Category Archives: Garden History

Last Days of Summer at Lytes Cary Manor

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Lytes Cary Manor, Somerset managed by the National Trust

Somerset is blessed with many beautiful houses and one of the most charming must be Lytes Cary Manor, not far from the town of Somerton.  Surrounded by farmland, this handsome building, parts of which date back to medieval times, sits peacefully in the evocative landscape of the Somerset Levels.

Occupied by the Lyte family for four centuries, the great hall was built in the 15th century, followed by further additions in the 16th and 17th centuries.  The family eventually sold the house in the mid-eighteenth century owing to financial difficulties and after being used as a farmhouse and barn for a time, the buildings fell into disrepair.  Bought by Sir Walter Jenner in 1907, the house and garden were developed in the Arts and Crafts style by the architect C E Ponting.  Sir Walter Jenner passed the house to the National Trust in 1948.

Laid out in classic Arts and Crafts style, the Grade II listed gardens are arranged as a series of rooms, divided by formal yew hedges and connected by pathways of local lias stone.  At the front of the house, through the imposing gateway, the central path is flanked by a series of yew topiary forms, known as the twelve apostles.  Either side of the entrance, a cloud pruned box hedge is kept just above the level of the wall, while a row of enormous topiarised box forms seem to process along an adjacent wall towards the tiny chapel, thought to have been built around 1343 and the earliest building on the site.

Speaking briefly to head gardener Sam Hickmott, he explained that they were updating some of the non-structural planting close to the chapel and the house, introducing light tones and airy forms to soften the formality created by the expanse of topiary in this part of the garden.  This approach is evident throughout the garden, with great care taken in the choice of perennial cultivars, ensuring their colours harmonise with those of the house.

In the main border, generous clumps of phlox, asters and golden rod recall the abundant planting style of the Edwardian period and some of their favoured plants. Using a combination of these perennials, together with modern introductions like Salvia ‘Amistad’ and Hydrangea ‘Annabelle’ creates the spirit of a traditional border, but with a subtle nod to contemporary garden fashions.

Steps down to the West Terrace garden reveal a burst of jewel colours with dahlias, veronia and Nicotiana x hybrida, ‘Tinkerbell’, with tiny flowers somewhere between maroon and terracotta.  Here, the pathways contain four beds of creeping thyme, forming a low, green carpet and views of the surrounding landscape can be glimpsed through a wrought iron gate in the yew hedge.

Yellow is a colour that divides some in the world of gardening, but is used here to great effect.  From the brighter tones of rudbeckias and heleniums to kniphofias, Clematis rehderiana and coreopsis in the palest shades of yellow, all seem to enhance each other and blend with the golden hamstone framing the windows and doorways of the building.  This creates a sense of unity to the planting and echoes the yellow wildflowers like agrimony and common fleabane growing in the hedgerows on the wider estate.

Although there’s no herb garden at Lytes Cary, herbs are used liberally in the planting.  This seems especially appropriate here, as former resident and Oxford educated scholar Henry Lyte (1529 – 1607) produced one of the great 16th century botanical publications whilst living at Lytes Cary.  Published in 1578, A Niewe Herball was Lyte’s English translation of Cruydeboeck written by the celebrated Dutch physician Rembert Dodoens in 1554.  Illustrated with over 870 woodcuts, the book details the cultivation requirements and medicinal properties of an array of plants known in this period, from herbs, trees, bulbs, food crops and weeds.

Cruydeboeck had been translated into French by Charles de L’Ecluse in 1557, and it was this version that Lyte used for his English translation.  There’s a small portrait of Henry Lyte in the house, alongside a first edition of his book, although his important contribution to English horticulture is slightly eclipsed by stories of the Jenners’ more recent residency.

Back in the garden, the sections furthest from the house contain orchard trees including apples, pears and quince, a separate cherry orchard, a lavender garden and a croquet lawn.  The pathways, lawns and hedges connecting these spaces are beautifully maintained by the gardening team, which is no mean feat in a garden of five acres, and whilst also looking after the National Trust’s Tintinhull gardens a few miles away.

This quietly spoken house with its atmospheric garden is well worth a visit.  Links to further information about Lytes Cary Manor below.

The main border

White themed section of the main border

Bay window, with John Lyte’s coat of arms

Pale yellow verbascum

Yellow and white kniphofia with Doellingeria umbellata (formerly Aster umbellata)

Clematis rehderiana and a yellow leaved jasmine cover this stone archway

Clematis rehderiana with Hydrangea aspera

West terrace and garden

Four symmetrical beds containing species of creeping thyme form a strong feature in the West Terrace

Tall stems of purple flowered veronia

The garden is full of pollinating insects

Tansy, or Tanacetum vulgare

Yew and box topiary at the entrance to the house, with the water tower in the distance

Cattle on the estate taking shelter from the sun under the boughs of a tree. They browse the lower leaves of the trees, raising the crowns slightly to exactly the same level, giving a coherent look to the parkland.

Further reading:

Lytes Cary Manor on Wikipedia here

Henry Lyte on Wikipedia here

National Trust Lytes Cary Manor here

A Niewe Herball, or Historie of Plantes at the Wellcome Library here

Exploring the RHS Digital Collections

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Page’s Champion Auricula from The Florist’s Guide, and Cultivator’s Directory Vol l by Robert Sweet (1827 – 1832) Engraved by S. Watts after an original by Edwin Dalton Smith.  All images from RHS Digital Collections

In April this year, the Royal Horticultural Society launched its new Digital Collections platform, with thousands of items from the Libraries and Herbarium now available online to the public for the first time.  From an accounts book belonging to landscape gardener Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, to historic nursery catalogues from locations across the UK, many items are unique to the RHS Collections.

Funded by the National Lottery’s Heritage Fund, this is the beginning of a major project that will see further content from the Society’s collection uploaded in the coming months and years.  Currently divided into sections for archive, artworks, bookplates, Herbarium specimens, nursery catalogues, photographs and books, there’s already a wealth of material to view.

In the books section, the RHS has been strategic in their choice of material to digitise, prioritising those books not already available on other platforms.  One of these is The City Gardener (1722) by Thomas Fairchild, a nursery owner in Hoxton, London.  Fairchild’s record of plants in cultivation, popular garden styles, and the challenges of growing in the polluted atmosphere caused by sea coal, gives an invaluable insight into the capital and its gardens during this period.

