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FIFTH EDITION

Digital Edition

From the makers of

WELCOME Pottering around the garden is a great way to relax.

Spending a couple of hours doing some deep weeding or relocating plants that are struggling can be both therapeutic and make a valuable contribution to your patch. Even if you’re a gardening amateur, why not try to achieve some sense of colour palette and plant strategy?

Some seasons it will work, others not, but that’s part of the fun and excitement – not knowing if the tulips will resurface or the wisteria will blossom as well as last year.

The Big Book of English Gardens showcases the very best traditional gardens, all beautifully photographed, as chosen by the Period Living team. Discover inspiring design ideas, interesting plant combinations and useful garden tips, plus horticulturist Mike Lavelle provides practical advice to ensure maximum enjoyment of your garden all year round.

Future PLC Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA

Bookazine Editorial Editor April Madden Senior Designer Madelene King Compiled by Sarah Bankes & Lora Barnes Senior Art Editor Andy Downes Head of Art & Design Greg Whitaker Editorial Director Jon White Period Living Editorial Editor Melanie Griffiths Senior Art Editor Emily Smith Editorial Director Sarah Spiteri Group Art Director Billy Peel Cover images Leigh Clapp, Nicola Stocken, Shutterstock Photography All copyrights and trademarks are recognised and respected Advertising Media packs are available on request Commercial Director Clare Dove International Head of Print Licensing Rachel Shaw licensing@futurenet.com www.futurecontenthub.com Circulation Head of Newstrade Tim Mathers Production Head of Production Mark Constance Production Project Manager Matthew Eglinton Advertising Production Manager Joanne Crosby Digital Editions Controller Jason Hudson Production Managers Keely Miller, Nola Cokely, Vivienne Calvert, Fran Twentyman Printed in the UK Distributed by Marketforce, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HU www.marketforce.co.uk Tel: 0203 787 9001 The Big Book of English Gardens Fifth Edition (HOB4373) © 2022 Future Publishing Limited We are committed to only using magazine paper which is derived from responsibly managed, certified forestry and chlorine-free manufacture. The paper in this bookazine was sourced and produced from sustainable managed forests, conforming to strict environmental and socioeconomic standards. The paper holds full FSC or PEFC certification and accreditation.

All contents © 2022 Future Publishing Limited or published under licence. All rights reserved.

No part of this magazine may be used, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any way without the prior written permission of the publisher. Future Publishing Limited (company number 2008885) is registered in England and Wales. Registered office: Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All information contained in this publication is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. Future cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. You are advised to contact manufacturers and retailers directly with regard to the price of products/services referred to in this publication. Apps and websites mentioned in this publication are not under our control. We are not responsible for their contents or any other changes or updates to them. This magazine is fully independent and not affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein.

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Chief executive Zillah Byng-Thorne Non-executive chairman Richard Huntingford Chief financial officer Penny Ladkin-Brand Tel +44 (0)1225 442 244

Part of the

PERIODLIVING bookazine series

Contents 8 Garden ideas and projects

Before spring gets into full swing each year, start planning your outdoor space for the warmer seasons ahead. Gardening expert Mick Lavelle advises on how to approach the larger decisions

14 A touch of whimsy

Created from recycled materials and cuttings, Charlotte Molesworth’s magical garden has evolved under her unique artistic skills into a topiary fantasy

22 A step up

Corinne and John Layton transformed a flat, uninteresting Essex plot, where little would grow, into a terraced garden brimming with features

30 Spring abundance

The once neglected gardens of the Jacobean King John’s Lodge have been carefully restored and now combine a timeless atmosphere with charming planting

38 Artist’s muse

Illustrator Judith Glover’s work is often inspired by flowers and nature, which, in turn, have influenced the layout of the garden at her home in London

46 A creative touch 54 Flowering form 62 Garden antiques

With many focal points that draw the eye, this country garden can be enjoyed year round from quiet seating areas

Heather Scott has added a contemporary edge to her traditional, and immaculately kept, cottage garden in Kent

Author Bill Laws takes an anecdotal look at our affection for old gardening gear, and finds out why all things horticultural have become so collectable

66 All coming up roses

Linda Kilburn transformed the bottom of her garden and created a relaxed new living space when she built a charming summerhouse on the waterside – complete with rowing boat

74 Family affair 82 Under its spell

Joanne Winn demonstrates how it is possible to design a beautiful, tender and productive garden that is still fit for childhood play

Rebecca and Lars Lemonius followed their hearts in taking on the custodianship of a historic property, with gardens created by the writer Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson

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88 An artistic bounty 94 Journey of discovery

Mel and Lizzi Smith’s creative ingenuity has guided the development of the unique edible and floral landscape around their home and studio

With help and guidance, Marie du Boulay took on her garden as a complete beginner and has gradually created a beautiful, flowing space that subtly blends the formal and informal

102 Full to brimming

With borders carefully planned around varied colour schemes, Bob and Shirley Stoneley’s Surrey garden continues to put on a cheerful and vibrant show well into autumn

110 Embracing the elements 118 Horticultural masterclass

Their garden’s challenging position on a windy hill in Shropshire has not prevented Fiona and George Chancellor from whipping it into shape

World-renowned gardening doyenne Rosemary Alexander showcases her knowledge and techniques in her rural home garden of Sandhill Farm House, a mecca for garden lovers while still very much a personal haven

126 Textural tapestry

A complete change of direction saw Gillian Pugh replace her formal garden of hedging and roses with drought-tolerant grasses and informal flowers for autumnal hues

134 Veiled in beauty 142 Q&A: digging deeper 146 Star plants 150 Changing landscapes

Glittering snow and frost-covered structures create a magical atmosphere in Penny Snell’s walled winter garden

Gardening expert Mick Lavelle provides quick and easy solutions and answers to common horticultural queries

Industry experts select their favourite flowers and shrubs that will keep your garden in bloom year round

This year celebrates the tercentenary of the birth of the great landscape designer Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown. Stephanie Mahon looks back at the legacy left by the man who moved hills and called forth lakes while altering the face of 18th-century English estates

158 Directory

Find gardens to visit around the country, specialist nurseries and garden centres and garden courses to help develop your horticultural skills periodliving.co.uk 7

Patio in Bradstone’s Antique natural sandstone in Autumn Green, £40 per m2 (bradstone.com)

Garden ideas & projects

Additional photographs SHUTTERSTOCK AND ISTOCK

Before spring gets into full swing each year, start planning your outdoor space for the warmer seasons ahead. Gardening expert Mick Lavelle advises on how to approach the larger decisions

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Expert Advice

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Slatted shelving allows good light and air circulation for growing

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Expert Advice

ach year, with the promise of spring on the horizon, gardens will start to awaken from their wintry slumber, so whether you are looking to revamp an outdoor living space, design a new-look border, or create a protected growing environment for seedlings, early in the year is the time to plan.

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Buying a greenhouse A greenhouse can be one of the most valuable additions to a garden, and offers the opportunity to grow a much wider range of plants and flowers, often making these available earlier or later in the year.

Despite the array of designs available, the simplest constructions are usually adequate for many gardens. A greenhouse measuring 2.5x5m (8x16ft) will provide sufficient space for most needs.

Aluminium is usually the best material for a frame, as it needs little or no upkeep and casts little shade. Wood, while attractive, needs periodic upkeep and the bulkier frames can cast excessive shade inside the greenhouse.

The best glazing material is glass, as it allows the passage of 90 per cent of external light through, and does not degrade in sunlight. It also helps to reflect heat radiated from within the glasshouse back into the structure. Polycarbonate sheeting is resistant to breakage, lightweight, durable in adverse weather, and good at retaining heat, yet only transmits 83 per cent of the external light.

To maximise the success of greenhouse growing, the conditions within it should not fluctuate widely, so do invest in a maximum/minimum thermometer to help you to control the temperature inside. Ensure the design you choose has provision for ventilation to avoid it overheating in the summer months, and can be insulated easily for winter. Roof vents are the most useful, and ideally should be on both sides of the roof ridge and equivalent to 15-20 per cent of the floor area. You can even get thermostatically controlled vents that open as the temperature inside rises. It is wise to provide some shading, too, such as a white shading paint applied to the inside surface of the glass that reflects some of the light. Shade netting can prove effective, although this allows all of the light through the glass and tends to absorb the heat from it. It can also reduce the quality of the light that does reach the crop.

Carefully plan the layout of growing areas inside to use every available bit of space. Many greenhouse plants will grow well in open soil borders, in ground prepared in a similar way to borders outside. Grow bags are an alternative if the greenhouse has to be placed on a hard standing or paved area. A shelving system might be better if you want to grow specimens in pots, and has the advantage of enabling you to work at a comfortable height. It is particularly useful for raising seedlings and propagating plants.

Planting new borders The key point to remember when planning new borders is right plant, right place. All species have their preferred situations, so properly assess the growing conditions in your garden first, and avoid buying plants on impulse.

February marks one of the busiest planting times of perennials – those that survive for more than two years in the ground. Most trees, shrubs and practically all herbaceous

plants should be planted in this month before the warmer weather arrives. Prepare the ground first. Ideally nourish the soil with some well-rotted organic matter, such as compost or manure, at least three weeks in advance. Level the ground before planting and add a ‘dressing’ of a good compound fertiliser (Growmore, bone-meal, or fish blood and bone are ideal), a day or two before planting. Ensure you follow the instructions on the packet to avoid over-fertilising the ground.

Most garden plants come as pot-grown specimens, which should be watered at least an hour before planting and kept moist if you are not ready to plant them when they arrive.

Planting should only take place when the soil is moist (but not waterlogged), ideally in mild and dry weather conditions.

Dig a pit larger than the pot and ensure that the plant is firmly positioned, taking care not to compact the soil when it is returned around the root ball.

Ensure that each plant has sufficient room to grow and develop. Place smaller plants, such as herbaceous specimens or dwarf shrubs, in informal groups of three or five for best effect. Remember to water them until they establish.

Planning a patio While many of us relish the prospect of creating an additional outdoor living space, the range of paving options and issues of construction can prove intimidating. It is worth spending the time, and money, therefore, to plan it carefully.

Draw up a sketch plan to work out the size of space you wish to devote to a patio, and how it will fit in with the rest of the garden. Consider how often and when it will be needed, if the area will be in sun or shade, and ensure there will be adequate space for a table and chairs. Calculate the amount that you wish to spend on the project and investigate the materials available, preferably sourcing these locally.

Pre-cast concrete slabs (PCC), the cheapest option, are longlasting and offer a variety of moulded effects and finishes. The colours can fade as the slabs weather, but the regularity of both area and thickness make them easy and quick to lay. They can, however, be brittle and liable to crack if not laid correctly, or if the underlying land shifts over time.

Block paving is another fairly cheap (PCC) option, and in the right setting can achieve a stunning effect. It has a more permeable surface, too, so enables better drainage of the patio or path when laid over a permeable sub-base. Block paving can suit period properties on account of the many finishes that are now available, some of which mimic antique bricks but with the durability of concrete.

Natural stone provides the most pleasing aesthetic and has an almost timeless quality once it has weathered. The chief disadvantage, however, is the high cost, both of the materials and installation: the slabs tend to be of irregular thickness and area, so take longer to install. An unavoidable consequence of using a natural material is that there are often discrepancies in the colour of the stone in any one batch delivered, although it is often this very aspect that is so desired.

Finally, when it comes to laying a patio, unless you are comfortable with the tasks of levelling the ground, mixing cement, and ensuring that the paving material is evenly laid on top yourself, it is worth employing a trusted contractor to do this for you. It may be an extra expense, but it will pay dividends in the long run. periodliving.co.uk 11

RIGHT Create a good strong backbone for your border planting scheme. Start with taller plants at the back, then mediumsized shrubs and the bigger herbaceous perennials, with small, groundhugging plants placed at the front below This Timsbury dwarf wall greenhouse, 8.6x6.10ft, includes a solar-powered ventilation option; from £8,000, Victorian Greenhouse (victoriangreen house.co.uk) opposITe This Sage greenhouse from Griffin’s NGS collection will make a beautiful addition to your garden.

Measuring 2.6x4.9m, it has automatic ventilator opening, and is available in a range of colours (griffinglass houses.com) opposITe below Combine colour, texture and shape to create a relaxed garden border

Mike Lavelle is a Senior Lecturer in Horticulture at Writtle University College 12 periodliving.co.uk

BORDER CONTROL For a successful garden border design, consider the following: FoRm: Use a variety of forms in a border to complement the surrounding plants and features.

GRowTH HabIT: This refers to the overall branching pattern of a plant, or the ‘skeleton’ of growth. Dense twiggy habits can help screen views and develop structure, whereas more open habits allow views through to other areas and are less imposing.

ColoUR: The varying colour of leaves, stems, fruit or flowers throughout the seasons can help to create a changeable mood for the border, or to link it to other parts of the garden or property.

THeme: The possibilities are endless, but for the best effect, try to link a theme into any surrounding designs that are already present. seasoNalITY: Choose a range of plants to increase the period of interest in the border, with specimens that will provide appeal all year round.

Expert Advice

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The beguiling menagerie of fanciful creatures sitting atop the hedges draws the visitor into the magic of the garden

A touch of whimsy Created from recycled materials and cuttings, Charlotte Molesworth’s magical garden has evolved under her unique artistic skills into a topiary fantasy Words & Photographs LEIGH CLAPP

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Real Gardens

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Showers of blossom from Malus x robusta and Pyrus salicifolia ‘Pendula’

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Real Gardens

Key facts CharaCter A private topiary garden in the Weald of Kent, with quirky charm and a magical, Alice in Wonderland feel Size Approximately one acre aSpeCt Slightly sloping, falls to the west Soil Rich loam ownerS Charlotte Molesworth, an artist, topiary expert and flower arranger, and husband Donald, a professional gardener Date of hoUSe Originally the Edwardian gardener’s cottage for the neighbouring Collingwood ‘Cherry’ Ingram estate

xperiencing artist Charlotte Molesworth’s creative horticultural world is a real privilege, and on entering her garden through a weathered old gate, you are immediately drawn into a magical landscape of her making. The narrow front path, edged in lollipop topiaries protruding from tall buxus hedges, leads to the characterful cottage, which has been home to Charlotte and her husband Donald for nearly 30 years. A group of casually placed containers and a collection of vintage watering cans nestle by the front door, and as the scene slowly unfolds to reveal fanciful creatures atop organically shaped hedging, you feel as if you have journeyed with Alice to Wonderland.

The creative spirit and energy of the garden is both invigorating and relaxing. ‘Eclectic and eccentric are words to describe the garden. I don’t use a really deliberate style, it has very much evolved, with no initial plan,’ says Charlotte, as she reveals how this very personal garden has come to fruition. With an artist’s eye, an instinctive knowledge of gardening honed since childhood, and nimble speed with the clippers, Charlotte has transformed the land into a series of flowing and hidden areas, united by evergreen topiary and uncontrived, rustic ornamentation.

It is difficult to imagine, from its maturity today, that the garden was made almost entirely from cuttings and unwanted seedlings from friends and family, along with recycled items.

‘When we moved here, we brought with us all sorts of plants in pots, including lots of hedging specimens of box and yew given to us by friends. We put the cuttings in any sort of pot, from old dustbins to buckets, to make sure we would get them out of their pots as soon as possible,’ recalls Charlotte. After clearing an area of weeds, they planted the cuttings out in rows as a nursery bed that would then be used to provide the evergreen framework of the garden.

As the site had once been the kitchen garden for the neighbouring manor house, the soil, despite being infested with weeds and broken cold frame glass, had been well worked over the years. Although the neat rows of vegetables had long gone, the remnants of old apples trees and flowering leeks made quite a romantic scene by the almost-derelict gardener’s cottage. In addition to plants, this inventive couple have gathered ancient farming implements, building materials and even old unwanted sheds, and over the years have restored or built everything, from a patio using stones collected in the garden, to a studio for Charlotte’s painting and printing. ‘We collected almost

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everything, rescuing and recycling from other people’s discards, and scrimped and saved, real rag and bone. We don’t mind things being slightly wonky,’ says Charlotte.

The garden evolved over time, as they were busy working, Charlotte as an art teacher and Donald as a gardener. Friends helped, too, including early on with a ‘wedding gift’ of offering their services to dig the large pond at the bottom of the garden.

‘Doing the garden in a piecemeal way was actually a good thing as I’m a bit of a mind changer,’ admits Charlotte. Slowly and gradually decisions were made and areas cleared and prepared.

Among the first jobs very early on were to start a vegetable garden, build a chicken run, and create outdoor eating areas.

Topiary was also always in the plan and once buxus cuttings and yew seedlings were large enough to handle, the hedge planting began in stages. ‘Topiary always appeared in my mother’s and aunt’s gardens in the form of box and yew hedges, punctuated by clipped yew forms, and as a child I was taken on visits to many gardens. Topiary made a big impression on me,’ says Charlotte.

It took imagination to see how the tiny cuttings, placed in informal rows and patterns, would become dividing and enclosing hedges. ‘It did look a bit like a rag bag at first, when the hollies, hornbeam, beech, buxus and yew seedlings were first put out,’ recalls Charlotte. ‘As the hedges grew, I began curving them and they developed organically, punctuated with a sculpted menagerie of creatures and shapes. Once the yews started to mature, I made a base into a cone with a chimney brush top and knew I had to make a bird and that is how it started, and I learned as I did it.’

Both yew and buxus have been transformed into spirals, spheres, pyramids, dogs, peacocks and geometric shapes. The whole effect works charmingly and appears as part of some ethereal world. ‘I love working with an individual specimen, observing its structure and inherent characteristics, training pliable young branches, boldly removing excess material, standing back constantly looking at it from all around and then waiting and watching the form mature over the year,’ says Charlotte. Her passion for topiary has also led to her to become an inaugural member of the European Boxwood and Topiary Society and work on commissions for gardens such as Penshurst Place and Goodnestone Park.

This is, however, not just a garden of evergreens: there are mature deciduous trees, including crab apple Malus hupehensis and Acer shirasawanum ‘Aureum’, creating dappled woodland walks, and protected by the hedging an infill of borders and beds billow with seasonal highlights.

Charlotte has a great fondness for old-fashioned hardy cottage garden perennials and plants in dense layers, preferring species plants that ‘haven’t been meddled with’. In spring, carpets of dainty Primula vulgaris ‘Alba Plena’, uncurling ferns, silvery pulmonarias and pale blue scilla light up the understory and a wild area down to the pond is a sea of daffodils, including many native Narcissus pseudonarcissus. Iridescent lime green Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii ‘Lambrook Gold’ billowing against the variegated and deep greens of the evergreen forms also draws the eye.

The ongoing task, now that the garden has matured, is one of editing. ‘I look with a critical eye; I need to cut back and re-jig or it will all become a shady forest,’ says Charlotte. ‘Some perennials need starting again as they have grown too big and a few old roses, such as “Charles de Mills” and “Tuscany”, that have become too rampant, need to be removed. There are no plans for a grand change, just to constantly edit.’

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thiS paGe Delicate Prunus x subhirtella blossom stands out oppoSite, CloCKwiSe froM top left Rustic brick paving and the varying foliage, such as the variegated yucca and Buxus sempervirens ‘Elegantissima’, blend well with the characterful cottage; Fritillaria imperialis gives splashes of bright orange; Little Tig waits for company on the terrace

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Real Gardens

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Stepping stones under a canopy of Prunus ‘Shirotae’ lead to the vegetable garden

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Real Gardens

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At the centre of the curving lawn, edged in box hedging, is a raised slate circle that serves as a popular bird table. The terraced beds are filled with spring bulbs, while a summerhouse takes pride of place on the top deck

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Real Gardens

A step up Corinne and John Layton transformed a flat, uninteresting Essex plot, where little would grow, into a terraced garden brimming with features Words & Photographs NICOLA STOCKEN

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An old galvanised armillary sphere creates a feature in the border full of spring flowers

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Real Gardens

Key facts CharaCter Three terraces rise behind the old farmworker’s cottage, ending on the highest level at a summerhouse with views over surrounding countryside.

In this organic garden, there is a pond for wildlife, an auricula theatre, lime screening, lawn and borders overflowing with choice spring flowers and bulbs Size Quarter of an acre aSpeCt South-facing Soil Heavy clay ownerS John and Corinne Layton, for more than 30 years Date of hoUSe Victorian cottage

olid clay is a gardener’s worst nightmare, but when Corinne and John Layton were faced with a country garden full of the stuff in Essex, they resolved not to lose sleep over it. ‘It was so heavy that we could barely dig it and nothing would grow, so the simplest solution was to bury it,’ explains Corinne. Today, tonnes of unwanted clay lie hidden beneath three broad terraces that rise behind the cottage. ‘Originally, the garden was flat, but after installing a new cesspit, we had even more clay to get rid of, so the easiest thing was to hide it beneath terraces.’

To many, this might seem a complex solution, but John, a consulting engineer, easily turned his hand to bricklaying, gradually transforming the level plot into a terraced one. ‘The garden is an irregular shape, and the terracing has disguised this, making it more interesting,’ says Corinne. Initially, as John completed the brick retaining walls for each terrace, the clay was covered in a deep layer of topsoil and laid to grass. ‘However, the top lawn was on so much clay that it was very hard to dig, and we rarely went up there.’

John’s solution was to build a deck that would ‘float’ above the unyielding ground, and a summerhouse, nicknamed the ‘Sitooterie’.

‘It’s become a lovely, sunny spot to sit out in, with views for miles over fields towards Maldon.’

It is yet another development in the gentle evolution of this garden, which began some 30 years ago, when the Laytons moved to the country from a London tower block on the Isle of Dogs.

