The origin of species - and other - roses (Filed: 30/06/2001)
After years of neglect, Britain's first rosarium is evolving into a dreamy garden. Stephen Lacey visits Lime Kiln in Suffolk
SOON after they bought Lime Kiln, six years ago, Sandie and John Corbett began receiving phone calls from strangers, asking whether the garden was open. "It had been neglected for a very long time," said Sandie.
"Most of the paths were impenetrable or invisible. There was honeysuckle flowering through the roof in the attic. 'Why on earth would the garden be open?' we wondered."
Rosa Tuscany: one of the 250 roses that have
been reintroduced at Lime Kiln
It was the property's magical atmosphere that had prompted them to buy the rambling medieval farmhouse on the edge of the Suffolk village of Claydon. It nestles sleepily into 12 acres of woods and chalk pits, and has outbuildings, walled compartments and a spreading mulberry tree.
Sandie, a probate lawyer, and John, a jazz trumpeter, had been living in the Cayman Islands. "I nurtured the dream of living in an old house in the country, but visiting them as a prospective buyer usually cured me. This one was different. We loved it immediately," Sandie said.
The subsequent discovery that Lime Kiln had been a celebrated rose garden intrigued them. Its maker was Humphrey Brooke, secretary of the Royal Academy of Arts, who gardened there for more than 30 years, until his death in 1988.
At first, he had tried unsuccessfully to establish modern, repeat-flowering roses on the chalk, but then, on the advice of the landscape gardener Lanning Roper, turned to species and old-fashioned roses.
He was soon obsessed and grew more than 500 varieties. In 1971, he opened Lime Kiln to the public as "the first rosarium in Great Britain".
By the time the Corbetts arrived, many of Brooke's roses had been throttled by the burgeoning undergrowth, and the ramblers had turned into monstrous thickets of dead wood. "But our interest had been triggered," said Sandie.
"It was going to be like rediscovering a secret garden. We advertised for a gardener and were fortunate to find Chris Thody, who works here one week in three. I'm not sure that we realised what a huge task we were undertaking."
Inevitably, the magical atmosphere of Lime Kiln has been somewhat disturbed. This is a garden under restoration and there is still masses of work to do. Sandie and John are also putting in more modern features, such as a pond with ornamental water plants and a parterre decorated with broken glass.
They are treading a fine line between rescuing the garden from chaos and not losing the charm of Brooke's wilderness. He liked his roses pruned as little as possible and the Corbetts recognise that this is part of the romance of Lime Kiln.
So, after cutting them back hard and removing all the rubbish, they have left them to reassume their natural exuberance.The giant ramblers again cloak the brick walls and tiled outhouses in a 40ft span of white.
The single-flowered, largely thornless 'Wedding Day' was swimming in orange scent on the afternoon of my visit; 'Kiftsgate' and the slightly more restrained 'The Garland' extend the season into July. The double pink 'Paul's Himalayan Musk' has assumed the size and spread of a small marquee.
It is amazing to see what shrub roses will get up to if they are left to their own devices and find a bit of support. Hybrid musks, such as 'Buff Beauty' and silver-pink 'Felicia', advertised in catalogues as 5ft bushes, are quite capable of reaching the summit of a small tree. So is 'Cerise Bouquet'.
Many of the wilder shrub roses at Lime Kiln are simply left to sprout from the long grass along the fringes of lawn and wood - a beautiful way to grow them, especially combined with ox-eye daisies. R. californica 'Plena', 8ft high with ferny leaves and lilac-pink flowers, is one of the finest in bloom; single pink 'Highdownensis' one of the finest for hips.
So far, 250 roses grown by Brooke have been reintroduced. This is a palaver because a new rose reacts badly to being put in ground previously occupied by another, so soil has to be brought in from other parts of the garden.
"Chris excavates a hole a good 3ft deep and across, and we work in plenty of compost," said Sandie. Mineral deficiency is a hazard on chalk, so any rose with pale leaves gets sprayed with sequestered iron.
To extend the season, summer-flowering perennials are being added around the roses. I liked the damson-coloured Allium atropurpureum among the petal-packed pink rosettes of the shrub roses 'Ispahan' and 'Fantin-Latour', and purple sage planted underneath crimson 'Tuscany'.
Walking around the garden, I saw a muntjac deer and then a fox. The old lime kiln itself is home to three species of bat. You can see the potential. A few years on, this may be the dreamiest rose garden in England.
Site specifics
www.worldrose.org
www.roses.co.uk
www.wychcross.co.uk/roses.htm
www.rosarian.com
Other midsummer rose gardens
Kiftsgate Court, Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire.
Beautiful colour-schemed borders of old shrub roses and perennials, as well as hedges of Apothecary's roses, and the mother plant of the enormous 'Kiftsgate' rambler. Open July, Wed, Thurs, Sat and Sun, noon-6pm.
Millgate House, Richmond, Yorkshire.
A gem of a garden, off Market Square, terraced towards the River Swale and within earshot of the waterfalls. Foaming roses on every wall and in every border, many interwoven with clematis. Open daily, 10am-dusk.
Mottisfont Abbey, Romsey, Hampshire.
Former walled kitchen garden containing the National
Collection of old-fashioned roses, spliced by impressive
herbaceous borders. Open July, Sat-Weds, 11am-6pm.
-- Anonymous, July 06, 2001