The English Garden January 2022

Matt Rees-Warren Matt is a Somerset-based head gardener and author. His articles appear in national and international publications and his book, The Ecological Gardener, is out now. He visits a Wiltshire mill on page 56. Naomi Slade Naomi is a journalist and author specialising in gardening and the environment. Her newest book, Lilies (Pavilion) is available at naomislade.com. She chats to Joe Sharman about his arums on page 81. Carol Smith Carol is a writer, author and award-winning designer, with a passion for creating sustainable gardens and inspiring her clients. She talks about a visual approach to creating the winter garden on page 87.…

We thought we’d kick off the new year with style, and bring you a selection of gardens that have been designed by some of the country’s top designers. We visit Tom Stuart-Smith’s own garden, The Barn in Hertfordshire; a watery Wiltshire millside garden designed by Arne Maynard; Urchfont Manor, recently landscaped by Del Buono Gazerwitz; garden designer Alasdair Cameron’s home garden at Silver Street Farm; and lastly, Holm House in Suffolk, part of which was originally designed by Janey Auchincloss. On top of that, there’s expert advice on planting design with Carol Smith’s simple approach to creating more winter interest in your garden by using different plant shapes. So lots of inspiration if you’ve earmarked 2022 as the year your garden gets a stylish transformation! If that sounds a bit too…

Philip Harkness The rose breeder and proprietor of Harkness Roses on the joys of creation and his pride in the company’s early move away from using chemicals The best aspect of my job is the moment when newly bred varieties begin to bloom. Every plant is unique, and it’s special to be the first person in the universe to gaze upon that particular combination of genes. Often the result isn’t particularly wonderful, but I live with great expectations. The hope and excitement always outweighs the disappointments. Rose breeding requires two key skills. First, a good understanding of each plant and the characteristics it will pass on helps when deciding on parent plant combinations. Second, it’s important to keep an open mind that is receptive to desirable qualities beyond personal taste. We tend to do…

Queen Mary’s Garden London This rose garden in the heart of Regent’s Park is beautifully maintained by the Royal Parks team and is a pleasure to be in. The garden features a good variety of roses too. Tel: 0300 0612300; royalparks.org.uk Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park Northern Ireland Beautiful undulating parkland surrounds the City of Belfast International Rose Garden, where you can see roses being trialled, a walled garden and a Japanese-style garden. Tel: 028 9032 0202; belfastcity.gov.uk…

Melancholy: A New Anatomy at the Bodleian Libraries Until 20 March, Oxford Objects from the Bodleian’s collection are used to explore mental health therapies over the 400 years since the publication of Robert Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy. The display shows how Burton’s book anticipated modern research into the impact of green spaces on wellbeing, along with factors such as diet, sleep, faith and exercise. Coordinate your visit with a trip to the Oxford Botanic Garden, which is also celebrating its 400th anniversary year. bodleian.ox.ac.uk; obga.ox.ac.uk Launch of ‘John Ystumllyn’ Rose Harkness Roses has collaborated with We Too Built Britain, a campaign that tells the stories of underrepresented people in Britain, to launch a new rose named after an ethnic minority gardener from the 18th century. As a child, John Ystumllyn was taken from Africa…

Sow CHILLIES Chilli peppers will benefit from an early start, so if you have a heated propagator, now’s the time to sow the seed of this spicy crop When you’re desperate for winter to end and willing spring to arrive, it can be so tempting to start seed sowing too early. For most crops it’s better to wait patiently than to get carried away and sow too soon. The resulting seedlings need so much mollycoddling to coax them through the rest of winter it’s just not worth it – later-sown counterparts are usually far healthier and more robust. But, if you’re itching to sow something, chillies are one of the few crops that benefit from an early start. Mid-January is the ideal time for cultivars of Capsicum chinense, such as habanero types, while…