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Win<br />
worth<br />
Free £169<br />
* Blueberry plants<br />
A saratoga chair & stool 2 worth £19.98!<br />
<strong>Feb</strong>ruary <strong>20</strong><strong>20</strong> £4.15<br />
worth £19.99<br />
SAVE<br />
£5 2 daphne<br />
litre<br />
‘Perfume Princess‘<br />
*JUST PAY POSTAGE<br />
Making<br />
Beautiful<br />
GARDENS<br />
Fall in love with<br />
jewel-box<br />
gems<br />
Precious treasures in<br />
gold, sapphire & pearl<br />
10<br />
Best<br />
variegated<br />
evergreens<br />
How to...<br />
Re-wild your garden<br />
Welcome nature the easy way<br />
BEAUTIFUL GARDENS<br />
✿ Streamside glade filled with cornus & snowdrops<br />
✿ Grand country garden where evergreens add structure<br />
✿ Chic designer plot where heathers light up the hillside<br />
Bees love<br />
weeds!<br />
Grow chillies & peppers<br />
Hot crops for a sunny spot<br />
Discover<br />
hepaticas<br />
Stars of the<br />
season<br />
Expert guide<br />
Pruning<br />
made easy:<br />
climbing<br />
roses<br />
plant an urban prairie<br />
Mid-century chic in pink & grey<br />
february <strong>20</strong><strong>20</strong> ISSUE 8 Jan - 5 <strong>Feb</strong>
❤<br />
Celebrate<br />
Celebrate<br />
TOPIARY<br />
Evergreens take on a crisp, bold look when<br />
clipped into geometric ‘living sculptures’.<br />
Levens Hall has some historic examples<br />
DATING BACK to the 1690s, the<br />
topiary at Levens Hall in Cumbria<br />
includes some of the oldest examples<br />
in the world. “The collection of<br />
ancient box and yew trees was<br />
created by Guillaume Beaumont –<br />
former head gardener to King James<br />
II,” explains the current head<br />
gardener, Chris Crowder, who’s<br />
worked here for 32 years.<br />
“Our clipping year officially starts<br />
on 1 September and we try to finish<br />
all the topiary by Christmas – there<br />
are around 100 specimens. After that<br />
we start on our huge beech and yew<br />
hedges so they’re looking nice and<br />
crisp by the time the garden opens<br />
again, in April.<br />
“I always like to clip the newer<br />
topiary specimens myself, for<br />
continuity, starting off with hand<br />
shears and creating cake stands,<br />
corkscrews, spirals and cones.<br />
For larger pieces I’ll move on to the<br />
battery-powered clippers because<br />
it’s quicker and for the tallest hedges<br />
we hire in some hydraulic lifts for a<br />
couple of months.”<br />
The taller of the two great umbrella<br />
yews is around 9m (30ft) high – the<br />
little circular bench around its trunk<br />
gives you some idea of its scale. “It<br />
can be quite scary trimming topiary<br />
up there,” says Chris, “especially<br />
when it’s windy and the lift is fully<br />
extended. When I first started, in<br />
1987, we used a wooden ladder lashed<br />
to a couple of trestles!”<br />
l Levens Hall, Kendal, Cumbria,<br />
is open 5 April - 1 October <strong>20</strong><strong>20</strong>,<br />
Sunday to Thursday. 01539 560321;<br />
www.levenshall.co.uk<br />
GAP photos/RICHARD BLOOM<br />
HISTORIC YEW Taxus<br />
baccata is a slow-growing<br />
hedging plant and the fact<br />
it continues to respond so<br />
well to trimming after<br />
centuries of pruning is part<br />
of its enduring appeal.<br />
Every part is poisonous<br />
(apart from the red arils)<br />
and it’s said yews were<br />
planted in church yards<br />
to discourage drovers<br />
from grazing their cattle<br />
in the burial grounds.<br />
6 <strong>Garden</strong> <strong>Answers</strong><br />
Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 7
❤<br />
CELEBRATE<br />
EASY<br />
project<br />
Bird<br />
feeder<br />
Make your own<br />
fatball feeders<br />
Coppice dogwood stems to create these<br />
colourful feeders. Here’s how to make them<br />
You will need<br />
✿ Secateurs<br />
✿ Cornus stems<br />
✿ Galvanised<br />
wire<br />
✿ Flat-nosed<br />
pliers<br />
✿ Small pots<br />
✿ Suet balls<br />
✿ <strong>Garden</strong> twine<br />
Which colourful stems?<br />
Cornus sericea<br />
‘Flaviramea’<br />
step by step<br />
Cornus alba<br />
‘Sibirica’<br />
Cornus alba<br />
‘Kesselringii’<br />
Coppice your cornus<br />
