A flash of blue and it's gone; Robert Jamieson takes us on a tour of Howick Hall Gardens and Arboretum a walk in the garden.

Byline: Robert Jamieson of Howick Hall Gardens & Arboretum 

THE bog garden is a wonderful show of Loosestrife, Lythrum salicaria, with its tall purple flower spikes particularly attractive among the pink and purple Japanese anemone flowers.

Another Japanese plant flowering now is the striking Lilium lancifolium, with bright orange flowers on 1.2m high flower stems. These plants are bulbs, requiring a lot of feeding to keep them growing and flowering well. Every two years we lift the clumps and give them plenty of manure before replanting. As they produce lots of small bulbs these can be lifted for propagating, then potted on for planting elsewhere. Propagation can also be achieved using bulbils produced in the axils of the leaves, although producing bulbs large enough to produce a flower takes longer.

A truly architectural plant flowering now is wild angelica, Angelica sylvestris, growing over 2m high with large umbels of white flowers. Sometimes mistaken for the Giant hogweed, angelica has smooth stems. Not always a true perennial, if dead flower heads are removed before they set seed the plants will often last longer.

The wild flower meadows have been cut and despite the poor summer we have made some good hay. In the front borders, the geraniums and nepeta have been cut down. With good weather we may get another flowering from them in September. Penstemons, day lilies asters and mallows - as well as some of the annuals - are giving a wonderful show, which will continue until late September.

All along the second terrace are Agapanthus, looking magnificent with their large spherical umbels of blue tubular flowers. These are from the original Headbourne Hybrids, bred from seed collected in South Africa by Lewis Palmer in 1948. The brother of Mabel Grey, he gave her some plants which have been used continuously to fill the whole border on top of the wall.

One magnificent annual which did well last year was Malope trifida "Vulcan" with its deep red, almost satin-like flowers, but staking it was a problem. This year we have grown it through a bed of late flowering red hot pokers, whose leaves have held it up without further support.

It pays to be patient when planting an arboretum. One of the Japanese climbers Actinidia polygama has flowered for the first time since planting in 1993. It has white, sweetly scented flowers, with silvery leaves. Hydrangeas and Spiraeas are also flowering now.

Conifers look good all year round, but the purple cones on Abies densa, the Sikkim Fir, are particularly good. Up to 75cm tall, they sit upright on the branches and are produced on relatively young trees, which is unusual for firs. We are currently busy strimming the arboretum and as it takes four hard working students two months to complete the task, it's the only cut it gets.

On the pond, along with the many dragon flies and smaller damsel flies, the growing cygnets are keen to greet passing visitors who help by giving them extra morsels of food. Being later flowering, the wild flower meadows in this area are still a haven for many butterflies. At the bog garden pond there have been glimpses of a kingfisher - just a flash of blue as it flies away.

Robert Jamieson is head gardener at Howick Hall Gardens and Arboretum, near Longhoughton, in Northumberland, The gardens and the tearoom are open daily from noon-6pm. For details, tel: [phone], www.howickhallgardens.org

CAPTION(S):

Original touch: These Agapanthus on the terrace are from the original Headbourne Hybrids bred from seed collected in 1948.