‘You can take the ideas home and reinvent them’
We normally go to the Sir Harold Hillier Garden for the wonderful autumn colour,
but when we went in the middle of winter on a bit of a whim, it was a real eye-opener! You get a little bit blasé working with plants all the time, and you look at things and go, ‘oh yes, very nice’. But when I got there, I just thought ‘wow!’
It’s a large, grand space, but you can take the ideas home and reinvent them for a smaller garden.
I loved all the different barks on the trees; the acers were wonderful and the birches are a complete winner. You want to run around and see all of it but you need to take your time and take a good look at each bit to appreciate the detail.
They’ve put a lot of effort into thinking about the light at that time of year,
and where it will strike. The colours are beautiful, and the conifers are amazing, and when the low light hits the massed cornus stems it looks like they’re on fire!
One of the things that sticks with me was white 'Goldenvale' underplanted with black
cockburnianus
Ophiopogon planiscapus
It looked fabulous. It obviously took time to get right and I was overcome with admiration for the poor gardener who had had to work with this horrible spiny thing!
‘Nigrescens’.
Rubus
It’s very, very dramatic because everything is so big,
but there are little details as well – smaller areas and planting combinations that are almost incongruously inspiring. It makes you reconsider plants you wouldn’t normally look at twice; forces you to reassess them, to think about your bias and approach things afresh.
I went off on a bit of a rampage!
It was all a bit disorganised and excitable so it was a while before I caught up with my husband and father! Next time, I’ll take a more ordered route as I’m sure that I missed all sorts of subtle bits and pieces and there are other, smaller paths around the edge. I want to go back and really study it.
Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Ampfield, near Romsey SO51 0QA.
■