‘Neither of us had owned a garden before, but visiting the Chelsea Flower Show and meeting author Beth Chatto was a major turning point,’ recalls Corinne, who embraces Mrs Chatto’s philosophy of only growing plants that suit a garden’s conditions. ‘You can waste time and energy trying to grow unsuitable plants, so I tend to stick to the philosophy of “right plant, right place”.’

The garden is run completely organically, and the methods used keep the plants very healthy and free from pests and diseases.

Corinne enjoys growing plants from seed, especially perennials, but one of her favourites – perennial wallflowers – will not grow there. ‘Even now, I uncover pockets of clay, and have to break it up, digging in grit, homemade compost and horse manure,’ she says.

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However, many plants do thrive, and as Corinne has raised more from seed, the garden has filled out. While the borders expanded to accommodate plants, the design evolved in tandem, but not according to any masterplan. ‘On the lowest terrace, I kept eating into the lawn until it became a rather odd shape and increasingly difficult to mow,’ she explains. At this point, the couple decided to reshape the lawn, settling on a curved oval edged in low box hedges.

The finishing touch was a large, circular slate tabletop that, minus its legs, forms an improvised bird feeder that is popular with the local feathered population. ‘Wildlife is very important to us, and we garden without the use of chemicals.’ Nowhere is this more evident than in the pond, which is home to a grass snake, various types of newt, including the great crested newt, and a number of toads.

When John began digging the pond out of a dull expanse of lawn, Corinne asked why he was making it so large. He replied: ‘You don’t have to mow a pond!’ It does, however, require some maintenance, although now that an ecosystem of wildlife, along with marginal and aquatic plants, has developed, the water stays beautifully clear.

During the pond’s installation, disaster struck when the butyl rubber lining sprang a leak. ‘We had to empty out the water and lift the liner to find the puncture and repair it,’ recalls Corinne.

It transpired that an ornamental grass, Arundo donax, had sent underground runners beneath the liner, puncturing it. These days, Corinne keeps the marginal planting very simple with ferns and hostas that, thanks to the toads, thrive in a slug-free environment.

A boardwalk overhangs the water, supported on sturdy concrete pillars built by John, and leads to the summerhouse, which is edged in white ‘Actaea’ daffodils and golden kingcups in spring.

Red and gold Tulipa ‘Abu Hassan’ edge a gravel path running up the northern side of the garden, adding splashes of colour among purple sage and the brown sedge, Carex comans bronze-leaved.

‘This sedge goes with everything, so I grow it from seed and simply replace clumps when they become old and the colour fades,’ she says. Planted along the length of this bed is a screen of pleached limes that not only veils the leylandii boundary hedge – essential as a windbreak – but also casts dappled shade on the bed below.

‘Every year, John cuts these limes back to a tracery of branches, and by the following summer, they are covered in a wonderful lime-green foliage that doesn’t overshadow the border beneath.’

Since retiring as a trades union officer in 2004, Corinne has had more time to devote to gardening. ‘I’m so lucky to have John to build things for me,’ she says. It was John who turned leftover lengths of wood from the ‘Sitooterie’ into an auricula theatre, finishing the top with a scalloped piece of roofing lead. ‘Auriculas flower for such a short time that I wanted somewhere to display them properly,’ says Corinne, who is captivated by the scented flowers and wonderful, striped ‘faces’ of these picky perennials.

‘They are difficult to grow and prone to vine weevil attack, so must be treated with nematodes each year.’

Every year there are new projects; in the pipeline is a green roof, and a long bench made from gabions (metal mesh baskets) and filled with old pots, iron and general junk. ‘It’ll make a wonderful home for wildlife,’ says Corinne. It will also provide somewhere to sit and enjoy a different view of the garden.

‘Whatever the season, there is always something to see.’

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thiS paGe The wildlife pool is lined with butyl rubber; an overhanging boardwalk leads back to the top deck and summerhouse.

Corinne bought the dragonfly sculpture many years ago from an RHS Show at Westminster oppoSite The auricula theatre, its pots filled with pretty auriculas and violas, adds interest to an otherwise empty space against the fence

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Real Gardens

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The cottage is seen from across borders full of tulips, hellebores, euphorbias and ferns. A row of five pleached limes creates a screen between the path and main garden.

‘These should be kept trimmed to encourage bushiness,’ says Corinne

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Real Gardens

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A white-themed garden of narcissi, snowdrops and leucojum encircles an ancient Acer campestre, while punctuating the lawn in front of the Jacobean manor house is Prunus subhirtella with its delicate pink blossom

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Real Gardens

SPRING abundance The once neglected gardens of the Jacobean King John’s Lodge have been carefully restored and now combine a timeless atmosphere with charming planting Words & Photographs LEIGH CLAPP

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Elegant, weathered plant supports and statuary add to the general air of romance in the wild garden

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Real Gardens

Key facts A romantic English country garden enjoying views to the fields beyond, with a blend of formal classical elements and informal, wilder areas Size Four acres of garden, plus four acres of meadows, trees and fields aSpeCt South-west facing Soil Acidic heavy clay, with applications of compost, leaf mould and mulch owner Jill Cunningham, who bought the property with her late husband Richard in 1987 Date of hoUSe A Grade II-listed Jacobean manor, with an earlier Tudor section that dates from 1420 CharaCter

idden away down winding country lanes in East Sussex, the atmospheric Jacobean house of King John’s Lodge is surrounded by eight acres of garden and meadows, which in spring present a scene of blossom on the bough and flowering bulbs, verdant lawns fringed with wild areas, and rolling fields beyond.

When Jill Cunningham and her late husband Richard bought the property in 1987, they fell in love with the house and its location.

However, both the Grade II-listed manor and the garden needed some tender care to restore them to their former glory. The gardens had been neglected and lacked interest, ‘and while we were in the process of purchasing the property, the great storm hit and took down 60 trees. In a way this was a blessing as it gave light back to the garden, although it took about a year to clear the debris,’ says Jill.

Using the existing structure of the remaining trees, some yew hedges and a fountain on the lawn, the couple began designing the new garden layout while the house was being renovated in the first three years. ‘I tried to make different compartments with beds and paths. There were no flowers at all, just a couple of old rose beds in the lawn, which I removed,’ Jill explains. Beds were placed to frame the house and curve around the fountain as well as around a small sundial, with buxus balls or hedging lending formal punctuation.

When a new swimming pool was being dug out, they took advantage of having the digger on site and also created a long formal ha-ha pond at the bottom of the lawn, which acts as a focal point and a natural boundary between the garden and their grazing sheep on the field beyond. ‘Richard, who died six years ago, always liked to create vistas, and we used to discuss it a lot together, but he was the one with the structural vision,’ adds Jill.

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On the other side of the yew hedge, many apple trees had also come down in what was once a kitchen garden and orchard.

Here, Jill, who loved wildflowers as a child, created a wild garden, separating it from the formal beds by the house and main lawn through an arch in the hedge. ‘I spent hours digging out all the docks and thistles, then let the grass grow and started by mowing paths through it, putting in old shrub and climbing roses on arches down the main paths. These included “Climbing Cécile Brünner”, “New Dawn” and “Adélaïde d’Orléans”, which had to fight their way through the long grass, as well as “Paul’s Himalayan Musk” entwined through some of the remaining ancient apple trees. I also planted a few clematis, such as “Annabel”, “Alba Luxurians” and “Étoile Violette”, which do really well in this garden. The soil was too rich for a wild garden, but I persevered; if you are doing it properly you should take off the topsoil,’ explains Jill.

Over the years she has planted thousands of bulbs to give interest through the seasons. The year starts with snowdrops and crocuses, then the show goes on to narcissi, fritillaries, a few ‘Queen of the Night’ tulips, followed by cow parsley, buttercups and wild orchids. ‘Until last year, I put in around 500 bulbs every single year. We now get a lot of primroses and I also started off the violets and wood anemones that are thriving. The wild garden was quite a long project because the grass was too rich and thick when we started,’ says Jill, ‘but I also started off the ox-eye daisies, which have helped to keep down the grass a lot. In the last 10 years it’s been much better.’ Canopies of confetti petals from three graceful great white cherry trees complete the scene in spring.

Continuing the natural look, Jill also created a wildlife pond area, accessed across a little rustic bridge from the wild garden. She planted it with waterlilies and marginal choices of Iris pseudacorus, marsh marigolds and candelabra primulas. A second natural pond has been created on the other side of the house. ‘I call it the secret pond. I particularly love it because my husband used to walk there a lot and I feel he is very much around. It has a nice feeling,’ Jill says.

The planting palette across the garden is gentle and harmonious as befitting this romantic garden. In spring, the colours in the formal beds are white and blues. Around the sundial, snowdrops start the season, then white species Tulipa turkestanica emerges among grape hyacinths and forget-me-nots, followed by ‘Spring Green’ tulips. Come the summer, dainty white Rosa Margaret Merril = ‘Harkuly’ combine with soft blue geraniums, before agapanthus continues the theme. Dark pink tones are used in the grouping of hybrid tea roses, such as ‘Savoy Hotel’, around the fountain, with palest blue Veronica gentianoides as ground cover.

By the house, an arching Higan cherry links the spring scheme to the warm, mellow tones of the tiles and stonework, and seats placed underneath make an ideal spot from which to admire the views in the first warm days of spring.

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thiS paGe, froM top The formal pond anchors the garden and acts as a ha-ha to stop the grazing sheep in the field beyond wandering into the garden; purple tulips are dotted throughout a bed of primulas oppoSite, CloCKwiSe froM top left Seats are dotted around the garden to encourage relaxed enjoyment of the timeless ambiance; Hellebores are used throughout the garden for winter and early spring interest; Narcissus poeticus adds old world charm in the wild garden; lichen adorns the branches of budding malus

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Around the sundial, the planting theme is blue and white, with tulips among carpets of Muscari armeniacum and forget-me-nots

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The view from the kitchen window frames an old apple tree, seen through borders of irises, alliums and valerian

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ARTIST’S muse Illustrator Judith Glover’s work is often inspired by flowers and nature, which, in turn, have influenced the layout of the garden at her home in London Words & Photographs NICOLA STOCKEN

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The herbaceous perennial Scabiosa columbaria ‘Pink Mist’ is loved by bees and butterflies

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Key facts A small town garden packed with perennials and specimen shrubs, informally planted in curving beds that enclose a green lawn overshadowed by an elderly apple tree Size 23 metres long by 10 metres wide aSpeCt South-east facing Soil Heavy London clay ownerS Judith Glover, a botanical illustrator and garden designer (judithglover.com), and her husband John loCation Muswell Hill, north London Date of hoUSe A three-storey Edwardian townhouse CharaCter

assed down through families or between friends and neighbours, a passion for gardening is wonderfully infectious, as Judith and John Glover know well. They take pleasure in sharing not only their know-how, but also plants glanced by neighbours over the fence.

‘Giving cuttings or little tips is one of the joys of gardening,’ explains Judith, who is a botanical illustrator and garden designer.

Judith’s love for plants is such that ‘I keep cutting away the lawn to make space for more,’ she admits, and among the many species she grows, a handful have special significance. ‘A garden becomes a very personal space. In ours there is a large fuchsia that was taken from a cutting my mother gave me when we moved here, and plants from the gardens of Beth Chatto and Christopher Lloyd,’ explains Judith, who has adopted renowned gardener and author Beth Chatto’s principle of growing the right plant in the right place. ‘It is easy to be seduced by a lovely plant in the nursery, but if it likes sandy soil and yours is heavy clay, the plant will never be healthy.’

Judith favours country-style planting, but ensures that there is a backbone of flowering shrubs and understated repetitions of strongly shaped clipped evergreens for structure. ‘I like dense planting that looks natural, and just on the right side of controlled chaos,’ she explains.

‘I don’t worry about mixing colours or restricting myself to narrow palettes,’ she adds. ‘I tend to use plants in harmonious groupings, paying particular attention to how each is placed in relation to its neighbour. I don’t think there are any colours I don’t like. I do group plants together visually if they are in pots, though.’

With such a relaxed palette, it’s no surprise to learn that, unlike many gardeners, Judith welcomes yellow with open arms. ‘There’s nothing better for bringing to life dark flowers and foliage.’

The Glovers’ colourful garden is a far cry from the original shady plot. No sun-loving plant would settle there until a giant ash tree was felled in 2000, eight years after they had moved to the property. ‘Light streamed into the garden and I could at last grow the plants I love,’ Judith recalls.

To learn more about her new repertoire of plants, she enrolled on a garden design and planting course at Capel Manor College

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in north London. Gradually, the lawn was replaced by curving organic shapes, forming borders that conceal a private seating area tucked behind a purple-leaved smokebush. There soon followed a small terrace, laid cleverly with random pieces of brick and stone, and edged in teetering totem poles of seaside pebbles, weathered driftwood and shells. ‘I’ve been beachcombing for shells and stones since I was five years old,’ says Judith. ‘I love the silvered driftwood on the terrace, scattered among sedums that thrive in the gravel without watering.’

After completing her course, Judith went on to design an award-winning city show garden at the Chelsea Flower Show.

A key feature was the cloud-pruned Ilex crenata that now has pride of place on the terrace – creating a beautiful view from the kitchen window. The terrace’s clay soil was too heavy for the alliums, irises and ornamental grasses that Judith wanted to grow, so she dug it out and replaced it with better-draining soil and grit. ‘Bearded irises are one of my favourite plants and are now doing well, although I have to keep the slugs at bay,’ she says. Resident frogs and ladybirds help to reduce both the slug and blackfly populations, encouraged by Judith’s avoidance of plants that are vulnerable to pests and disease: ‘I don’t grow hostas or roses that need spraying.’ She does, however, encourage undemanding plants, especially self-seeders, such as pink valerian, poppies and aquilegias of many colours.

Spring is an especially rich time visually, with ferns unfurling lazily, forget-me-nots and primroses self-seeding all over the place, and bright-eyed violas popping up in unexpected corners of the garden. As spring advances, the jewel-like colours of Allium hollandicum ‘Purple Sensation’ and Iris sibirica gain in intensity, before being joined by scarlet oriental poppies that tower above a froth of pale aquilegias.

Among Judith’s favourite perennials, aquilegias feature prominently in her garden, which started with only a handful of the plants years ago. It is now full of self-sown hybrids in all shades of pink, white, blue and mauve, with as many forms – single, double and much in between. ‘Aquilegias deserve their reputation for promiscuity because the plants interbreed so freely,’ she says. They have free rein in the Glovers’ garden, irresistible to honey and bumble bees that feed on a succession of nectar-rich flowers in an insecticide-free environment.

Another plant running riot is the hardy geranium, which not only creates dense ground cover and provides beautiful flowers for months, but also copes in inhospitable spots, such as the dry, dense shade beneath trees. ‘With such a variety of growing habits, there’s a geranium suitable for virtually any garden situation or requirement,’ explains Judith. They provide the ‘glue’ that holds together the informal planting, and are not prone to disease or pests. ‘Even the slugs ignore them.’

With regular mulching using homemade compost, most plants do well, although Judith has had her challenges. ‘But sometimes I find that the plants I’ve had the most difficulties with are the most rewarding,’ she says. A prime example is Verbena bonariensis.

Often described as an ‘easy’ plant, Judith struggled to establish it in the borders and eventually gave up. ‘Then it went on to self-seed in barely an inch of gravel among the paving,’ she says, ‘popping up in places where nothing else would grow – what a bonus.’

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thiS paGe A totem pole made from pieces of driftwood and shells, stands out against a bed of perennials oppoSite, CloCKwiSe froM top left The hardy Geranium x magnificum ‘Blue Blood’; Aquilegia vulgaris self-seed freely through the garden; Centaurea montana is an intense blue showstopper; Erigeron karvinskianus, or Mexican fleabane, is a good groundcover perennial with masses of tiny daisies from spring

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A stone bench is a good place from which to admire the floriferous borders of aquilegia, Eschscholzia californica, stachys, thyme, poppies and buxus balls, interspersed with sculptures made from driftwood

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The painted ‘dogs’ barn’ is a pretty picture with its changeable collection of interesting finds, drying produce and assorted containers

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A creative

TOUCH With many focal points that draw the eye, this country garden can be enjoyed year round from quiet seating areas Words & Photographs LEIGH CLAPP

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Muted pale blue timber obelisks, which punctuate a soft border, echo the harmonious pastel combinations of pink ‘Coral Charm’ and ‘Bowl of Beauty’

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Key facts Informal and flowing to complement the surrounding views to the Downs. Sheltered garden rooms link with outside seating areas Size One-and-a-half acres aSpeCt Mostly south facing Soil Poorly drained clay ownerS Lance and Fiona Smith, since 1995 Date of hoUSe 17th century CharaCter

hen Fiona and Lance Smith bought Stonehealed Farm in East Sussex, in 1995, the garden was a blank canvas, offering fine, if very windswept, views of the South Downs.

Other challenges to be met were the clay soil, high water table and hot, dry summers at the time. ‘The heavy clay was pickaxe territory, quite disconcerting,’ recalls Fiona. There were a few trees, including Monterey cypress and a towering ancient oak, possibly the same age as the 17th-century house, a few fruit trees, and a perimeter hornbeam hedge that was very overgrown; generally the space was little more than a pony paddock.

Today, the one-and-a-half-acre garden has a very relaxed atmosphere with harmonious, billowing planting and detailing that has just the right balance between formal and informal country style. This was achieved slowly, working from the house outwards, with the garden evolving into areas designed for outdoor living and year-round visual interest. ‘It is good to have little pockets of seclusion,’ says Fiona. A sense of division has been created by planting trees, shrubs and dense borders, sometimes enclosing internal views and at others looking out to the surrounding countryside.

Now a truly passionate gardener, Fiona came to it late in life. ‘I did a simple garden design course, got hooked, and followed it with an OCA garden design course (part of the Open University), and ended up tutoring and helping others when it ended. My garden is my tool and creating it has been a steep learning curve.’

The first priority was to establish a paved path to the house, edged with densely planted borders. By breaking up the soil and applying mulch and generous amounts of mushroom compost, this has allowed abundant planting to establish and thrive. ‘It is lovely in May, with fresh greens and new perennials popping up, such as geraniums, astrantias and aquilegias, with touches of purple from the wonderful alliums.’ Bordering the path on one side is loose meadow planting of grasses and a ‘family’ path of named stepping stones, while on the other side is a hedged circle of massed Allium hollandicum ‘Purple Sensation’.

For the small front garden, the essence was to be more formal.

The space was gravelled and then laid out with circular hedged

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beds of box with yew used for the perimeter and topiary accents, including clipped spheres. It faces west with no view so it was important for it to be its own picture by the house. Infill softens the formality, with Wisteria floribunda ‘Alba’ draped on the house, and scent from the roses, honeysuckle and delicate lilac, Syringa microphylla ‘Superba’, filling the air. ‘I wanted a layout with formality from the box among overflowing plants, burgeoning with flowers in summer and coming back to its bones in winter.’

Close to the house are paved and gravel terraces, softened by relaxed planting, which can be enjoyed at different times of the day. The mature oak houses a platform suspended high in its branches. ‘It gives wonderful views of the Downs and overlooks most of the garden, and is also a lovely place on a summer evening to catch the cool breezes,’ adds Fiona.

Artful arrangements of terracotta pots brimming with droughttolerant plants, such as pelargoniums and succulents, lend a sense of being in the Mediterranean. A timber shed, actually the dogs’ barn, painted in dusky blue, has eclectic objects placed along its veranda. An array of jars and watering cans and even strings of drying onions become ‘found sculpture’. ‘It changes all the time depending on what takes my fancy,’ says Fiona.

Gravel paths lead through cool, shady areas abundant with ferns and hostas, including the blue-green ‘June’, grey ‘Halcyon’ and green edged with gold ‘Hope’, to a tranquil pond. It is crossed by a timber serpentine bridge, which appears to be nearly floating on the surface of the water. Deceptively simple, this curving platform was actually quite a challenge to install, taking hours to lay out the timber planks to form the effect. ‘It echoes both the shape of the Downs and also the spiral staircase to the tree platform.’

From the pond and up a few steps, wilder planting, with a grove of 25 silver birch set in long grass and a maturing lime walk, blends into the fields beyond. Heading back to the garden, lawns spread out and lead to other sections. Some unusual key plants draw the eye, including Eleagnus ‘Quicksilver’ with its silvery-grey leaves and tiny yellow scented flowers, arching Exochorda x macrantha ‘The Bride’ and the vanilla-scented evergreen laburnum. One border is all russet tones with Iris ‘Rip City’, red Euphorbia griffithii ‘Fireglow’ and Foeniculum vulgare ‘Purpureum’.

Guiding the development of each garden room has been Fiona’s philosophy for a sense of continuity. ‘Texture and foliage is my priority; I use different shades of green and then colour is the icing on the cake. I don’t want colours that distract from the views. I use hotter tones in internal sections, where there are no external vistas. Scent is also important,’ she says.

Partially hidden is a favourite area for Fiona and Lance to enjoy the summer evening sun, with its casual grouping of timber chairs and an arbour surrounded by curving hot borders of dahlias and perennials. ‘We do love the idea of being able to go to different areas of the garden at different times, to sit with friends or have a cup of tea. The light changes so much, sometimes you need warmth or shade or the evening sun. Seats make a garden inviting, more welcoming and lived in.’

