COTONACEAE - THE PLANT LIST.

Part of the enchanting gardens at Coton Manor, Northamptonshire, taken with my iPhone camera.  

Well howdeedoo?  Jambo!  Guten tag!  Hola!

Lawdy lawd, what a caper!  We've had quite a week end.  I've become the proud and anxious owner of four Trillium plants, since my last posting, and over the weekend, we opened our garden as part of the village biennial Art Event.

The great, beautifully washed, painstakingly spruced, expertly coiffed and sparklingly groomed public were admitted, for the first time ever, to our current garden.  Celebrities joined the ranks of thousands of good folk who actually paid money - well, not real money, just Sterling - to come and tread our lawns, wonder at our flowering wisteria, scratch their heads in bewilderment at our proud display of lawn weeds and wonder at our completely empty vegetable garden.  They also came to admire other, far better gardens in the village - no that's not just false modesty, believe me - and to look at works of art in our church as well as enjoying Lincolnshire's world famous mountain scenery.

But I can't tell you about all that because I have a promise to keep.  

Last Tuesday, I was privileged to conduct one of the sessions at Coton Manor Garden School in Northamptonshire.  The topic was Woodland Gardening and it would be impossible to find a more appropriate place for the subject.  The wood garden at Coton Manor is absolutely superb and on a positively golden April morning, the air full of cherry blossom and the sound of bumble bees, we all scurried out of the classroom quam celerrime and strolled into the woods while Susie Pasley-Tyler, of Coton Manor, talked us through her heart-achingly beautiful planting schemes.  

We gazed at drifts of trilliums, wood anemones, bluebells, hellebores and all sorts of rarities, all blending and melding together to create a gently coloured, subtly patterned, deep-pile carpet under the trees.  I felt extremely inadequate afterwards, when showing the class pictures of my rather pathetic, small scale attempt at woodland gardening at home, but the students - all, I suspect, capable and experienced gardeners - were extremely kind and tolerant.

While there, I realised that I hadn't written a plant list to go with my pictures, so I gave out my blog address and promised that I'd post the full list,  herein, within the week.  

So, pupils, and anyone else who may be interested, here follows the  list of plants featured in last Tuesdays sessions. Google any of the names, or use the RHS Plantfinder to get more info on each!

COTON MANOR GARDEN SCHOOL  21st April 2009
PLANTS, IN ORDER OF SHOWING.
SESSION ONE.

(Sorry, but the internet thingy has dumped the italics, so you'll have to put up with scientific names in Roman.  Hope that's OK)

Anemone nemorosa, Wood Anemone
Rhodendron 'Vuyk's Scarlet' in pot on terrace.
Ranunculus ficaria, Lesser Celandine.
Hyacinthoides non-scripta, Bluebell
Betula pendula, Silver Birch
Lonicera periclymenum, Common Honeysuckle
Rubus sub-arcticus, Blackberry
Viburnum opulus, Guelder Rose
Primula vulgaris, Primrose
Allium ursinum, Bear Garlic, Ramsons
Phyllitis scolopendrium, Hartstongue fern
Cymballaria muralis, Ivy Leaved Toadflax
Viola riviniana, Common Violet
Potentilla anserina, Silverweed
Tussilago farfara, Coltsfoot
Glechoma hederacea, Ground ivy
Oxalis acetosella, Wood Sorrel
Stellaria graminea, Lesser Stitchwort
Stellaria holostea, Great Stitchwort
Paris quadrifolia, Herb Paris
Melittis melissophyllum, Bastard Balm
Primula elatior, True Oxlip
Petasites hybridus, Butterbur
Digitalis purpurea, Common Foxglove
Campanula trachelium, Nettle-leaved bellflower
Ligustrum vulgare, Wild privet
Tamus communis, Black Bryony

PART TWO
Amelanchier lamarckii
Cyclamen repandum
Papaver orientale 'Patty's Plum'
Acer palmatum 'Osakasuki'
Acer griseum
Betula utilis var jacquemontii
Rhododendron 'Pook' (white)
Crataegus laevigata 'Crimson Cloud'
Sorbus harrowiana
Clematis serratifolia
Corylus maxima 'Rubra'
Desfontainea spinosa
Narcissus pseudonarcissus
Narcissus 'W.P. Milner'
Narcissus 'Firebrand'
Narcissus 'Eystettensis' aka 'Queen Anne's Double'
Primula 'Gawain' - you'll only find it in my garden. (My name.)
Primula 'Dark Rosaleen'
Omphalodes verna
Omphalodes verna 'Alba'
Anemonopsis thalictroides
Viola found near Grimsthorpe - possibly a hybrid V. odorata x V. hirta
Viola odorata 'Amiral Avellen'
Anthriscus arvensis 'Raven's Wing'
Chaerophyllum hirsutum 'Roseum'
Ranunculus ficaria 'Pale Form' - mine, discovered in wild.
R. ficaria 'Flore-pleno'
Anemone ranunculoides
Anemone x lipsiensis
Anemone nemorosa 'Parlez Vous'
A. nemorosa 'Royal Blue'
A. nemorosa 'Hilda'
A. nemorosa 'Leeds Variety' (Huge flowers)
A nemorosa 'Viridiflora'
A nemorosa 'Vestal'
Ypsillandra thibetana
Heloniopsis orientalis
Hacquetia epipactis
Lysichiton americanum
Epimedium rubrum
Epimedium 'Amber Queen'
Speirantha convalarioides
Trillium erectum
Trillium erectum 'Album'
Corydalis elata
Polygonatum humile
Primula sieboldii
Lamium orvala
L. orvala 'Alba'
Matteuccia struthiopteris
Lonicera periclymenum
Duchesnia indica
Hamamelis virginiana

And that's it.

I'm listening to  Lover Man sung by Sarah Vaughan with Dizzy Gillespie's All Star Quintet.

This week's film was, I blush to admit, Blake Edward's The Great Race.  Childish humour, but the Lemmon - Curtis chemistry works and no one could ever top that famous custard pie fight.

This day in 1985 I was crating up plants for the RHS April Westminster Flower Show.  It was snowing, apparently, and later, I watched Titus Andronicus on TV.  Nasty! 

Bye!