tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59023540469369896612024-02-08T04:22:54.029-08:00Gardening in GasconyPeter Gwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10689684728530943900noreply@blogger.comBlogger93125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902354046936989661.post-20786511963630380802018-06-11T03:50:00.000-07:002018-06-21T14:19:50.896-07:00Two Gardens and Many More RosesOver 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 <b>Reine des Violettes,</b> 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,<b> Rosier Denise</b>, the name given to it by the excellent grower of roses, Yan Surguet, he of <b>Les Roses Anciennes du jardin de Talos,</b> 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.<br />
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Top of my list as always come the the now ancient <b>Hybrid Musks</b> with for continous flower power <b>Penelope </b> leading the way. But many others are very good including<b> Cornelia</b> of a slightly apricot hue, <b>Felicia</b> a good pink and <b>Moonlight </b>a very good white, but that is only a short list. What I would like specially to mention is <b>Trier</b>, 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. <br />
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Of what I shall call the <b>John and Becky Hook</b> roses with their wonderful collection of China and Tea roses at <b>La Roseraie du Desert</b>., the ones that do exceptionally well with us would include the <b>Archiduc Joseph</b>, which I confess I may have referred to wrongly as Archiduc Charles in previous blogs, and <b>General Schablikine</b>. 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 <b>Comtesse du Cayla,</b> though she is a Guillot rose. But Nabonnand could produce purer colours including two that I am delighted to grow here. <b>Alice</b> <b>Hamilton</b> is a good pink and like the ones so far mentioned a good doer. <b>Noëlla Nabonnand</b> 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 <b>Souvenir de Alphonse Lavallée.</b> It is a real winner, with amongst other things a lovely scent. And finally<b> Perle d'Or</b>, 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.<br />
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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 <b>Celsiana</b>, in fact a Damask, <b>Fantin Latour, </b>and probably my favourite rose of all, <b>Queen of Denmark/Konigin von Danemark.</b> All these three, and indeed many other wonderful roses that come into this category have the disadvantage of only flowering once. Then along came <b>David Austin</b> 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, <b>Crown Princess Margareta</b> and<b> Jude the Obscure - </b>and I had almost forgotten <b>Pat Austin, </b>with its very strong peachy, coppery colour. <br />
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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 <b>Ann and James </b><b>Jowitt</b>, 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 <br />
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Another garden in the Gers that has taught me the error of my snobbish ways is of course<b> La Coursiana</b> 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 <b>Pretty Lady,</b> 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 <b>Bossa Nova</b> with very full pink flowers on a healthy bush that repeat well.<br />
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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, <b>Taillefer</b> of Ann and James Jowitt, and <b>la Coursiana</b> 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!<br />
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<br />Peter Gwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10689684728530943900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902354046936989661.post-71502403276526927972018-05-15T04:04:00.003-07:002018-06-04T00:51:27.257-07:00P.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, <b>Viburnum Huron</b>. 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.<br />
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Another shrub acquired from the excellent Cotes Sud des Landes that I had never come across before is <b>Itea japponica Beppu</b>, 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.<br />
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As I think that I have mentioned before we have not had great success with the deciduous <b>Euonymus</b>, 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<b> E.planipes</b>, 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.<br />
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Finally just a reminder that if you have an chance of acquiring<b> Buddleja x bel argent</b> 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.Peter Gwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10689684728530943900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902354046936989661.post-61493274445679011022018-04-29T08:22:00.000-07:002018-06-04T00:55:05.552-07:00A Buy-upWe 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.<br />
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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 <b>Abelias</b>, <b>Chaenomeles</b>, <b>Cornus alba</b> and sanguinea with different coloured leaves and stems, <b>Ceanothus repens</b>, <b>Cotoneaster lacteus</b>, <b>Forsythia</b>, and <b>Philadelphus</b>.<br />
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There are going to be one or two smallish trees to give a bit of variety of height - <b>Amelanchier lamarckii,</b> <b>Malus x cochinella</b> and<b> M. x Evereste,</b> and a corkscrew hazel but in a red leaved form, <b>Corylus aveliana Red Majestic</b>. Not yet acquired but on the list are one or two Hawthorns but of the pink/red variety (<b>Crimson Crataegus laevigata Cloud/Paul's Scarlet</b>) and no doubt there will be others.<br />
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I am not sure whether the Smoke Tree is a bush or a tree but they will certainly be included. We have already got <b>Cotinus coggygria Grace</b> 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 <b>C.cogg. Royal Purple</b>. In the buy-up I have also gone for <b>C.cogg.Aurea</b> with the yellow leaves which I am assured will not burn in sunshine, though I remain a little doubtful. <b>C.cogg. Golden Spirit</b> looks very simlar. I was also tempted by C. Red Spirit but sadly it was not available.<br />
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Meanwhile I have rather fallen in love with the <b>Nandina </b>family, or as it is more commonly called the Sacred Bamboo. I am not thinking of the frequently planted <b>N. domestica Fire Power</b>. 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<b> N.dom.Plum Passion</b>, 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 <b>N.dom. Obsessed</b> and<b> Richmond,</b> but for the the new site we have gone for <b>N.domestica Umpqua Chief </b>because apparently it is very generous with its berries. These incidentally are to be found at <b>Pep. Côté Sud des Landes</b> from where many of the above plants have been ordered, and it is a nursery I can strongly recommend.<br />
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Lastly I would like to recommend yet again the <b>Jardins de Coursiana</b> at <b>Le Romieu</b>. 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.Peter Gwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10689684728530943900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902354046936989661.post-15090852970987753462018-03-05T03:36:00.001-08:002018-03-06T00:33:53.291-08:00Our Prairie Garden +<br />
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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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 <b>Polygonum</b>s but are now more often called <b>Persicarias.</b> 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. <b>Veronicastrums</b>, not in fact my favourite plant but seems to be 'in' at the moment, have survived without as yet making much impact.<br />
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But what about the successes? Well almost all the many <b>Miscanthus </b>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 <b>Macleayas</b>, 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<b> Achilleas</b> but especially 'Parker's Variety", many different <b>Helianthus</b> and tall <b>Rudbeckias</b>, and amongst the <b>Asters </b>it is the A.novae-angliae, such as Barr's Pink that do best. And finally thank the Lord for<b> Gaura lindheimeri</b> which with us has seeded abundantly and looks good, though better in the mornings, for much of the summer.<br />
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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.Peter Gwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10689684728530943900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902354046936989661.post-27028957574265432742017-12-27T03:17:00.000-08:002018-04-29T08:26:26.343-07:00ScrapbookAs soon as I had written my last blog I went out into the garden and immediately saw plants that I might have included amongst my Autumn marvels. I do not intend to list them all but there is one that is worth mentioning if only because I suspect that it is not very well known. <b>Pseudocydonia sinensis</b> may not get into one's 'Top Ten' but it is certainly worth a place in a Gascon garden. In our garden at least more shrub like than tree it has various pluses including when it reaches any size flaking bark similar to that of a Plane tree. Its leaves which according to Hilliers are semi-persistent, though not with us, are a quite shiny green. In April it has solitary pink flowers which I have to say do not make a huge impact but are attractive enough, these then followed by large fruits not unlike grapefruit to look at, though I do not think that one can make anything of them. But for me it is in the autumn that it becomes a real star as its leave turn a lovely mixture of reds and oranges with also some green remaining and this over quite a long period. Hilliers does not mention this feature and if you read the entry you would not be tempted to buy the plant. Many reference books and catalogues do not include it. On the other hand the marvellous <b>Adeline catalogue </b>- mine for 2008/9 and I think no longer produced - calls it a "Plante splendide", and I agree.<br />
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Another plant that caught my eye was a <b>Cotoneaster franchetii</b> if only because it usually does not! Readers of these blogs will know that I am quite a fan of C. lacteus especially at this time of year, this not because of 'autumn colour' but because the combination of rich dark green leaves and red berries is very striking. Its 'cousin' is for me something and nothing; neither its leaves nor its berries being especially striking. But just at the moment that I saw it the mix of leaf and berry when caught in sunlight was attractive, this largely because there was a combination of red, orange but also green leaves. So I am going to be a bit kinder about C. franchetii in future. Moreover it is also a reminder that in the garden it is the 'moment' that is all important, since there are so many variables - light and shade, wind and rain, changes in the plant itself - that will effect the look.<br />
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Meanwhile a plant that did not catch the eye but arguably should have was Euonymus alatus, famous for its brilliant autumn colour, this because mine is struggling to survive. Moreover having been seduced by descriptions of <b>E.hamiltonianus Indian Summer</b> with its 'reliable,crimson to purple autumn foliage' I acquired one only for it promptly to die. This is all the more surprising since the wild euonymus or <b>Spindle tree </b>pops up all over the garden, and where it is not in the way I am very happy for it to do so.<br />
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There has been rather a long gap in the writing, perhaps permissible in a 'scrapbook', but what I was going to mention was that there were quite a lot of roses in flower, despite the frosts, many of them the China and Tea roses favoured by John and Becky Hook at<b> La Roseraie du Désert </b>(www.frenchtearose.com), and this gives me a chance to note that though they are still anxious to move to sunnier climes they are still in business. Over the years they have managed to build up an outstanding collection of roses that many of us have never heard of. It will be a tragedy if this collection has to disappear, so let us hope that in the end someone will be found to take it over. In the mean time do visit their website, or even better visit them though December is perhaps not the best time to do so, so that you might buy one or two roses that you would have difficulty finding anywhere else.Peter Gwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10689684728530943900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902354046936989661.post-30174596974154950062017-11-20T02:52:00.004-08:002018-04-29T08:32:18.713-07:00Late Autumn MarvelsAt this moment the views from our house could hardly be more beautiful, especially in the early evening light. There exist more stunning views of the Pyrenees, though we do have a long vista towards the Pic du Midi, but it is with the middle ground that we gain. The house is situated at the end of a small ridge enabling us to look up and down a valley through which snakes a small but persistent stream.On either side of the stream has grown up a variety of our most common trees and shrubs. These include a number of large oaks, alders, hazels, Lombardy poplars, and Field maples. In fact the alders do not colour at all well but come into their own in the Spring. Our local oaks will late on - here they have only just begun to turn -take on a rather rusty gold, and cannot compete with the North American cousins for Autumn splendour. But the stars of our Autumn are the <b>Lombardy poplars</b> (Populus nigra Italica) which early on and sometimes rather briefly go a lovely yellow, and equally yellow, but over a longer period the <b>Field maples</b> (Acer campestre).<br />
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If your garden is of any size, and probably even if it is not since it can often be found as a bush, you will almost certainly possess at least one,Field Maple so no need to go out and buy, but it is a attractive tree/bush at all times of the year, so well worth having. I keep looking out for any that colour red, or at least have a reddish tinge to them. and I have finally acquired one or two seedlings, though I am not quite sure whether this colouring is inherent or derives from what in human terms one would call nurture, by which I mean the conditions in which it is growing. The most recent Hilliers does list one Field maple with orange/red colour in Autumn,<b> A.campestre William Caldwell</b>, but I suspect that it would not be easy to find. What does have orange/red colouring and which can be very easily confused with a Field maple is<b> Sorbus torminalis</b>, otherwise known as the <b>Wild Service Tree</b>. In the countryside it does not make quite such an impact as the maple, but it is certainly attractive enough to have in ones garden for, along with the autumn colouring, in Spring it has bunches of whitish flowers followed by fruits of an admittedly rather dullish red.<br />
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To get strong reds in a Gascon garden is a bit more difficult since a lot of the trees and shrubs which provide this are not too happy here - too hot and dry in the summer and our soil often too heavy and not acidic enough. The <b>Japanese maples</b> (A.palmatum) with outstanding Autumn colour come into this category,as indeed do some of the <b>'Red Oaks'</b>. As mentioned in previous blogs, I have found that <b>Acer oliverianum</b>, which much resembles a Japanese maple, copes pretty well;- admittedly mine are in shade but on a dryish southern slope. On the other hand two acers that are often recommended -_ <b>A.saccharum</b> and <b>A.tataricum</b> - have failed with me. Not so <b>A.truncatum</b> and <b>Acer discolor</b>. But undoubtedly the star of our garden at this moment is <b>A.Pacific Sunset</b>, a blaze of red over quite a long period, and, acquired over five years ago from the excellent tree and shrub nursery,<b> Ets Spahl</b> near Jegun,it seems extremely happy in I guess not altogether ideal conditions.<br />
