January 2013 | The Garden 13

The Garden, RHS Media, Churchgate, New Road, Peterborough PE1 1TT

CommentMixed forecast for gardenersEditor of The Garden, Chris Young

The weather is never far from

many gardeners’ minds. Whether too hot in summer or too cold in winter; too dry in early spring or frustratingly wet in autumn, the inevitable relationship between gardening and weather has been forever thus.

Our changing climate affects us all; this level of change – or ‘volatility’ as meteoro­logists describe – is seemingly only going to increase. During the second John MacLeod Annual Lecture (hosted by the RHS at the end of last year) Met Office Chief Scientist Julia Slingo explained that our weather conditions will be even more unpredictable. Julia, an amateur gardener, confirmed many things gardeners have suspected: that since 1971 the growing season has lengthened;

that spring frosts have reduced in number during the last four decades but are not gone completely; early spring temperatures, on average, have been rising; and the frequency of extreme rainfall ‘events’ (as is now the word for any weather­related incident) is increasing.

So what does that mean for gardeners? In essence, more of the same from the varied, volatile British climate. Julia was keen to stress that the predictions from some at the turn of the millennium (that UK gardeners would swap roses for cacti, of gardens without lawns) do not seem likely in the coming three or four decades.

However, extremes of weather associated with the UK climate will definitely increase, so we can expect more frequent flooding,

warmer springs and possibly colder winters. The result will, for example, cause unreliable cropping of top fruit, or re quire increased vigilance for pests or diseases.

It also means that gardeners must refine their appreciation of what growing conditions exist within their plot. Truly understanding microclimates in our gardens allows us to broaden the plant choice we have; to extend the season of some plantings; and use different parts of the outdoor space for different activities. Time­honoured techniques such as ensuring good drainage for lawns, planting trees or shrubs for shade/protection, and continuing to experiment with plants (to see if they cope with a changing climate) have never been more important. Whatever the weather.

I sometimes wonder if visitors to my garden look round with the sole intention of catching me out. ‘How do you deal with mildew?’ asked one of my last visitors of 2012. I muttered something about dry roots and wet foliage sometimes being the cause and she seemed fairly satisfied.

Moments later my eye fell on my most interest­ing new acquisition, Cosmos x Dahlia ‘Mexican Black’ with deep crimson, chocolate­scented flowers. Overnight, seemingly, it had been dusted with pale grey powder. That visitor is bound to see it, I thought – the best thing to do is to mention it before she does. Sure enough, no sooner did I begin ‘The dahlia/cosmos plant…’ than she interrupted, ‘Oh yes, covered in mildew…’. Well, she would, wouldn’t she?

Another time a man went all

round the garden then said, ‘I see you’ve got a weed problem up in that corner’.

Would you believe it? You make a garden for 41 years, fill it with nice plants, only for someone to come all the way from New York just to notice the mildew, or from Newcastle simply to spot the odd patch of weeds.

Perhaps the most memorable comment was from a great plantsman and writer who I truly

admired – Graham Stuart Thomas. He arrived one day in late summer and after

looking round remarked, ‘What good maintenance you have’. The

ultimate put­down, surely, as it implied that not only did I never do the garden myself, but also that there was nothing whatsoever

of artistic merit deserving of comment. Must try harder…

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This once derelict steading is now home to a pristine courtyard garden with topiary knots and spirals that are a dramatic foil, especially on a snowy winters’ evening Antoinette Galbraith: Spirals in the snow

» Pages 40-43

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Of all things, they noticed what?Author: Helen Dillon, gardener and writer living in the Republic of Ireland

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January 2013 | The Garden 1514 The Garden | January 2013

Gardening calendarJanuary can often be the coldest month, with frosts, gale-force winds and heavy rain, but there is still plenty to do in gardens. To see a list of the top 10 jobs to do each month, visit: www.rhs.org.uk/gardening/calendar/

RHS flower showsStart planning your trips to next year’s RHS Flower Shows, where you can see innovative and creative gardens and exciting new plants (see RHS Life, p69). Tickets are now available to buy online; visit: www.rhs.org.uk/shows

Highlights from RHS Online

Edelweiss amazes scientists

Author: James Wong, botanist and garden designer

Whether in schmaltzy songs or twee Alpine folk art, to most of us ‘edelweiss’ conjures up images of anything but satellites and supercars. But, believe it or not, this dainty montane wild flower (Leontopodium alpinum) may help revolutionise everything from international communications to energy prices.

Growing high in the Alps at altitudes up to 3,000m (10,000ft) the delicate tissues of these now-familiar garden plants are exposed to a constant barrage of intense ultraviolet (UV) radiation, yet seem immune to its cell-damaging effects.

