Over the years roses have often featured in these blogs, for the good reason that our heavy clay on the whole pleases them, so that at least in the Gers they are bound to be a feature of anybody's garden. I am not sure that I have got much new information to give - the only roses that I have so far acquired this year are Reine des Violettes, a Hybrid Perpetual, which used to be famous, with violet, fragrant flowers that appear on and off throughout the summer, and another with violet/purple flowers, in appearance very like The Bishop but sadly without fragrance and only once flowering. In the latter case it was really the name that I fell for, or rather its history, Rosier Denise, the name given to it by the excellent grower of roses, Yan Surguet, he of Les Roses Anciennes du jardin de Talos, since it came from a garden of a friend and is so far unidentified. Still what I thought might be of interest is to mention one or two roses that seem to me to be trouble free, and so make an impact in a Massif or Mixed Border.
Top of my list as always come the the now ancient Hybrid Musks with for continous flower power Penelope leading the way. But many others are very good including Cornelia of a slightly apricot hue, Felicia a good pink and Moonlight a very good white, but that is only a short list. What I would like specially to mention is Trier, as I recently read someone being rather sniffy about it. It is one of the parents of the Hybrid Musks. It makes quite quickly a very large bush, two meters by two if not larger,. It is covered with semi-double whitish flower - not as white admittedly as one of its children, the aforementioned Moonlight, - and repeats well, so if you have the space it does make a real impact over a long period.
Of what I shall call the John and Becky Hook roses with their wonderful collection of China and Tea roses at La Roseraie du Desert., the ones that do exceptionally well with us would include the Archiduc Joseph, which I confess I may have referred to wrongly as Archiduc Charles in previous blogs, and General Schablikine. Both are of quite deep red,though both coming from the Nabonnand stable have a slight hint of of copper. And both are exceptionally good doers in flower much of the summer, as indeed of a rather similar colour is the Comtesse du Cayla, though she is a Guillot rose. But Nabonnand could produce purer colours including two that I am delighted to grow here. Alice Hamilton is a good pink and like the ones so far mentioned a good doer. Noëlla Nabonnand is a lovely deep red, if a little on the blowsy side, and should eventually make a large feature, though she is taking some time to get away. Arguably an even better deep red/crimson from La Roseriaie du Desert, but a Hybrid perpetual and not from Nabonnand, is Souvenir de Alphonse Lavallée. It is a real winner, with amongst other things a lovely scent. And finally Perle d'Or, with its continous clusters of what Peter Beales calls 'buff-yellow' to which I might add a touch of peach. I think it is a China, and certainly 'Old' but you would never be disappointed to have it.
I am of a generation who had a tendency to consider that any rose bred after the Second World War was bound to to be lacking in 'gout'. Thanks to people such as Graham Stuart Thomas and Vita Sackville 'Old Fashioned' roses - Albas, Bourbons, Galliacas Hybrid Perpetuals, Moss and no doubt others, were what any discerning gardener hankered after and I confess that I still do. Amongst my favourites, and very much in this category of 'good doers' remain for instance Celsiana, in fact a Damask, Fantin Latour, and probably my favourite rose of all, Queen of Denmark/Konigin von Danemark. All these three, and indeed many other wonderful roses that come into this category have the disadvantage of only flowering once. Then along came David Austin who started to breed roses with many of the qualities of the 'Old-Fashioned', including very often wonderful scent, but which repeated well, and not surprisingly, though I gather it took some time, these have really taken off, with the result that some of us rather snobby gardeners can be a little bit dismissive about them, which does not prevent us having two in this garden that I can strongly recommend, Crown Princess Margareta and Jude the Obscure - and I had almost forgotten Pat Austin, with its very strong peachy, coppery colour.
