Garden of the Week
A garden designer has created a winter wonderland in Greater London with plants that lend themselves to a sparkling frost
On a crisp winter’s morning in December, Alison Green’s garden is a magical sight. Just outside her 17th century farmhouse, on either side of the path, the intricate curves of a knot garden are highlighted by their white coating. Silver birch trees look ghostly pale, framing an unusual earthwork sculpture and autumn roses, and scarlet crab apples are rimed with a heavy frosting. “I've planted a lot of trees here over the years; each one selected for garden merit or rarity, and there's plenty of structural planting, clipped hedges, topiary and arches which maintain winter interest,” says Alison.
It’s hard to believe that the garden is only around 15 miles from Central London, or that when Alison moved in, she inherited a blank plot that was laid to grass with just a fenced off drainage pond and a strip of overgrown, impenetrable woodland on the south boundary.
She had retrained as a garden designer after a career in publishing and couldn't wait to create one from scratch. “Even though I’d never had a garden of anything like this size before, I wasn’t daunted. Perhaps I was a bit insane, but I relished the challenge.”
The house sits in the top northwest corner of a large, sloping, rectangle of land. To break it up, Alison followed the classic Arts & Crafts garden design tradition, creating a set of outdoor ‘rooms’,
each with its own identity and distinctive planting. “Work started in January 2000 with the northfacing courtyard, pergola and east-facing ornamental garden. We stripped out a leylandii hedge, and planted yew at the front of the house. These formal areas were designed to be in balance with the Grade II listed house.”
To make the knot garden, she drew the shape of a Celtic knot on the ground with paint and a paintbrush, then planted it with bare-root box plants. “I wanted it to be curved, rather than squared off on top, as it makes it easier to clip (in May), and this way it gets more light.” Surrounding plants don’t touch the hedges to help prevent box blight. “We lost our parterre to that disease in 2017 and it was heartbreaking,” Alison says.
She has a structured approach to her garden’s design, and every element has been carefully thought out as part of the bigger picture.
“I visualise everything in my head,” she says. “I’m always thinking about it.” To the west is a gravel garden, and to the east an ornamental garden, with a courtyard tucked behind the house. “It can be a challenging site, particularly when we started out. The clay extends 40 metres down and all areas for planting had to be double dug.
"Having said that, clay is the best soil for growing a range of plants. You have to work hard at improving it, and we mulch heavily every year, but because it isn't free-draining soil, you don’t lose all the nutrients.”
In spring, summer and autumn, colour is central to the garden, with each border having its own palette. “I predominantly use perennials, with structure coming from trees, shrubs, topiary and evergreens,” explains Alison. “My planting style is successional, so although the garden is quiet in December, by January it’s coming into flower again, with lots of early Christmas roses in pots.”
Each autumn, 5,000 bulbs are planted, including naturalised ones in the meadow areas. “I can’t live without tulips,” smiles Alison.
“I have a spring walk, where I’ve planted tulips in shades of peach, apricot and lilac. I like ‘Red Shine’, ‘Raspberry Ripple’, ‘Blue Parrot’ and ‘Ballerina’, but the list goes on!”
Alison is committed to gardening organically and has now introduced beehives to her plot. “The whole site is about balance,” she says. “Once you start interfering, you create problems.”
She’s a born enthusiast and 'definitely a plantaholic'. “This is a way of life, it’s full time, but I meet some lovely people and have lots of fun and laughs,” she says.