The City Gardener (1722) by Thomas Fairchild

As the name suggests, the bookplates section is comprised of illustrations taken from books in the RHS’s collection.  The dislocation of these images from their context does present something of an issue (for me, at least), as some of their meaning is lost.  However, the plates are full of interest, and hopefully the books from which they were taken are on the RHS’s list to be digitised in the near future.

This set of bookplates from The Orchard and the Garden, printed by Adam Islip (1602), shows a range of knot garden designs and instructions for laying them out.  These delightful, detailed woodcuts remind us of the enthusiasm for pattern, symmetry, and symbolism in the Tudor period.  The book must have found a ready audience, as this example is a third edition, the first being published in 1594.

The Orchard and the Garden printed by Adam Islip (1602)

These coloured engravings from The Florist’s Guide, and Cultivator’s Directory Vols I and ll by Robert Sweet invite us into the world of the florist in the early 19th century.

At this time, the term ‘florist’ was given to those engaged in cultivating flowers for pleasure, or for show, rather than for the cut flower trade.  The favoured blooms were carnations and pinks, ranunculus, tulips, hyacinths, polyanthus and auriculas – although Sweet’s Directory also includes dahlias (then called georginas) and roses.  Double flowers were prized, as were the striped and flecked patterns of the tulips and carnations.  Engravings by S Watts (after original paintings by Edwin Dalton Smith) allow us to understand what these choice plants must have looked like.

The plants and bulbs discussed in the Directory were for sale from a network of growers and Sweet’s use of high quality coloured images to promote them demonstrates his talent for horticultural marketing.

Albion Tulip from The Florist’s Guide, and Cultivator’s Directory Vol ll by Robert Sweet (1827 – 1832). Engraved by S. Watts after an original by Edwin Dalton Smith.

Hogg’s Queen Adelaide Dianthus from The Florist’s Guide, and Cultivator’s Directory Vol ll by Robert Sweet (1827 – 1832).
Engraved by S. Watts after an original by Edwin Dalton Smith.

‘Porcelaine Sceptre Hyacinth’, Hyacinthus orientalis var. sceptrifirmis, engraved by S. Watts after an original by Edwin Dalton Smith.

The popularity of florist’s flowers is echoed in the historic nursery catalogues dating from the mid to late 18th century that have been added to the Digital Collection, containing pages of auricula, hyacinth and tulip varieties.  An 1890 catalogue listing over 1,400 fern varieties for sale from a company based near Manchester shows how horticultural tastes had changed by the late 19th century, when the craze for ferns had taken hold.

Fine double hyacinth and other curious flower roots, and seeds, imported chiefly from Holland, France, America, Italy, Botany Bay, &c. by John Mason, at the Orange Tree, 152, Fleet Street, London c. 1790

Catalogue of over 1.400 species and varieties of ferns and selaginellas cultivated by W. & J. Birkenhead, Fern Nursery, Sale; 17 and 19, Washway Road, Sale; and Park Road Nursery, Ashton-on-Mersey, near Manchester. Our principal nursery is five minutes’ walk and our Park Road Nursery eight minutes’ walk from Sale Station, on the Manchester, South Junction, and Altrincham Railway, five minutes from Manchester. First-class Queen’s Jubilee Gold Medal, 1887

A sketchbook belonging to Gertrude Jekyll (1843 – 1932) is one highlight of the archive section.  Influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement, Jekyll studied painting, embroidery, gilding, carving and photography, before focusing her attention on a career in landscape and garden design.

These wide ranging interests are evident in her sketchbook, containing a profusion of Jekyll’s sketches of flowers, leaves, architectural details, designs for jewellery, fragments of geometric pattern, swags, and places of cultural interest.  These have been individually cut out and assembled into a scrapbook of visual references.  Some projects must have taken considerable time to complete – four separate tile designs using studies of hawthorn combine cleverly to form a larger repeat pattern, and there are intricate designs for floral wallpaper.

Insights provided by the sketchbook demonstrate how Jekyll’s interest in decorative arts enriched her planting designs.

Floral swags, geometric design and a jug
Gertrude Jekyll

Floral patterns, architectural details and lettering
Gertrude Jekyll

Tile Pattern by Gertrude Jekyll

Floral Wallpaper pattern

Wallpaper, Blue Vine Design
Gertrude Jekyll

Jekyll’s interest in vernacular design is also clear, in her records of stitching designs from smocks worn by agricultural workers.  Jekyll has made these impressions by using pencil and paper, in the manner of a brass rubbing.  Her book Old West Surrey (1904) features houses, furniture, tools and clothes used by working people in the late 19th century, including smocks like these.

Stitching on Country Smocks
Gertrude Jekyll

The photography section records the history of the RHS as an organisation, with images showing the construction of RHS Kensington Gardens in the 1860s and the development of the gardens at RHS Wisley in the 1930s.  The delicate beauty of fern species in New Zealand is captured in a series of cyanotypes by Herbert B Dobbie, published in 1880, and a series of autochromes by William Van Sommer provide glimpses of English gardens from the early 20th century .

Cyanotype of Hypolepis distans, from the book ‘New Zealand Ferns’ Herbert B Dobbie, 1880

Autochrome of calceolarias, Barton Nurseries, by William Van Sommer 1913

Although it could be said that the RHS is rather late to the digitisation party – most major museums and libraries started to share their content online more than a decade ago – now that it has arrived, the RHS Digital Collection is undeniably full of wonder.  I hope you’ll be persuaded to explore, and discover your own treasures.  Link below:

Further reading:

RHS Digital Collections here

Garden Inspiration at Restoration House

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Front gate at Restoration House, Rochester

Back in September, I paid a visit to Restoration House, a remarkable house and garden located in Rochester, Kent.  Originally two buildings of medieval origin, these were combined in the late 16th or early 17th century to create a city mansion house.  Restoration House takes its name from a visit King Charles II made on the eve of his restoration to the throne in May 1660.  But this name also seems singularly appropriate to its current owners, Johnathan Wilmot and Robert Tucker, who’ve cared for the house since 1994 and restored it with sensitivity and meticulous attention to historical detail.