That I am utterly wrong to be so was demonstrated by a recent visit to an outstanding garden near to St Puy in the Gers, that I have only recently discovered. It is owned by by Ann and James Jowitt, and it is no surprise that it is not the first garden that they have created - a former English garden of theirs made the front cover of 'Country Life. Thus, they have brought the experience of a life time of gardening together to bear on what by any standards is a wonderful achievement. I guess that it is rather in the Sissinghurst mould with amongst other things a number of colour themed borders, but if that suggests over-contrivance that would be quite wrong. What they have managed is very good design with a very sympathetic ambience, helped perhaps by the existence of vestiges of an ancient 'hameau' including old walls, but this feel is not achieved without a great deal of work. But all this by way of saying that they have very much gone for the Austin rose, and I have to say that they were looking extremely splendid in an early summer, which because of the excessive rainfall, has not been an easy one for roses. I would say that a visit to their garden is a must. They have one or two Open Days a year, and are very happy to allow keen gardeners to look round their garden by appointment - telephone number 05 62 28 97 04
Another garden in the Gers that has taught me the error of my snobbish ways is of course La Coursiana at La Romieu, a garden that has featured in these blogs, so that I will not say very much more about it. Here though it is the eclecticism that is most striking with every kind of rose from very ancient to very modern, from Gallicas to Ground Cover, that is the feature, with I would not dare to guess how many different varieties on show. Of course there are some that I would not choose myself but there are two that I particularly like and grow successfully in this garden. One is Pretty Lady, which until recently I have been calling wrongly Lovely Lady. It is difficult to explain why I like it. The flowers are well-shaped but their colour is not exceptional being of a biscuity/slightly pinkish, may be even peachy hue that are produced in mass through much of the summer. But all I can say is that they immediately caught my eye and made me want to have a plant, and incidentally there are plants for sale at La Coursiana at very reasonable prices including many roses. The other is Bossa Nova with very full pink flowers on a healthy bush that repeat well.
Of course everybody will have their favourite roses. The choice is enormous and ever expanding. I have emphasised 'good doers' but none are trouble free, most requiring at least some pruning, and their look is much improved by dead heading, all of which takes a good deal of time. But in the two very different gardens that I have mentioned, Taillefer of Ann and James Jowitt, and la Coursiana of the Delannoy family, you will see roses grown to perfection, though I should stress that neither is primarily a rose garden. But of both these gardens I can only echo what Vita Sackville West, a great lover of roses herself, once wrote:'It is a truely satisfactory thing to see a garden well schemed and wisely planted'. So visit them both and enjoy!
Monday 11 June 2018
Tuesday 15 May 2018
P.S.
As soon as I had posted my previous blog I realised that I had not mentioned the shrub that I had most wanted to, Viburnum Huron. Having now done so you might well ask why I have bothered. For instance it is not mentioned in either of my two 'bibles', the Hillier and Adeline catalogues, while its flowers are of a very ordinary viburnum type such as the Wayfaring trees (V.lanata) possess, which is to say flat heads of whitish flowers. These should produce berries, but one nurseryman at least warns that they are not up to much. But it has two features which for me makes it attractive. Everybody appears to agree that their autumn colouring is particularly good and moreover lasts for some time. Secondly, and this I can verify this myself, they are for a viburnum, at least particularly elegant. This is difficult to explain without a photo, but because the stems are long and not too heavily foliaged, there is Japanese quality to them, from a distance slightly resembling an Acer palmatum. Whether it will retain this elegance as it matures time will tell, and apparently it could grow to at least 2 meters, but for the moment I am delighted with it.
Another shrub acquired from the excellent Cotes Sud des Landes that I had never come across before is Itea japponica Beppu, or Japanese Sweetspire. I cannot pretend that it will have much of a 'gosh factor making a rather dumpy but suckering bush/clump of about 1 meter in height. As its name suggests its hanging white flowers have fragrance, but as so often with me it is the fact that it has very good autumn colour on leaves that last well into the winter that has persuaded me to buy it.
As I think that I have mentioned before we have not had great success with the deciduous Euonymus, I guess the most commonly planted being the various E.alatus, even losing E.hamiltonianus Indian Summer. Again what makes me try again, this time with E.planipes, is the prospect of autumn colour, and as with other deciduous euonymus, brightly coloured seed heads or fruits. Moreover apparently it has rather attractive leaf buds this in late winter and early spring. If all goes well this time it should make a big shrub or small tree growing to up to at least 3 meters.
