Episode 21 Gardeners' World

Come on, in you come. Come on. You come through. Come on.

Hello. Welcome to Gardeners' World.

One of the things I really like about this time of year are all the happy

accidents that start to manifest themselves with real aplomb.

So, for example, here in the dry garden,

we did plant a few fennel some years ago.

They've seeded themselves everywhere and now they've taken over.

And it shows that if a plant WANTS to be somewhere, it'll grow happily,

it'll do better than anywhere else.

And it means that for a few weeks at this time of year,

the dry garden effectively becomes a fennel garden.

This week, Alan Power goes to Croome Court in Worcestershire,

which was Capability Brown's first landscape garden.

That really is fantastic, isn't it?

That's just perfect.

Yeah. Yeah. Beautiful landscape.

It's the wow moment.

And we'll also be visiting Monmouthshire,

and a garden that is given over to grasses.

I just love the noise that they make,

it's quite soothing and they feel gorgeous.

It's very hard to resist running your hands through them.

And I'm going to be potting up a beautiful little Kniphofia

for a really good autumn display,

as well as harvesting cut flowers from my cut-flower beds.

It's hedge-cutting time.

The birds have left their nests,

the hedges have got all shaggy and now is the time to give them what is

effectively a summer prune, which will hold them crisp and trim

not just for the rest of this growing season, but also into winter.

You won't have to cut them again until next year.

Now, it doesn't matter whether you have an evergreen hedge,

a deciduous hedge, small leaf, broadleaf, low, tall like this,

there are certain principles that apply to all hedges

and one of them is what machines you use.

I've really grown to like battery machines because nowadays, battery

technology is so good. This is a great big battery that you carry

on your back and, of course, will last all day.

You charge it up overnight.

But you can get much smaller ones, much cheaper,

which are very good.

Last, but absolutely not least,

ear protection and eye protection is a must.

You always start cutting a hedge from the bottom

and work up in nice sweeping movements.

And what you need to establish on every hedge is a batter.

Now, a batter is a slope,

which means we want it to be wider at the ground than the top

and the reason for that is very simple,

because if you cut it dead straight...

..the plant will have more sunlight at the top,

even if it's a low hedge, but particularly on a tall one,

and therefore, it will grow stronger.

Because it grows stronger, it shades out the bottom and that grows weaker,

and that becomes a vicious circle.

And what you end up with is bare stems at the base of the plant.

The truth is, sooner or later,

if you use a hedge cutter attached to a wire, you WILL cut through it.

We've all done it.

If you're using mains electricity, do get an RCD

and attach it, because that could turn out to be a life-saver.

And a little tip that I used to do when I used a mains hedge cutter

is to get a length of about three foot of old hosepipe, split it,

wrap it round the first three foot of the wire,

which is the bit you're most likely to cut,

tape it on and then if it DOES get between the teeth,

it jams the machine, rather than cutting through it.

But that is not INSTEAD of an RCD, that's as well as.

When you're happy with all that, you can cut from the ground,

then you need to get higher up to cut a tall hedge.

Now, don't use a wonky stepladder.

It doesn't matter whether you've got a boundary hedge,

or it's an internal hedge in the garden,

the top is always the last bit you do.

Get the sides right and then just clean off the top.

And when it's cut to your satisfaction,

one little tip is the next day, go over and just clean it up,

because there are always bits you missed.

And, of course, your hedge trimmings, once they're mown,

make brilliant compost.

Now, what hedges do, as well as providing protection for the garden,

is shape it. And on a big scale, of course you can do that with trees,

you can do that with woods. And shaping landscape really arose

out of the great tradition of landscape gardens

of the 18th century, and the greatest landscape gardener of all

was Lancelot Capability Brown,

and this year is the 300th anniversary of his birth

and Alan Power went along to one of his great gardens, Croome.

Today, we know Capability Brown as the man whose landscaping visions

changed the face of 18th-century England.

He's thought to have designed over 200 estates across the country.

But there was a time when he was relatively unknown

and he was setting out on his first big commission.

In his mid-30s and looking to develop his business,

Brown was invited to a sprawling rural estate in Worcestershire,

owned by the flamboyant sixth Earl of Coventry.

Luckily for him, the Earl was keen to give unknown, young talent a chance

and Brown was hired to redesign Croome Court and its grounds.

Over the last 20 years, the estate's been restored by the National Trust.

The garden and park manager is Katherine Alker.

That gamble the Earl took on Brown really paid off, didn't it?

It certainly did. It was probably one of the best decisions he'd made,

because Brown became the designer to have and it was the height of fashion

at the time to have this very naturalistic landscape.

