Spring 2015

I never knew that... I never cease to be amazed at the sheer breadth and depth of

knowledge and experience at a Plant Hunters’ Fair. It isn’t just our

hand-picked nurseryfolk but also the enthusiastic customers.

Last year I learnt about planting alpine bulbs, variegated

Eupatoriums, how to stop vine weevil getting into large tubs and

troughs and so much more at our fairs. People must have got bored

of me saying “I never knew that”.

It’s an old adage gardeners only stop learning when they stop

gardening and there’s not many gardeners who stop; even when the

body ceases to be willing the mind is still planning and anticipating

the changing seasons.

The theme of this spring’s newsletter is sharing knowledge and

experience and as always our nursery mem and women have come

up trumps with a wealth of interesting articles with something for every gardener to enjoy.

In 2014 a couple of our nurseries had the privilege of sharing their knowledge and gardens with a

national TV audience on Gardener’s World. You can read about some of their experiences in this

issue.

We also welcome new nurseries and artisans to our line-ups for 2015 including Studio 8 Pottery who

hopefully will be putting on some demonstrations of clay pot throwing at some of our fairs this year.

Dr. Steve Reynolds will also be back with his “What’s Up Doc” plant clinic at Arley Arboretum in July.

We have six new venues this year— Carsington Water in Derbyshire, Donington Le Heath Manor

House in Leicestershire, Middleton Hall in Staffordshire, Arley Arboretum in Worcestershire,

Abbeywood Gardens in Cheshire and British Ironwork Centre in Shropshire —all very different and

great days out. We are also returning to Arley Arboretum in Worcestershire after an absence of five

years—it’s great to be going back there.

We hope to see lots of you there this year.

Best wishes

Martin

Medieval lore from the herb garden at

Donington le Heath Manor House

We really enjoyed our visit to the medieval manor

at Donington le Heath to arrange our new

plant hunters’ fair and we were much taken

with the herb garden and the plant labels

explaining the historic use of the herb. We have

reproduced some throughout this newsletter. As

the saying goes: “don’t try this at home….”

B ugle (Ajuga reptans)

“Drinking results in strange fancies, strange sights in the night or voices”


Donington Le Heath Manor

New Faces: Paviour &

Davies

Mark and Susan introduce us to

their exciting new nursery

We are a small plant nursery based in North

Herefordshire and South American plants particularly

those from Chile are the focus of our nursery. Some of

the plants we grow will be familiar, while others may

not, as they have remained on the fringes of the British

horticultural landscape or disappeared from cultivation

altogether. Plants introduced in the mid 1800’s by

collectors such as William Lobb, George Downton and

Richard Pearce were sometimes inappropriately

regarded as ‘stove-house’ plants, being considered less

hardy than they have latterly indicated to be

Our aim is to re-acquaint the gardening public with an

expanding range of delightful plants. The geographic

spread of plants such as the podocarps, eucryphias,

aristotelias from South America in to Australasia offers

an exciting expansion of this theme.

Given appropriate soil conditions and consideration to

siting here are plants that offer the opportunity to try

something a little different. Alternatively, many are

suitable for terrace or conservatory. So, things to look

out for over the coming year include Azara

patagonica, Latua pubiflora, and Lobelia bridgesii from

Chile, Myrteola nummularia from Patagonia and the

Falkland Islands and Callitris rhomboidea from

Tasmania.

We also have a developing a range of less often

offered plants of more global distribution; those that we

hope to be of interest for supply to horticultural/

landscape design work, or are just interesting or quirky

for example Scopolia stramonifolia, (known as

Nepalese yak fodder).

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Paviour & Davies Plants

Office:

The Dame School Castle

Street Wigmore

Herefordshire HR6 9UA

Phone: 01568 770005

Mobile: 07966 580812

email: [email protected]

Paviour &

Davies Plant

Profile: Latua

pubiflora

This interesting and unusual

semi-deciduous, late winter

and early spring flowering

shrub is a Chilean native and

only found scattered in the

coastal cordilleras and Chiloé

Island.

First collected by William

Lobb on Chiloé in 1848 and

successfully introduced a

decade later by another of

Veitch’s collectors, Richard

Pearce from a mainland collection to the north of Lobb’s.

It figured in the Botanical Magazine in 1863 and was included in several other publications of the

time. In ‘Hortus Veitchii ‘1906 it was included in the chapter of ‘Stove and Greenhouse Plants’ and it

was also touted as a possible wall shrub before disappearing from gardens.

It is a shrub up to height & spread of 2.5 metres with spiny shoots and light green leaves bearing

beautiful magenta flowers typically in February-March (although can be a month either side). Semi-

deciduous, the majority of the leaves at flowering time are small clusters of much reduced size

leaving the flowers prominent. Flattened spherical pale-yellow fruits follow.

Latua is a member of the Solanaceae family. The name Latua is derived from the Mapuche Indian

name Latué -‘causes something to die’, while the Spanish name of Palo mato -‘the tree that kills’

points to its standing in folk lore. It is often referred to as ‘The sorcerer’s tree’ in modern literature.

Thus, careful siting and handling should be considered, as for other commonly grown ‘toxic’ garden

plants such as yew, monkshood or laburnum.

In Herefordshire, it has shown itself to be hardy to at least -8°C as a wall shrub and as equally hardy

as a free-growing plant in a sheltered position with good sun and protection from cold winds. It

grows best in a rich, moist, free-draining soil, and is quite a heavy feeder. A deep layer of mulch

applied in autumn will help protect the base of the stems and roots, and should it be damaged by cold

will re-shoot from the base.

Mark and Susan will be at our fairs at Bodenham Arboretum this year

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Garden Safari with SpecialPerennials:

Rhinoceros

Ever seen a rhinoceros in your garden? Probably not. Well

Janet found this one hiding under a pot in our garden last

summer. It’s a rhinoceros beetle (Sinodenron cylindricum) .

It is a flying beetle mainly active between June and autumn

with the larvae living in dead wood, often stumps. This is a

male—the female lacks the “horn”.

Puzzled by the strange surface its on? - it’s Janet’s rubber

glove!

Keeping us all even and

regular at Hodnet Hall (and

more besides!)

Ross Underwood gets things moving in

the peach house

Like many of you I have been watching the comings and goings of

the Crawley family in TV's "Downton Abbey". Yet I am left with just

one question, 'where are all the gardeners?'. Every large house was

supplied with fruit, vegetables and flowers. Hodnet Hall still retains

its kitchen garden.

Our acre is surrounded by wonderful red brick walls and still does

everything that it always has. Vegetables are grown on organic

principles which go to supply the house whilst orchids, peonies,

sweet peas and chrysanthemums in succession fill the rooms with

colour.

This past winter we have been concentrating on the fruit grown in

the garden. This also finds its way to the kitchen in the 'big house'

where much is used for jam making and other preserves. We have

removed some unproductive plum trees that had been trained on

the walls. These were probably planted 50 years ago and had come

to the end of their productive lives. After cutting down the trees a

cubic metre of soil was removed and replaced along with copious

amounts of manure and compost. Of our new trees one is a green

gage, one is of course 'Victoria' and another is 'Marjorie's seedling'.

We have also been making strenuous efforts in the peach house.

This was originally used for vines but at some point in the past

these were removed and replaced with peaches. This must have

been some time ago as they had grown into venerable specimens.

Recently these trees had been suffering from bleeding canker, a

bacterial disease, which had encircled the main trunks and killed the

plants.

They obviously had to be removed but replaced with what? In the

end we decided to go with figs. Figs do not need to be grown under

glass but they will produce an early crop if given protection.

Figs are generally pest and disease free but they are vigorous.

Naturally they come from areas of the world where drought, poor

soils and aridity are features of the climate. In cultivation those

conditions have to be replicated as far as possible otherwise the

plant produces growth at the expense of fruit.

The traditional method (which we adopted) is to plant figs in a box

that contains the

roots. We used 3ft x

2ft concrete slabs

reclaimed from one

of the houses on the

estate. We made

three such boxes into which we will put brick rubble

and loam. This will restrict the roots and concentrate

the plants efforts on fruit production.