Finally just a reminder that if you have an chance of acquiring Buddleja x bel argent do so. I put it in my top ten of shrubs. It is spring flowering.Its flowers unlike most Buddleja's droop in a most attractive way and are of a quite vivid purple while its grey leaves remain attractive throughout the summer. You can find it on the internet where you will find quite a good picture, but it is difficult to buy, and it may even be that only Le Jardin de Rochevieille can provide it.
Another shrub acquired from the excellent Cotes Sud des Landes that I had never come across before is Itea japponica Beppu, or Japanese Sweetspire. I cannot pretend that it will have much of a 'gosh factor making a rather dumpy but suckering bush/clump of about 1 meter in height. As its name suggests its hanging white flowers have fragrance, but as so often with me it is the fact that it has very good autumn colour on leaves that last well into the winter that has persuaded me to buy it.
As I think that I have mentioned before we have not had great success with the deciduous Euonymus, I guess the most commonly planted being the various E.alatus, even losing E.hamiltonianus Indian Summer. Again what makes me try again, this time with E.planipes, is the prospect of autumn colour, and as with other deciduous euonymus, brightly coloured seed heads or fruits. Moreover apparently it has rather attractive leaf buds this in late winter and early spring. If all goes well this time it should make a big shrub or small tree growing to up to at least 3 meters.
Finally just a reminder that if you have an chance of acquiring Buddleja x bel argent do so. I put it in my top ten of shrubs. It is spring flowering.Its flowers unlike most Buddleja's droop in a most attractive way and are of a quite vivid purple while its grey leaves remain attractive throughout the summer. You can find it on the internet where you will find quite a good picture, but it is difficult to buy, and it may even be that only Le Jardin de Rochevieille can provide it.
Sunday 29 April 2018
A Buy-up
We have decided to plant up a rather steep bank which runs for about 200meters along side the drive up to the house. Up until now it has been left semi-wild which has meant that it has not been easy to keep under control. Too steep to mow, it has been even difficult, not to say dangerous, to strim. Some areas we have covered with a 'bâche', not the prettiest material in the world, though very effective if left long enough in suppressing grass and weeds. This we are now removing - and the fun begins.
The bank faces more or less west though with a slight incline to the South. This means that in Summer at least it has to endure the full force of the sun from about 2pm onwards, and thus can become very dry. In winter it is put up with North-westerly winds, so can be quite cold. The soil for the most part is bog standard Gersois 'clay', which is to say heavy, and moreover contains its fair share of bricks and tiles. Thus in one way or another it is not an easy project, and certainly not one for what might be called 'exotic' or even 'experimental' planting. Thus there is going to be quite a lot of Abelias, Chaenomeles, Cornus alba and sanguinea with different coloured leaves and stems, Ceanothus repens, Cotoneaster lacteus, Forsythia, and Philadelphus.
There are going to be one or two smallish trees to give a bit of variety of height - Amelanchier lamarckii, Malus x cochinella and M. x Evereste, and a corkscrew hazel but in a red leaved form, Corylus aveliana Red Majestic. Not yet acquired but on the list are one or two Hawthorns but of the pink/red variety (Crimson Crataegus laevigata Cloud/Paul's Scarlet) and no doubt there will be others.
I am not sure whether the Smoke Tree is a bush or a tree but they will certainly be included. We have already got Cotinus coggygria Grace which if not pruned, and it takes to early Spring pruning happily, can apparently grow to as high as 10 m.It is highly attractive plant, and like all of this family particularly so in the Autumn. We have also also the more commonly found C.cogg. Royal Purple. In the buy-up I have also gone for C.cogg.Aurea with the yellow leaves which I am assured will not burn in sunshine, though I remain a little doubtful. C.cogg. Golden Spirit looks very simlar. I was also tempted by C. Red Spirit but sadly it was not available.
