“Our suburban plot is full of grand ideas”

With its immaculate lawn, cascade and deep herbaceous borders, this smart suburban garden has a relaxed but formal feel. Sue and Graham Pountney share its story

Sue and Graham Pountney

This voluptuous suburban garden is full of grand ideas for colour and style in summertime. “It’s taken us decades to get it looking like this,” says owner Sue Pountney, who has lived here with her husband Graham for the past 36 years. “At first it was a classic children’s garden – all slides, mud pies and paddling pools. Then, when the children grew up and left home, we gave it a completely new look.”

To get their smart new look, which embraces formal ideas within a relaxed herbaceous planting scheme, the first thing they did was cut down an overgrown laurel hedge and pull up the old garden paths. “And then we reseeded the lawn,” says Graham. “People often admire it, but it does undulate a bit.”

FLOWER POWER

(clockwise from above left) Alstroemeria and penstemon sparkle against dark-leaved Acer palmatum; a verdant lawn sweeps between borders containing roses, phlox and lysimachia; astrantias and astilbes in berry shades provide pockets of colour; foliage beside the wildlife pond; seating areas in a shady arbour; ...and on the sunny patio

The garden slopes gently uphill, leading from a patio next to the house up steps onto the lawn. This sweeps up to an arbour and decked seating area, following the route of a babbling cascade. “I’d always wanted water in the garden,” explains Sue. “So we installed a formal fish pond near the top of the garden and a wildlife pond at the bottom, with a meandering cascade running between them that makes the most of our natural slope.”

Deep herbaceous borders run parallel with the lush green lawn. “At first we found them difficult to maintain,” says Sue. “We were forever climbing through and under plants for access. Our solution was to lay

A meandering cascade makes the most of our natural slope