Beautiful reader gardens
This leafy planting paradise makes the most of sun and shade, with bold accents of flower colour. Owners Pete Stevens and Kerrie Lloyd-Dawson reveal its secrets
W ith its dramatic layers of foliage in all shapes, sizes, textures and colours, this quiet garden in semi-rural Hertfordshire offers a tranquil spot to get away from it all. “We love foliage plants, especially those with purple accents such as rheums and rodgersia,” explains owner Kerrie Lloyd-Dawson. “We try to intersperse the leaves with dots of incidental flower colour, particularly red-flowered geums and fiery kniphofias.” Kerrie and Pete bought their 1930s bungalow in 2009. “The garden was a blank canvas when we first arrived,” says Kerrie. “It’s on the site of a former gravel pit so the soil is full of gravel and flint, but it had lots of mature trees circling the far end, which we’ve transformed into a mini-woodland. “Now we have three white-stemmed birches underplanted with spring bulbs, epimediums and an increasing collection of
“We try to intersperse the leaves with red-flowered geums and fiery kniphofias”
PLANTING POCKETS (clockwise from top left) The pond is framed by flag irises and mimulus; assorted alliums, Anemanthele lessoniana and later, crocosmias, enjoy this sunny border; alpines thrive on a freedraining mound; hostas ‘Touch of Class’ and ‘Frances Williams’ with red-flowered heuchera ‘Hercules’; stepping stones plunge between deep planting areas woodland plants such as paris, podophyllum, tree ferns, jungly Tetrapanax rex and a schefflera. These create a canopy for interesting foliage plants including saxifrage and brunnera. “We also wanted a pond and as the ground here was quite low anyway, it was the perfect place. Now it’s our favourite part of the garden,” she says. “The trees offer a protected microclimate, with raised banks where we grow unusual plants such as beautiful, buttery-yellow Nepal poppies (Meconopsis napaulensis), Japanese painted ferns (Athyrium niponicum) and trilliums. It’s also ideal for our hosta collection, including variegated ‘Touch of
Class’ and big-leaved ‘Big Daddy’.” Another area Kerrie and Pete have paid a lot of attention to is the neighbouring bog garden. “We planned it right from the start, and made it from old bin liners, only to find it was far too small. Three extensions later, it’s now home for moisture-loving plants such as gunnera, rheum, ligularia, rodgersia and candelabra primulas.” With these damp and shady glades planted up, the couple designed their way back towards the house. “We found that the garden offered a wide range of growing conditions, so we’re blessed with sunny borders and shady corners, as well as watery spots and more freedraining areas. “We’ve used these different plant habitats to create a patchwork of contrasting textures and colours. Hopefully we’ve created a journey through the garden, leading the eye (and the feet!) to explore all its nooks and crannies.” Brighter, more open areas include a sunny border full of grasses, camassias and alliums, a raised slate bed full of alpines and a small wildflower patch surrounding an old apple tree. Spring brings a visual feast of colour to the garden, just in time for its NGS opening. “May is the perfect time to open our garden,” says Pete. “It’s just getting going enough to be interesting, plus people love to buy our propagated plants. We always get such enthusiastic visitors. “In fact, one man became so interested in our garden that he left us some arums and arisaema with a note saying that he saw we didn’t have them in our collection, so he brought them for us. Wonderful!” The spring show starts with small bulbs such as scillas, chionodoxa, Anemone blanda and early species tulips. “Then we have hellebores in abundance from April, before the lovely dangling flowers of dicentra [lamprocapnos],” says Pete. “We also have lots of epimediums, akebia and the Chilean glory flower, Eccremocarpus SPACE TO THINK (clockwise from above) Lush borders include a tree fern and anthriscus ‘Ravenswing’; barkchip paths create a natural feel; the bog garden, with rodgersia and candelabra primulas; grassy paths pass blue myosotis, bluebells and gold foliage of tradescantia and heuchera; giant gunnera INSET Bidens and nasturtium scaber. It’s my favourite plant – I’m always going out to see how it’s doing.” “Spring is always our busiest time in the garden,” says Kerrie. “Not only do we open for the National Garden Scheme, we also do a mammoth amount of pruning, tidying back perennials left for winter stems and seedheads, sowing annuals and sorting out all the plants in the greenhouse. We also plant out bulbs that we’ve grown in pots to fill any gaps. We find it works much better than trying to plant them in autumn when the ground is bare, because in spring we can see exactly where to put them.” “We love experimenting with different plants,” says Pete. “We’ve tried planting organic beetroot, parsnips and carrots in large old wine barrels, and we’re now growing a three-way-grafted pear tree. We even buy ladybirds in the post to pollinate our fruit and flowers and painstakingly put them on the roses, which clears up any aphid problems within days.”
“We’re blessed with sunny borders and shady corners as well as watery spots”