PUSHING THE BORDERS

I got back from my holiday last week, touring the country looking at gardens and have just started to sort through the pictures.


8, Kew 080713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

First day was a visit to Kew. The theme this year seems to be Edible plants, so the bedding in front of the Palm House is all vegetables.


6, Kew 080713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

I think the edible theme explains the giant model pineapple floating in the pond.


27, Kew 080713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

The Temperate House is still being cleared, though it is actually rather good with some open space. Hopefully they will replant it fully once the renovation is completed - they 'restored' the tropical aroid house in the 1980's and turned it into a venue for weddings.


51, Kew 080713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

The Princess of Wales Conservatory.


59, Kew 080713 (2) by John Jearrard, on Flickr

And the Alpine House with the shading unfurled, looking like a giant vulture pecking at the corpse of horticulture.


Fraxinus angustifolia, Kew 080713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

The plants are always good - Fraxinus angustifolia (spot the graft scar).


Excoecaria cochinchinensis 4, Kew 080713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

Excoecaria cochinchinensis, which I didn't know until I got the variegated form, and then I have had to look around for a couple of years to find out what the green one looks like.


Aristolochia arborea 4, Kew 080713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

Aristolochia arboea. The dark flowers spring directly from the trunk.


Medinilla magnifica, Kew 080713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

Medinilla magnifica. It isn't a rare plant, but a tropical house without a Medinilla is like a brothel without a prostitute.


36, Kew 080713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

The succulent border outside is looking good in the heat, though I think a lot of new things have been planted to make up for winter losses.


Yucca glauca 7, Kew 080713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

Yucca glauca in the Rock Garden. This is the best I have seen it in flower.

A long hot day getting used to the south east in summer!

Thanks for the pictures John, interesting to see that they are using air pots in their clearance of the Temperate house.

Day 2. A gentle drive round the M25 - what do you mean it's closed? Oh, marmalade!
Wakehurst Place has been described as 'Kew in the Country'. It has the grand buildings but it doesn't have the glasshouses
so it is more 'Kew light'.


2, Wakehurst Place 090713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

It is a magnificent garden, full of traditional 'set piece' borders. A good place for the second day of a holiday, baking in the Sussex sunshine.


3, Wakehurst Place 090713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

This border is in the walled garden.


12, Wakehurst Place 090713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

and I'm not quite sure what this is, but if I ever need one, I know where to look.



Telopea mongaensis, Wakehurst Place 090713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

Among the more exotic plants, Telopea mongaensis.


Stylidium dilatatum 1, Wakehurst Place 090713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

Stylidium dilatatum.



Furcraea parmentieri 1, Wakehurst Place 090713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

And Furcraea parmentieri.



Allium amethystinum 1, Wakehurst Place 090713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

Just a little garnish to finish off with. Allium amethystinum.
I seem to visit Wakehurst in the middle of summer, and I am sure the spring season is magnificent as well, autumn colour is probably good
and no doubt there is plenty for the winter. It is more of a Country House garden than a botanical collection and although it is enormous,
shaped like a ring doughnut (with a farm in the middle) much of it is spectacular but "wild" countryside. It takes about an hour to walk round the whole circuit but all the garden action
is close to the house.

AndyC wrote:Thanks for the pictures John, interesting to see that they are using air pots in their clearance of the Temperate house.

Andy, I think everything they have dug up is placed in air pots at least the cycads, palms, nanas etc all are.

John, I liked the temperate house being slightly empty as well, it is so different to the normal view you get in there. I think the succulent planting outside is dug up each autumn. There is only a small section in front of the main entrance to PoW house that has some plants left in it.

To my shame I have not made it to Wakehurst yet.

The M25 may have let me down this morning, but it was open again by lunchtime which allowed a quick whizz up the road to Wisley.



6, Wisley 090713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

The view down the hill towards the herbaceous borders is magnificent. I'm not so keem on the demonstration gardens that clutter up the top part of the
garden, but I suppose all that Chelsea tat has to go somewhere.


2, Wisley 090713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

The succulent bank is really doing well in the dappled shade of the trees. It has been released from its winter wrapping, a few new things have been added
and it is basking in the heat. It looks out over the trials ground, and I expect they are having watering problems out there.


Agave americana, Wisley 090713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

Agave americana survived the winter well in a plastic tent - if it gets large enough to flower it will be quite amazing.


Beschorneria yuccoides 1, Wisley 090713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

Beschorneria yuccoides is much more reliable. I like the rather random angles of the flower spikes and this bed is perfect with just the gravel and some rock - all the herbaceous
filling that once occupied the space has been removed and it is a great improvement.