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Other ''Reds' would include my much mentioned favourites <b>Prunus Autumnalis Rosea</b> and <b>Pyrus calleryana Bradford</b> and <b>Chanticler</b>, both the 'pears' incidentally colouring late in the season, and being perhaps rather more maroon than red. Less known, at least as far as I am concerned is <b>Pistacia chinensis.</b> With its quite large pinnate leaves it resembles an ash, a family which I increasingly feel we should have more of, since they seem to cope well with sécheresse. Hilliers says that the Pistacia is often found as a shrub, but our two are definitely trees, and just beginning to turn as I write this. We also have one <b>Parrotia persica</b> or Persian ironwood, often rightly strongly recommended for its autumn colour. It has taken a long time to get established, for reasons I am not sure of, and ours is more golden than red, but for the first time this autumn it has begun to make an impact.<br />
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As for shrubs the stars of the Gascon countryside in Autumn are the<b> common dogwoods</b> (cornus sanguinea) and the so-called <b>Wayfarer Tree</b> (Viburnum lanata). Both have good autumn colour, but especially the former since its leaves go a very rich maroon, almost purple, but their many 'cousins' are even more spectacular. Both <b>Cornus mas</b> and <b>Cornus officinalis</b>, very similar in Spring with their little pom pom yellow flowers, have good reddish, purple autumn colour, perhaps especially the latter, a shrub I increasingly think is a 'must' for a Gascon garden. As for the many viburnums - I am thinking especially of the various <b>V. carlesii</b> and<b> burkwoodii</b> types, amongst the latter <b>Mohawk</b>, a great favourite of mine - all are good. Moreover their leaves appear to stay on for a longer period than for instance many of the Acer palmatums, which is a great advantage, even if they lack the elegance of the latter.<br />
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No doubt I have left out various other 'stars', and for instance I have not mentioned the <b>Liquidambers</b>, quite spectacular but in my view welcoming a little more moisture than in this garden we can readily provide. But I hope I have mentioned enough to convince you, if that is you needed convincing, that a Gascon garden, even if it has to make do without the moisture and the acid soil of the more famous Woodland gardens of the West coast of England, is in a different way a 'Marvel'.<br />
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<br />Peter Gwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10689684728530943900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902354046936989661.post-12110296027866330532017-10-21T02:10:00.000-07:002018-04-29T08:38:05.335-07:00Unsung HeroesI am not sure that the <b>Gaura </b>is entirely 'unsung', since it has become quite a popular plant, but what I have in mind is the fact that one gaura on its own is not going to make much of an impact, in fact you might not even see it - it is rather spindly plant with smallish white, pink and now even red flowers. However en masse or as a background to other more glamorous plants it is attractive. Moreover it seems to like our climate, enjoying our hot, often dry summers, and perhaps more surprisingly our wet springs. You can now buy them in all sorts of shapes and sizes with such names as Cherry Brandy, Siskiyou Pink and Whirling Butterflies,but actually I prefer the bog standard <b>G. lindheimeri:</b> I am not against the pink or red but what I am not so keen on is what I think the catalogues call 'compact', not to say squat, since for me the whole point of the plant is its airiness.<br />
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One disadvantage of the gaura is that, like say the cistus, by the end of its day it loses its petals, so what in the morning was a haze of white or pink, is no longer. This is not the case with the plant I have, as mentioned in these blogs, fallen in love with, <b>Erigeron annuus</b>, or Eastern daisy fleabane. Like the gaura, this is not a 'gosh factor' plant,indeed in the USA where it hails from,it is often considered a weed, but it performs the same role as the gaura in providing a lovely in its case, only white background to other plants, but with the great advantage that it does not lose its petals on a daily basis. After a long dry spell it can look a little tatty, but a bit of deadheading will soon get them going again, so that one has flowers really from June to November, which cannot be bad news.<br />
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Both the above plants perform the same role as the now more famous<b> Verbena bonariensis </b>in providing an attractive background to other plants over a long season. My only problem is that I cannot grow it, or rather it will not stay the course with me. In fact it is never a long lived plant, but when happy will self-seed in some quantity, which is what one wants. I guess the reason for my failure is our wet Springs and lack of drainage, but where you can grow it it is a very useful plant, and famously much enjoyed by butterflies and other insects.<br />
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A modest plant family that I used to rather look down on is <b>Amsonia. </b>There are various varieties on the market all I think hailing from North America. They are of medium height with some might say rather wishy-washy light blue flowers, but for me there are three good reasons for having them in one's garden. They do not require staking. Their foliage remains attractive after flowering. In the Autumn this foliage goes a very attractive yellow. Incidentally <b>Rhazya orientalis</b> is very similar and I see that Piet Oudulf calls it Amsonia orientalis, as indeed does my now very out-of-date RHS Plant Finder, though I should perhaps add that it does not hail from across the Atlantic..<br />
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Finally the<b> Sedums</b> which I believe are in the process of having a name change, since some of them should now be called hylotelephium. Here I will stick to sedum and will not consider the low growing varieties, of which there are very many. These could certainly be called 'unsung heroes' but the reason I am leaving them out is that to my shame I have had very little success with them, even with an old favourite, <b>S.sieboldi,</b> yet again the problem, or perhaps the excuse, being winter wet and poor drainage. The taller varieties - 40-60cms - flourish, with the exception of <b>S.Mr.Goodbud</b> . This is a recent variety that I bought from Le Jardin de Taurignan which incidentally has a very good selection, and allowed it to die, on this occasion the fault being entirely mine. I will certainly try it again for it has all the qualities that I admire in this family. It comes into its own in the second half the year when other plants may begin to look tired, and puts up well with our secheresse. It does not need staking, and en principe looks after itself. Bees and butterflies enjoy it. Above all it has a certain presence which shows up well amongst the grasses and rather frothy perennials such as asters which also come into the own in the Autumn. Some of you may have already got <b>S. Matrona,</b> which it is similar to, though the flower heads are more impressive, one catalogue suggesting that they resemble a cauliflower, which may or may not warm them to you.<br />
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When I started gardening in England, now many years ago, the common varieties were <b>S.Autumn Joy/Herbsfreude</b> and <b>S. spectabile Brillian</b>t and both are still readily available and worth having. In recent years there has been a spate of varieties with purple leaves and flowers with names such as <b>S. Chocolate Drop </b>and <b>S. Purple Emperor, </b>but in this range the one that I like most is <b>S. Jose Aubergine, </b>whose name says it all both as regards its colour and the slightly shiny, almost florescent, appearance of its foliage. This I bought from my favourite nurseryman, Bernard Lacrouts, though it seems sadly that he no longer supplies it. But all these sedums are worth considering. They may not get into one's 'Top Ten' but they provide a lot of pleasure over a long period.Peter Gwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10689684728530943900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902354046936989661.post-82183717897511726262017-08-15T03:25:00.003-07:002018-06-09T12:57:44.786-07:00High Summer It has been a funny old year in the garden so far,which I guess makes it much like any other year! Still what for me has been the feature has been the changeability if such a word exists. It was a mild winter but with two very cold spells, one late which is what no gardener wants. Then we have had some very hot spells with temperatures well over 30.c which along with a dry spring and early summer is a great worry since our main rainfall falls in this period. But then came a wetter than usual July with colder temperatures and this weather has so far continued into August. And what a difference a drop of rain makes both cheering up the garden and myself. The result is an unusual air of optimism, this despite the usual crop of weeds - the other day a visitor, I think intending it as a compliment, exclaimed:"oh I do like your wild garden. " - a bad back which makes all gardening more difficult, and far too many visitors which limits gardening time.<br />
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I guess that what is pleasing me most is that after just over ten years of activity the garden is at last taking on an air of maturity. Shrubs and trees have grown and are beginning to fill their allotted space, paths look meant, and there are not too many dead areas. Looking best at the moment is what used to be called a shrubbery, though the word at least has rather gone out of fashion. That said it also has one or two trees, the most important of which being <b>Prunus x subhirtella Autumnalis Rosea.</b> I have praised it often before so I will not go on about here, except to say that I consider it a must for a Gascony garden. For some reason the <b>Malus Prairie Fire</b> has not looked so good this year. I am hoping it is not the dreaded Fire blight to which the malus family is prone to but rather the dry winter and spring, because it is a very attractive small tree. There are a number of buddlejas, one essentially a tree rather than a shrub being at least four meters high. I think it is <b>B.macrostachya </b>but I have my doubts - foliage effective, flowers disappointing. Of the others I would particularly recommend <b>B.alternifolia argentea</b> with good lilac flowers in early summer but making an attractive bush at all times. Then there are one or two Vitexes - <b>Vitex agnus-castus</b> , I guess <b>latifolia </b>- with the small blue candelabras in summer. These do not last very long but the seed heads are quite attractive as is the foliage, and as it seems to be trouble free another 'must'.<br />
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Then there are one or two <b>Lagerstroemia indicas</b> in flower at this moment, as also Oleanders/neriums, and then what is perhaps making the most impact at the moment a <b>Cotinus Grace</b>. All cotinuses are good news. There candy floss flowers are attractive and whatever the colour of their foliage in summer they all colour well in autumn. C.Grace has soft purplish red leaves, not as purple as the more common C.coggyrigia Royal Purple, particularly attractive if back-lit. It is vigorous plant, but like I think all the shrubs so far mentioned can be heavily pruned in early spring, and is probably the better for that.<br />
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Two other shrubs are worth mentioning, though one I hope will eventually become a tree. I am not a great fan <b>Arbutus unedo</b>, the Killarney strawberry tree, though we have some in the hope that one day they might enable us to have a colony of my favourite butterfly, the Two-tailed Pasha which is such a feature of the Herault. It is evergreen, and the 'strawberries' look quite nice, but somehow it always seems to be rather scruffy. <b>A.andrachne</b> and <b>A.x andrachnoides</b> are much smarter, which is to say more tree-like, so that the cinnamon coloured flaking bark, a feature of the whole family, is much more prominently displayed. We have got a newer cross, <b>A.Marina.</b> This will eventually make a smallish tree, again with the attractive bark but according to the catalogues with slightly more showy flowers and fruits.<br />
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Into this mix add one or two different <b>abelias</b>, very common but for the good reason that they are trouble free and in flower for a long period, <b>potentillas</b>, very scruffy in winter but cheerful in summer, and quite a few <b>shrub roses</b>. Again I have said a lot about them in previous blogs, so I will just re-emphasize my love for the now in some cases almost hundred years old <b>Hybrid musks.</b> They are all good but for sheer flower power from early summer to late autumn <b>Penelope i</b>s very hard to beat, while my love for <b>Vanity</b> only increases. Ours is now almost three meters wide by one and half high, sending out long sprays of single, strong pink/red flowers over a long period. Also starring in this mix is David Austin's <b>Crown Princess Margareta,</b> and <b>Perle d'Or</b>, another rose that flowers its heart out, this time with clusters of smallish pale apricot fading to pink flowers and dating back to 1884.<br />
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<br />Peter Gwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10689684728530943900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902354046936989661.post-31253870775377557782017-06-14T09:01:00.003-07:002017-07-20T03:10:00.663-07:00A Success and Two QuestionsWhen visiting the famous Cornish Gardens some three Springs ago it was difficult not to notice amongst all the splendours provided by the stars of Cornish garden in Spring - azealeas, camellias, magnolias and rhododendrons to name the most obvious - a rather more modest shrub, <b>Olearia x scilloniensis,</b> or White Daisy Bush. It is a medium sized shrub with greyish foliage - imagine a ceanothus impressus but with grey rather than dark green foliage - with in the Spring masses of white daisy type flowers which makes an impact from a distance. In terms of garden use I guess it is slightly similar to <b>Spirea Arguta </b>also smothered in white flowers at the same time of year but the Olearia is evergreen, or rather evergrey. I was not sure how it would do here - Cornish gardens have rather more rain than we do and our probably milder in winter, depending on how close to the Atlantic you are, but mine have settled in well and I am encouraged to obtain more, not that they seem to be readily available here. I also acquired the rather more showy <b>Olearia phlogopappa Comber's Blue </b>but that is struggling and I am not sure that it is going to survive.<br />
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Also as a result of my Cornish trip I acquired <b>Philadelphus maculatus Mexican Jewel</b>. I was too early to see it in flower, and it is quite a new introduction, so I guess that there were not many to be seen. But it was given a very upbeat write-up in the Pan Global Plant catalogue with special praise for its fragrance. Something that distinguishes it from many Mock Oranges' is that the flowers hang down in what might be considered to be a rather dainty fashion, but 'weedy' is so far the impression that mine gives, so I have to admit that it has been a great disappointment. As so often with plants the fault may be the gardeners for putting it in the wrong place, and my Mexican Jewel must certainly be given a second chance elsewhere; If we had a slopeing rockery that might be ideal, but as we haven't . . . Incidentally Pan Global list a number of what appear to be exciting new philadelphus, but you have been warned!<br />
