Lilies and Related Plants - RHS Lily Group

In the 1994 article he wrote about some of the bulbous genera he grew – these
have, over the years, become huge attractions; snowdrop time (the genus
Galanthus flowers from October to April, with a late flowering G . plicatum) is a
highlight with some 80 different named varieties (he also supplies the trade with
large quantities of plants); he has planted a scilla river (which starts with a pond
and crosses the whole woodland) which is spectacular in April, and more recently
some white Narcissus ‘Thalia’ dotted in a matrix, as he saw and admired in an
orchard during a stay in Italy, rather than en masse and is planning a pink-bell wood.
Over the years Tim has flowered some 45 lilies species and among them he
finds the most spectacular is the North American Lilium canadense.
When I visited in the summer at the height of the lily-flowering season, the
highlight for me was his recent introduction L . ‘Garden Society’ of which the seed
parent is L . occidentale. I was also treated to Lilium pardalinum by a stream,
Lilium martagon cattaniae that flowers some two weeks after L . martagon and
have marvellous shiny purple flowers, the North hybrid ‘Eros’, a sweetly scented
L . wardii, a Judith Freeman cultivar ‘Last Dance’, a large stand of L . superbum
that is 20 years old and the scented oriental ‘Conca d’Or’ in clumps of lemon
yellow. Lilium monadelphum had finished flowering as had the martagon hybrid
‘Theodor Haber’ the extensive stand of which stood erect and proud and, in flower
must have been a beautiful sight. There were still many more to flower, the season
lasts from June to October, and they are obviously a huge asset to the garden.
For years Tim was the head gardener with part-time people and volunteers
helping but in the last four years he has had a head gardener, Mike Fisher, which
has made a huge difference. He still does the mowing which gives him a chance
to look around and see what needs attention. He endeavours to ensure that
every plant in the garden is named and has, over the years, compiled a complete
catalogue of the collection (it includes over 3,000 taxa), which is a useful reference
for historic purposes and is a huge help when a label gets lost. Now in his 80 th
year Tim knows that he cannot do as much as he used to although it was difficult
to imagine as we marched up the 300-yard avenue of Tilia cordata that links the
house to the woodland and he wryly commented that he had planted every single
tree with his own hands.
Although he is usually self-effacing and modest about his achievements, it is
perhaps the fact that he has created his woodland garden with his own hard work
which gives him so much pleasure, that and the fact that he loves having people
round the wood and talking to them. He told me that he and his wife Jane had met
countless people they would never otherwise have met and these last 30 gardening
years of his life have given him huge satisfaction.
www.evenleywoodgarden.co.uk
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