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thiS paGe, froM top Dense borders edging the front path have splashes of white astrantias and purple alliums; bronze fennel is planted with russetred Iris ‘Rip City’ oppoSite, CloCKwiSe froM top left Purple spires of Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’; glorious blooms of Paeonia ‘Coral Charm’; striking Aquilegia vulgaris var. Stellata; Allium hollandicum ‘Purple Sensation’ is planted in masses

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A serpentine bridge spans the pond and leads on to a grove of silver birch

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The layout of grids, with raised vegetable beds, and linear hedge boundaries separating garden rooms, gives the impression that the garden is larger than it actually is

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Flowering

form

Heather Scott has added a contemporary edge to her traditional, and immaculately kept, cottage garden in Kent Words & Photographs LEIGH CLAPP

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A pretty corner in the gravel garden is reserved for alfresco dining

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Key facts CharaCter Cottage garden with clipped shrubs, and a colour scheme of burgundy, purples and silver Size Tenth-of-an-acre (450 square metres) plot aSpeCt Exposed location to southwesterly winds Soil Well-worked loam and heavy clay ownerS Heather and Richard Scott, since 1975 Date of hoUSe Victorian farm cottage

ot a single corner of Heather Scott’s small, tenthof-an-acre plot has been left untouched. She has used every available space to create a traditional garden with a modern twist, around her Victorian cottage in Chainhurst, Kent. Although she won’t admit it, describing her garden as ‘higgledy-piggledy’, there is a lovely balance between form and flower.

‘I like box-hedging and symmetry, and also “cottagey” plants that spill over the edges, without taking over. I have been influenced by many visits to nearby Sissinghurst, which I love,’ says Heather. ‘I think a traditional cottage garden is a jumble of different plants and colours, and my contemporary take on this is to refine the planting, using a palette of soft colours and a limited number of plants. Repetition is important and also structure, whether from evergreen shrubs, trees, pergolas or obelisks. I like the really contemporary gardens but realise that they are not suited here, so my garden is a meld between the two.’

The garden has evolved over the past 30 years, changing with the needs of Heather, her husband Richard, and their children.

She has refined the space from play lawn, through curving beds, to the more formal vision it is today. The ‘mini rooms’, which are linked by pathways, include sitting or dining areas, productive and ornamental sections.

Geometric lines of hedging, walls and paths, repeated clipped shapes, and a controlled colour palette, create the stylish whole.

An awareness of garden design from visiting gardens, avid reading, and a yearly trip to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, inspire Heather’s vision. ‘I did some watercolour painting a few years ago

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and it has influenced my planting. I stick to colours that I love – pastels with contrasts of silver and burgundies.’

This sense of direction is evident as soon as you enter the garden. There are striking layered plantings edging the lawn, with a fringe of Stachys byzantina ‘Big Ears’ against a deep winecoloured Cercis canadensis ‘Forest Pansy’, and a wafting Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’. The eye is then drawn to a border with harmonious splashes of pink poppies, variegated foliage from irises, textural Eryngium planum ‘Seven Seas’ and the large spherical heads of Allium cristophii.

A decorative potager of beautifully neat rows of salad and vegetables, all grown by Heather from seed, are punctuated with repeated box balls. Even the bamboo cloches seem to be elements in a painting rather than just a practical item.

Forming a backbone to the garden is the use of crisp layered box and beech hedging. ‘I have used both green and purple beech hedging to create separate areas and use a lot of box that I clip into spheres, which helps form the framework. I also like the way that softer planting abuts the hedging and softens the look.’ In front of the main hedge is a long row of white ‘Princess of Wales’ roses, with frothy geraniums interspersed along the length.

Rather than just having a spread of lawn in the centre of the garden, Heather has left a square uncut to form a mini meadow, with a small, square birdbath in the middle. To the side of the grass is a long pergola, draped in mauve Clematis ‘Perle d’Azur’, which covers a brick path to a lower rectangular lawn and a timber workshop. Here there is also a seating area for alfresco dining, a gravel garden, and herbaceous planting, including Salvia x sylvestris ‘Rose Queen’, Verbascum olympicum, and shrub rose Pearl Drift = ‘Leggab’ in front of the perimeter wall, over which you can glimpse the fields beyond.

Even the more mundane working elements of the garden haven’t escaped Heather’s touch. The tiny greenhouse is immaculate with its array of tender and young plants in pots, waiting their turn in the garden, and the potting shed is painted in soft green tones, with everything in its place.

Blending the old with the new is expressed not only with the planting and overall design, but also in the decorative touches. On visits to both reclamation yards and contemporary shops, Heather has sourced sleek metal containers, terracotta pots and old rustic planters, which sit together harmoniously, and she will move plants or furniture around to achieve the best effect, guaranteeing a continuing freshness to the evolution of the garden.

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thiS paGe, froM top A repeated planting of ‘Princess of Wales’ roses against the clipped hedge, is interplanted with mauve geraniums, while poppies add colour next to the vegetable beds; tender plants and seedlings, alongside succulents, in the greenhouse oppoSite, CloCKwiSe froM top left Spiky Eryngium planum ‘Seven Seas’ peppers the borders; even tucked away corners have little features, such as this display of terracotta pots; globes of burgundy Allium cristophii; the surrounding countryside can be glimpsed through the garden gate

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A square of grass has been left uncut to form a little meadow area in the lawn

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Photographs BILL LAWS, SHUTTERSTOCK

THIS PAGE, FROM TOP A selection of vintage tools for sale; made with sturdy steel and wood, garden forks can last a lifetime; a trug containing a 19th-century pair of shears, string line and a hand hoe in a border, beside a clay forcing pot OPPOSITE, FROM TOP A trusty trug is a gardener’s best friend; the gnome was a controversial figure when he arrived on the scene in the 1840s

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Antiques

Garden ANTIQUES Author Bill Laws takes an anecdotal look at our affection for old gardening gear, and finds out why all things horticultural have become so collectable

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arly summer can be a bit of a rush in the garden.

Apart from the weeding and sowing of seeds, there are all those young plants and rooted cuttings waiting to go in. It is time to pay a visit to the potting shed and dig out the dibber.

A dibber is a basic hole-digger and while some gardeners are content to use the broken shaft of an old fork, sharpened to a point, others prefer the custom-made, stainless-steel variety, its shaft metrically marked for convenience.

Considerably older than its planting companion the trowel, the dibber has a long and venerable history, and has served the gardener for centuries. Succinctly described by the Victorian gardener author John Loudon as a ‘short cylinder of wood sometimes shod with iron’, it might be mounted on a long or a short handle and equipped with three or four ‘prodders’ allowing the gardener to create several holes at once.

The dibber remains a popular little device, both in the potting shed and the garden, and although new ones can be picked up for around £10, many prefer the heft and look of the vintage variety.

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FROM TOP A selection of old tools for sale, featuring scythes, three Victorian glasshouse sprays, a pitchfork and a hoe; the potting shed evokes a sense of deep-rooted nostalgia for many; old terracotta pots wear an appealing patina of age, while vintage gardening books provide nostalgic tips

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It is perhaps the most humble of tools that are steadily gaining in popularity as collectors’ items.

Adrian Munday runs Salvaged at Burford House in Worcestershire, which specialises in period garden items; he believes the appeal of traditional tools runs deep. ‘There’s a real demand for old, well-made tools,’ he says. ‘It’s about achieving the vintage look, but they were also made with reliable materials – stainless-steel blades and ash or hickory handles.’

Rising values Prices for good quality old garden tools such as bill hooks, scythes and sickles are rising as they become harder to source. ‘It comes down to a question of quality,’ says Adrian. ‘Pick up a shovel that’s over 100 years old and you can immediately see its aesthetic appeal; it’s a quality that you cannot replicate with a new tool.’

Some are considerably more valuable than others. In 2012, a boxed set of secondhand tools went on the market at Christie’s with a guide price of between £2,500 and £3,500. Made by John Moseley and Sons of New Street, Covent Garden for the first world fair, the London Great Exhibition, the set included two trowels, a fork, two pruning knives and a pair of snips.

Victorian innovation The Great Exhibition of 1851 and the Victorian passion for gardening resulted in a rash of innovative gardening items. There were special glass cylinders designed to protect and straighten greenhouse cucumbers (the 16th-century garden writer Thomas Hill blamed violent thunder storms for causing cucumbers to bend) and sturdy, chain-driven lawn mowers. There were long-handled Dutch and Canterbury hoes, chunky spades with footrests set on the left or the right (the water-powered spade mills of Ulster turned out over 100 different designs) and dainty little daisy weeders.

The weeder – a simple, two-pronged device sometimes fitted with a fulcrum to give extra leverage, was designed for uprooting daisies from the lawn and was reputed to be one of Gertrude Jekyll’s favourite tools. Like many horticulturalists, the matronly garden designer who was responsible for such fine gardens as Hestercombe in Somerset and Lindisfarne in Northumberland, disdained newfangled tools. She is said to have once remarked that, just as no horse liked a new collar, ‘I am sure I do not like new boots.’

Out with the new One tool that suffered more than its fair share of prejudice was the secateurs. When the contemporary gardener sets out to spend up to £70 for a good quality pair, they are buying into the invention of the controversial French politician Count Antoine Bertrand de Molleville. Having devised the tool during his exile in Britain in the early 1800s – Molleville had fled the blood bath of the French Revolution – and although the pincer-action of his secateurs proved popular in the French vineyards at pruning time, British rose growers remained resistant to their charms.

John Loudon acknowledged the problem in his Encyclopedia for Gardening of 1822: ‘I know well the prejudice that exists in England

among horticulturalists against this kind of thing [secateurs] and their almost superstitious regard for a good knife,’ he wrote.

There was no reluctance to adopting that most iconic of all garden tools, described by the 16th-century Thomas Hill as ‘the common water-potte for the garden beds. [It] hath a narrow neck, big belly, somewhat large bottom, and [is] full of little holes.’ Hill’s garden ‘potte’, or watering can, evolved into an array of different makes and styles in the gardens of Europe. English gardeners, for example, resolutely favoured the stout two-gallon can with a top handle for carrying and a side handle for tipping. The French horticulturalist, however, preferred a swan-necked version, its side handle so finely balanced that it required only a gentle tip of the hand to send a sip of water down on to the flowers below. Loudon, helpful as ever, explained that the design was ‘to break the force of water when pouring it on plants without the use of a rose.’

As time goes on, traditional vintage garden tools such as the swan-necked watering can, Count Molleville’s secateurs, Getrude Jekyll’s daisy grubber and even the little dibber are becoming harder to source. Now could be a good time to start that collection.

Garden ornaments While vintage tools have been gaining popularity, garden antiques, from staddle stones to sundials, have continued to command respectable prices in sale rooms, auctions and trade fairs.

Garden seating ranges in price, and age, from antique marble and stone at the top end of the scale through to early wrought-iron and the later, mass produced cast-iron work of 19th-century foundries.

As with vintage tools, a maker’s name will enhance its value.

Coalbrookdale, for example, made by successive generations of the Darby family in the Shropshire valley, is as recognisable by its characteristic foliage designs as by its name stamp and an original bench in good condition can cost £5,000 to £6,000. Alternatively, a pair of old French café chairs can cost several hundred pounds.

While practical items such as iron and old oak gates compete with vernacular pieces such as terracotta forcing pots and wellhead pumps for the gardener’s attention, one article in constant demand is the sun dial. The rash of 20th-century reproductions with kitsch quotes like ‘tempus fugit’ (time flies) are no match for some venerable old specimens, such as one made by Welshman Philip Jones for a Herefordshire manor house in the 1600s inscribed with the words: ‘Tyme passeth and speketh not: Deth cometh and warneth not.’ These types of fine garden antiques are vulnerable to theft, so you should take reasonable steps to protect them. It pays to property mark them, anchor them to the ground and install visible CCTV security.

Curiously, one relatively cheap garden item with a reputation for disappearing from owners’ gardens, especially after the pubs close on a summer’s night, are garden gnomes. When the English aristocrat Sir Charles Isham first placed a group of German gnomes in the gardens of Lamport Hall in the 1840s, the craze for these entirely innocent figures of fun sent a shudder through the gardening world. It prompted the Royal Horticultural Society to ban ‘brightly coloured mythical creatures’ from its annual Chelsea Flower Show for a century.

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The shrub rose garden is filled with many varieties in varying hues

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All coming up

ROSES Linda Kilburn transformed the bottom of her garden and created a relaxed new living space when she built a charming summerhouse on the waterside – complete with rowing boat Words & Photographs NICOLA STOCKEN

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Elegant, weathered plant supports and statuary add to the general air of romance in the wild garden

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Key facts Traditional English country garden with roses, a long herbaceous border and herb garden size Three acres aspect South facing soil Well-worked clay-based loam owners Anthony and Maggie McGrath Date oF hoUse 1660s Sussex farmhouse character

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ince childhood, Anthony and Maggie McGrath had both visited gardens and been influenced by the beauty, peace and romance of the English country garden, and planting style of a traditional cottage garden. It was thus their shared dream to re-create such ambiance in their three acres of West Sussex.

It was 1990 when they bought Town Place, having searched far and wide for a modern house with a garden. ‘Somehow we ended up with a 350-year-old farmhouse plus three acres that had been neglected for years,’ recalls Anthony. Distant views of fields, copses and hills were blocked by towering leylandii and a huge willow – the first things to go – and what was left was little more than a blank canvas. ‘We designed the various areas gradually, with each project starting out as rough sketches.’ Once agreed upon, each was then committed to a scale drawing and marked out on the ground with old paint. ‘We’d first put in the structural planting, followed by the content, which can change once you become better acquainted with your plants and conditions.’

Yew and copper beech hedges were planted to enclose ‘rooms’, with one of the first created a shrub rose garden in which boxedged beds spill over with David Austin roses – ‘Eglantyne’, ‘Cottage Rose’, ‘Noble Antony’, ‘Falstaff ’ and ‘Graham Thomas’, among others. ‘It is very satisfying when you create a design and ten years later, you can see that it’s worked.’

To the other side of the hornbeam walk lies a formal potager of vegetables and flowers, originally intended to be a spring garden. ‘But it didn’t work as a spring garden because it was too shady, so it became a potager, and the spring garden moved to the far side of the shrub roses.’

The next area to be enclosed in walls and laid out was the herb garden, a relaxed blend of formal structure – a miniature box knot garden, an apple walk and rectangular beds separated by grassy paths – with wonderfully wayward planting. ‘I’d always wanted a cottage garden, somewhere profuse in its planting, intimate and

secret,’ says Anthony. ‘I suppose you could describe our herb garden as organised chaos – there’s just a huge variety of plants all jumbled up.’ One section, however, was carefully planned: ‘The design for the box knot was drawn on paper and is mathematically precise.’

Anthony and Maggie share a rare gardening partnership in which each expresses their individuality through the different areas of the garden, while not disturbing its overall harmony. ‘Anthony sees the bigger picture and proportions, drawing up scale plans for each main section. The herb garden and the potager are very much his preserve,’ explains Maggie, a former nurse who now has the RHS General Certificate in Horticulture as well as having completed courses in garden design and history. ‘The courses gave me the confidence to deal with the finer detail, such as planting plans, colour schemes and the herbaceous borders.’ However, they are both quick to point out that it is actually Roy Black, their gardener of many years, who does all of the hard work. ‘He provides the continuous attention that a garden of this size demands. He’s brilliant with lawns and hedges, and loves a challenge.’

There are some 639 rose bushes at Town Place and, with a wealth of hands-on experience to draw on, Maggie and Anthony are in no doubt about what makes an ideal rose. ‘Good colour, rich fragrance, delicate flower shape, a tidy habit, strong disease resistance and repeat flowering,’ Maggie states. ‘Our only disappointment has been the ‘Saint Swithun’ rose, because the heads are too big for the stems and flop over in the rain.’

Few visitors will forget their first glimpse of the 44-metre-long herbaceous border, which Maggie has painstakingly created over the last decade or so. Rain and wind are its biggest threats, so in April, in preparation, Roy weaves hazel supports to about onethird of the height of the plants.

The border is made up of key architectural plants such as cardoons, foxtail lilies, echinops, acanthus, big-leaved Macleaya cordata and sedum, interspersed with ‘filler plants’ that include nepeta, achillea, aconitum, anthemis, campanula, hardy geranium, phlox, salvia and veronicastrum. ‘I choose key structural plants and link them with decorative ones,’ Maggie explains. She also contrasts different leaf textures against flowerheads, rounded or spiky, taking careful notes and photographs throughout the season to ‘help highlight changes for the following year.’ She plans the colours so that the border is dominated by blue hues in June, with mauves taking over in July when it peaks.

Despite a steady stream of compliments, the couple remain bemused at how their designs have turned into reality. ‘It’s still hard to believe that we started with a large, empty garden and now have something that we enjoy every day of the year, even when only looking out from the house.’

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this paGe The box knot garden is filled with perennials and herbs, including catananche and echium opposite, clockwise FroM top leFt Longlasting and strongly scented Rosa ‘Eglantyne’; in the potager is a tunnel clad with broad beans and obelisks of mixed sweet peas, surrounded by beds of cabbages; Cynara cardunculus; the start of the 44m herbaceous border

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Geranium, salvia, nepeta and anthemis fill this blue and yellow border

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The summerhouse/ teenager’s den is set in a shady area surrounded by hydrangea and Acanthus mollis.

Box, lavender, Stipa tenuissima and allium make up the foreground planting

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Family affair Joanne Winn demonstrates how it is possible to design a beautiful, tender and productive garden that is still fit for childhood play Words & Photographs nicola stocken

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The view across the patio border, filled with Geranium psilostemon and sanguineum, Achillea millefolium, Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’, campanula, Allium sphaerocephalon and Verbena bonariensis

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Key facts cHaRacteR Old trees bring maturity to this contemporary design, with its flowing borders, wildlife pool, kitchen garden and hidden corners for the enjoyment of children and wildlife alike siZe Quarter of an acre asPect North-west soil Varies from loam to chalky and even some clay oWneRs Joanne Winn, a garden designer (joannewinngardendesign.co.uk) and her husband Graham, who have lived here for 17 years. They have two children, Scarlet and Sebastian Date oF HoUse A 1920s timbered cottage in Wallington, Surrey

hen Joanne and Graham Winn first set eyes on their home-to-be, there was something about its old garden that they found compelling, in spite of its stinging nettles and rampant brambles. ‘The lilacs were in full bloom and the garden had a very special feel so, even though the house itself was a disaster zone – we nicknamed it “Bleak House” – we still wanted to live there,’ recalls Joanne.

The local council originally built the property, which overlooks fields and woodland, for soldiers returning from World War I. ‘It had been a three-acre smallholding,’ adds Joanne, ‘but by the time we moved in, in the late 1990s, only a lilac grove and the old orchard remained.’

Nearly 20 years later, the lilacs still cast their magical fragrance each spring – a reminder of the early days. ‘It took a long time to clear the garden because there were so many decaying trees.’ It was worth the effort, though, and the couple’s beautifully restored cottage and garden is now also home to their teenage children, Scarlet and Sebastian.

At first glance, through a haze of verbena, salvias, knautia, alliums, achilleas, sedums and hardy geraniums, it is not immediately obvious that this is a family garden: there is no scuffed grass, no trampolines or climbing frames, and the plants seem untouched by flyaway footballs. But closer inspection reveals a fairy-tale Wendy house on stilts, tucked away in a shady corner beneath trees. It was built by Graham, a director of an audiovisual company, who also put together an electric children’s car. ‘I had to create an especially wide garden path to accommodate it,’ says Joanne.

It is nearly a decade since she redesigned the back garden, which is a generous 500 square metres, while studying for her diploma in garden design at Merrist Wood College. ‘Before having a family, I’d worked in sales, but in my heart I’d always wanted to be involved in design,’ explains Joanne, whose father was an architect and inspired her love of drawing. Her fond memories of her grandparents’ garden also remained with her, so, as soon as she moved from a flat to Wallington, she started gardening in earnest. ‘I was desperate to grow flowers, but initially I had to make do with a few small beds among the many trees.’

Today, a few of the original trees remain – plums, apples and damsons, an unidentifiable cherry, and a female holly that regularly loses its berries to redwings and fieldfares. ‘I designed the garden

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around the trees, but only after we’d stripped away all the low-growing branches, and I’ve gradually raised the canopies so that you can see through to the back of the garden,’ says Joanne.

Nowadays, she seeks inspiration by visiting gardens, reading books and magazines, and watching TV gardening programmes. ‘It broadens your repertoire,’ she says. Another major influence has been Graham’s love of wildlife, especially birds, which nest in the many trees. ‘This meant that any design had to be naturalistic and, even though most of my previous work had been linear and modern in style, that wouldn’t have worked here as a total solution.’

There are contemporary elements, however, such as the timber deck and the planting, inspired by designers such as Tom Stuart-Smith and Piet Oudolf. ‘I love to blend ornamental grasses with herbaceous plants, but it evolved slowly because I had a small budget and grew most of the plants myself from seed, or cuttings I’d been given.’

The exception is a mixed native hedge along the south-west boundary, which was gradually established from bare-root plants – hawthorn, blackthorn, quince, dog rose and hazel. ‘It’s a very popular spot with birds and is always alive with house sparrows,’ says Joanne.

With its hidden corners, trees and minimal use of chemicals, the garden has become a haven for a huge variety of birds and insects, particularly bees and butterflies, attracted by the diverse range of plants and flowers. In spring, the pond is filled with frogs, and by summer it is home to dragonflies and damselflies. Joanne’s main challenge is the dry soil surrounding the pool, caused by the liner.

‘It means that I can’t grow moisture-loving marginals to create a smooth transition from pool to garden,’ she explains. As a result, the pool is edged in yellow loosestrife, ferns, alchemilla, primulas and grasses. ‘Children learn so much about wildlife from spending time in the garden, and a pond is great for observing dragonflies as well as its other inhabitants.’