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My questions concern two of the stars of the Spring and Early Summer garden,<b> Flowering Dogwoods </b>(cornus) and <b>magnolias</b>, and what I would like to know is what success people have with them here? Of course 'here' in these blogs, given its title, 'Gardening in Gascony', covers a rather wide geographical area, and again I am quite sure that the nearer one is to the Atlantic the more likely they are to flourish. Our garden is situated in the East Gers so not on the right side. It contains its full share of what I call Gersois Clay, though there are some much more sandy areas, and I would not say that we are very calcaire. We have tried about half a dozen varieties of both of the two families, and I can only report that the results have not been very encouraging. Obviously they are expected to do well here since they are fairly readily available; for instance you will see plenty of them at Mirande's Jardin d'Embaloge, the nearest that I know of to an English Garden Centre. Moreover there is a nurseryman not far from Aire sur l'Adour, Pép. Vivès, who specializes in Flowering Dogwoods, and I have to say that his stands at the various plant fairs always look spectacular. Our Flowering Dogwoods do not, ditto our magnolias.<br />
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Of our half a dozen or so attempts at the Flowering Dogwoods I guess that<b> C. Porlock</b> has been the least disappointing, and this despite the fact that it has been moved. Amongst other things it has managed to flower every year which is more than can be said for the others. It is actually still in flower, though in fact what you see is bracts not petals, but somehow it manages to look stressed though given that we are enduring temperatures in the 30.Cs this is perhaps not surprising. The biggest disappointment has been <b>C. Satomi</b>. This should have deep salmon pink bracts but in seven years it has failed to produce any. Like so many of these dogwoods it should display very strong autumn colours but since the plant has struggled to survive this apsect of the plant has hardly been a feature. The one cornus that has in one sense flourished is <b>C. kousa chinensis</b> which is now well over two metres high but so far in about five years it has failed to be 'smothered in white bracts', indeed it has not produced one!<br />
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Our efforts with magnolias have been marginally more successful, which is to say that flowers have been produced on a regular basis but growth has been incredibaly slow. It is true that one at least had a battle with a deer and essentially lost. This was <b>Magnolia Star Wars</b> of which we seem to have ended up with two. It has lovely strong pink flowers and there are signs that they are at last getting away so cautiously I would recommend them. It is also the case that <b>Magnolia stellatas</b>, a much smaller variety, usually more a bush than a tree, but with masses of lovely white flowers, have done reasonably well.<br />
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It is clear that magnolias can flourish in Gascony. Driving around the Gers for example one comes across a few very fine specimens, very often I suspect <b>M.soulangeana Rustica Rubra,</b> a big tree with rosy-red cup-shaped flowers, but given the beauty of almost all magnolias not all that often. I suppose that as with the Dogwoods summer heat and drought is the main reason for this. They also suffer from what all spring flowers do in our region: if the weather is good the sun is very strong and the flowers very quickly pass over which is a little disappointing. Still if there is anyone out there reading this blog who has experience of growing successfully these two stars of the Early Summer season - Flowering Dogwoods and magnolias - do please let me know your secret.Peter Gwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10689684728530943900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902354046936989661.post-70170672095620784092017-04-15T03:43:00.001-07:002017-10-05T20:45:46.540-07:00ActualitéReaders of these blogs will know that I am really an 'Autumn Man' which is not to say that Spring is not an exciting time in the garden. After a dry start in January we have had plenty of rain, and despite one very cold week, plenty of warmth so that everything is bursting into life. My impression is that that the blossom has never been so wonderful, especially a little earlier Blackthorn (sloes), then peach, pear, plum and cherry, but may be one thinks that every year.<br />
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Am I right in thinking that in Gascony <b>Mahonia</b>s are under used? Perhaps people are put off by the prickly leaves but in fact since they are evergreen, they make an imposing shrub throughout the year. Then starting in the Autumn, but in some varieties going on into early Spring, come the cheerful yellow flowers often with fragrance. The most commonly available are<b> M. media Charity</b> and <b>Winter Sun,</b> and there is nothing wrong with either. Surprisingly difficult to find in France is <b>M.japonica</b>. It is far less upright then the two just mentioned making a big bush wider than high with more drooping yellow flowers that for me are the most fragrant. With in theory rather beautuful glaucous leaves is <b>M. freemontii, </b>but I have never had much success with it. More recently there has come on the market <b>M. eurybracteata </b>with in particular <b>'Soft Caress'</b> whose leaves are virtually free of prickles. It is one of what in a previous blog I have called 'Celebrity Plants' which for a year or two dominate a plant fair - <b>Ceanothus Concha</b> was one such plant - and then is often forgotten. Our M. 'Soft Caress' is still rather small and I have not yet fallen in love with it but maybe I will. It is incidentally autumn flowering.<br />
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What other plants are making a show? Our two ornamental pears - <b>Pyrus calleryanna Chanticleer</b> and <b>Redspire </b>- were a mass of white flowers while our various peach trees, which we seem to grow chiefly for their blossom as we seem to end up with very little fruit - ditto apple trees! - were a mass of pink. One way or another we have good selection of Viburnums all of which have done well this Spring. It is true that the flowers of what I call the smelly ones - <b>V. burkwoodii, carlesii</b>, and perhaps my favourite <b>Mohawk</b> which is a mixture of the two - are rather too fleeting, but one of the great features of almost all viburnums is that they have good autumn colour so they really are useful shrubs. And this year our <b>V. plicatum Lanarth</b> has proved my worries about its ability to cope with our hot and often dry summers unfounded by flowering its heart out. That said I am not sure that a south facing bank with very little tree cover, the conditions with which many of us have to put up with, is ideal but tant pis!<br />
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I cannot say that our spring bulbs are hugely successful. Of the many hundreds of snowdrops originally planted none after ten years have survived. Our crocus, chiefly<b> C.tommasinianus,</b> have survived but have not greatly increased, I am very greatful to <b>Narcissus February Gold </b>- small, elegantly formed yellow flowers, and as the name suggests early flowering - which continue to look good. Best of all for our conditions are the <b>Cyclamen coums</b>, which amongst other things no animal seems to want to eat. We do incidentally have resident badgers, which unlike Robin Lane Fox's do not seem very interested in our bulbs, perhaps because their quality is on the poor side.<br />
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One of the glories of our garden at this time of year are the <b>Ceanothus</b> with their marvellous blue flowers and in many cases dark evergreen leaaves so that even out of flower they can make an impact. Moreover coming from California it likes are hot summers and can cope well with drought, less well with our wet winters so I advise planting them on a slope. We seem to have ended up with many varieties including of course the almost ubiquitous <b>C. repens.</b> To my shame I am not sure that I can any longer identify them. Recently I know that I bought a newish<b> C. Victoria</b> which some consider to be the hardiest of the evergreen Ceanothus, while in the past I have certainly acquired <b>C. Concha</b>, <b>Italian Skies</b>, <b>Skylark</b> and <b>Yankee Point </b>but which is which now defeats me. They are in fact very similar. The blue may vary but mostly they are on the dark side, and the leaves look much the same, but the advantage of having different ones is that their flowering period will vary slightly so that the season is prolonged, though all the ones that I have mentioned are Spring flowering. But for me the outstanding ceanothus for the intensity of its dark blue almost purple flowers is <b>C. Puget Blue. </b>For a period C. Concha appeared to have pushed it into the background so that it was difficult to find, but it seems to be making a comeback, rightly so for if you are in search of a 'Gosh Factor' it is the one to have.<br />
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As mentioned in previous blogs we do have a number of early flowering buddlejas, including <b>B agathosoma</b> and<b> B officinalis</b>. They did not particularly like our very cold week this winter, down to minus 7.C, but all have flowered reasonably well despite this. But the real star is undoubtedly <b>B. x Bel Argent</b> with its wonderful strong purple drooping flowers and good grey/silver foliage. It is certainly in my list of top ten sbrubs, and something that everybody should have in their garden.Peter Gwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10689684728530943900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902354046936989661.post-74220032860811368792017-02-20T02:55:00.001-08:002017-08-16T00:39:11.260-07:00Plant of the Year 2016But first a correction. In the equivalent blog for 2015 I strongly recommended<b> Euphorbia Copton Ash. </b>Now I am pretty certain that I should have written<b> E. ceratocarpa</b>. E. Copton Ash has much greyer foliage than my plant and is not nearly so imposing - mine was was almost 1 m. high by 1m wide - and I say 'was' because this summer it rather let me down . Much of it became woody and had to be cut back, this only in its second year. A section of it, which seems to have been a layer, remains and is beginning to make an impact, but nothing like it was in its first year. Renée Boy Faget grows it in her garden - Le Jardin d'Entêoulet - not all that far from here (see an earlier blog), and for her it appears to self seed; not alas here. She also writes that her first plant was a cutting from a friend. I have never thought of making cuttings from euphorbias: E.characias wulfeni is so generous with its seedlings, and anyway I would have thought that the milky excretion would have made cuttings difficult, but I am certainly going to try with what is left of my plant.<br />
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In my view all euphorbias are good news but not quite good enough to win this prestigous prize! The same might be said of the humble rue usually seen in the garden in its form<b> Ruta graevolens 'Jackman's Blue'.</b> I have grown this in previous gardens without being too excited by it, but it does have quite pretty smallish, almost clover like leaves which are persistent, making a small bush with smallish yellow flowers. When visiting two years ago the 'medieval garden' in Uzes I was very attracted by a largish shrub which I did not immediately recognize as a rue, but it turned out to be <b>Ruta chalepensis</b>, though it was on sale as Rue d'Alep. In English it is apparently called Fringed Rue. On close inspection it is not unlike 'Jackman's Blue - the leaf is more or less the same colour blue, and the smell is equally as strong which one may or may not appreciate - but to my eye at any rate it is a much prettier shrub, and one growing to about 80cms. Though I believe it is North African in origin my two plants appear to have survived our recent cold spell.<br />
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During 2016 I renewed my love of a fairly ordinary herbaceous plant, <b>Achillea Moonshine</b>. In size it is half way between the A fillpendulinas at around about a meter high, of which in my view <b>A.fill. Parker's Variety </b>is the most long lived, and the much shorter<b> A. millefoliums,</b> much hybridized in recent years with names such a A.m.Cerise Queen and Paprika, which are round about 50cms. These latter should be one of the glories of a Gascony garden, and no doubt in some gardens they are. Here, however, they appear to dislike our wettish Springs since I have failed with them completely in the so-called Gravel Garden. Achillea Moonshine is a slightly taller, or at any rate a slightly more solid plant than the millefoliums and the combination of a very luminous yellow and feathery silver leaves is very attractive. It is not in my experience very long lived but cuttings can be made quite easily and I strongly reommend it.<br />
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However my plant of the year is in fact a bulb. <b>Tulbaghia violacea</b> is a member of the Allium/onion family which any bruising of its leaves will quickly tell you. From a clumb of narrow grey green leaves, the pale lilac flowers grow to about 40cms, and one of the plants chief attractions is that the flowers appear throughout the summer. It has to be said that the plant lacks what might be called a Gosh factor, but over the years I have come to appreciate it more and more. It is said to self seed but so far not obviously with us. On the other hand the clumps can easily be separated to create more. There exists a variety with a silver edging to its foliage. It is said to be a little less resistant to frost, though it has survived here this winter, but I am not sure that the siver edge, and hence the name, <b>T.Silver Lace'</b>, adds a great deal to the plant as to my eye it is not very noticeable. Smaller but very pretty is, I think,<b> T.cominsii,</b> which along with the others mentioned can be found at my favourite garden, La CorsianaPeter Gwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10689684728530943900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902354046936989661.post-73668688039979477082016-12-26T02:53:00.000-08:002016-12-26T02:53:03.204-08:00DisappointmentsThe chief disappointments have been amongst the herbaceous plants but I will start with a family of trees/shrubs, The<b> Cornus family </b>is very large but I am here thinking of what are sometimes called American Dogwoods , though since quite a lot started life in Japan and Korea, perhaps better to call them Flowering Dogwoods, In fact as regards the ones I am thinking of - essentially <b>Cornus Florida </b>and<b> C. Kousa</b>, and their many hybrids - it is not the flowers that are the feature, but their bracts which come in various shades of red, pink and white. Thy are amongst my favourite trees/shrubs spectacular when in 'bract', but also in the autumn when most of them have wonderful colouring. Of the half a dozen or so that we possess only one grown well but so far without any 'flowers'. It was sold to me as <b>C. kousa chinensis</b> but I am beginning to have doubts. All the others have 'flowered', this year rather better than in previous ones, perhaps because of the wet Spring, perhaps just because they are older. Probably our most successful dogwood is <b>C. Porlock</b> followed by what I think is <b>C. Aurora</b>, but<b> C.Satomi</b> looks miserable,<b> C. capitata</b> is dead! Now itis clear that dogwoods can be grown in S-W France. There is a flourishing C.capitata at the Gaujacq planterium, and I have occasionally seen other varieties looking good. Moreover there is always a selection at the excellent garden centre at Mirande, Le Jardin d'Embaloge and one or two other specialised nurseries, so people must be buying them. I suspect that the nearer that you are to the Atlantic the more likely you are to have success - a bit more rain, and perhaps more acidic soil though I do not think that the latter requirement is essential. And with all these recommendation the different conditions within your own garden - shade or lack of it, sloping or flat, north, south, east or west - play a vital part, For instance our C. capitata was planted on a dry bank in a rather inaccessible corner of the garden so not easy to water. No wonder it died! And finally as regards the dogwoods there is view that chez nous those with C.kousa blood in them suit our conditions a little better than those derived from C. florida, though in fact some have the blood of both !<br />