V alerian

(Valeriana officinalis) “An excellent medicine for loosening

the bowel and for hysteric complaints” - Culpepper



“The traditional method (which we

adopted) is to plant figs in a box that

contains the roots”

In nature figs are pollinated exclusively by a species of wasp which

completes its entire life cycle on the plants. However figs do not

need a pollinator. The flowering parts are actually contained within

the fruit (that is what you eat). 'Brown Turkey' (the variety with an

AGM) which we have planted has all female flowers and can produce

two crops per year by parthenocarpy or without sexual

reproduction.

Syrup of figs anyone?

Hodnet Hall Gardens, Hodnet, Market Drayton, Shropshire TF9 3NN Phone: 01630 685786 www.hodnethallgardens.org

Join us at the 60 acre Hodnet Hall Gardens on

Saturday 30th & Sunday 31st May

10am-5pm

Entry is just £3.50

Guided tours for pre- booked groups of 20+

Pottertons Plant Profile:

Trillium kurabayashii

Rob Potterton on a Trillium worth waiting for

Trillium kurabayashii is a desirable species of Trillium. Here its

seedlings have been lifted out of the soil by recent frosts, after

the photograph (1) was taken we covered them over with a mix

of bark, gravel and soil. These are 1-2 years old, usually it take 7

to 10 years from the seed sow date to reach flowering size.

Rob is at most Plant Hunters’ Fair or buy by mail order from www.pottertons.co.uk

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Double delight at

Dearnford Lake

Spring and summer fairs at

this Shropshire haven.

Our first fair at this lovely Shropshire

destination was a great success with plant

lovers, nurseries and the venue so we’ve

decided to run two fairs there this year.

The fairs completely free to visitors including

easy parking, lakeside walks and access to

the restaurant.

We kick off our plant fair season at

Dearnford on Sun 22nd March and

then return on Sunday 2nd August.

We all look forward to the first fair of the

season and its great to be first to discover the

new plants in the nurseries ranges.

Potterton’s alpines should be looking good

with plenty of early flower to inspire you.

It’s not just spring flowers you’ll find at our

early fairs—it’s the ideal time to plant late

season plants to give them a good start.

Martin from SpecialPerennials, who always

have a great selection of late bloomers says

“don’t forget that late flowering plants can be

planted now as well as in the autumn and the

they will get away quickly to give a good show

by the summer. People are always amazed

that tall herbaceous perennials will grow from

a few inches high in March to their full

flowering height all in the course of a single

season”.

We have a brilliant line-up of nurseries to

browse as well as vintage garden tools from

the ever popular Fair Field Garden Bygones and hand-thrown pots from Studio 8 Pottery.

So get ahead of rest and get down to Dearnford in March.

Dearnford Lake, Tilstock Road, Whitchurch,

Shropshire SY13 3JQ phone: 01948 258639


website: www.dearnford.com

Twitter: @dearnford

L ady’s Mantel (Alchemilla

vulgaris) “A wound healer. A sprig placed under the bed bringeth sleep”



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Sunday 22nd March 10am-4pm

and Sunday 2nd August 10am-4pm

Free entry, free parking.

http://www.twitter.com/dearnford

For peats sake

Susan Norman on the big switch to

peat-free at Conquest Plant Nursery

In the summer of 2013 the post arrived at the nursery as

normal, sometimes an hour earlier; sometimes an hour

later but what was different was the glaring headline on

the front cover of a large compost supplier newsletter

flyer. “The Government deadline for the elimination of peat

use by public sector bodies is looming”. This was then

illustrated with an image of a clock ticking showing 2015 –

not that far away!

We had been talking about going peat free on and off over

the last few years and had even done some trials some

years ago when it was first mooted and The National Trust

decided overnight they weren’t stocking plants grown in

peat. Besides which we like to be a bit conservation and

wildlife friendly. Unfortunately, this early trial had been

unsuccessful with plenty of lush growth on top but little root action underneath, a nightmare to water

and feed and so we had resorted back to our peat mix compost.

So what was different this time? The image on the flyer

certainly captured our attention and with us growing a

majority of shrubs we needed to allow time for plants to

root in time for 2015. Our local supplier had mislaid our

compost formula and our compost mix had never been

quite the same, besides which the wetter winters were

causing saturated pots on our standing beds preventing

adequate drainage for plants roots.

After attending a trade show and visiting a number of

compost supplier exhibits for research it was evident that

major advances had been made in the last few years to

provide more consistent peat free compost and we made

our decision to go peat free starting from last year. We

decided to use the company Melcourt and their Sylvamix®

Special compost a mixture of composted bark fines and

coir, incorporating a slow release feed and a bioinsecticide

for vine weevil control. The reason for choosing this

compost is that it doesn’t contain green waste which can

sometimes result in inconsistent quality of compost and

plant growth. After all our cuttings supplier was using the

same Sylavamix® compost and we hadn’t noticed any lack

of quality.

We started trialling it on herbaceous perennials. The results

were amazing, vibrant foliage, good root action in almost

the same time as before and really healthy plants. This was also emphasised by the public’s

comments and reaction at plant fairs last year. We then moved onto potting herbs which appear to

love the free drainage compost and have produced the best herb plants we have ever grown.

Towards late summer last year we potted our shrubs (excluding acid (ericaceous) loving shrubs) into

peat free compost and all are showing similar results which should be ready in time for our plant fairs

this year.

Did we make the right decision – we think so? This professional peat free compost has

proved to have many advantages besides producing excellent growing results. We have Cont.….

“The results were amazing, vibrant foliage,

good root action in almost the same time as

before and really healthy plants”.

“shrubs (excluding acid (ericaceous) loving

shrubs) into peat free compost and all are

showing similar results.”

found it light to use and this means pots are lighter for

general handling and to load the van for plant fairs than

peat or loam based compost. Weeding has been reduced

and there is less moss and liverwort on top of the pots due

to the better porosity of the compost making a tidier

looking plant. The biggest change has been in re-educating

ourselves in how to water plants grown in peat free

compost because although the plant may look dry on the

top of the pot and the pot itself is generally lighter it

doesn’t necessarily mean that it is in need of water. Having

that inch of dryness on the top of the pot does help to

reduce weed seed, moss and liverwort growth and because

of the peat free compost structure it is naturally free

draining so will only hold sufficient water to sustain the

plant - easily checked by randomly tapping the plant out of

the pot. Less water and more often appears to be the way

which means you don’t waste water by having it run out of

the pots or leeching fertiliser. If the pots do become dry

they re-wet easily. For the small nursery it is available in

smaller bulk quantities making it ideal, as well as supplying

the needs of the larger scale nursery.

So why am I telling you about this? You would think we

were receiving a commission, which we are not. It’s

because we are so impressed with this product we thought

we would let you into a secret that Melcourt have also

launched professional peat free compost called SylvaGrow®

specifically for the amateur passionate gardener to use. So

if you like the way our plants grow and whatever your

reason for changing to peat free compost whether to reduce

the environmental impact on peat bogs, grow better plants, provide better plant drainage or like the

fact you are using a sustainable product why not enquire at your local compost supplier and you can

be growing plants as good as ours. We look forward to hearing your comments at future plant fairs.

Anthony and Susan Norman Conquest Plants Nursery Leek Road, Bosley, Macclesfield, Cheshire SK11 0PP Tel: 01260 223793 email: [email protected]

“No moss and liverwort”.

New Faces: Bridge Farm Plants

Derbyshire’s Bridge Farm Plants are our newest perennial

specialists

Alison Farnsworth runs a small nursery specialising in, well quite a variety of plants, being an

incurable plant addict!

Alison says “we have a wide selection of rare and unusual plants including: Shade Loving / Tolerant

Plants including rarely offered Pulmonarias, Brunneras, Lamiums, Epimediums, selected Hellebores,

Asarums, Aconites, Acteaes, and ferns, Variegated Plants, Green flowering plants and

shrubs, Large selections of Digitalis, Nepeta, Sedum, Thalictrum, Borderline Hardy / Tender

perennials including Salvias, Heliotropes and Scented Geraniums.”

“We propagate and grow most of my plants - in fact this all started as a result of our hobby and love

of plants!”

You can meet Alison and her plant addictions at of the fairs in the east of our region—see our website

for details.

mailto:[email protected]

Fill those

garden gaps

at Bodenham

Arboretum The free to enter Plant

Hunters’ Fair returns to

Bodenham Arboretum on

Saturday 11th April w ith

the brilliant selection of plant

nurseries and sundries that

local gardeners have come to

expect.

