Skipping forward a few decades, and Gloucestershire’s Rosemary Verey was at the height of flora fashion in the 1980s, creating her sumptuous garden at Barnsley House in Cirencester, now a luxury hotel (THE PIG-in the Cotswolds), well worth a visit. (I appropriately stayed in ‘The Potting Shed’). She believed in the importance of vistas, clipped evergreens and was partial to a potager, her style being formal structure softened by romantic planting. She amassed some very high-profile clients, from royalty to rock stars, including King Charles at his Highgrove home and Elton John. Anyone who was anyone had Rosemary on speed-dial!
Beth Chatto was another glorious botanical specimen, winning ten consecutive gold medals at Chelsea between 1977 and 1987. She opened her nursery in the 1960s, a business still thriving today under the directorship of Beth’s granddaughter. Order a plant from Beth Chatto and you know it’s quality personified. Her dry garden planting is renowned and she was ahead of her time for gardening with water conservation in mind. She was all about ‘right plant, right place’, a mantle very much taken up by current day nursery wonder-woman, Rosy Hardy of Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants who featured a stunning plant combination at the recent RHS Badminton Show, consisting of Allium sphaerocephalon, Verbena officinalis ‘Bampton’ and Sidalcea ‘Elsie Heugh’.
Now to the undisputed Queen of Herbs, Jekka McVicar, whose base in South Gloucestershire is home to the largest collection of culinary herbs in the UK. Want a fact about fennel, a recipe for rosemary, a poem about parsley or a tincture of thyme, then Jekka is your lady! Spending many years as a musician, Jekka swapped her rock band for the rock bed, amassing over forty years expertise in growing herbs, never happier than when sharing knowledge and inspiring gardeners.
On that note, and note being appropriate, given our final lady’s love of ballet and performance, we are lucky to share the Cotswolds with one of the sweetest gardening television presenters ever to have dead-headed a Dahlia – Rachel de Thame. Her kindness, calmness and genuine love of all things horticultural truly shines
through. She has also passed on her green blood cells to her daughter, Lauren Lusk, a talented botanical illustrator. Mother and daughter combined seamlessly in ‘A Flower Garden for Pollinators’ – definitely one for reading by the poolside as we embrace the last long months of summer.
With such a celebration of influential women, it seems relevant to end with a nod to the wonderful RHS Chelsea Flower Show design presented this year by The Lady Garden Foundation. The charity, co-founded by Tamara Beckwith (another Cheltenham Ladies College alumni), is dedicated to raising awareness and funding for the five gynaecological cancers. I’m pleased to say that their ‘Silent No More’ garden received outstanding acclaim, awarded a gold medal and succeeding in its aim to spread such an important medical message for women everywhere.
In conclusion, to quote Calamity Jane “never underestimate a woman’s touch”!
Catch Camilla with Alan Titchmarsh on ITV’s ‘Love Your Weekend regularly throughout the year.
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ENTERTAINMENT THROUGH THE GARDEN GATE
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