I mean, it's so exciting.

It must be brilliant for you to be involved now at this stage,

with the legacy that was left behind by the Earl and Brown's relationship.

That's right. It's an incredible place to work.

And as we restore the landscape and it comes to life,

it's like we're seeing it through Brown's eyes.

So, this dark evergreen kind of tunnel-effect planting,

is this all intentional here, then?

Oh, yes, it certainly is.

It's all part of the design

and it's to contrast with this magnificent view we're about to see.

And that really is fantastic, isn't it?

That's just perfect.

Yeah, yeah. Beautiful landscape.

It's the wow moment.

And I suppose for me,

what makes the wow factor even greater

is trying to picture what the landscape was like

when Brown first turned up.

-And what WAS it like?

-It was completely different to what we see now.

-The area was known as Saggy Mere...

-Nice!

-..it was a real marshy area

and what Brown did was to create this very,

very natural-looking landscape, but with actually a huge amount of work.

We can see various little spots to draw the eye out.

So, we can see just how massive the estate was here.

So, plane trees.

The Chinese bridge down there.

Cedar trees in the distance.

All with the backdrop of the beautiful Malvern hills in the background.

The Earl, I think, was a show-off and he wanted everyone to know

how much land he owned.

So that's why you've got eye-catchers a mile away.

-It's gardening on a massive scale.

-It is, it really is.

I came here with great excitement 20 years ago, when the National Trust

first bought Croome, but when I came, it looked more like a farm.

Well, yes, that's absolutely true.

Yes. The past 20 years has been hard work,

but also we've created really something that hopefully Brown would

recognise now.

That view is a beautiful view.

He was somebody who kind of loved landscapes like this,

but it's full of curiosity.

You know, there's corners, there's bends, there's an island

and there's hints at a lot more.

There's hints at a bridge.

And it's just stunning, this area, isn't it?

It's really cleverly designed,

and it's all part of Brown's way of concealing and revealing certain

things at certain points. So, as you come under the bridge,

you've got no idea there's a lake here.

-Yeah.

-And then, wow, there's this beautiful view just laid before you,

with the path just winding round, enticing you on,

encouraging you to go and explore and see what else is round there.

This is stunning, Katherine, isn't it?

But for me, when I think of Capability Brown, this isn't what I think of.

I think of something very different.

I think you're right, a lot of people think of a Brownian landscape

as rolling hills and a few trees in a park.

But actually, we've got loads of evidence here to show that there was

a really big plant collection.

Herbaceous planting, perennial planting.

You look through the borders, you see the hemerocallis

shining in the foreground,

but it's repeated in the back

and the blue of the aconites is really stunning.

But when you start looking at the detail, you see the cardoons

and that's really an architectural plant, isn't it?

You know, the way the temples are in the landscape,

truly architectural.

What did you build that whole design on?

So, we were able to look through plant lists and plant bills and choose

just the right plants that were here in the 18th century and develop the

structure from that. So, we know that there were cardoons here,

we know there were certain geraniums here

and we were able to really be as accurate as possible in our restoration

-of the garden.

-Brown must have just felt in heaven,

you know, as a great gardener, great landscape designer,

having a relationship with an earl who had the money to fulfil his dreams

and Brown's dreams. I mean, I can only dream of that.

Yeah. What a fantastic opportunity.

And the Earl wasn't worried about spending huge amounts of money on

individual plants, individual specimens.

And the landscape, as a whole, cost, in today's terms,

-millions of pounds.

-Yeah, but it's worth it.

Oh, yeah, definitely.

Brown's friendship with the Earl of Coventry lasted his whole life.

In fact, he died in 1783 after dining with the Earl in London.

I like to think that they were planning the next big spectacle for Croome

at that dinner, but it's been really nice for me to come here and see some

of what Brown might have seen in his early years.

Young trees and shrubs have been planted,

buildings are almost complete

and I'm sure he would have loved the idea that his work was being

celebrated 300 years later.

I visited Croome 18 years ago, when they were just starting the restoration,

and then spent some time there a couple of years ago,

and the difference was fabulous.

And if you go to our website, you'll get all the details of opening and

how to get there. Now, one thing that Capability Brown

was NOT known for was his cut-flower

gardens. And this year, I've made a cut-flower border.

And the whole point about that is to grow flowers for the house without

robbing the garden of its display.

And now they're ready to go.

So, I can start here with these Bells of Ireland,

which actually, to be honest, are flopping a bit.

This is very rich soil and...

..I've got them a bit too closely together.