It’s a great time to give your beds

and borders a spring clean and plant something new to fill those gaps. With every type of plant from

alpines to acers, clematis to centaurea, geums to grevilleas and most things in between there’s

always plenty to tempt even the most experienced gardener, and for the new gardener there’s plenty

of free, honest advice to be had from the expert plants people.

This April the fair welcomes back old favourites like SpecialPerennials from Cheshire with their great

range of plants for a nature-friendly flower garden including their National Collection of heleniums

that so delighted Carol Klein on BBC Gardener’s World last summer.

Another TV featured nursery travels all the way from Cornwall: - Roseland House always have lots of

lovely climbers including Clematis, Honeysuckle and old roses.

New to the fair are Paviour & Davies from Herefordshire who grow many rare and unusual southern

hemisphere plants. Lyneal Mill Nursery with wild species plants are another new face.

Studio 8 Pottery are first-timers too with their own made hand-thrown pots, planters and

kitchenware.

RHS medallists include Potterton’s Alpines all the way from Lincolnshire; Packhorse Farm (Acers)

from Derbyshire; Hall Farm Nursery from Shropshire and local stars Cotswold Garden Flowers, The

Cottage Herbery and Hillview Hardy Plants.

In all we have 19 stalls lined up to date.

So whether its alpines, trees, shrubs, bee-friendly perennials, plants for shade, climbers, herbs,

spring bulbs, pots, garden furniture, variegated and foliage plants you are sure to find something to

fill those gaps and creating a blooming brilliant garden this year.

Bodenham Arboretum is situated between the A442 and A449 just north of Kidderminster –

use postcode DY11 5TB for SatNav. The fair is open from 11am to 5pm. Entry to the fair

and parking is free as is access to the restaurant. The arboretum is open and optional entry

is at normal ticket prices.

Bodenham Arboretum

Wolverley, Kidderminster, Worcestershire

DY11 5SY

Phone: 01562 852444

Website: www.bodenham-arboretum.co.uk

Saturday 11th April and

Saturday 5th September

11am—5pm

Free entry, free parking.

Spring superstars

Paul Green with spring’s stalwarts

and rising stars

Brunnera: macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’ is certainly not

new or rare. Blue forget-me-not flowers in spring are the

bonus; the leaves are the stars for me. We rate this

highly and will keep it in the range, as well as adding

other good silver marked forms like ‘Looking Glass’ and

‘Sea Heart’. ‘Diane’s Gold’ has gold tinged foliage. They

are hardy perennials for moist, shady borders. Cut back

everything after flowering and the new leaves are then

big and bold.

Weigela: One of those plants that has seen a great

deal of interest recently. Newer varieties we grow include:

‘Pink Poppet’ – a lovely compact one with pretty large

pink flowers. An excellent bet for containers or the front

of borders.

‘Monet’ – it’s a steady grower, always compact. Pink

tinges on the white variegation are much stronger than

other cultivars.

Polemonium: “Jacob’s Ladder”. Here are a couple of

exceptional cultivars we grow. Neither will seed around,

this usually being one of the vices of the genus.

Exceptionally hardy and easy, they just need reasonable

soil that doesn’t get too dry. They can be cut back after

flowering to encourage more flowers.

‘Heaven Scent’ – a fairly new and quite exceptional one.

Leaves are purple early in the season, turning greener

through the season. The pun in the name tells you it’s

scented –not the strongest, but nice.

‘Northern Lights’ – much smaller leaves of paler green colour. Sweetly scented blue flowers are really

special.

Helleborus: ‘Anna’s Red’ and ‘Molly’s White’ are great newer varieties with mottled leaves as well

as stunning flowers. For abundance of blooms, I reckon Helleborus ‘Emma’ will take some beating. This one has

lovely dark green foliage.

Paul & Helen Green 36 Ford House Rd, Newent, Gloucestershire GL18 1LQ tell:01531 820154 / 07890 413036 website: www.greensleavesnursery.co.uk Email: [email protected]

J acob's Ladder (Polemonium caeruleum)

“for trembling palpitations of the heart and the vapours” - Culpepper



S neezewort (Achillea ptarmica) “to treat fatigue, flatulence and

toothache” - Culpepper



“For abundance of blooms, I reckon

Helleborus ‘Emma’ will take some beating. ”

Come on a Shropshire

Safari

All in a good cause at the British

Ironwork Centre

Our newest Plant Hunters’ Fair at the British Ironwork Centre

near Oswestry in Shropshire promises something new and

completely different.

The British Ironwork Centre not only boasts a working smithy

and a showroom featuring the biggest choice of quality British

ironware for both indoors and garden use but also the

Shropshire Sculpture Park featuring a safari in ironwork that

has to be seen to be believed!

The fair will also raise money for a very worthy cause—all the

entrance monies will be donated to Hope House Children’s

Hospices.

Hope House provide specialist nursing care and support to life-limited children, young people and

young adults from Shropshire, Cheshire, North and Mid Wales.

Your help is vital so that Hope House can provide the care and support that the children, young

people and families so desperately need. They must raise over £4 million every year to maintain their

services and receive just one month's funding from statutory bodies.

So come along and enjoy the safari, smithy and of the plants and help raise funds for this worthy

cause.

The British Ironwork Centre Whitehall Aston , Oswestry Shropshire SY11 4JH

E-mail: [email protected] Phone 08006888386 website: www.britishironworkcentre.co.uk

Sunday 17th May

10am-5pm

Entry to plant fair £1.00 in aid of Hope

House

Free parking.

Get carried away at

the N.M.A.

So many temptations at the

National Memorial Arboretum

Our three annual plant fairs at this inspiring and

constantly developing venue are becoming

increasingly popular with plant lovers. And why

not? There’s always so much to choose from,

entry is free with just a small parking charge, and

there is always something new to see at the

arboretum which is growing before our eyes.

Coming to the arboretum at regular times I get to

see a snapshot of the growth and development.

The trees along Yeomanry Avenue are now giving

us some shelter from the sun and wind and there

are always new artworks and memorials to

discover and admire.

Our three dates start with Saturday 28th

March—slightly earlier than usual

followed by our traditional Chelsea

Flower Show weekend date of Saturday

23rd May. Our final visit of the season is

on Saturday 1st August.

The N.M.A. makes an idea stop-off point to break

a longer journey and we always get visitors from

all over the country at these events.

Free entry means the fairs are just as suitable for a quick browse and a cuppa in the restaurant as it

is for a whole day’s outing.

Whatever your plans you can’t avoid getting carried away with all the wonderful plants!

National Memorial Arboretum Croxall Road Alrewas Staffordshire DE13 7AR Tel: 01283 792333 Email:: [email protected] website: www.thenma.org.uk

28th March,

23rd May,

1st August.

(these are all Saturdays)

10am-4:30pm

Free entry to arboretum and fair.

(Pay and display parking)

W oodfuff (Galium

oderatum) “Dry leaves deter insects. Treateth circulatory disorders”



The plant fair is on Yeomanry Avenue not far from

the visitor centre and restaurant. There is good flat

access to the fair.

S oapwort (Saponaria officinalis) “Rubbing the plant with water produces a gentle soapy later. Also gives beer a foaming head”



Taking stock Jane Allison of Mayfields Plants takes us

through her garden in mid winter

Spring seems a very long way off when looking out on a wind-battered garden in early January.

A walk up the borders can be quite dispiriting at first glance, but look harder and all sorts of things have been happening.

The big clumps of silvery Lychnis ‘Angel’s Blush’ have doubled in size, with the central plant dying off, and producing a ring of neat seedlings which will provide the new season’s white flowers with their characteristic dab of pink in the middle. A circle of Lunaria ‘Corfu Blue’, which I planted too late last year for it to flower, has put on a lot of new growth, thanks to the mild run up to Christmas. Their dark blue flowers will provide a beautiful ‘skirt’ around the sundial in late June.

All the potentillas have died back to form tight rosettes of new leaves which have gamely survived the first hard frosts. ‘Arc-en-Ciel‘, ’Jean Jabber’, ’Monsieur Rouillard’ and ‘William Rollison’ will provide vibrant reds and yellows in various combinations for the front of the border, vying with the geums which have plenty of new green growth curled secretly beneath the old brown leaves. You can’t beat geums for early season colour, and I have my favourites! Pale yellow ‘Lemon Drops’, ‘Poco’ with its lovely open, deep gold, cupped flowers, and ‘Beech House Apricot’ which was one of the very first geums I bought to start my stock, and has been showing off its pale apricot flowers ever since.