A few years ago Belgian investigators looked into the plant’s ability to survive these conditions. What they discovered was to shock them – for the woolly fuzz that covers the whole plant, including the silver-white, leaf-like bracts that surround their flowers, is actually made up of millions of peculiar hollow filaments. The filaments themselves are covered in infinitesimally small fibres measuring only about 180 millionths of a millimetre in diameter. So tiny are these nano structures that they are the same size as the wavelength of UV light, creating a fleece-like barrier that absorbs virtually all the damaging rays before they reach the plant’s cells. And the most exciting news? Scientists found they could make synthetic copies of these using glass optical fibres.

The potential applications for this plant-inspired technology stretch much further than skin creams and sunglasses. It is not only living tissues that get damaged by UV light but all manner of technological materials, from industrial paints to solar panels. Rather than needing to be replaced every 20 years or so, with an edelweiss-inspired coating the solar panels that power satellites and the electricity supplies to national grids around the world could last up to twice as long. Not bad for a demure Swiss daisy, hey?

Vinery restorationMy attention was drawn to the item about the restoration of the vinery at Fulham Palace (News, Oct 2012, p9). In the 1960s I was granted permission to reside at Fulham Palace to carry out an ornithological study in the grounds, as part of a wider study of birds in the local area. The kitchen garden (now walled), was one of the focal areas for finding passing migrants in the grounds, and it was here that I first saw a lesser whitethroat.

I look forward to seeing the results of the restoration project. Peter J Strangeman, Hampshire

Disease resistanceIn October you recommended gooseberries ‘Leveller’ and ‘Invicta’ for good disease resistance (RHS Advice, p24). My ‘Leveller’ bushes were killed by American gooseberry mildew but I replaced them

LetterscONtAct uSWrite to: The Garden, RHS Media, Churchgate, New Rd, Peterborough PE1 1TT or email: thegarden@rhs.org.uk (please include your postal address). Letters on all gardening topics are welcome, but may be edited for publication.

with ‘Invicta’, which has proven to be immune for many years now. They are excellent croppers, although viciously thorny.Ken Thompson, Sheffield

Autumn plantingNigel colborn suggests that it is perhaps the fault of garden centres that we may have lost the autumn planting habit (comment, Oct 2012, p21).

The financial reality is that gardening is a seasonal activity and, without diversification, garden centres like ours would find it hard to survive. Yes, we sell christmas baubles, but we are also the largest independent stockist of David Austin roses and our plantaria has one of the most extensive selections of plants in the country (75 percent of which are grown in the uK).

In a recent survey 51 percent of people thought that

spring bulbs needed to be planted in

spring so there is certainly confusion.

Yes, garden centres can help educate but perhaps the industry as a whole – and writers – should be doing more to get the message across.Louise Johnson, Burford Garden Company, Oxfordshire

Finding a balanceLia Leendertz’s column on her ‘temporary’ garden (comment, Oct 2012, p19) reminds me of the saying, ‘We plant trees not for ourselves, but for future generations’.

My failing is planting too soon, overwhelmed by my vision of the garden to come. Each time I move, I vow not to plant until the hard landscaping, shrubs and trees are in, but with the arrival of autumn a bulb-planting instinct overwhelms me and I rush to the garden centre.

‘…like clusters of milk chocolate curls on top of a special birthday cake.’ Bob Brown: High flying aspidistras » Pages 62–65

The power of front gardensIn November, The Garden included a number of inspirational ideas for gardening in small spaces (pp43–58), and Nick Turrell told of his experiences when creating his new front garden in Surrey (Comment, p23). Here are some of your responses:

✤ I moved into a Victorian terrace with a small garden two years ago. Last summer, needing more space,

I began removing gravel from the 2.4 x 1.2m (8 x 4ft) front garden. Working in the front garden has broken

the ice – I know more of my neighbours from the past few months than I did for the previous two years.

Avril Ingram, London

✤ My bungalow has most of the garden at the front, but the previous owners covered the

borders with plastic sheeting and bark chippings, and the drive way was a mess. I removed rubble, bought in topsoil and

planted the new garden over time. Passers-by have stopped as the space has been transformed with

wild flowers, raised beds and a large border. We must keep front gardens for the joy and community spirit they foster, not just to absorb rain. Josephine Buchanan, Suffolk

✤ In London many of the street trees lost in recent years have been replanted, but we can all think about planting a tree or a hedge and making a difference to the aesthetic and wildlife value in our streets. Chosen well, and planted in the right place, trees do not necessarily mean a future insurance claim. There are many benefits of front garden planting, including kitchen gardens that become a focus for communities, so let’s not write off planting in the front, but embrace it with trees, hedges and vegetables.Andrew Fisher Tomlin, Surrey

Edelweiss: nature’s fibre optics?