Meanwhile I have rather fallen in love with the Nandina family, or as it is more commonly called the Sacred Bamboo. I am not thinking of the frequently planted N. domestica Fire Power. This makes a quite low lying shrub, which certainly colours well in the autumn but lacks the elegance of many of its siblings.The larger varieties - between one or two meters high - have many attractions including purplish red leaves in both Spring and Autumn, in the case N.dom.Plum Passion, the colour very pronounced. They have upright sprays of white flowers during the summer which are followed by red berries which last into the following year, and in fact it is these berries that really win my heart. We had already got N.dom. Obsessed and Richmond, but for the the new site we have gone for N.domestica Umpqua Chief because apparently it is very generous with its berries. These incidentally are to be found at Pep. Côté Sud des Landes from where many of the above plants have been ordered, and it is a nursery I can strongly recommend.
Lastly I would like to recommend yet again the Jardins de Coursiana at Le Romieu. I guess that I have now been visiting it for over twenty years, which is to say since not long after it was acquired by the current owners, Véronique and Arnaud Delannoy, in 1992. They in turn had bought it from well-known botanist, M. Cours Darne who is largely responsible for the very fine collection of different families of trees but what one might call the garden proper is down to them and what a brilliant job they have made of it. I guess the style is rather English, which is to say it is a mixture of flowers, shrubs and trees put together in a rather informal and eclectic way - the mix of ancient and modern roses is particularly noticeable - but what for me is its hallmark is the use of large blocks of under planting, often provided by annuals such as Forget-me-nots or Sunpatiens, or in late summer dahlias, these in an exciting mixture of colours. It really is a garden to visit, with very good refreshments including home made jam and honey from their own bees, not to mention the plums, for along with the garden they have serious plum orchards. The one thing missing for me is good English cakes, such a feature of garden visits in England but one cannot have everything. And the good news is that it appears that one of their sons has become seriously involved so that all things being equal the garden will continue to flourish.
The bank faces more or less west though with a slight incline to the South. This means that in Summer at least it has to endure the full force of the sun from about 2pm onwards, and thus can become very dry. In winter it is put up with North-westerly winds, so can be quite cold. The soil for the most part is bog standard Gersois 'clay', which is to say heavy, and moreover contains its fair share of bricks and tiles. Thus in one way or another it is not an easy project, and certainly not one for what might be called 'exotic' or even 'experimental' planting. Thus there is going to be quite a lot of Abelias, Chaenomeles, Cornus alba and sanguinea with different coloured leaves and stems, Ceanothus repens, Cotoneaster lacteus, Forsythia, and Philadelphus.
There are going to be one or two smallish trees to give a bit of variety of height - Amelanchier lamarckii, Malus x cochinella and M. x Evereste, and a corkscrew hazel but in a red leaved form, Corylus aveliana Red Majestic. Not yet acquired but on the list are one or two Hawthorns but of the pink/red variety (Crimson Crataegus laevigata Cloud/Paul's Scarlet) and no doubt there will be others.
I am not sure whether the Smoke Tree is a bush or a tree but they will certainly be included. We have already got Cotinus coggygria Grace which if not pruned, and it takes to early Spring pruning happily, can apparently grow to as high as 10 m.It is highly attractive plant, and like all of this family particularly so in the Autumn. We have also also the more commonly found C.cogg. Royal Purple. In the buy-up I have also gone for C.cogg.Aurea with the yellow leaves which I am assured will not burn in sunshine, though I remain a little doubtful. C.cogg. Golden Spirit looks very simlar. I was also tempted by C. Red Spirit but sadly it was not available.
Meanwhile I have rather fallen in love with the Nandina family, or as it is more commonly called the Sacred Bamboo. I am not thinking of the frequently planted N. domestica Fire Power. This makes a quite low lying shrub, which certainly colours well in the autumn but lacks the elegance of many of its siblings.The larger varieties - between one or two meters high - have many attractions including purplish red leaves in both Spring and Autumn, in the case N.dom.Plum Passion, the colour very pronounced. They have upright sprays of white flowers during the summer which are followed by red berries which last into the following year, and in fact it is these berries that really win my heart. We had already got N.dom. Obsessed and Richmond, but for the the new site we have gone for N.domestica Umpqua Chief because apparently it is very generous with its berries. These incidentally are to be found at Pep. Côté Sud des Landes from where many of the above plants have been ordered, and it is a nursery I can strongly recommend.