Monarda ‘Gardenview Scarlet’, which lies in a rather damp (but not waterlogged) part of the border, has spread out into a a low cushion, and will love the extra moisture.

The cardoon (Cynara cardunculous) has developed a strong basal shoot, and I haven’t cut off the seed head yet, as the goldfinches are enjoying the seeds, along with the teasel heads. I have left the small quinces where they have fallen from the Chaenomeles ‘Geisha Girl’, and the blackbirds are steadily demolishing them. This is a great shrub for early colour, with its salmon-pink, neatly cupped petals putting on a very good show up the fence.

In the shady border, I do not expect to see the astrantias or corydalis for a while yet, but there are plenty of seedlings from the former, which I was careful to avoid when giving the border its last weeding of the season. Epimedium x warleyense still has plenty of waxy green leaves amongst the brown, and I will be cutting those off next month so that I can see the lovely sunset coloured flowers.

The Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’ has already sent up some fresh new growth under the contorted hazel (Corylus avellana contorta ‘Red Majesty’), and there is a beautiful display of Arum italica beneath the bare stems of the roses. My favourite geranium Geranium oxonianum ‘Lace Time’ has produced quite a lot of new growth, after being cut back very hard in October, and, as usual, hasn’t been worried by the frosts. Growing beneath three vigorous roses, and a high fence, this will produce its perfectly shaped mounds of fresh green foliage and plenty of white, delicately laced with pink, flowers from spring onwards.

I planted lots of foxgloves here in September, and they have produced some strong clumps in readiness for bursting into a glorious display of apricots, whites, lilacs and yellows in June and July. ‘Sugar Plum’, ‘Snow Thimble‘, ‘Pam‘s Choice’, ‘Apricot Delight’ ‘Speckled Spires’ to name just a few of them. Right against the fence is D. ferruginous gigantea, which will shoot up to 5’ like an exclamation mark. This will be one of the most bee-visited parts of my garden.

My asters performed well last season, particularly ‘Alma Potsche’, which attracted lots of late-arriving Red Admiral butterflies in September. A closer look reveals plenty of strong basal growth.

“Potentillas will provide vibrant

reds and yellows ”.

“’Lace Time’ has produced new

growth, after being cut back hard”.

Cont.….

So: not as dispiriting as it first appeared! The one concern, of course, is that the early new growth will be blasted by a series of hard frosts, so we must all cross our fingers. However, I deliberately grow very hardy perennials for sale: no-one wants to invest in a ‘whimp’!

I will be at many of the Plant Hunters Fairs’ lovely venues this coming season, and the majority of the above mentioned herbaceous perennials will be available on my tables, together with lots of other ‘goodies’.

I have a new talk in preparation, which garden societies can book this year for their 2016 programmes. During this year I will be going on a number of country walks, and will be photographing the flowers of rivers and stream sides, meadows, woodlands, ancient churchyards and rural cottage gardens. A little bit of ‘old England’ in fact! Please have a look at the Talks section on my website.

Mayfields', Birch Lane, Stanthorne, Middlewich, Cheshire CW10 9JR Phone 01606 841591 [email protected] www.mayfieldsplants.com

“Digitalis ferruginea gigantea,

will shoot up 5’ like an

exclamation mark”.

SpecialPerennials Plant Profile:

Centaurea orientalis

Of all the varieties in our National Collection of Centaurea

perhaps the most eye-catching are the yellow-flowered

types. Of these Centaurea orientalis is the perhaps the best

garden plant.

Admittedly she has smaller flowers than C. Macrocephala

(Giant Knapweed) but she has more grace and poise, is

shorter and, most importantly, has a far longer flowering

period.

Hailing from southeast Europe she revels in a sunny site and

dryish soil. Given reasonable conditions she will flower from

June through September and will be hardy through the

winter. Her height is about 1ft 6in—2ft by the end of

summer.

SpecialPerennials are at most of our fairs or you can buy by

mail order from www.specialperennials.com


Hummingbird

The first time I spotted a hummingbird hawk moth for a second I

was fooled and wondered where this exotic bird had escaped from,

Then I realised it was far too small and was in a fact a hawk moth.

They are common in garden in early summer and unlike most

moths they are active in the daytime.

Watch out for them visiting plants with tubular flowers—their long

tongues enable them to get to nectar out of the reach of other

insects. In our garden they especially like Nepeta and Salvia.

Restoration and renewal at

Weston Park

Head Gardener Martin Gee on the continual

effort for the perfect stately garden

Over the last 20 years the gardens at Weston have been going

through a programme of restoration by the Weston Park Foundation,

the charity that owns and maintains Weston.

Work started in the Formal Gardens in 1991 where we re-instated the

box hedging and parterre and re-designed the Rose Garden. We

then moved onto the Teardrop and Rose Walk which were restored to

their original glory.

Over the last two years my team and I have been busy creating two

new gardens of memory on the estate. Lady Anne and Lady Joan

were sisters to the 6th Earl and while Lady Anne lived to the grand

age of 94, her sisters life was tragically cut short at the age of 19 in

1931 following a riding accident.

Following Lady Anne’s death in 2009, her family made a generous be-

quest to the Foundation to create a garden in her memory and to re-

store Lady Joan’s cascade garden in Temple Wood.

These gardens are now starting to reach maturity and are beautiful

places to stroll through and feature flowering trees and shrubs, a re-

stored water cascade and water loving plants.

In line with the work undertaken in the gardens we have also been busy

over the last ten years restoring the Parkland to Capability Brown’s

original vision in readiness to celebrate the 300th anniversary of his

birth in 2016. We are fortunate to have one of only five remaining ex-

amples of a Brown Pleasure Ground in the country, Temple Wood, and

we have dredged Temple Pool, removed rhododendrons and opened up

views and vistas across to the Knoll Tower in the distance – whilst re-

maining sympathetic to the legacy of previous generations.

The Walled Garden hasn’t been forgotten either! This area is

already home to a yew hedge maze, apple and pear orchards,

chickens (whose eggs are delicious!) and rare breed sheep.

In the northern corner we have started work on a contempo-

rary garden which includes sculptures and a wild flower mead-

ow.

We are looking forward to welcoming visitors in May and for

our new date in September - there is so much for them to ex-

plore and I will certainly be on the lookout for new additions

to Weston’s gardens from the nurseries attending.

Weston Park, Weston-under-Lizard Shropshire TF11 8LE

Phone: 01952 852100

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.weston-park.com

Don’t miss the wonderful gardens, 1000 acre

parkland, bluebell walks and so much more.

The house is open from 1pm (separate charge)

Early May Holiday Sunday & Monday 3rd & 4th

May 10am—5pm £3.00

Sunday 13th September 10am-4pm £2.50

The second season

Charlie Pridham of Roseland House Nursery

in search of the Holy Grail

It is I suppose the holy grail of planting schemes that you get more than a few weeks interest from the plants you chose, especially those plants that are in someway structural or permanent. So alt-hough I am happy to grow climbers that have 6 weeks of flower or interest in summer, I always consider it a bonus when later in the year the fruit or leaves give me more. Here are a few that have caught my eye whilst writing this during the colder part of the year.

Cestrum newelii, with the mild winter last year this is coming up to 12 solid months of being continuously in flower, the flowers are very showy but the stems leaves and fruits are quite attractive as well. Not 100% hardy its long flowering season definitely makes it worth the effort as a wall shrub.

Bomarea, in particular Bomarea edulis is a long flowering and free seeding climber which succeeds in looking as good in autumn fruit as it does in summer flower. Perfectly hardy anywhere the ground doesn’t freeze to depth, grow it like potatoes

Akebia, all the Akebia will produce these edible fruits in the Autumn, you do tend to get a better crop if you grow two unrelated plants close together. Holboellia do much the same and are more evergreen than the former.

Lonicera or Honeysuckles often have bright orange or red fruit de-pending on species, our native L. periclymenum has some of the best and the more unusual Lonicera subaquelis has a darker red fruit that the birds tend to ignore.

