Three new David Austin beauties head to America in 2016

I attended the Chelsea Flower Show in May 1991. That year, a Silver Medal was awarded to a garden called Gothic Retreat. If I saw it, the plants and design have completely slipped my mind. You see, I was so gobsmacked by the enormity of the show and the variety of blooms, I didn’t know which way to turn.

I trained Cottage Rose as a climber

That year a hybridizer named David Austin introduced three roses I later grew in my Maryland Garden. Cottage Rose, The Dark Lady and Evelyn remain among my favorites.

But Mr. Austin was not new to Chelsea – in 1983 he unveiled two of his new, old-fashioned “English Roses” to the world, Graham Thomas and Mary Rose.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Chelsea photos courtesy David Austin English Roses

In 2014, David Austin English Roses secured an 18^th Gold Medal in the Great Pavilion awards. Their team of eight worked for five days to prepare the display in the main marquee. Those readers who recall my posting about the 2013 Austin stand may not believe it, but that year’s presentation was even more stunning.

And in 2014, the show was a also family affair.

David Austin Senior, David Austin Junior and his son Richard were on hand to celebrate the award.  In addition, one of the 2014 Chelsea introductions was named Olivia Rose Austin after David Junior’s daughter.

Olivia Rose Austin (courtesy David Austin Roses)

Because the variety is named for a family member, it had to be something special. Olivia is the first offering in their disease-free line and has been in development for almost ten years.  The rose features soft pink rosette blooms and a fruity fragrance.  The Austin folks believe it might be their best rose to date.  

Now, this stunning rose and two other English beauties will be available to American gardeners in 2016.

The second new introduction, The Poet’s Wife, has really caught my eye. Technical Manager Michael Marriott says it is a rare color in the David Austin pastel palette – an unfading rich yellow. It is a low grower, ideal for the front of the border. The fragrance is described as lemony, becoming sweeter and stronger with age.   

The Poet's Wife (courtesy David Austin Roses)

The final new rose to make its debut next spring is The Lady of the Lake, only the fourth rambler to be added to the English Rose collection. It promises to grow 10 to 15 feet or more with long, slender flexible canes.

Unlike many ramblers, it repeat flowers throughout the summer and boasts a fresh citrus scent. Michael Marriott reports it may only be hardy to USDA Zone 7, but I intend to give it a try here in the mountains, even though we are Zone 6b.

 

Lady of the Lake (courtesy David Austin Roses)

So there you have it. The roses that caused crowds to swoon at Chelsea year before last are headed across the pond. You can place your orders now at David Austin Roses for spring delivery.

If you have a rose lover on your Christmas list, you might want to give a gift certificate. My family gave me one last Christmas and I used it to get a Darcey Bussell tree rose for my new garden. What a holiday treat!

 

Of course the Austin folks presented three more roses at Chelsea this year: Desdemona, The Ancient Mariner and Sir Walter Scott.

Since I’m married to a former officer in the Royal Navy, The Ancient Mariner will be on my must-have list when it becomes available

Wait a minute ­– I’m already getting my heart set on another rose before the 2014 Chelsea winners make their appearance at my front door?

If you have a bad case of English rose fever like me, I suspect you can relate.

London's Garden Museum fascinates with Tradescants and treasures

As we are packing to head “across the pond”, I wanted to repost this article I wrote about the Garden Museum in 2015.

As Dirt Diaries readers may recall, I visited just before the museum closed for a £7.5 million renovation. I will be covering the reopening, along with the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show and other fun destinations.

I’ll also revisit the “window boxes of London” and see what clever things the designers have come up for 2017! And I’ll see how the Queen’s bees are doing at Buckingham Palace.

Enjoy your tour of the “old” museum (which I found fascinating) and join me for all the dirt on UK gardening goings-on when I return. Cheers!

The museum is housed in the former St. Mary-at-Lambeth church

Just before we left on our trip to England, I wrote about some of the gardens and sights we planned to visit there.

In London Calling (London gardens that is), I mentioned the Garden Museum and how much I was looking forward to going there. 

We stopped in on a dreary Tuesday afternoon and were greeted by the news the museum was about to close for an extensive redevelopment program  and won’t be reopened until 2017. Even though activity was winding down, we found the exhibits and grounds intriguing.

A selection of garden gnomes from the final exhibit before renovations

How many garden designs did Jekyll plot at this desk?

The main exhibit was Gnome & Away: Secrets of the Collection, which featured a grouping of antique tools and objects of interest to gardeners. Other assorted goodies were on display elsewhere in the museum including Gertrude Jekyll’s desk and an American pink flamingo.

