Carol Klein explains why ‘William Lobb’ is a must-have in her Glebe Cottage garden
Sensuous, scented moss rose ‘William Lobb’ sets the theme in our eldest daughter Annie’s garden
Our next stop on my tour of the garden at Glebe Cottage is Annie’s garden. Our eldest daughter now lives in the USA but comes back to visit as often as possible. She hasn’t seen her new niece yet but she’ll be here at Christmas, and I can’t wait to see her.
Annie’s great with babies and little children and has always had a close relationship with nature and plants, too. Whatever the time of year she arrives, one of her first ports of call is to visit her own garden.
There are two trees that punctuate each end of her garden. One is crab apple ‘Golden Hornet’; the other a ‘Cox’s Orange Pippin’. Both bear prodigious quantities of fruit.
Fruit trees like these give maximum value in small gardens and are of huge benefit to insect and bird life. In May they’re smothered in pink and white blossom and, day after day, abuzz with the sound of honey bees and other pollinating insects. In autumn, their boughs are weighed down with fruit, manna for birds, small mammals and us.
These trees form the backdrop to the changing landscape of Annie’s garden, viewed from the central position where a path leads you down from Alice’s garden to steps that take you to the next bed further down.
The space in between the two halves of Annie’s garden forms a semi-circle and at its centre is a large, round millstone with a separate circle of stone. We don’t have sculpture at Glebe Cottage but we do use artefacts as a decorative feature here and there. The outside of the level area, between the circle and the beds, the edge of the path and the top of the steps is covered with gravel, which makes the perfect environment for self-sown seedlings to pop up.
The great majority of these are of Alchemilla mollis, lady’s mantle, so called because its circular, pleated leaves resemble a cloak. Though to some gardeners it can become a bit of a nuisance, it’s the perfect plant to take the edge off sharp lines and crisp corners. Its sprays of lime-green flowers create a foamy effect and are ideal to add to bunches of sweet peas.
‘Every so often we lift all the herbaceous plants, split and divide them, add masses of compost and old rotted muck and replant’
‘Mollis’ means soft, and this aptly describes the feel of the leaves. More gardening words than you can imagine have been written about the way in which the leaves trap droplets of water that quiver as you brush past.
Like so much in the Glebe Cottage garden, colour plays an important part. Here in Annie’s garden there are masses of magentas and purples and a few rich blues. A rose that sets the theme is the moss rose ‘William Lobb’, whose sensuous petals start off magenta and fade to the sort of purple you associate with old tapestries. Its scent is heady and deep, and as is the case with all moss roses, even the buds give off a delightful fragrance when they’re rubbed.
There are a series of these roses wending their way through these beds, and at their feet,
Geranium psilostemon, which flowers for months, astrantias, stachys and hostas. Not everything is knee-high though, there’s competition from tall veronicastrum and asters, including the tall blue Michaelmas daisy aster ‘Calliope’ with its dramatic dark stems.
This garden looks after itself much of the time, but every so often we lift all the herbaceous plants, split and divide them, add masses of compost and old rotted muck and replant. When we do, we’re careful not to damage large groups of camassias throughout the bed though they, too, can be divided and spread around from time to time.