1 Cut each colourful stem back to<br />
about 5-8cm (2-3in) from the main<br />
stem. This renovates the shrub and<br />
encourages more vigorous, colourful<br />
growth to be produced this spring.<br />
Trim stems to length<br />
2 Gather together about 10 straight stems,<br />
each 50-70cm (<strong>20</strong>-28in) long. You can trim them<br />
to the exact size once the feeder is assembled.<br />
Secure the<br />
3 stems<br />
Wrap galvanised<br />
wire around the top<br />
of the bundle using<br />
flat-nosed pliers to<br />
hold them together<br />
firmly. Insert a small<br />
terracotta pot into the centre<br />
of the bundle to form<br />
the cavity for the suet balls.<br />
PECKING ORDER<br />
Blue tits and<br />
sparrows will love<br />
this innovative idea<br />
– using coppiced<br />
cornus prunings<br />
to create a<br />
decorative<br />
feeder, filled<br />
with suet balls<br />
Hide the wire & decorate<br />
4 Secure the end of the bundle<br />
with more wire. Hide the wire with<br />
flexible thinner stems, wound<br />
around top and bottom. Weave<br />
stems in and out of the cavity to<br />
decorate. Remove pot. Trim ends.<br />
Pop in three Suet balls<br />
5 Push apart one length of the cornus cage<br />
to give enough wiggle room to insert 3-4 suet<br />
balls, one at a time. Reposition the stem when<br />
finished. Securely tie a length of garden twine<br />
around the top of the feeder, then suspend it<br />
from a sturdy tree branch. Refill as required.<br />
Photos: GAP Photos; alamy<br />
46 <strong>Garden</strong> <strong>Answers</strong><br />
Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 47
Beautiful gardens<br />
Get the<br />
York Gate LOOK<br />
“Evergreens create<br />
a winter backbone”<br />
Head gardener<br />
Benjamin Preston<br />
explains how to get<br />
York Gate’s Arts &<br />
Crafts look in your<br />
own garden<br />
Tucked away in the pretty village of Adel<br />
on the outskirts of Leeds, York Gate is<br />
regarded as one of Britain’s finest gardens.<br />
There’s a lot packed into the one-acre space,<br />
from a white garden and water features to a<br />
woodland area and vegetable garden. But<br />
it’s the fantastic structure, the intricate<br />
detailing in the hard landscaping and the<br />
quirky features that make York Gate such a<br />
unique and special place. Head <strong>Garden</strong>er<br />
Ben Preston tells us about the garden…<br />
When was York Gate created? The<br />
Spencer family – Fred, Sybil and son<br />
Robin – moved here in 1951, when it was<br />
York Gate Farm. They bought it so they<br />
could keep their horses and ducks, but<br />
quickly decided to create a garden. It was a<br />
work in progress for more than 30 years –<br />
Fred died in 1963, Robin continued<br />
developing it until he passed away in 1982<br />
and Sybil tended the garden until her<br />
death in 1994, when it was bequeathed to<br />
horticultural charity Perennial.<br />
How did the design come about? It’s an<br />
Arts & Crafts-style garden created some<br />
50 years or so after the Arts & Crafts<br />
movement was at its peak. The Spencers<br />
took inspiration from William Robinson<br />
and Gertrude Jekyll. They bought a lot of<br />
plants from Margery Fish at East<br />
Lambrook Manor and there are letters in<br />
the archives from Christopher Lloyd at<br />
Great Dixter. Robin created the central<br />
canal after Sybil saw the moon pool at<br />
Hidcote and decided she would<br />
like something similar.<br />
What are the key elements?<br />
The garden is divided into different<br />
‘rooms’ by hedges, with each area linked<br />
using vistas and sight lines. The yew and<br />
beech hedges create the backbone of the<br />
garden along with the hard landscaping.<br />
Fred and Robin made<br />
the paths from Yorkstone<br />
on the farm, which ties<br />
in with the house and<br />
gives the garden its sense<br />
of place.<br />
There’s also the<br />
attention to detail. Here<br />
in the Canal <strong>Garden</strong>, the<br />
design for the carpet path,<br />
with granite setts laid in a diamond<br />
shape, for instance, was taken from a<br />
Japanese book on garden design. Fred and<br />