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Another death this year was the newly planted <b>Sinocalycanthus raulstonii Hartlage Wine</b>. This was strongly recommended by Helen Dillon and is seemingly a shrub not demanding any very special treatment, which did not prevent it taking a strong dislike to us! In fact I do not think that we will replace it for there is something rather too artificial about the flowers for my liking. On the other hand the newly planted<b> Olearia x scilloniensis </b>which I enjoyed so much in the Cornish gardens, have done reasonably well, this a little to my surprise, since I thought that they might find our summers too hot and dry. By no means dead but nevertheless disappointing is the also newly planted<b> Philadelphus maculatus Mexican Jewel.</b> This came highly recommended by Nick Macer of pan Global Plants,an English nursery full of interesting plants, but of course you have got to get the plants over here, so they cost. Anyway I think that I may be at fault in planting it in the wrong place. It turns out to be a much more delicate plant both in flower and foliage than your every day mock orange - a biggish rockery where you could see it from below would I guess suit it better than our rather overgrown bank - but it maybe that I am just being too impatient. <br />
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But as mentioned earlier the great disappointments have to do with the vivaces. Our so-called Prairie Garden needed revving up. It has plenty of grasses, chiefly different miscanthus, macleayas otherwise plume poppies, quite a lot of yellow daises, made up of different sorts of helianthus and rubeckias, blue and purple asters, bits of this and that, but above all and dominating what I shall call the front of the Prairie Garden visible from the house and pool a lot of gaura, chiefly of the bog standard <b>G. lindheimeri</b>, essentially white with just a touch of pink - there are some more strongly pink, not to say red plants available but for some reason chez nous they do not flourish in the same way. What I wanted to do was to add a bit more colour especially in high summer before the tall grasses really take over, and I thought that the answer might be what I used to call polygonums, but which are now called <b>pesicarias</b>, otherwise knotweed, and perhaps also some <b>sanguisorbas</b> - little bottlebrushes on tall stems in reds and whites. These plants are very much the staple diet of a Piet Oudolf's prairie planting so I did not think that there would be any problems with them. but,if for the most part they have not actually died, they have certainly not looked happy. The ground is flat having been cut out wedgelike out of a south facing slope, and made up of fairly typical Gersois clay, though some areas are a little bit more sandy. Because it is flat in Winter it can become a little waterlogged. In Summer, because it is south facing and there is very little overhead shade it is hot and quickly dries out. As regards my persicarias and sanguisorbas I guess that it was the latter that caused the disappointment. And over the years there have been quite a lot of other plants which one associates with a Prairie Garden that have not flourished. For instance it has been too wet in winter for agastaches and verbenas to flourish, and too hot in summer for many more prairie stalwarts such cimicifugas, eupatoriums, heleniums and veronicastrums to mention just a few. Still the grasses cover up a multitude of sins, or rather omissions, and looking out of the window as I write this on Boxing Day the Prairie garden does not look too bad!Peter Gwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10689684728530943900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902354046936989661.post-38260687145456333552016-11-09T06:46:00.000-08:002016-12-24T02:40:42.691-08:00Brexit BluesOne way and another it has not been a good summer, not helped by in my view the extremely foolish decision of my country to leave the European Union, not that I was allowed to vote on the matter. Moreover, a seriously bad back and too many visitors have meant that the garden has suffered, along with this blog, my last effort being as long ago as May. Back then I had intended to write a little bit more about roses, but I now cannot recall what I had in mind, except perhaps to recommend a rose that goes under the not very promising name of <b>Bossa Nova</b>. Its flowers, which are pink and fully double, remind me very much of the I am tempted to say 'iconic', since I fear that I have caught the disease, but anyway well known hybrid musk, <b>Felicia</b>. Its growth however is different making a lowish bush. Indeed the Quest-Ritsons' in the RHS Rose Dictionary point out that it was originally grown as a ground cover plant and in their view could also be grown a small climber. This is not at all what I want, but happily neither mine nor the one I first saw at La Coursiana shows any sign of either characteristic. And while on the subject of roses I would also like to recommend <b>Thérèse Bugnet</b>. Probably by mistake we have ended up with two plants neither of which got off to a good start. Now one of them has got away, and at this moment is very eye-catching, not in fact because of its flowers but because of the autumn colouring of its leaves. Thérèse Bugnet's parentage is rather complicated but there is certainly rugosa blood in it, which no doubt explains the wonderful colouring, a feature of all rugosas. But this may also explain its slow start. I may well have mentioned this before but in my view rugosas are not in our neck of the woods the fail safe roses that they are cracked up to be, often for instance suggested as hedges. I guess what they really like is poor soil, not our heavy clay soil which in winter can often result in water logging. Thus though I am recommending Thérèse, my advice would be to plant her on a bank where there is at least some chance of excessive water running off. And incidentally there is nothing wrong with her flowers, which are a fully double pink and repeat well.<br />
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Our garden has also suffered from lack of rain, though statistically it has to be said our rainfall amounts are still above average for the year, this because of the very wet first half. But apart from two downpours in September we have had very little rain since the end of July and this combined with high temperatures has meant that we have never been so dry. As a result much in the garden has suffered with for instance repeat flowering roses being very reluctant to repeat. This being the case I thought that it might be helpful to highlight plants that have not suffered. Of the trees I can strongly recommend four acers - <b>A.discolor</b>, <b>A.oliverianum</b>, <b>A.Pacfic Sunset</b>, and <b>A.truncatum</b> - that have come through with flying colours and are now all in their full autumn glory. Perhaps the A.oliverianum is the most interesting in that it resembles what are called the Japanese maples - A.palmatum. In my view they are amongst the most attractive small trees/shrubs as regards both the foliage and form, not to mention their autumn colouring, but alas they are difficult to grow in Gascony since they want acid soil, shade and a certain amount of dampness. A. oliverianum appears to survive without any of these things, or at least it copes well with dryness. And on the subject of acers and acid soil, I have to say that I am a little wary of some of the outstanding autumn colour performers such as A.rubrum, A.saccharinum, and A.saccharum. It seems clear that they do not need acid soil , but my suspicion is that they would prefer it. Certainly I have come across some showing signs of chlorosis - i.e. unnatural yellowing of young leaves - but maybe the result of winter wet and lack of drainage rather than lack of acidity. And incidentally I would say the same about many of the North American oaks.<br />
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Other small trees that flourish in the dry would include<b> Maclura pomifera</b>; I could do without the fruit which resemble a very wrinkled lemon, and the thorns are seriously vicious, but the hotter the weather the greener and shinier become its leaves, until they go a lovely autumn yellow. Also with yellow autumn colour is <b>Melia azedarach</b>, I would suggest that this is a must for Gascon gardens, what with flowers, fruit and scent, similarly <b>Koelreuteria paniculata,</b> which the Hillier catalogue pronounces to be 'easy on all soils but flowering and fruiting best in hot,dry summers". I guess the same can be said about the various <b>Sumachs</b> (rhus) and <b>Sorbarias.</b> Some will find them a bit too much in their face both as regards flowers and autumn colouring, and they all should come with a 'health warning' since they produce suckers in large quantities. But on the other hand they are very quick to make an impact, and if planted in grass the suckers can be kept at bay by mowing. I have a soft spot for the slightly lesser known <b>R. chinensis</b>; this with whitish rather than deep red 'candelabras' and with to my mind slightly more nuanced autumn colour, and incidentally on sale at La Coursiana.<br />
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Finally since time and space is running out four more trees that appear not to be affected by the secheresse. Our <b>Pistacia chinensis</b> have grown remarkably quickly, from around one meter to five in as many years. It is an attractive tree at all times with its glossy pinnate leaves, but brilliant autumn colour is when it really comes into its own. I am sure that it should be better known. <b>Ptelea trifoliata</b> is perhaps a little nondescript, but I was encouraged to obtain it on account of its fragrant yellowish flowers and attractive hop-like fruits, one of its common names being Hop Tree. Another is Swamp dogwood, but ours shows no sign of needing a swamp, or indeed very much moisture. I am rather new to <b>Staphlea colchica</b> first seeing it in a deserted quarry having initially mistaken it, with its pretty white flowers in late Spring for some kind of cherry. It is perhaps more of a large shrub than tree though growing up to four meters at least, but very much multi-stemmed. At first glance it does not look as if it would be happy in dry conditions, but ours is on a south facing bank, and showed no sign of wilting. Lastly <b>Tetradium/Euodia danielli.</b> This like the Ptelia has whitish flowers with attractive scent, though the flowers make more of an impact, followed by in its case strong reddish fruits. It is very similar to the <b>Phellodendrons</b> - japanese Cork and Amur cork trees. In fact all three make attractive medium sized trees, but if I had to choose between them I would go for Tetradium on account of the scent, but also with less conviction because I suspect that it copes with the dryness a little better.<br />
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There are of course other trees that cope well enough with Gascon summers, amongst them being the large <b>Fraxinus family,</b> or in other words the Ashes. Nor have I got time to tackle the even larger <b>Quercus/Oak</b> family, though some of these cope much better with dry than others. Meanwhile there have been quite a lot of disappointments, but more about these in my next blog;<br />
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<br />Peter Gwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10689684728530943900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902354046936989661.post-86780263253153500762016-05-26T01:44:00.003-07:002018-06-09T12:59:00.521-07:00Roses Galore!It is almost peak time for the first flush of roses, with the facade of our house a mass of bloom, this provided by three climbers - the almost iconic, to use what seems to be an 'in' word at the moment, <b>Maréchal Niel</b>, the rather less known,<b> Duchesse d'Auerstädt</b>, and <b>Westerland</b>. All three are extremely floriferous, all three in the yellowy/orange shades. It is sometimes suggested that the Maréchal needs to be cosseted but not apparently in the Gers. The Duchesse on the other hand, with us at any rate a stronger yellow, has a tendency to 'ball' in wet weather, and as May is normally our wettest month this is a disadvantage, though fortunately it repeats well.<br />
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Meanwhile the various roses we have acquired in recent years from <b>La Roseraie du Désert</b> are beginning to make an impact, many of them classified as China and Tea roses, categories which before I came into contact with John and Becky Hook who run this nursery, I had not taken much notice of. They date chiefly from the 19th and early 20th centuries. They repeat generously, which of course has been one of their great attractions for all breeders of roses. They probably do prefer warmer and sunnier conditions, which may be one explanation why I have been so slow to discover them - the Riviera, Italy and further afield the Caribbean and California are where they flourish not dreary old Britain! Of course Gascony is not the Riviera and our wet Mays are not ideally suited for them, especially as their petals appear to be rather fragile, and thus easily damaged by rain. But since many will be still going strong in our very fine autumns this is perhaps not too great a handicap.<br />
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Which ones can I personally recommend? Well one of the most beautiful roses ever must surely be <b>Noella Nabonnand</b>: elegant buds, large semi-double flowers of a very strong crimson on a large bush, and nearly always in flower, though since I have only recently acquired ours, I guess I am cheating a little in recommending it so strongly! But in fact any rose originating from the Nabonnand nurseries - the father Gilbert who started it all, followed by two sons Paul and Clément who eventually had seperate nurseries, all in the South of France - are good news. <b>General Schablikine,</b> a coppery red and flowering strongly here since the middle of April would be a good example. Or if you prefer a lady, and what I call a strong pink but the Hooks a pale crimson, go for<b> Alice Hamilton</b>, incidentally a China rather than a Tea. For another good pink, though with rather larger and more blowsy flowers, and not from the Nabonnand nurseries, is the <b>Duchesse de Brabant/Comtesse de Labarthe.</b> And for continous flower power difficult to beat is <b>Archiduc Joseph.</b><br />
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Still with La Roseraie du Désert, but for something rather different I can increasingly recommend <b>Nanjing N92</b>. It could do with a better name. It has taken quite a long time to get going, and I am not quite sure how big it is going to grow, but along with a multitude of rose magenta flowers it has very attractive dark green foliage. Similar in form with even more attractive foliage, and with flowers a strong red in bud, but with a whitish centre when open, is <b>Bengale Pakistan</b>. I have to confess I bought this originally because I was born in Pakistan, though in the Punjab rather than Bengal, now of course no longer part of Pakistan, but I am increasingly happy with it. There are others that I could mention, but the best advice that I can give is to visit to the nursery yourselves, this situated in the Gers near to Aignan. But you will have to hurry because the sad news is that reluctantly the Hooks have decided that the work is getting too much for them. Their hope is that they can find somebody to take up the baton, something which if I was younger I would be very tempted to do. But let us hope that that somebody turns up because it would be a tragedy if this wonderful collection ceased to exist.<br />