The Surrey hilltop plot enjoys fantastic views towards The Shard and Canary Wharf in central London. ‘The only downside is that we’re very exposed, and are blasted by the winds,’ says Joanne. This ruffles more than a few feathers, including those of the family’s resident chickens – Victoria Peckham, Omelette, Cluck Norris and Vindaloo – which occupy a wild area fenced off at the bottom of the garden that is also home to the children’s trampoline. Quite apart from being family pets and producing fresh eggs, the chickens also provide manure to add punch to Joanne’s homemade composts. ‘This garden has a real mixture of soil, varying from greatly improved deep loam, to chalky or flinty, and there’s even the odd pocket of clay.’

The hungriest area is the shaded spot along the north-eastern boundary, which eats up lots of leaf mould and compost. Receiving limited sun, it is home to shade-lovers such as hellebores, Euphorbia robbiae, ferns, aconites, tiarella, Japanese anemones, purple-flowered Liriope muscari, Geranium nodosum with its pale pink flowers and, a particular favourite, hydrangeas. ‘Stinging nettles love it, too, and there are some small piles of logs, so this area attracts a lot of beneficial insects, which help to control pests,’ explains Joanne.

Keeping pests at bay is essential in the kitchen garden – a sunny, productive patch with raised beds containing vegetables, soft fruit and a small greenhouse. This is Joanne’s favourite spot, where she’s most likely to be found, even in the depths of winter. ‘It’s my haven, I suppose. I love its calm serenity and feeling of enclosure,’ she says.

So, even though this is a garden designed for family life, there are still corners to which Joanne can escape when she needs a little peace and quiet, and to enjoy what she has created.

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tHis PaGe Herbs, potatoes, onions and salad leaves are planted with calendula, a companion plant to attract beneficial insects oPPosite, clockWise FRoM toP leFt Scarlet and her friends Olivia and Maja play in the raised children’s Wendy house, built by Graham; Sebastian feeds the family’s chickens; a horse in the neighbouring field admires the deck, loungers and bright helenium and coreopsis

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Seating is placed at strategic points around the garden, here seen under trees and on the pond-side deck

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Wide steps lined with sentinels of plants lead down to each terraced level enclosed by clipped buxus and yew hedges

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Under its spell Rebecca and Lars Lemonius followed their hearts in taking on the custodianship of a historic property, with gardens created by the writer Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson Words & Photographs LEIGH CLAPP

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riGht ‘Madame Alfred Carrière’, ‘Blush Noisette’ as well as a favourite of Vita’s, ‘Gloire de Dijon’, grace the rose walk Below riGht Alchemilla mollis softens the paving surrounding a bench in a private enclosed garden

Key facts Historically important garden that was Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson’s first home from 1915 to 1930. Formal framework infilled with a profusion of flowers. Terraced levels and hedged rooms leading down to wilder area Size Three-acre garden with four-acre managed meadow aSpeCt The majority of the garden faces south, some south-east Soil Loam on heavy clay, slightly acidic, wet at bottom of the garden. In dry summers the soil can bake like concrete and crack ownerS Rebecca and Lars Lemonius, since 2007 Date of hoUSe Oldest parts date from 1390 CharaCter

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Real Gardens ong Barn in Sevenoaks Weald, Kent, has a long and illustrious history. Part of the original hall house dates back to 1390, and over time a succession of owners have put their mark on the property.

Believed to be the birthplace of writer and printer William Caxton, the house had been fully restored by 1915, when it was bought by diplomat Harold Nicolson and his wife, the writer Vita Sackville-West. The following year an adjacent 16th century barn was moved to create a new wing.

The couple added an Arts and Crafts feel to the interior with purchases from their recent post in Constantinople and then turned their attention to the garden.

There are similarities to their later creation of Sissinghurst, synonymous with this famous couple; both gardens started as blank canvases and evolved under their stylish touch. Harold’s distinct design structure and Vita’s effervescent planting scheme were honed through trial and error at Long Barn, during a period considered their apprenticeship, where they first began to express their philosophies and now much emulated style. Self-taught Vita described her approach as ‘profusion, even extravagance and exuberance, within confines of the utmost linear severity’.

Appropriately, a range of creative successors took on the mantel of Long Barn after Harold and Vita moved to Sissinghurst in 1930, including media baron Sidney Bernstein, American aviator Charles Lindbergh and film director Paul Soskin. When Rebecca and Lars Lemonius came under its spell in 2007, it was in the care of Sir Brandon and Lady Sarah Gough, who had undertaken massive renovation of the garden in their time there. ‘We lived down the lane, had visited on the open days, knew Sissinghurst and about Vita, and thought carefully before purchasing as we knew the house and the garden would be my full-time job along with our young family,’ explains Rebecca. ‘This history could be daunting to the amateur gardener, but buying the property was really more a matter of the heart than the head. We fell in love with a magical place; it has such a lovely welcoming feeling.’

A period of watching the garden through the seasons and reading about it avidly followed. ‘I think I am not intimidated by the history of the garden as Harold and Vita, too, were beginners when they were here, and this was a garden they experimented with and learned from, as I have. It is more about the spirit and ethos, keeping to Harold’s clean edges and Vita’s romantic planting,’ says Rebecca.

Today you see the design set by Harold of parallel ragstone walled terraces, paving, paths, box hedging, yew columns, parterres, a Dutch garden implemented by Sir Edwin Lutyens, rose arbours and small formal ponds. Much of the planting still embraces Vita’s legacy, with profusion against the structure, self-seeding abundance, colour blending and a love of roses.

Lars has good spatial awareness and an understanding for the height of hedges and room organisation, while Rebecca has imagination, with a keen eye for colour and the infill, and they have been guided, too, by their gardener Richard Thompson. ‘I plant and plan much in the way Vita, Harold and all the amateurs

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do, by visiting other gardens for inspiration, devouring plant catalogues, talking to other gardeners, and, most importantly, learning from my mistakes,’ says Rebecca. ‘It is an evolving garden, even after all this time. There is no attempt to preserve the garden in aspic and plant only what would have been planted in the 1920s. That wouldn’t feel right.’

The structure of the garden had been fully reinstated by the Goughs, with beds reorganised, grassed over areas reverted and plants added in keeping with the essence of the garden. Where, for example, a row of poplars Vita had planted came down in the 1987 storm, they were replaced with an avenue of Quercus robur f. fastigiata. The planting palette is rich with mature trees and shrubs, including Acer japonicum ‘Vitifolium’ and A. palmatum ‘Osakazuki’, roses and herbaceous choices in abundance. ‘Roses do really well and I have added Munstead Wood, William Shakespeare and Prospero. Rosa banksiae ‘Lutea’ was already here, as at Sissinghurst. On the rose walk and the house is ‘Madame Alfred Carrière’, and in the rose garden on the old tennis court there are a number of Gallica roses; the scent is amazing when they are out. A favourite of mine, and one of Vita’s, according to her notes, is ‘Cardinal de Richelieu’,’ says Rebecca.

The garden spreads out beside and behind the L-shaped house and the most impressive vista is from the paved dining terrace, adorned with seasonal containers, looking across the verdant spread of lawn lined with Irish yew columns to the Weald beyond.

On the upper levels are arbours draped in roses and clematis, and a small dry garden with herbs. As you descend the levels on curved brick steps there are ‘rooms’ to explore, enclosed by clipped buxus and yew. These include a white garden with roses and Phlox paniculata ‘White Admiral’, an intricate parterre, the Dutch garden with herbaceous borders of lupins, foxgloves, peonies, pale blue Iris ‘Jane Phillips’, roses and poppies, as well as an extensive kitchen garden with the recent additions of a hen house, potting shed and greenhouse.

Linking to the meadow beyond is an orchard with wild grasses, where the Goughs planted two thousand fritillaries, and throughout the garden there are many seats from which to soak up the atmosphere. ‘The children love the garden. It’s fantastic for them and they really absorb knowledge of the plants and appreciate the beauty, too,’ explains Rebecca.

After six years of getting the feel of the space, she has gained the confidence to stretch the palette. ‘I am now looking at growers at shows and trying to increase the interesting plants to extend the appeal through the season, and getting more unusual specimens across the board.’ Mail order, from companies such as Bloms, Avon Bulbs, Coblands, Dobies for seeds, and Marshalls for vegetables, have proven invaluable.

It is clear Long Barn is fortunate again with its latest custodians.

‘I don’t feel constrained; we are very privileged to have a garden that has great structure with a sense of place. The history is a gift, not an onerous task, and we just have to tinker with it. It’s great fun to read about and plan new ideas while sitting in the room where Vita and Virginia Woolf chatted; it brings it all to life.’

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A traditional parterre works well against the façade of the period house

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Lavender surrounds a paved seating area, overlooked from a rustic tree platform

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An artistic

bounty Mel and Lizzi Smith’s creative ingenuity has guided the development of the unique edible and floral landscape around their home and studio Words & Photographs LEIGH CLAPP

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FROM TOP Towering sunflowers peer out of the flower garden; the entrance to the living quarters at Rose Farm, draped in black Hamburg grapevine, is surrounded by pots filled with herbs and a pair of reclaimed timber seats

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Key facts CHARACTER Relaxed, creative and rustic, featuring a wealth of recycled containers and with productive vegetable and flower gardens and cut flower beds ASPECT A frost pocket at the bottom of a hill, facing north west, but running lengthways south east to north west SOIL Heavy clay soil OWNERS Mel Smith, a portrait photographer, Lizzi, an artist, and their children

nventive, quirky, artistic and fun, are all words that describe the garden at Rose Farm Studio in the little hamlet of Pluckley, in Kent. The home and workplace of portrait photographer Mel Smith and his artist wife, Lizzi, is made up of an eclectic collection of buildings, which include old farm sheds, studios, a gallery, an office, living spaces and even a yurt. The whole brings to mind compounds in the Far East, with living and sleeping areas linked by covered walkways, engulfed in a cloak of green. Rather than scrambling tropical plants, however, in the surrounding garden you will find towering sunflowers, dangling pumpkins, grapevines around the door, onions draped over wires and beans climbing up supports on the veranda.

You know immediately that you are about to discover something a bit different when, as you drive up to the timber buildings you spy a pebble-dashed Morris Minor surrounded by kniphofias and wildflowers. An array of creatively recycled containers adorn a large gravel expanse, along with sleek contemporary pots and topiary accents, immediately setting the scene for a garden that mixes country ideas with a bohemian city feel.

It is clear that artists live here. ‘We live and work at the studio, so our photography and gardening are completely intertwined.

Each one gives you a wonderful chance to create and develop your thoughts and ideas into a visual context,’ says Lizzi.

The garden spreads out from the house and looks out over rolling farmland. It has a sunny effervescence with edible and ornamental plants jostling for attention. When Mel and Lizzi moved into the cottage at the studio in 2006, there was not a garden to speak of, just a few trees, and most of the ground was waterlogged.

To improve the chances of success growing on soil that is ‘cracked concrete in summer and a slippery bog in winter’ much of the garden is in raised beds, and in other areas extra soil was brought in, while mushroom compost is added every winter. ‘We also put the beds to sleep underneath a good thick layer. It’s like making up beds with winter duvets,’ says Lizzi.

Starting with a vegetable patch, the garden has gradually evolved with no set plan, into large vegetable beds, maturing herbaceous borders, a cut flower patch, wildflower meadows, a tree house under-planted with shade-lovers, living willow arches smothered with sweet peas and a polytunnel for propagation; all gardened

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organically and raised from seed as much as possible. As Lizzi and Mel ran out of room, or to compensate for the heavy clay soil, they added containers to give the ideal conditions for more flowers and vegetables. ‘We like to use recycled, pre-loved materials; anything interesting. The garden is full of galvanized water tanks filled with tulips, dustbins planted with sunflowers and fennel, lobster pots with ferns and mushroom compost bins as herb gardens.’

In late summer, the garden is at its zenith, with a cornucopia of vegetables in raised beds ready for harvest, billowing flowers to cut and the herbaceous beds filled out with golden Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii ‘Goldsturm’, Nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’ and Cynara cardunculus, or cardoons. Mel and Lizzi’s intent was for the garden to be an integral part of their lifestyle. ‘Our wish was to develop a productive, beautiful and creative garden for our family, friends and wildlife to enjoy being in and eating from. We have six children between us, so the garden is a great source of fresh vegetables and flowers, with lovely places to be in.’

The variety of produce is impressive, from herbs such as mint, rosemary, thyme and parsley at the front door, to tactile Cavolo Nero mixed with ornamental Cerinthe major ‘Purpurascens’ kept in check in the woven-edged beds, or ripening Victoria plums heavy on the bough. There is something edible in nearly every corner of the garden. It has two main areas for vegetables, with large rectangular beds, along with the more tender offerings of chillies and aubergines in the polytunnel. ‘Tomatoes are our favourite vegetable and we grow ‘Black Krim’, ‘Marmande’, ‘San Marzano’ and ‘Costoluto Fiorentino’.’

A paved seating area with a pair of curved benches, backed

by Hidcote lavender, is overlooked by the rustic tree platform with its decorative Asian canopy, which the couple sometimes sleep out under on balmy summer evenings. The space underneath offers a spot to grow shade-loving plants, such as ferns, pulmonaria and geraniums.

Entering through a gate in a woven willow fence to the side of the paved seating area, you discover the cut flower garden with its meld of hues. The approach is enticing, with bronze and gold sunflowers screening the vision beyond. ‘Our favourite August plants must be our sunflowers; we grow ‘Claret’, ‘Firecracker’, ‘Irish Eyes’, ‘Moonwalker’ and ‘Vanilla Ice’ every year.’ Large raised rectangular beds are used to grow easy-care brightly coloured blooms. A block of vibrant orange Calendula officinalis contrasts with tufty blue cornflowers; burgundy dahlias, including ‘Con Amore’, ‘Tamburo’, ‘Ambition’ and ‘Rip City’, draw the eye, and candy pink cosmos sit amongst lime giant dill. ‘Our planting is slowly becoming more confident and a little less random. We have some firm favourites and try to grow them more successfully each year. It’s also great when you find a new plant that seems to fit in perfectly with the garden. Last year we planted Pennisetum glaucum ‘Purple Baron’ for the first time. It worked so well,’ says Mel. It is important to the pair to take time to enjoy what they have created. ‘We are so lucky with the aspect, we have lots of different places in the garden to sit. It seems to be a very happy and bright garden in the summer,’ says Lizzi. ‘Sometimes we feel we are on an island; it’s heaven.’

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Ladders resting against the plum trees beckon visitors to taste the ripened fruits

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A quiet courtyard with field views is edged with fennel, helenium, coneflower, crocosmia and Stipa gigantea

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Journey of discovery With help and guidance, Marie du Boulay took on her garden as a complete beginner and has gradually created a beautiful, flowing space that subtly blends the formal and informal Words & Photographs NICOLA STOCKEN

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riGht Grass paths separate the rectangular borders filled with Carex testacea, Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Firetail’, Deschampsia cespitosa ‘Goldtau’ and Stipa calamagrostis Below, froM left Marie with her twins, mother and friends, having tea in the orchard; a small box parterre marks the entrance to the vegetable garden

Key facts A country garden that combines formality and traditional design with a contemporary twist and flowing grasses, within a setting of fields and woodland Size 1.5 acres aSpeCt Almost due south Soil Heavy clay, which either hardens and cracks in dry spells or is waterlogged during wet winters or springs owner Marie du Boulay, who moved in 15 years ago before the birth of twins Dominic and Georgina Date of hoUSe 1930s, with modern additions CharaCter

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ardening is an art that is most often acquired informally, handed down from one generation to another or passed on by friends sharing practical tips and plant knowledge. ‘A good friend, Caroline, was developing her garden while we were only planning ours, so I often visited her, making lists of the plants I liked – she really inspired me to get going here,’ explains consultant anaesthetist Marie du Boulay, from the Hampshire garden that she and her late husband, Mark, first set eyes on in 2001.

They had been searching for a home with a larger garden, and decided that the 1.5 acres of lawns, flowerbeds and woodland surrounding the 1930s house would be ideal for bringing up a family. ‘It was lovely and mature, with beautiful views over fields. It looked enchanting, but I was seeing it from a position of ignorance,’ Marie admits. While Mark had created a garden before, this was to be her first hands-on experience, so they spent the first year observing the garden to see what plants would appear. ‘Only then did we discover the problems,’ says Marie, recalling the shock of realising that, because of a high water table, some areas flooded in wet winters. Rampant bindweed invaded one border, an overgrown shrubbery blocked the rural views, while three huge cypresses to the south-east cast ever larger shadows as winter deepened. ‘We removed the cypresses and it was amazing how much light then burst through into the garden.’

Around this time, they chanced upon Graham Newman, an experienced gardener who had the inspiration to gradually, over two winters, replace all the boundary fences and hedges with a hedge of native species such as cherry, hawthorn, guelder rose, Rosa rugosa, field maple and quince.

Marie and Mark now felt ready to make a list of what they wanted in their garden, focusing on the thoroughfares so as to create the impression of a journey from one area to another. ‘We had lots of ideas, but didn’t know how to put them together.’ They therefore asked a garden designer to create a concept plan that incorporated their ideas into an integrated design, adding several new dimensions such as the winter garden and hot garden, which replaced some old fruit cages. ‘This corner is now filled with hotcoloured perennials and, as it has some of the best uninterrupted views of the countryside in the garden, seats from which to enjoy these.’ To avoid a random series of unrelated “rooms”, the designer also suggested common themes such as yew cones, box hedging and circular shapes.

The overall scheme encompasses both formal and informal areas. The formal aspects include twin herbaceous borders, a hornbeam arbour, topiary, a knot garden, a circular spring garden and, most recently, a kitchen garden with raised beds of vegetables, fruit and cutting flowers, where there are also beds of annual wildflowers to attract bees to pollinate espaliered fruit.

Establishing pathways was one of the first priorities. Running parallel to both house and field boundary, a long axis stretches the full width of the plot from the kitchen garden, passing through a pleached lime walk and the herbaceous beds, before entering the

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woodland and ending at a gate leading into a field. ‘The original grassy path was so narrow and constricted by plants that you couldn’t walk along it side by side, but ours are wide so people aren’t forced to walk in single file,’ says Marie. However, the paths in the hot garden are quite different, winding through beds of crocosmias, heleniums, fennel, golden oats and echinaceas. ‘I can also see the charm in little pathways that wiggle their way through billowing plants; it is nice to have both.’

More pathways meander gently through the woodland and an orchard planted with old apple and pear trees, followed by waving grasses. Beyond lies mature woodland, and while it is exciting to discover little owls nesting among the big old oaks and ashes, the trees’ annual shedding of leaves is not so welcome. ‘Other gardeners have sleepy winters, but we are still clearing up leaves as spring approaches,’ says Marie. It is, however, a small price to pay for such a wonderful, natural playground for the couple’s twins, Dominic and Georgina, who were born in 2004, and a leafy shelter for the later addition of some Tamworth pigs, beehives, hens, geese and Jacob sheep.

With the help of her friend Caroline, Marie has planted the beds gradually over the years, one at a time. She had always envisaged the garden as a 10-year project, and despite Mark’s death in 2008, she has seen it through. ‘The garden is something I’m very proud of, and I had the drive and ambition to take it forward,’ says Marie. ‘It has given me confidence to continue to develop the garden myself.’

Leading the eye from a terrace edged in great clumps of Stipa gigantea, the borders flow in waves towards the fields. The westerly border replaces the one infested with bindweed. ‘We took a year to completely empty it, kill the bindweed and improve the soil with compost, as well as rotavating in loads of decomposing leaves from the woodland,’ explains Marie. They planted it in the style of designer Piet Oudolf, with swathes of herbaceous perennials – coneflowers, bistort, daylilies, eupatorium, Verbena bonariensis and the candelabrum-like flowerheads of Verbena hastata – punctuated by ornamental grasses such as low, static mounds of Carex comans, bronze-leaved, waving Deschampsia flexuosa and upright clumps of Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’.

‘There’s always something going on in this border, even in the depths of winter,’ says Marie. In spring, as the perennials swell, it is Allium giganteum and Allium hollandicum ‘Purple Sensation’ that dominate, followed by salvias covered in bees, and then the persicaria takes over. ‘I love the new leaf and cloud of maroon red flowers, but on the downside, persicaria is so invasive and offers nothing in winter.’ With experience, she is tending to favour those that provide interest for a reasonable length of time. ‘I like plants that work hard – I haven’t the room for plants that flower wonderfully but are gone again in a few days.’ She is also becoming increasingly appreciative of self-seeding plants that can be ‘left to do their own thing.’

As the garden has grown, so has the time needed to maintain it.

‘When you work hard in a garden, it can be difficult to stop and appreciate it, but I never forget that it is there to be shared.’

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thiS paGe, froM top Dominic reads in a hammock strung between two old apple trees in the orchard; grasses flow in relaxed swathes amongst perennials in the herbaceous borders oppoSite, CloCKwiSe froM top left The longlasting perennial Echinacea purpurea, or coneflower; among Marie’s menagerie are Jacob sheep; the petals of marigold make a pretty addition to salads; in the kitchen garden, raised beds of wildflowers and sweet peas are planted alongside vegetables

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A dining table sits in the shade of an old oak tree

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A seating area is surrounded by Arctotis x hybrida hort. ‘Red Devil’, heucheras, coleuses, Sedum ‘Munstead Red’, Dahlia ‘Baby Royal’, Cautleya spicata ‘Robusta’ and Fatsia japonica

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FULL TO BRIMMING With borders carefully planned around varied colour schemes, Bob and Shirley Stoneley’s Surrey garden continues to put on a cheerful and vibrant show well into autumn Words & Photographs NICOLA STOCKEN

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An old chair beneath a birch is nestled between beds of Aster ‘Little Carlow’, erigeron and alstroemerias

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Key facts CharaCter A hillside cottage garden with colour-themed borders of choice plants, many grown from seed, that spill over the descending stone path that links the top and bottom areas Size Quarter of an acre aSpeCt West facing Soil Heavy chalk ownerS Bob and Shirley Stoneley Date of hoUSe 1940s cottage

reating a succession of flower colour through the seasons is no easy task, and summer’s profusion all too often fizzles out to leave a lacklustre display for autumn.

