Secrets of a Head Gardener
Perk up summer borders with an injection of colour to take over once other flowers fade and foliage starts to look past its best. We’ve found that introducing asters, particularly mildew-resistant New England types, brings a vibrancy back into the garden and gives us renewed enthusiasm as we approach autumn.
Take care to harmonise
a garden with its surroundings. Here we let views and focal points lead the visitor from the house through a series of garden rooms. As the views extend into open countryside, so the garden becomes more naturalistic with wildflower meadow areas and woodland. Try experimenting in smaller gardens by adding incremental changes that incorporate formal and informal design ideas. Consider the site’s environmental factors when planning a garden – our location means that our choice of trees and hedges need to tolerate strong breezes as well as create pockets of shelter for more select plantings of roses, peonies and tender salvias.
Take time to get the soil
right before planting. Our light, well-drained sandy soil is greatly improved by the addition of home-produced compost, farmyard manure and recycled compost. We always cultivate the soil several times prior to any planting taking place. Gardens aren’t just a domain to be enjoyed by humans. We try to ensure that right through the year the succession of planting provides for wildlife, starting with late winter and spring bulbs – snowdrops, aconites, crocus, native daffodils, bluebells, Dutch iris and tulips. A wide range of flowering trees provide spring blossom and, as summer unfolds, peonies, roses, wildflowers, including orchids, and drifts of mixed lavenders emerge.
Late summer and autumn sees the prairie borders erupt with a huge array of tempting plants still providing pollen and nectar until early November. Winterflowering shrubs, including chimonanthus, mahonia and sarcococca, continue to provide on sunny days in deepest winter.