“It looks gorgeous, even in snow!”
Snow helps to highlight the dramatic shapes in this handsome country garden. Owners Liz and Peter Wyatt reveal what’s hidden under this white wintry blanket
Snow helps to highlight dramatic shapes in this country garden
An annual coating of the white stuff in winter is a good test of any garden’s design. This handsome plot in Scotland is a striking example of how snow can transform a space into exciting shapes. “We were lucky that the structure was really good when we moved here nine years ago,” says Liz Wyatt, who lives at Hollytree Lodge with her husband Peter. “It had been planted with lots of mature trees, evergreen rhododendrons and other shrubs about 40 years ago, including a framework of beech hedges that divides the garden into rooms.”
Despite this head start, the couple were keen to put their own stamp on the design. “We didn’t obey the rule that when you first move to a new garden you must do nothing for a year,” says Liz. “We were
STANDING TALL (clockwise from above left) Eucalyptus has been planted by the house, behind the wavy-topped beech hedge; snow-covered miscanthus; bobbly scabious wears caps of snow; local stone carver Gillian Forbes created this bold circle of Caithness standing stones, which complement the birch, conifers and rhododendron domes beyond
keen to start taming the beech hedges, which had become straggly over time, and Peter came up with the idea of clipping them into long, undulating lines, giving the garden views an elegant but more playful horizon. It’s added a sense of movement and architectural interest, and has changed the whole look of the garden.” Clipped yew columns, archways and buttresses offer a lush green contrast to the beech hedging, which hangs onto its coppery autumn foliage over winter. Other shrubs had to be removed as they’d come to the end of their natural lifespan. “The box parterre didn’t look particularly healthy,” says Liz. “I did my best to rescue it but it had to come out. We replaced the low hedging with cordoned
Clipped yew columns offer a lush green contrast to the beech hedging
apples and pears, and added a cut f lower garden that’s full of sweet peas in summer. It’s where I plant my ‘homeless’ plants before I decide where to put them!” At first the couple weren’t keen on keeping the rhododendrons. “We’d never had them before and always preferred deciduous plants,” says Liz. “Gardening with them has been a new experience though, and we’ve come to appreciate the different cultivars, with their glossy evergreen foliage and scent.”
Liz and Peter have planned the garden so there’s something to enjoy in every season. “In the dead of winter it’s fragrant pink Viburnum bodnantense, corkscrew hazel and golden mahonia f lower spikes. These are the real treasures of winter, and they look just as exciting with the snow setting off their dazzling shapes.”
The two umbrella-shaped Acer palmatum are about 50 years old and their trunks have become twisted and gnarled at the top – their sculptural silhouettes are revealed best when leaf less in winter. “On garden open days I mark out a treelovers’ trail,” says Liz. “Highlights include a Chilean beech (Nothofagus obliqua) and Persian ironwood (Parrotia persica), which colour up beautifully in autumn, and Hoheria sexstylosa, a New Zealand native that bears white f lowers in July. The couple’s main focus now is to
garden organically, with nature in mind. “The plants and trees we’ve chosen are all pollinator friendly,” says Liz. “Not using chemicals means we have a lovely mossy lawn too! Our rill and pond attract herons, frogs and dragonflies so it’s a good garden for wildlife diversity.
“Five years ago we began keeping bees and now we have two colonies in the garden. We’ve naturalised snowdrops, crocuses and scillas in the grass and, on sunny days early in the year, the bees venture out to collect nectar from them, in turn helping the flowers to grow in number. Later in spring the bees go for willow and chestnut catkins.”
Faded miscanthus, phlomis and scabious seedheads punctuate the snowy blanket too. “Not only do the seedheads provide food for birds,” says Liz, “they also help to bridge the end of the old year with the start of the new one.” ✿