Robin were both building surveyors and<br />
on their travels they’d collect ornaments ➤<br />
ABOVE Ferns unfurl their emeraldgreen<br />
croziers in spring, creating a<br />
lush backdrop for pastel-flowered<br />
delphiniums, alliums, astrantias and<br />
other summer-flowering perennials<br />
Fact file<br />
● LOCATION York<br />
Gate <strong>Garden</strong>, Back<br />
Church Lane, Adel,<br />
West Yorkshire LS16 8DW<br />
● OPEN 1 April-<br />
30 September,<br />
Sunday-Thursday,<br />
12.30-4.30pm.<br />
CONTACT 0113 267<br />
8240 or visit www.perennial.<br />
org.uk/york-gate-garden<br />
68 <strong>Garden</strong> <strong>Answers</strong> Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 69
Beautiful gardens<br />
and artefacts, including the millstones,<br />
which they laid at the intersections of<br />
paths. They make you pause and decide<br />
which direction to take. And of course<br />
there are the yew sails, which have<br />
become an iconic symbol of the garden.<br />
Get<br />
the<br />
look<br />
THE Canal <strong>Garden</strong><br />
Shapely yew hedging,<br />
evergreens and patterned<br />
paving create winter interest<br />
WINTER STRUCTURE<br />
How is the garden still evolving?<br />
The wonderful structure doesn’t change,<br />
but we do have the opportunity to play<br />
with the planting. The Spencers always<br />
used the most up-to-date plants and were<br />
always seeking out new species and<br />
cultivars.<br />
Sybil’s garden was redesigned in <strong>20</strong>04<br />
– the only ‘room’ to be changed since the<br />
garden was created, and this is a part which<br />
we feel we have the most licence to evolve.<br />
We have plans to create an exotic garden<br />
there –very much in vogue at the moment.<br />
Turn evergreens<br />
into sculpture<br />
The iconic yew ‘sails’<br />
offer an eye-catching zig<br />
zag backdrop in summer,<br />
but really come to the<br />
fore in winter.<br />
Taxus baccata<br />
Handsome evergreen<br />
with dark green needles<br />
and red berries on<br />
females. Unclipped<br />
H12m (40ft) S8m (26ft)<br />
Polystichum setiferum<br />
Softly textured evergreen<br />
fern with large feathery<br />
green fronds. Perfect for<br />
shade or part shade.<br />
H1.2m (4ft) S90cm (3ft)<br />
Asplenium<br />
scolopendrium<br />
Glossy green, puckered<br />
leaves suit a semishaded<br />
spot. H and<br />
S60cm (2ft)<br />
Ophiopogon planiscapus<br />
‘Nigrescens’ Moundforming<br />
inky-black<br />
mondo grass with mauve<br />
flowers Jun-Aug. H<strong>20</strong>cm<br />
(8in) S30cm (12in)<br />
Euphorbia<br />
amygdaloides robbiae<br />
Acid-green flowers rise<br />
from whorls of evergreen<br />
leaves in spring. H70cm<br />
(28in) S1m (3ft 3in)<br />
We clip the yew at the back<br />
end of the year so it looks<br />
good right through winter<br />
What are the garden’s highlights<br />
in <strong>Feb</strong>ruary? We have a great collection<br />
of snowdrops, winter aconites, Cyclamen<br />
coum, Iris reticulata and hellebores, all of<br />
which are set off by the crisp hedging – we<br />
clip the yew at the back end of the year so<br />
it looks good right through winter.<br />
Embellish design<br />
The Arts & Crafts<br />
movement was all about<br />
design and pattern, and<br />
the carpet path here is a<br />
perfect example, using<br />
granite setts and<br />
matching grey chips.<br />
Create focal points<br />
The stone font at the far<br />
end of the carpet path<br />
draws the eye, creating a<br />
sense of drama.<br />
Edge paths with<br />
shaggy grasses<br />
It can be hard to keep<br />
herbaceous border edges<br />
looking crisp. Here, black<br />
ophiopogon is planted close<br />
together to form a ‘hedge’.<br />
How can readers get the look of York<br />
Gate at home? York Gate is one acre but<br />
it feels much bigger because of the clever<br />
use of ornaments to draw the eye. For<br />
example, placing the Italianate stone font<br />
at the bottom of the carpet path helps to<br />
create a vista in winter – a really useful<br />
technique in small gardens.<br />
Pick one or two simple materials and<br />
stick with them throughout the garden to<br />
give continuity. Strategically placed<br />