Lastly I would like to recommend yet again the Jardins de Coursiana at Le Romieu. I guess that I have now been visiting it for over twenty years, which is to say since not long after it was acquired by the current owners, Véronique and Arnaud Delannoy, in 1992. They in turn had bought it from well-known botanist, M. Cours Darne who is largely responsible for the very fine collection of different families of trees but what one might call the garden proper is down to them and what a brilliant job they have made of it. I guess the style is rather English, which is to say it is a mixture of flowers, shrubs and trees put together in a rather informal and eclectic way - the mix of ancient and modern roses is particularly noticeable - but what for me is its hallmark is the use of large blocks of under planting, often provided by annuals such as Forget-me-nots or Sunpatiens, or in late summer dahlias, these in an exciting mixture of colours. It really is a garden to visit, with very good refreshments including home made jam and honey from their own bees, not to mention the plums, for along with the garden they have serious plum orchards. The one thing missing for me is good English cakes, such a feature of garden visits in England but one cannot have everything. And the good news is that it appears that one of their sons has become seriously involved so that all things being equal the garden will continue to flourish.
Monday 5 March 2018
Our Prairie Garden
+
For a long time I was resistant to this I guess still very fashionable style of gardening.This is partly no doubt because I am pretty resistant to any fashions,; partly also because my favourite garden correspondent - Robin lane-Fox in the Financial Times - has always been pretty sniffy about them. Prairies are essentially for bison, or at least they were until the poor bison were eliminated, and I saw no very good reason to surround our house with large clumps of miscellaneous grasses; and it needs to be emphasized that grasses are the chief components of a prairie. Nevertheless we have ended up with one for reasons I will try and explain.
Our house is situated at the end of a small ridge for the most part facing South-west and as a result much of the garden is on a slope, in places really quite steep and much of it was covered with a mixture of trees, bushes and brambles and the the dreaded Old Man's beard. To create a long vista from the front of the house facing east with a very large oak as a focal point we hired a digger which removed the aforesaid trees, etc., thereby creating a large flattish area cut into the hillside. The result is that from the front door you pass through our so-called gravel garden, then a mown grass area, then a swimming pool, which we have tried to make look as unlike a swimming pool as possible, then another smaller mown grass area, then the Prairie garden followed more grass and a small orchard, and finally the oak tree. To have created anything more formal - a series of hedged compartments, or even serious terracing, would have been difficult, expensive and would have taken a long time to mature, and time is not really on our side. And anyway would any of these solutions have looked appropriate on Gersois hillside? In the end we went for the easiest and cheapest solution, that is to say the Prairie garden. Ten years down the line the question is did we make the right decision? The answer I think is a qualified yes.
To start with the qualifications. In creating a flat area we only reinforced a problem that much of the garden suffers from: heavy clay soil which in winter becomes waterlogged, especially this winter with its abundant rainfall, while because it faces south it can eventually become too dry. Not surprisingly a lot of plants do not like this. For instance we tried the taller eryngiums without much success. More surprisingly we have failed with most of what I used to call Polygonums but are now more often called Persicarias. This is a big loss since the various varieties - P.amplexicaulis and P.bistorta - are usually an important feature of a Prairie garden. Fortunately P.polymorpha is reasonably happy, this an imposing plant that grow to 2 m. and well worth having if you got the space, though unlike some Persicarias it is not invasive. Veronicastrums, not in fact my favourite plant but seems to be 'in' at the moment, have survived without as yet making much impact.
But what about the successes? Well almost all the many Miscanthus do well, and as they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, though all on the large size, this is very good news. Extremely happy are the Macleayas, both cordata and microcarpa. . These can be quite invasive but for the moment I am happy for them to fill up the space, and they look good over a long period. Other successes would include the larger Achilleas but especially 'Parker's Variety", many different Helianthus and tall Rudbeckias, and amongst the Asters it is the A.novae-angliae, such as Barr's Pink that do best. And finally thank the Lord for Gaura lindheimeri which with us has seeded abundantly and looks good, though better in the mornings, for much of the summer.
