The Quinta Arboretum
Hebe Beds at The Quinta Arboretum, Swettenham, near Congleton, Cheshire, UK
November 2003
In November 2003 John and Pat Saville and I assembled the Hebe Display Beds.
These were made by laying out the plastic sheeting, putting stakes through each
corner, and nailing the boards to the stakes. The excess plastic sheeting was
trimmed to give an even finish. Then the plastic sheeting was covered with 7.5 tons of gravel. The ground was uneven, due to its covering of grass and nettles,
and this made it difficult to see if we had added enough gravel.
April 2004
On Friday 9th April John and Pat came over from Leeds with a truckload of hebes
(about 100). We drove over to the Quinta Arboretum and inspected the Hebe Beds,
which looked fine, although we decided that the gravel was thin in some places.
John worked on a planting plan for the hebes. His rationale was to have the larger hebes at the back of Beds 1 and 2 (see diagram), nearest a row of trees. The hebes in each row would alternate by flower colour.
May 2004
A month later on Thursday 7th May John brought over the remaining 20 hebes,
wooden stakes and chicken wire. On Friday morning John fetched some more gravel
from Jewsons, the local builder’s merchant, while Margaret and I raked it level.
We then drove the stakes into the ground, and then nailed them to the wooden
boards. John nailed the chicken wire to the stakes.
On Saturday, with help from Rhod and Diane Taylor, we started planting the hebes. Their help was most welcome, as planting so many hebes was very hard work. Planting was finished early Sunday afternoon. We all agreed that the sight of 120 hebes lined out in their new Cheshire home was worth the effort.
A week later Margaret and I returned to add a notice telling visitors that these were hebes, planted by the Hebe Society. We also tackled the nettles growing between the beds. No rabbits had got through the chicken wire, but one hebe had been visited by a mole. We are now trying to decide the best way to label the hebes. Preferably something legible, cheap and thief-proof.
Offers of help with maintenance would be welcome.
Hebe Beds April 2008
|
Hebe
Bed 1 |
Hebe Bed
2 |
|
Hebe Bed 3 Hebe Bed 5 |
Hebe Bed
4 |
These include a number of older cultivars, which are now less readily available.
 |
 |
|
Hebe beds on 9th May 2004 |
Hebe beds on 10th July 2007 |
June 2004
We visited the beds at the beginning and at the end of June. Grass and nettles
had grown up between the beds, although there were few weeds in the beds. About
30 hebes in flower were photographed. While we were there, Peter Davies, the
Chairman of the Tatton Garden Society, brought along Ros Johnson, the NCCPG’s
Plant Conservation Officer. All agreed that the beds were looking superb, and
that they could form the basis for a national collection.
In July we were busy with the RHS Tatton Show, where we had a small notice telling the public about developments at the Quinta Arboretum.
August 2004
In August we put up notices on each bed naming each hebe. We hope to label each
plant individually, but this would incur some expense, and the possibility of
theft. Bob and Helen Stacey had seen us at the Tatton Show and decided to visit
the hebe beds. After a long chat Bob photographed every hebe with his digital
camera, and later sent me the results on a CD.
Some hebes are looking rather sickly, so John Saville, when he comes over from Leeds next week, will be bringing his sprayer, and will spray them for downy mildew.
The beds have created a lot of interest and favourable comments from visitors to the Arboretum.
On Tuesday 24th August we met John and Pat Saville for lunch at the Swettenham Arms, and were joined by the Curator, Rhod Taylor, for lunch. Afterwards we visited the Hebe Beds. John and Pat were pleased with state of plants and maintenance, but some hebes were affected by downy mildew. John had hoped to spray all plants, but as it had just rained. However all the plants were wet, and he couldn’t spray them. We planted Hebe recurva ‘White Torrent’ to replace Hebe ‘Petra’s Pink’, which had flowered and then died.
