TREE OF THE MONTH

 

 

 

 

 

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Robinia 'Frisia' and 'Mad Alf'

June

The understandably popular golden acacia would never have made it as my tree of the month without a bit of help, partly because it is a cliché, partly because it is sadly fragile. But then I never expected one of my favourite roses to see it as a challenge and race up it to the top.

The rose is Madame Alfred Carrière, one of the irrepressible Noisette group, named after a Louisiana nurseryman of a century ago. I planted her on a north-facing wall below the chestnut-leaved holly, Ilex x koehneana, the most robust and rapid holly I know. My scheme was to give the rather frail golden tree a dark background and a degree of protection.

The plot worked better than I could have hoped. The rose, irreverently known to earthy old gardeners as 'Mad Alf', scaled the holly within three or four years and sent branches out through the acacia. Now the arrangement, at the bottom of the walled garden and sixty yards away, catches my eye from the kitchen table every time I look up.

 

 

 

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