Next year, I'll be more ruthless about my spacing,

because you can see they're bending over. I want them nice and upright.

But this is the first time I've grown cut flowers, especially in a border.

I'll pick a couple like that and I can always cut these down.

Now, this is Ammi.

Ammi visnaga. These lovely rounded umbels of flower.

And always with cut flowers, cut as low as you possibly can.

And give yourself the option of leaving them long

or you can shorten them later.

What I am learning is to be brave about cutting.

Don't leave them because you think they're looking good.

They want to look good indoors.

And the more you cut, the more you'll have,

so don't hold back.

Cut with a will. Now,

I want some tobacco plants to add into that colour mix.

So, I can cut that down there.

And there.

And that, too.

And what I have

is the potential for an arrangement

of the same kind of harmonious colours.

These are obviously greens and yellows and whites,

but I could have purples and rich reds or whatever.

But I'm roughly putting them together.

And when you're cutting flowers, always,

always bring some water with you in a bucket or a container

to pop them in.

Just give them a drink instantly.

You then take them somewhere where you can sort them out,

so they'll look good.

Now, I can't pretend to be a great flower arranger,

but I do love cut flowers.

And if you have a cut-flower bed, you don't have to be precious.

Strip off any foliage that's going to be underwater.

And in a vase like that, where they're going in,

that means pretty much everything below that line.

And re-cut it.

And if you cut it at a good angle, like that,

you increase the surface area, to increase the water uptake.

So, I'll pop that in, like that.

A bit of Bells of Ireland.

There we go.

The whole point about an arrangement like this is that it's a celebration

of what YOU like to grow in your garden.

It's not aimed at showing off or impressing people,

let alone winning any kinds of prizes.

And then, when you're fed up with it or it begins to fade, it goes to the

compost heap, and you go and pick more,

because that's what a cutting garden lets you do.

It lets you be really generous with the plants that you have in your

garden. Now, of course we all want colour and we want flowers,

but foliage can look superb too.

Even foliage without any flowers in it at all.

And we went to visit a couple near Chepstow who have filled their garden

with grasses. It's all foliage

and it's all beautiful.

I just love the noise that they make.

It's quite soothing and I think quite evocative, as well.

And the way the light catches the leaves introduces

an element of light and brightness.

Lifts your spirits.

And they feel gorgeous.

And it's very hard to resist running your hands through them.

I love the movement of them,

especially when they're planted in masses.

The wind catches them it's almost like an ocean wave.

Well, we lived in Southeast Asia for several years and were surrounded by

bamboos, which are just big grasses,

and grew them on our balcony in Bangkok.

When we were travelling, we saw a lot of grasses just growing wild

and we thought, "Actually, they look fabulous and would be great to grow."

Well, we moved in in 2006

and started on the garden in 2007.

But that first year was all about a lot of stour, a lot of rubble,

diggers, before we could get soil on top.

When you buy grasses, they're very small.

They take a long time, some of them, two or three years to mature.

And it's very easy for them to get swamped by their neighbours

and look a bit sad. I think if you've got room,

one of the most exciting things you can do is to mass them and use them as hedges and screens,

or a sort of large matrix planting.

They look fantastic.

They're much more versatile, I think, than people think.

This one is a Hakonechloa macra.

It's just brilliant for

softening the edges of hard landscaping.

We've got a very scruffy patio, circa 1981,

and the less we can see of it, the better.

I like to grow the grasses in pots.

Some of the exotic ones suit pot life because they've got to come in

and out of the greenhouse.

The Pennisetum villosum, that's quite tender,

in this area. I think you can grow it in the south of England,

but I put mine into the greenhouse over winter.

Other things like the Phalaris, which is just going over here,

would run in the garden, it would be an awful thug,

to the point where some people might call it invasive, even.

But in a pot, you've confined it,

so it's a good way of getting the effect

of these sort of white, toothpaste-y flower leaves

without risking it overtaking its neighbours.

This is vivax, this bamboo.

It's my passion and my pride.

We grew it really to remind us of what we did in Thailand.

We take out the side shoots when they come out very early,

so that you get this wonderful display of golden-yellow stems.

People are afraid sometimes of bamboo and it running,

but this has been contained with two levels of railway sleepers,

builders' damp-proof coarse plastic behind it.

That keeps the roots within that containment

and the roots are really just the first two feet,

24 inches. If you can contain it there, you've done a good job.

Grasses work very well with a lot of flowering perennials.

I think the traditional ones are always daisy-shaped flowers.

So, you can use Chocolate cosmos, which will give you a nice,

extended period of flower.

