The English Garden July 2022

Darryl Moore Darryl is an award-winning landscape designer, writer, tutor, and the director of Cityscapes. His book, Gardening in a Changing World, is out later this year. He visits the garden at Follers Manor on page 40. Tom Brown Tom is head gardener at West Dean in West Sussex, overseeing the glasshouses, orchards, ornamental borders and kitchen gardens. He also judges at RHS Flower Shows. He takes a look at passionflowers on p99. Emma Leyfield Specialising in observational watercolours and inspired by the golden age of illustration, Emma is passionate about traditional drawing. She shows us how to start a garden journal on page 133. IMAGE SAM STEPHENSON; JAYNE LLOYD…

More years ago than I care to remember, I helped judge a garden competition run by BBC Radio Cambridgeshire. The other judges and I were driven around the gardens that had made the shortlist, and it was in one of those that I saw the most spectacular display of penstemons I’ve ever witnessed. The photos I took are long lost and I can’t remember the name of the garden, but I’ve never forgotten the sight of them – there were masses, all in a dedicated border with some evergreens for company, all coral, magenta and ruby-red tones, and it was just gorgeous. They’re the subject of our Plant Focus this month, and they crop up in quite a few of the gardens in this issue, too: glowing in the Lavinia…

What they lack in showy looks, night scented stocks make up for with their fragrance, which is sweet, evocative and strongest at twilight. They are simplicity itself to grow: sow the seed between March and the end of June, wherever you want them to flower. That can be in the tops of containers on the terrace or into gaps at the fronts of borders – the closer to the doors and windows of the house, the better. Soon, the wispy, sprawling plants will emerge to fill the night air with fragrance, making suppers outdoors on balmy summer evenings memorably complete.…

Judith Blacklock The prolific writer, enthusiastic educator and eponymous owner of the Judith Blacklock Flower School has been teaching her floristry courses in London for more than 30 years My mother was part of the NAFAS (National Association of Flower Arranging Societies) movement in the 1950s. She would disappear off to work at places like the Chelsea Flower Show in the early hours of the morning and I vowed never to do anything similar! Yet here I am today, and I have to admit that flowers have become my greatest joy. After 12 years of teaching English abroad I came home and had two children. I needed a job that would fit in with them, and a lot of flower knowledge had entered my system via osmosis, so I took a floristry course…

Hazel Cottage Cumbria A wonderful flower arrangers’ garden in Armathwaite with quirky plants and a variety of foliage. It encompasses an abandoned rail cutting that has been planted up as a woodland walk. Opens for the National Garden Scheme. ngs.org.uk Holehird Gardens Cumbria There’s year-round interest at the home of the Lakeland Horticultural Society. In spring it’s bulbs galore; by summer, the walled garden is a must; in autumn the colours are spectacular; and in winter there are heathers and early rhododendrons to see. Tel: 015394 46008; holehirdgardens.org.uk…

Visit Shropshire Petal Fields From late July, Shropshire From the end of July, a brand-new experience opens at natural confetti growers Shropshire Petals, which will allow visitors to wander through a giant field of colourful British flowers, including delphiniums, sunflowers, cornflowers and native wildflowers. Stroll among myriad shades of bright pink, blue, purple, yellow and white, and bring children along to discover nature in the Forest of Fun. Visitors can take in views of the Shropshire countryside from a viewing platform, enjoy a variety of tasty foods, and buy freshly cut flower bouquets. Advance tickets: £8.95; children aged 2+: £5.95. shropshireflowerfield.co.uk on form at Asthall Manor 12 June-10July, Oxfordshire The much-loved sculpture exhibition returns to Asthall Manor this summer with a lineup of over 300 pieces from 39 stone sculptors. This year, the exhibition pays…