Hidcote Manor – a great story

When you love a garden, you want to know everything about it. Not just about the garden itself, its plants, pathways and ornament, but also about the garden maker, his history, his inspiration, his life. Or hers.  If you love Dumbarton Oaks, then you want to know about Beatrix Farrand; if you love Barnsley House, then it’s Rosemary Verey (and just where is that biography?). For me, it’s Hidcote Manor Gardens and its maker Lawrence Johnston. And so I’m delighted to have been sent a review copy of Ethne Clarke’s new edition of her book first published in 1989.

Hidcote: The Making of a Garden (Revised Edition) Ethne Clarke; forward by Roy Strong. W.W. Norton, New York, 2009. 184 pages. $45

What moves us to create gardens? In the new edition of her book Hidcote: The Making of a Garden, Ethne Clarke explores the influences of family, friends and the atmosphere of early 20^th-century England on Lawrence Johnston that led him to create Hidcote Manor Gardens, one of the most influential landscapes of the 20^th century.

Americans Johnston and his mother, moved to the Cotwold village of Hidcote Bartrim in 1907, and Johnston (at first with his mother) began what he would not finish until 1948, the year he signed a deed of trust that handed over Hidcote to the National Trust—the first garden it acquired and which it still maintains today.

Information unearthed in the last few years led to Clarke’s new edition, which delves more deeply into Johnston’s life and times. It’s an enjoyable and fascinating read, sort of a gossipy tell-all but with actual facts and a good bit of garden design theory thrown in. Johnston brought together two warring schools of thought at the time—formal garden design versus the naturalistic approach. He used both, with a formal landscape near the house segueing into the wild further out.

Clarke traces the influence of Johnston’s family and friends, the effects of World War I and the social influences of the times had on him. The account, personable and fascinating, tells a lively story and brings Johnston and Hidcote, the first garden to be acquired by the National Trust, to life. We’ve taken two groups through Hidcote, and each time property manager Mike Beeston has told us great behind-the-scenes stories; my favorite was the rumor that Norah Lindsay’s daughter Nancy burned all of Johnston’s papers because she was so upset not to have inherited Hidcote. I’ve not seen that story anywhere else until I read Clarke’s book.

Johnston’s garden design, from the round bathing pool to the tapestry hedges to the Pillar Garden was borrowed again and again and we are fortunate to have the original as a standard as well as a continuing model.

Topiary times

We don’t have enough topiary in the U.S.—not that I’m about to start clipping, but I always admire the work of others when we visit gardens in England. My favorite was the row of yew elephants that head gardener Ed Cross created at Hazelbury, near the village of Box in Wiltshire. The row of mature yew grown into arches

elephants in Wiltshire

was already there, so Ed just couldn’t resist the temptation. The first time we saw them in 2004, he had just started and sent me a photo of his template. I took another picture during second visit two years ago, and you can see the beginning of the elephant form. Too bad the owners got wind of what he was doing and made him shear the elephants back into plain yew.

elephants appear

Of course, we all love the topiary at Hidcote and at Great Dixter.

Great Dixter

You know, come to think of it, I could get just a small yew in a pot and start clipping. What would it be—a chicken? A teapot? A sofa? We saw an entire living room set clipped out of boxwood at Iford Manor; our guide Stuart decided to take advantage of the opportunity.

Iford furniture

It may not be as easy as it sounds—Matthew Appleby at the Telegraph writes that gardeners are taking a new interest in the art, but his attempt at a simple shape met with mixed results.

Trains and trains and trains

Just back from Portland and the Farwest Show and, of course, we took the train. The Seattle-Portland trip on Amtrak Cascades is lovely and relaxing from the moment we step into the station.

Portland station's ceiling

Stepping into the Portland station is stepping back in time—motifs on the ceiling, marble arches and ceiling fans. In Seattle, King Street station is still undergoing renovation, as it has been doing for at least 15 years. When will it be finished? They’ve opened up an area of white marblelike walls that looks appropriately old, but the dropped acoustic ceiling still covers the original beauty. There’s one gap where you can see through all the way up, accompanied by a sign that shows you what’s to come. Some day.