This is far from the case in Shirley Stoneley’s garden, however, where high summer’s planting effortlessly gives way to an equally lovely show with the changing of the seasons.

‘I pick up a lot of ideas from looking round other people’s gardens and from reading gardening books – Beth Chatto and Christopher Lloyd are particular favourites,’ says Shirley, who, with husband Bob, a retired headmaster, moved to the tranquil hillside property on the foothills of Surrey’s North Downs about 35 years ago.

However widely Shirley may read, armchair gardening alone does not ensure a beautiful garden. ‘It takes an awful lot of planning, and a lot of mistakes along the way, discovering what grows best in your own situation,’ she admits. Hers has been a steep learning curve that has brought many surprises: campanulas struggle, yet alstroemerias – well known for being temperamental – thrive among the harmonious colour schemes that ensure a tapestry-like flow from one area to another. ‘I avoid strong contrasts because, although they work on a large scale, in smaller gardens they tend to merge together and create colour clashes.’

The garden is unusual in that it is made up of two separate sections: an upper area where cheerful borders enclose a small lawn below the cottage’s terrace, and a steeply sloping lower garden. The two areas are separated by a narrow alleyway, a long-established right of way leading to the house next door. Identical oak moon gates open off the alleyway into the upper and lower gardens respectively, framing the view of each through the changing seasons.

‘When we first arrived, the bones of the top garden were there, but the lower area was an overgrown orchard with a few rotting apple trees,’ recalls Shirley. Although there was little colour in the garden, her first priority was to provide a play area for the couple’s five children. ‘We never drew a plan, so the layout of the garden evolved as we went along; Bob laid all the Yorkstone paths and patios,’ she explains, ‘but I always had the colours in mind, which proved a good discipline.’

Each different area is planned around carefully devised colour schemes. In the lower garden, where steps wind down through the flowerbeds, the colours change from tranquil green and yellow to cool white and blue, or hot orange, gold and scarlet. A gold and white themed bed is planted with silver and white salvias, honeybush, achilleas, alliums, feverfew, Japanese anemones, sea holly, bistort and oak-leafed hydrangeas, all of which mingle with golden-hued dahlias, echinaceas and alstroemerias.

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On the other side of the path lies a sloping lawn wrapped in beds of hot-coloured plants, including rudbeckias, heleniums, Imperata cylindrica ‘Rubra’, lobelias, snapdragons, tithonias and cupheas, offset by grasses such as golden oats and bronze-leaved sedge alongside various miscanthus, heucheras, a purple-leaved castor oil plant and smoke bush. ‘I wouldn’t want these colours within sight of the house because it would be a bit bright as a view to look out onto every day, but as a surprise later in the season, it’s lovely,’ says Shirley.

In the upper garden, the colours are calmer and softer, with many shades of pink and mauve from asters, dahlias, hardy geraniums, Japanese anemones, sedums and eupatoriums. As autumn progresses, the planting becomes increasingly blowsy until Shirley cuts back almost everything, leaving only grasses that retain their form, such as miscanthus. ‘The garden largely sleeps in winter, and I’m glad to forget it for a few weeks – it’s a natural break, and I return to it with renewed enthusiasm in spring, when there is always a lot of pruning and cutting back to do,’ she explains. This is when Shirley spends most time in the greenhouse tucked away at the very bottom of the plot, growing the many annuals – cosmos, Hibiscus trionum, shoo-fly plants, snapdragons and zinnias, for example – which bolster the autumn display. ‘You can hardly move in the greenhouse in late spring because of all the growth,’ she adds. In addition, Shirley grows a number of tender plants such as castor oil plants, dahlias, tithonias and cannas. ‘Tender plants usually grow rapidly and peak later, so they are ideal for late summer colour.’

Spring may be the busiest time of year, but it is also the most exciting. ‘I wonder what surprises are in store, whether the garden will be that bit better and, inevitably, what will let me down. There’s always something,’ Shirley admits. However, as the heavy soil has been improved with manure from the children’s pony, the casualties have lessened, and Shirley’s love of plants has become increasingly evident, spilling over into beds and borders, and filling the dozens of pots that perch on the steps linking the various levels.

Asked what her favourite plants are, she merely shrugs, adding: ‘I like so many that it’s impossible to choose. Dahlias would feature highly, though, reappearing year after year. I leave the tubers in all year round, and they are fine because the soil drains well. Even in several feet of snow a few winters ago – we were cut off for three days – we only lost one dahlia. All I do is plant them with a handful of bone meal and compost, and put tulips around them so that I don’t forget where they are from one season to the next.’

It can sometimes prove a problem remembering where bulbs and tubers are located, so Shirley tries to mark them, but even when she remembers to do so, the labels have often mysteriously disappeared. ‘I’m sure the birds take them,’ she says. The culprits are certainly not rabbits however, which – in the past – have proved so destructive with their love of new shoots that the garden is now completely fenced in to keep them out.

The fencing also serves to keep in an increasing number of grandchildren, but Shirley still finds time to garden. ‘I’m an early morning person and, in summer, I’m in the garden by five o’ clock, just in time to see the sun rise over the Downs,’ she says. Luckily, Bob maintains the lawns and hedges and does any heavy work, freeing Shirley to do what she likes best. ‘I enjoy the hands-on work, the housekeeping of a garden: the pruning, weeding, propagating and planting,’ she says. ‘It’s basic gardening, but I love doing it.’

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thiS paGe In the greenhouse, shelves are filled with pots of pelargoniums, petunias, fuchsias, busy Lizzies and aeoniums oppoSite, CloCKwiSe froM top left Zinnia ‘Purple Prince’ brightens borders and makes a good cut flower; a small enclosed courtyard is filled with pots brimming with hostas, ferns, begonias and heucheras, among many other plants; the tender succulent Aeonium ‘Zwartkop’; an intimate seating area in the shade of an Indian bean tree is seen over a bed containing Echinacea ‘Sunrise’, Amicia zygomeris and eryngiums

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The 1940s cottage overlooks the top garden, which is separated from the lower garden by a moon gate and yew arch. Beds here are filled with asters, dahlias, gauras, hardy geraniums, roses, verbenas, salvias and sedums, interspersed with box balls

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The house of Windy Ridge is seen here from across the lawn. The garden is now partially protected from the elements by hedging and trees on all sides

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Embracing the elements Their garden’s challenging position on a windy hill in Shropshire has not prevented Fiona and George Chancellor from whipping it into shape Words & Photographs NICOLA STOCKEN

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FROM TOP An unusual contorted ginkgo tree sits in a circular raised bed, with small round patio and seating area behind – circles are a key motif in the garden; shaded on one side by a large, mature apple tree, the lawn is surrounded by mixed borders including Buxus sempervirens balls, helenium, phlomis and hemerocallis, as well as roses

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Key facts character The strong design based on circular shapes incorporates lawns, colour-themed beds, a bubble fountain, a pond overlooked by a timber deck, and a contemporary grass and perennial gravel bed size Three-quarters of an acre aspect East-facing soil Good loam with some clay oWners Fiona and George Chancellor Date of hoUse 1930s three-storey detached house

he name Windy Ridge gives more than an inkling as to the whereabouts of George and Fiona Chancellor’s lush garden. ‘We’re on an exposed ridge in one of Shropshire’s highest villages, in the path of strong south-westerly winds. It’s a cold spot, and our garden can lag three weeks behind those in Shrewsbury,’ explains Fiona. To fend off the winds, a high hedge runs the length of the southern boundary. But this means ‘there is virtually no south view. Ours is either a morning or afternoon garden, which is essentially enclosed.’

With such a challenging position, creating this inspirational garden has been a labour of love for George, an agricultural communication specialist, and Fiona, whose love of gardening began when she worked at Notcutts Garden Centre. It was 1985 when the couple moved to the village of Little Wenlock, won over by the handsome house that rests in the middle of the plot, with the front and back gardens gently sloping away. ‘The garden was mostly laid to rough grass, with a few weed-infested borders, lots of broken glass from old greenhouses, and a filled-in swimming pool,’ says Fiona. For the next 10 years, the couple did little apart from planting a few trees, but when their two children could both swim, they created a large stream-fed pond at the bottom of the garden.

The next major development took place in 2000 when the excavation for a garage extension provided both a digger and sufficient spare soil to level and terrace the sloping back garden. ‘I wanted a layout based on circles because the shape is so satisfying visually, but it only works if the ground is completely level,’ says Fiona, who was almost obsessional about ensuring that any lines leading into the circles did so at right angles. However, more than a decade later, her close attention to detail has paid off, with the underlying geometric framework clearly evident, but softened by planting. The front garden was then landscaped in 2005 to create a formal area and pool to the south of a snaking, central driveway.

The uninspiring lawned area on the other side of the drive proved more difficult to redesign, however: the first attempt at a wildflower

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meadow failed. ‘We did it by the book – scarifying, planting yellow rattle, importing hay to introduce new wildflowers – but the soil was too rich and it was inundated with couch grass.’ So, as it was in the sunniest part of the garden, George had the idea of trying to create a contemporary gravel garden of perennials and ornamental grasses. ‘I was becoming increasingly frustrated that I couldn’t grow any plants needing free-draining soil and sunshine, so this was the perfect solution,’ says Fiona. Now she can grow sea hollies that used to rot off during the winter, as well as coneflowers, achilleas, and grasses, such as panicum and pennisetum.

The practicalities of creating the gravel garden demanded a lot of patience. ‘We had to leave the ground fallow for a year while we killed all the perennial weeds,’ explains Fiona. The initial attempt at planting densely through a weedproof membrane was not a great success. ‘The plants had their own ideas and the membrane just got in the way, so in the end we removed it and simply planted into the soil, covering with a dense layer of gravel.’ A survivor from the original garden, a charming old summerhouse, its front wall completely removed, overlooks the area. ‘It’s sheltered from the sun and wind, and is a lovely place to sit with a coffee and magazine.’

The accent is on permanent planting rather than annuals. Fiona has been influenced by great contemporary gardeners, such as John Brookes, Beth Chatto and Rosemary Verey, and, latterly, Piet Oudolf. She gravitates towards undemanding plants with a long season of interest – sedums, achilleas and sea hollies, for example – and striking foliage. ‘I love hellebores – they can be swamped by persicaria for six months of the year and then, without any fuss or bother, flower profusely the following spring.’ Astrantias are another stalwart that crop up in different beds, always to be relied upon for months of flowers.

In most cases, Fiona starts out with a single plant, splitting the clumps again and again over the years. ‘Sea hollies are an exception because they don’t split well and, although they self-seed a little, they don’t always appear where you want them.’

Some plants are chosen primarily to provide structure and foliage, while others are key elements in beds and borders that are colour-themed with a succession of flowers to run through the seasons. In the gravel garden, the colours are rich and jewel-like, and orange features strongly, opening with verbascums ‘Clementine’ and ‘Aztec Gold’ alongside Geum ‘Totally Tangerine’, which runs into midsummer’s offerings – Achillea millefolium ‘Paprika’ and Kniphofia ‘Pineapple Popsicle’. By late summer, the coneflowers ‘Marmalade’ and ‘Summer Cocktail’ are coming into their own, with autumn’s Crocosmia ‘Walberton Yellow’ not far behind. The orange hues intermingle with other rich colours, including maroon hellebores, purple-blue salvias, sanguisorbas and sedums, all set off by the red foliage of cotinus and physocarpus.

Years after the start of its transformation, George and Fiona continue to derive great satisfaction from their garden, and from knowing that it’s their own work. ‘I’d always rather be outdoors,’ says Fiona.

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this paGe A metal sculpture of a sheep sits among a mixed summer border, with plants including Achillea Anthea, Hosta ‘Sunlight Child’, Geum ‘Totally Tangerine’, Rhodiola rosea and Eryngium ‘Blue Hobbit’ opposite, clockWise from top left The herbaceous perennial Echinacea ‘Marmalade’, a double coneflower; Eryngium ‘Jos Eijking’ needs a sunny spot in well-drained soil; summer-flowering foxglove Digitalis grandiflora grows to 80cm high and has distinctive spikes of creamy yellow trumpets; Rodgersia pinnata ‘Superba’ is grown as much for its dark pink plumes of flowers as the handsome large leaves

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In the grass and perennial gravel garden, the old summerhouse is surrounded by Stipa gigantea, Eryngium Planum ‘Tetra Blau’, Verbascum ‘Aztec Gold’ and Selinum wallichianum

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Neatly clipped buxus balls edge the expanse of gravel that links the terrace with the small woodland garden and draw the eye along to the dainty metal bench

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Horticultural MASTERCLASS World-renowned gardening doyenne Rosemary Alexander showcases her knowledge and techniques in her rural home garden of Sandhill Farm House, a mecca for garden lovers while still very much a personal haven Words & Photographs LEIGH CLAPP

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riGht Through a brick archway are textural hot borders and views to the fields Below riGht Prunus serrula behind the Gothicstyle bench marks the start of the exotic garden, a contrast to the Mediterranean dry area

Key facts An informal plantsman’s garden with structural elements and different areas to grow different types of plants. Loosely defined outdoor rooms flow from one to the next as you journey through the garden Size One acre – half an acre at the front and half at the back aSpeCt Front faces south west; the back faces north east Soil Thin sand. Rosemary added 70 tons of acid top soil, mounded up with peat blocks and backfilled with soil CliMate A sheltered valley with low rainfall and sharp frosts in cold winters owner Garden designer Rosemary Alexander, since 2000 date oF hoUSe 17th-century farmhouse CharaCter

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or the last 14 years, Rosemary Alexander, principal and owner of the English Gardening School, author, garden designer and a self-confessed plant addict, has been developing the gardens around her picturesque house in Rogate, near Petersfield in Hampshire. A visit to it demonstrates beautifully her principle of ‘marrying the practical with the romantic’.

Rosemary’s passion for gardening and plants can be traced back to her Scottish childhood, when she was inspired by her grandmother, a keen gardener. ‘I really started gardening in my twenties, when a girlfriend gave me a book by (landscape architect) Lanning Roper, which changed my life,’ she explains.

‘I was then introduced to landscaper Kate Hawkins, and was hooked.’ Rosemary subsequently trained as a landscape architect, was the first woman to be elected a Fellow of the Society of Garden Designers and, in 1983, started the English Gardening School, a journey she describes as ‘partly luck, partly timing and hard, hard slog.’ Rosemary came to further prominence through contributing to radio and television, lecturing, writing books, taking garden tours worldwide and as the tenant for 11 years at Stoneacre, a National Trust property near Maidstone in Kent, which she transformed and often used as a training ground for her students.

In 2000, wishing to be closer to her four children and nine grandchildren, Rosemary moved to Sandhill Farm House. ‘I chose it as it was a pretty 17th-century farmhouse with a wonderful view to the fields beyond and, more importantly, I could see the land was a manageable size, ideal for making a series of garden rooms, each with its own identity and planting, as it was set on several levels, with half an acre on each side of the house.’

A practical, hands-on gardener, Rosemary knew she wanted to create an informal plantsman’s garden with plenty of structural planting. Although describing herself as a ‘straight lines person’, she happily allows a more casual approach in her home garden.

She cites influences from some of the greats of the gardening world, including Beth Chatto’s contrasts of foliage shapes, and the late Christopher Lloyd’s unabashed use of colour. John Brookes and the late Anthony du Gard Pasley have been her mentors, and Anthony helped plan the design of the garden, now rather changed as it has evolved more freely. ‘I drew the back garden to a grid with straight lines, but the front woodland was more random,’ says Rosemary.

From the moment that you step into the garden, through an arch in the perimeter beech hedge, you encounter the rich tapestry of shrubs, herbaceous plants, bulbs and climbers within a framework of clipped accent plants that characterise the vision that has been created from scratch. ‘The entrance to a garden is very important as it’s the first thing everyone sees,’ says Rosemary. In the front garden, a delicate woodland, planted with layers of interest, is bounded by a white-themed bed edged in buxus balls and a Mediterranean-style sunny terrace. The scale may be modest but the delineation of areas and visual harmony is achieved beautifully. Late in the season, clouds of wafting Japanese anemones against a foil of deep green clipped yew columns draw the eye on one side, with the meld of textural greens in the woodland on the other.

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Gravel paths wind through the woodland, which has the illusion of space thanks to the clever design of raised beds and mounded contours. Canopies of cherries and other graceful deciduous trees, including Magnolia ‘Susan’ and Heptacodium miconioides (Seven Son Flower Tree), are underplanted with rare and beautiful choices, while seats are placed to take in the atmospheric vignettes. Glossy-leafed Bergenia cordifolia and silvery Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’ glimmer in the dappled shade along with massed epimediums, hellebores and amsonias.

Many plants have been raised from seed, such as Lunaria annua ‘Corfu Blue’, and even some ferns from spores. ‘Christopher Lloyd thought I was mad to try to make a woodland garden in such a small space,’ recalls Rosemary, about what is her favourite part of the garden and the area she first developed.

In contrast to the lushness of the woodland, a gravel area, nicknamed ‘the motorway’, with a pretty bench as a focal point at one end, and the paved terrace give opportunity for a different palette of plants. Clipped box balls and cloud topiary continue the theme from the white garden and are accompanied by mounds of thyme, Convolvulus cneorum, clumps of Libertia grandiflora and Lavandula x intermedia ‘Seal’, along with sun-loving salvias and towering flowering tobacco nestling by the house.

Going through to the rear garden, the mood changes again.

An expanse of lawn is set against hotter colours of dahlias and textural ornamental grasses, with a wonderful backdrop of the open view of rolling fields beyond. Structured vistas are carefully orchestrated as other areas open up, including a double Rosa mundi border, lined with sentinels of Rhamnus alaternus ‘Argenteovariegata’ and fringed with Alchemilla mollis down to a whimsical blue chair. A series of large buxus balls draws the eye to the prettily ordered potager and an attractive tiny summerhouse, built by Rosemary and painted in warm terracotta tones. There is also a mini parterre tucked by the back stairs, large leaf borders with dramatic Rheum palmatum ‘Red Herald’ and Hosta ‘Big Daddy’, as well as a developing wildflower meadow. ‘The garden is an exercise in making the most of limited space,’ says Rosemary.

All-season interest is important, with a wide palette of plants, many collected from other gardens or given by friends – from the earliest snowdrops, through a series of spring blooms, to autumn colour and winter stems and bark. Rosemary’s emphasis is on the beauty and well-being of the plants suited to the different conditions. ‘Take time to get to know your garden’s conditions, have a good plan in mind for the whole garden, choose plants that do very well and feel free to move them if they don’t – you can’t cheat nature,’ she advises.

How Rosemary manages to juggle all her commitments with time in her beloved garden is inspiring, but she also has help a couple of days a week to keep things in shape, and volunteers through WRAGS (Work and Retrain as a Gardener Scheme).

Her attention to detail, coupled with enthusiasm for the process of evolution in a garden, inspires both students and the visiting public. When you hear that she, too, has made mistakes, has had to sometimes reconsider planting plans or designs that didn’t work, it puts the visitor at ease, knowing that even an expert continues to learn and critique her own work.

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The farmhouse overlooks the woodland garden

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thiS paGe, FroM top The terracotta toned summerhouse Rosemary designed makes an eyecatching focal point; an avenue of neat clipped columns, roses and herbaceous plants leads to a rustic blue chair oppoSite, CloCKwiSe FroM top leFt Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Firetail’ and Erigeron annuus; Eucomis (pineapple lily) and sedum make an interesting combination; the rich burnt-orange tones of Dahlia ‘David Howard’ glow in the border; Crimson dahlias add jewel tones in the border

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The overview from the house is of shimmering movement in muted tones from arching grasses including Miscanthus sinensis ‘Morning Light’, Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ and purple toned Molinia caerulea subsp. arundinacea ‘Transparent’

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tapestry A complete change of direction saw Gillian Pugh replace her formal garden of hedging and roses with drought-tolerant grasses and informal flowers for autumnal hues Words & Photographs LEIGH CLAPP periodliving.co.uk 127

Feathery Miscanthus sinensis ‘Kleine Silberspinne’

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Key facts A textural meld of late season perennials and ornamental grasses in a drought-tolerant garden, including exciting colour combinations and a walled garden Size 0.4 hectares (one acre) aSpeCt South and south-east, in a sheltered climate Soil Poor, thin chalk, free-draining, alkaline ownerS Gillian and Richard Pugh loCation Broughton, Hampshire Date of hoUSe Around 1850, incorporating two cottages, a cattle yard and barn, which were converted from an abandoned ‘downland steading’ CharaCter

illian and Richard Pugh have created two gardens at their Hampshire home, The Buildings, since they moved there in 1972. Starting with a totally blank canvas – as the walled plot surrounding the rustic farm cottages, cattle yard and barn had only been used for housing stock – the first transformation was into formal hedging around a central bed brimming with a jumble of roses.

The garden you see today, however, could not be more different.

In response to a series of hot, dry summers in the late 1980s and 1990s, when the roses struggled to do well in the chalky, thin alkaline soil, Gillian looked for new inspiration. This was found after a visit to the gravel garden at Beth Chatto’s Essex garden in 2002, as well as encouragement from fellow Hampshire plantsman John Coke of Bury Court, then owner of Green Farm Plants Nursery, to try grasses. ‘It hit me like a bolt from heaven, and I immediately wanted to take everything out and start again to make a dry garden,’ explains Gillian. ‘I know what I like, and I got really keen on using grasses and perennials, much like Piet Oudolf ’s prairie style.’