Lastly Vitis ‘Purpurea’ grown of course for its leaf colours all summer long, but being a grape vine is perfectly capable of producing heavy crops of dark red grapes along with the intensifying leaf colours of autumn

Charlie and Liz Pridham Roseland House Chacewater Truro Cornwall TR4 8QB Phone:01872 560451 email: [email protected] website: www.roselandhouse.co.uk

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Elephant

An elephant in the garden might cause some problems, but

elephant hawk moths in both adult and caterpillar forms are

always welcome in our garden. The caterpillars feed on a

variety of plants include the weed rose-bay willow herb. The

adults are often found resting in the daytime and are one of

the most beautiful of all British insects.

V ervain (Verbena officinalis)

“for jaundice, dropsy, gout, worms, coughs, wheezing and shortness of breath. Use with honey for ulcers and fistulas”



To the manor born

Were coming to Donington Le

Heath Manor for our first foray into

Leicestershire

It’s really exciting to bring Plant Hunters’ Fairs to a new

county. This year we are coming to the heart of

Leicestershire to the wonderfully evocative venue of

Donington Le Heath Manor House near Coalville.

The Medieval Manor House dates back to 1280 and has

a fascinating history and was owned by one of the

Gunpowder Plotters!

Donington le Heath Manor House is a surviving example

of a family home built around seven hundred years ago

and modernised in 1618. Surrounding the Manor

House, are period gardens and woodland planted as

part of the development of the National Forest. The

gardens, re-created in a 17th century style, include

flower and herb gardens, an ornamental maze and an

orchard.

The Old Barn Team Room will be open serving home

baked cakes, light lunches and a range of hot and cold

drinks.

The whole site is steeped in history and access to

everything is included in the £1.00 entry charge, all of

which goes to the Friends of the Manor to help continue

their work in maintaining and restoring the site.

Of course we have a great line-up of nurseries, all

looking forward to coming into Leicestershire with their

brilliant, nursery-grown plants.

Make sure you visit the herb garden for some of its

medieval lore.

Donington Le Heath, Coalville Leics LE67 2FW E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 01530 831259 website: www.doningtonleheath.com

Saturday 9th May

10am—4pm

Entry to plant fair, house , gardens and

grounds just £1.00 which goes to The

Friends of Donington Manor

Leicestershire’s Medieval Manor House

The recreated 17th century herb garden

Explore Tudor style rooms and everyday life

Phlox for Foliage

Martin Blow of SpecialPerennials on

how phlox offer more than fragrant

flowers

We make no excuses: we’re phlox fanatics and we can’t get

enough of these beautiful old fashioned border favourites—

and it is the border varieties that I go for. Janet and I

started growing phlox about 10 years ago and now we have

over 70 varieties in our garden in south Cheshire.

What’s not to love about them? - they have elegant, long

lasting flowers,, coupled with a garden-filling fragrance

especially on warm evenings.

They are easy to grow, tough and long-lived but one

thing that often gets overlooked is that many have very

attractive foliage from the moment they poke though

the soil in early February until at least mid-summer and

in some cases beyond.

Those with red or bronze foliage have their best colour

from the first until just before flowering these include

Sandringham, Kirchenfürst, Tenor, Newbird and in my

opinion the best, Blue Paradise.

Phlox Anne has almost beige leaves in spring and Miss

Pepper dark purple.

Some like Starfire and Logan Black keep their foliage

colour right through the flowering season.

There are also variegated phlox with more new varieties

coming every year. Norah Leigh is an old favourite and

Elisabeth as a newer type (by the way she seems to be

identical to the variety Becky Towe).

Some say that the variegated leaves clash with the

flower colour but I love the combinations available as

they go with both pastel and bold colour schemes.

We will have a great range of phlox especially at the

early season plant fairs—they sell out by summer! We

specialise in border phlox and have over 40 varieties for

sale this year.

You can meet us at most Plant Hunters’ Fairs this year or

buy by mail order from our website specialperenials.com

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Adlington Hall, Mill Lane, Macclesfield, Cheshire SK10 4LF Tel: 01625 827 595 Email: [email protected] website: www.adlingtonhall.com

NEW DATE: Sunday 10th May

10:30am-4pm

Entry to gardens, grounds and plant

fair £3:00 (half normal garden price).

Free parking. Dogs on leads welcome.

Seventh Heaven at Adlington

Anthony O’Grady, head gardener on history

and change at Adlington

This year will be the seventh time we have hosted the Plant

Hunters Fair at Adlington which is a sure sign of a successful

event. Part of its success is due to the layout with the nurseries

displaying the plants on the cobbled east courtyard of the Hall.

This leaves the surrounding gardens free to be explored by the

visitors in their own time or on one of the many free guided

tours I conduct throughout the day. I am delighted that a great

many visitors are now regulars at the fair and even on my

guided tours. Such people realise that a garden is not a static

thing to be seen and appreciated

once but a constantly changing and

inspiring natural work of art.

We have subtly changed many

aspects of the gardens since last

year but even if we had not it would

be different. The long history of the

gardens at Adlington is evident in

many ways but none more so than

when admiring the many mature

trees and shrubs planted throughout

the 18th and 19th centuries. Keen

plant hunters will be able to spot

rare forms of Oak, Beech,

Sycamore, Holly, giant specimen

redwood and Chilli Pine. The Chilli

Pine is better known as the Monkey

Puzzle tree and the species at

Adlington are said to be largest in

Cheshire. However, more significant

is the fact we have today discovered

a self sown seedling Monkey Puzzle

near the river in the ‘Wilderness’

occurrence indeed.

The benign environment that is the

‘Wilderness’ will be at a peak of

beauty when the Plant Fair is on with

the Bluebells in full bloom, do not

miss out.

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New Faces: Studio 8

Pottery

Nathan Bettam and Al Higgins hand-

make and fire traditionally thrown

ceramics at their Staffordshire pottery.

Al told me about how it all came about: “Nathan and I got

together as a potting duo when, I initially needed help with the

packing and firing the kiln (I have a back injury). My Daughter,

Immy, also a potter, knew of this very able chap living a couple

of miles away who had graduated from Cardiff the previous year.

“

“Whilst firing the wood kiln we got to respect each other’s

capabilities, and realized we had very similar values

and enthusiasms, i.e. a love of throwing big practical pots, and

the superb effects you get by firing with wood. We formed a co-

operative (we remain the core of the set up, but with occasional

help from friends and neighbours).”

“We decided upon a strategy of making garden wares in the

spring and summer, complementing this with very traditional

cookware and country kitchen staples sold at farmers

markets during the rest of the year.”

“I`ve always loved gardening, I was one of those sad kids who

read seed catalogues under the blankets rather than literature of

a more dubious nature. I hope this translates into understanding

of what I is required. Our range includes many sizes of alpine

pans, auricula pots, chicory and rhubarb forcers, lots of wall pots,

and we also stock a goodly few bonsai pots in stoneware. “

“Everything we make starts on the wheel, the Staffordshire

clays are fired to a temperature more than sufficient to ensure

good frost strength .Our extremely efficient 70 cubic foot two

chambered kin uses salvaged wood than would otherwise go into

land fill or be burnt unproductively on an open bonfire.

We are happy to accept commissions for small runs of a specific

pot, but they have to be round!!! Please look out for us, we`ll be

one of the rather less green and leafy type of stalls!”

Nathan and Al will be at a lot of our fairs this

year and where practical they will be giving

demonstrations of how to throw a pot on a

traditional wheel.

8 New Buildings Stafford Road Coven Heath near WOLVERHAMPTON WV10 7HF

Phone: 01902 785 309 email: [email protected]

Website: www.studio8ceramics.co.uk

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.studio8ceramics.co.uk/

H ops (Humulus lupulus)

“to treat “tetters”, ringworm and spreading sores” - Culpepper

Medieval lore from the herb

garden at Donington Le Heath

Manor

S alad Burnet (Sanguisorba minor) “A friend to the heart and liver” - Culpepper

Medieval lore from the Herb Garden at


Tap into

Carsington

Water Get set for spring with our

free plant fairs

We couldn’t have found a better venue for

our first foray into Derbyshire than

Carsington Water, or should I say the

venue found us! When Carsington Water

contacted us with the idea of a plant fair

at this Severn Trent Water reservoir we

weren’t sure, but all our reservation

evaporated when we arrived for a reckie. The site was always intended as a country park and the

reservoir looks like it has been in the landscape for millennia and not just a few years.