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But to return to our roses and indeed to my all time favourite roses, the Hybrid Musks. At this moment there is a length of border of about three meters consisting of<b> Belinda,</b> <b>Penelope</b>, and <b>Vanity</b>, with behind them <b>Cornelia</b>. It is a wonderful sight, and one that will continue for much of the summer and Autumn, since all Hybrid Musks repeat well, and moreover they do not appear to suffer from the various maladies that roses are prone to. If I started again I am not sure that I would bother with Belinda, good foliage but the trusses of fully double rather bright red flowers are a little bit of a worry. Penelope and indeed Cornelia you can take anywhere, but it is Vanity that I would most like to draw attention to, since I guess that it is not very well known. The flowers are single in very long arching sprays, and for this reason it does require quite a lot of space. Their colour is a strongish pink. Of course there are a number of more recent roses that do a similar job, which is to make a biggish impact in a mixed border over a long period. We grow André Eve's <b>Axel Kahn</b> with good single red flowers, and also <b>The Fairy</b> with small fully double pink flowers; We do not grow <b>Ballerina</b>, which I happen to hate, but I am clearly in a minority. <b>Bonica</b> also seems to be a favourite with many, and there are no doubt many others that I have not come across. But there is something about the way Vanity presents itself that makes it for me a real winner.<br />
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Peter Gwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10689684728530943900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902354046936989661.post-5794523728606886652016-04-22T02:58:00.001-07:002016-05-22T03:15:59.582-07:00Seeds et al.In recent years I have tried to cut down on the number of seeds I order, this in order to save time and worry. Moreover if it is bedding plants one is looking, there is so much on offer in way of plugs or whatever the small plants sent by post are called, that I am happy to go that route. I would also recommend them in preference to the more fully developed plants that you will find in the shops and markets. These may look wonderful but can reach their peak too soon, since they are for obvious reasons programmed to catch your eye - or perhaps I am still a believer in the rather old-fashioned notion that deferred rather than instant gratification is best. Still as I was saying I have been trying to cut down but have to admit with very little success.<br />
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I have always found <b>Thompson & Morgan</b> a bit bling bling, but if it is novelties you are after they are the firm to go for.For a very long time I have been a fan of <b>Chiltern Seeds</b>: they offer a huge choice in a catalogue written in a very distinctive style, which may or may not give pleasure. More recently I have come across <b>Jelitto</b>, a German firm but with offices in England. It is very much in the same style as Chiltern Seeds, but perhaps with a slightly more interesting choice of perennials; for instance if it is <b>Aciphyllas </b>you are after, these incidentally looking somewhat between a phormium and a yucca, Chiltern Seeds list three varieties, Jelitto eight. But what has got me going again this year has been <b>Derry Watkins's Special Plant Seeds. </b>This is a much smaller list than those already mentioned but this is in many ways an advantage, especially as one gets the feeling that Derry Watkins is very knowledgeable and with a good eye for a winning plant. Moreover, perhaps because she hails originally from the States, she is the only seed supplier that I have come across that lists seeds of my currently favourite plant that I have already much bored you with, <b>Erigeron annuus</b>. She also sells plants but I am not sure that she will send them abroad. And finally she is also very pleasant to deal with which is always good news.<br />
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Meanwhile my impression is that this year the 'Spring offensive', by which I mean the rapid growth of grass and weeds, is even more aggressive than usual, or is this just that as one becomes older it presents more of a challenge? May be, but the consistantly wet and reasonably warm weather since the beginning of the year has probably had a great deal to do with it, or that is what I am hoping. Of course good things grow as well as bad and there has been plenty of things to admire. I may have said before that we grow our fruit trees chiefly for their blossom since Nature in one form or another conspires to destroy most of our crops, perhaps especially the apples. But for flower power I can strongly recommend the <b>Flat Peaches</b> - a very strong pink semi-double blossom - while this year both cherry and plum blossom has been particularly good. One of my favourite trees is the decorative pear; we grow <b>Pyrus calleryana Chanticleer</b>, perhaps the best known one, and <b>P.c. Red Spire,</b> which seems to flower a little earlier than the former. I have mentioned them often before, but just a reminder of their qualities: flower power early in the Spring, upright growth which has advantages where space is a problem, and very good late autumn colouring.<br />
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This year, despite the mild winter, our Autumn Flowering Cherry - <b>Prunus x subhirtella Autumnalis Rosea</b> saved its main flush of flower for the second week in April - incidentally it hardly ever flowers in the Autumn, or at least not with us - so it coincided with a decorative apple tree next door to it -<b> Malus Prairie Flower </b>- with deep red flowers, and the effect was rather good. And I guess most members of the Malus family are good for us, despite the threat of Fire blight. I still have failed to obtain <b>M. Evereste</b> with lots of white flowers and good decorative orange/red fruit is the autumn, but having got over my resistance to plants that are too popular, I now cannot make up my mind where to put it.<br />
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Finally the <b>Ceanothus</b>. I increasingly feel that are a 'must' for Gascony gardens, since they seem to like both our soil and our weather. It is however a plant that I seem to pick up rather casually - they are readily available at very reasonable prices - and then I tend to forget their names, so that I am not sure that I could name all the ones in our garden. Most have blue flowers and darkish evergreen foliage. <b>C.thyrsiflorus repens</b> is almost omnipresent, but then it is a very useful shrub providing all the year ground cover as well as a good blue flower. What I am certain of is that <b>C. Puget Blue,</b> despite the popularity in recent years of <b>C. Concha</b>, is the king of them all, the flowers being a brilliant almost florescent deep purplish blue, which last for a considerable amount of time. I suppose all ceanothus are vulnerable to a really cold winter - they mostly hail from California - and they are not the longest living of shrubs but they are easily replaced, look good all the year round, and in the Spring are complete stars. <br />
<br />Peter Gwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10689684728530943900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902354046936989661.post-41923145052157580782016-02-23T02:48:00.000-08:002016-05-11T13:04:29.505-07:00Corrections!For some years now I have been in love with a winter/early spring flowering buddleya: strong purple panicles that droop - 'lax panicles' might be a more elegant way of putting it - in what I find is a very attractive way, this on a bush with grey foliage which looks good all the year round. The only problem is that I have been calling it <b>B. officinalis Vicomte de Noailles,</b> when I am now fairly certain it is in fact <b>B. x Bel Argent</b>, this after having seen some photos of the latter. It was certainly acquired from <b>Le Jardin de Rochevielle</b> where you will find both buddleyas. Moreover both shrubs have a special relationship to that nursery: 'Vicomte de Noailles' was discovered by the owners, Jean-François Giraud and Dominque Permingeat, in the famous garden of the Villa Noailles, while Bel Argent is their own creation, an offspring of B. farreri and B.davidii. So I do not feel too bad about it. Nevertheless I do want to apoligize for misleading people, but on the other hand it does provide me with an opportunity to encourage people to buy the plant, for it really is a lovely addition to any garden.<br />
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My second correction, or rather apology concerns a rather slighting comment I recently wrote about a book by Piet Oudolf and Noel Kingsbury entitled <b>'Planting; a New Perspective'</b>, the text of which I had found rather boring. I do not feel any need to change that judgment, but on the other hand what I would now like to recommend is another book, <b>'Dream Plants for the Natural Garden', </b>one of whose authors is again Piet Oudolf, while there is an introduction by Noel Kingsbury, who has for a very long time been Oudolf's great advocate in England. . But as regards 'Dream Plants' there is a co-author, Henk Gerritsen, and may be it he who has made the difference, for the book is not at all boring. It consists mainly of a list of non-woody plants - the brief chapter on 'Tough Shrubs' is the least satisfactory, while bulbs are also included. There are three sections: 'Tough', 'Playful', and 'Troublesome'. If one then look at the subheadings of, for instance 'Part 3, Troublesome', one finds 'Invasive plants', 'Capricious plants', 'Staking', Demanding plants' and finally 'Failing the test', which I hope gives you the flavour of the book and the reason why I like it. It is personal and judgmental. This could annoy, especially when one disagrees, but given the knowledge and experience of the two authors this is neither here nor there: what they have to say has to be worth hearing. Curiously, since they have almost opposed views about what makes a good garden, their approach rather reminds me of Christopher Lloyd's garden writing; none of them afraid of calling a spade a spade, or rather a bad plant a bad plant.<br />
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And I do disagree quite often, or sometimes I think that they are just wrong. For instance writing about <b>Hydrangea quercifolia</b> in the 'Tough shrubs' chapter they state that "it only grows well in moisture-retentive acid soil", when for us with no acid soil and summers that can dry out even the most retentive soil it is our most reliable hydrangea. In their last section 'Failing the test' there are thirteen entries of which one is for <b>'Gaura lindheimeri 'Whirling Butterflies'</b>, about which they write that it is "a wonderful gap filler, but you have to buy a new batch every year". Well, ours have so far lasted eight years and have increased mightily, but then perhaps I should have already mentioned: both the writers are Dutch and it seems to me that the book is chiefly directed to a North European audience, which does not stop it being enormous fun, and I for one will always consult it before buying herbaceaous plants.<br />
<br />Peter Gwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10689684728530943900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902354046936989661.post-58744135193064982342016-02-10T03:36:00.002-08:002016-04-27T00:20:05.361-07:00Call me Daphne!I have never really got on well with daphnes. I remember that in my Aunt's garden in Bexhill there was a purple flowering<b> D.mezereum </b>which for some reason I thought was rather ugly, though I see that Graham Thomas gives it high marks - "one of the most valuable,hardy,small to medium-sized shrubs for our winter gardens". I have also a various times grown<b> D.collina </b>which makes quite a pleasing small bush though when its lilac flowers are not in bloom, it is perhaps not very noticeable, this in France but much nearer the Pyrenees than I am now. Perhaps my favourite to date , this in another French garden, was<b> D.burkwoodii Somerset</b>, or least that is what I thought it was, though plain 'Somerset' does not have variegated leaves which ours did, so I suppose that it might have been 'Astrid'. Anyway the variegation was rather the point because what slightly worries me about daphnes is that when not in flower they are usually not a very exciting feature. Many of course, make quite small, low shrubs - <b>D.collina</b> and <b>D.petraea</b> to name two - more suited to the rockery than the shrub border, which reminds me to ask what on earth has happened to the rockery? My father adored them and in my youth it seemed that there were a 'must have' feature, but they seem to have gone quite out of fashion. This is odd in a way because in a sense they are as naturalistic as say the now very popular gravel or meadow garden. Perhaps they are too much trouble, too fiddly and time consuming, and I guess that a rock garden which is not well-tended just looks a mess, while say my gravel garden can get away with murder, or I pretend that it can!<br />
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Meanwhile back to daphnes in order to report that despite my worries about them - and I have not mentioned my chief worry is that they do not want to be too dry or hot in summer - last year I did acquire two. <b>Daphne 'Eternal Fragrance'</b> is I fear one of those 'tendance' plants that suddenly everybody wants to acquire only for them all too often to be quickly forgotten. Its attraction is of course the word 'eternal' - most daphnes have a fairly short flowering period often in the late Winter or early Spring, so that one that is always in flower would be very exciting. Mine however managed about a week but it was its first year so I can only live in hope. Then towards the end of last year I was seduced by an item in the excellent Burncoose website - <b>D. x transatlantica Pink Fragrance</b>, which looking at the new Hilliers I see is related to Eternal Fragrance so I am promised a long flowering period, though this time with pink rather than white flowers. And as both names indicate, the chief reason why ones grows daphnes is for their fragrance, so that if they can be planted near a door or beside a path, and I guess preferably in semi-shade, or at least near a source of water, so much better.<br />
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Finally a plant that I should have mentioned in my last blog since acquired last year, and seen first in Cornwall - <b>Berberis valdiviana.</b> As with daphnes I have to admit to being only half in love with the 'barberries'. I guess it is the prickles that most of them have in abundance that makes me wary of them, while they can, as in the case of <b>B.darwinii, </b>have rather too bright orange flowers. But by and large they are easy plants to grow and as regards the many<b> B. thunbergii</b> hybrids they come very often with bright coloured leaves that go an even brighter colour in Autumn. And the good news about B.valdiviana is that it is not very prickly, and its flowers are a saffron yellow. Spotted from afar, since it is a very large shrub, I had no idea what it was but it certainly made a big impression with what could be called a 'gosh factor', so I am hoping that it will make the same impression here.Peter Gwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10689684728530943900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902354046936989661.post-26009923595217233312016-01-19T02:39:00.001-08:002016-03-11T01:03:27.842-08:00NouveautésLast year we seem to have acquired quite a lot of new plants, quite a few from England, which is not something we particularly like doing - it costs! - but as I have mentioned before there does seem to be a wider choice. I suspect many of our new plants will turn out to be mistakes. I am undoubtedly an impulse buyer, which no doubt can be criticised, but for me is part of the fun, and if you do not have a go you will never know what plants will flourish. And though there are mistakes there are fortunately some pleasant surprises as well.<br />
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Of course my visit to the Cornish gardens was the cause of many temptations, and I was only saved from financial ruin by the fact that many of the most exciting plants were clearly not going to flourish chez nous. In our garden azaleas and rhododendrons are impossible, while camellias and magnolias are difficult. What I ended up with were two species that are probably not in what might be called the first rank of plants but but were sufficiently a feature of the Cornish gardens to catch the eye.<br />