features such as box balls or wicker<br />
baskets, which we use at York Gate,<br />
help to emphasise path entrances.<br />
It can be hard to keep the edge of an<br />
herbaceous border looking crisp all year<br />
round, but the black grass (ophiopogon)<br />
alongside our carpet path does this really<br />
well when it’s planted close together in a<br />
long row like a low hedge.<br />
How does the garden progress<br />
through the seasons? The garden relies<br />
on successional planting. After the late<br />
winter bulbs, daffodils, tulips and alliums<br />
take over. Then there are the herbaceous<br />
layers for summer with grasses for<br />
late-season interest and some lovely trees<br />
such as Acer aconitifolium and various<br />
different species of beech, which look<br />
fabulous in autumn. ✿<br />
summer colour<br />
Delphiniums<br />
Towering blue and<br />
mauve spires add<br />
drama Jun-July. H1.5m<br />
(5ft) S60cm (2ft)<br />
Astrantias<br />
Colourful bracts studded<br />
with tiny flowers on slim<br />
branching stems. H60cm<br />
(2ft) S40cm (16in)<br />
Alliums<br />
Spherical heads of tightly<br />
packed violet flowers top<br />
sturdy stems in June.<br />
H80cm (32in) S10cm (2in)<br />
Scabious<br />
Sky-blue pincushion<br />
flowers attract<br />
pollinators Jun-Sept.<br />
H and S30cm (12in)<br />
Verbascum<br />
Elegant spikes of<br />
colourful dark-centred<br />
flowers May-Aug. H90cm<br />
(3ft) S45cm (18in)<br />
board<br />
Mood<br />
Pastel<br />
hues<br />
Pinks<br />
Clipped<br />
evergreens<br />
& topiary<br />
Purple<br />
Greens<br />
Black<br />
grasses<br />
NEXT MONTH:<br />
Get the BETH<br />
CHATTO Look<br />
words: louise curley; Photos: Gap Photos; alamy; sHutterstock<br />
70 <strong>Garden</strong> <strong>Answers</strong><br />
Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 71
❤<br />
CELEBRATE<br />
Plant<br />
Profile<br />
Hepaticas<br />
Enjoy a shimmer of<br />
Dainty blue<br />
Hepaticas aren’t fond of winter wet – preferring<br />
a bit of sunshine, shelter and a well-drained soil.<br />
Val Bourne suggests the easiest ones to plump for<br />
MEadING FEBRUARY The Tium BLUES<br />
remperis con eum Skyward-gazing<br />
voloris cus<br />
diciate non hepatica pore vendel flowers open<br />
ipsam quam quatum in early exerum spring,<br />
liciet prature enhanced anim non by a crown<br />
comnim nam of est dainty remqui stamens<br />
All plants available from ashwood nurseries<br />
01384 401996; www.AshwoodNurseries.com<br />
Hepaticas are early-flowering<br />
woodlanders. They’re found<br />
naturally in almost-alpine<br />
situations in northern, temperate<br />
regions across Europe, Asia, North<br />
America and Canada. Consequently they<br />
must have good drainage and are happiest<br />
growing in the lea of deciduous shrubs, or<br />
on sloping ground that sheds water.<br />
Although they’re close relatives of the<br />
wood anemone, their upward-facing<br />
flowers are rather like a miniature clematis<br />
in colour and form. The bright blue, strong<br />
pink and clear white flowers look delightful<br />
in early spring.<br />
The most common European species is<br />
Hepatica nobilis. It’s not native but has been<br />
grown in British gardens since 1764 and<br />
perhaps even earlier. The three-lobed<br />
leaves are said to resemble the liver in<br />
outline and the 17th-century<br />
Doctrine of Signatures,<br />
used by herbalists<br />
intent on finding<br />
cures, dictated that<br />
this plant cured liver<br />
disease. Also known as<br />
liverwort, H. nobilis<br />
was widely planted in<br />
physic and monastery<br />
gardens. The name<br />
hepatica comes from the<br />
Greek ‘hepara’ for liver.<br />
However, not all forms of<br />
H. nobilis can grow outdoors<br />
in the UK. Those with japonica in<br />
their Latin names need extremely<br />
good drainage and overhead cover so<br />
won’t survive our wet winters.<br />
Specialist growers sell some<br />
wonderful Japanese forms for alpine<br />
houses or cool greenhouses, but they<br />
Our pick of the best<br />
Best for easy<br />
flowers<br />
Hepatica<br />
nobilis This<br />
woodlander comes<br />
in many different<br />
