{"id":19606,"date":"2023-02-20T11:53:22","date_gmt":"2023-02-20T10:53:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gardensillustrated.com\/?p=101877"},"modified":"2023-02-23T13:36:42","modified_gmt":"2023-02-23T12:36:42","slug":"how-james-hitchmough-used-his-sheffield-garden-to-trial-south-african-summer-perennials","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/rss_feed\/how-james-hitchmough-used-his-sheffield-garden-to-trial-south-african-summer-perennials\/","title":{"rendered":"How James Hitchmough used his Sheffield garden to trial South African summer perennials"},"content":{"rendered":"

From our archives: Professor James Hitchmough\u2019s Sheffield garden is a test bed for his scholarly work and a masterclass in planting combinations. Words Caroline Beck, photographs Richard Bloom <\/p>

By Juliet Giles\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 20 February 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Professor James Hitchmough is a hard man to get hold of. Apologetic emails from South Africa, China, the Orkney Islands or Kyrgyzstan explained he was photographing plants in high-altitude meadows<\/a>. When I finally meet him, Stan his dog upstages him, scattering pots of exotic cuttings before barging into the borders after a cat. None of this fazes the professor. \u201cMy tolerance for disorder,\u201d he explains, \u201cis very high.\u201d<\/p>

Disorder is a word he uses often. As Professor of Horticultural Ecology in the Department of Landscape Architecture at Sheffield<\/a> University, he\u2019s spent 20 years probing how much \u2018naturalism<\/a>\u2019 (for this read \u2018chaos\u2019) people can tolerate. Scrutinising his environment is second-nature to him. He grew up in a pit village in Northumberland surrounded by spoil heaps. \u201cI asked myself, why is this place so bloody awful and what would make it better?\u201d It\u2019s a question he\u2019s spent a lifetime answering.<\/p>

IN BRIEF<\/strong><\/p>\n

What<\/strong> Richly planted small garden.<\/p>\n

Where<\/strong> Sheffield, South Yorkshire.<\/p>\n

Size<\/strong> Approximately 400 square metres.<\/p>\n

Soil<\/strong> Loam, but with 100ml of fine gravel on the top soil as an establishment mulch as many of the plants need good sharp drainage.<\/p>\n

Climate<\/strong> Temperate, with average temperatures varying between -3\u00baC in winter to 25\u00baC in the summer.<\/p>\n

Hardiness rating<\/strong> USDA 8.<\/p> <\/div> <\/section>

His own back garden behind his terraced house on one of Sheffield\u2019s vertiginous hills<\/a> is his outdoor laboratory. It was derelict when he bought it, meaning waist-high weeds<\/a> needed to be cleared and remaining trees pruned<\/a> to open up the shade<\/a> canopy, and leave the remaining two-thirds open. The stylised meadow he has created unfolds from late winter onwards when bulbs and a low understory of woodland plants,<\/a> such as primulas and ranunculus, reduces the area of bare soil that weeds would otherwise swiftly colonise, with taller summer plants emerging as the spring layer dies back. \u201cHere I can examine how plants perform and use volumes of space as they grow, and from a design point of view it\u2019s vital to be able to conceptualise this,\u201d he says.<\/p>

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\u00a9 Richard Bloom<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>

The plants in James Hitchmough\u2019s\u00a0small city garden\u00a0are like stamps in his passport, numerous and exotic. For the past decade, however, South African species, such as the\u00a0Kniphofia<\/em><\/a> \u2018Jane Henry\u2019 and Gladiolus<\/em> \u2018Ruby\u2019 seen above, have been his abiding interest. Most South African species familiar to gardeners, come from eastern summer rainfall areas, but James has been researching plants from western winter rainfall areas, such as the Hex River and the Komsberg, which are far less common. \u201cIt gets down to minus eight, so many of these species, such as Bulbinella latifolia<\/em> and Watsonia marlothii<\/em>, grow really well in the UK,\u201d he says.<\/p>

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\u00a9 Richard Bloom<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div><\/div>

Summer plants, such as\u00a0Echinacea pallida<\/em> and\u00a0Kniphofia albomontana<\/em>, are selected mostly to have leafless stems so the borders have a certain wildness rather than a neat en bloc structure. Here they combine with \u00a0Eryngium bourgatii<\/em> \u2018Picos Blue\u2019, Echinops ritro<\/em>, Echinacea purpurea<\/em> \u2018Prairie Splendor\u2019, Agapanthus campanulatus<\/em> subsp. patens<\/em>, Kniphofia<\/em> \u2018Jane Henry\u2019, Crocosmia masoniorum <\/em>and\u00a0Hemerocallis<\/em> \u2018Lemon Bells\u2019, combine to bring a \u2018supercharged nature\u2019 aspect to his\u00a0richly planted borders. \u201cInitially there wasn\u2019t a warm reception to the idea of naturalistic vegetation,\u201d says James, \u201cbut now it\u2019s become much more normalised, and things like the Olympic Park [where James and his Sheffield University colleague Professor Nigel Dunnett<\/a> acted as planting design consultants] played a major part in that. It\u2019s having your cake and eating it, but what\u2019s wrong with that?\u201d<\/p>

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\u00a9 Richard Bloom<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>

Five lessons for a city space<\/h2>