Love Your Conifers Part II

Just adding to the list of conifers out there, in here – and once again there’s nothing dull about these beauties. And there’s one for pretty much every part of the garden, in sun or shade, miniature marvels or larger powerhouses, each and everyone adding structure and all year round weight to your garden’s design. And such a variety of colour, with spiky short needles, and spiky long needles, and soft too, feathery and eminently stroke-able. Lacy, succulent, sharp, woolly, stringy and whippy. It’s all here.

And while we’re talking about conifers, I thought I’d diversify and suggest some other evergreen beauties – euphorbias, hebes, euonymus and ericas and more ….

I’m quite guilty of planning and planting great swathes of herbaceous perennials – and grasses admittedly – which can look fantastic from spring through to the last gasp of the year – but I’m…

Conifers – much maligned and in current thinking, unloved? Is this true? It certainly shouldn’t be when there is such a range of form, shape, texture and colour to be had – and from many that will sit happily in the smaller garden without ever outgrowing their welcome. Some of the names might be unfamiliar and tongue-twisting – but the same might be true of almost all botanical latin; something to be learned, associations made.

And there is the spectre of the Leylandii to overcome! (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1310011/Hedge-wars—evergreen-battles-make-good-neighbours-turn-nasty.html)

Yet I seem to have paid these plants quite a bit of close attention. I’ve pretty much catalogued the beautiful conifer garden at the Harold Hillier Gardens in Hampshire, where they certainly are the stars – and at Nymans come to think of it – the lawns at RHS Wisley have some striking and mature specimens – and their Pineturm and more at Kew…

Such a treat, earlier this week, attending one of Kew Gardens’ Meet the Experts Tours.

Every Tuesday throughout the year (or probably pretty much), you are delivered into the hands of one of their Experts for a private tour of one aspect of the work going on at Kew. This month they are talking everything snowdrops (it is Carnivorous plants next month – the link is at the end of the blog for further information).

Small groups, 15 as a usual maximum, and a rather random process of allocating tickets (free – amazing – but no early/pre-booking, open to all and therefore possibly going to be a victim of its own success though there are plans to tweak the system).

This was my first such tour – I attended the Fritillaria Open Day a couple of years ago which gave access to some of the private areas such as the Alpine…

Galanthus Warburg Primrose (above) and Galanthus Bertram Anderson (below)

Galanthus elwesii var elwesii Maidwell L (above) and Galanthus nivalis Magnet (below)

Galanthus plicatus Colossus (above and below)

‘Tis Snowdrop time, as with much else, early this year and so I thought I’d get myself into gear with a just a select selection. More, obviously, to come.

And a roundup of recently tweeted images, just to make sure I haven’t kept anything back from the folks at The Teddington Gardener (plus I think, especially with the Hellebores, more is more, even if they are repeats…)

This gallery are all Ashwood hybrids – such a range of freckles and dots, blotches and picotee edges, solid pure colours and blends, singles, anemone-centred and doubles with contrasting or complimentary nectaries to set the whole thing off –

… and they make superb floral displays, either as longer stems in simple posies (in which…

Ashwood Nurseries are world-famous for their Hellebores and the range of hybrids they create is quite remarkable for their breadth and beauty. My timing for this visit was perfect as I was travelling down from Manchester to London, and this was an excellent stopover, just to the west of Wolverhampton (for them, close to a big population base but in quite secluded rural location). And as I knew, there was an Open Day, with behind the scenes tours around the glasshouses where the breeding program happens. Marvellous.

The colours range from pure white to deep plum and slate, passing through pale lemons, deeper golds, pinks, peaches, ruby and claret red, jade greens – with spots and dots, stripes, blotches and contrasting veins, picotee edging (a fine line at the edge of the tepals) while the inner ring of nectaries (the petals, really) provide further interest, in green, gold, purple, red…

Solandra maxima

Arenga undulatifolia

Into the Palm House first, on a rather dull morning (I missed both brilliantly bright days earlier this week, one at Petersham Nurseries, the other being a Good Boy and doing some housework, washing and much-needed shopping). But hey, it’s still looking grand and my kitchen floor is shiny shiny clean.

The Palm House was beautifully warm and dripping with moisture and the two robins I saw provided a very beautiful bird song duet.

Chill and still a little iced over, the Lake was an almost perfect mirror.

Perfectly mown, the terrace and Rose Garden left and right – and the Pagoda (below) through another long-sighted avenue.

Grass clippings and the most enormous palm frond in this larger-than-your-usual-skip …

No flowers of course (despite our curiously mild autumn) in the rose garden, but some beautiful displays of hips – Rosa Bonica ’82 (above and below) putting…