April 2013 | The Garden 87

Cheshire nursery

Roy Lancaster visits…

This nursery and garden in Cheshire features a wide range of interesting and garden-worthy perennials, and is run by an enthusiastic plantswomanAuthor: Roy Lancaster, vmh, author, broadcaster and member of the RHS Woody Plants Committee. Photography: Tim Sandall

The poppy that stumped Roy. He now suggests Papaver orientale ‘Olympia’.

Roy Lancaster chats with owners Sue and David Beesley and some of the Bluebell Cottage Nursery team.

Anthyllis vulneraria var. coccinea grows well in poor, dry soils and can be used in the front of a mixed border.

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Bluebell CottageGardens and

Nursery

Anthyllis vulneraria var. coccinea grows well in poor, dry soils and can be used in the front of a mixed border.

Roy Lancaster chats with owners Sue and David Beesley and some of the Bluebell Cottage Nursery team.

April 2013 | The Garden 8988 The Garden | April 2013

Cheshire nurseryCheshire nursery

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My first visit to the Dutton area of Cheshire was in the 1950s as a coach passenger on a ‘Mystery Tour’, a popular pastime in those days. Our destination as it turned out was Delamere Forest and Pickmere

Lake and, had it not been for the inexperienced driver who took a wrong turn, we should have arrived on time, instead of which we had an unscheduled diversion through a maze of lanes and villages east of Runcorn.

At the end of May last year I once again found myself venturing into this picturesque corner of Cheshire, but on this occasion there was no mystery about my destination, Bluebell Cottage Garden and Nursery in the village of Dutton. I was welcomed by smiling Sue Beesley, the nursery’s owner, who noted my interest in the meadow at the nursery’s entrance, which she manages with a local farmer. On the day of my visit it was awash with meadow buttercup, sorrel, selfheal and sweet vernal grass and both wood and meadow cranesbills. Sue’s principal achievement, however, is her fine garden which doubles as a demonstration and stock garden, offering planting ideas to visitors and propagation material to help service the adjacent nursery.

Turning pointA Sussex girl by birth, Sue and her husband David ran their own IT business in Lancashire. In the large garden of their home she developed a passion for plants, and decided to take a course towards the RHS General Certificate in Horticulture at Reaseheath College at Nantwich. She also became a volunteer in the gardens of the National Trust’s Dunham Massey. That was in 2005 and a year later she was persuaded to enter the BBC Gardener of the Year Competition, which she won.

One day, while sourcing plants for a garden project for the above competition,

Perennials are a speciality of the nursery. The sea-green foliage of appealing Thalictrum minus ‘Adiantifolium’ (below) is dainty in appear ance.

Rich red Astrantia major ‘Star of Fire’ (below left) blooms from early summer.

Pink Pimpinella major ‘Rosea’ (below right) thrives in a moist, shaded spot.

Sue, while she employs long-standing and knowledgeable staff who provide a friendly and efficient production and sales team. One of her ‘volunteers’ is husband David who continues his IT work during the week while acting as a guide for visiting groups at weekends.

Profusion of perennialsThe first perennial to catch my eye as we began our garden tour was Pimpinella major ‘Rosea’, a member of the carrot family (Apiacae) with erect, branching stems up to 1.2m (4ft) and terminal umbels of tiny pink flowers. Here it was thriving in the dappled shade of an apple tree. ‘A cracking good plant,’ was Sue’s comment. She grows it from seed sown in autumn and it is popular with more discerning visitors. Enjoying similar conditions – moist soil and light shade – is perennial honesty (Lunaria rediviva) with bold, heart-shaped leaves topped by branched sprays of honey-scented, lilac-washed, white flowers from May to July. These are followed by paper-thin green, ripening to white, seed pods with pointed ends, unlike the familiar circular pods of common biennial L. annua.

At one point we came upon Helianthus salicifolius, a bold suckering clump of which Sue has established as an island planting in the grass. When in full growth its tall, slender, erect or arching stems to 2m (6½ft) or more, clothed with long, thin foliage, can give the impression of a green fountain. The rich yellow daisy flowers can be seen from late summer into autumn, by which time

On arriving at the nursery, Roy was attracted by the scent of a honeysuckle whose creamy yellow flowers mingled with those of a clematis on a nearby fence:

1 Clematis montana var. wilsonii has white flowers with four separated tepals which crowd stems to form cascades, providing a delicious scent some people describe as ‘vanilla’; Sue claims it reminds her of gardenia. Later flowering than most selections of C. montana, it was introduced from China by the English plant hunter EH Wilson early last century. 2 Lonicera caprifolium is an easily grown and fully hardy European honeysuckle, producing sweetly scented flowers that open white but age to cream. It grows best in full sun. Both these strong-growing climbers are ideal for covering stumps, walls and fences, and may be pruned after flowering.

