Members Musings. Personal visits to gardens and shows.

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                       

Brian Schofield

                                                                             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.