Landscape luxe
Expert plantsman Jimi Blake explains the secrets behind the beautiful borders he creates at Hunting Brook Gardens
Exotic mix
Named in memory of a good friend of mine, Ashley’s Garden is the largest border at Hunting Brook. Architecturally leaved plants, such as bananas, cannas and pollarded trees, combine with long-flowering perennials to provide a tropical feel. Purple fennel and Angelica sylvestris ‘Vicar’s Mead’ link this area to the other, more naturalistic areas of the garden. Plant repetition is a key design element and the most dominant plants are changed regularly to keep the border fresh. I am a huge fan of bright yellow and vivid cerise. Most of the large, single red, orange and magenta dahlias in this border are from my own Hunting Brook selections.
1 Canna ‘Taney’ Huge glaucous leaves with apricot flowers through most of summer and into autumn 2.5m. of USDA 7a-10b†.
2 Astilbe chinensis var. taquetii ‘Purpurlanze’ A good strong colour used as a repetition plant through border, 90cm. AGM*. RHS H7, USDA 4a-8b.
3 Dahlia pink seedling One of my many Hunting Brook single-flowered dahlias. I plant these out mid-May when they are decent-sized plants. 85cm.
4 Angelica sylvestris ‘Vicar’s Mead’ A biennial with purple stems and palepink umbels. Flowers in late summer and autumn. 1.5m.
5 Monarda ‘On Parade’ The best monarda I trialled a few years ago, with magenta flowers and mildew-resistant leaves. Loves heavy clay soil. 60cm.
6 Dahlia ‘Sunny Boy’ The main flower that leads the eye along in this border with bright-yellow flowers. 85cm.
7 Foeniculum vulgare ‘Purpureum’ The tall fennel softens this planting with its feathery clouds of bronze/purple foliage, followed by soft yellow umbels. 1.2m.
8 Artemisia lactiflora Guizhou Group Purple-stained leaves with a spray of creamy white flowers in late summer into autumn. Provides a naturalistic cloudy effect to the planting. 1.2m.
9 Ensete ventricosum ‘ Maurelii’ The red banana is repeated through this bed, creating exotic drama like no other plant. 5m. AGM. RHS H2, USDA 10a-11b.
Colour code
This large, sloping area with freedraining soil and full sun was extended, redesigned and planted this spring.
The planting design is a tapestry of low, see-through plants planted up with Calendula ‘Zeolights’ and Tagetes ‘Cinnabar’ weaving through the bed. Planting these annuals at regular intervals across the whole area creates a summer spectacle and they make wonderful cut flowers. Complementary silver plants bring an extra dimension to the scheme and for this I use Anaphalis triplinervis ‘Sommerschnee’, Stachys byzantina ‘Big Ears’ and Ozothamnus rosmarinifolius ‘Silver Jubilee’. Rising above are the architectural spiky flowers of various eryngiums. The main eryngiums that I use are the wonderful
E. guatemalense, with its nearly black flowers, and E. yuccifolium with its yuccalike leaves. Additional softer spires of Linaria purpurea ‘Poached Egg’ and the mauve and pink Linaria ‘Dial Park’ are also woven through the planting scheme and I have noted over the years that these are particularly popular with local insects and pollinators.
1 Eryngium guatemalense A hardy perennial and one of my top five perennials this year. It has large, spiny, black flowers with silver bracts on strong stems. 90cm.
2 Tagetes ‘Cinnabar’ A long-flowering annual with rich crimson flowers with a gold edge to the petals. These flowered all summer and autumn without deadheading. 90cm.
3 Linaria purpurea ‘Poached Egg’ Spires of white and yellow flowers from early summer into winter. This seems to be sterile, hence the long flowering season. 60cm.
4 Calendula ‘Zeolights’ Apricot-peach petals with a rusty back to them and a dark reddishbrown eye. I sow these in modular trays in March, then move into 9cm pots and eventually plant them out in early May. 45cm. 5 Anaphalis triplinervis ‘Sommerschnee’
A compact, bushy perennial with felt-grey leaves and white flowers in late summer and autumn. 30cm. AGM. RHS H7, USDA 3a-9b.