On the day we visited, we were greeted by an enthusiastic band of local volunteers who invigilate the rooms open to the public, and welcome guests.  Moving through the house, a combination of plain waxed floorboards, wood panelling and limewashed walls produces a softness in the light, and a sense of calm, forming a perfect setting for the owners’ extensive collections of elegant period furniture, paintings and sculpture.

(As this house is also a home, it’s not usually permitted to take photographs, but for anyone curious to learn more about the story of Restoration House, and see images of its interiors, there are links to the website and to an excellent feature at the Bible of British Taste below).

Outside, the gardens are a continuation of the owners’ skill in choosing and arranging beautiful plants, objects and materials to create a series of contrasting spaces. Working with the considerable challenges of the site, with frequent changes of level and tall walls that enclose and divide the garden, some areas are relaxed and intimate, inviting one or two people to linger and enjoy a view, while others like the impressive box parterre and the Renaissance garden have a more formal atmosphere.  Two gardeners maintain these gardens to an exceptionally high standard.

Front view, Restoration House, Rochester

Back view of Restoration House with lawn mown diagonally creating a diamond pattern

As well as historical planting, the garden full of brightly coloured salvias, enjoying the early autumn sunshine

The Renaissance garden which incorporates a section of Tudor wall

Passing through the garden, one of the delights is the tiny kitchen garden.  Bordered by an open structure made of wooden poles and trellis supporting espaliered apple trees, the square space is divided by narrow brick paths.  Asparagus is grown here, together with flowers for the house.  On one corner, an antique iron gate adds to the rustic feel.

The kitchen garden is enclosed with an open structure made of wooden poles and trellis work

Inside the kitchen garden where fruit, vegetables and flowers are grown

Handmade wooden trellis

Espaliered apple with wooden ladder and tools. The trug is one of the few plastic items we saw in the garden

A fine ironwork gate in the kitchen garden

Two charming greenhouses, both constructed using salvaged glass and frames, contain collections of pelargoniums in terracotta pots and tropical plants as well as various galvanised watering cans.

Greenhouse made out of various salvaged materials

Leaded windows in another greenhouse

A variety of materials are used for paving and pathways in the garden from stone flags, to brick and granite setts.  Some of the setts form mini stepping stones to prevent too much wear in areas of lawn which receive high volumes of traffic from visitors.

Herringbone brickwork pathway

Setts

Setts sunk into the lawn

Wooden structure supporting clematis and steps leading to another section of the garden

There’s an abundance of statuary in the garden, and one of my favourite pieces was this young man, placed amongst the cold frames and a collection of planted containers.  Elsewhere, a kneeling ram on an ornate stone plinth is placed against the dark green backdrop of some yew topiary, and makes a pleasing contrast to the functional plainness of a garden bench nearby.

Statue of a young man with cold frames and pot arrangement

Sculpture of a kneeling ram with garden seat

The garden is full of topiary, much of it carefully clipped into bottle shapes.  These strong forms are a theme in the garden and help to create a sense of unity between the various spaces.  Here, two matching trees frame the entrance to a lower part of the garden, their formal shapes contrasting with the spreading branches of an enormous quince tree.  Topiary seems to possess the ability to look at home in every garden, whatever its size.

Yew topiary with quince tree beyond

Twin containers framing a doorway to the house

Many of the plants in the garden like box, lavender, sage, mulberry, quince, medlar and apple trees would have been familiar in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.  When we visited, lavender and sweet woodruff were being used as strewing herbs in the toilets.  This custom dates back to medieval times, where fragrant herbs were placed on floors so that people walking on them would release their sweet smelling fragrances.  Although the concept of strewing herbs was familiar to me, this was the first time I’d experienced the actual effect, which brought this element of social history vividly to life.

The garden also includes plants that were introduced to England later, such as dahlias and salvias, which have become popular in recent years, valued for their intense colours and long flowering season.  Inside, Restoration House is full of flowers cut from the garden.

A mulberry tree dominates this bed, close to the kitchen garden

Quince

Fruitful lemon tree in a terracotta container

Thanks to Johnathan Wilmot and Robert Tucker for sharing this special and atmospheric place.  On their website, there’s much more about the history of the building and the battle to acquire the land on which the Renaissance garden now stands.  Restoration House and Gardens are open on Thursdays and Fridays from June to September – see below for more details.

Further reading:

Restoration House website here

Views of the interiors of Restoration House from the Bible of British Taste here

Strewing herbs on Wikipedia here

Reflections on The Cloister Garden at the Museum of the Order of St John

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Swift sculpture by Mark Coreth placed in the 200 year old olive tree in the Cloister Garden, at the Museum of the Order of St John

This month I’m bidding farewell to the Cloister Garden at the Museum of the Order of St John in Clerkenwell which I’ve had responsibility for maintaining since 2019.  So, one day back in June, I visited the garden with my camera to reflect on the space and the important role it plays in this part of London, where accessible green space can be hard to find.

Entered through an archway on the east side of St John’s Square, the garden is sheltered by walls on all sides, including that of St John’s Priory Church.  These walls, together with two enormous plane trees in the churchyard, seem to absorb much of the thundering traffic noise from nearby Clerkenwell Road and establish the garden’s atmosphere of tranquility.

The Priory in Clerkenwell was set up in the 1140s as the English base for the Order of St John.  This medieval military Order, also known as the Knights Hospitaller, had its headquarters in Jerusalem, where members provided care for the sick and wounded.  Today the Order of St John is best known for the health organisations it continues to run, including the St John Ambulance.

The garden is a paved space and with its formal, symmetrical layout is somewhat reminiscent of a paradise garden, with a series of pathways and narrow beds creating four main areas surrounded by fragrant plants.  Developed centuries ago in Iran, this style of Islamic ‘fourfold’ garden, or chaharbagh, became popular in Asia and the Mediterranean.

Western travellers, such as the Knights Hospitaller would have encountered gardens in this style, and over time some elements found their way into European garden design.  Water was an essential feature of paradise gardens, and at one time there was a pool at the centre of the Cloister Garden, now replaced with a mature olive tree forming a dramatic central focus.  Visitors can still experience the sound of running water, however, from a small fountain located on the north wall of the garden.

