Members Musings. Personal visits to gardens and shows.

SPETCHLEY  PARK

I visited Spetchley Park Gardens on Midsummer’s Day, June 24, with Ann Bird at the request of Debbie Mann who looks after the roses.  Following a talk I did to Spetchley Garden Club she invited me to identify some of the Old Garden and indeed some Modern roses which had lost their labels.  Hence the reason for asking Ann along for she has a much greater knowledge of Old roses than I do.

The Gardens and Estate are situated on the A44 about three miles east of Worcester, not far from Junction 6 of the M5.

Spetchley Park is owned by the Berkeley family, the current owner being John Berkeley.  The garden is about 30 acres and has its own Charitable Trust.  Miss Judith Berkeley who is now in her eighties still keeps active in the walled garden and lives in the house.

Ellen Willmott of Miss Willmotts Ghost fame for scattering Eryngium seed was also closely related to the Berkeleys.  Edward Elgar who, of course, lived in the Malverns close by, used to fish in the lake so there is quite a bit of history about the place.

There are only two full time gardeners Debbie and Kate along with a few volunteers to look after the gardens.  Miss Berkeley grows vegetables and roses in the Walled Kitchen Garden.  She has a good collection of Old Garden and Austin English Roses which at the time of the visit were in full flush.

Most of the borders are very mixed with shrubs, perennials and roses growing together.  There is no real plan, just mixed plantings and if Mr Berkeley likes a rose he will just have it planted as it suits him.  There are, however, many good roses in the south border and mid to late June is the best time to visit this area.

The Rose Lawn with a Victorian conservatory nearby has been replanted.  The soil was dug out mechanically and replaced to overcome Rose Soil Sickness.  The new beds have been planted two years ago with approximately 130 bushes of Royal William, the very healthy red HT rose.  The bushes were just coming into flower on our visit and I’m sure would have been a delight the following week.  The central area is grassed and crossed by pathways with weeping standards of Chevy Chase, a late flowering red rambler with small bright red button type blooms.

There are lots of Specimen trees around the Estate which are hundreds of years old.  The Fountain Gardens were planted and designed at the time of Miss Willmott and are a bit overgrown, but have many distinctive plantings.

The west and north borders have roses growing amongst their plantings and Ann was able to identify Cooper’s Burmese growing in the north border on a wall facing south, quite spectacular at the time.

The Garden is no doubt for all seasons but for Rosarians mid June to mid July would be the best time to visit.

I trust I have whetted your appetite for a visit, for the Garden does not seem to be promoted or advertised as well as it might be.

There is a good website however, where more details and information can be gained at http://www.spetchleygardens.co.uk%20/

                                                                                    John Anthony

HOLEHIRD  GARDENS

On a recent holiday in the Lake District I visited the Lakeland Horticultural Society Gardens which were voted on BBC Gardeners’ World to be one of the Nation’s Favourite Gardens in 2002.

The Gardens near to Bowness hold the National Collections of Astilbe, Hydrangea and Polystichum, cover ten acres and, as their leaflet says, is a garden for all seasons.

When I was there the Astilbe were all out in brilliant shades of pink, red, mauve and white and were a beautiful sight against the hills in the back ground.  There is a walled garden containing herbaceous borders with interesting perennials, silver and grey foliage plants in one part and orange, red, pink and yellow plants in another section. There are a variety of different shrubs including a New Zealand Callistemon, specimen trees including Prunus Serrula with lovely peeling mahogany bark and the Wedding Cake tree Cornus Controversa Variegata.  Each plant is marked with its name to enable visitors to identify it, part of the computerised plant database which the Society runs.

In another part of the garden are natural rock gardens with unusual Alpine plants and two Alpine Houses that are open to the public, one a display house and one a Victorian house with a tufa wall.

The gardens are all maintained by volunteers and in May each year they hold a major plant sale  which is their main fund raising event. There is no actual charge to go round, just a box on the wall for contributions. The gardens are open all year round and the Society run educational lectures and courses, have a specialist library, publish a full-colour garden guide, operate a Met.Office approved Weather Station and provide a Wardening Service to assist visitors to the garden.

Well worth a visit if you are in the area, in fact I enjoyed my visit so much I went back again for another browse the following day.

                                                                                           Jean                      

 A Notable Trio
With an  extremely early start to the season and in general a poor second flush, the RNRS Autumn Show held at Harrogate in September 2002 seemed to be missing some of its regular  exhibitors. Even so the roses displayed throughout the different sections were still exhibited to a high standard. This Show once again appears to be the venue for finding new roses appearing on the Show scene or being suitable for it.

The  first noticed was a variety named ‘Mystique’ which had been shown as one of six distinct open blooms displayed on an oval board and also in a class calling for a vase of three stems of Cluster Flowered roses. The three stem entry looked particularly attractive, the clusters being of good size and nicely spaced, fresh and clean with good stems and foliage. But it was the colouring of the blooms, probably best described on the day as a ’smoky’ orange hue, which was the  outstanding feature. Whilst the mature foliage is a mid-green,  the catalogue describes early new growth as being a ‘glossy  plum red’.

The  second rose noted was not actually on the show bench, but was to be seen on one of the trade stands in the form of a very large bowl, possibly well over a metre in width. Again, the variety, which was ‘Summer Wine’, is also a Cluster Flowered type rose, but it is listed as a Climber. The foliage is a very healthy looking dark green and the semi-double blooms, which are produced in large sprays are a most attractive,  ‘darkish’, coral-pink colour, which when fully open reveal prominent red stamens. With such good clusters of flower and length of stem, this variety could well be considered  seriously by the exhibitor for showing in the cluster flowered classes, in much the same manner as climbing ‘Iceberg’ can be used. Personally, I grow mine as a free standing shrub,  alongside several other climbing roses planted in the same way.

Although not actually seen at the Harrogate Show, having mentioned two Cluster Flowered Roses, to complete a trio of show potential, it would only seem appropriate to include a Large Flowered Rose. This one was actually seen in the Royal National Rose Society Trial Grounds in October 2001, it, like the other  bushes there, had been growing under very adverse conditions, which is not an accepted part of the trials. But, in spite of  this, even in late October it stood out like a beacon. The foliage was plentiful, clear and healthy and a very dark glossy green, whilst the long classical, fragrant , light pink blooms with a deeper reverse, were even for the time of year very clean and attractive, with no real signs of weather marking. All four bushes, one metre in height, syn ‘Coclust’, had not only withstood the rigours of a full growing season very favourably, but also the obvious signs of neglect, apparent throughout the trial grounds.

The  synonym indicated the breeder as being James Cocker and Sons, leading to the name of the rose itself ‘Caring For You’, which was actually released in 2000, being bred from ‘Pristine’ (Light Pink/White) x ‘National Trust’ (Dark Red). The show potential was evident even then, the parentage merely  confirming it.

All  three varieties will, I am sure, make excellent garden roses  and equally be of great interest to the exhibitor.

Brian  Schofield

Mystique’ (Kirkham). C & K. Jones and Pocock’s Roses
 


‘Caring for You’ (Cockers). Cockers.

 



Summer Wine’ (Kordes). Listed by 17 leading  Rose Growers.