VISIT TO WOLLERTON
Over the past two weeks I have given a couple of talks at Wollerton Old Hall (wollertonoldhallgarden.com), the garden designed and created by artist Lesley Jenkins and her husband, John. I always love visiting this garden, acquiring some great new plants and catching up with the owners. Lesley grew up there, and then left at the age of 14.
When driving past one day in 1984, Lesley and John saw a “For Sale” sign and managed to acquire the property. The garden has great bones, with a strong framework and exuberant plantings of mainly perennials – a passion of Lesley’s. There are quite a few unusual shrubs and trees which are a passion of John’s – he is a walking plant encyclopaedia. The garden is open for three days a week in the summer, and after each opening Lesley and John walk round together for about two hours with critical eyes sorting out what needs to be done the next day. This garden always looks immaculate – that patrol is obviously the secret.
Over lunch, John told me how they met my uncle, David Austin of English rose fame. He was spotted visiting the garden fairly regularly, and realising he was a shy man, tentively got to know him. They used to fret about any black spot when he arrived but he quickly stopped them doing that! David was interested in integrating roses into a garden, and at Wollerton they use them widely amongst herbaceous plants, often putting the herbaceous plants in first and then the roses. In David’s own garden, he did it the other way round.
The Jenkinses are selective about which herbaceous plants they choose to mix with their roses, avoiding the more invasive ones that spread and overhang. Many Salvias, Phlox paniculata (the more upright phlox), and grasses that don’t sprawl are all good candidates in their opinion. When I consulted David Austin junior, he reckoned it best to get your roses in first, with some herbaceous, then see how well they do before going back and adding more herbaceous if necessary.
When David’s wife, Pat, died, David took their private garden in hand and asked Lesley and John to design a border of herbaceous perennials for him. One day while they were discussing the plans, David asked their permission to name one of his new roses, ‘Wollerton Old Hall’, a wonderful, repeat-flowering climber with pale apricot flowers fading to cream and a strong fragrance, after their garden. They were thrilled.