Millennium garden	tropical border	English borders	rose garden	woodland	pond	fire & ice garden
							Search

There is a deliberate sense of formality here and some symmetry in the planting directly adjacent to the path which features a laburnum arch – hopefully there is sufficient sun to get a generous flowering of the Laburnum vossii. The approach to the arch features flanking low hedges of Euonymus (with some variegation) backed by Hydrangea “Annabelle” with Wisteria sinenesis “Alba” trained as a standard and Aralia elata “Variegata”on either side.(see photo below)  

Hydrangea “Annabelle”,  Wisteria sinenesis “Alba",  Aralia elata “Variegata”

So much for the formality.Resist the urge to run straight through the laburnum arch to examine the rather abstract sculpture opposite and instead just stop and look over the stone seat to your right and test your plant recognition.

The Magnolia is “Yellow Bird” (M. acuminata x M. brooklynensis); not the best yellow hybrid but a pioneer (see photo on below).

Magnolia “Yellow Bird”

Magnolia "Limelight” is better but my specimen elsewhere in the wood is still an infant, so for the moment, no comment! Magnolia “Leda” is a tree with something of a shady past – it is probably a Magnolia cylindrica x M. Cambellii alba hybrid sold prior to 1995 by Esveld as M. cylindrica. This only came to light after an article appeared on the same hybrid with the name “White Lips” see: (www.magnoliasociety.org/checklist_docs/checklist_k_l.htm).

Magnolia “Leda”

The tall acer is Acer cappodocicum ‘Rubrum” with various shrubby viburnum around its foot. The other plants you can come and see for yourself. Moving along the path to the right among the more interesting plants are two hardy gingers, Cautleya robusta (see photo below right) and Zingiber mioga, that are not as well known as they should be. For more information about magnolia, click here.
The tree with the beautiful variegated leaves is Acer x conspicuum “Silver Cardinal”.(see photo below). 

Acer x conspicuum “Silver Cardinal”	Cautleya robusta

In July, this is just about the most beautifully coloured tree/shrub in the garden. Its stripy bark is an added bonus. Nearby is Trochodendron araloides, a lovely evergreen shrub found in Japan, Taiwan, and S. Korea along with another evergreen shrub from China/Japan – Daphniphyllum macropodum. Both plants are quite hardy with us as are the various Fatsia Japonica (See photo right) both here and in other areas of the garden.

Fatsia Japonica

Someone in a visiting group invariably confuses Fatsia with Monstera deliciosa (Philodendron) houseplant. These are all plants, which thrive, in light shade. Oh yes, did you spot the rather leggy Buddleia x weyeriana with its orange-yellow spherical flowers? It never fails to disappoint – I need to take a cutting and plant it with more sun or try rigorous pruning.

Eventually we arrive at a small area at the end of the oval perimeter path and can look down the ditch which runs away to the west in front of us. At your feet is a planting of Astilbe varieties that take us to the Camellia japonica Magnoliiflora. A ground cover of Euonymus “Emerald and Gold”then flows down to the tree-like Hydrangea heteromalla just before the bridge. (see photo left)

Euonymus “Emerald and Gold”

The sides of the ditch are flanked by the blue leaves of Hosta sieboldiana “Elegans” seedlings. The sharp-eyed will indeed note some slight variations in the various plants. Blue adjacent to yellow never fails to produce a lovely match. We also are trying to get large blue flowered clematis to trail through the Euonymus.

Behind you, Orixa japonica is interesting in Autumn when its leaves transform to pale yellow-white rather than russet, brown or red. Aralia cachemirica is a shrubby plant from the Himalaya region and reportedly does best in sunny positions and a rich soil; this position does not meet the sun criterion and I may move it. (However, my experimental positioning was prompted by what seems to be a thriving clump in the shade near the toilet in the van Gimboorn Arboretum in Doorn, so I live in hope.) The adjacent Sorbaria “rhoifolia” (see photo below) is a plant that you don’t encounter very frequently either – try searching on the internet if you need proof.

Sorbaria “rhoifolia”

Before we walk further, let me say that I’m very well aware that I’ve hardly mentioned any plants “growing below the knee”. The Millennium Garden contains some noteworthy perennials. For example, hosta aficionados will find numerous hybrids with gigantic leaves and purple colouration not forgetting more unusual hybrids such as Hosta "County Park” (as good an imitation of a lettuce as you will find in the hostas.) (see photo below).