Designed by Alison Wear in 2011, the planting uses medicinal herbs like rosemary, lavender, and wormwood, alluding to the medical traditions of the Order of St John, which cultivated these plants for their healing properties.  As well as these, Wear has included modern decorative perennial plants like Geranium ‘Rozanne’, Geranium ‘Brookside’, oriental poppies and crocosmia for their succession of attractive flowers.  The space also serves as a memorial garden for St John’s Ambulance members associated with the site, whose names are remembered on the walls of the cloister on the east side of the garden and by roses planted  in the adjacent raised beds.

Much of the planting is quite low, so that in places visitors can step over the beds conveniently, as well as using the pathways.  This aspect of Wear’s design encourages people to slow down, adding to the sense of calm in the space, and seating is provided for those who wish to stay a while.  Once seated in the garden, the low planting immediately feels taller, and more immersive, while the formal lines appear looser, especially when looking diagonally across the space.

Our increasingly hot summers in London have been harsh on some of the capital’s gardens, but the Cloister Garden, having a high proportion of plants that come from the Mediterranean region, tolerates the heat well.  Indeed, herbs like oregano, hyssop, myrtle and sage, as well as the twin bay trees seem to relish these conditions.  The 200 year olive tree, brought here from Jerusalem some years ago, also thrives.  While not designed specifically as a wildlife garden, flowers like lavender attract a range of bees and other insects, and birds are regular visitors, especially when the garden is empty of people.

During my maintenance visits, it’s been abundantly clear how much the garden is appreciated by visitors; whether they are local residents, tourists or those who work locally and come to enjoy the outdoor space at lunchtime.  Some people have told me that being in the space, even briefly, helps improve their sense of wellbeing.  Some like to spend ten minutes of quiet before a long day at the office, while others bring the office to the garden and have their work meetings here.  It’s interesting to see how visitors move the lightweight café tables and chairs around to suit the size of their group, or their preference for sun or shade.

One frequent visitor would still come in the early morning to read his book, even in the pouring rain, when he would take shelter underneath a huge golf umbrella.  Rachel Job from the Museum told me about a visitor from Puglia who was visibly moved by the health of the garden’s olive tree, as the olive groves in his part of Italy had been ravaged in recent years by Xyella, a bacterial infection.  Another local woman would regularly ask after the resident robin that liked to search for food scraps in the garden.

I hope next time you find yourself in Clerkenwell you’ll take a few minutes to visit the Cloister Garden for a moment’s respite from the clamour of London.  The Museum of the Order of St John is located at St John’s Gate and hosts exhibitions relating to the long and rich history of the Order.  The garden is generally open – closing occasionally for events and workshops – details of opening hours here and more links below:

The olive sits like a tree of life, in its central position in the garden

Peacock butterfly sunning itself on the wall of St John’s Priory church

Hypericum x hidcoteense ‘Hidcote’ often called St John’s wort

Rosa gallica ‘Officinalis’ or the Apothecary’s rose.

Rosa gallica ‘Officinalis’ or the Apothecary’s rose.

Rosa ‘The Generous Gardener’

Rosa ‘St John’ – grown here as a short climber this floribunda rose flowers continuously from May to December.

Flowers of Acanthus mollis and self seeded Digitalis purpurea form pleasing vertical accents. The pink rose is Rosa ‘Gertrude Jekyll’

Further reading:

The history of the Order of St John – Museum website here

The Order of St John Wikipedia page here

Penelope Hobhouse’s Gardening Through the Ages Simon & Schuster (1992)

Article by Andrew Kershman (showing how much the olive tree has grown since 2016) here

RHS on Xyella fastidiosa here

Johann Hermann Knoop’s Pomologia

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Pomologia, dat is, Beschryvingen en afbeeldingen van de beste soorten van appels en peeren by Johann Hermann Knoop. (1758)  Pomologia, that is, descriptions and pictures of the best varieties of apples and pears (The Getty Research Institute via archive.org)

Caroline d’Angleterre, Witte Ribbezt, Spaansche Guelderling, Peppin d’Or, Calville Blanche d’Hyver – what do these names have in common?  All are European apples, grown in the mid-18th century and recorded by Johann Hermann Knoop in his spectacular book, Pomologia, that is, descriptions and pictures of the best varieties of apples and pears (1758).

Exceptional coloured engravings reveal the immense variety in the shapes, scale and colour of these fruits.  Some of the apples have elongated shapes like plums or melons, looking quite different from those available today.  Others, like the Bruindeling and Reinette de Montbron, are exceptionally dark shades of brown, while the skin of the Reinette Grise appears to have a slightly rough texture, as well as its unusual colouring.

The pears are just as diverse.  Some, like the Bergamotte d’Oré and another, simply named Parfum, are small and round like apples.  Bourdon and Muscat-Fleury are conventionally pear shaped, but miniature.  The appropriately named Grande Monarche is a huge green pear, with a touch of redness on the side of the fruit that was exposed to the sun while growing on the tree, and ready to eat in February and March.

Born in Germany, Knoop (early 18th century – 1769) followed his father into horticulture and began his career as gardener at Marienburg, near Leeuwarden in The Netherlands.  By 1747 the estate had lost its status as a royal residence, and not long after this Knoop left his position there, with a suggestion that alcoholism might have been a factor in the termination of his employment.

Whilst still at Marienburg, Knoop’s interest in science resulted in his first publication in 1744 – an update of an existing handbook for engineers and surveyors – but it was the publication of Pomologia in 1758 that brought him wider recognition.  After Pomologia Knoop published Dendrologia (about garden trees) and Fructologia discussing fruit trees such as cherries and plums, and these three publications were sometimes sold bound together as an encyclopedia.  Reflecting Knoop’s breadth of interests, further books on subjects as diverse as heraldry and architecture followed.

Knoop’s ambitious survey of apple and pears covers varieties from the Low countries, Germany, France and England.  Information about each of these is organised in chapters to accompany the numbered plates, and includes details of the size and vigour of the trees as well as the relative merits of the fruits, such as flavour and keeping qualities – especially important before modern refrigeration.  It also served as an identification manual for readers to match fruits from their gardens to illustrations in the book.