Opened by the Queen in 1992 Carsington Water has become a popular place for tourists and locals

alike and today welcomes almost a million visitors every year.

Carsington has several miles of well maintained tracks that can be explored on foot. There are three

recommended circular walks that all begin from the visitor centre. Most of the tracks around are

surfaced and suitable for wheelchairs and pushchairs.

The variety of wildlife at Carsington Water makes each visit such a special day out. For bird watchers

and wildlife enthusiasts there is a wildlife centre a short walk from the main visitor centre where you

can learn more about the different species of birds that make their home here. In the spring and

summer warblers, terns and waders return to breed on the islands, rafts, meadows and woodlands.

The licensed Mainsail Restaurant will be open offering a wide range of meals, drinks and

snacks. Situated on the top floor of the Visitor Centre, the restaurant offers stunning views across

the water and in fine weather, there are places to sit and eat on the balcony terrace.

Our first fair is on Easter Saturday (4th April) which is a great time to get out, get some plants and

then get planting!

Big Lane Ashbourne Derbyshire DE6 1ST

There are brown signs to direct you from Ash-bourne

Phone: 01629 540696 email: [email protected] Website: www.stwater.co.uk/carsington-water

Saturday 4th April (Easter

Saturday)

Sunday 26th July,

10am-4pm

Free entry to country park and

fair. (Pay and display parking)

What’s Up Doc?

Steve Reynolds highlights one of the

more unusual questions during last year’s

Plant Hunters’ Fairs plant problem clinics.

Question :

A number of my trees, shrubs, pea sticks and currant stems

are covered in pink cushion-like spots. Am I seeing things ?

Is there any cure and how should I dispose of them ?

Answer :

First the good news, there’s nothing wrong

with your eyesight ! This is a particularly

destructive fungus which relishes the damp

conditions we’ve experienced recently.

Related to cankers, Coral Spot (Nectria

cinnabarina) is to be found on dead wood

of many plants – Acers, currants, fig trees

and magnolias, amongst others, are

especially susceptible. The most obvious

symptoms are the raised spore-filled

pustules on the bark which are often a rich

coral pink or red colour. Spores are spread

around via water splash. Adopt good

garden hygiene by collecting all diseased

wood which should then be burned or put

in the green wheelie bins so that the high

temperatures at the Council refuse tip can

destroy the fungus and its spores. In

recent years (perhaps aided by greater use

of wood chip mulches) it has spread and

can become parasitic attacking living

wood, rather than adopting its usual

saprophytic dead wood mode. The

diseased tissue is cankered and sunken,

often appearing a dull greenish colour beneath the

bark. If the disease is on shoots dying back then prune back to at least 3-4” (7-10cm in new

money!) into healthy wood.

This year Steve will be holding his drop-in “What’s Up Doc?” clinic at Arley

Arboretum near Kidderminster on Saturday July 4th

If your gardening club is looking for a lively, knowledgeable and professional speaker then

we can highly recommend Steve to you.

Please see Steve’s page on the Plant Hunters’ Fairs website garden speakers directory.

You can contact Steve to book a talk:

Phone: 01588 660 618

Mobile: 07929 303 425


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Thinking ahead

Barry Grain, head gardener at

Cholmondeley Castle, looks to the long term

People often ask me what the “5 year plan” is. I usually reply

that the length of time in question is un-realistic. At this they

usually look perplexed and assume I am working to a much

shorter time frame. Their looks then turn to amazement as I tell

them that the 5 year plan is really a 20-30 year plan! Now when

considering garden management for any term you need to think

big, as the lifespan of the garden will be much greater than your

own. I think we should always look at least 20 years ahead as a

minimum, in garden terms that is as long as it takes to establish

a young tree within a garden or landscape, and no matter how

many head gardeners work at the plan during that time frame,

the plan should remain constant. Gardens of course should

evolve over time and never stand still in terms of management,

as by their process of maturation, a garden is always on the

move and not always as we would like. Development and

tweaking should be continual both on large and small scales,

always refreshing interest, and with one eye always on the

future.

The gardens at Cholmondeley have been extensively developed

by Lady Cholmondeley herself over the past 60 years, indeed

when she first arrived apart from an ornamental lake in the

temple garden, everywhere else was largely mature trees and

lawns. Even now after all this time she still remains a driving

force in the garden, and continues to develop it with one eye

firmly fixed ahead. Last year for example she instigated the

Lavinia Walk project, which is a new feature within the garden,

where a long walk of fastigiate Yew trees lead you along the

path between the herbaceous

beds and the Temple Garden.

There were, it seems Irish Yews

lining this path in the past which

were looking very old a bit scruffy

by the time Lady Cholmondeley

arrived. She had them removed

back in the 1950’s but felt that it

was now time some new ones

went in to return this area to

former glories.

It is my job as head gardener to continue this spirit forward, and visitors to the garden this

spring will see lots of much needed changes to the garden. The team have been working

tirelessly over the past two seasons tidying areas up and renovating certain areas that have

not had proper attention for some good years. We have many plantings of Laurel and

Rhododendron ponticum around the gardens which were planted to give shelter some years

ago, but are now in dire need of management. Bit by bit these areas are being renovated

which is not only tidying up vistas but also offering new planting opportunities, particularly

in and around the Temple garden. Most notable are the beds around the gatehouse to the

Temple garden which have long been untidy and overgrown with Lamium. These beds have

been completely overhauled and re-modelled to give a better blend of planting,

but also to extend the season of interest. Diseased Hydrangeas have been

The Lavinia Walk project

Stone Seat before... ...and after renovation

Cont...

removed and replaced with Philadelphus ‘Mexican Jewel’

and P. purpureus, Hemerocallis and Hosta groups have

been repositioned and a new range of shrubs are being

introduced. And the Lamium here is being removed

altogether as it just isn’t right for the location, excellent

ground cover though it is. There are also fresh plantings

to be found through the glade and throughout the Top

Terrace with a new blend of interesting plant such as

Agapanthus ‘Purple Cloud’, Leptospermum and

Crinodendron to name a few. As well as this new trees can

be found at various locations throughout the gardens.

However in essence, no matter what scale you garden on,

the tweaking and re-modelling are equally necessary, it is

only the scale that differs. Indeed I cannot think of a gardener who is content for his or her

“patch” to stay just so, and as soon as the promise of spring is with us the creative juices

inevitably start to flow, it’s just a question of how far ahead to think. I personally am already

on spring 2016.

The Silver Garden

Come along to our Plant Hunters’ Fair on 12th April (11am-5pm) and see how the

gardens are evolving. Special event price of just £3.00 applies for this day only and

this includes entry to gardens, parkland and lakes and of course the plant fair. Free

parking. Dogs on leads welcome.

Cholmondeley Castle Malpas Cheshire SY14 8AH Tel: 01829 720383 website: www.cholmondeleycastle.com

Whatever your colour,

you’ll find it at Plant

Hunters’ Fairs this summer Our next newsletter will be out in June with more

news about our summer and autumn fairs and great

items from our expert nursery folk.

We are really excited about our fairs at Abbeywood

Gardens in Cheshire on 23rd August and Arley

Arboretum in Worcestershire both offering half price

entry for these special events..

We also have our second fair at our new Derbyshire

venue—Carsington Water and a new autumn date at

Weston Park.

Each fair is different and the nurseryfolk always

manage to surprise and delight with something

different and exciting.

Whatever your colour (or shape, size, situation or

soil) you’ll something special for your garden at a

Plant Hunters’ Fair.

Fifty shades of green

Sylvia Marden spills the beans on husband

Tony’s shady secrets

We live in a lovely valley not far from the town of Painswick in the

Cotswolds. Tony has run his small nursery in the garden of their house

for about 10 years now, selling mainly from plant fairs.

Tony has a passion for plants suitable for shade. Two of the more

unusual plant families he grows are Arisaema and Podophyllum.

Arisaemas are his favourites and he has many varieties and he grows

them in a separate tunnel house continually expanding the collection.

He propagates by division and seeds which is a 3 to 4 year process

from seed to flower.

The flowers are well worth waiting for as they are extremely unusual

and look magnificent in the shady areas of a garden, if you are

fortunate enough to have a free draining soil.

