11. Tulip Terrace

Narrator:

Bowles was very keen on tulips. Above all he preferred tulips that flowered in late April and May. In his book, My Garden in Spring, he wrote:

Voice of Bowles:

I have long ago lost every scrap of affection for the early-flowering garden varieties that are still the most conspicuous Tulips in most public parks and many gardens.

Narrator:

In Bowles’ day the beds in this tulip terrace were planted with single colours. Care was taken to make sure there was no clash of colours. As soon as flowering was over the developing seedpods were snapped off to encourage the bulbs to ripen quickly. This meant they could be lifted in time for the planting out of summer bedding.

Bowles liked to fill individual beds with plants of the same type. In some he grew succulent plants, in others he grew Salvia splendens – or scarlet sage – which gave a brilliant red focal point to the terrace. The salvias Bowles grew were taller than the ones that are widely grown today. Another of his favourite plants was heliotrope, or cherry pie, as we will hear from Bryan Hewitt:

Bryan Hewitt:

he had a large collection of species tulips which he would put in those beds and … then after the tulips were finished they would have summer bedding in, ..which Cherry pie… was one of the plants he used to famously grow in there - that’s very sweet-smelling..;

Narrator:

Scent was an important feature in the garden.