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✤ There has been much discussion in The Garden about the loss of garden space to facilitate off-road parking. Given that such parking may be prudent, or essential, perhaps your contributors can suggest ways of making parking spaces more ‘garden friendly’. A combination of gardens with parking must surely be possible.Val Curtis, Devon

✤ I agree with Nick Turrell – people should take more interest in their front gardens as well as the back. I live near to the sea, so decided to use this theme in my front garden (pictured, right) – it is a talking point among the local community and has won awards, as well as inspiring people to go home and do something with their own front garden.Geoff Stonebanks, East Sussex

On the whole, things tend to work out, but perhaps I need to join forces with a Leendertz-style gardener in order to produce the ideal hybrid which has the perfect blend of resolution and sympathy that christopher Lloyd once advocated in garden design.Emma Spary, Cambridgeshire

Gardeners’ gameMary Keen’s game (‘Desert Island Flowers’; comment, Nov 2012, p23) sounds awful. Only eight plants? I go along with Geranium psilostemon, and I like Croscosmia ‘Lucifer’ but I would also pick Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus. Pride of place goes to Alstroemeria – a versatile plant in a range of colours and heights, with a succession of flowers over a long period. It needs little attention, is pest free, and spreads well. Barry Cushway, Kent

✤ I agree with Mary – Geranium Rozanne (‘Gerwat’) was the first plant I thought of, too. After that, I have Dahlia ‘Bishop of Llandaff’, and Hemerocallis ‘Frans Hals’ for its striking flowers. Next, Cyclamen hederifolium, which invades every corner of my garden – in September passers-by admire them. I would choose Stipa gigantea if grasses are allowed, as well as Nerine bowdenii, a favourite since it was in my wedding bouquet.Marion Tasker, Herefordshire

Geranium Rozanne (‘Gerwat’) is a popular choice in Mary Keen’s ‘Desert Island Flowers’ game. Cyclamen hederifolium.

Croscosmia ‘Lucifer’.

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Comment

January 2013 | The Garden 17

Last autumn, the Potato Council stood on the shore and comman­ded the tide to turn back. A series of exasperated men, standing in bare fields, claimed gardeners

are to blame for the spread of blight – which devastated last year’s crop and pushed up prices. Gardeners, they said, either don’t know the correct way to deal with a blight infection, or they don’t care. Leave potato growing to the professionals, they claimed. Cue outraged gardeners, and allotment organisations up in arms.

Of course it’s a silly scrap. When I read that one lesion on a single infected plant can produce 120,000 airborne spores and spread them for miles into the surrounding country­side, there is always going to be one gardener

who trips up. In a wet summer – and there seem to be many – there will be blight.

Reading further, it turns out it isn’t just feckless gardeners the potato growers were bewailing. They complain of the endless wet weather reducing yield and hampering harvesting, and of the rising cost of fuel, fungicide and fertiliser required to keep this tricky crop growing well, and free of disease.

Potato farmers had an awful year, but they are not the only ones. I visited many allotment gardeners last summer in the course of writing a book, and every story was the same: dreadful growing conditions, unpredictable weather, poor harvests, and increased pest and disease problems. Or not quite every story. I’ve mentioned Martin Crawford, of the Agroforestry Research

Trust in Devon before. He grows only those edible plants that will thrive in a woodland situation: fruit trees, nut trees, and perennial edibles that will crop in their shade. Woodland is the UK’s ‘climax’ vegetation – the thing that a bare plot of ground will become when left to its own devices long enough – making this as stable a productive system as you could hope for in these unstable times. Drought has minimal effect on those plants as they are deep rooted; floods cannot wash them away. They just plod on.

Martin was almost the only

grower who shrugged and said ‘not a great year, sure, but most things have done OK’ – a massive achievement in a year like that. He grows ‘forest’ equivalents to all of our food groups – root crops, alliums, salads and more – with the one exception of bulky carbohydrates that, being high in energy, need lots of sunlight to flourish. Instead, Martin grows chestnuts and hazelnuts that can be ground for flour, contain a balance of carbohydrates and protein, and are far more nutritious than the wheat and potatoes that bulk out most of our diets. They thrive.

In Russia last year, the wheat harvest failed because of an early dry spell; in the USA drought wrecked the corn crops; and in the UK endless rain drowned the potato crop and exacerbated blight. Food prices rocketed. These tricky, annual crops are not the crops of the future, and yet we gardeners are following the farmers, lemming­like, over the cliff edge. Our climate is no longer dependable, and the crops we grow and the way we cultivate them will need to change. Big agri­business won’t accept that any time soon – it is a big ship to turn – but there’s no reason we have to copy them. We can be creating alternatives, rather than acting as scapegoats for a struggling industry.