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The first of these was <b>Olearia x scilloniensis</b>. If I describe it as a white daisy on a grey-leaved small shrub it does not sound all that exciting, but it charmed me sufficiently to want to acquire it, this as a good filler-inner on our Southern slopes. What should perhaps have flagged up a red light is that you do not see many olearias in Gascony. I have grown nearer to the Pyrenees than I am now<b> O.macrodonta</b>, which to be honest is a rather dull shrub with sage-green, holly like leaves, but the white daisies do smell. Also smelly, or perhaps I should say fragrant, is<b> O.x haastii</b>, this flowering in the summer, while O. x scillionensis flowers in late spring. Meanwhile I also fell for <b>O. phlogopappa 'Comber's Blue'</b>, probably even a greater mistake, since its rather exotic purple daisy-like flowers may look rather bizarre in our mixed shrubbery, that is if it survives. Olearias come from the Southern hemisphere, so they are not afraid of heat, and some of them will not survive a really cold winter. But I suspect that it is not the cold that is going to be the chief worry but our dry summers. What they like is mild and wet which is why they flourish in Cornwall, and may well not in Gascony.<br />
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One could probably say the same for <b>camellia sasanquas. </b>Moreover like all camellias they would prefer a soil that that was rather more acid than our frequently heavy clay, while according to Hilliers "a Woodland site with light overhead shade is ideal". These are not conditions that most us can provide very easily, but this has not stopped me acquiring three camellia sasanquas -<b>Crimson</b>, <b>Versicolor</b>, and <b>Yuletide</b> - along with <b>C. Quintessence</b>, a hybrid between C.japonica and C.lutchuensis, all of these from Alan Thoby, an elder brother of Jean of Gaujacq fame who runs a nursery,<b> pepiniere des Cascatelles i</b>n the Tarn, which I have only really discovered this year, but that seems to be very good news. The feature of sasanquas for those who do not know them is that they flower in the autumn, have less artificial flowers than the more commonly found japonicas, since often single though not such a variety of choice, but with very often good scent. Moreover I have always had in my head that for us they are slightly easier to grow, though admittedly I have not found much evidence for this in the reference books. Still I have done my best. They are planted in semi-shade on the south terrace. I have added a good deal of peat to the soil, and there is ready access to water, for another problem with camellias, perhaps even the most important, is that they do not like dry conditions. Apart from that they should be easy!<br />
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As easy, or should I say as difficult, is another plant that I fell for in Cornwall - <strong>Amomyrtus luma.</strong> As the name suggests, it is essentially a myrtle - bush/tree with darkish evergreen leaves and fragrant white flowers. It differs from most other myrtles in that it is spring rather than summer flowering. Also praised are the copper coloured young leaves. I have to say it looked extremely attractive, but then I was seeing it in full flower. Whether it will do here is quite another matter. I have tried and lost the related <strong>Luma apiculata Glangleam Gold,</strong> a variegated version of the so-called Chilean myrtle, though whether through cold or drought I am not sure. It could well have been the latter because like most of the plants already mentioned it likes mild but also humid conditions. As always this is not easy to find in our garden but beneath a quite high wall there was formerly a 'mare' and as a result the water seems to be retained there despite the sunshine it receives, so that is where it has gone. On verra! <br />
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Finally two other shrubs that were acquired this year. I did not spot<strong> Philadelphus maculatus Mexican Jewel</strong> in any of the Cornish gardens I visited since it was not in flower, but I suspect it was there since featured in many of the English catalogues. Like many new introductions it may well be being oversold but with its 'intensely scented white flowers which hang down' it sounds rather good, though the fact that it is called 'frost hardy' rather suggests that it does not like being too cold. Curiously we lack Philadelphus perhaps because of my plant snobbery since they are to be found in many people's gardens. They are also only in flower for quite a short period and without flowers the plant is not very attractive. But of course the scent is to die for, especially since it does carry, and one of my resolutions for 2016 is to plant more.<br />
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The last shrub is one that as far as I can make out, and unlike most of the others so far mentioned, should be full proof in Gascony but probably so far untried since it is a comparatively new plant. Its name is <strong>Calycanthus raulstonii Hartlage Wine</strong>. <strong>C. floridus</strong>,or otherwise called Carolina allspice I have grown, but would only give it medium marks - attractive shiny green leaves but the brownish rather dead looking flowers did not do anything for me. C. raulstonii Hartlage Wine has 'maroon to wine-red summer flowers . . . with a circle of smaller creamy white tepals in the centre', and is delicately scented. And since it was strongly recommended by the celebrated Irish gardener, Helen Dillon, I hoping that it is going to be a winner - and on this note I will end by wishing you all Happy Gardening in 2016.Peter Gwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10689684728530943900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902354046936989661.post-36813477964059800672015-11-24T11:55:00.001-08:002016-01-08T06:47:25.874-08:00Plant of the Year 2015I think that it has been a difficult year, like every other year you might well say, but for us the particular difficulties have been caused first of all by the canicule in early July when the temperatures hovered around 35.C. for at least ten days, added to which for the second half of the year there has been a serious lack of rain, only ending last night (20/21st Nov.) when we had 21 mm.Since the 16th July we have had 155 mm when on average we should have had around 290 mm, but what has been particularly hard is that since the 23rd September we have had only 21 mm. As readers of this blog will know I am not a 'believer' in global warming, and while I think about it I would like to express my anger of the sacking of Philippe Verdier from his post of chief meteo man with France 2 who was brave enough to raise awkward questions on the subject in his book, 'Climat Investigation'. In my defence I can point out that here at least 2013 was exceptionally wet, and last year the rainfall was above average. But if in my view the end of the world is not yet with us, what I cannot deny is the fact that for the second half of this year we have been very, very dry.<br />
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It is too early to say that as a result we have lost plants. I have been trying to water anything planted in the last two years which in a biggish garden is quite a taxing exercise. Nevertheless somethings have looked very depressed, but only Spring will tell whether they have survived. Almost certainly all the roses have survived, but they have suffered, Amongst the worst sufferers has been <strong>Bardou Job</strong> chosen by me last year as 'the most beautiful rose in the world'. Sadly I can no longer justify this award, not that I have changed my mind about the beauty of the flower, but if the plant itself looks miserable its beauty does not really compensate. Of course there is this problem with so many roses, especially perhaps with the hybrid teas - beautiful flowers but an ugly bush, especially in winter when there are no leaves to hide the gawky stems. Those roses that have best survived the drought would include most of the old favourites. I have hybrid musks still in flower and looking reasonably well - <strong>Buff Beauty</strong>,<strong> Cornelia</strong>, <strong>Penelope</strong> (and what a doer she is), and <strong>Vanity</strong>. Some of the David Austins appear to flourish in heat. Here we have <strong>Crown Princess Margereta</strong>, <strong>Jude the Obscure</strong> and <strong>Pat Austin</strong> that have continued to flower well this autumn. On the other hand I am about to remove <strong>William Shakespeare 2000</strong> - exquisite flowers but always looking a bit sick, though this in wet as well as dry years. My Chinas and Teas are all still a bit new to give a fair assessment but those that have survived the drought best would include <strong>Mrs B.R. Cant</strong>, <strong>General Schablikine</strong>, <strong>Le Vésuve</strong> and <strong>Archiduc Joseph</strong>. My favourite rose in 2015 has been <strong>Perle d'Or</strong>, which Beales call a China, but Becky and John Hook a Polyantha, so I guess that it is the latter. It is a very old favourite from my English gardening days but one which I have been slow to find in France. To quote Quest-Ritson 'its flowers open from small,elegant, vermilion buds and are deep apricot-pink at first, paling to mother-of-pearl from the outside'. Here despite the lack of rain it has flowered almost continuously and there has been plenty of new growth, all of which makes it a candidate for 'Plant of the Year', but it is not in fact the winner.<br />
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Neither is the winner a Euphorbia, though almost all seem to have flourished this summer, but then they seem to flourish in almost any weather conditions, except perhaps in a prolonged cold spell. I for instance have lost <strong>E.mellifera</strong> due to cold. This is sad since it is a very statuesque plant whose flowers do smell of honey, and I shall no doubt try again. I have also grown from seed<strong> E.stygiana</strong> another imposing plant much featured in the Oxford Botanical Gardens. Plants have survived last winter but then it was not a particularly cold one. Many of you will grow <strong>E. wulfeni</strong>, or perhaps this should be <strong>E.characias subsp. wulfeni</strong>. of which there are many hybrids such as <strong>'John Tomlinson'</strong> and <strong>'Lambrook Gold'</strong>. All in my view are good. One criticism might be that they tend to self-seed a little too freely. Another is that in high summer the flowering stems look ugly and need to be cut down. This does not seem to apply to my current favourite,<strong> E.Copton Ash</strong>. This is imposing in a rather different way to the above forming a large bush well over a meter in diameter, which seems to be almost permanently in flower, or if they have faded, they fade with a certain elegance, and there seems to be no need to cut anything down.<br />
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E. Copton Ash was very nearly this years winner, as indeed if the rules had permitted, was last years winner,<strong> Erigeron annuus.</strong> Two American ladies visited the garden this summer and were a little surprised to see what they consider to be a weed, under the common name of Eastern Daisy Fleabane. Despite this put down - and after all I gather that in Australia the agapanthus is considered to be a weed - I still rate it very highly. It really does flower all summer, and just when you think it is beginning to look shabby and needs to be cut down it seems to perk up, so it really needs no looking after. True, it does seed itself around, but like the euphorbia mentioned above the new seedlings are very easy to remove, which merely confirms the general rule, that the dangerous 'weeds' are those that spread themselves by underground, or indeed overground roots, such as the dreaded bindweed and ground elder.<br />
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So in the end the prize goes to a plant that I used to call, but could never pronounce, <strong>Zauschneria,</strong> and on looking at various books and catalogues, I see that it can still sometimes be called that, so that I have suddenly become rather confused. I think that I grow two varieties. One is what I call the bog standard, which could be named <strong>Epilobium canum subsp. angustifolia</strong>, or perhaps just 'canum'. Its common name is Californian Fuchsia, which gives you some idea of the colour and form if you think F. magellanica, i.e. the small flowered hardy fuchsia. More simply it has orange to scarlet flowers on long stems during late summer. It is a perfectly good plant if you do not mind the orange, and its tendancy to droop, this because of its height which can be as much as 80cms. The variety I prefer, and which I am almost certain is <strong>E.canum Western Hills</strong> is in my view is slightly more scarlet than orange, not so tall so does not droop, has greyer and more attractive foliage, and flowers for a longer period. Mine, if it is indeed 'Western Hills', has been in flower from early July until now, that is to say mid-November. It has been the saviour of our otherwise rather worrying Gravel Garden, of which more another time, and it is because of this I am delighted to name it plant of the year 2015 - even if I have got the name wrong!<br />
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<br />Peter Gwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10689684728530943900noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902354046936989661.post-1167960295557413132015-08-27T03:45:00.001-07:002015-12-23T01:55:15.917-08:00RegretsRather unusually for me this year already I have paid two visits to England. As readers of these blogs will know, the first was to visit the Great gardens of Cornwall. My most recent trip was largely London based, but it included sallies into Hampshire, Surrey and Wiltshire - and it is because of these visits that I now have some regrets. There are of course many advantages in living in Gascony, and unlike some expats I like the French and have tried to immerse myself in all things French, the secret being in my view is to do without English TV and radio at least to begin with. But as regards gardening I do have some doubts. For instance I had rather forgotten how good the trees are in England, including those in London, or perhaps especially those in London. I had also forgotten just how attractive many of the modest gardens are, often with one or two unusual plants to admire, and as for 'Great gardens' well they seem to be almost one a penny, including the London Squares, which under the Yellow Book scheme are often open to the public.<br />
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One of the gardens I visited this time was Wisley, home of the Royal Horticultural Society. In the past I have been rather sniffy about it. It tries of course to be educational with show gardens of various kinds, including now the ubiquitous Prairie garden à la Piet Oudolf, which reminds me that someone recently very kindly gave me his and Noel Kingsbury's 'Planting: a new perspective' - marvellous pictures but what a boring text. Be that as it may I have to confess that Wisley was looking a million dollars especially the long mixed borders. One of their features was the planting of vaious <strong>Hydrangea paniculatas</strong> with names such as Big Ben, Dolly, and Greenspire. Do they work out here? Certainly better than the H. macrophyllas, and curiously despite 'canicule' such hydrangeas that I grow have never looked better, but especially my favourite <strong>H.aspera villosa</strong>. So they are not exactly one of my regrets, and the <strong>H.quercifolias</strong> are entirely reliable, though I am sure that they grow better in England. Something else looking goodish, though I am yet to be entirely convinced by them, were the<strong> Veronicastrums</strong>, much beloved by the Prairie gardeners, and indeed they seem to be completely 'tendance'. You might call them a poor man's delphinium with thin spikey flowers in rather pale blues, pinks and whites. Last year I acquired some from 'le Dieu de vivaces', <strong>Bernard Lacrouts</strong>, but for the moment instead of being over a meter mine are barely 30 cms. This is partly because they are new, but mostly perhaps because they prefer rather more humid conditions in summer than I can provide. And this sadly is true of so many of the mainstays of English borders, yet alone prairies.<br />
