GARDENING - JUNE.qxp_Layout 2 23/05/2022 16:45 Page 1
Secret gardens
As thousands of the country’s most beautiful private gardens prepare to swing open their gates this month, Elly West welcomes the National Garden Scheme back with open arms...
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here’s something fascinating about walking around private gardens, admiring what people have created behind their garden gates. Whether we are gardeners or not, glimpsing into other people's lives appeals to our curiosity. The season for visiting gardens is here and all over the country proud garden owners are opening their doors to share their passion with others. Seeing real-life gardens, like our own (but better), growing and flourishing, is very different from the spectacle provided by a grand National Trust property or Chelsea Show garden. These are real, working spaces, and often the result of years of nurture, development and evolution, providing both inspiration and aspiration. As a garden designer, and nosy by nature, I love seeing into other people’s gardens. Every space is different and there is always something to discover, whether it's a stunning planting combination, some kind of upcycled ornamentation, or an unusual use of materials. That’s why I love the summer months when there are so many of these secret gardens to explore that are usually kept private. The National Garden Scheme (NGS) was founded in 1927, cashing in on the nation’s growing obsession with gardening, originally to raise money for district nursing. During that first year, 609 garden owners opened their gardens for a shilling a head, raising a total of £8,191. This year, 3,500 gardens will open across the UK and the organisation will likely donate around £3 million to charities including Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie, Hospice UK and Carers Trust. I visited Su and Alan Mills at their beautiful garden in Tockington, north of Bristol, opening this month for the fifth year running under the scheme. Both former teachers, Su is now a county organiser for the NGS and John is the driving force behind the garden’s creation. This is a design that takes you on a journey, gently undulating with gravel paths around an S-shaped lawn (S for Su), densely packed borders lining the pathways and with different zones to explore, unrecognisable from the overgrown plot they moved to in 2014, which was divided in two by a huge three-metre hedge. The new garden has been carefully thought out and strategically planned, as John explains: “When we retired it was our intention to buy a plot and create a garden. We had six months between exchange and completion on this house to plan it all properly.” 68 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE
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JUNE 2022
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No 211
A keen photographer who thinks in terms of patterns, shapes and colours, John’s plans included sifting through his photographs of features, planting combinations collected when visiting other gardens, drawing out sketches, and even building a 3D cardboard model to show the positioning and heights of the many trees. The couple also filled four Luton vans full of potted plants from their previous, much smaller garden, and bought around 50 new tree saplings online. “The placing of the trees was really important,” John says. The saplings are now grown and bring maturity and structure to the space. Some of the original trees were left in situ when the garden was cleared after moving in, including a large trachycarpus palm, and a pond also remains from the previous incarnation. “We felt we had to keep the pond because it had newts in, and also the trachycarpus was a feature that we didn't want to get rid of, so the design had to work around these. As soon as the strong S-shaped lawn was in place, I was suddenly intrigued by a journey, and it dealt neatly with the issue of the pond, as it curves around it.” The trachycarpus was also the starting point for the zoned areas. “This became the ‘exotic’ space and allowed us to start sorting out all the plants. Rose arches went up to create a summer walk, woodland plants went at the end. Then we created a second, oriental pond. The idea of ‘rooms’ helped with planting and organising, deciding what to put where.” Nothing appears accidental in this garden. It’s full of thought, things to discover and the result of love, passion and hard work. Visit when it opens for the NGS on 10 and 12 June, 1-5pm. Admission is £5, children free. Tea and cakes are available, plus plant sales. Group visits can also be arranged by appointment from April to October. Email susanlmills@gmail.com for more information.
More gardens to visit The following local gardens are all open under the NGS this month. For more details, and other open gardens, visit ngs.org.uk. 92 Church Road, Winscombe, BS25 1BP. Peter and Ann Owen's garden was created in the late 1970s in an Italianate style based on several rooms separated by walls and hedges, including two formal ponds. In June, the clematis collection comes into its own. Open 9 June, 2-5pm. £5, children free.