According to the university of Utrecht, the engravings for Pomologia produced by Jacob Folkema and Jan Casper Philips were hand coloured by the daughters of the publisher, Abraham Ferwerda.  The skillful use of shading in the engravings conveys a sense of weight and solidity, while the depiction of irregularities and blemishes on the skins of the fruits lends both charm and a sense of authenticity.

Are any of the apples and pears from Knoop’s work still cultivated today?  A brief search reveals the apple Calville Blanche d’Hiver for sale at specialist growers Bernwode Fruit Trees.  Bernwode notes the cooked fruit keeps its shape and that, ‘Victorian gardeners grew the trees against a wall or under glass, for the best flavour and because chefs valued the fruit so highly.’  Calville Blanche d’Hiver can also be used as dessert apple.  The pear Jargonelle is available, and the Poire d‘Angleterre, or Engelse Beurré, with its reddish-brown skin, the flavour described as ‘melting, very juicy flesh, sweet and rich’.

Links to Pomologia (1758) and a French translation (1771) below, plus links to the universities of Delft and Utrecht for biographical information about Knoop published on their websites.

Calville Blanche d’Hyver is the green apple at the bottom right of the page.

The pear Jargonelle is seen at the bottom of this page.

The beautiful brown Poire d’Angleterre appears at the top right of this page

Further reading:

Pomologia (1758)

French translation published in 1771 Pomologia (1771)

Biography of Knoop from University of Utrecht

Discussion of Knoop’s career from Prof Cor Wagenaar, University of Delft

Bernwode Fruit Trees

Inside the Labyrinth at Versailles

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The Labyrinth of Versailles (1693) images courtesy of the Getty Research Institute, via archive.org

Amongst the boundless literature concerning the gardens at Versailles, this book from 1693 (first published in 1677) documents the labyrinth from a time when it housed a series of hydraulic statues, illustrating stories from Aesop’s fables.  As visitors followed pathways bordered by high hedges, at intervals they encountered fountains containing brightly painted representations of Aesop’s animal characters.  Jets of water spurting out from their mouths were intended to suggest conversations between the animals.

In the 17th century Aesop’s fables became popular across Europe as educational and moral stories for children.  As the English philosopher John Locke observed, they are ‘apt to delight and entertain a child, yet afford useful reflection to a grown man.’  Locke also observed that children responded to books of these fables better if they contained pictures.

The thirty nine Aesop themed fountains were the project of Louis XIV, installed in the early 1670s for the entertainment of his six year old son, who is said to have learned to read from inscriptions of the stories that accompanied each of the scenes.  Eventually falling into disrepair, they were removed in 1778 by Louis XVI to be replaced by a fashionable ‘jardin Anglais’.

Sebastien Le Clerc’s engravings for the Labarinte de Versailles are remarkable for their architectural precision, visible in the proportions of the hedges and trellis, and the elaborate stonework of the fountains, giving a real sense of what the garden looked like.  Trained as an engineer, Le Clerc (1637 – 1714) was considered such an excellent draughtsman he was persuaded to become a full time commercial artist.  An outline of each story is provided by Charles Perrault (1628 – 1703), pioneer of the modern fairy tale, and a poetic version of the fable by Isaac de Benserade.

Visitors to the labyrinth are also depicted by Le Clerc, (together with their many dogs), but as a gardener myself I was intrigued to see that several engravings include gardeners as they go about their work maintaining the attraction.  A foreman appears to be directing them as they use various tools to trim the hedges including a sickle and a pair of shears, while the clippings are raked up into wheelbarrows to be taken away.  It’s a reminder, also, that in today’s photographs of grand gardens, people are almost always absent.

One of the interesting qualities of rare books like this one is that they sometimes bear the marks of their users – and this example from the Getty Research Institute has certainly seen some rough treatment from a child at some point in the past.  Some pages show pencil scribbles and one of the pages appears to have been torn out.  But was this book intended for children?  Just as Aesop’s fables appeal to both adults and children, perhaps it served a dual purpose – as a souvenir for adults, and as entertainment for children of very wealthy parents.

This plan shows the location of the Aesop themed fountains in the labyrinth.

This list of the thirty nine fables shown in the labyrinth has been embellished with a child’s scribbles in pencil.

Here follow some details of the gardeners at work in the labyrinth:

An axe and short handled mallet are being used here.

Does this little dog belong to the gardeners?

Here a gardener rakes around the feet of a visitor who seems reluctant to get out of the way. What is the gardener next to the wheelbarrow saying to him?

A gardener uses the wheelbarrow as a seat from which to rake the pathway.

One gardener uses a long handled sickle to cut the hedge.

Here the gardening team is out in force, one sweeping the gravel while another cuts the hedge with shears. Meanwhile a dog drinks from the fountain.

Further reading:

Labyrinte de Versailles from the Getty Research Institute, available via archive.org  The stories have been recorded in French, if you wish to listen to them.

The artist and engraver Sebastien le Clerc 1637 – 1714

Wikipedia the Labyrinth of Versailles

The Wikipedia page about Aesop’s Fables is well worth reading Aesop’s Fables

Vita Sackville-West on Twitter

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Vita Sackville-West’s Garden Book (1968)

From accusations of election tampering to online bullying and damage to our mental health, social media companies are deservedly under pressure to take more responsibility for material that gets published on their platforms.  Thankfully, however, some social media is being used positively – educating us, entertaining us – and even bringing us garden history – in ways that wouldn’t have been possible ten years ago.

One of my favourite Twitter accounts belongs to Vita Sackville-West, well known as the co-creator of the famous gardens at Sissinghurst, Kent (now managed by the National Trust).  From 1947 until 1961, a year before she died, Sackville-West wrote a weekly gardening column for The Observer newspaper describing the development of her own garden, explaining how to cultivate a wide range of plants, and responding to readers’ gardening queries.