In the wild, they mostly live in mountainous areas for example the

Himalayas, Japan and Taiwan. Therefore they are hardy plants and

suitable for the shade garden.

Podophyllums are another unusual herbaceous perennial plant for

shade. They are not difficult plants to grow, but are very slow to

propagate, as seed is rarely produced and difficult to germinate.

The most well known are Podophyllum "Spotty Dotty" and p.

Kaleidoscope with spectacular large marked leaves. These are

produced by tissue culture and are subject to Plant Breeders Rights as

they are sterile hybrids.

Tony has collected plants of P.Versipelle and P. Pleianthum from

different sources to try to obtain a number of different clones . This

year he has hand pollinated the flowers and has been rewarded with a

good seed set, so can now experiment with germination.

Podophyllum Hexandrum roots are used as a resin for an anti cancer

drug and they are being removed from the wild in China in large

quantities. Nurseries have been set up in India to try to produce

commercial quantities.

For a woodland area the American Podophyllum Peltatum with its

creamy white flowers and creeping rootstock can look magnificent

Podophyllum Delavayi has stunning mottled green/brown leaves and

red flowers.

All Podophyllums need shade and moisture retentive humus rich soil. They will in time reward you

with a magnificent display.

Part of the Arisaema tunnel

Tony & Sylvia Marden Upper Doreys Mill, Edge,

nr Stroud Gloucestershire, GL6 6NF,

Phone: 01452 8121459


Website: www.shadyplants.com

C owslip (Primula vulgaris)

“The flowers remedy vertigo, nightmares, false apparitions, frenzies, palsies, and falling sickness”



The times they are a

-changing

Don’t miss our earlier date at

Staffordshire’s Consall Hall

After a couple of years in mid-May, we are moving

our Consall Hall event back to it’s traditional April

date—Sunday 19th April in fact.

The entry price remains at £2.00—we think this is

the best value gardening day out in the Midlands

giving you the opportunity to enjoy this rarely

open 70 acre garden with over 4 miles of

paths.

What I love about this fair is the way its runs along

the main avenue of the garden with each stall easy

to access and browse even at the busiest times.

We have a whole crop of first-timers this year!

Bridge Farm Plants with a wide choice of perennials

will be coming from Derbyshire. BBC TV featured

Roseland House, all the way from Cornwall will be

on hand with their National Collections of Clematis

and lots more desirable climbing plants.

ShadyPlants from Gloucestershire and The Gobbett

(flowering shrubs) from Worcestershire make up

the new nurseries. We also welcome for the first

time at this event Fair Field Garden Bygones with

hand-restored vintage garden tools and Studio 8 Pottery with hand-thrown garden pots and food

wares.

Of course all your old favourites will also be there. The garden should be awash with spring bulbs and

early flowering trees and shrubs. Let’s hope for some warm spring sunshine as well.

Consall, Wetley Rocks, Staffordshire ST9 0AG Phone: 01782 551947 email: [email protected] Website: www.consallgardens.co.uk

Sunday 19th April 10am—5pm

£2.00 for fair and gardens. Free parking

Plant Hunters’

Fairs at the

BBC

Gardener’s World

visit two of our

nurseries

In 2014 BBC 2’s Gardener’s

World when they selected two

of our nurseries as the plant

experts on Carol Klein’s “Plants

and Their People” feature.

Charlie and Liz Pridham of

Roseland House Nursery

showcased their collection of

honeysuckles explaining how to

get the best from them. You

can watch them on BBC i-Player

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/

p021blrq

Martin told us the story of their

day with the Gardener’s World

team.

“We had really great time with

Carol, Ben, Becky. Sam and Ray

making us feel relaxed about

the whole process.

The team arrived just after

8:30am and spent a little while

admiring the garden and

deciding on the best places to

shoot from.

Each "scene" is filmed several

times - firstly so I could "get it

right" but also because the

camera needed to capture

different angles and close-ups.

So I had to remember which

flower I pointed to on a wide

shoot, so I could do it again in

close up.

The most difficult thing for me

as a trained "presenter" was not

looking at the camera!

Martin from SpecialPerennials showed Carol around their National

Collection of heleniums

Liz Pridham shows Carol Klein how to get the best from honeysuckles

The team started the day by planning where shoots would happen and

adjusting the outline story for the piece

Carol really helped me with

feedback and praise making it a

really enjoyable experience.

We talked about growing

heleniums, where they come from,

planting combinations and new

varieties.

There was quite a lot of technology

on view, from the professional

cameras, lapel mics and tablet

computers to review shots straight

after shooting plus the “dolphin” to

get the camera to a high vantage

point.

Fortunately the weather held and

the only interruption came from

the occasional plane or helicopter.

The day finished at around 6pm—9

hours filming for 6 minutes of

programme.

This wasn’t the end of it though.

Just before the segment was aired I

was asked to pick my top 10

heleniums for the BBC website—

never an easy task.

Our local press were intrigued by

the story and we ended up doing 2

photo shoots and had a front page

story and centre spread in one

paper.

I also received a request to appear

on a BBC local radio chat show—I

managed to put this off!

But perhaps the best outcome from

my TV stardom was the impact on

numbers of people coming along to

our charity garden opens. We

didn’t know until the day of screening whether or not our garden open dates would be

mentioned—as it was Monty Don encouraged everyone to come along on Sunday—and they

did!

Normally we have about 500 visitors spread over 12 days of opening in the summer. On the

Sunday after appearing on Gardener’s World nearly 600 people descended on our small,

plant-packed garden. To this day we don’t know how they all fitted in. Thankfully our friend

Liz rallied around at short notice to help take the ticket money while we tried to cope with

all the visitors wanting information and plants. We raised just short of £4,000 for the NGS

charities.

You can see our 6 minutes of fame at www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p025p1g5

Carol and Martin, relaxed between shots by chatting about our

garden and plants.

The “dolphin” took the camera where no camera should go!

So much to

see at

Middleton Hall

Our new event in

Staffordshire has so

much to offer

At just £2.00 per car our latest

plant fair venue is such great

value. The entry fee, which all

goes to the trust that runs the Hall

and grounds, includes entry to the

plant fair, the hall, gardens, the

wildlife rich lake and the courtyard

shops and cafes plus free parking

on site.

The grounds are a Site of Special

Scientific Interest (SSSI) including

a nine acre lake, noted Walled

Garden and a children's play park.

Adjacent to the grounds are the

RSPB reserve, Middleton Lakes.

We spotted a Little Egret when we

visited in 2014.

Middleton Hall has a special place

in the history of our

understanding of plants. It was

the home of Francis Willughby,

the naturalist – an original Fellow

of the Royal Society – and it was

here that he brought his teacher

and friend, the first great English

naturalist, John Ray. Ray compiled

his Catalogus Angliae here, one of

the first attempts at a

comprehensive listing of British plants.

Today there are large and small walled gardens, herbaceous borders, orchard and sunken garden.

There is an adjacent Craft Centre, with specialist shops and cafe. There is also a lovely tearoom in

the hall.

We have a line-up of nurseries from nine counties including the National Collection of clematis

viticella all the way from Cornwall.

Middleton Tamworth Staffordshire B78 2AE

Phone: 01827 283095 email: [email protected]

website: www.middleton-hall.co.uk

Saturday 18th April 10am—5pm

£2.00 per car for fair, gardens, grounds and

hall. Free parking

Step into history at

Sugnall Walled Gar-

den Saturday 25th April at Sugnall Walled Garden near

Eccleshall, Stafford is as always a great spring day

out.

We have our normal, high-quality of nurseries and

artisans and visitors will love the walled gardens

with apple blossom and free-roaming in the bluebell

woods.

The gardens are steeped in horticultural history.

Lord Glenorchy, decided to establish a walled kitchen

garden in the dip between the old hall and the main

road. In 1738 brickmakers set themselves up in a

field not far away and supplied over 250,000 bricks

to Glenorchy. He purchased plants and seeds from a

London nurseryman and by the summer of 1738 he

had a fully functioning kitchen garden. The walls re-

main after 280 years in remarkably good condition,

and two of the original doorways remain.

