“It’s got a little bit of everything”
The snaking lines of snowdrops in this Shropshire garden give borders an unusual twist come wintertime. Curator Kathryn Robey tells us more
Snaking lines of snowdrops give borders an unusual twist
“Trees include elegant acers and white-trunked birches with attractive, tactile bark”
These immaculate woodland borders are guaranteed to lift the spirits on a cold winter’s day. With the snowdrops laid out in swirling lines and meanders, the idea could be used in any garden, as a modern take on the usual naturalised drifts. “We have lots of planting ideas for people to take home,” promises curator of the Dorothy Clive Garden, Kathryn Robey. “There’s a little bit of everything here and plenty of inspiration all year round.” The beautiful one-acre winter garden comes alive from November onwards. “The snaking displays of snowdrops are quite unusual and were planted by our previous gardener, Marcus Chilton-Jones,” says Kathryn. “There are lots of other plants besides the snowdrops for winter interest – trees for textural bark, cornus and salix for colourful stems, and chimonanthus and WOODLAND WONDERS (clockwise from above left) Skimmia japonica shrubs provide evergreen interest – best planted in odd-numbered groups; the demure nodding flowers of Helleborus niger; logs edge the gravel path between borders of hellebores, snowdrops and skimmia; mossy stones also create a woodland look daphnes for their beautiful scent. Around the snowdrops we have lots of little scillas and colourful hellebores.” Trees planted around the winter garden include elegant acers and white-trunked birches, all with attractive, tactile bark. “There are small Betula ermanii trees, which are very white, and the Himalayan birch, Betula utilis – mostly planted in groups. We also have Acer tegmentosum ‘Joe Witt’ and ‘White Tigress’ – both Manchurian snakebark maples – which have vivid green and white striped bark. “For shrubs we’ve included fragrant wintersweet Chimonanthus praecox, with its sulphur-yellow flowers on bare stems from December to March. There are
daphnes too: Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’, D. odora and D. laureola – the spurge laurel, which has fragrant green starry flowers in February, loved by early bees. Viburnum bodnantense ‘Dawn’ is a reliable source of fragrance from November right through to March. “Sarcococca, or sweet box, is another good plant for winter fragrance. They’re small evergreen shrubs with insignificant white f lowers whose scent is quite beautiful. We grow Sarcococca hookeriana, which has creamy-white tassel flowers and S. orientalis, which f lowers before Christmas, quite close to the path so you can enjoy their full fragrance.” Several witch hazels, Hamamelis intermedia ‘Arnold Promise’ (yellow), ‘Jelena’ (orange) and ‘Diane’ (an unusual dark red) weave their spidery-flowered magic from January to February, while Mahonia wagneri ‘Pinnacle’ picks up the baton from February to April, adding a dramatic flourish of yellow flower clusters above rosettes of prickly foliage. “Ours is a sheltered site on a slope with acidic soil,” explains Kathryn. “The witch hazels love it and do very well here.” The garden was created in 1939 when Colonel Harry Clive transformed a disused Victorian quarry into a woodland garden for his wife Dorothy, who was suffering from Parkinson’s disease. “The Colonel wanted to create a beautiful garden for Dorothy where she could enjoy her daily walks, which were considered the best cure at the time,” says Kathryn. “His passion for rhododendrons and azaleas led him to turn the former quarry into a Himalayan fantasy garden, with rhododendrons and azaleas and fabulous displays of Cornus kousa, the Korean dogwood. There are lots of rare and wonderful plants here for interest all through the year. “The garden became the Colonel’s main focus after his wife died. In 1958 it was set up as a charitable trust with the objectives of maintaining, enhancing and developing the garden in Dorothy’s memory, for the enjoyment and education of the public. “Today the garden offers a little bit of everything. We have early spring bulbs such as the snowdrops, narcissus ‘February Gold’ and ‘Little Witch’, plus crocus and Scilla mischtschenkoana. In summer there are roses and herbaceous borders, shrubberies, the quarry garden, glasshouse and a delightful tearoom with a terrace. The one-acre winter garden is part of the woodland garden, and we’re busy now extending the planting. “The main maintenance jobs for the winter garden are stooling back the cornus and salix stems in March; some we’ll take right back and others we’ll leave. Last November we planted tulips among them to create a contrast with the colourful stems in spring. “We mulch the soil with leafmould and organic matter every year or so. We’re on sandstone so the soil is quite thin and needs replenishing. We’ll divide the snowdrops after they’ve flowered in late February or March – snowdrops always come through better if they’re planted in the green, with a higher ‘strike’ rate. If you dig them up as bulbs there’s a risk they’ll dry out during the summer – you don’t want them out of the ground for that long. They certainly look stunning in their lines here – and it’s an idea anyone can copy at home.”
“We mulch the soil with organic matter – it’s quite thin and sandy”
WINTER WHITES (clockwise from above) Snowdrops and white hellebores echo the white birch trunks, contrasting with purple flowers of Iris reticulata; witch hazel ‘Arnold Promise’; Daphne odora carries fragrant pink blooms into spring; the path winds gently uphill, with Prunus serrula and hakonechloa in the foreground