September 2004
Saturday 11th September was the working party day for the Tatton Garden Society,
so we went along. Unfortunately their mower had oil in its air filter and wouldn’t
run properly. We had to content ourselves with edging round the beds to remove
grass and nettles, and afterwards photograph hebes in flower - always a good
number of these. Rhod Taylor mowed between the beds for us on the following
week.
October 2004
On Saturday 9th October, we went to mow the grass, but Rhod had already done
so. We weeded the beds, edged around them, and photographed hebes in flower.
There were large numbers of hebes in flower, and these were being visited by
several comma butterflies, and a goodly number of bees. A few hebes are doing
poorly (Hebe ‘Edington’ and Hebe ‘Blue Clouds’), but some seem to have picked
up from our last visit.
The laminated labels on each bed seem to work well. They are legible, easy to make, and not too obtrusive. However the first label, the one to say that these were hebe beds planted by the Hebe Society, is now showing some wear and tear, due to flexing by the wind. This has allowed rain to penetrate. We plan to replace the label with one mentioning our website, to give visitors a point of contact. It will be secured with chicken wire both front and back, which should prevent the wind flexing it, breaking the lamination, and be unobtrusive.
January 2005
Saturday 8th January 2005 we paid a quick visit, due to strong westerly winds.
Most hebes were OK, although some were suffering from the weather, and a few
had the odd flower.
March 2005
Saturday 19th March – replaced all laminated signs and held them in place
with strips of chicken wire, pulled up weeds in beds, evaluated all hebes for
appearance (eight are apparently dead).
April 2005
Wednesday 6th April – met John Saville at Hebe Beds. He had brought 17
hebes, enough to replace dead hebes, and ones that were doing poorly. We planted
the new hebes, and John kept a tally. Margaret weeded beds and pruned hebes
to tidy them (ahead of open day for National Gardening Scheme on Sunday 10th.
Hebe Boscaweni and Hebe Pink Paradise in flower, Hebe townsonii had many flower
buds (with no winter damage).
May 2005
Wednesday 11th May – we edged and weeded the grass around beds, weeded
the beds, tidied up a number of hebes. We then photographed all 8 hebes in flower,
and then photographed all the hebes as a record.
July 2005
Saturday 2nd July – after a holiday and the Arley Garden Festival our next
visit was in early July. We did our usual tidying of the Hebe Beds, and noted
that nettles had become much less of a problem, although sycamores were now
trying to move in. We photographed all 49 hebes in flower.
We visited on Wednesday 27th July when there were only 17 hebes in flower. Hebe ‘Beatrice’ was covered in white flowers and could be seen from a long way. I noticed that Cassinia vauvilliersii was in flower; this was fortuitous, as I needed a good photo for the Hebe Society Website.
September 2005
Wednesday 14th September – edged grass around beds, weeded beds, some hebes dead-headed, photographed all
hebes with digital camera, and beds with film camera.
October 2005
Tuesday 4th October – edged grass around
beds, weeded beds (very few weeds), and photographed the hebes in flower.
April 2006
Tuesday 4th April – weeded beds, raked out dead leaves, edged beds,
photographed all hebes, evaluated amount of foliage on each hebe. Most are totally
defoliated, but few are bark split. Need to add protection from winter winds.
Phoned John Saville to tell him about the hebes at The Quinta Arboretum, he
has thirty or so in reserve in pot and will visit in May.
May 2006
Wednesday 3rd May – edged and weeded beds, cut back hebes to remove some dead branches.
Tuesday 23rd May – weeded beds, pruned hebes, and evaluated hebes (31 OK, 24 recovering and 68 dead) several are in flower, and several have flower buds.
June 2006
Friday 9th June – Rhod Taylor has mowed between beds, so I edged the beds,
pruned hebes to tidy, weeded beds (only two weeds found), checked that all hebes
marked as dead in previous evaluation were still dead, they were.
Tony Hayter
Registered Charity No 801398
