Discovering my other self!
Monday, September 9, 2019
One month on from our wedding it has been good to have time to
visit friends, have friends visit us, go garden visiting and do
some key jobs in the garden.
You might have wondered from the headline to this news item if I
was going to reveal some hidden secrets about how our lives have
changed since we got married. Well, we are pleased to say that our
lives have gone on in the same way that they have in the last 38
years, but we do both enjoy being Mr and Mrs Brown!
The germ of the idea for the headline came from walking around
the borders all over the garden and reflecting how they have
advanced over the 20 years or so that they have been been
planted.
Having grown up in my early gardening years with bedding plants,
heathers, a few shrubs and of course vegetables I had no experience
of planting up a garden the size of Cilgwyn Lodge or of how to
integrate a wide range of herbaceous plants and shrubs into the
attractive mixed borders I was eager to create. Visits to other
gardens, books and periodicals were all part of the pathway leading
to my end goal. Not to say that I ever got it right first time! The
biggest influence on me were the books of Gertrude Jekyll in
particular her classic "Colour Schemes for the Flower Garden".
Quite old fashioned perhaps for many tastes but exactly what I was
looking for at that time. The book is still available on line
Her mantra for border design was Flow and Harmony and colours
and forms that sat comfortably together. Where the scale of a
garden permitted, she also espoused the principle of double borders
opposite each other, either in a contrasting style to each other or
complementing each other. This matched exactly what I had planned
for Cilgwyn, one border in sun and well drained soil, the other in
shade with retentive soil, which gave me the chance to use a wider
range of plants in each which all plants people love, affording the
opportunity to acquire as many different pants as
possible.
The 2 main borders in the garden are in the
contrasting style and are 40 metres long and 7 metres
wide
The Red Border
The Pastels and yellow border
For years I adhered to the same principles but latterly as
horticultural styles and tastes have changed I have begun to find
my other self, not to the extent that I have been inclined to
radically change the planting combinations for the sake of it. But
looking to be more adventurous when planting out in established
borders, newly acquired plants, and limiting the amount of staking
that I do to support border plants but letting plants stand as free
and naturalistic as possible.
This orange lily henryi are growing through a large
hydrange Annabelle, wich for me makes a pleasing contrast. I never
would have thought I would grow so fond of orange and embraced it
so much all over the gardens!
Relaxed planting in a seed sown Wildflower type
garden
The more plants are set out close to each other the more able
they seem to stand without additional support.If not a gentle stake
or cane can be slipped in. Some of the smaller plants lend
themselves to this more than the "jungle Giants" that are long
established here and would be damaged in inclement weather without
judicious use of stakes.
Some strong growing perennials like acanthus are capable
most of the time of supporting themselves.
Contrasting forms of hakanachloa macra, a superb
pendant form of Japanese grass, and a yellow daisy family member,
inula hookeri, in one of the smaller borders in the House Garden,
and have different leaves and flowers
C
If you regularly read our News or have ever visited the gardens
you will have no doubt formed your own opinions! In all their
guises they have given us such immense pleasure over the years and
hopefully they will continue to do so.
Weather
After a month of drought conditions in July it was good to have
some welcome rain this month although we could have done without
the strong winds that often accompanied it. The streams and rivers
are flowing again as are the springs of those of our neighbours who
have no mains water for themselves or livestock.
The monthly stats show what a mixed bag of
weather we had including the first thunder and lightning for some
time, on 9th. Weather stats on 4 days were not recorded when we
were away
Sun:- 10 days. Max 26.14 on 25th. There were 12 days with
tempertures over 20C
Rain:- 4 days Most of the rain came in spells of changeable
weather and total rainfall levels measured 8.7 inches
Changeable weather:- 11 days
Remarkably for August there were numerous records of relatively
low overnight temperatures with a min of 4C (no damage done!) on
14th and a total of 19 nights under 15C
Perhaps in response to the changing weather conditions
there were signs of the steady advance of autumn
Sorbus Olympic Flame is always one of the
earliest trees in the garden to show some leaf colour but by the
time of writing, September 4th, it had started to take on its fiery
red suggested by the name.
Garden Update
The welcome rains have really freshened up the gardens, and the
veg which we have watered regularly, have gone crazy! All the
legumes at last presented us with a very large harvest of
peas, dwarf beans and runner beans, one of the best crops for many
years.
Runner bean "White Lady"
All time favourite pea "Hurst Green
Shaft"
Peas and dwarf beans
A basket of yellow veg, some of which will be
familiar, perhaps save for the yellow dwarf beans which were bred
in Poland and gave it the appropriate name of "Polka"It has a
lovely creamy texture and mixes well with a similar sized climbing
French bean called "Cobra" and they look good together on a
plate.