It is clear that all the successes are what might be called thugs and from high summer onwards rather too many bright yellows, but sadly all attempts at more refinement have failed. I have mentioned the difficult soil conditions, but another problem is that there are far too many weeds. What we should have done is heavily weed killed the area before planting, and then have left it fallow for at least a year. Not having done this we are never going to be weed free but thanks to the 'thugs' the result from at least July onwards is not too bad, and as Autumn approaches and the grasses change colour it can actually look rather wonderful. At this time of year when everything needs to be cut down it is not work free, but then no gardening is, but by and large we are happy with it.
For a long time I was resistant to this I guess still very fashionable style of gardening.This is partly no doubt because I am pretty resistant to any fashions,; partly also because my favourite garden correspondent - Robin lane-Fox in the Financial Times - has always been pretty sniffy about them. Prairies are essentially for bison, or at least they were until the poor bison were eliminated, and I saw no very good reason to surround our house with large clumps of miscellaneous grasses; and it needs to be emphasized that grasses are the chief components of a prairie. Nevertheless we have ended up with one for reasons I will try and explain.
Our house is situated at the end of a small ridge for the most part facing South-west and as a result much of the garden is on a slope, in places really quite steep and much of it was covered with a mixture of trees, bushes and brambles and the the dreaded Old Man's beard. To create a long vista from the front of the house facing east with a very large oak as a focal point we hired a digger which removed the aforesaid trees, etc., thereby creating a large flattish area cut into the hillside. The result is that from the front door you pass through our so-called gravel garden, then a mown grass area, then a swimming pool, which we have tried to make look as unlike a swimming pool as possible, then another smaller mown grass area, then the Prairie garden followed more grass and a small orchard, and finally the oak tree. To have created anything more formal - a series of hedged compartments, or even serious terracing, would have been difficult, expensive and would have taken a long time to mature, and time is not really on our side. And anyway would any of these solutions have looked appropriate on Gersois hillside? In the end we went for the easiest and cheapest solution, that is to say the Prairie garden. Ten years down the line the question is did we make the right decision? The answer I think is a qualified yes.
To start with the qualifications. In creating a flat area we only reinforced a problem that much of the garden suffers from: heavy clay soil which in winter becomes waterlogged, especially this winter with its abundant rainfall, while because it faces south it can eventually become too dry. Not surprisingly a lot of plants do not like this. For instance we tried the taller eryngiums without much success. More surprisingly we have failed with most of what I used to call Polygonums but are now more often called Persicarias. This is a big loss since the various varieties - P.amplexicaulis and P.bistorta - are usually an important feature of a Prairie garden. Fortunately P.polymorpha is reasonably happy, this an imposing plant that grow to 2 m. and well worth having if you got the space, though unlike some Persicarias it is not invasive. Veronicastrums, not in fact my favourite plant but seems to be 'in' at the moment, have survived without as yet making much impact.
But what about the successes? Well almost all the many Miscanthus do well, and as they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, though all on the large size, this is very good news. Extremely happy are the Macleayas, both cordata and microcarpa. . These can be quite invasive but for the moment I am happy for them to fill up the space, and they look good over a long period. Other successes would include the larger Achilleas but especially 'Parker's Variety", many different Helianthus and tall Rudbeckias, and amongst the Asters it is the A.novae-angliae, such as Barr's Pink that do best. And finally thank the Lord for Gaura lindheimeri which with us has seeded abundantly and looks good, though better in the mornings, for much of the summer.
It is clear that all the successes are what might be called thugs and from high summer onwards rather too many bright yellows, but sadly all attempts at more refinement have failed. I have mentioned the difficult soil conditions, but another problem is that there are far too many weeds. What we should have done is heavily weed killed the area before planting, and then have left it fallow for at least a year. Not having done this we are never going to be weed free but thanks to the 'thugs' the result from at least July onwards is not too bad, and as Autumn approaches and the grasses change colour it can actually look rather wonderful. At this time of year when everything needs to be cut down it is not work free, but then no gardening is, but by and large we are happy with it.
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