Asters work very well in planted borders,

especially with some of the taller grasses.

I like to use quite a lot of Persicaria.

Anything really that you might imagine would grow naturally

with the grass in the field, is often a good way to look at it.

Personally, I love self-seeders.

I wouldn't be without them and I wouldn't have the garden that I've got

without them. I can understand they might be a nuisance for some people

and if they are, then perhaps they should look to either grasses that are sterile, the Calamagrostis,

or go for something like Miscanthus sinensus, which is a warm-season grass

that won't actually be able to develop the seed and ripen the seed,

because our growing season is so much shorter.

So, I think there are other ways of dealing with the problem

than not growing them at all.

All the Calamagrostis and Miscanthus here has been subdivided,

so the plants have been grown for over two or three years.

We started with about tens of each of them,

but we needed hundreds to do the planting.

You can get ten, 20 plants out of each plant.

Grass is a great value.

They don't have sort of one look.

They go through four seasons of interest

and then they thin to an ethereal sort of ghostly skeleton

of their summer self.

I have to say that I find the grass borders here at Longmeadow

give me as much pleasure as any of the more colourful parts of the garden

and I think that's because grasses,

especially when they get mature and interweave like this,

give you such a complicated set of lines and textures,

and yet remain a very simple, calm place.

And that combination is very satisfying.

Here on the mound,

all the plants have been chosen primarily for their fragrance

and none have been sweeter smelling than these regal lilies.

But they're over now, the flowers are setting seed.

The thing to do is to leave them to slowly die back

and that will feed into the bulb for next year's flower.

That's fine. But they don't look very good

and also, they're tying up a really nice terracotta pot.

So, what I like to do, and I do this with nearly all the bulbs we have in pots,

is to transplant them into a cheap, plastic pot

where they can do their dying-back thing

and that frees up the good pot for something else.

So, if I take them out as carefully as I can...

..and sometimes it can be quite tricky.

There it comes.

And this will spend the winter in the plastic pot.

And then I can re-pot it into the terracotta pot in spring...

before it starts to grow again.

Right.

And it is worth stressing, do not cut it back at all.

It needs all that to feed into next year's flowers.

And you don't cut it back until early next year,

when they're completely dried and not giving any goodness to the bulb.

So, we have here a perfectly nice terracotta pot

and I have a very nice plant to put inside it.

This is a new Kniphofia.

It's called Mango Popsicle.

What I like about it, other than the intensity of the colour,

is it's elegant.

We think of red-hot pokers as being a crass plant,

whereas, actually, Kniphofias have a huge range.

It's a big family and they go from the great big red-hot pokers to very

delicate small ones.

You can have them almost white, you can have yellow, orange, red,

and I love them. The great thing about Mango Popsicle

is it's exceptionally long-flowering.

It will flower from June through to September

and that is unusual for a Kniphofia.

So, if I plant this up, this is going to give me a late burst of

brilliant colour. And Kniphofias come from South Africa.

They like fairly moist conditions

and as with all plants, just tease the roots a little bit.

That's absolutely fine.

You don't need to untangle it or anything like that.

With a pot that size, I can afford to add a decent bit of compost.

I've taken a potting compost

and I've added quite a lot of grit and garden compost.

So, good drainage, but lots of feed.

So, that will go in there, like that.

And then we will...go around it.

Firm it in.

Water it.

Now, that will look really good

and give an extra-late burst of colour for weeks to come.

But let's just think about THIS weekend.

Here are some jobs that you can do right now.

French beans, dwarf, and climbing and runner beans are

hitting their most productive period now.

But keep picking them, even if you can't eat them all,

because that will provoke fresh new pods

and any excess are very easy to store by freezing.

Raising herbaceous perennials from seed is easy

and saves a lot of money.

And if you sow them now, they will germinate,

can be stored over winter

and then the young plants have a head start

before they begin their growth next spring.

At this time of year, as flowering perennials finish

their performance, some, like these Campanulas, can

look shabby and they won't get any better,

so have the courage to cut them back hard.

This will tidy the garden up

and also create space in which you can plant

spring bulbs.

The turnips that I sowed a few weeks ago only have germinated well.

It is important to thin, because if you don't thin them,

you get lots of rather weedy turnips.

Whereas, they'll get to a better size

and they'll be healthier if you give each individual one a bit of room.

And ideally, if there's an inch or two between each plant,

you'll have a better crop all round.

It looks like it might rain,

but that's all we've got time for anyway today.

So, I'll see you back here at Longmeadow at the same time

next week. Until then, bye-bye.

Has she got your ball?

Go and get it. Go on.