Her column also exposes a larger than life personality with strong opinions about certain plants – especially roses.  In one memorable article she berates someone in a neighbouring town for planting a rose with luridly pink flowers (the variety is American Pillar) a rose she says ‘should be forever abolished from our gardens’.  It’s hard to imagine any garden commentator today being quite so forthright about a member of the public’s choice of flowers  – perhaps not least because of the backlash they would experience on social media.  But she is as tough with her own plant choices and quick to acknowledge mistakes, continually urging her readers to be ruthless and remove planting combinations that don’t work.

So who is behind her Twitter account?  It’s the project of former head gardener and greenhouse manager/propagator of the Morris Arboretum at the University of Pennsylvania.  Their motivation to tweet on her behalf is both out of admiration for her work as a ‘plantswoman and innovator, at least fifty years ahead of her time’; plus their enjoyment of the character revealed in the columns.  ‘She’s a hoot’, they say.

The tweets are taken from four anthologies of Sackville-West’s articles published in the 1950s, beginning with In Your Garden (1951) and now all out of print, together with Some Flowers (1937), Letters to Virginia Woolf (1923-41), Passenger to Teheran (1926) and Twelve Days in Persia (1928).  Photographs of the plants she discusses have been added to the text by the gardeners, which is immensely helpful in making the writing accessible to anyone who doesn’t know much about gardening.

One advantage of ‘drip feeding’ Sackville-West’s writing in a series of tweets is the constant reminder of her deep expertise about gardens which goes far beyond the cultivation requirements of individual plants.  The effect of light and the way it falls at certain times of year is considered, as is choosing plants for their form, scale and colour. I’d also forgotten an extraordinary episode about the placing and planting up of a Ming dynasty vase – a reminder of the class divide between Sackville-West and most of her readers.

Sharing their immense plant knowledge with great generosity, the gardeners of the Morris Arboretum offer afresh to a new audience this important testimony from one of England’s finest garden makers.

From In Your Garden, published by Michael Joseph, 1951

From In Your Garden, published by Michael Joseph, 1951

Vita Sackville-West’s Garden Book (1968)

Vita Sackville-West’s Garden Book (1968)

Atmospheric photograph of the gardens at Sissinghurst Castle by Tony Hisgett, 2010 (Wikimedia Commons)

Further reading:

@thegardenvsw Vita Sackville-West on Twitter

Knot Gardens for the Country Housewife

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The Country House-wives Garden – the second section from a book entitled A new orchard and garden, or, The best way for planting, grafting, and to make any ground good for a rich orchard; particularly in the north parts of England by William Lawson (first published 1618)  From the Biodiversity Heritage Library

If you are curious to know what a knot garden looked like in a smaller domestic garden of the early 17th century, The Country House-wives Garden (1618) by William Lawson gives some intriguing insights into the vast range of designs, and plants that were used. Lawson includes in his book several knot patterns which could be followed or used as inspiration for an individual’s own design, remarking that ‘they are as many, as there are devices in Gardeners brains’.

The number of formes, Mazes, and Knots is so great, and men are so diversly delighted, that I leave every House-wife to herself, especially seeing to set downe many, had been but to fill much paper; yet lest I deprive her of all delight and direction, let her view these choice, new forms;  

He suggests the knot should be located within a square area bordered with shrubs, and be planted up in late September.  Plants that might be used include roses, rosemary, lavender, bee-flowers, Isop (hyssop), sage, thyme, cowslips, peony, daisies, clove gilliflowers (carnation), pinks, southernwood and lilies.

One of the characteristics that distinguishes a knot garden from a parterre is that the lines in the knot design appear to cross over each other, as if the pattern has been made out of a continuous strand of thread.  This is achieved in the garden by using a combination of continuous and interrupted lines of plants, so that the continuous lines appear to travel over the interrupted lines.  Lawson’s first illustration shows how the ground for the knot garden is divided prior to planting using stakes and lines, so that the plants could be arranged accurately to make a geometric design.

William Lawson (1553/4–1635) was a Church of England clergyman based in Ormesby, Yorkshire.  His only book, A new orchard and garden, or, The best way for planting, grafting, and to make any ground good for a rich orchard; particularly in the north parts of England was first published 1618.  It shows a general audience how to plant and look after fruit trees, and provides glimpses of other popular garden features such as camomile seats and topiary (his ambitious suggestions include men in battle or hounds chasing deer).  The second section of the book, The Country House-wives Garden is aimed specifically at women, supplying general seasonal information about laying out and managing a garden for flowers, vegetables and herbs.

Planting suggestions for knots are also discussed in detail by John Parkinson . In Paradisi in sole paradisus terrestris (1629) he mentions sweete herbes clipped regularly to preserve the form of the knot, with the prunings used as strewing herbs for the house.  Germander, hyssop, pinks and carnations, lavender, thyme, savory and French or Dutch box were all popular, as was thrift, the summer flowers gathered, ‘to deck up an house’.  Cotton lavender or santolina is mentioned, but as a relatively new introduction to England it was only found in the gardens of the wealthy:

The rarity and novelty of this herb, being for the most part but in the Gardens of great persons doth cause it to be of the greater regard

Parkinson favours box for a knot garden, as it is evergreen, keeps it shape better than many other plants and is tolerant of a range of planting conditions.  He explains his secret of pruning the roots to stop them spreading and damaging other plants in the knot:

You shall take a broad pointed Iron like unto a Slise or Chessell, which thrust downe right into the ground a good depth all along the inside of the border of Boxe somewhat close thereunto, you may thereby cut away the spreading rootes thereof, which draw so much moisture from the other herbes on the inside, and by this means both your herbes and flowers in the knot, and your Boxe also, for that the Boxe will be nourished sufficiently from the rest of the rootes it shooteth on all the other sides.

Parkinson also mentions materials used to edge the beds of the knot garden including tiles, stones, oak boards, lead cut into the shape of battlements and, somewhat surprisingly, sheep shank bones, with rows of knuckle ends being visible above the ground.  However, he records that many people ‘mislike’ the shank bones and that they are not used widely.

The last word on knot gardens goes to Lawson.  His description of the garden as a place where ‘nature is corrected by Art’, defines the character of knot gardens perfectly, and at the same time perhaps, gives us a definition for all gardens:

And all these (plants), by the skill of your gardener, so comely and orderly placed in your borders and squares, and so intermingled, that none looking thereon cannot but wonder, to see what nature corrected by Art can doe.