In London, we love the organized chaos of stations such as Paddington—everyone is going in a different direction, and yet all movement seems choreographed. We stand in a crowd watching the letters and numbers flip by on the big board until our platform is announced, then off we go to find decent seats and wait for the tea trolley.

Smaller train stations around England provide charming anecdotes. In Taunton one year, a polished steam engine came puffing through. At the station in Cheltenham two summers ago, a Spitfire flew over us; it had just performed at Proms the night before at Sudeley Castle.

Not all train stations are as enjoyable.  Gare du Nord makes me nervous. How will I feel in Rome?

London squares, books and pubs

Around the corner from our favorite little hotel in London—the Harlingford Hotel in Cartwright Gardens—and along our short walk to Russell Square and its fabulously restored gardens—we walk along Queen Square.  The first time we did this we saw a plaque at 3 Queen Square for Faber and Faber. We are Book People, and as such we were thrilled to see one of the offices of such a venerable publisher.  Now, as reported in the Daily Telegraph, Faber and Faber celebrates its 80^th birthday.

The Telegraph’s article tells a wonderful story, not least of which is how the publishing company’s name came about.  Toby Clements reports that poet Walter de la Mare was the one who suggested that Geoffrey Faber add another Faber to the name.  “ … not because there was another Faber—there wasn’t—but because ‘you can’t have too much of a good thing.’ ”

In Queen Square is a statue of Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III; it’s a comfy place where loads of mothers and nannies take children to play.  Just on the corner is the Queen’s Larder, one of our favorite pubs, and where the Queen supposedly stayed while her husband was being treated by nearby doctors.  One summer day, we sat outside the pub with a pint and watched some Morris dancers who were practicing for a competition or show elsewhere.  You never know what you run into in London.

And Russell Square—it’s one of the best of the London squares.  When we arrive in London too early to check into the Harlingford, and we’re trying desperately to stay awake, we sit on a bench at the fountain and watch people.  The fountain is a recent addition to a square first designed by Humphry Repton in 1806.  The restoration of the gardens and installation of the fountain created a pleasant green space whether you’re walking through on the way to the British Museum or need to cool off in the fountain’s spray.

We’ll be back in the neighborhood—isn’t it odd how you can come to consider a holiday place home?—in October, and it’ll be interesting to see how London’s fall landscape.

The Garden Travel Packing List

There’s nothing like making a packing list to get you excited about a trip, and no doubt you’ve got several items that top your list each time you make it.  For garden travel, there are particular things we need, only remotely connected with the time of year we travel.

Because if it’s a garden tour, then you’ll probably be traveling mid- to late spring through mid-autumn (timing is seasonally adjusted according to your destination – you can leave Seattle on an autumn day and wind up in Auckland in the spring).

We aren’t hiking and this isn’t a camping trip – it’s a garden tour.  Maybe you are touring on your own – just you, your list of gardens, and maps or GPS device.  Perhaps you’ve planned the trip with a friend, and have spent ages going through your files of “Must see someday” to plan this once-in-a-lifetime event. It could be you are signing up for a well-chosen, small-group tour with like-minded folks (Ireland Gardens 2010 – details now online!)

First things first, especially when we’re off to Ireland, Scotland or England:  a raincoat.  Just to be on the safe side, of course.  This is something that I’m in the market for, so I’ve started a little research.  I like the ¾ raincoat from LL Bean ($139), because it’s meshed-lined;  like to do my own layering, and don’t want a heavy lining adding degrees when no degrees are needed.  “Two front pockets” the description says – but how big are they?  I need some room, so that my other essentials fit.

Travelsmith has a microfiber double-collar raincoat ($159) that the Wall Street Journal selected as “best overall raincoat” and is described as “totally waterproof.” I had a “totally waterproof” raincoat from Travelsmith, but it began to leak badly. I ended up just as wet inside as out, and that’s why I’m searching for a new raincoat, so you can see why I might be a little hesitant about this one.

Still, it has a detachable hood; I like that.  Umbrellas are totally useless on a garden tour – I use my hands to take notes and photos.  Online, Travelsmith doesn’t say anything about pockets with this raincoat.  How can that be?  It seems like most Travelsmith clothes have about 42 pockets, 38 of which you will forget about immediately, but usually several are large enough to stuff with important items.

