What a difference a day makes in terms of this weeks weather. Yesterday we were first seeking shade even before morning break and then after lunch we sought shelter from the rain. Today in contrast I had to drag out my jumper for the first time since mid May. Is this normal? I can't remember what normal is anymore but at least we have been spared the severe floods we were experiencing this time last year - touch wood!
The Allium spectacle that is currently unfolding on our main borders has been a joy to watch. This week Allium hollandicum AGM, including the superb selection A. hollandicum ‘Purple Sensation' AGM are almost over but only in terms of their blue, purple and mauve colours. As their acid green fruits swell the spectacle goes on as their pompom seed heads give structure and height to our mixed grasses and herbaceous plantings. The very tall and majestic Allium ‘Mont Blanc' is in full bloom today as are most of the A. cristophii AGM and A. shubertii, looking like exploding fireworks and drifted up and down the borders. On my way back from taking the images for this blog I noticed that the first of the later flowering A. nigrum are just emerging. Our choice of this late Allium species was purely by accident. Last year I spotted a rogue flowering specimen of this species mixed in with a drift of other alliums. Although the others had finished flowering this specimen was just emerging and went on flowering for several weeks with medium sized hemispherical flower heads at about knee height. A bit of investigation work later, in our supplier's catalogue, revealed its identity. So impressed were we with its form and the longevity of its flowers that we planted a thousand of them on the main borders last autumn. In total we have around four thousand alliums of six different species currently flowering and looking amazing.
I wonder how much accidental horticulture is the real basis of seemingly thoughtful and careful design? The first of our white foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea f. albiflora) are out this week but a few of them are far from white and there is a very good reason for this. The original nursery bought containerised plantings of these foxgloves performed rather poorly but a random scattering of their subsequent seedlings performed brilliantly. This was the inspiration behind experimenting with large drifts and dot plantings of these foxgloves throughout the main borders. We transplanted seedlings closest to those plants we knew to be white forms from the previous season. Since these seedlings were already acclimated to our conditions they transplanted without casualties. Of course this year they are of the F2 generation and the colours were rather more mixed and varied than we had anticipated but do you know what? We don't care! The display of white flowers and those of many pastel shades including some with dark throat splotches is great and promises only to get better as this exhibition continues into next week and hopefully beyond that.
The mini-meadow
This is the first full year of our mini-meadow area and this week it has been attracting much comment from those seeing ‘only weeds' to others being reminded of fond childhood memories playing in fields full of wild flowers. Yesterday we spotted spotted orchids (no that's not a typo!) (Dactylorhiza fuchsia) which has found its own way into our meadow. On Monday we also spotted a mystery mint and an Iris x hollandica which disappeared just a few hours later, presumably picked by an admiring visitor. We planted neither of these ourselves and both must have either seeded themselves there or survived for many years in the closely mown turf from when this area used to be occupied by several model gardens before they were grassed over. These welcome interlopers have given us the idea of planting them on mass for next years display.
We also have other much older and larger species rich meadow areas around the garden both in the arboretum and on South Field. Our relatively small mini-meadow is a good demonstration of meadow planting feasible for any garden. Grass management doesn't have to be high maintenance and can still look appealing while at the same time providing terrific habitat for a multitude of flora and fauna. Regularly mown turf is pretty sterile and of little use to wildlife. In our meadow we have continued to mow the access paths but left the rest of the grass untouched. Within just a few weeks we had many species of wildflowers starting to flower like stitchwort, buttercup, clover and daisy. Of course some of these are considered lawn weeds but are very attractive on mass and important food for bees, hoverflies and other pollinating insects. Attracting pollinators is very important if you're growing vegetables near by that need pollinating in order to set fruit like peas, beans, squashes and courgettes etc. The longer grass also provides important habitat for frogs, toads, ground beetles, birds, voles, hedgehogs and many other predators that help keep those slug and snail populations under control.
The management of this area is simple as we only need to cut it once a year on a dry day in September. We then leave it to dry for a week or so before raking off the grass for composting. Tossing the piles of grass before raking will ensure dispersal of any trapped seeds. No feeding is required as we only want to encourage narrow leaved grass species and therefore maximise the numbers of species of wildflowers able to colonise. Yellow-rattle (Rhinanthus minor) is a parasite of grass so establishing it will also help to reduce the vigour of competing broadleaved grass species. Last year we collected seed of wildflowers from around the garden including Red Campion (Silene dioica), Oxeye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare) and buttercup (Ranunculus sp.). The seed was sown fresh and germinated very readily. The seedlings were pricked out into ‘plug' trays and planted out in the meadow when the hay was cleared away. Why stop at natives? We have also naturalised non-native plants into the meadow for added interest including Quamash (Cammasia leichtlinii), Lupins (Lupinus Russell Hybrids), Monks Hood (Aconitum sp.) and a cultivar of our native cow parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris ‘Ravenswing').
Andrew Chapman