Taste of autumn

If you are lucky enough to live near the RHS Garden at Wisley there are plenty of events taking place this autumn. The Alitex lecture series has been popular this year and in October, as part of the programme, Dr Ken Thompson will give a talk at RHS Garden Wisley when he will be exploring gardening myths. Dr Thompson has played a significant role as a senior lecturer in plant ecology at Sheffield University for over 20 years and has written several books. His lecture takes place at 10.30am on 19th October. Tickets are £10. Contact Alitex at enquiries@alitex.co.uk

Staying with Wisley, they are holding their Taste of Autumn celebrations from 21st to 24th October, with apple tastings, food stalls, cooking demonstrations and book signings. As part of the festival, Wisley also welcomes 'Europom' an annual gathering of apple and fruit enthusiasts from across Europe that is held in a different country each year. There will be 20 cultivars of apples for visitors to taste during the festival including favourites such as Old Pearmain and Rosemary Russet. For more information log onto www.rhs.org.uk/wisley

One of my favourite flower shows is the Harrogate Autumn Show and I was pleased to hear that, once again, this year's Autumn show had been such a success. Almost 35,000 people went along to look at some fantastic vegetables, the brand new fruit show and enjoy the marquees, which at the autumn show has some really stunning autumn displays. Congrats to Peter Glazebrook from Newark, who once again won the Heaviest Onion Competition (for the third time in a row) with a whopper weighing in at 15lb 9oz, not quite enough to break the world record but the heaviest for the last 4 years. The Harrogate Spring Flower Show will be held on 14th to 17th April at the Gt Yorkshire Showground, so put that date in your diary.

If you log onto our website - www.recklessgardener.com 

you can read about the Gardening World Cup, being held in Japan for the first time in October. One of our North-West designers, Jonathan Denby will be entering a garden. Jonathan comes from Grange-over-Sands, South Cumbria, and his design is inspired by a pair of Pre-Raphaelite stained glass windows rescued from a Lancashire Church. The windows commemorate the lives of 14 men who died in the First World War. Lancaster sculptor, Alan Ward, is carving an angel based on one depicted in the window, which will be one of the focal points of the garden. We wish Jonathan and his team good luck for the World Cup which is being held in the palace grounds of Huis Ten Bosch, Nagasaki.

Garden Writer Karen Platt has some offers on her books at the moment. With the run up to Christmas it might be a good time to check out what's on offer. Titles include Gold Fever, Silver Lining, Plant Synonyms and Lifestyle Gardening. Some titles are 50% off. Visit www.karenplatt.co.uk 
to see what's on offer.

Too wet to get out into the garden this week but there is still lots of colour so quite reluctant to cut back yet. Signs of Jack Frost though, and I don't mean the detective! Winter is coming, but not yet awhile hopefully.

Back from Kent travels

The weather was kind for my travels to Kent last week - it only rained when we were not outdoors! Back here in Cumbria the day has taken on a familiar kind of hue, as I write this, raining and windy. The temperature has also started to dip and there is more than a taste of Autumn in the wind.

However, back to Kent. The Reckless Gardeners managed to see three wonderful gardens - the amazing Sissinghurst, Penshurst Place and Leeds Castle. Each was very different in  style and appeal, each very distinctive in character and all very typical of what we consider the epitome of English gardening style.

Watch out for our full features in the next few weeks on the Reckless Gardener website - www.recklessgardener.com

Although it was dull when we visited Sissinghurst the dark skies did nothing to mask the glory of this wonderful garden. Created by Harold Nicholson and Vita Sackville-West from a ruin - the garden evokes their spirit at every turn. The 'hot garden'  (cottage garden) was indeed that - hot, flaming colours with wonderful dahlia - the white garden, now going over but still showing traces of the hallmark white roses. Those distinctive Elizabethan towers, the survival of this wonderful Tudor house and the complex misture of old and new, classical and romantic, public and private all come together to make Sissinghurst a unique garden to visit.

And so to Penshurst Place and gardens. Here is seven centuries of history and one familiy's love for their house and garden. There is much to see in both house and garden and afterwards you can enjoy a really good cup of tea in the pleasant restaurant.

Penshurst has passed through the hands of royalty and nobles down through the centuries. Following ownership by Henry VIII it was gifted to the influential Sidney family in 1552 and has been nurtured by descendants of that same family down to the current custodian Viscount De L'Isle.

There are 48 acres of grounds at Penshurst with 11 acres of walled and yew hedged garden 'rooms' providing a variety of colour and form throughout the seasons.

Finally we were presented with the magnificient Leeds Castle with its rolling landscape and yet another house with its history entwined through the royal houses of England and the glitterati of the centuries. Leeds Castle is the second most popular tourist destination in Kent after Canterbury Cathedral and certainly on the day of our visit there were plenty of crowds. The grounds are vast and there are plenty of places to get away from the trong and just enjoy the wonderful landscape.