An early miniature garden

Outside we wandered through the re-creation of a seventeenth century knot garden planted in honor of intrepid plant hunter John Tradescant and his son. Both men traveled the globe to find new plants (and parts of exotic animals) to bring back to England. John the elder was also gardener to Charles I.

Even though it was late September, the garden was still lovely. I can just imagine what it looks like in spring and summer when topiaries are at their best, and the old roses and herbaceous plants are in bloom.

The Knot Garden from above (Photo courtesy London Garden Trust)

The knot garden itself is planted with species either introduced by the Tradescants, or grown in their Lambeth garden, which has long since disappeared. Most plants in the modern garden are labeled with their country of origin and year they were introduced to the UK.

One of the fascinating things on display is a copy of “the catalogue to the John Tradescants’ Ark, cabinet of curiosities and botanical garden.” The Ark was considered to be one of the wonders of 17^th century London. Father and son opened the garden and “cabinet” to citizens (at a cost of six pence to get in) and in effect, created London’s first public museum. 

The Tradescant catalog lists an Alegator (sic), Rattle Snakes and a Dragon

Astonishing rarities were reportedly displayed including the “hand of a mermaid, a pelican, a small piece of wood from the cross of Christ and all kinds of foreign plants.”

The Tradescant family tomb is adjacent to the knot garden and is one of the most important churchyard monuments in London. Panels carved into the sides of the monument depict objects from the Tradescant collection. 

An alligator and a nautilus shell are among carvings on the tomb

If you love garden history, the information about the Tradescant catalog, tomb and plants in the knot garden is well worth the price of admission.

But I was sorry to learn I had missed some truly extraordinary earlier exhibits.  One on War and Gardens included a scrapbook of pressed flowers from London bombsites collected by a teenager just after World War II. There was also an array of Wills Rose Cigarette Cards from World War I, and stories of gardens behind the lines.
 

I loved these rose cigarette cards so much I bought one on eBay

I am delving into these stories with the gracious help of the Garden Museum, and will be writing about it all very soon.

I look forward to finding out more about these wartime gardens. 

And I truly look forward to returning to this treasure of a museum in 2017.

Welcome Americans!!

London Calling. (London gardens , that is.)

We're heading for Jolly Old England next week to attend Chris' Naval Academy reunion, visit friends and family, and meet up (hopefully) with some Facebook and blogging buddies.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a proper holiday without squeezing as many gardens as possible into the itinerary. Since we’ll mainly be in the London area, we’ll be spoiled for choice with dozens of historic houses and gardens nearby. Here are a few places we hope to visit. Photos to follow!

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Photo courtesy Kew Gardens

Arguably the world’s most famous garden, Kew allows visitors to explore 300 acres of gardens and botanical glasshouses, including the breathtaking Palm House. Its collection includes over 30,000 different kinds of plants. The rose garden was totally redesigned in 2008 and now is home to over 100 varieties of the Queen of Flowers. 

 

Chiswick House Gardens

According to the English Heritage website, Chiswick House is a glorious example of 18th-century British architecture. The third Earl of Burlington, who designed this elegant Classical villa, drew inspiration from his "grand tours" of Italy.

The gardens, beloved for centuries, were the birthplace of the English Landscape Movement and have inspired countless gardens including New York's Central Park. A major project to restore and revive the gardens was completed in 2010.  

Chelsea Physic Garden

London's oldest botanic garden, Chelsea was founded in 1673 by the Worshipful  Society of Apothecaries for its apprentices to study the medicinal qualities of plants. The four acre green oasis has one of the oldest rock gardens in Europe, a Victorian Cool Fernery, beds of medicinal plants, botanical order beds, glasshouses, rare plants and tender species, plus the largest olive tree outdoors in Britain. At one time it was one of the most important centers of botany and plant exchange in the world.
 

Savill Garden

One of England’s finest ornamental gardens featuring 35 acres of interconnecting gardens and woodlands.  A few of the themed areas include The Spring Wood, The Summer Wood, The Hidden Gardens, The Summer Gardens, The Glades, Autumn Wood, The Azalea Walks and The New Zealand Garden.

We were last there in 2007 and since then, a rose garden has been added. Can’t wait to see how many of the 2500 bushes are in bloom.

Fenton House

A London gem, Fenton is a 17^th century merchant’s house set in beautiful walled gardens which combine formal borders and a sunken rose garden. There is also a working kitchen garden and a 300-year-old apple orchard. The bee colony housed in the orchard produces honey that is available to buy.