Courgettes of varying colours. The yellow ones are soft
and mild in texture but cook just as well as the green
forms
I
Sweet corn "Swift"are really cropping well with
very large cobs that the birds are are troubling as they
often do, but not as severely as usual. The pic below
shows the damage they can do!
Onions harvested before the worst of the rain
came, drying in the large greenhouse
As crops finish they and are cleared, we use the
space they leave behind to sow later season crops. These two rows
of seedlings are carrots which I have taken a chance with much
earlier than I have before, because the main crop carrots have
produced a disappointing harvest this summer.
Some of the worst carrots! Embarassed to show
you!! Hardly any carrot fly damage though.
No clubroot either on the brassicas this year
which whatever the variety or type always come up with a fine set
of roots. which has not been the case for some years.
Always something to cut back or clear away all
over the garden and even on the wettest of days Moira
plays a considerable part in this.
With the grass wet for much of the month the rate of mowing has
slowed down, and when I do mow it takes 2 cuts over several days to
bring the grass down slowly otherwise it would go yellow or chew
up
The ponds have filled up and the Paddock pond is much clearer
now that the stream that feeds it is flowing strongly
The Koi pond has been a problem most of the year as the pump has
been failing and the filters blocked so it needed considerable
attention. The Koi too were becoming stressed especially in hot
spells of weather. Our friends Tony and Sylvia, on a visit to
Cilgwyn, suggested that we got to work to solve the problems. Tony
had devised the pond sytems based on a model of his own at home.
The problems were resolved and the fish are now looking much
better. See pic above
What is/was looking good
August is a time when a different range of plants come into
growth to add to those that have been flowering for several months.
As usual pics to show the best of all these
An interesting range of plants in this smaller
border which I have replanted over the past 5 years or so in
tune with my other self!
Lilium speciosum rubrum
Lilium auratrum "Gold Band" sometimes also called
called The golden rayed lily of Japan. Exquisite perfume
too.
Hydrangea paniculata "Vanille Fraise" which like others
in this group, changes colour later in the season from white to
various shades of pink. The blue of lobelia siphilitica sits well
with it and a red dahlia peeps in from the nearby Red
Border!
The same plant looking up the Paddock Garden from
a different angle with other border companions. Quite clever that
of me to use it twice he said modestly
We have a good range of crocosmias in most shades
but I have always been fond of ". Emberglow" which has a prime
place in the Red Border. I had Lucifer in this border but found it
too orange with the rest of the reds and has a tendancy to flop
over the other plants companions
A recent introduction has, for me, put all
the other red forms in the shade with its deep red flowers and no
trace of yellow in the eye, Some of the old me in this!! but I
really do like it.
One of the top summer perennials for August which is a
special favourite of mine, is rudbeckia var sullivantii
"Goldsturm". I like it so much I chose it for the Banner Image of
our website! Such a joyful riposte to the forthcoming Autumn.
Roscoea "Spice Isand" with fluffy pink tails of
sanguisorba hakusanensis in the form collected by Crug Farm Nursery
known by its collection name as B&SWJ8709
There are other roscoeas in the gardens with an
increasingly wide range to choose from. There are many hybrid
forms, not always named, this one often called simply purpurea
possibly originating in part from "Brown Peacock" Looking really
tender but they are hardy, solid, reliable perennials for rich soil
in shade or part shade
Paniculata hydrangea, an unknown form which I cut
back earier in the year which has the effect of producing much
larger flowers than the norm. A lovely contrast with the deep
purple of monarda "Prairie Night" or "Prarienacht"
Another fine monarda is "Snow White" or
Schneewittchen" which looks good even when it is
aging.
I hope I have got the monarda names correct! as a very
good friend of ours is Carole Whittaker who is a National Plant
Collection Holder of Monarda for Plant Heritage. If you are
interested in this genus go to her website for information and
visiting arrangements during their flowering season. www.glynbachgardens.co.uk
Chelone Obliqua
The so called "turtle head" It desrves a better common
name than that!. Flowers for up to 3 months from early August with
a vibrant pink
With so much colour elsewhere in the gardens it makes a
change to have a cooling contrast. This happy combination of green
umbelifers is composed of Bupleurum Fruticosum (a medium shrub) in
the foreground of the pic, and green fennel at the back. The
borrowed landscape adding furher tones of green.
Another monochrome composition formed by double
gysophila and eryngium varifolium.