Our perception of an arrogant King Canute commanding the waves not to break on the shore is apparently a misinterpretation. He stood there to demonstrate how little power he had over them. Perhaps we too might accept that the tide is rising. So I’m doing

the Potato Council’s bidding and leaving the potato growing to them. They are welcome to it. Maybe one day those bare fields will be filled with chestnut and hazelnut trees, and those poor farmers will look a little less exasperated.

I’m leaving potato growing to professionalsThe Garden writer and columnist Lia Leendertz

Comment

‘These... are not the crops of the future, and yet we gardeners are following farmers, lemming-like, over the cliff edge.’

Iris unguicularis, attributed to a Miss Williamson. From a 1905 volume of

iris studies held by the RHS Lindley Library and painted for Ellen Willmott,

one of the initial 60 recipients of the Victoria Medal of Honour.

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do you agree?Please send your comments to: The Garden, RHS Media, Churchgate, New Road, Peterborough PE1 1TT or email thegarden@rhs.org.uk (please include your postal address). Letters may be edited for publication.

gardening means different things to different people. often, it is an antidote to the stresses and strains of busy lives or, for some, a necessary chore; for others it is a real passion. It is beneficial to our health and satisfies our need to create beauty. gardening can provide a great sense of achievement.

There is much pleasure to be derived from having one’s own green space, but there may also be a number of setbacks. Most gardeners will have had a favourite plant wither and die, or an ongoing battle with pests. Sometimes the weather causes problems. We seem to shrug off these difficulties with eternal optimism and the view that all will be better next year.

although I would have serious withdrawal symptoms if I couldn’t work with plants, I have had some strange thoughts while working among my roses and foxgloves. Has it ever occurred to you that gardening is a negative activity? regular maintenance of established plots is all to do with removing things – deadheading, pruning, mowing, weeding. These are all tasks that require us to cart away barrowloads of waste.

generally, when people visit gardens, it is only the end result that gets any recognition. Initially they observe just the overall effect, followed by the positioning of plants and the beauty of individual flowers. all the skilled work that the gardener carries out continuously in the back­ground would only be noticed if it wasn’t done or was done badly. Imagine what roses – or many other shrubs for that matter – would look like if left unpruned for two years or more. and how quick visitors are to point out dandelions in the lawn or a stray thistle in the border.

The reality is that, unlike someone who has built a shed or laid a patio, gardeners are toiling away to maintain something that is ephemeral and, if left to itself, soon to be swamped by weeds. a pergola or brick­built raised bed is there to be admired for years to come and doesn’t need the same amount of maintenance.

all gardeners are aspiring to create a beautiful and special space to be enjoyed by future generations – to do so successfully means that this negative activity should have positive outcomes.

The battle against Chalara fraxinea (ash dieback) appears to have been lost before many of us had even heard of it. Last october, when news of the disease hit the headlines, the nursery trade was quick to point out that the first outbreak had been discovered back in February. Why, people wondered, had deFra done so little about it then, rather than waiting six months before assembling a summit of experts and officials to discuss the problem?

an interesting question but the wrong one: what we should be asking is why, when the disease has been known in europe since 1992, was Britain still importing ash for nursery stock? and why, when 90 percent of denmark’s trees had become infected a decade later, were we still importing them?

ash is the one of the commonest and most easily grown native trees. So what ails British nurseries that they cannot compete with foreign suppliers and produce their own from native seed?

despite living on an island fortress, un­invaded since 1066, we seem to be pretty useless at keeping nasty things out. If you took so much as a fresh orange segment into australia or New Zealand, you would commit a criminal offence. But Britons seem strangely insouciant, despite regulations, about what crosses our borders. How many of us have sneaked cuttings home, after foreign holidays? Mea culpa – but never again.

In the past 50 years we’ve lost most of our elms; horse chestnuts are riddled with leaf miner or weeping canker; and sudden oak death lurks. among pests, we have let in lily beetle, western flower thrips, New Zealand flatworm, geranium bronze butterfly and

fuchsia gall mite.during the same half century, too many

research establishments have closed down and there seems to be little will, from any government, to foster better research into biosecurity. and yet as global travel continues to increase, one cannot help wondering how capable we will be of keeping our flora and fauna healthy. To date, the record is unimpressive and, as a result,

our ‘green and pleasant land’ looks likely to become increasingly necrotic.

Keeping things positive for gardenersChristine dakin of Bridge Nursery, Warwickshire

Sackcloth and ashesregular The Garden columnist Nigel Colborn

Comment

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p56RHS science update: ash

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