he resourcefully found a way of flexing his stone-working muscles, finding what could be called a gap in the market. “I would find stone walls on farmland that had gaps that needed filling in and I would repair them without being asked.” This made Joe popular with the local farmers; they were grateful for his voluntary efflorts, which, on leaving college in 1969, he turned into a commercial venture, having decided to settle in Scotland. “I put an advert in the Dumfries & Galloway Standard and started knocking on doors offlering my services as a dry-stone waller,” he says. The advert proved successful in providing Joe with regular stonework on local farms. Two decades later stone Right A slate vase in the front garden at Joe Smith’s Dumfries and Galloway home. Below The blue-grey hues of natural slate sit easily in most planting schemes and add a focal point to borders. CRAFTSPEOPLE S late sculptor Joe Smith has been fascinated by stone since childhood. Growing up near Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire, he immersed himself in observing the undulating lines of the dry stone walls and sheep folds that snaked their way along the rolling rural landscape. His fascination began to develop into a practical skill at the age of 10 when a local shepherd, Harry Greenwood, noted Joe’s enthusiasm and showed him how to make a dry stone wall. “Harry taught me the basics of how to build a wall with crossed joints, and they are the basis of what I do now,” explains Joe. More than 50 years later, Joe is a highly soughtafter slate sculptor, crafting his stylised pieces for public and private gardens. And Joe, like Harry, has passed on his craft to a younger generation. His daughter Jenny – an arts graduate – has spent the past four years learning and perfecting the skills needed for slate sculpting and now works in partnership with Joe. It is easy to see the appeal of Joe’s work. He manages to meld, crisp, clean lines
JUNE 2017 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 149 walling was reaching a new audience, with artistic applications of the skill cropping up in horticulture as well as agriculture. And it was into the world of horticulture that Joe was heading too, but with a difierent material. Using a hammer and small iron frame that serves as an anvil, he started experimenting with creating sculptures out of slate. His first completed piece was made for his wife, Elizabeth, to mark their wedding anniversary in 1997. A vase made up of layers of slate, measuring a metre-and-a-half in height and chipped into perfect contours, Joe made the piece in situ in their back garden at Beech Cottage in Dumfries and Galloway, where they have lived since 1982. Joe photographed the finished piece and sent the pictures to a magazine. They printed the images and it resulted in five commissions. Just three years later, Joe was commissioned to make a group of Welsh slate vases for the famous gardens at Highgrove. He forms his pieces by eye, each one taking about a week to make. He uses a timber frame to give him a guide to the sculpture’s basic shape, but the final shape relies on Joe’s good judgement. “It is a fairly primitive way of making the sculpture. I use a ballpein hammer to chip away at the slate, placing it on a piece of iron that acts as an anvil.” When making a new design, Joe chalks out the shape he wants on the floor of his workshop – a 12m-long shed in his garden which he refers to as “HQ” – then he builds the wooden template to the dimensions of the piece, which acts as his guide for positioning the slates. The act of making the sculptures is likened by Joe to putting back together a cake that has been cut into slices. Each slate is chipped into a triangular shape and Joe builds up the layers, each piece Above Every stage of the process is carried out by hand; Joe’s only tools are a hammer and anvil. Below One of Joe’s early commissions was a set of similar vases for HRH Prince Charles’s gardens at Highgrove.
150 THE ENGLISH GARDEN JUNE 2017 pushed as far into the centre as possible. Gaps in the middle are filled with small pieces of slate. “I call the vases ‘faux’ vases because they are actually a solid structure,” he says. Most of the pieces are self supporting, although some, such as the ‘topiary balls’ comprising three spheres, one of top of the other, have steel supports through the centre to keep them stable. The balls stand over 3m tall and are lowered on top of each other using a forklift – a rare example of machinery being involved in one of Joe’s creations. Joe sources his slate from across the country but the majority is sourced just 120 miles from his home, at the Honister slate mine, the only slate mine in England. Each piece of slate is hand selected by Joe. “When you’ve been working with stone for so long you know just by looking at a piece of slate whether it will be good to work with.” With the exception of the pieces supported by steel rods, Joe’s sculptures are based on the principle of a cantilever system, the sculpture extending outwards from the base before narrowing and becoming wider at the top. Unassuming for someone with such an enviable body of both work and admirers, Joe plays down the skill involved in his work. “There is an element of physics but also an element of common sense,” he says. There are more than 20 different pieces in Joe’s repertoire but he is not in a hurry to expand the number of pieces that can be made using his technique. “I see modernist sculptures in gardens and more abstract geometric designs but I don’t want to go down that road. I think of my style of sculpture as curvaceous and classical; the shapes are organic shapes.” Joe is reluctant to name one piece as his most-loved but he identifies the act of making his pear sculptures as a precious moment of “escapism”. “My pieces have a classic form but the pear is an exception because the shape of each fruit is idiosyncratic, so I don’t have to follow a definite shape. I enjoy that,” he says. The sculptures should, in Joe’s words last ‘forever’, with the only downside of the passing of time being the potential build up of moss, which can spoil the sharpness of the sculptures’ contours if it’s allowed to build up. Removing it is all the maintenance that should be needed. “The beauty of the topiary pieces is that they don’t need regular trimming and you don’t have to worry about box blight,” jokes Joe. In all, there are 30 of Joe’s pieces dotted through Joe and Elizabeth’s garden at Beech Cottage. More intriguingly, Joe has hidden some of his pieces in ‘unknown locations’ in the Galloway Hills in the Southern Uplands, to be found by unsuspecting walkers. Transfixed by stonework on the rural landscape as a boy, this self-effacing sculptor has left his own handcrafted legacy in the rugged hillside. Things have come full circle. ■ CRAFTSPEOPLE Above Some 30 pieces are placed around Joe and Elizabeth’s garden. Below Pears are one of Joe’s favourite shapes to work, as their shape needn’t be too precise.