colours and seeds<br />
about. ‘Ashwood<br />
Blues’ are excellent,<br />
but they do several<br />
colour strains.<br />
H and S10cm (4in)<br />
Best for<br />
foliage<br />
H. schlyteri<br />
Blue Marble<br />
Group Ashwood<br />
Nurseries’ new<br />
hybrid has marbled<br />
foliage and large,<br />
sky-blue flowers.<br />
Good drainage<br />
needed. H and<br />
S<strong>20</strong>-30cm (8-12in)<br />
Growing hepaticas in the garden<br />
For best results with hepaticas,<br />
choose European species and<br />
hybrids, labelled H. nobilis,<br />
H. transsilvanica and<br />
H. media.<br />
l Site them carefully.<br />
Plant them where they’ll<br />
catch early spring<br />
sunshine, but be shaded by<br />
tend to be expensive.<br />
Fortunately, our other<br />
European species, H.<br />
transsilvanica, doesn’t mind<br />
the cold and wet as much. In the wild it’s<br />
found on steep, shady banks in the<br />
mountainous woods of Transylvania<br />
in central Romania and on the<br />
Carpathian Mountains. The flowers<br />
and leaves are larger than H. nobilis<br />
Best for large<br />
flowers H.<br />
transsilvanica<br />
Vigorous grower<br />
with large, rich<br />
blue flowers<br />
<strong>Feb</strong>-Mar, each with<br />
a green middle<br />
surrounded by<br />
bee-friendly<br />
stamens. H and<br />
S15cm (6in)<br />
Best for an<br />
alpine house<br />
H. NOBILIS<br />
japonica magna<br />
These largeflowered<br />
forms in<br />
rich blue, violet,<br />
purple to red,<br />
rose-pink and white<br />
need a cool airy,<br />
sheltered spot.<br />
H and S<strong>20</strong>cm (8in)<br />
May, such as close to deciduous<br />
shrubs and trees in a sunnier spot.<br />
l Feed them in late winter. Hepatica<br />
expert John Massey recommends<br />
using calcified seaweed.<br />
l Remove the foliage just before<br />
flowering. This helps you appreciate<br />
their delicate flowers better. It’s also<br />
worth loosening compacted soil.<br />
One of the best blue forms<br />
was discovered growing<br />
under an apple tree<br />
and it’s more vigorous, so one clump can<br />
have several flowers. I remove the shabby<br />
leaves in late autumn, before the plump<br />
green flower buds emerge.<br />
Blue forms of H. transsilvanica stand out<br />
really well in the garden and there’s a good<br />
double named ‘Elison Spence’ that was<br />
found as a sport (an unusual shoot) in Mrs<br />
Elison Spence’s Northern Ireland garden.<br />
Hepatica nobilis and H. transsilvanica<br />
sometimes produce vigorous hybrids in<br />
the wild. Called H. x media, these are freer<br />
flowering, with rounder foliage. One of the<br />
best blue forms, ‘Harvington Beauty’, was<br />
discovered by Hugh Nunn (of Harvington<br />
Hellebore fame) growing under an apple<br />
tree in a neighbour’s garden. I treasure this<br />
mid-blue hepatica, and grow it close to my<br />
black hybrid hellebores, for contrast.<br />
The bluest form is ‘Millstream Merlin’<br />
with gentian-blue single flowers on long<br />
stems. Raised by the late American rock<br />
garden enthusiast H Lincoln Foster, who<br />
gardened at Falls Village, Connecticut,<br />
it was exhibited in London by the late<br />
Kath Dryden in 1989 and caused quite a<br />
stir. It’s still pricey and not as easy as<br />
‘Harvington Beauty’ for me. ✿<br />
Photos: alamy; shutterstock; wikicommons; ashwood nurseries<br />
30 <strong>Garden</strong> <strong>Answers</strong> Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 31
Next month in<br />
DON’T<br />
March<br />
MISS OUR<br />
ISSUE<br />
ON SALE 5<br />
FEBRUARY<br />
Choose<br />
perfect partners<br />
every time!<br />
How to combine plants for contrasts<br />
of texture, shape and colour<br />
l Tame prickly pyracantha – our expert shows how<br />
l Take inspiration from Beth Chatto’s dry garden<br />
l Get answers to your key wildlife questions<br />
l Grow delicious asparagus from crowns<br />
l Design a formal garden complete with lovely lawn<br />
l Buy the right garden fork with our buyers’ guide<br />
ALAMY<br />
PLUS all your favourites ✿ Jobs for the month ✿ Border planner<br />
✿ Ask <strong>Garden</strong> <strong>Answers</strong> ✿ Border rescue ✿ Puzzles and prizes