The Gardens Trust

The logo of Sheridan Nurseries

That’s an unusual title for a post unless you’re Canadian in which case you probably already know more than me.

“Miss Lorrie Dunington is well known as a designer of gardens. This sounds a delightful profession, and, indeed, it is, though there are very few women in England practising it at present.”

So begins an article about  Miss Dunington in The Girl’s Realm – not my usual reading matter – which I discovered while getting ready for a lecture about horticultural training for women a century or more ago.  Obviously I was intrigued and and decided to investigate further.

Sketch for the estate of Dr William Bruce, 1920

Continue reading →

The Flower Market, by Victor Gabriel Gilbert, c1880

Although lots of things have been named in honour of Queen Elizabeth you might be surprised to know that one of them is  the main flower market in Paris.  This occupies a small square and the adjacent riverside on  the Ile de la Cité,  close to Notre Dame.  Apparently it was visited by the queen early in her reign, and also on her  later trips to the city. When she went to Paris as part of the celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings it was renamed Marché aux Fleurs Reine Elizabeth II to reflect the “enormous affection” in which she was held by the French.

Queen Elizabeth with President Francois Hollande and Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, 2014

Continue reading →

Aquilegia vulgaris – Columbine

My aquilegias are looking amazing at the moment. I’ve encouraged them to seed everywhere they want, and the more I grow them the more I like them.  But why are they called aquilegia and why do my French friends and neighbours know them as ancolis, while my grandmother told me they were columbines or granny’s bonnets?

The naming of plants is a fascinating affair and you might be surprised to know that many of our common garden plants supposedly get their name from stories in classical mythology.  There are some  obvious ones  like Narcissus, Daphne and Iris, but there are plenty of others  including both Aquilegia and its French equivalent, ancolis.

But do you know the stories behind the names? Who did the naming?  Why? When?

Continue reading →

The pavilion in the new Coronation Garden in Antrim opened on May 6th

I know the excitement is over but…here’s the rest of the not-so-short history of Coronation Gardens which will bring it right up to date.

For the coronation of Edward VIII things were planned to be more organised horticulturally. In August 1936 the Marquis of Lothian chaired a meeting of  about thirty organisations interested in  trees  and gardens more generally who then joined forces to form the Coronation Planting Committee.  

The logo of the Coronation Planting Committee

 Edward’s sister-in-law, the Duchess of York, lent  her active support saying that she hoped their “proposals will be enthusiastically taken up, for now is the opportunity for our generation with the advice and good taste of the committee to add to the lasting beauty of our towns, villages and countryside.”   It was to be her last public speech as a Duchess because on December 10th Edward abdicated and she became Queen Elizabeth . 

Design for the new Coronation Gardens in Antrim

Continue reading →

I obviously can’t compete with the other events happening today but thought I could add a few thoughts about past coronations and how they have been celebrated in horticultural form.

In fact, until the 20thc, apart from occasional  tree planting by private landowners, there don’t seem to have been that many garden-related celebrations!  But when I tried to research more modern ones I often came up with a virtual blank, as  very few of these coronation memorial sites  have actually had their history well-recorded. But that’s never stopped me in the past so… read on to see what I have managed to discover…

Coronation display at West Park, Wolverhampton, 1911

Continue reading →