News and events about White House Farm, Maurice Foster’s garden and arboretum in Kent, England
Welcome to the third White House Farm biennial newsletter, for Friends of White House Farm. This comes to you as an email twice yearly if you enter your email address here.
NEWS:
A visit to WHF on April 16th by the International Camellia Society (ICS) with Camellia expert Jim Stephens, and Pat and Herb Short enabled us to review the current collection of camellias at WHF, some 100+ cultivars and the 40 or so recently introduced species which are a feature of the banks in WHF’s High Wood. Jim took flowers of 13 of our doubtfully identified cultivars and compared them to images in his library of 50,000 photos and live specimens in the collection at Mount Edgcumbe.
A highlight this summer was the Philadelphus Study Day, held on June 17th, 2023. Some forty specimens in vases were assembled, and brief introductory talks by Maurice Foster on the history and classification of the genus and Jack Aldridge on Mexican philadelphus (based on his recent article for RHS The Plant Review) were followed by a tour of cultivars in the garden and of species Philadelphus in the wood and arboretum. Discussion over lunch and tea concluded with a vote for plant of the day, with P. aff. sargentianus (seed collected by John Fairey in Mexico in the 1980s, raised and introduced by WHF) and an old seldom seen Lemoine cultivar P. ‘Ophelie’ winning multiple votes – although several attendees chose an unidentified white-flowered evergreen Photinia sp. in the Low Wood.
We were able to host a number of larger visiting groups in July, including enthusiasts from Scotland, the Netherlands, France, and Belgium.
Roderick White, who has been working to preserve rare rhododendrons from the collection at Deer Dell, was able to arrange for the donation of some mature specimens (eg R. sinogrande, R. protistum and R. oldhamii) to WHFAF. These were planted and are now thriving in the High Wood.
We were delighted to welcome Rod to the WHFAF Board of Trustees on June 17th 2023. Rod is Head of Trials on the RHS Woody Plant Committee, and an expert plantsman with, in particular, specialist knowledge of rhododendrons and conifers.
Having run his own building firms and nurseries in the past, Rod is also an invaluable source of advice on forward-thinking and cost-effective management of plant production, land and buildings.
Our French intern, Erwan Le Bec, a horticultural student at Angers, sent to us at the recommendation of Wespelaar after he did a stint there, came for the month of August, and it was a rewarding experience for everyone. Erwan took some 2000 photos of extraordinary quality, wrote daily discussion notes about WHF plants, and researched and reviewed WHF’s collections of Carpinus, Corylus, and Euonymus, while also visiting English gardens with Maurice such as Wisley, Nymans, Hilliers et al where he was able to meet experienced plantsmen. Much to Maurice’s taste, he also found time to showcase some unforgettable French culinary skills. We hope he will come and stay again as our friend as soon as his studies permit!
A visit from October 11-13 by Olivier Colin, holder of several national collections of plants in France, and botanical advisor to the current RHS Mahonia trial, enabled us to review the taxonomy of the current collection of Mahonias at WHF, comprising some 70 species, forms and cultivars. Among highlights was a possible new species; plus M. lancasteri, not quite yet fully out; and a still unidentified fine Mahonia aff. nitens but with very thick waxy leaves.
Time was also spent over the summer months revising the proofs of Maurice’s forthcoming book The Hydrangea: a reappraisal, to be released this coming December 4th by Crowood Press.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
We will have a Camellia Study Day at the end of March 2024, and a Deutzia Study Day the weekend of June 1st/2nd 2024, surveying both these genera from historic cultivars to recently introduced new species, with fresh examples for close comparison in vases, short talks and discussion; with an informal tour of our synstylae roses at the end of June. To sign up for any of these events email Clare Foster here.
We hope to have our first group of WHF plants available for sale in 2024.
One of our Volunteers, Alex Mitchell, was featured on the BBC’s Gardener’s World recently for her conversion here in Kent of a concrete exterior of a working farm barn into a family home and garden featuring Mediterranean drought-tolerant plants. Alex is also a garden writer and author (Crops in Tight Spots, The Edible Balcony, Gardening on a Shoestring) and pioneering a local pick-your-own flower farm: @mitchell_flower_farm.
If you’d like to request to visit, propose another type of event, or join our wonderful weekly group of volunteers, get in touch!
White House Farm Garden and Arboretum 