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If you look down a list of perennials suitable for a mixed border, or indeed a Prairie garden I reckon that more than half would prefer more humid conditions than most of us out here can provide. I have mentioned my failures with the <strong>border phloxes</strong>, but that is just the start of it. Very fashionable are the eupatoriums, especially the imposing<strong> E. purp.Atropurpureum</strong>. Now bog standard eupatoriums can be found without difficulty in Gascony, but bog is the key word, which is to say that they will be found close to streams and ponds. They may exist elsewhere, and indeed we have them in our garden, but they reach about 30cms, not over a meter which is the height at which they will make an impact. Almost compulsory in the Prairie garden are the various <strong>Persicarias</strong>, which I used to call polygonums. Again they will grow with us, but without in my experience ever looking very convincing. I rather like an <strong>Astilbe</strong>, but for them to look at least halfway decent they will need water. Perhaps even more this is true of the <strong>Ligularias</strong> with imposing leaves and long spikes of orange/yellow flowers. Much closer to the ground, and still very fashionable are the <strong>hostas</strong> - and these if you can get them to grow just provide haute cuisine for the slugs and snails.<br />
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In another blog I will try and outline herbaceous plants that do grow well with us, and when I say with us I am thinking of people who are either unable or unwilling to provide regular watering programmes. But I will end with a regret concerning plant nurseries. This concerns chiefly those who deal in trees and shrubs - readers of these blogs will know that I am a great fan of <strong>Bernard Lacrouts</strong>, and I suspect the <strong>le jardin de Taurignan</strong> are good as well, but even with the vivaces how many Bob Brown's with his <strong>Cotswold Garden Flowers</strong> are there in France yet alone in Gascony? As for trees and shrubs I have been very taken by the<strong> PanGlobal</strong> list along with the <strong>Burncoose nurseries'</strong>, both of which will deliver to France, though at a cost. And of course they are just the tip of a very large iceburg. I may well be being unfair to the French nursery trade, but after a long time in France it does seem to me to be rather on the conservative side with new and interesting plants more likely to be found not just in England, but in Holland and Germany. One of the problems may be related to what I was writing above: conditions at least in Gascony must certainly limit the choice of plants. For instance the Woodland plants including azaleas, camellias, magnolias and rhododendrons to mention the most obvious, which must make up a huge portion of the trade in England, are not going to do very well in many parts of Gascony, and therefore there is no point in the nurseries providing them. Still despite all these regrets there is still much fun to be had in gardening in Gascony - if only it would rain right now !Peter Gwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10689684728530943900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902354046936989661.post-43283677272049307172015-07-22T01:16:00.001-07:002015-12-30T23:22:37.802-08:00Odds and EndsIn an ideal world I suppose a blog should really have a theme but so often when working in the garden various odds and ends come to minds. For instance I do not think that in any of these blogs I have ever mentioned <strong>Paulownia tomentosa</strong> and yet in terms of growth at any rate it is our most successful tree, in seven years reaching about 5 meters. For those who do not know it it is a deciduous tree with very large leaves and in late Spring violet flowers which stand up rather like a horse chestnuts candelabras, or perhaps a bit like a foxgloves' flowers, hence it is sometimes called the Foxglove tree. There is much to be said for it including its rapid rate of growth, but also the beauty of both its flowers and leaves, but like most things in life it is not perfect. I am still not sure what I think of its large buds which appear in the autumn or the large seed pods which linger on for perhaps rather too long. What I am sure about is that I dislike the fact that its leaves lack autumn colour and when they fall are rather ugly and a pain to sweep up. Incidentally some people will prune it heavily in Spring, as one might do with a buddleja in which case there are no flowers but instead you get an impressive architectural shrub with even larger leaves than on a mature tree and stems that will reach two or three meters in the one year.<br />
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Despite the snags I vote in favour of the Paulownia but vote against the <strong>Catalpa</strong>. In some ways they are rather similar with large leaves and attractive upright flower clusters, though in the catalpa's case they are essentially white with purple and yellow blotches. These arrive in summer, after which things get worse: the flowers turn into haricot beans, which eventually turn black and persist throughout the winter, and there is no autumn colour. It is a tree that grows well enough in our area. There is a hybrid with yellow leaves, at least in the earlier part of the year - <strong>C.bignoides Aurea</strong> - which is very attractive, that is until the beans arrive, which reminds me to mention that the catalpa's common name is the Indian bean tree. There is also one with variagated leaves, which I have never seen. <br />
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I guess all in all there is quite a lot to be said in favour of the catalpas, but they are one of those plants that I am quite happy to see in other people's gardens, but not in my own. On the other hand we do have <strong>Chitalpa tashkentensis Pink Dawn</strong>, a curious offspring of a marriage between a catalpa and a Chilopsis. This has the flowers of the former, though as the name suggests pink rather than white, but the leaves of the latter, but above all no beans and even some autumn colour.<br />
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Another plant that I believe that I have never mentioned is <strong>Escallonia Iveyi</strong>, which in early summer here was looking lovely, though alas only briefly for the flowers, much loved by bees and other insects, do not last long. The escallonia is a very large family, but it is a plant that I mostly associate with Ireland, and indeed many of the hybrids were produced in the Donard nursery in Co.Down, and this for us is in many ways the problem. They certainly do not want to be too cold, but my experience is that they do not want to be too hot, and certainly not too dry, in these conditions soon showing signs of distress. Escallonia Iveyi is one of the exceptions, thriving in the heat, so that even if the flowering period, as mentioned already, is short its dark green, persistent foliage looks smart enough throughout the year.. Another variety, <strong>E.illinata</strong>, is also happy in heat, and its leaves smell rather of curry, which if you like curry is obviously an attraction, but I have found it a rather leggy shrub, and I would not rush out to buy it.<br />
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I have to confess that there has been a long gap since starting this blog, and I have rather forgotten what other plants I was keen to mention, but surely<strong> Buddleja Lochinch</strong> was one of them. I have certainly praised it before, but since for about a week as the flowers start coming into colour it ranks for me in the top ten of all shrubs I do not mind mentioning it again, and moreover after its peak of beauty its foliage always looks reasonably smart unlike some others of its family.<br />
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Meanwhile for the last month we have been battling with very high temperatures and no rain, at least until the last few days. No doubt some of you will be certain that this is further evidence of global warming. For my part I remind myself that in nearly fifty years of gardening this is by no means the first heatwave I have endured. And I will end with a quote from another keen gardener: "The Country and Parks are so burnt up and Exhausted that there is not a Verdant Spott to be seen, but all looks like the Sunburnt fields of Asia". The date is 1765.<br />
<br />Peter Gwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10689684728530943900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902354046936989661.post-24592451455930466082015-05-20T01:58:00.000-07:002018-06-09T12:59:52.625-07:00Chapeau !Whenever I am feeling a little depressed about gardening in Gascony in general or about our garden in particular I make my way to<b> La Coursiana</b>, a garden run and owned by Véronique and Arnaud Delannoy at Le Romieu. This I did last weekend, and I can only say that I have never seen it looking so good. Readers of my last blog will know that I have just returned from visiting the 'Great Gardens of Cornwall', and to that I think one can reasonably add 'of the World', so some comparisons were inevitable, even if, despite its very many trees, of which more later, one cannot call La Coursiana a 'Woodland garden', which is what the Cornish gardens are. How should one classify it? Well it is certainly not 'French' for there is not a sign of a clipped hedge anywhere. There is a 'water feature' with what might be called a mini cascade, but since it turns out to be a very cleverly designed herb/medicinal garden it does not bear much relationship to the formal château gardens, of which Versailles is the great example. The feel I guess is rather 'English' though there is no herbaceous or mixed border as such, just literally hundreds of plants of every description, arranged around the rather modest but attractive house, in Island beds, and under trees. If this sounds a bit messy, it is saved from that criticism by two ingredients. The first is its site with on what I guess must be the east side a lovely view across a small lake of the Collegiate Church of Saint Pierre.<br />
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The second ingredient is Véronique Delannoy's wonderful sense of colour and more generally a great skill in the placing of plants. The result is through the year a succession of planting of annuals, or biannuels such as Forget-me-knots, Hollyhocks, Impatiens and Dahlias to name just the most obvious, these in often vibrant colours. At the moment it is rose time. I was told that there are more than five hundred different roses to be found in the garden, and I can well believe it, though I have just noticed that the pamphlet states only 350!. What is perhaps the most striking feature of these is the eclectic choice. I have never hidden the fact that I am something of a plant snob, and this applies particularly to roses, where anything post the Second World war is viewed with great suspicion. At La Coursiana one will find all manner of roses both ancient and modern, even roses produced by - I hardly dare mention their names - Delbard and Meilland. And as for their names, they are not ones that any self-respecting rosarian would want to mention. But what this garden shows is just how silly I have been. In fact some time ago I fell in love with<b> R.Lovely Lady</b> - semi-double blush pink flowers on a tallish bush; repeats well - and this time it was<b> R. Bossa Nova</b> - pink again, but this time fully double. Both date from the 1980s. Much more recent is <b>R. Yann Arthus-Bertrand</b>, a fully in the face Meilland orange/red. Much admired by Véronique Delannoy is<b> R.Line Renaud</b> with large hybrid tea flowers of a darkish red, but as its great feature a marvellous scent - and this is perhaps a good moment to stress that the idea that modern roses lack scent is a myth. One has only got to think of the many David Austin roses almost all of which excel in this department.. Finally amongst the hundreds of different roses there is a climber that I would love to have, if only I could think of where to put it - we seriously lack high walls. It is as its name, <b>R.Papi Delbard</b>, indicates a Delbard rose with large fully double, old-fashioned abricot/yellow flowers with a strong scent that repeats well.<br />
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Of course there is much more to La Coursiana than just roses or indeed wonderful mixed planting. It started life back in the 1970s as a serious arboretum, the inspiration of an eminent botanist Gilbert Cours-Darne, with inter alia a national collection of <b>Tilias </b>(limes). Thus anyone interested in planting trees should first pay a visit to this garden, with just this caveat that I guess it has a little more access to water than some of us can provide, and also I believe that the soil has some acidity, at least in certain areas, and this again is difficult to find at least in some parts of Gascony. A tree that goes back to the 1850s is a marvellous specimen of a <b>Quercus robur</b>, or English oak, and it is worth visiting the garden just to see it. At the back of the main house is a very good example of an <b>Aesculus californica,</b> and finally what was in full flower when I was there, a <b>Styrax japonicus</b> covered in bell-shaped white flowers. I have tried various members of the Styrax family - I am particularly fond of <b>S.obassia</b> - but without success, I guess because I have not provided enough water, but clearly they can be grown.<br />
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I have no hesitation in calling La Coursiana a Great Garden. One of the many reasons for doing so is that when you look around it almost every plant looks contented, a feature that takes me back many years to my first visit to Sissinghurst, and I can hardly pay this garden a greater compliment. It also provides excellent home-made sorbets, but if I have one regret it is that there are no 'cream teas', or indeed no home-made cakes which was one of the great features of my visit to the Cornish gardens. I blame Marie Antoinette for the lack of good cake in France, but surely it is time for the French to forgive and forget, so that this great gap in French cuisine can be remedied.Peter Gwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10689684728530943900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902354046936989661.post-72680753742057233002015-05-06T13:58:00.002-07:002016-02-15T07:20:50.752-08:00Five winners for a Gascon SpringReaders of these blogs will know that I am not a great fan of Springtime in Gascony, certainly not a patch on English springs, and a recent visit to the 'great gardens of Cornwall' has only reinforced my view. Of course these gardens, many of them well over a hundred years old, are exceptional. Everything there conspires - climate, acid soil, and deep valleys running down to the sea - to produce really dramatic effects, with azealeas, camellias, magnolias, and rhododendrons leading the charge, not to mention a thousand tree ferns. Here some of us can do camellias and magnolias but even these with some difficulty, so what are we left with for the Spring offensive.<br />
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Well first and foremost I would recommend is<strong> Prunus x subhirtella 'Autumnalis'</strong>, which in fact with me never flowers in the autumn, but intermittently during the Winter - it is often called the Winter Flowering Cherry - but with a final burst in early Spring. There is a white and pink version, both to my mind equally good. And apart from the flowers it also makes an attractive tree, with often good autumn colour. There is a view that, apart from the ubiquitous <strong>Prunus cerasifera Pissardi</strong> with its masses of pink flowers in early Spring followed by purple leaves, Flowering cherries do not do here, but all I can say is that my 'Winter Flowering Cherry' have always flourished. As for P.Pissardi it cannot be denied that when in full flower it is very attractive, but the purple leaf, which one might think would be a plus, turns out to be rather dull and heavy which prevents it ever being in my top five. I have tried more than once <strong>P. Tai Haku</strong>, the Great White Cherry, but it has never looked especially happy. More successful has been <strong>P.Shirofugen</strong>, with pink buds and opening to fully double white flowers, and in fact I would strongly recommend it, even if it cannot quite make the top five.<br />
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Quite different is the Winter flowering honeysuckle. There is nothing particularly attractive about its shape or leaf colouring: it is just a bush. But when in flower its scent makes it a must: no need to put your nose to it; its fragrance will seek you out. There are essentially two versions: <strong>Lonicera fragrantissima</strong> and<strong> L. x purpusii</strong>. I think that I have always grown the former, but then I am not sure that I can tell the difference, but one or the other has to be included<br />