This, of course, prompts the question: Just how many pockets do you need in a raincoat? Again, we’re not hiking the Pacific Trail here – not that there’s anything wrong with that.  What else is in those pockets, besides a few Kleenex, a camera, notepad and pencil, leftover package of biscuits from the tea tray in your hotel room?

Do you have a favorite raincoat for travel?

More garden travel essentials to come.

Day Trips for Gardeners

Summer is congested with tours – most of them sponsored by worthy local organizations who work hard and make some money for their causes by convincing local gardeners to open their gardens to hoards of people for (usually) one day.  What fun! – at lest for those of us doing the visiting.

Highlights for this coming weekend include the Woodinville Garden Club’s tour (Saturday, July 18^th), where for the price of a ticket ($15) you get not just gardens, but a wine tasting at the end of the day at Molbak’s.  How convenientthat you can also buy plants there.

The Federal Way Symphony tour, also on Saturday and also $15, shows off some lovely suburban gardens. The West Seattle tour on Sunday (July 19^th), also $15, almost always includes some fine water-view gardens.

A bit pricier at $75 each – but going to a worthy cause – is the Mediterranean Garden Tour in Edmonds on Saturday (18^th).  The proceeds go to the Hunger Intervention Program; you’ll get food and wine, plus a close-up look at the winner of the Pacific Northwest garden contest.

You’ll find loads more tours listed at the Miller Library’s Web site.

Kubota Gardens

Not up for a one-day tour?  Then head to one of Seattle’s fine gardens that are also city parks:  the Japanese Garden and Kubota Gardens.  You’ll be able to enjoy a quiet stroll and fabulous landscapes.  No food allowed in the Japanese Garden, but you can take your picnic to Kubota

Trevor Kincaid would be proud

The garden group – Jane, Dorothy, Jutta and I – made the trip to Lewis County yesterday to celebrate Lupine Field Day at Mallonee Farms, an organic dairy (part of the Organic Valley co-op) where the farming practices of the Mallonee family create the right environment for the endangered Kincaid’s lupine

John, Maynard, Mary Mallonee

 

 

 (Lupinus sulphureus var. kincaidii) to thrive.  Thanks to Mary and John Mallonee, and their son Maynard, who care about the land and their family and know that organic practices make a healthier world.

 

Joe Arnett, state botanist with the Washington Heritage Conservation Program, talked to the group gathered at the Baw Faw Grange in Curtis about endangered plants and conservation, noting that usually the location of conservation sites were kept quiet, but that the Mallonees wanted the world to know that rare plants, people and cows can live in harmony (also growing in the pasture – the pale larkspur, Delphinium leucophaem, and the thinleaf peavine, Lathyrus holochlorus).

Joe Arnett checks Hitchcock for lupine ID.

 

 

We also celebrated the family connection:  Dorothy is the daughter of Trevor Kincaid, for whom the lupine is named.  Two of Dorothy’s sisters, Polly and Kathleen, and their family attended the festivities, and everyone hiked well into the field to view the lupines, which were just finishing flowering (and then got soaked as a shower of rain arrived).  Trevor Kincaid, University of Washington entomologist and self-proclaimed “omnologist” (a word he coined, meaning he was interested in everything), would’ve enjoyed the day.

Dorothy with lupine.

Tra la, it’s May

The hedgerows in England are coloring up – with colors of green and white.  One of the lovliest hedgerow shrub is Viburnum opulus, known in the States as the high-bush cranberry and in Europe as the Guelder rose.  Its flowers appear like small lacecap hydrangeas, with a ring of sterile florets surrounding tiny true flowers.  The much-loved cultivar ‘Roseum’ or ‘Sterile’ – the snowball bush – doesn’t hold a candle to the straight species, as far as I’m concerned. It goes no further than globs of flowers, and so the late-summer berries that decorate hedgerows and feed the wildlife are lacking in our gardens.

We see another viburnum with globs of flowers – and more beautiful than ‘Roseum’ – on our U.K. travels.  Viburnum plicatum f. plicatum ‘Grandiflorum’.  Yes, it’s a cultivar of what’s called the doublefile viburnum.  