Clematis have done well and are flowering their
hearts out in a wide variety This one being "Blue Belle" Remarkably
large flowers for a member of the viticella group.
This more delicate flowered form is "Heather
Herschell" Intergrifolia group
Up the 12 sweet pea wigwams we grow a mix of other
clematis
White phlox, a lone lily and a fine stand of
echinops ritro
Wildlife and Countryside
The plethora of butterflies was the best we have had for
years including last summer. Nothing particularly unusual but they
were everywhere!
So good to see so many Painted Ladies returning
from their long journeys back from Africa
We had to travel to the coast to see a blue
butterfly that we have never seen here
Two bird sightings were welcome The first kingfisher for a
long time over the Paddock Pond which flew straight over me! when I
was clearing the pond weed.
Secondly a bird I have heard a lot over the last month and
seen just twice. The green woodpecker or Yaffle in English dialect.
Common in Gloucestershire where I came from, but not so much here
over the last 43 years. The call of the bird is one that once heard
is never forgotten.
www.british-birdsongs.uk/green-woodpecker/
On the way back home from Powis Castle there were numerous
fine stands of wild chicory along the road verges often mingling
attractively with other wild flowers.
Just one feed of large field mushrooms courtesy of a
local farmer friend.
Visits
We really made up for lost time with many more visits than
in the last 4 months! 6 gardens in all, including some of our old
favourites, truly exceptional gardens, especially a new one that in
time, as it matures, is likely to become a legend:- Broughton
Grange, Banbury, Oxfordshire.
www.broughtongrange.com
350acres of gardens including arboreta, water features,
formal borders in a variety of habitats, all designed from scratch
by Tom Stuart- Smith and constructed in 2001
New twists in design appear at every time you turn
around
The gardens have only relatively recently started
opening to the public but there are facilities available and a
refreshment marquee serving simple lunches with produce from the
gardens. Very welcome on a cold wet day!
A striking and rarely encountered feature is a
shade walk through banks of peat blocks with a wide range of
planting combinations.
A 
The wider landscape on a distant
ridge
John one of our friends showed his gift for walking on
the water of one of the rills!!
From the new to the old, and one with a modern
link to Broughton Grange
Trentham Gardens Stoke on Trent www.trentham.co.uk
Records of gardens there go back to approx 1759 when
they were remodelled by Capability Brown (not a close relative of
mine!) There have been subsequent remodellings over the centuries
including modern designers Piet Oudorf and Tom Stuart- Smith which
is where the link to Broughton Grange comes in. Compare this pic,
with an almost identical one from Broughton.
Part of a very old estate there are numerous
buildings and artefacts to experience
The lake is one mile long!
Very handy for a boat trip and to show off one of
the many fun items that pop up all over the huge garden.
A Fairy figure crafted from steel, ideal for the
many children and their parents attracted by the venue
The entrance borders have considerable impact as
they have to in a garden on such a large scale. Think how out of
proportion bedding borders would look!
The gardens are part of a larger estate which has
considerable commercial outlets which are not in the gardens
so they never detract from the gardens which have to be
financially supported to keep up their maintenance and development
all of which are excellent.
Powis Castle, Welshpool' Powys. www.nationaltrust.org.uk.>powis-castle-and-garden
The oldest gardens (From 1680) we visited. South facing
on a stunning site
The gardens are very steep and Moira kindly
volunteered to demonstrate this!
Kiftsgate Court Gardens, Chipping Camden, Glos.
www.kiftsgate.co.uk
The final one of the old gardens which in parts is also
on a steep slope.
Celebrating the Gardens 100th anniversary this year
having been developed by 3 generations of lady gardeners from the
same family and still in the same ownership.
Just down the road from Hidcote but Kiftsgate should be
your first choice to visit!
NJust
The view across the Vale of Evesham is an added
bonus when you visit the garden
Each of the ladies has added their own touches and
this one of course is that of the current owner.
As a change from garden visiting we paid a visit to the
Pembrokeshire seaside with friends Sylvia and Tony.
Freshwater West, Angle.
We are all devotees of Pembs but had never previously
visited this huge beach
The beach has firm sand and there is an added interest
from the sand dunes that back it
Sea Holly is an added bomus in the dunes along
with other sand loving plants
However to find our native clematis vitalba in that
setting was quite a surprise
It is such a popular spot that parking can be an
issue.
Sections of the beach are covered in a range of
attractive stones that merit beachcombing which can be quite
obsessive!
Syvia's work of art on the beach- no shortage of
stones
PHEW. What a marathon! Thanks for staying with me
KeithX