The ground plot for knots, together with a design for a knot.

Designs for Flower de luce and The Trefoyle

The fret and Lozenge

Crossbow and Diamond

Ovall and Maze designs

Plan of a late Elizabethan Garden from A new orchard and garden, (first published 1618)

Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris (or, Park-in-Sun’s Terrestrial Paradise) 1629

Further reading:

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

The Country House-wives Garden

Parkinson on Knot Gardens

The Enchanted Garden

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William Morris, Philip Webb Design for Trellis wallpaper 1862 ©William Morris Gallery, London Borough of Waltham Forest

The Enchanted Garden, currently showing at the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow, London explores our enduring fascination with gardens.  Devised in collaboration with the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle, this exhibition features around twenty mostly British artists working from 1850 to 1950, examining their individual responses to the garden, and documenting the influence of the Arts & Crafts movement and the Bloomsbury Group on the stylistic development of the English garden.

William Morris’s study for Trellis (1862), his first wallpaper design, shows detail of a wooden garden trellis supporting perching birds and climbing roses.  Morris took inspiration from both the natural world and the history of design, and his Trellis pattern brings both these themes together.  It also connects today’s domestic gardens with those from the past, as versions of this ordinary structure have been in use supporting climbing plants and dividing space in gardens since medieval times.  It is somehow typical of Morris that he has included in his design the tiny nails that hold the trellis structure together.

The cottage garden remains one of the nation’s favourite garden styles and Ralph Hedley’s Roses for the Invalid (1894) is a nostalgic tribute.  A young woman and a girl collect pink roses from the garden, adding them to a basket of flowers and strawberries for a sick relative or neighbour in an idealised picture of the poor, but decent and deserving cottage gardener.

The vegetable garden in Stanley Spencer’s Gardening (1945) features two naively painted figures harvesting leeks.  The texture of the man’s tweed jacket and corduroy trousers and the detail of the girl’s print dress evoke nostalgia for the Dig for Victory effort of World War Two. The pair work with heads bowed, so deeply absorbed in their task that instead of their faces we see only the crowns of their straw hats.

The theme of the garden as a magical place is explored, where strangeness and beauty occasionally have darker undertones.  In Mark Lancelot Symon’s Jorinda and Jorindal (about 1930) a brother and sister have ventured out of the safety of the garden into woods, where they’ve encountered a witch.  The children are shown frozen to the spot underneath a flowering hawthorn, a plant once associated with witchcraft, in which Jorinda appears entangled.  The intense sunlight flooding every corner of this Pre-Raphaelite inspired painting is in seeming opposition to the dark fate that has befallen the children.

By way of contrast, Monet’s Waterlilies, Setting Sun (on loan from the National Gallery) depicts the garden in late evening.  But here the encroaching darkness has no menace, but is filled with stillness and tranquillity.

The gardens belonging to William Morris at Kelmscott Manor, Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell at Charleston in East Sussex and Virginia Woolf’s Monk’s House, also in Sussex, still provide inspiration for gardeners today.  In Grant’s The Doorway the profusion of the summer garden is glimpsed through the open door, in contrast to the cool interior of the house.  May Morris’s View of Kelmscott Manor from the Old Barn also uses a doorway to frame the garden, the bleached whiteness of her painting communicating the heat of high summer, almost in the manner of an over exposed photograph.

This may be a small exhibition, but the choice of work and ideas explored are so considered, it stays with you for longer than many larger shows.  The Enchanted Garden is at the William Morris Gallery until 27th January 2019 Admission free (closed on Mondays).

Ralph Hedley Roses for the Invalid 1894 Oil on canvas ©Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums

Edmund Blair Leighton September 1915 Oil on panel ©Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums

William Edward Stott The Widow’s Acre c. 1900 Oil on canvas ©Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums

Claude Monet Waterlilies, Setting Sun c. 1907 Oil on canvas ©The National Gallery, London. Bequeathed by Simon Sainsbury, 2006

Lucien Pissarro The Fairy 1894 Oil on canvas ©The Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford Presented by the Pissarro family, 1951

Duncan Grant The Doorway 1929 Courtesy the Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London ©Estate of Duncan Grant. All rights reserved, DACS/Artimage 2018

Lucien Pissarro My Studio Garden Oil on canvas 1938 ©The Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford Presented by the Pissarro Family, 1951

May Morris View of Kelmscott Manor from the Old Barn c. 1880s Watercolour ©William Morris Gallery, London Borough of Waltham Forest

The Enchanted Garden William Morris Gallery

William Cowper’s Gardens

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Cowper’s Summer House engraved by James Storer.
‘Had I the choice of sublunary good,
What could I wish that I possess not here?’ Book III, The Task

It’s probably fair to say that William Cowper’s poetry is not as well known today as that of Wordsworth or Coleridge, the Romantic poets he is said to have influenced.  But in his lifetime Cowper was hugely successful, with copies of his epic poem The Task running to multiple editions.  Cowper’s love of the English rural landscape, and his appreciation of gardens is well recorded both in his poetry and in accounts of his life.

In The Garden, (Book III, The Task) Cowper celebrates the gardener’s skill in sowing seeds, planning flower borders and pruning, but is withering about the large scale improvement of gardens, and costly changes made to the landscape by figures like Capability Brown:

Improvement too, the idol of the age,
Is fed with many a victim. Lo, he comes!
Th’ omnipotent magician, Brown, appears!
Down falls the venerable pile, th’ abode
Of our forefathers — a grave whisker’d race,
But tasteless. Springs a palace in its stead,
But in a distant spot; where, more expos’d, ⁠
It may enjoy th’ advantage of the north,
And aguish east, till time shall have transform’d
Those naked acres to a shelt’ring grove.
He speaks. The lake in front becomes a lawn;
Woods vanish, hills subside, and valleys rise:
And streams, as if created for his use,
Pursue the track of his directing wand,
Sinuous or straight, now rapid and now slow,
Now murm’ring soft, now roaring in cascades —
Ev’n as he bids! Th’ enraptured owner smiles. ⁠
‘Tis finish’d, and yet, finish’d as it seems,
Still wants a grace, the loveliest it could show,
A mine to satisfy th’ enormous cost.
Drain’d to the last poor item of his wealth,
He sighs, departs, and leaves th’ accomplish’d plan
That he has touch’d, retouch’d, many a long day
Labour’d, and many a night pursu’d in dreams,
Just when it meets his hopes, and proves the heav’n
He wanted, for a wealthier to enjoy!