Viburnum 'Grandiflorum'

Best spotting:  Branklyn Garden  in Perth, Scotland – there’s still time for you to get there, because it won’t bloom for another month.

 

            It’s easy to see where those viburnums get their cultivar names; sometimes it’s not so easy to figure it out.  I have the fabulous Viburnum ‘Onondaga’, which is not quite blooming yet.  For a couple of years, I thought it was some Japanese cultivar; then, we went to New York, and I discovered it’s the name of an American Indian tribe (and lake).  Live and learn!

Best accessory for garden travel in May:  a raincoat, unlined (better to layer) with a hood that can be cinched.  You don’t want to wear a hat that flies off in the wind or an umbrella that turns itself inside out.  I need a new raincoat, and so am considering the mesh-lined trench coat from LL Bean.  Not the full-length version – it’s just to easy to drag that through the mud – but I like the ¾ version.

The Plant Hunter

There was a sad lack of both hebe and Pittosporum selections at last week’s Arboretum Foundation plant sale – just when we all need to beef up the garden with interesting evergreens.  Sure, several of them died during the winter, but I don’t see that as a reason to stop growing them – we won’t have another winter like that for a while, will we?  And ‘Irene Paterson’ looks great:  a few leaves lost, but new growth coming on just fine – although will mine ever be as large as the ones we see in Ireland?

'Irene Paterson' in Ireland

 

 

(Is this global warming?  It reminds me of an old Twilight Zone episode – with someone who later became a star, of course – about how the earth had gotten off its course and was heading for the sun.  Everything was getting hotter and hotter, and then the main character woke up to find that it felt really nice and cool.  The truth was that the earth had gotten off its course and was heading away from the sun, and everyone was going to freeze!  Cue creepy music.)

I did find one Pittosporum tenuifolium cultivar:  ‘Eila Keightley’ from Fair Meadow Nursery, in Olympia.  It’s the only cultivar listed on their Web site, but they have fabulous other plants, and so I hope that they will add to the P. tenuifolium list.  In fact, this nursery would make a great road trip.  Although I love garden travel to faraway places, short trips nearby to gardens and nurseries keeps me going between the big trips.

Master Gardener Foundation of King County plant sale is this weekend:  What will I find?

Hope Springs Eternal

It appears that we may – at long last – be finished with the terrible winter weather that has played havoc with our gardens in the maritime Pacific Northwest.  I lost four Pittosporum tenuifolium, although two of those were in small pots, and so I can point the finger of blame at no one but myself.  Two hebes succumbed to the elements along with a potted Acacia baileyana ‘Purpurea’, which I got because we had seen such a lovely specimen at The Garden House in Devon.  Strangely enough, the potted Olearia macrodonta survived, although it doesn’t look good.  As usual, no sign of life from my Salvia guaranitica ‘Black and Blue’ – just as well, I’d rather buy a pretty new one-gallon plant now that try to nurse along a leaf or two on last year’s plant.

'Black and Blue'

 

 

My friend Jane says she won’t replant any hebes, because hers all died.  I say, bring on the hebes.  Four of mine still look good – in fact, the selection I bought as ‘Dorothy Peach’ but is actually lavender (and so I call it ‘Not Dorothy Peach’) is just as huge and impressive as ever.

We have fallen in love with hebes around here, and so it’s a good thing that the Great Plant Picks program is selecting some of the best to recommend.  The recommendations come from the years of testing by Neil Bell, extension agent at the North Willamette Research and Extension Center.  One of my newish hebes (H. odora ‘New Zealand Gold’) is on the list.

A bad winter or a big wind storm shouldn’t dampen our gardening spirits – and, in fact, it doesn’t if the crowds at the nurseries last weekend are any indication.  And so, with that in mind, I will be shopping at the Arboretum Foundation’s presale event (nothing like wine to help you shop) on Friday, April 24.  My goal:  more hebes, a new ‘Black and Blue’, and just about any Pittosporum tenuifolium cultivar I can find – except for ‘Silver Sheen’.  I’ve killed that one twice, and so will move on to something else.