Starting from one corner, it took two years – with help from the ever-supportive Richard – for Gillian to redo the whole garden.

Beds and plants were removed, along with the enriched topsoil they had built up over the years. ‘To create a dry garden you need to “de-nude” your soil so that it is not too rich, and it must be free-draining – chalk is ideal,’ Gillian says. With some added assistance from friend and garden designer Catherine Lucas, plants were selected and the soil mulched with gravel. ‘Catherine had the idea of a snake of grasses in the middle, echoing curved paths that intersect the garden.’

The resulting design, with its focus on the large central round bed of prairie-style planting with an inner sunken brick circle, can best be seen looking down on it from the first floor of the house.

Wafting, sinuous grasses, including Miscanthus sinensis ‘Morning Light’, Molinia caerulea subsp. arundinacea ‘Transparent’, and Calamagrostis × acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ mingle with burgundy Sedum telephium (Atropurpureum Group) ‘Purple Emperor’, heleniums and salvias. Adding height are free-form plants such

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as ironweed, along with the ever popular Verbena bonariensis.

The effect is quite mesmerising, with the textural, shimmering sea moving in the slightest breeze. Colours are of muted parchments, burnt oranges, dusty pinks and deep mauves in a tapestry reminiscent of an Impressionist painting.

Fringing the lawn are further borders that continue the grasses and flowers theme. Large blocks of echinaceas, eryngiums and heleniums, valued for their blooms and even their rich brown remnants, are joined by delicate fennels, euphorbias, asters, splashes of salvias and Sedum ‘Matrona’, in a meld of autumnal splendour.

Gillian, who was brought up in the exotically rich palette of Pakistan, is brave with colour combinations, undaunted by zingy lime greens or clashing bright oranges against candy pinks, all jostling together but connected and cooled by the tempered green and parchment grasses. Over autumn, the hues deepen and mellow until almost transparent skeletal forms stand against winter’s pale sky.

‘Grasses and perennials are a brilliant thing as they don’t start until late in the year – it’s wonderful anticipation,’ says Gillian. ‘So many gardens are good earlier but have nothing later. We have seven months of gloriousness.’

The lawn, gravel paths and a paved patio by the house anchor the exuberance. A nod to formality remains, with containers of clipped buxus beside the alfresco dining area. At the peak of autumn, the scene is backed by the changing foliage of deciduous trees, including Amelanchier lamarkii ‘Juneberry’ (snowy mespilus) on the boundary of the garden, and berries from young Malus ‘Evereste’ (crab apple) dotted on the lawn. Even the old barn, with its crimson corrugated roof, glows in the slanting sunlight as part of the cacophony of burnished colours.

‘I love it when I look down on the garden from my bedroom window in late autumn,’ says Gillian. ‘It is the mix of hues – apricots, rusts, all gleaming in a wonderful palette – interspersed with flowers, such as salvias still blooming, along with the seed heads and a few structural elements, such as the box, to give it a bit of strength.’

The change from a formal rose garden to wilder, quite contemporary prairie planting, suits the pale mustard rendered farmhouse and rustic farm buildings, and links beautifully to the arable fields beyond. Gillian, who gardens by instinct, happily goes along with the flow as the garden takes its own course as well.

When nature lends a helping hand with plants self-seeding, including Nigella damascena (love-in-a-mist) or white poppies, they are embraced. ‘I tend not to worry too much about colour and grading of heights. It is extraordinary how things tend to find their own level. Contrasting leaf shapes are important and not too many grasses. Maybe it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I find it absolutely gorgeous and ever-changing,’ she says.

Although the vagaries of the weather has meant some unpredicted wet summers and prolonged snowy and cold periods, the garden continues to flourish, protected by the perimeter flint walls. There have only been a few casualties and the need to replant some perennials, such as achillea, annually. ‘When I get a gap, though, it is a good opportunity to add something,’ says ‘plantaholic’ Gillian. ‘If I see a photo or a new plant in someone’s garden, it’s half the fun to source it on the internet. I pot up a baby I may find in the gravel and propagate everything.’

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thiS paGe Sentinels of grasses in pots at the entrance lend a contemporary touch oppoSite Caught in the sunlight, the grasses and spires of verbascum shimmer beside the Amelanchier lamarckii ‘Juneberry’

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In late autumn, the warm burnt tones in the garden work beautifully against the colour of Gillian and Richard’s home

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A statue stands at the end of an avenue of whitebeam Sorbus aria ‘Lutescens’, coated in snow

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VEILED IN BEAUTY Glittering snow and frost-covered structures create a magical atmosphere in Penny Snell’s walled winter garden Words & Photographs NICOLA STOCKEN periodliving.co.uk 135

Fresh snow is sprinkled over pots of box domes and privet stands. In the foreground is Choisya ternata Sundance

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Real Gardens

Key facts Sheltered by tall oaks and shrubs, the garden wraps round three sides of the old house, encompassing a rose arbour edged in formal box topiary, which is echoed along the front façade of the house, a formal allée, dovecote and beehives, and a circular lawn enclosed in borders of permanent planting, roses and summer perennials SIZE One acre aSPECT South facing SOIL Well-worked loam OWNER Penny Snell DaTE OF hOUSE Victorian ChaRaCTER

ight overnight snowfall adds a touch of magic to Penny Snell’s walled garden at Moleshill House in Cobham, Surrey. It settles like icing sugar on box topiary, while every branch and blade sparkles with ice crystals.

‘Structure is the most important element of a garden,’ she advises. ‘You can get away with untidy planting provided the bones of the garden are correct.’

In Penny’s three-quarters-of-an-acre garden, there is a clear framework of repeated circles which, in a flat garden, is essential to create a sense of movement. ‘The garden designer, Anthony Noel, encouraged me to cut the front lawn in a round, and then space box balls around its perimeter to emphasise the shape,’ says Penny, who planted the balls as football-sized specimens.

‘I couldn’t help wondering whether they’d ever grow sufficiently to make a substantial impact.’ They have, and today are at their most glorious in the depths of winter when they stand proud in a minimalist setting, unencumbered by the distraction of summer’s profusion with its wealth of colour and texture.

Topiary, both in borders and pots, was a priority when Penny first planned out the garden, part of an aim to create a strong structure with architectural features, landscaping, ornaments and permanent planting. In terms of planting, she has taken care to choose those that are of interest throughout the seasons. Her favourite all-rounder is heavenly bamboo, Nandina domestica, whether in its winter coat of red and purple, or summer’s rich green. ‘It’s got everything – evergreen foliage, pretty white flowers and berries that last all through the winter. No wonder it’s called heavenly’. She also loves mahonia, not only for its scent and architectural leaves, but also for its red colouring in autumn and petrol-coloured berries that are long-lasting when used in indoor arrangements. And, olives in pots are marvellous. ‘I leave them out all year round. After all, they survive the frost and snow in Tuscany, so why not here?’

To the side of her Victorian house it is box dome topiary that surrounds a weeping pear which, stripped of its leaves, forms a criss-cross mass of snow-encrusted branches that contrasts sharply against the encircling, rounded forms. It may be a monochrome world but the play of light and shadow is accentuated in a way that bestows an other-worldly quality.

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Nearby, an iron gazebo, a climbing rose frozen to its struts, hovers above a wirework planter filled with brittle golden sedge while, flanking the front door, two huge cisterns of topiary are garlanded with ivy weighted down by fresh snow. A stone’s throw away stands a contorted willow, its naked branches powdered white. ‘I love willow with its tiny catkins – it’s so much prettier in winter because later, when the leaves unfurl, they’re twisted and almost look diseased,’ she adds.

This is a garden where there is always something in flower.

Winter opens with heathers and Christmas roses (Helleborus niger), but by the new year, it is the rosebud cherry, Prunus x subhirtella ‘Autumnalis’ that briefly steals the show with clusters of fragile, pink flowers. Then there is witch hazel, Hamamelis x intermedia, its fragrance first attracting attention to the spidery flowers with their crimped, golden petals. Mahonia is also scented, its cup-shaped yellow blooms spilling over with ice crystals above ‘the most wonderful architectural leaves’.

Berries or hips crop up throughout the garden, on holly, skimmia, roses and Iris foetidissima. There are also grasses and a number of dried seed heads – teasels, sedum and hydrangea – leftovers from the previous season. ‘That’s if I’ve not cut them for flower arrangements,’ adds Penny, a creator of floral designs who is quick to point out she does not choose plants for her own garden with a view to picking them. The only exception is Physalis alkekengi – Chinese lanterns – an invasive perennial that Penny found surprisingly hard to establish. ‘I had several failures with roots from friends’ gardens and ended up buying a rather expensive specimen, which is now rampaging through the runner beans.’ It was her late husband, Maurice, who looked after the kitchen garden, producing what his daughter described as ‘freerange vegetables’. ‘It’s more by luck than judgment,’ she says .

Penny and Maurice needed a lot of judgement when, during the 1980s, they moved to Moleshill. The garden was little more than scrubby lawn, sickly azaleas and randomly placed rose bushes overshadowed by mature oaks and beeches. Then the 1987 hurricane hit, ripping out a number of trees. ‘It actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise because there were too many trees, and we would never have taken them down,’ recalls Penny. Shortly afterwards, a building developer exchanged a strip of land at the bottom of her garden for another at the side where the avenue of whitebeam (Sorbus aria ‘Lutescens’) now stands. In addition, he built the two-metre-high brick wall that cocoons the garden, creating niches for basketware beehives or skeps. ‘I’ve always loved skeps, and originally intended this to be purely decorative but, after consulting a beekeeper, I decided to keep bees after all,’ says Penny.

When it came to designing the garden, Penny was not short of inspiration. As a former chairman for the National Gardens Scheme, she has viewed scores of gardens, and never ceases to be amazed by horticultural inventiveness. ‘You can discover new plants and pick up so many good ideas and tips from other people’s gardens,’ she says. Her own planting, she insists, is still rather random and always needs improving. ‘You should plan it out properly on paper – not in your head like I do.’

Although not every year brings snow, when it does next come, the garden at Moleshill will once more be transformed into a magical winter wonderland.

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ThIS IMaGE A weeping pear Pyrus salicifolia ‘Pendula’ is encircled by pruned box domes OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Frosted bristly spikelets of Pennisetum villosum, feathertop; Nandina domestica is an evergreen shrub that bears bright red berries throughout winter; Choisya ternata, Mexican orange blossom, bears dainty white flowers in winter; frosted ornamental cabbages

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ThIS IMaGE A snowy vista of box balls, euphorbia and wire-netting bush OPPOSITE A wire gazebo is covered in a climbing rose, coated in snow.

In the centre is a collection of pots filled with skimmias and grasses

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Q&A

Digging deeper

Mike Lavelle is a Senior Lecturer in Horticulture at Writtle University College 142 periodliving.co.uk

Can I raise seeds of tender plants inside if I don’t have a greenhouse?

Do I need to add manure or compost to soil?

If you have a warm room, ideally around 21-25°C (70-77°F), and a windowsill with bright – not direct – sunlight, then this can be a good place to raise seeds.

If the room is unheated or cool, you can get a small heated propagator to maintain the right temperature.

Adding organic matter is always a good idea, particularly on lighter soil, where it will help with water retention later. Many gardeners simply spread organic matter over the surface of the soil and allow natural processes to work on it.

Why is it important to dig soil?

When should I feed my lawn?

Digging is a way of incorporating organic matter deep into the soil, while bringing up well-rotted matter (humus) to the surface. When done regularly, digging encourages the rapid cycling of nutrients available for plant growth, while also creating a soil consistency that is easy to work with. When to dig the soil will depend upon what you want to do with the ground and the soil type in your garden. Heavy (clay) soils should be dug before the coldest part of the winter, so as to enable frost to penetrate and to break up any clods. This will make for easier cultivation come the spring. Light (sandy) soils, on the other hand, are best left until spring, if dug at all.

Spring is the perfect time to feed a lawn, but be sure to use a proprietary high-nitrogen spring lawn fertiliser. This is different from mixtures used in autumn, and it will encourage good, strong growth.

Apply it at the beginning of the month as growth commences. Many available brands are combined with weed and mosskiller.

Should I cut off the dead flower heads on my garden plants?

There are no absolutes where this is concerned, just rules of thumb. In the main, most summer-flowering plants can benefit from dead-heading, as it encourages

Photographs ISTOCK

Gardening expert Mick Lavelle provides quick and easy solutions and answers to common horticultural queries

Expert Advice

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repeat flowering if done regularly. Others flower only seasonally, though, and so no amount of cutting will overcome this. The heads only need removing to prevent self-seeding. However, most of the summer bedding plants and a good number of hardy perennials can have their flowering period extended in this way. Simply remove the flowers as they start to fade and remember to feed them regularly with a liquid feed rich in potassium (such as tomato food) to encourage more buds.

What does it mean when a packet says to ‘harden off’ plants before planting them out?

Hardening off simply means acclimatising the young plants to the harsher conditions they will encounter outdoors. It involves a gradual process, such as opening greenhouse vents (or the window if growing indoors) during the day, but protecting them from night-time chill until it is warm enough to put them outside.

What can I do to stop my lawn becoming covered in weeds?

After the rigours of winter, weeds often get a head start on the grass, and can become a problem in ornamental lawns. April is the best month to apply lawn weedkiller, as the grass plants will rapidly grow into gaps left by the dead weeds. Use a reputable brand and follow the instructions to the letter for best results.

When can I move spring bulbs?

While we buy and plant bulbs when they are fully dormant, if you just want to transplant them in your garden, they can be easily moved before they die down. The advantage of doing this is that they are easier to locate and can be replanted at the correct depth. Just wait until foliage starts to turn yellow before you move them.

Can I use the plants I had for spring bedding elsewhere in the garden?

Many of the plants that we use for spring bedding are perennials and can make useful fillers. The best candidates for reuse are primula (primroses and polyanthus) and erysimum (wallflowers), as both are relatively robust and long lived. Cut the latter back hard to encourage regrowth after transplanting.

How can I keep my potted plants healthy in hot weather?

Summer heat can prove as challenging to indoor plants as the cooler winter months. If they are in a greenhouse, open the vents wide in the daytime and dampen the paths and benches on hot days. This will help to cool them but also increases humidity, something that will deter pests such as red spider mites. Smaller greenhouses may also benefit from a coating of ‘shade paint’. If you have plants in the 144 periodliving.co.uk

house, then move them somewhere where they will be out of direct light through the hottest part of the day, and mist them with a small hand-sprayer two to three times daily.

Should I move houseplants outside during the summer months?

Many indoor plants, especially those in conservatories, benefit from being placed outside for the summer between July and early September. In most cases, they need to be placed in a sheltered position to prevent wind damage. Also be prepared to cover them with garden fleece, or bring the plants back inside if a cold night is threatened.

Do my houseplants need any special care while they are outdoors?

Plants matched to their preferred situation (i.e. sun or shade) generally respond well to their ‘summer break’. Remember, however, that they are likely to be much thirstier while outside, with any rain unlikely to be sufficient for their needs. Therefore, water them at least once a day if it is hot, and feed them regularly to promote strong growth.

Should I water the lawn as it gets warmer?

Newly established lawns can be watered in their first year. After this, it is better to aerate the ground in early April, as this encourages deeper rooting.

Towards the latter part of the month, raise the cutting height of your lawnmower, as keeping your lawn a little longer slows its growth and improves its drought resistance.

How is it best to compost garden and lawn clippings?

If you just make a pile of your clippings, they become rather smelly and slimy – a product that can prove toxic to plants and soil life. To avoid this, add the clippings to a compost heap in thin layers, interspersed with other material. Avoid using clippings treated with herbicides, though, as these can affect plants when returned as compost.

Is June the best time to lift spring bulbs or can I wait until autumn?

While June is a good time to dig up spring-flowering bulbs, it is restricted to early bloomers, such as daffodils. These can be lifted around six weeks after they finish blooming, by which time the foliage will have died back. The simple rule of thumb, though, is that if it hasn’t done so, then wait longer so as to let the bulb build up some food reserves. Don’t delay too long, however, as the withering foliage means you can still see where they are growing; there is less of a chance of damaging them if they can be easily found.

Later-blooming bulbs will have to wait a bit longer,

Expert Advice

whereas hardy, summer-flowering bulbs, such as lilies, should be dug, moved and replanted in early autumn.

What is the best method for lifting and dividing plants?

Lift whole clumps gently with a garden fork, working from the outside and getting the fork tines under the crown to limit root damage. Shake off any excess soil to expose the roots. Some species can be prised apart easily to produce smaller clumps, or even individual plants, whereas others will need a more vigorous or forcible approach. Fibrous-rooted or densely ‘clumped’ specimens can be split by inserting two garden forks, back to back into the middle of the crown, then using these as levers. Plants that have woody crowns or fleshy roots may need cutting – using a spade or knife – into clumps containing three to five shoots. Be sure to then water these clumps well once replanted.

Can I use my hanging baskets to make a winter display?

You can easily add winter interest and early colour to the garden with an attractive hanging basket display.

The techniques used to create them are the same as for the summer baskets, with the exception that they are planted in early October, using fully frost-hardy plants. If your baskets are the standard wire type, these need to be lined. Avoid using the same lining as the summer planting, replacing this with either a ready-made one, or a new moss layer around 1.5cm thick. Once they are fully lined, half-fill them with compost. When planting, start with one central plant,

usually a shrubby evergreen, before positioning two or three trailing plants (ivy is ideal) around the edge. Fill the gaps with showy plants, such as winter-flowering pansies, (hardy) cyclamen or heathers. Small bulbs, such as dwarf iris or narcissus, are a good finishing touch. Position them in a sheltered, sunny spot.

Why is it best to wait until November to plant tulip bulbs?

Tulips are planted late (mid to late autumn) as this helps to reduce problems with tulip fire – a fungal disease that causes new leaves to become distorted or twisted. Affected plants become brown and wither – essentially as if they have been ‘scorched’. When planting tulips, avoid crowding them, spacing at least twice the bulb’s width apart and at a depth of two or three times the bulb’s height. Ensure the (pointed) tip points upward and the (flat) base plate faces down.

What are bare-root trees and shrubs?

Many trees, shrubs and, very occasionally, herbaceous plants, are supplied as bare-root stock. This means that the plant has been lifted without soil around the roots, making it lighter to transport and handle. The roots are, however, prone to drying out until they are once again replanted. They are quite easy to plant. Dig a hole big enough to fit the roots without any touching the sides. If you need to stake the plant, hammer it into place before filling the hole. Insert the plant and refill the hole with the excavated soil, firming it in layers of 10–15cm as you go. It’s best to plant bare-root stock between December and late February, but do not attempt to if the ground is frozen or waterlogged. periodliving.co.uk 145

STAR PLANTS Industry experts select their favourite flowers and shrubs that will keep your garden in bloom year round

1 Galanthus plicatus ‘Diggory’

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Description ‘Diggory’ is easy to recognise. Rather than being smooth and glossy, the petals of this snowdrop are puckered and crumpled, a little like taffeta, expanding to resemble a Chinese lantern. The edges of the leaves curve back on themselves for a pleated effect. planting While taller than the common snowdrop, it is still a fairly small bulb and should be planted near the front of a border or in a raised bed. Plant bulbs in late summer or buy ‘in the green’ in early spring. Snowdrops like a rich, well-drained but moisture-retentive soil with good light in the growing season, and summer shade – but should not be allowed to dry out completely. Plant into open soil and give them an occasional feed of general purpose fertiliser or tomato food while they are growing and a mulch of compost or leaf mould in autumn.

Flowers From mid January, snowdrops flower their socks off, providing a fabulous winter spectacle. top tips Snowdrops look best as part of a mixed planting scheme, so team them with mauve Crocus tommasinianus, small evergreen ferns, cyclamen and yellow aconites. They also look good with grasses or under colourful shrubs and trees, such as dogwoods and witch hazel. chosen by naomi slade, the author of The Plant Lover’s Guide to Snowdrops (£17.99, timber press)

2 Choisya x dewitteana ‘Aztec Gold’

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Description This relatively new introduction to this family of evergreen shrubs has attractive golden foliage with slender, pointed leaves that are rich burnished gold at the tips and a greenish/yellow shade towards the base, maturing to green in winter. The colour of young and old leaves varies, giving the plant an additional layer of interest. ‘Aztec Gold’ was developed

by Hillier plantsman Alan Postill by crossing ‘Aztec Pearl’ for its leaf shape with ‘Sundance’ for its foliage colour. planting It prefers a fairly fertile, well-drained soil and is happy in sun or partial shade. Suitable for planting in the garden or in a patio pot, it reaches a height and spread of around H120xW120cm.

Flowers In spring and early summer, clusters of almond-scented white flowers appear and then occasionally, if conditions suit,

Seasonal Plants

more will come along in the autumn. Add these to the wonderful depth of foliage colour and you have an all-round winner. top tips If you plant ‘Aztec Gold’ in a sunny spot, the end of the shoots will be a rich golden yellow and the main part of the plant will remain greener in colour. If you have a shady spot then the plant’s overall colour will be more lime than golden. It’s also great for attracting bees to your garden. chosen by peter Burks of trelawney garden centre (trelawney.co.uk)

3 Hebe ‘The Red Wine Collection’ Description This is a collection of four new hebes that have been specially selected for their compact habits and stunning dark foliage through the winter and spring months. The foliage has led to their being named after classic red wines: ‘Merlot Memories’, ‘Ruby Port’, ‘Claret Crush’ and ‘Burgundy Blush’. planting Propagated from cuttings, these compact plants look great in a patio pot but will also enhance any border, where they will grow to approximately H60xW60cm. These hebes are best grown in sun or part shade, where they will thrive.