Hosta “County Park”

To your right on the ditch bank, the ever-more massive steely blue leaves of the seedling Hosta sieboldiana “Elegans” almost threaten to close off the ditch as summer progresses. Its hard to imagine this same scene in February/March when the hosta are still invisibly hibernating, primula are at best almost like the tops of small pineapples just poking out of the earth and you wonder if they are still there! However, the place of the hosta is marked by a gaudy display of mixed botanical crocuses that colour an otherwise bare and steeply sloping bank.

Now let us hurry on – you can start to understand why some people take 4 hours to go round the whole garden! The large leaved hostas on your left as you descended the steps into the garden have hopefully remained at the back of your mind and continuing the circuit of the perimeter path will bring you back to them. Looking to your left on the way is a large area under tall oaks with several interesting shrubs and small trees which include a juvenile Salix magnifica (Wilson, 1909, W. China) whose leaves look more like those of a magnolia than anything – something to test your friends with. As I write, there are literally hundreds of seedling pieris springing up in this area that I’m letting develop to see if anything interesting emerges. The rest I’ll leave you to explore for yourself.

Retracing our steps to that sculpture and continuing westwards on the perimeter path you will note a dense planting of hosta on your right which are as good an illustration of how leaf colours can substitute for flowers as most people will require.

For more information about hosta, click here

A collection of arisaema is in the making and quite a few types of ferns are there, in addition to many other perennials. Now let us go further. To your left is a very varied planting where I put a lot of little green gems which need light shade but which I want to be able to pop out and look at without embarking on a hike when I have a gin & tonic at the end of the day. Arisaema sikkokianum and the secretive Asarum proboscens along with other aroids are here. Rather pretty variegated Japanese ferns or miniature creeping ferns such as gymnocarpus are all there competing for attention. However, this plant selection “below the knee” is just too varied to describe in detail in a section of a website as opposed to a book.

Arisaema sikkokianum		Asarum probescens

For more information about arisaema, click here

The large tree with a spiny trunk on your right is Kalopanox septemlobus (or Kalopanax pictus) (see photo to right). To your left in the ditch is Hydrangea heteromalla (see photo below left)– its claim to fame is that it is one of the few hydrangeas that assume the form of a small tree as it matures.

Hydrangea heteromalla	Kalopanox septemlobus

A bit it further on, we finally reach the sculpture that was doing its best to tempt us through the laburnum tunnel as we came into the garden.

If you raise your eyes to the heavens on the right, Populus violascens (P. szechuanica var. tibetica) is a large-leaved balsam poplar introduced from W. China by Wilson in 1904. (You will find Populus lasiocarpa with gigantic leaves and Populus balsamifera with coloured leaves in the woods.) To your left are some small trees you might not recognise but which I will name so you can look them up: Alangium platanifolium (see photo below left) Tetracentron sinense, (see photo below right) Platycarya strobilacea, Hovenia dulcis and Magnolia “Leda”. 

 

Alangium platanifolium	Kalopanax septemlobus

However, it is the beautiful flowers of some exotic looking weigela-like shrub which has the May/June visitors searching for the name label so they can buy it – its Dipelta ventricosa, (see photo below) another 1904 Wilson introduction from W. China.

Dipelta ventricosa

Do keep an eye open for the various species rhododendrons that I’ve planted. I may have to move some as they grow to create space but here is a list of what you can find at the moment:

• Rhododendron lepidostyllum,
• Rhododendron pseudochrysanthum,
  
• Rhododendron hyperythrum,
  
• Rhododendron concinnum,
  
• Rhododendron pseudoyanthinum,
  
• Rhododendron degronianum heptamerum,
  
• Rhododendron makinoi,
  
• Rhododendron uvarifolium,
  
• Rhododendron campanulatum,
  
• Rhododendron oreotrephes exquisitum and
  
• Rhododendron fortunei discolor.
  

There are also a couple of Rhododendron yakushimanum x insigne crosses; one is named as  Rhododendron “Oberschlesien” while the other with a better indumentum and similar leaf is a cross made by the late Nick v.d. Brink of Laren.

Sequoia sempervirens

 A lovely souvenir of Nick along with the Sequoia sempervirens (see photo left) close by that was also a present from him. (Nick’s garden is open to the public in Laren and his son Marcus now looks after it).

This is a quick sampler of the sort of things you can find in our front garden. It goes without saying that you can just enjoy the jungle and take in the views but I always think it brings it to life if you know where the plants come from, who introduced them and when and a bit about the story behind the hybrids such as hosta varieties.




For more information about rhododendrons, click here

Back to top