 

The Garden Museum

After reading this description, I can’t wait to visit this place. In fact, it is close to the top of my list.

“The Garden Museum's permanent display includes a collection of antique tools exploring garden history. Temporary exhibitions and events also take place throughout the year. Outside, in the recreation of a seventeenth-century knot garden planted in honour of John Tradescant, intrepid plant hunter and gardener to Charles I, are the tombs of the Tradescants and Admiral Bligh of the Bounty. Topiaries, old roses, herbaceous perennials and bulbs give year-round interest, and most plants are labelled with their country of origin and year of introduction to the UK.  “

Buckingham Palace

Last winter, after an episode of Downton Abbey, we watched a wonderful documentary on PBS about The Queen’s Garden at Buckingham Palace. The program followed the garden over a year’s time, exploring the history and the natural history of this royal treasure in the center of London.

It was a fascinating look at a garden most of us will never get to see in person. Except, I am thrilled to announce I will be included in a private Press Tour of the Gardens and the State Rooms later this month.

Photo courtesy Tourist Information UK.

I can’t wait to see the royal bees, the Queen’s favorite roses, rare flowers bred exclusively for Her Majesty and all the other amazing sights there.

So watch this space for all the dirt on the Queen’s spectacular horticultural digs.

Until then, cheerio!

The knot garden at Great Fosters Hotel. We stayed there last trip.

Where the wild things are

We think a fox family lives near the trail

The "critter cam" Santa brought me for Christmas is the gift that keeps on giving.

Dad loved the mountains and wildlife

As many of you Dirt Diaries readers recall, we built a small nature path  in memory of my Dad back in 2012. 

We've always wondered what cool things were happening on "Curly's Trail" at night or when we weren't looking. (Was there a Sasquatch or zombie on the loose?)

So I set up the camera (a Browning sub micro) on the last post you can see in the accompanying photo.

That stairway is about 30 yards from our deck and leads down to the stream and a little waterfall. 

The camera takes a photo of anything that moves within 100 feet of its view, night or day. 



 The resulting picture includes an information bar that displays the time, date, moon phase and temperature.

A raccoon heads towards the stream

 That’s great unless you forget to turn the camera off when someone is working in the area. We had 150 pictures of Alfredo’s legs when he was sprucing up the trail and patio by the stream.

Caught the head of a pileated woodpecker

 Some of the critter pictures have been surprising. We didn’t realize there were so many deer around. (As long as they stay away from my roses, that’s okay.)

The deer love my hostas and wildflowers.

We thought we might catch a glimpse of a bear since they’ve visited our deck several times. None yet. We’ve seen owls around, but thus far they haven’t shown up to have their portraits made.

The discovery that a bobcat had been sauntering around the trail was a true shock. I often work down there in the new rose bed Alfredo built for me last spring.
 

Yikes! Mr. Bobcat strolls along the trail at lunchtime

We’d heard they do live in Western North Carolina, but no one in our community has ever seen one. Until they take a peek at the photo on my iPhone.

From now on, I’ll be looking over my shoulder when I’m down by the trail tending to my beauties.

Because we no longer have to wonder where the wild things are.

They’re right here in our very own garden.

July is dressed up and playing her tune

Love these delicate, canary yellow daylilies

July got off to an unhappy start with Chris back in the hospital for emergency surgery. The work that was done last September went bad, so he had an unplanned six-day staycation at Mission in Asheville.

Thankfully all is going well and he is now home trying to do too much out in the garden.

I can’t blame him because July is when everything is happening from the veggie patch to the roadside to the rose garden. Tomatoes are ripening, wild rhododendrons are showing off, and the roses are just getting their second wind.

It’s a great month to enjoy all the blooms around us, and appreciate how fortunate we are to live in such a beautiful part of the world.

Even when there is the occasional health hiccup.

Skylark with more blooms and buds than ever

Thomas Edison

Volunteer Balloon Flowers. No clue where they came from.

I'm becoming a phlox phanatic. This was from a "free to good home" bin

The wild rhodies are near their peak. The mountain laurel was the prettiest we've seen in years

Genevieve and visitor

Our Nikkos got nipped again but the Annabelles are gorgeous at High Hampton

The Lark Ascending and visitor

Sir John Betjeman

The Indian Pipes are in bloom

My black and blue salvia has come back for a second year

Welcome to our mountain world, where things are always looking up