Like most gardeners I’m used to discovering that various crops have been attacked by insects. This summer it was particularly that old favourite the flea beetle on brassicas – no broccoli or rocket survived their depredations almost overnight.
I don’t like spraying but there are times when I feel ready to say “organic gardening be damned!” It made me wonder how our ancestors coped with garden pests so this week and next I’m going to explore some of the ways they did.
A family wedding took me to County Durham recently and on the way we passed The Angel of the North. It is such an extraordinary addition to the landscape that on the way home we did a detour and went to see it close up.
Now 25 years old its open arms greet visitors as they near Gateshead by road or rail and it’s pretty clear why The Angel has been voted year after year as one of the top UK landmarks in national newspapers and polls. It is also one of the most viewed pieces of art in the world, seen by more than one person every second. That’s at least 90,000 every day or 33 million every year! Not even the Mona Lisa can top that.
But what also intrigued me was the way that the landscape immediately around about the Angel has been transformed in a way that I’d guess neither Anthony Gormley who created it or Gateshead Council who commissioned it are likely to have expected.
From Making an angel [full reference at the end of the post]
. Holdenby in Northamptonshire was one of the greatest houses and gardens of Elizabethan England, in fact of the whole of 16thc Europe. Although largely demolished within about 80 years a small part of the mansion survives as part of the current Victorian house. However, the main reason I was so keen to visit recently with friends from the Birkbeck Garden History Group was to see what, if anything was left of the original gardens. These were recorded in the 1580s by Ralph Treswell, the leading surveyor of his day, not just once but twice so we have almost got before and after plans of what they were like, and amazingly the main features can still be made out so it was definitely worth the trip.
Let’s start today with a pub quiz question. Who was Queen Adelaide? Did you even know Britain once had a Queen Adelaide? Would it help if I told you that before her engagement to a royal duke she was Her Serene Highness Princess Adelheid Luise Therese Caroline Amalie of Saxe-Meiningen?
If you have heard of Adelaide it’s probably because of the capital city of South Australia or one of the many pubs and streets round the country which were named after her. Still not a clue?
And in any case what’s Queen Adelaide doing in a blog about gardens?
In fact she’s already made a passing appearance in seven earlier posts : those about the early growers of money-puzzle trees, the career of Charles Macintosh, James Bateman’s giant book of orchids, the charitable work of George Glenny, the story of the Other London Zoo, the botanical artist Augusta Withers and most recently in a post about Belvoir. That might suggest that she had some interest in gardens and flowers, as indeed she did.
This post is going to explore that a bit further…
This week’s post is going to continue the story of the gardens at Belvoir from the rebuilding of the castle in the early 19th century through to the current ambitious restoration project.
Historic England’s description of the site gives no indication of anything much of significance happening at Belvoir for the rest of the 19th century. In fact there was more going on than is usually acknowledged because the Dukes of Rutland were lucky enough to have at least three head gardeners who deserve much better recognition. And although things slowed down for most of the 20thc they have taken off again in spectacular style under the auspices of the present Duchess of Rutland.
The Garden History Blog 
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