Today, Leeds Castle is administered by a Trust after it was left to the nation by Lady Baillie. The Castle needs a day to completely see everything, the landscape will tug you one way the Castle another and to do both justice a couple of hours will not be enough. The castle seems to float on its 'moated island' and is perfectly complemented by its landscaped surroundings. Rather like at Sissinghurst, Lady Baillie bought a rather run-down castle in the late 1920s and brought it back to life, subsequently its rooms are a delight of 20s and 30s style which is very unusual in a building of this age. Her influence on the landscape is paramount - taking a run down estate and completely re-designing it into the lovely parkland and vistas we see today.

Each garden quite different, each garden presenting its own feel and character and each garden a pure delight. Perfect examples of the gardens of England to be enjoyed by generations to come.

I am just getting ready to set off once again on some more garden visits this month. Sissinghurst, Leeds Castle and wonderful Penshurst Place on the itinerary this time so watch out for our garden visits features in the next few weeks.

The flower show season is now winding down and we are already turning our thoughts to tidying up the garden for winter. The seasons seem to pass very quickly and in the UK it seems some years as thought they have all merged into one. Our winters seem to get longer and the summer season seems so short.

I was interested in the unusual news item today regarding a case of Legionnaire’s disease caught from garden compost. The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has issued warnings about the risk of contracting Legionnaire’s if you handle compost but they also point out that the risk is thought to be very low. Apparently bags of compost will now carry warnings. The advice is to use gloves when you handle compost and avoid potting-up in confined spaces.

One of the highlights of the autumn season is the Harrogate Autumn Flower Show, which runs from Friday 17th to Sunday 19th September. I have many pleasant memories of autumn shows at Harrogate particularly the row upon row of splendid dahlias and wonderful vegetables, not to mention the largest onion competition. Information on the show and tickets available from www.flowershow.org.uk
 

An interesting spat seems to have broken out between the ‘beloved’ and mild-mannered Alan Titchmarsh and the president of the RHS. Apparently, Elizabeth Banks, the RHS President, had commented that the BBC’s coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show and Gardeners’ World had “dumbed down” and become “patronising” to viewers. Were the BBC scared of plant names? Frightened of being “snobby”?

The comments so outraged our lovely Mr Titchmarsh that he issued a riposte in his Gardeners’ World magazine column: “Recently the ‘dumbing down’ arrow was loaded into the bow of righteous indignation and fired in the direction of Gardeners’ World and the BBC’s Chelsea Flower Show coverage by the president of the Royal Horticultural Society,” he said. “If I tell you that Metasequoia glyptostroboides was discovered in China in 1948, does that make me a better gardener than if I say that the dawn redwood was discovered in the year that Prince Charles was born? Of course not.”

Alan goes on to point out that what matters is the reliability of the information purveyed – and that the full Latin name of every plant shown is almost always given in the form of a caption. He continues:  “I cannot believe that elitism and exclusivity in the gardening world is the way forward – quite the opposite.” Well said  our Alan.

Gardening should be fun, we do not need to feel inferior because we cannot use the proper Latin names for plants. To do so in a populist TV programme will definitely put people off – I know it does me.

However, that said, I have a lovely little book “Plant Names Simplified” which gives not only  Latin plant names but their pronunciation and derivation/meaning. In the Preface to this useful little book (written by A.T. Johnson and H.A. Smith) –the authors explain that the glossary has been prepared to offer the reader a simple translation and pronunciation of the names of such plants, trees and shrubs as are commonly grown in the average garden: “ As they stand, such names are to most of us something more than an awkward obstacle barring the way to any real intimacy with the elements of botany. They are a direct hindrance to our progress as gardeners and tend to complicate rather than to elucidate the difficulties of a vast and absorbing subject.” So its not just Alan then.

I have a friend who can roll out Latin plant names in the same way I can order a gin and tonic. I have to admit that I am more than a little jealous! Latin plays an important role in the classification of the natural world no more so than with plants.

So the way forward, I would have thought, was to tread a careful path between the use of the Latin name and the common one. Stimulate the interest and Latin will become less of a mystery and more meaningful in identifying your plants.

I have another little book “The Enthusiasts Book of Gardening Latin” (given to me by that same friend – I think she wanted to do something about  my pitiful attempts at pronunciation and understanding when we tour gardens).  Like “Plant Names Simplified” it lifts the veil on those strange sounding names so that you begin to fully understand why we use Latin. So now if I see a label with ‘albifrons’ as part of the name I know it means “has white fronds”.  In fact it can be quite fun.

Well that’s my rant for this week . Enjoy the Indian summer – it probably won’t last!!