Every so often I am invited back to the UK to design a garden and my most recent trip took me down to Cornwall. This is the county where I spend most of my childhood and my Grandmother, now 103 years old, still lives there.
Many things in the gardens seemed so different to those of my new life in central France; orange Montbretia (Crocosmia) was everywhere to be seen, in gardens and hedgerows, a South African plant which has naturalised in the county.
Montbresia growing wild on a clifftop in North Cornwall
I lifted a few of the common form from Grannies’ garden and from a nursery bought a pot each of Buttercup, Emberglow and George Davidson for a new border at home.
Hydrangea macrophylla varieties were in full flower in the South West, while the one in my garden, brought over from the UK in the removal van, had finished long ago. I’m afraid I could not resist buying a Hydranea as well, but this time chose H. paniculata Kyushu to go in the shady border under the Sequoia, which is developing into a Japanese / Chinese planting area surrounding a large granite lantern.
- Cornish Hydrangeas
The garden we came to visit contains many fine plants and any new design will have to take these into account as far as possible. Plans for a swimming pond will mean that a few lovely specimens will have to go and we hope that by working in the dormant season we will be able to save some of them.
A press pack has just arrived in our post box, detailing the events and themes for this autumn’s Journees des Plantes at Courson, south of Paris.
Two plant shows are held at the Chateau de Courson each year, prestigious events drawing amateur and professional gardeners and horticulturists from all over Europe, both to visit and to exhibit.
It is a highlihght of our gardening year and this year we have been invited to speak to the members of the International Camellia Society and the RHS Camellia, Magnolia and Rhodoendron Group on the Friday evening. Our theme is to be gardening and garden design in France, looking in particular at the annual GardenFestival at Chaumont.
Each year we limit ourselves on the amount of plants we can buy at Courson and every year I regret not buying so many beautiful things. In the days when we were building £100,000 gardens for a living a few plants here or there hardly registered on our budget. These days we have to watch our pennies a little more carefully!
Largetroemia indica
Last year we bought our first Lagerstroemia indica, from the master of the genus, Demartis of Bergerac. We chose the variety Yang Tse, a family reminder that my Grandmother and Grandfather lived alongside the river of the same name, when he was architect to Shanghai Municipal Council prior to and during the invation of China by Japan.
This plant suffered during its first winter but is now a healthy bush, covered with flower buds which are just starting to open.
A Mimosa bought at the same time did not survive the cold; an appeal for a replacement from the nursery resulted in a letter telling me off for not looking after it! Caveat emptor!