A later owner (1837) Walter Williams had a passion

for exotic plants. He built new glasshouses including

a lean-to double peach house planted with peach and

nectarines, an Azalea House, a fernery, a Camellia

House, a span roofed cucumber house in two com-

partments, an adjacent plant house, an orchid house,

a stove house, a range of ten-light pits, and ranges

of cold frames. Williams also converted the cellars of

the Old Hall to a glass-covered fernery.

If you would like a guided tour of the gardens,

grounds and woods taking in their full history then

there is one at 1pm (additional fee).

Don’t forget our second plant fair at

Sugnall will be at the completely new time

of Sunday 5th July—a great chance to see

the garden at a different season of the

year.

Sugnall, near Eccleshall, Stafford ST21 6NF

Phone: 01785 850820


Website: www.sugnall.co.uk

Saturday 25th April 10am-4pm

Entry is just £1.00

Guided tours at 1pm (extra charge)

Sorry no dogs allowed in the garden

Bluebell woods at Sugnall Hall

The garden is full of history

A new book for 2015

Kim Hurst of The Cottage Herbery on

the Hidden Histories of Herbs.

“Hidden Histories: Herbs” brings together the extraordinary

and largely forgotten stories of 150 special plants that are

still put to culinary, medicinal and cosmetic preparations

today.

The book includes traditional tips for flavouring a medieval

pottage and how certain plants are ideal for poultices and

what plants ward off evil spirits.

Kim a nurserywoman since 1976 runs the Cottage Herbery

with husband Rob. She is a Chelsea gold medallist, RHS

judge, lecturer and plantswoman. This is her second book.

The books is published on 5th March.

Watch out for our next newsletter

More to read in June.

We will be publishing our next newsletter in June with news of our new events at Abbeywood

Garden, Arley Arboretum and our new autumn date at Weston Park, plus other events this

summer. There will be news from our nurseryfolk plus some exciting announcements about new

venues for 2016.

If you don’t want to miss out then subscribe on our website at

www.planthuntersfairs.co.uk/subscribe.htm

Best wishes

Martin.

Easter at

the

Dorothy

Clive

Garden

So much to see

and enjoy

The 12 acre Dorothy Clive Garden will have plenty on show for visitors with massed plantings of

spring bulbs, hellebores, early blossom and rhododendrons and much more. Nurseries will of course

come loaded with spring flowering plants plus plenty of later flowering plants to get planted now. We

welcome back Brian and Steph from Avondale Nursery with a wide range of perennials including

plants from their 3 National Collections.

We also have the excellent Roseland House Nursery from Cornwall holders of two National

Collections, Clematis viticella and Lapageria rosea cultivars, they also grow a wide range of other

exciting climbing plants and conservatory plants.

Other nurseries not to be missed include: RHS Chelsea Gold Medallists Hall Farm Nursery

(Shropshire) specialising in perennials and alpines; Packhorse Farm Nursery from Derbyshire

specialising in acers and other ornamental trees and shrubs; Pottertons Nursery from Lincolnshire

specialist grower of alpines, dwarf bulbs and Woodland plants; Green’s Leaves from Gloucestershire

with choice and rare shrubs, foliage plants, choice grasses and dark leaved plants; Special Perennials

specialising in summer and late flowering perennials and National Collections of helenium and

Centaurea; Chris Cooke Plants from Gloucestershire specialising in species plants and bulbs; Shady

Plants from Gloucestershire specialising in plants for shade including arisaemas, roscoea, hostas,

ferns, disporum, polygonatum and Podophyllums; Wildegoose Nursery who are specialists in Violas,

old and new with a collection of over 140 varieties.

Don’t miss Fairfield Bygones with his great range of vintage garden tools, implements and

accessories for those who appreciate the quality, design and tactile character of wonderful old garden

tools from a bygone age.

Plus many more great nurseries to get the new gardening season off to a great start.

Willoughbridge, Market Drayton

Shropshire, TF9 4EU

Tel: 01630 647237


Easter Sunday & Monday 5th & 6th April

10am—5pm

£3.50 for fair and gardens.

Free parking

L avender (Lavendula angustifolia)

“for headaches, faintings, nausea, cramps and convulsions”



L ungwort (Pulmonaria officinalis)

“Sootheth the throat and chest. Checketh bleeding and diarrhoea”

Medieval lore from the Herb Garden at


Plant Hunters’ Fairs You can contact us by:

Email: [email protected],uk

Phone: 01270 811443

Twitter: @plantfairs

Find us on Facebook as well.

Website www.planthuntersfairs.co,uk

Details published in this newsletter are we believe cor-

rect but please do check on our website or with the ven-

ue before travelling as occasionally arrangements do

have to change.

All views expressed are those of the authors.

All text and images in this newsletter are copyright to

the respective authors. Please ask before republishing

anything from this newsletter.

You can subscribe or unsubscribe on our website or by

email.

2015 Plant Hunters’ Fairs March

Sun 22nd Dearnford Lake, Whitchurch, Shrops. SY13 3JQ 10am-4pm

Sat 28th National Memorial Arboretum Alrewas Staffs. DE13 7AR 10am-4:30pm

Sun 29th Ness Botanic Gardens Wirral, Cheshire. CH64 4AY. 10am-4pm

April

Sat 4th Carsington Water, nr Ashbourne, Derbyshire. DE6 1ST 10-4pm

Sun/Mon 5th / 6th Dorothy Clive Garden, Newcastle, Staffs TF9 4EU 10am-5pm

Sat 11th Bodenham Arboretum nr Kidderminster, Worcs, DY11 5SY 11am-5pm

Sun12th Cholmondeley Castle, Malpas, Cheshire. SY14 8HN 11am-5pm

Sat 18th Middleton Hall, Tamworth, Staffs. B78 2AE. 10am-5pm

Sun 19th Consall Hall, Wetley Rocks, Staffordshire. ST9 0AG 10am-5pm

Sun 19th Penrhyn Castle, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 4HN 10am-4pm

Sat 25th Sugnall Walled Garden, Eccleshall, Staffs. ST21 6NF 10am-4pm

Sun 26th Norton Priory, Runcorn WA7 1SX 10:30am-3pm

May

Sun / Mon 3rd / 4th Weston Park, Shifnal, Shropshire. TF11 8LE 10am-5pm

Sat 9th Donington Le Heath Manor House, Leicestershire LE67 2FW 10am-4pm

Sun 10th Adlington Hall, Macclesfield, Cheshire. SK10 4LF 10:30am-4pm

Sun 17th British Ironworks Centre, Oswestry, Shrops. SY11 4JH 10am-5pm

Sat 23rd National Memorial Arboretum Alrewas Staffs. DE13 7AR 10am-4:30pm

Mon 25th Stonyford Cottage Gardens, Cuddington, Cheshire. CW8 2TF 10am-3pm

Sat / Sun 30th/31st Hodnet Hall Gardens Mkt Drayton Shrops TF9 3NN 10am-5pm

June

Sun 7th Burton Manor, Burton, Wirral. CH64 5SJ. 10am-3pm

Sun 21st Whittington Castle, Whittington, Shropshire. SY11 4DF 10am-4pm

Sun 28th Plas Newydd, Llanfairpwll, Anglesey. LL61 6DQ 10am-4pm

July

Sat 4th Arley Arboretum, Near Bewdley, Worcs. DY12 1XJ 11am-5pm

Sun 5th Sugnall Walled Garden, Eccleshall, Staffs. ST21 6NF 10am-4pm

Sun 26th Carsington Water, nr Ashbourne, Derbyshire. DE6 1ST 10-4pm

August

Sat 1st National Memorial Arboretum Alrewas Staffs. DE13 7AR 10am-4:30pm

Sun 2nd Dearnford Lake, Whitchurch, Shrops. SY13 3JQ 10am-4pm

Sun 16th Bodnant Garden near Colwyn Bay, Conwy LL28 5RE 10am-4pm

Sun 23rd Abbeywood Gardens, Delamere, Cheshire. CW8 2HS, 10am-5pm

Sun/Mon 30th/31st Dorothy Clive Garden, Newcastle, Staffs. TF9 4EU 10am-5pm

September

Sat 5th Bodenham Arboretum nr Kidderminster, Worcs, DY11 5SY 11am-5pm

Sun 6th Ness Botanic Gardens Wirral, Cheshire. CH64 4AY. 10am-4pm

Sun 13th Weston Park, Shifnal, Shropshire. TF11 8LE 10am-4pm

Documents

Spring 2015