Flowers The dark foliage of the cooler months fades to a mid green just before the summer show of flowers arrives in June, so these plants offer year-round interest. top tips Protect young plants from frosts and give them a light trim after flowering to help maintain their lovely habits.

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chosen by sally Davis, plant buyer at webbs, from where they are available to buy for £8.99 each (01527 860000; webbsdirect.co.uk)

4 Erysimum ‘Bowles’s Mauve’ Description Also called wallflower ‘Bowles’s Mauve’, this bushy evergreen perennial has narrow, dark grey-green leaves and produces fragrant rich mauve flowers in profuse quantities over a long flowering season. planting It grows to a height of 75cm with a 60cm spread, and is perfect for rock gardens and raised beds with well-drained, poor to moderate fertile soil. Full sun and some winter protection are essential.

Flowers From February through to July, this handsome, woody shrub hosts a beautiful and floriferous display of 2cm mauve flowers on erect racemes. top tips Trim after flowering to prevent the plants becoming ‘leggy’, and take cuttings from May to July to raise new plants. chosen by adam Dorber, plant buyer at Burford garden company (01993 823117; burford.co.uk)

5 Aster alpinus

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Description This under-appreciated little treasure from the aster trove will produce a generous display of flowers in hues of lavender-blue, pink and violet. planting The alpine asters need a good, free-draining soil in an open, sunny position, which makes them an ideal choice for the rock garden. They can also be used in borders if not overcrowded by neighbouring greenery. Plants will grow up to H30xW50cm.

Flowers In late spring and early summer, a mass of generously sized daisy flowers are held on long stems above the mat of foliage. top tips Although they can be propagated by division, it is easier to raise new plants from seed. Include in pots and troughs with early spring alpines. chosen by paul and Helen picton, authors of The Plant Lover’s Guide to Asters (£17.99, timber press) periodliving.co.uk 147

6 Cistus x obtusifolius

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Description Cistus x obtusifolius ‘Thrive’ is a sensational new hardy compact form of the ‘Sun Rose’ bred by Hillier Nurseries in Hampshire, which is really easy to grow. The grey-green evergreen leaves have a delightful honey fragrance, which is most noticeable on hot sunny days and when crushed. planting Plant in any good, well-drained soil in full sunshine.

It will grow happily either in a container or in a border, and reach a height and spread of H100xW150cm. The plants will benefit from a light trim every other year.

Flowers Masses of pure-white flowers are produced throughout summer and will attract bees and butterflies. top tips It is an ideal foil for shorter, contrasting blue and purple perennials, including aster and hardy salvia, or works well planted with other golden foliage plants.

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chosen by chris webb, head of plants at primrose online garden centre

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(0118 903 5210; primrose.co.uk)

7 Salvia microphylla ‘Hot Lips’ Description This hardy, shrubby sage has sumptuous red-andwhite bi-coloured flowers and oily, fruity scented leaves. planting Plant in a sunny, well-drained position. Incorporate a gritty compost and dig a hole so that the ‘Hot Lips’ is three or four inches below ground level – this allows lower stems to root, while protecting the crown from severe frosts.

Flowers A constant display lasting from May to November. top tips In mid-April each year, prune to shape, removing at least a third to encourage bushiness, longevity and to promote flowering. In summer, pick the lush new foliage, which adds a unique flavour to soups, gravies or tea. chosen by tom Hart Dyke, creator of the world garden at lullingstone castle, which features over 8,000 plant species, cultivars and hybrids (01322 862114; lullingstonecastle.co.uk)

8 Osteospermum ‘Little Writtle’

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Description A distinctive, compact new variety of African daisy bred by horticulture students at Writtle College, Essex.

A low, neat growth habit and long-flowering season make it a must for a sunny spot. planting Plant into any fertile, moist but well-drained soil in sun or part shade. Best in a sheltered position, it will grow to form a low-spreading mound, with a height of around 10cm and a spread of around 30cm, in two to three years.

Flowers Beautiful deep-pink daisy flowers appear from May through to October. top tips Plant in a sunny site in the spring, and water and deadhead regularly for the first year to ensure its establishment. ‘Little Writtle’ is available from Suttons Seeds (suttons.co.uk). chosen by John cullum, senior lecturer in horticulture at writtle college (writtle.ac.uk)

9 Eriobotrya japonica Description This large-leaved evergreen shrub has shuttlecocks of pale green new growth in spring, and small fragrant clusters of flowers in late autumn/early winter. In very warm gardens, often in London, it may bear yellow loquat fruit. Plants grown in a shady spot will bear large, dark green leaves. planting Although it’s fairly frost-tolerant, Eriobotrya japonica is not suitable for planting exposed areas in rural gardens. It 148 periodliving.co.uk

Seasonal Plants

can be grown in any soil as long as it’s not waterlogged, and any aspect. In a cold garden, it should be placed in a sheltered spot. top tips Whether it is grown as a large shrub or specimen tree, remove the lower branches to create an attractive single-trunked tree, but do not prune until after the new growth has emerged.

It sometimes refuses to drop its old, discoloured leaves in early to mid summer, in which case, just pick them off. It may also be wise to give it a preventative spray against aphids in February.

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chosen by tracey petter, general manager at architectural plants (01798 879213; architecturalplants.com

10 Eschscholzia ‘Orange King’ Otherwise known as California Poppy, eschscholzia is one of the best low-maintenance annual flowers in the business.

‘Orange King’ is a particularly cheery fellow who is happiest in a well-drained, gritty soil. Once established in a space that suits it, the plant will self-seed – year in, year out. planting Sow them where they are to flower, as they loath being transplanted, but as they are hardy annuals, they can be sown in autumn as well as spring. top tips Although eschscholzia doesn’t last many days in the vase, it still makes a great cut flower. The plants are prolific in their flower-producing abilities, so just keep harvesting. Try mixing ‘Orange King’ with the less well known ‘Ivory Castle’; this creamy orange combination is a heady mix indeed.

Description

chosen by flower seed supplier Benjamin ranyard, who runs Higgledy garden (higgledygarden.com)

11 Erica x oldenburgensis ‘Ammerland’ Description This is a recently selected hardy heather hybrid raised by Kurt Kramer in Germany during the 1990s. The bushy evergreen shrub has a long flowering season producing pure white, bell-like flowers in late autumn, which gradually age to pale lilac pink by late spring. As a bonus, the young spring shoot tips are bright orange-red. planting Plant in moist, well-drained soil in full sun – this heather does not need lime-free soil. It will grow to H60xW60cm in about 10 years. top tips A light pruning, when flowers have faded and new shoots have turned green, will help the plant keep a neat shape.

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chosen by Dr charles nelson, international registrar at the Heather society (01945 774077; heathersociety.org)

12 Pelargonium ‘A Happy Thought’ Description Originally introduced in 1877, the fact that this remains one of the few fancy-leaf geraniums still in cultivation is a testimony to its fortitude. With a distinct but variable cream mark in the centre of each deep green leaf, the foliage alone is sufficient to recommend it for winter thrills on the windowsill. planting Pelargoniums prefer to be pot-bound, so don’t rush to repot into a generous container. Skip the fertiliser throughout winter until March. Its steady supply of cherry-red blossoms will brighten a winter’s day. top tips Leaves will turn yellow when parched, so water it early in the day when the soil is slightly dry to the touch, and give it as much light as possible. chosen by tovah Martin, author of The Indestructible Houseplant (£15, timber press) periodliving.co.uk 149

Brown landscaped the deer park of Newton House at Dinefwr Park in Carmarthenshire

Changing landscapes It’s over 300 years since the birth of the great landscape designer Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown. Stephanie Mahon looks back at the legacy left by the man who moved hills and called forth lakes while altering the face of 18th-century English estates

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Garden Design

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Ashridge Estate in Hertfordshire is an ambassador site for the Landscape Institute CB300 project, part of the Capability Brown Festival 2016

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Brown was commissioned by the 4th Duke of Marlborough in 1763, to transform the landscaped parkland of Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire

ngland is famed as a green and pleasant land, with mighty oaks and peaceful lakes – a vision of pastoral beauty. But the greatest secret of these symbolic ‘natural’ landscapes is that many are essentially ‘fakes’; they were created by man, and one man in particular: Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, who in the 18th century changed the face of the nation’s countryside.

Born in 1716 in Kirkharle, Northumberland, the fifth child of six, and son of a yeoman farmer, Brown was to rise from these humble beginnings to become the respected King’s Master Gardener.

His style of landscaping was likely influenced by his childhood walks to school through stunning natural scenery. He stayed in education until he was 16, which was unusual for the time, and then became an apprentice gardener; but Brown was driven to do more than tend fruit in a kitchen garden, and soon made his way south.

In 1741, he was lucky enough to be accepted as an undergardener at Stowe in Buckinghamshire, which, as the first garden to have a guidebook, was already well known as an extraordinary landscape of temples, monuments and views.

When Brown arrived, there were more projects afoot, and he excelled in managing the works, soon being promoted to head gardener, and then clerk of works. With his newfound position, he was able to marry Bridget Wayet, a fellow dedicated Christian, and proved to be a doting father to their nine children.

E

Great capabilities Together with Stowe’s owner Lord Cobham, Brown created the Grecian Valley, a 60-acre area with facing temples. He originally planned to fill the resulting valley with water, but when Lord Cobham died, Brown had to move on. Thankfully, while he was alive, Cobham had ‘lent’ Brown out to friends to create works on 154 periodliving.co.uk

their estates, as he knew the young man would need introductions in society. Many influential people had seen his work at Stowe and followed his career, eventually asking him to come and see their land and suggest improvements. He would survey the scene and tell them their estate had ‘great capabilities’, earning him his famous nickname, ‘Capability’ Brown.

And so, in 1751, he began his solo career as an independent garden maker. He moved his family from Stowe to Hammersmith, the centre of the gardening world at that time, but it was an unreliable existence. Money was in short supply, and frequent long bouts of travel in all weathers often set off the asthmatic attacks that plagued Brown all his life.

In these first few years, however, through recommendations, he was invited to improve three important country seats: Croome Park in Worcestershire; Petworth in Sussex; and Burghley in Lincolnshire.

As time went on and his name became more widely known, he won contracts to work at Chatsworth in Derbyshire, and Longleat, Bowood and Corsham in Wiltshire.

He would walk the land on foot or on horseback, and then create drawings of suggested schemes. If these plans went ahead, they involved many years, sometimes decades, of labour and toil to achieve.

His schemes appear simple – green landscapes with plantings of trees dotted here and there, bodies of water, and paths leading to framed views of features such as follies or sculptures. The great men before him strived for Elysium, an other-worldy paradise, but Brown’s focus was on creating Arcadia, a heaven on earth. He also wanted this scene to come as close to the house as possible, and so used the ha-ha, or ‘fosse’, a hidden ditch to keep livestock away from the windows without the visual disturbance of fences, so that the view from the house was pleasing to behold.

Garden Design

‘Audley End in Essex is typical of his work,’ says Emily Parker, landscape advisor with English Heritage. ‘There he swept away the formal garden and changed it to a meandering informal landscape.’

Another typical Brownian device used here was the framing of the property by screening around the boundary with trees, creating a new horizon and blocking blemishes in the distance.

The sheer scale of Brown’s operations is mind-boggling. He made about 150 ornamental lakes over his career; moved whole villages; dammed and flooded valleys; removed millions of tons of earth; and planted millions of trees – at Longleat alone, in one winter, he planted 91,000 specimens.

Researchers believe Brown performed his magic at up to 270 properties, and his account details from Drummonds Bank reveal he may have worked on even more. His clients included Dukes and Duchesses, six Prime Ministers and half the House of Lords. His biographer, Jane Brown, believes one reason he was so successful was simply good timing: ‘In the 1750s, the young heirs had nearly all been on the Grand Tour, and they had all discovered “taste”. Their instinct was to make their own mark on the future.’

The 18th century was a time of boom, of the East India Company and the British Empire. Those who commissioned Brown wanted to express their intellectual and political prowess through their estates. With Brown’s salesmanship and keen powers of persuasion, it was only a matter of time before he set his sights on the highest reaches of society.

Royal wranglings When the young King George III and his new Queen, Charlotte, took over Buckingham House (now Buckingham Palace) in 1761, Brown was summoned to create plans for its garden.

Unfortunately, the Queen’s love of animals meant that these improvements never happened – she used the gardens for her goats, elephant and zebra instead.

Brown consoled himself by taking on Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, but still desired a royal appointment. In June 1764, he expressly asked to work at Windsor, and not a month later it was announced that he had been awarded a Royal warrant and the title of Master Gardener – not at Windsor, but at Hampton Court Palace. The king had no intention of residing there, so Brown’s role was really that of a caretaker, and he continued to work for other clients. His new position was well paid and also came with a cottage, Wilderness House, where he installed his growing family.

Ironically he never got to create a garden for himself, and he died on 6 February 1783 at his daughter’s house in London, after collapsing in the street. He worked ceaselessly up until the end, and the gardens he designed hold pride of place within the English landscape garden style of the time (known as le jardin anglais in Europe), and inspired eminent figures across the globe – both Ermenonville in France and the English Grounds of Wörlitz were influenced by Stowe; and Catherine the Great of Russia ordered a set of Wedgwood decorated in Brownian scenes.

That his designs have endured throughout the centuries speaks to their genius. His landscapes were practical as well as pretty – you can harvest wood from the trees, keep sheep on the land and use it for shooting. ‘They have impact and drama, and became the epitome of the English country house,’ says Emily Parker.

Brown did create one design in France, but never otherwise strayed from the land that he loved, even when the Duke of Leinster tried to tempt him to Ireland. He could not come, he wrote, as he had ‘not yet finished England’. periodliving.co.uk 155

STOWE IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE © NATIONAL TRUST IMAGES/ANDREW BUTLER, BLENHEIM PALACE, NATIONAL TRUST IMAGES/RUPERT TRUMAN, BOWOOD HOUSE, LANCELOT BROWN AND NATIONAL TRUST/GEREMY BUTLER

Photographs ASHRIDGE ESTATE, BURTON CONSTABLE, HAREWOOD HOUSE TRUST, SHERBORNE CASTLE,

THIS PAGE, FROM TOP The Temple of Concord and Victory in the Grecian Valley at Stowe, in Buckinghamshire, where Brown cut his teeth as an undergardener; at Weston Park in Shropshire, a team spent 15 years restoring its Browndesigned grounds in time for the 300year anniversary of his birth OPPOSITE A haze hangs over a still lake at Croome Park in Worcerstershire, which is notable as Capability’s first full landscape project as an independent garden maker

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Garden Design

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Directory Find gardens to visit around the country, specialist nurseries and garden centres and garden courses to help develop your horticultural skills

London & South East Gardens to visit Walled gardens including the Collector Earl’s Garden, a stumpery, and hot and cool borders. Arundel, West Sussex BN18 9AB. (01903 882173; arundelcastle.org) audley end Capability Brown views with a serpentine lake and elegant garden buildings by Robert Adam. Saffron Walden, Essex CB11 4JF. (0370 333 1181; english-heritage.org.uk) BeninGton lordsHiP Known for snowdrops, but always something to see, including colourful borders all summer. Stevenage, Hertfordshire SG2 7BS. (0870 126 1709; beningtonlordship.co.uk) BetH CHatto Gardens & nursery Famous gravel, scree, water and woodland gardens. Elmstead Market, Colchester, Essex CO7 7DB. (01206 822007; bethchatto.co.uk) BlenHeiM PalaCe Parkland landscaped by Capability Brown, as well as gardens and woodland. Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1PP. (01993 810530; blenheimpalace.com) BuCKinGHaM PalaCe Garden tours are now available of HM The Queen’s extensive grounds with an expert guide. Buckingham Palace, London SW1A 1AA (Book tours via royalcollection.org.uk) CHelsea PHysiC Garden Founded in 1673, and still an oasis in the city. 66 Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, London SW3 4HS. (020 7352 5646; chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk) eXBury Gardens A 200-acre site famous for the Rothschild collection of rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias and rare trees and shrubs. Southampton, Hampshire SO45 1AZ. (023 8089 1203; exbury.co.uk) Gravetye Manor The house and garden of Victorian garden writer William Robinson, pioneer of ‘The Wild Garden’. Vowels Lane, West Hoathly, Sussex RH19 4LJ. (01342 810567; gravetyemanor.co.uk) Great CoMP Quirky garden with rare plants, around a 17thcentury manor house. Also home to Dysons Nurseries specialising in salvias. Comp Lane, Platt, Sevenoaks, Kent TN15 8QS. (01732 885094; greatcompgarden.co.uk) Great diXter Historic house, garden, centre of education and a place of pilgrimage for horticulturists from around the world. Northiam, Rye, East Sussex TN31 6PH. (01797 252878; greatdixter.co.uk) Hever Castle Award-winning gardens in 125 acres of grounds around a mini moated castle once lived in by Anne Boleyn. Hever, Edenbridge, Kent TN8 7NG. (01732 865224; hevercastle.co.uk) KneBWortH Some 28 acres of formal gardens with a maze, borders and a wilderness area and Dinosaur trail. Knebworth, Hertfordshire SG3 6PY. (01438 812661; knebworthhouse.com) MarKs Hall Gardens and arboretum with a fine tree collection set in more than 200 acres of historic landscape. Coggeshall, Essex CO6 1TG. (01376 563796; markshall.org.uk) MottisFont Enjoy carpets of spring bulbs, the famous walled arundel Castle

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rose garden in June, then rich autumn leaves and a colourful winter garden. Heelis, Kemble Drive, Swindon SN2 2NA. (0344 800 1895; nationaltrust.org.uk) osBorne House Garden Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s private home and grounds. York Avenue, East Cowes, Isle of Wight PO32 6JX. (0370 333 1181; english-heritage.org.uk/visit/ places/osborne) oXFord BotaniC The oldest botanic garden in Britain, with inspiring herbaceous borders and glasshouses. Rose Lane, Oxford OX1 4AZ. (01865 286690; botanic-garden.ox.ac.uk) PainsHill A large 18th-century landscape garden with beautiful lakes and follies. Portsmouth Road, Cobham, Surrey KT11 1JE. (01932 868113; painshill.co.uk) ParHaM Pleasure grounds and a four-acre walled garden with vegetable garden, orchard and a 1920s Wendy House. Pulborough, West Sussex RH20 4HS. (01903 742021; parhaminsussex.co.uk) PasHley Manor Artistic planting framed by old trees, fountains and ponds, and a Tudor/Georgian manor house. Known for tulips in spring. Ticehurst, Nr Wadhurst, East Sussex TN5 7HE. (01580 200888; pashleymanorgardens.com) rousHaM Respected English landscape garden by William Kent with ponds, cascades, temples and sham ruins. Rousham, Bicester, Oxfordshire OX25 4QU. (01869 347665; rousham.org) savill Garden Comprises 35 acres of interconnected gardens including a rose garden, spring wood, summer garden and New Zealand Garden. Wick Lane, Englefield Green, Surrey TW20 0UU. (01753 860222; windsorgreatpark.co.uk/en/experiences/ the-savill-garden) sissinGHurst Castle Garden Vita Sackville-West created this romantic world-renowned garden. Biddenden Road, near Cranbrook, Kent TN17 2AB. (01580 710700; nationaltrust.org. uk/sissinghurst-castle-garden) stoWe An 18th-century landscape garden with tranquil stretches of water. Buckingham, Buckinghamshire MK18 5EQ. (0344 800 1895; nationaltrust.org.uk) tylney Hall Italian and Dutch gardens with a lake and picturesque bridge. Ridge Lane, Rotherwick, Hook, Hampshire RG27 9AZ. (01256 764881; tylneyhall.co.uk) vann Garden Internationally renowned five-acre garden around a 16th-century house, formed from a series of rooms. Hambledon, Godalming, Surrey GU8 4EF. (01428 683413; vanngarden.co.uk) Waddesdon Manor Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild created this garden in the late 19th century, with parterres, architectural features, a water garden and rose garden. Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire HP18 0JH. (01296 653226; waddesdon.org.uk) West Green House Garden of rooms with formal parterres, elaborate potager, herbaceous borders, water staircase and wild areas. Known for opera evenings. Hartley, Wintney RG27 8JB. (01252 844611; westgreenhouse.co.uk)

Directory

Garden Centres & nurseries

Garden Centres & nurseries

Topiary and exotics such as hardy palms, bananas and bamboos. Stane Street, North Heath, Pulborough, West Sussex RH20 1DJ. (01798 879213; architecturalplants.com) BeeCHes nursery Choice, rare and interesting garden plants.

Saffron Walden, Ashdon, Essex CB10 2HB. (01799 584362; beechesnursery.co.uk) BurFord Garden CoMPany Home and garden store in the heart of the Cotswolds. Shilton Road, Burford OX18 4PA. (01993 823117; burford.co.uk) CliFton nurseries The garden centre in the city, with plants, accessories and furniture. 5A Clifton Villas, London W9 2PH. (020 7289 6851; clifton.co.uk) daisy roots Healthy hardy perennials and ornamental grasses. Jenningbury, London Road, Hertford SG13 7NS. (07958 563355; daisyroots.com) lonG aCre Plants Unusual woodland plants and plants for shade. Southmarsh, Wincanton, Charlton Musgrove BA9 8EX. (01963 32802; plantsforshade.co.uk) MarCHants Hardy Plants One of the leading small nurseries with a range of herbaceous perennials and ornamental grasses.

Mill Lane, Laughton, East Sussex BN8 6AJ. (01323 811737; marchantshardyplants.co.uk) MerriMents Specialises in more unusual varieties, including many of the plants grown in the on-site four-acre gardens.

