The Victorian Gardener

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Although early conservatories existed already in the 16th century it was not until the Victorian era until they realised that not only heat but light was needed for plants to overwinter and to grow. Glasshouses were rare because glass was expensive as well as heating them. Sheet and plate glass was produced first around the middle of the 19th century when glasshouses became more affordable. Knightshayes in Devon is a classic Victorian mansion. You can see the glasshouse at the left end of the building. The Douglas fir, Monterey pine and mighty redwoods from the Americas were particular favourites among municipal gardeners because of their rapid growth and almost instant character and colour. They remain popular today.

Highly colored rhododendrons captured the Victorian imagination, particularly those from the Far East. Fine examples can be seen at Killerton. Native to the Far East, Philipp Franz von Siebold transported a cutting of the plant from a Japanese volcano to Leiden in the Netherlands. In 1850, a specimen was donated to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. Think about low growing plants and a mixture of compact types and those that spread,' advises Jenny. Growth was, in fact, prolific and it was virtually impossible to eradicate. It is an invasive species which now impacts biodiversity and flood management, and can undermine property foundations.

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English gardens are beautiful and every era has its own garden style, so there are medieval, Tudor, Georgian, Victorian, Arts and Crafts gardens as well as gardens between the two World Wars and Post-War gardens. In 1793, Repton was employed by the 2nd Earl of Mansfield to remodel the grounds at Kenwood. Repton introduced a series of meandering paths that would show off the large estate of the Georgian Neoclassical house, as well as tree groves to break up the wide open spaces and a lawn to the west of the house with intricate flower garden. While not all of Repton's proposals were taken forward, several of his features can still be seen today. This 1881 map shows that within the walled garden there was a pond with a bridge over the centre. The area marked ‘20’ on the map shows the position of a Cedar of Lebanon tree, photographed by Matthew. The cross-hatched sections indicate glasshouses. ‘Hertfordshire Ordnance Survey, Six-inch to the mile’, surveyed 1881, published 1884 [4] Photograph of a Cedar of Lebanon in the garden at Stagenhoe Park taken from the upper windows of the house, c. 1846-1869 The series began in the largely derelict walled garden at Chilton Lodge, and followed Dodson and his assistant, Alison, as they recreated the working kitchen garden. The Royal Horticultural Society was established in 1804 in London to collect plants brought in from expeditions in the British colonies and other countries. High society funded the society’s work to get seeds of the rare plants in return which they planted on their estates.

Petunias, particularly in white and purple, were widely used in suburban gardens and if you know how to deadhead petunias you can prolong the blooms.

COTTAGE GARDENS

One of the most breathtaking and ornate gardens in the UK, Biddulph Grange Gardenwas created by James Bateman for his expansive collection of plants from around the world. It takes visitors through a series of globally influenced and connected “rooms”, from a Victorian vision of China with its bright red pavilion to the pyramids of Egypt and a Himalayan glen. 6. ROYAL BOTANICAL GARDENS, KEW

