Keeping the faith
Above: Old Court Nurseries
Asters, swept from popularity by the conifer beds of the seventies, have been gradually regaining their place in the autumn garden. Once again, these dainty daisies in shades of mauve and pink are being valued for the late season colour they provide.
Yet, even when asters were at their most unfashionable, one garden never gave up on them. Old Court Nurseries has been growing asters for more than 100 years ago and today holds the National Collection, with nearly 400 different varieties.
The nursery was started by the great plantsman Ernest Ballard in 1906. Threatened with losing his gardener unless he got rid of hundreds of aster seedlings in his garden, he bought a field opposite his home in Colwell in which to grow them. At first he had no intention of starting a commercial enterprise, but the discovery of a chance seedling with a double row of petals, or rays, changed everything. Ballard sent the plant, which he named ‘Beauty of Colwall’, to the RHS’ aster trials in 1907 and it was awarded a first class certificate, the only plant out of 300 to receive the accolade.
He began breeding asters in earnest, concentrating on developing shorter plants in a wider range of shades.
“Ernest Ballard changed the look of Michaelmas daisies,” explains Paul Picton, who runs the nursery today with his wife Meriel. “He eventually got the stronger colours we see today.”
Paul’s father, Percy, joined the nursery as manager in 1948 and took over after Ballard’s death in 1952, putting in display beds and continuing to develop new varieties.
Then horticultural fashion changed and herbaceous borders were replaced with conifer, shrub and heather beds. The nursery began to concentrate on other plants.
“Michaelmas daisies were very much on the backburner,” says Paul, “though we kept about 70 varieties going.”
It wasn’t until the early 1980s, when Paul and his wife took over, that the pendulum swung back in favour of asters.
You can read the rest of this article and see more pictures in the September issue of Cotswold Life, on sale now.