www.edulis.co.uk

The Edulis Nursery Display at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2012

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 09:52:24 +0100

Following the success of Paul Barney’s Gold medal design for The Garlic Farm’s Garlic Lovers Garden at Hampton Court in 2011, he has designed an edible ornamental display for his nursery Edulis.

The 2012 Edulis display in the Grand Pavilion at RHS Chelsea Flower Show is a contemporary display using a variety of edible and medicinal plants, including a number of his collections.

Paul has created a floral display that uses floral elegance as well as textural diversity. The chosen plants have been careful selected to show that a garden can be both aesthetically attractive as well as useful. In small modern gardens, plants have to work hard for their position, and multi-functionality is a positive factor in plant selection.

Paul has collaborated with artisan blacksmith, Lorraine Philpot, known for her displays at Hampton Court in 2010 and the Wisley Flower Show in 2010 and 2011. For Chelsea, Lorraine has created a striking steel globe artichoke and various climber supports mirroring the plant habit and structure.

The central architectural planting includes the Globe Artichoke (Cynara scolymus ‘Bere’) and Japanese Asparagus (Aralia cordata). Shrubs include the Szechwan Pepper (Zanthoxylum simulans) with edible young leaves and citrus peppercorns in autumn and the Carolina Allspice (Calycanthus floridus). Climbers include Schizandra chinensis and Schizandra grandiflora producing sweet & sour berries that improve liver function.

For a shady garden, the purple leaved Angelica ‘Ebony’ forms a striking foil with white & pink flowers. The rich shiny foliage of Wild Ginger (Asarum europeum) forms an evergreen groundcover for dry shade and has been used medicinally since the 13th century.

Drifts of white & pink umbels including Anthriscus sylvestris ‘Raven’s Wing’, Pimpinella major ‘Rosea’, Chaerophyllum hirsutum ‘Roseum’ and the new introduction Pimpinella triloba from the Caucasus, add a loose informality to the display.

The edible planting in the display provides a sustainable source of food as well as an ornamental element. These include Earth Chestnut (Bunium bulbocastaneum) and Wasabi (Wasabia japonica). Wasabi makes excellent salad leaves as well as horseradish roots.

New introductions include Dancing Girls (Globba saltatoria PAB 4208) – a hardy ginger relative from Mizoram, India. These have unusual purple and yellow orchid-like inflorescenses in spring, with a second flowering in September. The seeds were collected in a remote part of Mizoram at about 1400m.

The range of edible plants is enormous and in Britain we use a very limited number of plant species. Many can be used as ornamentally as well as an addition to our diets.

The 2012 RHS Chelsea Flower Show runs from 22-26 May.

For further information on Edulis Nursery please visit www.edulis.co.uk

For further information on Lorraine Philpot please visit www.firleforge.co.uk

Edulis nursery features in the RHS 'The Garden' magazine

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 15:51:09 +0100

We were so pleased to have a feature written about our Berkshire nursery for the March 2012 issue of The Garden magazine. Read on to discover what Simon Garbutt thought about our strange fruits and exotic vegetables here at Edulis.

Each month The Garden contains a mouth-watering selection of exciting features to interest all RHS members, whatever their gardening interest. The Garden also brings you all the latest news and developments from the RHS, such as shows, trials and other research activities, developments in the four RHS gardens and other aspects of the charitable work of the RHS.

Edulis nusery 2012/13 catalogue now available

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 20:47:02 +0100

Dear Plant Lovers,

Much to my joy, I have managed to produce a catalogue at last. The frenetic pace of running a nursery alongside a landscape design business, and the shear pleasure of being in the mountains has meant that spring has often been upon me without a catalogue in site.

We have introduced many new and exciting plants for our new 2012/13 catalogue. This has most of the plants we have in the nursery, but we are always adding to the list. Click here to download a copy to read at your leisure.

If you would like to purchase a plant please contact us by email, letter or over the phone. Mail Order is available between mid-August and the end of March. We accept debit card, BACs, PayPal and cheques. Credit cards attract at 2.5% surcharge.

