“Crisp edges keep the garden neat”
Clipped topiary and immaculate lawn edges make this wild garden shine in winter. Owner Rosie Thorburn reveals its colourful highlights
Clipped topiary and immaculate lawn edges make this wild garden shine in winter
This picturesque country garden has a lovely wild feel in winter that makes the most of seasonal colour and fabulous views. “I love to look out across the valley to Cademuir Hill,” says owner Rosie Thorburn. “It’s a lovely backdrop for the garden, which lies next to paddocks in a large estate, and thankfully there’s no risk of it being built on.
“The garden belongs to an old manse, next door to the church that gives Kirkton its name. It may be grand in size but the garden isn’t at all formal. In fact it’s quite wild, apart from the sharp edges – I’m a great one for neat edges because it means you’re less likely to notice all the weeds!” The garden seems remote but it’s only two miles from Peebles. “We came here in 1995 and started on the garden in 1996,” says Rosie, referring to herself and late husband Ronald. “I studied an inspiring garden design course in Edinburgh in 1997, which led me to plant a lot of trees in 2000 – especially silver birches.” The garden was very minimalistic when the couple first moved in. “It lies on a steady slope down to a mill lade at the LEVELS OF LIFE (clockwise from above left) Scaddle the spaniel keeps watch by the flight of steps leading to the dovecote; snowdrops weave between whitestemmed birch trees; hellebores add to the early spring spectacle; acid-green leaf buds contrast with the scarlet stems of Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’; ornate gazebo with snowdrop circle in the lower garden
bottom, where the land is very damp. It floods occasionally but it’s not really a problem. We had terraces put in that created three level areas, with a large flat lawn in the middle.”
The top garden up by the house now comprises a sweeping gravel drive and five topiaried yew trees. “We planted them along the drive to match the colour of our front door,” says Rosie. “They look very elegant and we like to keep them nicely trimmed so they make more of a statement. I used to clip them with my secateurs, but now I have a gardener come in two hours a week, who cuts them in July with his electric hedgetrimmer.
Occasionally he goes up on a ladder to remove the whiskery stems at the top.” In a bid to make the garden easier to manage, last autumn Rosie and her gardener rooted out the long herbaceous bed. “We’re making it into a shrub border close to the house, with an emphasis on winter-f lowering shrubs that can take over once the hydrangeas have finished,” she says. “We’ve planted viburnums such as Viburnum bodnantense (blooming OctApr) and Forsythia intermedia (Mar-Apr), with hellebores and a sprinkling of snowdrops underneath. They’re a real joy. The hellebores have evergreen foliage that lasts all year and the snowdrops are such a lovely sight to see, every time you drive in. There are white cyclamen too – I recently paid about £3 for six of them – what an absolute bargain!”
From April to May, the bluebells take over. “The whole of the upper garden is covered with them; they’ve spread to form a vibrant swathe. Next into flower is Exochorda macrantha ‘The Bride’, whose white blossom always looks so stunning, blooming with the bluebells and tulips.
“Our two main herbaceous borders start flowering from May into summer and the blooms usually last until about November. Here we have shrub roses including ‘Nevada’ and a charming viticella clematis. We also had an enormous wild rosa ‘Paulii’ that had grown to such vast proportions we had to chop it down. It really was quite wild!” In the damper, lower garden, plants are picked for their moisture-loving nature. “We planned the planting here for autumn foliage and winter bark,” explains Rosie. “So we have white-trunked birches and dogwoods, in red (Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’), orange (C. sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’), pale green (C. sericea ‘Flaviramea’) and the dark one (C. alba ‘Kesselringii’). “There’s a handsome Viburnum opulus (guelder rose) with its red autumn berries, and on the opposite side of the path another one with yellow berries.” An ornate, wrought-iron gazebo takes pride of place in this lower garden, festooned with a large honeysuckle and white-f lowered clematis ‘Jackmanii Alba’. “Snowdrops grow among the white birch trunks – our banks are covered with them. I’ve moved lots onto the flat terraces to help them colonise there, too. I’m not a galanthophile though – my collection is just ordinary snowdrops.
They f lower from January to March and I pick bunches to enjoy in the house. “Growing them among the trees means I can leave them to die down naturally after f lowering and it doesn’t delay the grass cutting. The central lawn gets mown every 2-3 weeks from March onwards, but there are snowdrops and other wildf lowers, buttercups and cow parsley, all round the edges from AugustSeptember. The cow parsley is lovely and lasts well in a vase.”
Early daffodils include the wild Tenby one, Narcissus obvallaris. “Because it’s such an early flowering daffodil – blooming March-April – it means they don’t get mown down too soon. We drift them through the cornus stems in the lower garden. In later spring there are blue camassias, acid green
Euphorbia palustris and dark-leaved ligularia ‘Britt Marie Crawford’. Their colours look so wonderful together.” To keep the plants thriving, Rosie and her gardener like to mulch in autumn. “We compost the grass cuttings from the previous year and spread it around the trees that need it or deserve it – especially newly planted ones. We also use wellrotted leafmould on our beds and borders. This feeds the soil, stops weeds and keeps the soil moist in drier parts of the garden. It also helps us get rid of our grass cuttings – so nothing goes to waste.” Opening the garden to the public is a challenge but gives energetic Rosie an impetus to keep it looking its best. “I absolutely love meeting people who are interested in gardening,” she says. “It’s like inviting friends to come and have a walk around my garden.” ✿
I’m a great one for neat edges – you’re less likely to notice all the weeds!