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One of the great glories of an English Spring are the bulbs, starting with snowdrops, and going on through crocus, daffodils and narcissus, tulips and on to blue bells. I have found all these bulbs difficult. Some seven years ago I planted over three hundred snowdrops. This year I couild not find one ! My daffodils at least do not die, but they do not increase, or if they do only very slowly. I do not recommend the so-called English bluebell - <strong>Scilla nutans</strong> - though having seen thousands in Cornwall I have to admit that they are probably more attractive than the Spanish - <strong>S.campanulata</strong>. But they do not like our heat, and if what you are wanting is a blue carpet the Spanish will do very well. The best bet , though more a corm than a bulb, is <strong>Cyclamen coum</strong>. These come will all sorts of leaf patterns , including a very smart silver- leafed one, and a colour range of a very deep purle through to white. They seem to like our climate, no animal seems to like eating them, and they multiple quite quickly. So I am going to put them in my top Five.<br />
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Much of our Spring colour is provided by the many fruiting trees, starting with almonds, peaches and pears and ending with the apples. All these are beautiful in flower, and I guess that I grow them more for their flowers than their fruits, since what with the birds, the diseases and and the many insects I never seem to end up with a very good crop. The pink of a peach is wonderful, but for sheer flower power a cherry is very hard to beat, which of course raises the question mentioned above of why one sees so few of the decorative cherries. In the wild are the buckthorns -<strong> Rhamnus cathartica</strong> - and the hawthorns -<strong> Crataegus monogyna</strong>. The latter is a very large family and I suspect very underused here, people perhaps being put off by their thorns, or perhaps even more likely because very few varieties are readily available. For me the most attractive all the year round crataegus is the so-called Washington Thorn -<strong> C.phaenopyrum</strong>, but it is its autumn tints rather than its Spring flowers that makes it a winner. But for a 'Gosh factor' in Spring <strong>C.Paul's Scarlet</strong> is very hard to beat and for that reason I am going to put it in my top Five - and moreover various nurseries, including Ets Spahl, and garden centres supply it.<br />
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I would love to have included a magnolia, one of my favourite trees, and of course to be seen at their absolute best in the Cornish gardens that I have just visited. When I first came to SW France I was rather optimistic about growing them here, and in a garden close to the Pyrenees they did indeed grow with some success, including some of the newish varieties such as M. Manchu Fan and M.peppermint stick. But on moving away from the mountains I have become less optimistic. We do grow some including one of my absolute favourites, <strong>M.Star Wars</strong> with its deep pink flowers of some size, but I cannot say that they are very happy. I guess that the M. soulangeana varieties, of which there are many, are the ones to go for here, despite the fact that in some people's eyes they have been rather overtaken by the rush of new hybrids developed in the second half of the last century especially in California and New Zealand. They seem to put up with our clay soil and hot summers better than most, but until I have greater success with them I cannot put them in my top Five.<br />
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So lastly the early buddleyas. <strong>B.officinalis</strong> is fine enough, and is certainly very floriferous but the flowers are of a rather too pale lilac for my liking and the growth is very upright which makes it a rather gawky bush or small tree. Much more attractive is a near relation, <strong>B.officinalis Vicomte de Noailles</strong>.There is something of a mystery about this plant. I acquired mine from the great buddleya specialists at le Jardin de Rochevieille, but on searching the net I failed to find any reference to it - a rosemary named after the Vicomte, and also a camellia sasanqua, but no buddleja. I also failed to find it in my admittedly out of date 'Plant Finder', but neither in the very recent new edition of Hillier's 'Trees and Shrubs', so I am just beginning to wonder whether it really exists. Mine certainly does. It flowers at about the same time as my B.officinalis, which is early Spring, but the flowers are of a much deeper lilac/purple, and rather than being stiff as is the case with most buddleyas they droop in what I think is a most attractive way. So much in love am I with this shrub that not only do I include it in my top five for a Spring garden, but I would put it in my top five, all seasons included.<br />
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P.S. Since writing this I have been in touch with Le jardin de Rochevielle and they tell me that they are probably the only nursery to produce B.off. Vicomte de Noailles which they found in the famous garden of that name. They are present at the Gaujacq Fairs and I can only strongly recommend a purchase of this wonderful shrub.Peter Gwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10689684728530943900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902354046936989661.post-26188803464409517472015-01-22T01:54:00.001-08:002015-12-23T02:01:47.487-08:00Small is BeautifulWhen writing in my previous blog about my love affair with the oak I had not really space to say anything about the actual planting of them. Moreover as readers of these blogs will appreciate I am very reluctant to write anything very much about gardening technics. I have never had any formal garden training and have never become remotely an expert in such matters. What I now have is rather too many years of actual gardening behind me, and inevitably one learns a little from ones successes and failures. I also sometimes think that I am quite a lazy gardener, but especially when it comes to planting trees and shrubs. My holes are never very large, neither are they filled with wonderful compost, but then the subjects that I am planting are practically never very large, which brings me to the title of this blog. <br />
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I have often wondered whether if I was very rich my approach to gardening would be very different. Presumably I would have many gardeners at my disposal so my laziness would not be an issue. Moreover I could actually afford to buy very large, even mature trees and an instant garden might become a reality. And of course the obvious advantage of planting large is that you can get an immediate effect, and thus avoid the criticism of one visitor to a garden I was involved in when she remarked "Ah, I see that you are still in the pygmy stage". But whether rich or poor there are serious disadvantages in planting big. The staking has got to be much more important, and if, as I often do, one plants trees that are not even 50cms one can avoid staking altogether. Secondly, but perhaps even more importantly a large tree will require significantly more amounts of water over a longer period. Again, if wealthy, these problems can be overcome, though serious staking is never very attractive. A problem that money cannot solve is that your choice of tree is more limited. The larger the tree the bigger the investment required, but also significantly more space, and thus a nursery needs to be confident that it will find a buyer. Here in S-W France we have been lucky in having Jacques Urban's <strong>Florama</strong> providing a very large choice of very young trees, though the sad news is that he seems to be cutting down on his stock quite considerably.<br />
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Much easier to find are trees of say 1.50 to 2 meters high, and I guess that their purchase is the best compromise. That said a 2 meter tree is still significantly more expensive than one of 30cms. It probably will need staking and it will need more watering in its early years. In a previous garden we experimented with the planting of two oaks, one 30cms and the other 2 meters. In four years the smaller tree had outgrown its rival, though after that period the growth rate remains the same, the point of course being that the bigger the newly planted tree the longer it takes to establish itself, while the smaller tree quickly grows away. So if you can wait three or four years plant small and save yourselves money and worry.<br />
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Meanwhile at what is increasingly becoming my favourite tree and shrub nursery run by Hélène and Franz <strong>Spahl </strong>in the Gers near Jegun a viburnum that was new to me caught my eye. Its name is <strong>Viburnum Le Bois Marquis</strong>. Hilliers calls it persistent, though I guess semi-persistant might be more accurate, but at any rate what seduced me was its vibrant autumn colour of a reddish hue, and this, because it does not lose its leaves easily, over a long period. Moreover I am promised fragrant white flowers and bright red fruits so what more could one ask for ! Less dramatic but attractive enough is a certainly persistent viburnum. <strong>V.propinquum</strong> is similar to the much more common <strong>V.tinus</strong>, but smarter in that its leaves are glossy, shown to advantage by their bright red stems. Its flower power is probably less than V.tinus and anyway appears much later in the year which is not an advantage - the great attraction of the V.tinus it that it is almost winter flowering, and thus has very little to compete with. Still all three viburnums are worth having, but Le Bois Marquis is a real winner.Peter Gwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10689684728530943900noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5902354046936989661.post-61889083416985365202014-12-16T03:21:00.004-08:002015-12-30T23:26:26.531-08:00Mighty Oaks from Little Acorns growI have been planting oaks. You might think that this is rather a waste of time. For one thing we are not short of oaks in our part of Gascony - our garden has at least half a dozen magnificent specimens already. Moreover I must now qualify as an elderly gent, perhaps not even a gent, and so I am not going to see the oaks I am planting, most of them not more than two or three years old, in anything remotely approaching their prime. What has prompted me to do so has been the generosity of Nora Vogel who has presented me with a number of young trees, these from her marvellous collection of oaks that she is building up in the west of the Gers. But there is also a part of me, as I suspect among quite a few gardeners, that contains a collecting addiction, and oaks provide a great opportunity to indulge this trait. The new Hilliers lists around about two hundred different oaks, and I suspect that this number could be greatly increased. And while many look very much alike, a great many do not, differing as regards size - not all oaks are huge, for instance <strong>Quercus georgiana</strong>, described by Hilliers as a 'small spreading tree or large shrub' - the shape of their leaves varys enormously, most I guess are deciduous but by no means all, etc, etc.<br />
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Someone I used to garden with in England was very keen on the adage "Lets reinforce success", which is to say if something is happy lets have more of it. It is not a bad slogan, though it does not speak to my collecting instinct. Moreover it can be dangerous. The fact that certain oaks flourish in Gascony, I guess mainly <strong>Q.pubescens</strong>, its English common name the Downy Oak, and perhaps also the Sessile Oak, <strong>Q.petraea</strong>,though anybody with other ideas about this please get in touch since I am not at all confident about these attributions, does not mean that all do. For instance one of the reasons that I like oaks is that many of them have good autumn colour, as readers of these blogs will know one of my great obsessions. Most of these come from North America. Many of them prefer wetter conditions than we at least can provide on our South facing Gersois hillside, and some of them need acid soil, which we certainly cannot provide. For instance the oak that has perhaps the most dramatic autumn colouring, <strong>Q.coccinea</strong> especially in its form 'Splendens' does not seem to tolerate even a touch of lime, and certainly demands rather damper and deeper soil than we can provide, all of which has put me off trying it. On the other hand rather perversely I have planted <strong>Q.Bicolor</strong>, common name the Swamp White Oak, which as its name suggests prefers much wetter conditions than I can provide, tempted to do so by promise of good autumn colour, and its liking of hot summers which we can provide. Of course the safer bet for an oak with good autumn colour is<strong> Q.rubra</strong> which also happens to be very readily available. This for me is not necessarily a recommendation. What is is a marvellous specimen to be seen at Les Jardins de Coursiana at La Romieu, this along with a very wide choice of other oaks, so before choosing oaks I strongly recommend a visit.<br />
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From the above it will be clear that a good deal of irrationality and prejudice comes into my choice of oaks. But if this blog has any purpose it is to remind you of their huge variety. For instance you could have a Bamboo-leaf oak(<strong>Q.myrsinfolia</strong>), a Chestnut-leafed oak(<strong>Q.castenifolia</strong>), or a Willow Oak(<strong>Q.phellos</strong>), or if you prefer countries what about an Armenian oak(<strong>Q.pontica</strong>) or perhaps a Lebanon Oak(<strong>Q.Libani</strong>). And so far I have hardly mentioned the evergreen oaks, the most common being the Holm oak(<strong>Q.ilex</strong>), but there are many others. Secondly despite the above I would recommend looking at the literature before choosing. Hilliers curiously is hopeless as regards giving advice. My two bibles are <em>'Arbres et Arbustes'</em> by Myriam and Vincent Grellier, who run Les pépinières Botanique de La Preille, and my 2008-10 catalogue of les pépinière Adeline - I emphasize the date since it has recently changed hands and I have no idea whether the very high standards of the previous owners, has been maintained. This catalogue is just the best list of trees with good information about the conditions they prefer, that I have ever come across. The La Preille book, in fact another detailed catalogue, contains rather fewer trees but has the great merit of being geared to our conditions, and is really an essential reference for Gascon gardeners. My third choice would be the <em>Encyclopédie des Arbres</em> text by John White and drawings by David More, though there is certainly an English edition, its great merit being that it gives you some idea of the eventual look of the tree along with the shape of the leaves and texture and colour of the bark - so particularly useful for identification.<br />
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So do look at the literature, even if like myself you then ignore the advice, for thanks to the great varity of conditions even within a smallish garden you might just get away with it. My most successful oak, and one that I have mentioned before in these blogs, is <strong>Q.shumardii</strong>. La Preille's advice is that 'il préfère des sols acides ou neutres;éviter les argiles fortes . . .' Well we have plenty of clay and we are certainly not acid, but so far my "Chene du Shumard" seems reasonably happy.<br />
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Meanwhile it is very much cotoneaster and mahonia time, all of which are looking splendid at this moment. Mahonias I have probably said quite enough about in previous blogs, but perhaps not quite enough about the humble <strong>Cotoneaster lacteus</strong>: common as dirt and for much of the year easy to overlook but come November/December with its dark glossy green leaves and scarlet berries it is a complete winner.Peter Gwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10689684728530943900noreply@blogger.com0