Orders can be collected from the nursery and from the numerous shows and fairs we attending this spring/summer. Orders for collection at shows can be paid for at the event.

Recent Trips - India, Manipur / Mizoram

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:16:29 +0100

For our last trip of 2011, the family headed for Mizoram for Christmas. I intended to re-visit a couple of mountains, namely Reiek and Mhui Fang. And I also wanted to cook using the numerous herbs, vegetables and spices available in Aizawl market. After Christmas, I headed for Manipur to follow in the footsteps of Frank Kingdon-Ward. Manipur is not safe at the moment, due to tribal disputes, but I found the Tangkhul tribe very friendly. They showed me the home of the Shirui Lily (Lilium macliniae) on Shirui Kashong (Shirui Peak). We didn’t see the lily, but came across a wonderful area of forest with Mahonia sp., Polygonatum sp., Daphne bholua, and Sorbus insignis.

The market in Imphal displayed a feast of unusual spice & vegetables including Rhus sp., Nymphaea sp., Allium hookeri and Allium chinense. Plus the odd Porcupine on a stick.

Manipur and Mizoram are incredibly difficult places to travel. It took two days to get to Shirui Peak and I only managed 3 hours on the mountain. The roads are poor and there are frequent hold ups, landslides and check points.

Recent Trips - China, Guizhou

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:13:12 +0100

In November 2011, I travelled with Nick Macer of Pan Global Plants to Guizhou, to visit a couple of mountain ranges. Most notably, Fan-Jing-Shan. The weather wasn’t kind to us and it rained stair-rods. The markets held numerous types of Szechwan pepper (Zanthoxylum sp.). They seem to have a number of different flavours. I noted my favorite allium (Allium hookeri) being grown by the roadsides and being offered as green shoots. While in India it is offered, most commonly, as roots. I intend to post more information about this trip on my website.

Recent Trips - Romania

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:11:25 +0100

Another recent trip in August of 2011 took me to Transylvania in Romania – a place I have wanted to go for many years. It was lovely to see Pimpinella major rosea and Seseli libanotis flowering together. Two of my favorite umbels. In the Apuseni Mountains the meadows were full of colour with Gentiana asclepiadea. White throated form. I came across damp meadows of Cirsium oleraceum (Cabbage Thistle). The young stems are consumed across Eurasia.

Recent Trips - Albania

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:08:24 +0100

Last year I managed to get out to 4 areas. The first was in early March, 2011 to Albania. A little early for a lot of plants, but interesting all the same. The aim was to travel to Kukes near the Kosovo border, visit to old town of Berat and the Osumi gorge at Corovode. I found some interesting spring planting garlic we have called Allium sativum Albanian Late in the market at Corovode. This stays growing through August with us and we harvest in September. I was struck by the variety of spring greens (horta) available in the markets. A much larger variety than Greek markets. Field poppy (Papaver rhoeas) was very popular. Used by boiling and serving with olive oil (not to be consumed after forming flower buds). On the non-edible side, I found seed of Petrorhagia illyrica ‘Albanian Star’ PAB 4871. A delightful alpine with starry pink flowers that just flowers and flowers.

If you have never tried ‘Byrek’ fresh from the baker, then don’t miss out. And the olives are some of the best I’ve tried!

Paul Barney wins gold at Hampton Court

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:42:03 +0000

I am are very proud to be awarded a Gold Medal at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show for The Garlic Lovers Garden. Following our Silver Medal in the Growing Tastes Marquee last year, I joined forces with Colin Boswell of The Garlic Farm. I was asked to design and grow the plants for their exhibit at the this years Grow Your Own Marquee. The aim was the create a garden that would suite someone who is 'in love' with everything about garlic, set in a 'cottage garden'.

The plants include Garlic (Allium sativum), Elephant garlic (Allium ampeloprasum), Babbington's Leek (Allium ampeloprasum var. babbingtonii), Tulbaghia 'Fairy Star', Tulbaghia natalensis, Blue Chives (Allium nutans) all set amongst Bishop's Weed (Ammi majus) and Baltic Parsley (Cenolophium denudatum).