From Abelia to Zipziphus
Emma Tennant
ORNAMENTAL SHRUBS, CLIMBERS AND BAMBOOS by Graham Stuart Thomas John Murray, f25, pp .544 Graham Stuart Thomas is one of thOse lucky people who discover their vocation early in life. He has described in his book Three Gardens how it happened. He was attracted to gardening from the age of four or so, but, as he puts it,
the matter was not really finalised until my godfather gave me a large-flowered fuchsia at the age of six.
From then on his earthy career pro- gressed via early training at the Cambridge Botanic Garden to work in various com- mercial enterprises, culminating in 15 years in charge of the Sunningdale nurseries with his friend and fellow plantsman, Jim Russell.
During this period he built up a famous collection of plants, including many rare perennials and shrubs as well as the old- fashioned roses which formed the basis of the National Collection, now growing in the garden he designed for the purpose at Mottisfont. Finding these plants entailed much travelling throughout the British Isles because, in Mr Thomas' own words, 'out- of-the-way plants are only found in out-of- the-way places'. Meanwhile, he began working for the National Trust, part-time at first and then, after the sale of Sunning- dale nurseries, as the Trust's first full-time Gardens Adviser.
Mr Thomas has now been gardening for nearly 80 years. He has always been an assiduous keeper of notes and diaries, and though he has not written an auto- biography he has given us something even more valuable. A long lifetime's knowledge has been condensed and concentrated into a handful of volumes which will surely outlast the mountains of second- rate gardening books published every month.
The catalogues Mr Thomas produced for the Sunningdale nurseries were expanded, in the Sixties, into three volumes which are essential reference books for rose-growers: The Old Shrub Roses, Shrub Roses of Today, and Climbing Roses Old and New. I under- stand that a one-volume edition of these books is in course of preparation. Then came another classic, Perennial Garden Plants, which covers herbaceous plants; and now we have the long-awaited Ornamental Shrubs, Climbers and Bamboos.
This is a fat book. After a few short but pithy chapters on such subjects as 'Shrubs in History', 'Classification', 'Working with Colour', 'Hardiness and Selection', and 'Practical Points', we come to the substance of the work: 480 pages of descriptions of shrubs, climbers and bamboos in alphabetical order. From Abelia to Ziziphus, every shrub you are likely to want to grow is described. From Actinidia to Wisteria you can read about climbers of all sorts, and the final section deals with bamboos.
One problem for those who aim to write an authoritative book is what to do about the vast number of garden forms and hybrids now available. Take a genus like Camellia, which has become the plaything of plant breeders from America to Japan and New Zealand. Thousands of cultivars of the most popular species, C. japonica, have been named, and hundreds more are added every year. I cannot help thinking that this is a case of novelty being mistaken for progress. Hillier's catalogue includes 136 forms of C. japonica. Mr Thomas has whittled the list down to 60, each of which is given a succinct description. C. reticulate and C. x williamsii each rate a paragraph in which the best of their many forms are described. We are also told about a dozen other species, several of which, like C. hongkongensis and C. taliensis, I had never heard of.
Browsing through this book is a hum- bling experience. Many are the genera I have never knowingly seen. What about Cyrilla, for instance? Having been told that `In general appearance this shrub resem- bles Clethra alnifolia' I am not much the wiser, though I hope to meet its 'slender racemes of tiny white flowers' one day. Mr Thomas' knowledge really is awesome. Hypericum 'Hidcote' is a familiar plant, but how many people could tell you its parent- age? In the opinion of Dr N. K. B. Robson it may be H. x cyathiflorum (H. addingtonii H. hookerianum) x H.calycinum. Be that as it may, 'Hidcote' is now ubiquitous, and I hope many people will take Mr Thomas' advice and be adventurous enough to plant H. kouytchense instead.
I do not wish to give the impression that this book will daunt the beginner. On the contrary, it will inspire all kinds of garden- er from the greenest novice to the expert. Tips on cultivation are scattered through the descriptions. Daphne blagayana, for instance, will be happier if you plant it in a cool position and remember to place rocks and stones over its stems. Prunus triloba must be pruned hard after flowering if you want a good display the following spring. It is necessary to have both male and female plants of Kadsura and Schisandra to ensure a crop of berries.
Mr Thomas' masterpiece is illuminated by a deep love of his subject. And he has that rare thing, authority. He is the garden- ing writer who really knows his plants. He has designed gardens, he has studied their history and he has written about them, but he remains first and foremost a gardener who has actually grown at least three quarters of the plants he writes about. He thinks that the lasting influence of Gertrude Jekyll is due to the fact that she went deeply into the craft as well as the art of gardening. The same is true of Mr Thomas and is the reason why his books are classics too.
Emma Tennant is Chairman of the National Trust's Gardens Advisory Panel.
Previous page