Passiflora Silly Cow, Wisley 090713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

Passiflora 'Silly Cow' newly planted on the side of the Laboratory building. I would have it just for the name if I had a sunny wall.


Ceratostigna abyssinicum, Wisley 090713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

In the greenhouse, Ceratostigma abyssinicum makes a good ground cover. I don't know how hardy it is but it is starting to appear in nurseries - has anybody tried it outside?


17, Wisley 090713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

And finally the new crevice garden by the alpine house. It has been in place for a couple of years now and has started to mellow. Full of interesting things
that taunt you tantalisingly from the distance.

I am torn about the crevice garden, the plants are small and in places a very long way away. I think one of the best places to view it is from the path that runs along the back, there you can get much closer to actually see the plants.

I agree with you about the crevice garden, it is hard to see the plants on it, but on the other hand I am glad it is so large. I'm also not sure about the style. It isn't natural with its straight, vertical strata all perfectly arranged but somehow it is trying to be. However, it is unexpected, and surprisingly modern so I applaud it.

JohnJearrard wrote:I agree with you about the crevice garden, it is hard to see the plants on it, but on the other hand I am glad it is so large. I'm also not sure about the style. It isn't natural with its straight, vertical strata all perfectly arranged but somehow it is trying to be. However, it is unexpected, and surprisingly modern so I applaud it.

My impression of the crevice garden that it is not intended as a "modern" scupltural statement, rather that it is a direct attempt to mimic certain rocky habitats. I've seen formations like that in the mountains of New York State and I can picture them elsewhere, without being able to say exactly where ... perhaps it's a memory from a trip up the Oregon Coast in 1968.

My first thought upon seeing the photos was that they have done a bloody good imitation there.

EDIT: here you go:

Zdenek Zvolanek ... has been building these “crevice gardens”, inspired by the karst formations of his native Czech Republic

Another from the same article:

“In nature,” observes Paul [Cumbleton], “you don’t see many plants growing in horizontal crevices, whereas in vertical crevices you get a much bigger flora. The traditional British rock garden has horizontal layers, in effect, a stepped series of raised beds, where the rock has little influence on the plants.

“But in these deep crevices the roots are forced downwards, where you get much more constant temperature and moisture, and the plants grow much better in these more stable conditions.”

That's interesting, David. Thank you.
Have you tried vertical crevices on your roof? I know it would need a lightweight material for the rock, but presumably it would reduce the drought stress?

Day three and I'm starting to get the hang of the holiday thing. Rush around like mad, take plenty of photographs, eat all the wrong things and carry your dirty laundry around in the car.
A nice calm drive up the M11 (everybody was going the other way) to Cambridge University Botanic Garden.


51, Cambridge University Botanic Garden 100713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

I haven't been there for a very long time and I was interested to see how it had changed. One of those gardens that grows a lot of things you have never seen before. The order beds have a good proportion of native annuals
- the sort of things that have disappeared from modern wheatfields.


Dimorphotheca sinuata, Cambridge University Botanic Garden 100713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

Some of the annuals are not so native. Dimorphotheca sinuata from South Africa. I have only grown it once, magnificent for a month and then turned to straw in a matter of days. It is enjoying the hot weather of the eastern counties.



24, Cambridge University Botanic Garden 100713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

This is as good a meadow of annuals as I have ever seen. I'm a little worried that it seems to have been colour co-ordinated but meadows are currently very trendy so they're bound to get a little "precious".


11, Cambridge University Botanic Garden 100713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

The greenhouse complex is made up of a lot of sections like this one, linked by a corridor. A great mix of the common and the unfamiliar.


Clerodendrum schweinfurthii 1, Cambridge University Botanic Garden 100713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

Clerodendrum schweinfurthii completely new to me. I don't know if the complicated rootstock is normal or caused by the pruning technique. White flowers in clusters from the stems followed by fat white capsules with green 'eyes'.


Carmichaelia enysii 1, Cambridge University Botanic Garden 100713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

Carmichaelia enysii looking attractive in flower - I am used to seeing Carmichaelia with an odd flower or two lurking among the leafless twigs so I was bowled over by this.


Dioscorea balcanica, Cambridge University Botanic Garden 100713 by John Jearrard, on Flickr

And Dioscorea balcanica to end with something exotic. They were quite casually growing four species next to eachother. Not showing off, just showing how it's done.
Can't think why I left it so long to visit. Certainly a place to return to soon.