Birch Bank and Soggy Bottom
Birch Bank is a northwards extension of the Mount, but is shaded by the many self-seeded silver birches that give the area its name. As with the Mount, the space is divided into two areas separated by a path. The southern part slopes gently down to the Roundel, while the northern side has a sharp descent towards the bank of the river with a flatter area below and a slightly less steep fall towards Soggy Bottom.
On Birch Bank, which with the Mount constitutes a bit of an arboretum, there remain from the 1950s a number of now large rhododendrons, including the popular mid-twentieth century varieties 'Nova Zembla', 'Pink Pearl' and 'Betty Wormald' (right) which, by coincidence, also grew in our previous garden, again planted in the middle of last century. Taking a theme from these, I have planted a number of other rhododendron hybrids and species. One of the most notable of these is a beautifully scented Rhododendron 'Loderi', probably 'Pink Coral'. Other rhododendrons include cultivars like the early red 'Taurus', glorious 'Golden Wedding', red 'Grace Seabrook', the later red 'Captain Jack' and deep purple 'Velvet' as well as species like Rhh. orbiculare, yuefegense, asterochnoum and falconeri.
On the south side, in a small clearing among the birches there are a number of azalea varieties, flowering a bit later than most of the other rhododendrons. Complementing these is a small collection of Pieris which are typically covered in flowers in early spring, frosts permitting, followed by beautiful new foliage which ranges from light pink through flame red to a deep maroon. They companion well with a group of coloured leaved Leucothoe fontainsiana 'Rainbow' and 'Scarletta'. An incense cedar, (Libocedrus decurrens,) a pink-berried chinese rowan (Sorbus hupehensis), and some himalayan honeysuckles (Leycesteria formosa) add to the planting on the west edge of the south part of the area.
On the north side of Birch Bank, in addition to the rhododendrons, there are some ornamental willows, including the lovely Salix gracistyla 'Melanostachys' with its black catkins in early spring, as well as the rhododendron lookalike Daphniphyllum himalayense ssp. macropodum. A good-growing specimen of the North Americal yellow root (Xanthorhiza simplicissima) has deeply lobed leaves that turn a beautiful purple in the autumn (pictured right), offsetting the evergeen foliage of the plants that surround it. On the flatter part, near the river, there is a rampant shuttlecock fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris) which needs a bit of taming before it totally swamps the spring-flowering bluebells and snowflakes (Leucojum aestivum) and the September-flowering colchicums.
Soggy Bottom was named by my brother-in-law, Mike, because the bottom third of this bed gets flooded a few times every winter after very heavy rainfall (as seen in the image on the right taken in January 2020). The area was neglected for many years and hs jsben enoatd (Jul 021).
The lower part of the bed is mainly clay and quite a nightmare to dig over, especially when infested by woodrush roots. Now the area is planted up with moisture loving plants. So there is the large leaved umbrella plant Darmera peltata, various Rodgersia species, plus irises, Ligularia, the royal fern Osmunda regalis, drooping sedge (Carex pendula)., Inula magnifica, and hostas among others.
From the middle up the bed is drier with a clay/sand mix. Here we have another yellow ox-eye daisy, Buphthalmum speciosum with geraniums, astilbes, pink meadowsweet (Filipendula), more hostas,and irises, geums and daylilies.
Shrub interest here is provided by a Viburnum plicatum 'Mariesii', the large leaved Chinese willow (Salix magnifica), a purple leaved maple (Acer platanoides 'Crimson King') and golden dwarf white cedar (Thuja occidentalis 'Rheingold') from a cutting from my last garden. Recently planted are pieris, golden cut-leaved elder and others.
© Ronnie Cann 2021