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Carol Klein's plant of the season is the delicate but easy to grow dog's tooth violet. Joe Swift travels to the Trelissick garden in Cornwall to meet a special garden volunteer.

Monty elevates his cottage garden borders this week by adding plants to give height and drama, and rejuvenates the design of the grass borders by adding evergreen plants grown from cuttings.

Carol Klein's plant of the season is the delicate but easy to grow dog's tooth violet, Joe Swift travels to the Trelissick garden in Cornwall to meet a very special garden volunteer, and Adam Frost returns to Leicestershire to monitor the progress of the new-build garden. We also meet a woman who grows a national collection of polemoniums in her back garden, and we reveal the garden of the fourth finalist in our Every Space Counts competition.

59 minutes

Polemonium national collection

Polemonium national collection

The collection was first recognised in 1992 where the Polemoniums were grown in a small garden in Ebchester, County Durham. In 1998 the entire collection was moved twenty five miles east to Trimdon Grange, where the winds blow straight off the north east coast. In 1999, the collection was awarded Scientific Status, one of only 35 recognised out of the 650 plus national collections in the UK.

The collection is run by a husband and wife team, David and Dianne Nichol-Brown. Dianne is a botanist with a first class honours degree in plant biology. She lectures in ecology and conservation and has been fascinated with Polemoniums since 1985. David manages the family nursery ensuring that everything runs smoothly.

There are 70 plus species and cultivars in the Polemonium collection, with new cultivars constantly being developed. They range from 10cm Alpines to 120cm herbaceous plants and can be grown in a variety of locations.
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Μύ (www.nccpg.com)

Dianne and David Nichol-Brown have an open day for Red Cross on Sunday June 24th. There will be a Japanese theme, due to the introduction into the collection of some new Japanese Polemonium cultivars. Dianne may even be hosting the event sporting a kimono!Μύ

(www.redcross.com)

Greencombe gardens

Greencombe gardens

Greencombe, situated alongside the wooded slopes overlooking the Bristol Channel, was started in 1946 by Horace Stroud. It feels vast, but actually only covers 3.5 acres. It is full of beautiful and rare plants which thrive in this coastal location.

ΜύThe garden fell into the care and custody of Joan Loraine in September 1966. All you can see in the grounds today is due to her dedication and love for this delightful woodland garden.

The layout appears natural, but all the plants have been deliberately planted in their present position. Greencombe is an organic garden, using between 25 and 30 tons of home produced compost and leaf-mould each year.

The gardens contain four national plant collections:

•ΜύErythronium
•ΜύPolystichum
•ΜύVaccinium
•ΜύGaultheria

Greencombe Gardens
Porlock
Somerset
TA24 8NU
Tel: 01643 86236

(Greencombe.org)

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Monty Don
Presenter Adam Frost
Presenter Carol Klein
Presenter Joe Swift
Series Producer Sharon Fisher
Executive Producer Paolo Proto
Production Manager Michael Rogers

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