CH&I loves... A WISTERIA ARBOUR
Jo planted the Japanese wisteria floribunda, which needs little care apart from trimming wayward shoots. For the best flowering, follow these golden rules... • Choose mature named cultivars grown from cuttings or by grafting, preferably while in flower. • Position in no less than six hours of sun a day.
• Plant in a south or west-facing position, sheltered from frosts – if frost is forecast when in bud, cover overnight with old sheets. • Ensure the soil is moist and well-drained.
• Make a planting hole 1m sq and 40cm deep, adding lots of compost and, in heavy soils, gravel for drainage.
• Avoid fertilisers high in nitrogen; instead, feed in spring with Growmore or blood, fish and bone. • Prepare a sturdy support capable of carrying a mature wisteria. • As the plant develops, secure to its support with expandable ties. • Remove any root suckers from the trunk.
• The black seeds are poisonous.
folly in long grass and cow parsley. There are also several multistemmed West Himalayan birches, Betula utilis var. jacquemontii, the silver bark a delight in all seasons. For spring there is the golden foliage of an Indian bean tree and false acacia, while magnolias and crab apples add flowers.
A mature Norway maple, Acer platanoides ‘Drummondii’, introduces handsome variegated foliage above a gravel garden. Almost opposite, on the margins of an orchard, stands an elegant Cornus controversa ‘Variegata’, the wedding cake tree, which in spring erupts in cream-edged leaves and flowers, above cow parsley studded with blue camassias. The lovely bladdernut tree, Staphylea pinnata, crops up throughout the garden. ‘It was here when we came and, as it grows suckers, I’ve created new plants,’ says Jo. Come spring, few trees are without a skirt of bulbs – daffodils, alliums, tulips or grape hyacinths.
At the heart of the garden lies a broad grass path, dubbed the Millennium Walk because the box balls were planted in 1999.
The walk creates a calm cool space that allows the garden to breathe between sweeping borders of elaborate planting, while also enabling long vistas in different directions. ‘I like to be able to see over borders and to the views beyond,’ she adds.
Jo’s attention is now focused on a long bed newly planted with amelanchiers. ‘The wonderful thing about gardening is that it’s never-ending,’ she says. ‘There is always something new.’
Visit Jo’s garden at The Old Rectory, Wrestlingworth.
Open for the National Garden Scheme (ngs.org.uk) on
17 and 31 May and 7 June for The Red Cross.