Hawkhurst Road, Hurst Green, East Sussex TN19 7RA. (01580 860666; merriments.co.uk) PetersHaM nurseries A high-end garden centre with nursery and glasshouse restaurant. Petersham Road, Richmond TW10 7AB. (020 8940 5230; petershamnurseries.com) tHe PlaCe For Plants Family-run specialist plant centre and garden with café. East Bergholt Place, Mill Road, East Bergholt, Colchester CO7 6UP. (01206 299224; placeforplants.co.uk)

Harvey’s Garden Plants

arCHiteCtural Plants

East of England Gardens to visit Heritage-listed garden designed for year-round interest. Brookside, Cambridge CB2 1JE. (01223 336265; botanic.cam.ac.uk) east rusHton old viCaraGe A modern garden of rooms including a tree fern garden, exotic garden, desert wash and cutting garden. Norwich, Norfolk NR12 9HN. (01692 650432; e-ruston-oldvicaragegardens.co.uk) HelMinGHaM Hall Beautiful park with parterre, borders, walled kitchen garden, rose garden and knot garden. Helmingham, Stowmarket, Suffolk IP14 6EF. (01473 890799; helmingham.com) HindrinGHaM Hall Moated hall with delightful grounds, bog and water garden, and wild garden. Blacksmiths Lane, Hindringham, Norfolk NR21 0QA. (01328 878226; hindringhamhall.org) HouGHton Hall Award-winning walled garden with Italian garden, formal rose parterre, fruit and vegetable garden. King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE31 6UE. (01485 528569; houghtonhall.com) PeCKover House Elegant Georgian town house with walled Victorian-style garden. North Brink, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire PE13 1JR. (0344 800 1895; nationaltrust.org.uk) PenstHorPe Natural park with wildlife and year-round interest including a garden planted by designer Piet Oudolf. Fakenham Road, Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 0LN. (01328 851465; pensthorpe.com) CaMBridGe BotaniC Garden

Extensive range of hardy herbaceous plants and unusual shade and woodland plants. Great Green, Thurston IP31 3SJ. (01359 233363; harveysgardenplants.co.uk) tHornCroFt CleMatis Specialists in clematis. Open by appointment. Reymerston, The Lings, Norwich NR9 4QG. (01953 850407; thorncroftclematis.co.uk) Woottens oF WenHaston Specialising in bearded irises, pelargoniums, violas and snowdrops. Blackheath, Wenhaston, Halesworth, Suffolk IP19 9HD. (01502 478258; woottensplants.co.uk)

South West Gardens to visit Sweeping views from this landscape garden with topiary, sculpture and the National Collection of Daylilies. Torpoint, Cornwall PL11 2QA. (01752 812191; nationaltrust.org.uk/antony) atHelHaMPton House Enjoy the river walks and dovecote as well as the pond, canal and the Great Court. Puddletown, Dorchester DT2 7LG. (01305 848363; athelhampton.co.uk) BonytHon estate Magnificent shrubs, a walled garden, lakes and a woodland walk. Cury Cross Lanes, Helston, Cornwall TR12 7BA. (01326 240550; bonythonmanor.co.uk) BoWood House Capability Brown landscape and woodland garden with famous collection of rhododendrons. Derry Hill, Calne, Wiltshire SN11 9PQ. (01249 823881; bowood.org) CaerHays estate & BurnCoose nurseries Famous for camellias and magnolias. Gorran, St Austell PL26 6LY. (01872 501310; caerhays.co.uk) east laMBrooK Manor Post-war cottage gardener and writer Margery Fish’s masterpiece. South Petherton TA13 5HH. (01460 240328; eastlambrook.com) HesterCoMBe 300 years of garden design features including gardens by Gertrude Jekyll and Edwin Lutyens. Taunton, Somerset TA2 8LG. (01823 413923; hestercombe.com) HidCote Manor Groundbreaking, world-famous Arts and Crafts garden of rooms. Hidcote Bartrim, Chipping Campden GL55 6LR. (01386 438333; nationaltrust.org.uk) HiGHGrove The extensive gardens of HRH Prince Charles, run organically. Tetbury, Gloucestershire. (0303 222 4555; highgrovegardens.com) iFord Manor Harold Peto designed this Italianate delight, with cloister, terraces and statuary. Iford, Bradford-on-Avon BA15 2BA. (01225 863146; ifordmanor.co.uk) PainsWiCK roCoCo Gardens Delightful architectural confections in heritage garden. Known for snowdrops. Gloucester Road, Painswick, Stroud GL6 6TH. (01452 813204; rococogarden.org.uk) stourHead Neo-classical gardens with lake walks, temples and follies. Stourton, Wiltshire BA12 6QF. (01747 841152; nationaltrust.org.uk) sudeley Castle Award-winning historic gardens restored to complement the castle and its ruins. Winchcombe, Cheltenham GL54 5JD. (01242 602308; sudeleycastle.co.uk) tHe eden ProJeCt Large gardens nestled in a huge crater, with famous biomes housing the largest rainforest in captivity.

Bodelva, Cornwall PL24 2SG. (01726 811911; edenproject.com) tHe Garden House Several gardens in one over 10 acres with a huge and diverse plant collection. Buckland Monachorum, Yelverton, Devon PL20 7LQ. (01822 854769; thegardenhouse.org.uk) antony

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treBaH Comes alive in spring with rhododendrons, magnolias and camellias. Mawnan Smith, Nr Falmouth, Cornwall TR11 5JZ. (01326 252200; trebahgarden.co.uk) tresCo aBBey Island paradise of tender and exotic plants. Isles of Scilly TR24 0QQ. (01720 422849; tresco.co.uk) treWidden Peaceful Cornish garden with champion trees and shrubs. Buryas Bridge, Penzance, Cornwall TR20 8TT. (01736 351979; trewiddengarden.co.uk)

Garden Centres & nurseries duCHy oF CornWall nursery Selling a wide variety of plants including varieties rarely available elsewhere, with staff with in-depth knowledge. Cott Road, Lostwithiel PL22 0HW. (01208 872668; duchyofcornwallnursery.co.uk) Knoll Gardens & nursery Demonstration garden and nursery specialising in ornamental grasses. Stapehill Road, Hampreston, Wimborne BH21 7ND. (01202 873931; knollgardens.co.uk) KelWays Known for peonies but also selling perennials, shrubs and bulbs. Picts Hill, Langport TA10 9EZ. (01458 250521; kelways.co.uk) Pan GloBal Plants Offering a selection of the most desirable and often rarest plants capable of growing in Britain. The Walled Garden, Frampton Court, Frampton-on-Severn GL2 7EX. (01452 741641; panglobalplants.com) sPeCial Plants Unusual plants and seeds from all over the world including herbaceous and rockery plants as well as tender perennials. Greenway Lane, Cold Ashton, Chippenham SN14 8LA. (01225 891686; specialplants.net)

West Midlands Gardens to visit Capability Brown parkland with walled garden and woodland. Berrington, near Leominster HR6 0DW. (01568 615721; nationaltrust.org.uk) dorotHy Clive Garden Intimate formal garden with woodland, an alpine scree and damp garden. Willoughbridge, Shropshire TF9 4EU. (01630 647237; dorothyclivegarden.co.uk) HaMPton Court Castle Enjoy the yew maze and varied gardens, with café in the original grand conservatory. Hope-underDinmore, Leominster, Herefordshire HR6 0PN. (01568 797676; hamptoncourt.org.uk) tHe lasKett A very personal formal garden of rooms, statuary and symbolism, by Sir Roy Strong and his late wife. Laskett Lane, Much Birch, Hereford HR2 8HZ. (thelaskettgardens.co.uk) raGley Hall 10 hectares of pleasure grounds and flower gardens with Capability Brown parkland beyond. Alcester B49 5NJ. (01789 762090; ragley.co.uk) trentHaM Contemporary planting in Neo-classical frame with lakeside walks. Stone Road, Trentham, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 8AX. (01782 646646; trentham.co.uk) Wollerton old Hall Immaculate small garden of rooms including rose, rill, shade and croft gardens. Wollerton, Market Drayton TF9 3NA. (01630 685760; wollertonoldhallgarden.com) BerrinGton Hall

Garden Centres & nurseries Garden centre with self-grown plants, gift shop and cafe. Known for hepaticas and hellebores.

Ashwood Lower Lane, Kingswinford DY6 0AE. (01384 401996; ashwoodnurseries.com)

asHWood nurseries

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avondale nursery Display garden and nursery with collections of geum, geranium, crocosmia, agapanthus, eryngium, aster and helenium. Mill Hill, Baginton, Coventry CV8 3AG. (024 7667 3662; avondalenursery.co.uk) CotsWold Garden FloWers Specialist nursery stocking a huge range of unusual perennials. Sands Lane, Badsey, Evesham WR11 7EZ. (01386 833849; cgf.net) FiBreX nurseries Known for a great range of pelargoniums and ferns. Honeybourne Road, Pebworth, Stratford-upon-Avon CV37 8XP. (01789 720788; fibrex.co.uk) old Court nurseries and tHe PiCton Garden Nursery and display garden specialising in breeding and growing Michaelmas daises – autumn-flowering asters. Walwyn Road, Malvern WR13 6QE. (01684 540416; autumnasters.co.uk)

East Midlands Gardens to visit Exceptional historic estate with rose garden, kitchen garden, maze, great cascade and parkland. Bakewell, Derbyshire DE45 1PP. (01246 565300; chatsworth.org) Coton Manor Accomplished garden with walls of roses, borders and terraces of pots. Coton Road, Coton, Northampton NN6 8RQ. (01604 740219; cotonmanor.co.uk) easton Walled Gardens 12 acres of ‘lost’ restored gardens, renowned for sweet peas. Easton, Grantham NG33 5AP. (01476 530063; eastonwalledgardens.co.uk) Haddon Hall Romantic terraces looking out over the river and parkland. Bakewell DE45 1LA. (01629 812855; haddonhall.co.uk) KelMarsH A Grade I-listed house surrounded by award-winning gardens and extensive parkland. Harborough Road, Kelmarsh, Northamptonshire NN6 9LY. (01604 686543; kelmarsh.com) CHatsWortH

Garden Centres & nurseries BlueBell arBoretuM An award-winning, traditional working nursery, specialising in rare and unusual trees, shrubs and climbers. Annwell Lane, Smisby, Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire LE65 2TA. (01530 413700; bluebellnursery.com) 12 nunns nursery A small specialist nursery near Stamford, Lincolnshire selling pot plants, plug plants, seeds and bulbs.

Carisbrook Grove, Stamford, Lincolnshire PE9 2GF. (01778 590455; twelvenunns.co.uk)

Wales Gardens to visit Restored Tudor garden with cloister and walled gardens plus woodland and kitchen garden. Aberglasney, Carmarthen, Dyfed SA32 8QH. (01558 668998; aberglasney.org) Bodnant Have a great day out in the terraced gardens, dell valley and wild garden. Tal-y-cafn, near Colwyn Bay LL28 5RE. (01492 650460; nationaltrust.org.uk) BodysGallen Hall Restored 17th-century parterre plus rockery, ponds and follies. The Royal Welsh Way, Llandudno, North Wales LL30 1RS. (01492 584466; bodysgallen.com) deWstoW Gardens A Victorian delight rediscovered in 2000, the gardens contain ponds, rills and rockeries plus underground grottoes, tunnels and sunken ferneries. Caerwent, Caldicot aBerGlasney

Directory

NP26 5AH. (01291 431020; dewstowgardens.co.uk) dyFFryn Gardens A collection of botanical gardens renowned for dahlias in August. St Nicholas CF5 6SU. (029 2059 3328; nationaltrust.org.uk) national BotaniC Gardens oF Wales A range of themed gardens, and the world’s largest single-span glasshouse, in a Regency landscape. Middleton Hall, Llanarthne, Carmarthenshire SA32 8HN. (01558 667149; botanicgarden.wales) Plas BrondanW The home and gardens of Clough Williams-Ellis, designer of Portmerion. Penrhyndeudraeth, Gwynedd LL48 6SW. (01766 772772; plasbrondanw.com) PoWis Castle Known for its Italianate terraces created from the solid rock, and spectacular yew hedges. Welshpool SY21 8RF. (01938 551944; nationaltrust.org.uk)

Garden Centres & nurseries Unusual perennials especially eryngium, geum and geranium. Hexham, Northumberland NE48 3NT. (01434 230083; chipchaseplants.com) dove CottaGe nursery Sloping, north-facing display garden and nursery of late-summer flowering perennials and grasses.

Shibden Hall Road, Halifax HX3 9XA. (01422 203553; dovecottagenursery.co.uk) slaCK toP nurseries Specialist growers of alpines and other hardy plants, with display rock garden. Heptonstall, Hebden Bridge HX7 7HA. (01422 845348; slacktopnurseries.co.uk) WyKeHaM Mature Plants Suppliers of mature plants including trees, shrubs and hedging, including instant hedging.

Wykeham Abbey, Scarborough YO13 9QS. (01723 862406; wykehammatureplants.co.uk) CHiPCHase Castle nursery

Garden Centres & nurseries Ranges of hardy perennials especially irises and peonies. Sarn, Newtown SY16 4EN. (01686 670342; claireaustin-hardyplants.co.uk) CruG FarM Plants A Mecca for extraordinary new plants from the owners’ annual sorties to remote corners of the globe.

Caernarfon LL55 1TU. (01248 670232; crug-farm.co.uk) Claire austin Hardy Plants

North East Gardens to visit alnWiCK Gardens A complex of contemporary formal gardens, including the famous Poison Garden, by Alnwick Castle. Denwick Lane, Alnwick NE66 1YU. (01665 511350; alnwickgarden.com) BrodsWortH Hall A collection of grand gardens in miniature restored to their full Victorian splendour. Doncaster DN5 7XJ. (01302 722598; english-heritage.org.uk) Burton aGnes Hall Award-winning gardens with walled garden, borders, jungle garden and woodland walk, maze and giant games. Driffield, East Riding YO25 4NB. (01262 490324; burtonagnes.com) Herterton House One-acre garden packed with interest including a formal garden of hedges and topiary, a physic garden, flower garden and fancy garden. Cambo, Morpeth, Northumberland NE61 4BN. (01670 774278) HoWiCK Hall Known for spring bulbs and the woodland garden, plus borders, a rockery, woodland walks and a wild bog garden.

Alnwick NE66 3LB. (01665 577285; howickhallgardens.org) lindisFarne Castle Gertrude Jekyll-designed garden on the edge of the North Sea. Holy Island TD15 2SH. (01289 389244; nationaltrust.org.uk) neWBy Hall A garden of rooms for all seasons, created in the early 1920s. Skelton-on-Ure, Ripon HG4 5AE. (01423 322583; newbyhall.com) renisHaW Hall Known for its Italianate gardens and displays of magnolias, bluebells and delphiniums among many more.

Renishaw, Sheffield S21 3WB. (01246 432310; renishaw-hall.co.uk) sCaMPston Walled Gardens Stately home garden with modern design by Piet Oudolf, set in a Capability Brown park. Malton YO17 8NG. (01944 759111; scampston.co.uk) WallinGton Walled garden filled with themed borders, decorative shrubs and specimen plants, plus Edwardian conservatory. Cambo, near Morpeth NE61 4AR. (01670 773600; nationaltrust.org.uk)

North West Gardens to visit aCorn BanK Tranquil haven known for its large herb collection and traditional fruit orchard. Temple Sowerby, Penrith CA10 1SP. (01768 361893; nationaltrust.org.uk) arley Hall Enjoy the first herbaceous border of its kind planted in England and other treasures in eight acres of formal garden. Arley, Northwich CW9 6NA. (01565 777353; arleyhallandgardens.com) daleMain Sheltered five-acre plantsman’s garden. Penrith CA11 0HB. (01768 486450; dalemain.com) dunHaM Massey Celebrated winter and rose gardens for interest all through the year. Altrincham, Cheshire WA14 4SJ. (01619 411025; nationaltrust.org.uk) GresGartH Hall The garden of award-wining designer Lady Arabella Lennox-Boyd, with terraces, lakes, bog garden, bluebell wood and serpentine walk. Caton, Lancaster LA2 9NB. (01524 771838; arabellalennoxboyd.com/gresgarth) HolKer Hall Seat of the Cavendish family, with 25 acres of garden, part woodland and part formal garden, and 200-acre natural parkland. Grange-over-Sands LA11 7PL. (01539 558328; holker.co.uk) levens Hall The only surviving garden from the 17th century with famous topiary shapes. Kendal, Cumbria LA8 0PD. (01539 560321; levenshall.co.uk) tatton ParK One of the UK’s most complete historic estates, with 50 acres of landscaped gardens. Mereheath Drive, Knutsford, Cheshire WA16 6QN. (01625 374400; tattonpark.org.uk)

Garden Centres & nurseries Nursery specialising in helenium and centaurea.

Hankelow, Cheshire. (01270 811443; specialperennials.com) sPeCial Perennials

Scotland Gardens to visit Glades and ridges of trees plus a beautiful Victorian fernery. Argyll, Benmore, Dunoon PA23 8QU. (01369 706261; rbge.org.uk/the-gardens/benmore) CaMBo House A traditional Victorian garden with a modern edge, and famous ornamental potager. Kingsbarns, St Andrews KY16 8QD. (01333 450313; camboestate.com) BenMore BotaniC Garden

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dunBeatH Castle Two walled gardens alongside the castle lodge, on the cliffs of the north-east coast. Caithness, Scotland KW6 6ED. (01593 731308; dunbeath.co.uk) loGan BotaniC Garden Exotic garden warmed by the Gulf Stream, full of southern hemisphere plants. Port Logan, Stranraer, Dumfries and Galloway DG9 9ND. (01776 860231; rbge.org.uk/the-gardens/logan) royal BotaniC Garden, edinBurGH 70 acres of gardens near the city centre, including a wonderful palm house. Inverleith Row, Edinburgh EH3 5LR. (01315 527171; rbge.org.uk/thegardens/edinburgh)

Garden Centres & nurseries Known for peonies as well as ferns and grasses.

Ecclesmachan Road, Uphall EH52 6NL. (01506 858931; binnyplants.com) edroM nurseries Stocking a range of plants for the climate of southeast Scotland, may considered rare and unusual.

Coldingham, Eyemouth, Berwickshire TD14 5TZ. (01890 771386; edrom-nurseries.co.uk) MaCPlants Growers of herbaceous perennials, alpines, ferns and ornamental grasses. Pencaitland, Tranent EH34 5BA. (01875 341179; macplants.co.uk) Binny Plants

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Gardening courses New garden school offering long and short courses in horticulture and design including one-day courses and workshops such as: Planning and planting borders; Introduction to garden design; Container gardening; Biodynamic gardening; and Horticulture for beginners. Gossington Hall, Gossington GL2 7DN. (01453 899018; cotswoldgardening school.co.uk) KlC sCHool oF desiGn Training for those wishing to make a career in interior or garden design, including degrees and diplomas, but also one- and two-day and one- and two-week ‘toe in the water’ short courses in garden design. Courses held at Hampton Court Palace. Chelsea Harbour, London SW10 0XF. (020 7376 3377; klc.co.uk) MyGardensCHool.CoM Online courses with top tutors from the world of gardening. Upcoming courses include: Fruit and vegetable gardening for beginners (learningwithexperts. com/gardening/courses/edible-gardening-made-easy); John Brookes garden design course (learningwithexperts.com/ gardening/courses/garden-design-with-john-brookes); and Container gardening (learningwithexperts.com/gardening/ courses/container-gardening) rHs HarloW Carr Enjoy the northern garden of the society on one of the many day courses on offer. Crag Lane, Harrogate HG3 1UE. (01423 565418; rhs.org.uk/gardens/harlow-carr) rHs Hyde Hall Experience the dry garden, woodland garden and hilltop garden on a variety of day courses. Chelmsford, Essex CM3 8ET. (0845 265 8071; rhs.org.uk/gardens/hyde-hall) rHs roseMoor Highly ornamental gardens in a steep valley, with regular courses. Great Torrington, Devon EX38 8PH. (020 3176 5800; rhs.org.uk/gardens/rosemoor) rHs Wisley Large varied flagship garden of the Royal Horticultural Society, with diverse areas and glasshouses. Woking, Surrey GU23 6QB. (0845 260 9000; rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley) royal BotaniC Gardens, KeW The world’s most famous botanic garden boasting landscapes, glasshouses, historic buildings and a vast range of rare and beautiful plants. Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AB. (020 8332 3200; kew.org) WaterPerry Gardens Formal Gardens including the Mary Rose Garden, a Waterlily Canal and the Long Colour Border. Known for excellent courses, such as: Herbaceous borders (Wednesday 8 June, 10.30am–3.30pm – tips for keeping borders looking good and practical advice about planning and planting); and Willow garden structures (Saturday 25 June, 10am–4.30pm – learn how to create beautiful, unique artefacts for your garden using natural willow). Nr Wheatley, Oxfordshire, England OX33 1JZ. (01844 339254; waterperrygardens.co.uk) West dean Gardens An impressive collection of working Victorian glasshouses, a 300-foot pergola, a spring garden and the occasional surreal fibreglass tree offer year-round interest to visitors, but many people also come here to learn in the gardens.

West Dean, Nr Chichester, West, Sussex PO18 0QZ. (01243 811301; westdean.org.uk) CotsWold GardeninG sCHool

If you are passionate about gardening, then The Big Book of English Gardens is the perfect companion, providing garden planning inspiration, design ideas, practical tips and plant solutions. Filled with 16 glorious garden

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case studies, from formal designs to wild and wonderful planting schemes, this book brings together the beauty and wide diversity of garden oases in England, all tended to and

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cherished by their proud owners