William Cowper (1731 – 1800) worked in the legal profession in London, for which he seems to have felt ill suited, and after experiencing a personal crisis, was moved by his family to St Albans for treatment where he stayed until 1765.  After his recovery Cowper lived in Olney where he formed a friendship with John Newton (they wrote hymns together) and then in nearby Weston Underwood where he wrote some of his best known poetry.

Such was Cowper’s continuing popularity in the years shortly after his death in 1800, an illustrated guide book was published by Islington based engravers James Storer and John Greig.  Cowper, illustrated by a series of views, in, or near, the Park of Weston-Underwood, Bucks (1804) provides a commentary on the poet’s life, information about Cowper’s house and garden, and identifies key locations in Weston Park mentioned in The Task that the general public could visit.  This detailed account gives valuable insight into the design of gardens from this period, including the plants and features used.  The authors also describe changes to the gardens and landscape since Cowper’s time, and reveal that the ‘fav’rite elms, That screen the herdsman’s solitary hut;’ (from Book I of The Task) were in fact poplar trees.

The book opens with an engraving (above) of Cowper’s summer house, which he used in the summer months as quiet place to write.  According to Cowper, this tiny building had previously been used by an apothecary, and its dimensions are recorded as being six feet nine inches by five feet five.  Cowper accessed this building from his walled garden by crossing a neighbour’s orchard.

In this wall a door was opened, which being separated from his garden by an orchard, he rented a passage across the latter, for which he paid one guinea per annum: from this circumstance the place was called Guinea Field.

The section of the book which describes Weston Park (belonging to George Courntenay) and its surroundings begins with an invitation to walk with the authors, taking in scenes that would have been familiar to Cowper:

We propose, therefore, to follow him with as little deviation as possible in his ramble; and as there are many who may wish to gratify themselves with a sight of the places to which he has given celebrity, who are unacquainted with a way so indirect, we shall, for their accommodation, return by the road, and, by this proceeding, give a ready clue to every object.

The first place of interest is the Peasant’s Nest, a cottage referred to by Cowper in The Task and this view is taken from the high walk in the park, the only place from which it can be seen to advantage.  If you look very closely, there are three men harvesting corn in the field in front of the cottage.

The Peasant’s Nest
‘Oft have I wish’d the peaceful covert mine.’

The next stop is a rustic bridge, built some sixty years previously for the purpose of keeping up a piece of water in the Park: it spans a deep brook, forming a scene remarkable for its wild and romantic beauty, which, after winding its latent course along the bottom of a woody vale, meanders through the Park ..

(Our concept of ‘wild’ nature must have changed in two hundred years, as the scene in the engraving is, to modern eyes, one of pastoral tranquility).

The Rustic Bridge

The alcove, which was erected at the same time as the bridge is reached via a steep path shaded by oaks and elms.  In the engraving it looks as though the avenue of trees is being extended, with wooden structures arranged around the trunks of sapling trees to prevent them being damaged by cattle.

The Alcove from the Avenue.
‘How airy and how light the graceful arch’

View from the Alcove.
‘ – Now roves the eye:
And, posted on this speculative height,
Exults in its command.’

The area around the alcove is protected from sheep by a chain link fence, inside of which is a border of shrubs and flowers.

The Wilderness.
‘Here, unmolested through whatever sign
The sun proceeds, I wander.’

From the Avenue we enter the Wilderness by an elegant gate, constructed after the Chinese manner.  On the left is the statue of a lion, finely carved in a recumbent posture; this is placed on a basement, at the end of a grassy walk, which is shaded by yews and elms, mingled with the drooping foliage of the laburnum, and adorned with wreaths of flaunting woodbine;

The urn in the engraving contains the ashes of one of George Courtenay’s favourite dogs, with an inscription by Cowper.

The Temple in the Wilderness.
‘Whose well roll’d walks
With curvature of slow and easy sweep’

In front of the Temple is a hexagon plat, surrounded with a beautiful variety of evergreens, flowering shrubs, and elms, whose stems are covered with a mantle of venerable ivy.

Weston Lodge
The Residence of the late William Cowper Esq

The authors disapprove of changes made to Cowper’s garden at Weston Lodge:

..it has a good kitchen garden, and an orchard, which was formerly Cowper’s Shrubbery; but the pursuits of its present possessor differing, in some degree, from those of the poet, every appearance of this kind is obliterated, except that an officious flower occasionally rears its head, and, in tacit terms, upbraids the destroyers of such a scene.

Weston House
(from the Grove)
The Seat of George Courtenay Esq

The Elms
‘There, fast rooted in their bank,
Stand never overlook’d our fav’rite elms,
That screen the herdsman’s solitary hut;’

Out of respect for Cowper, the authors have called this stand of trees The Elms, which they believe are in fact poplars:

In compliance with our intention to illustrate the poet, we have retained the name he has conferred, though we were convinced, from ocular demonstration, it was erroneous; and have also received a communication from Mr Courtenay, who observes, that Cowper wrote the passage in The Task, which refers to these trees, under the influence of a mistake, and he had often told him of the circumstance.

The Shrubbery
‘The Saint or Moralist should tread’
This moss grown alley.’

Many of the lines related to gardens in The Task suggest Cowper recognised their healing qualities.  The Moss House was a place of silence Cowper valued as a retreat when his feelings were at a low ebb, and he placed a board inside containing lines of his poetry.  The original board was stolen, so was replaced with another containing these lines from The Task:

No noise is here, or none that hinders thought.
Stillness, accompanied with sounds so soft,
Charms more than silence.  Meditation here
May think down hours to moments.  Here the heart
May give a useful lesson to the head,
And Learning wiser grow without his books.

Further Reading:

Cowper, Illustrated by a series of views

The Task by William Cowper

William Cowper (The Poetry Foundation)

Cowper and Newton Museum, Olney

James Storer, engraver