The Victorian Era in the United Kingdom is the period of the reign of Queen Victoria beginning on June 20th, 1837, until her death on January 22nd, 1901. There were a lot of changes, politically, socially, and religiously during this time. It was also an era of advancement in science, technology, and engineering. Make sure they are firmly fixed into the ground. Add mulch plus shade loving plants and bulbs like hellebores, dicentra, woodruff, ferns, dwarf evergreens, wood spurge, primroses, bluebells, lily of the valley, trailing ivy. Let moss and lichens to grow on the stumps. Despite the magnolia being “discovered” in the 17th century, it is one of the most primitive plants in evolutionary history. Fossils have been unearthed showing that it existed in North America, Asia and Europe more than 100 million years ago. Although built from high-quality timber rather than iron, contemporary greenhouses such as the Forest Vale Victorian range reflect this styling with high ridges and long panes of toughened glass. There's also the Victorian wall greenhousea lovely sun-filled structure for planting and potting. Wrought Iron Features There was a special attraction for the rare plants. There were some popular gardeners who belonged to the Victorian period. These gardeners follow the natural style of growing the gardens. This style is followed even today.Britain's first female professional landscape gardener, Fanny Wilkinson is best known for the designs of countless parks and public spaces across London. After training as the first female pupil of the School of Gardening at the Crystal Palace in Sydenham, she went on to join the Council of the Kyrle Society in 1881 and was elected honorary landscape gardener to the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association which formed in 1882 to provide "to the people gardens, and to the children playgrounds." Ever since Coade stone was formulated in the late 18th century, affordable cast stone ornamentshave decorated our gardens, and the Victorians took full advantage of any new technology. After a year or so, Matthew might have started work in the kitchen garden or glass house, progressing to an ‘improver’ by age 17 or 18. Improvers were ‘upwardly mobile young gardeners’ who learnt while practising. [2] Improvers lived beside ‘journeymen’ (gardeners in their 20s who travelled to develop their skills further) in a bothy, which were sometimes set into the walls of walled gardens. They were expected to remain single. After a long, hard day’s work, came evening study – everything from botany, etymology, plant physiology and trigonometry, to plant breeding and the cultivation of flowers, fruit and vegetables, some of which had never been grown in the UK before. Gardening became wildly popular in England during the Victorian era. The wealthy had the space and money to create large, lavish landscapes, but the middle class, with more time on their hands than ever before, were also able to create beautiful gardens in Victorian England. Many elements of Victorian garden style are enduring and remain popular to this day. Let’s learn a little more about Victorian garden history. Characteristics of Victorian Garden Style It is a splendid garden located above the river Conwy with panoramic views across to Snowdonia. Upper level has large Italianate terraces and formal lawns. Below you have a wooded valley, stream and wild garden. From May to June it also has a 55 metre laburnum tunnel of golden blooms. Cragside, Northumberland

The wealthy had larger spaces for their gardens, but the middle class wasn’t left out. With all the changes taking place, middle-class families didn’t have to focus their gardening only on food necessities (fruits, veggies, herbs). They could use some of that extra free time to create beautiful gardens with visuals and aesthetics. SOME BASIC ELEMENTS OF VICTORIAN GARDENS Lawn Today people want to create famous Victorian era gardens in their house. The designs belong to that age but they have a look of the new generation. One of the most famous gardens in the Victorian England is Kew.If you wanted to be a gardener, like Matthew Balls, you had to commit to an apprenticeship of up to 15 years. Only the best and most committed uneducated boys were taken on, learning from older gardeners. Matthew probably would have started off as a gardener’s boy at a large establishment, aged 12-14. His jobs would have included washing flowerpots (huge numbers were required for carpet bedding), sweeping paths, and carrying coal for boilers heating glasshouses, which would need constant stoking. Gardening boys worked ten hour days, six days a week, while studying the latest horticultural publications in the evening. They would pay the Head Gardener for their training, and he would issue fines for rule-breakers. Designed by famed landscape architect Lancelot Brown (commonly known as ‘Capacity’ Brown), Audley End Gardenfeatures expansive parkland, flower-filled bedding in the Parterre, a pond garden, a serpentine lake and a walled kitchen garden. With something beautiful to see and explore every season of the year, this is one garden worth a full day trip to the South East. 5. BIDDULPH GRANGE, STAFFORDSHIRE In 1902, Wilkinson became another female first as principal of Swanley Horticultural College in Kent. She retired to Suffolk and bred prize-winning goats. The building on Shaftesbury Avenue where she lived — likely with her three sisters — is home to a London Blue Plaque. Few 12-year-olds would rise through the ranks to Head Gardener, but ambitious gardeners might start advertising their availability for Head Gardener jobs by the time they were 30, as Matthew did. Head Gardener at Stagenhoe Park