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A tale of two climbers

bluebell CoTTAge

gARdenS And nuRSeRy

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she visited the present nursery, then in decline. The following year she heard it was up for sale and persuaded David they should buy it. ‘It was,’ says Sue, ‘the turning point in my life.’ Her dream realised and family safely installed in the cottage, she set about redesigning and replanting the garden, reducing formal grass areas, sowing meadows and filling new beds and borders with perennials from the nursery stock beds to which were added new selections sourced elsewhere.

The garden, which is on a sandy loam above heavier subsoil, is now well established and appreciated by visitors. Next door, the nursery, with its potting shed, propagation house, plastic tunnels and raised benches, is filled with plants for sale, which are all well labelled. Most of the propagation is undertaken or supervised by

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Events at Bluebellp106

drifts of purple Allium, blue Iris sibirica and Geranium all provide early summer

colour in bluebell’s borders.

Bluebell Cottage Gardens and NurseryAddress Lodge Lane, Dutton, Warrington, Cheshire WA4 4HP.Tel: 01928 713718.email: info@bluebellcottage.co.ukWeb: www.bluebellcottage.co.ukopening times: 10am–5pm Wed–Sun & Bank Holidays 27 Mar–29 Sept. By appointment only on other dates.Catalogue: Online or by email.Wheelchair access: Yes.Toilets: Yes.Refreshments: Tea shop.

✤ Bluebell Cottage Garden is an RHS Partner Garden offering free access to members. See RHS Members’ Handbook 2013, p52.

✤ The nursery will be at RHS Flower Show Tatton Park, 25–28 July; visit www.rhs.org.uk/tatton

drifts of purple Allium, blue Iris sibirica and Geranium all provide early summer

colour in bluebell’s borders.

90 The Garden | April 2013

Cheshire nursery

the stems have become bare at the base, somewhat lessening its effect.

There can be few perennials with flowers more dazzling than the orange-red, scarlet or vermilion shades of Papaver orientale (Oriental poppy). Most of us are familiar with the leafy, clumping cultivars, some with extra-large, single blooms, but I was well and truly stumped when Sue pointed out to me an unlabelled plant of low habit with narrow leaves and flexuous stalks bearing scarlet-red, semi-double flowers, its layers of crimpled petals wide-spreading to reveal a central boss of dark stamens. Added to this was its far-reaching rootstock producing a large patch or colony. She had no idea as to its identity and nor had I, though subsequently I have had my attention drawn to the cultivar P. orientale ‘Olympia’ which is as good a match as any I have seen.

The only other flowers competing with the poppy’s fiery blooms on the day were those of Tulipa sprengeri, a late-flowering species with shiny green leaves and pointed, bright-scarlet flowers opening from yellowish gold buds. Sue admires it for its tolerance of full sun to dappled shade and its free-seeding nature.

Tempting selectionsSpecialities of Bluebell Cottage Nursery include Astrantia, Campanula, Digitalis, Penstemon, Geranium, Heuchera and Nepeta, but catching my eye on one bench was a striking ornamental grass, Festuca tatrae. This attractive blue-green species forms a hummock of narrow basal leaves topped with stiffly erect flowering stems to 45cm (18in). ‘More flower than leaf,’ was how Sue described its pale, crowded spikelets.

Thalictrums are a growing

interest of Sue’s and she told me of her desire to establish a specialist collection. She already sells a good range, including a choice plant labelled Thalictrum minus ‘Adiantifolium’, a selection of our native lesser meadow rue with delicately divided leaves somewhat resembling those of maidenhair fern (Adiantum capillus-veneris). But the leaves of her plant, instead of being green in colour, are a striking glaucous blue and toothed. Whatever its correct identity, this is certainly worth considering for small gardens or beds. As with other forms of T. minus the flowers are small and lack presence.

The last plant to attract my attention before departing from the nursery was a 60cm (24in) self-sown seedling of salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius). This slender biennial has an edible root and is of curiosity value, especially for children. It is a close cousin of our native yellow-flowered goat’s beard or Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon (T. pratensis) and, like that species, its flowers begin to close at midday, a characteristic they share with scarlet pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis), star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum) and other so-called ‘clock plants’. The dusky purple flowers are succeeded by large, exquisitely structured seedheads which provide further entertainment to the young in the manner of dandelion clocks.

The closing flowers reminded me time does not stand still and, as I said farewell to Sue and her team, my final view was of that wonderful, buttercup-filled meadow.

The attractive flowers of Tragopogon porrifolius begin to close reliably at midday (above). It is a biennial and can be grown for its edible roots.

The sales area at Bluebell Nursery, filled with great plants.

Tulipa sprengeri will grow well in sun

or dappled shade.

The sales area at Bluebell Nursery, filled with great plants.