6 Eryngium yuccifolium Thistle-like, pale-green flowers with spiny, glaucous bracts. The yucca leaves are blue-grey and need full sun and good drainage. 1.4m.
Tall stories
In this sunny, well-drained bed I have played with a quirky mix of foliage and flowers. I am experimenting with light foliage, woody shrubs and small trees to create another layer of interest over the planting, without blocking light from the plants below. I use Pseudopanax ‘Linearifolius’ and Olearia lacunosa to create height and texture, with Stipa tenuissima, woven through the plants to soften and catch the light at sunrise. Verticals, such as the eucomis, verbascums, kniphofias and agastache, provide structure and repetition to the planting. I also use apricot and orange single-flowered dahlias, which I grew from seed this spring, which combine beautifully with the silver foliage of Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’.
1 Dahlia apricot seedling Another of my own Hunting Brook seedlings grown from seed sown in spring. I am using the lower-growing orange and apricot ones here, woven through the planting. 75cm.
2 Stipa tenuissima Its fine seedhead is great for softening any planting. I replant new plants every two years. 60cm. AGM. RHS H4.
3 Pseudopanax ‘Dark Star’ This is another new Pseudopanax for my collection with extremely dark-green and nearly black leaves. 3m.
4 Verbascum thapsus This is the native verbascum with green-silver leaves and spires of yellow flowers. These are biennial and removed after flowering to prevent excessive seeding. 2m. RHS H6, USDA 3a-9b.
5 Pseudopanax ‘Linearifolius’ An evergreen small tree with narrow long greenish/brown leaves. Likes full sun and good drainage. 2.5m. USDA 8b-10b.
6 Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’ Provides mounds of silver leaves through these beds. These are pruned back hard in spring. 60cm. AGM. RHS H3, USDA 6a-9b. 7 Eucomis ‘Pink Gin’ Huge deep-pink flowers and pale-green leaves It starts flowering early August and continues until mid-October. 1.2m. RHS H4.
8 Agastache rugosa ‘Liquorice Blue’ Another great spire with blue flowers from summer to autumn. 1.2m.
9 Lobelia x speciosa ‘Tania’ Deep magenta flowers on spires in late summer and autumn. I divide them every three years in March. 90cm. RHS H5, USDA 4a-8b.
10 Xerochrysum bracteatum ‘Dragon Fire’ An annual with dark, wine-coloured flowers. I sow seeds in April for planting out when the frost has gone. 1.2m. 11 Verbascum chaixii ‘ Sixteen Candles’ Tall spires of yellow flowers with violet stamens over grey-green leaves. 1.2m. 12 Salvia patens ‘Guanajuato’ Produces extra-large, gentian-blue flowers all summer and autumn. I pot up tubers and keep dry for the winter. 20cm. RHS H3.
Long summer days
Most of the planting in the long, sunny border called Fred’s Garden, is lowgrowing, transparent and more subtle in colour, allowing for an easy, gentle transition from the garden to countryside. Pseudopanax ‘Tuatara’ provides a very light canopy over the border for shape and height without blocking the view. Simple plants, such as Agastache rugosa ‘Liquorice Blue’, are repeated for their long season of interest. The quirky foliage of Helianthus salicifolius and various restios add drama and interest and I use salvias, such as
S. stolonifera, to give the colour palette a lift.
1 Phlox paniculata ‘Nirvana’ A white phlox flushed with a pink centre. 1.3m.
2 Pseudopanax ‘Tuatara’ Has finely toothed dark-green, almost purple, leathery leaves. 2m.
3 Salvia ‘Amistad’ A real work horse with rich, purple flowers and nearly black calyxes. Flowers summer into autumn. 1.5m. AGM. RHS H3.
4 Agastache rugosa ‘Liquorice Blue’ Flowers from early summer into autumn with spires of fragrant indigo. An added benefit is the wonderful seedheads throughout winter. 90cm.
5 Dahlia ‘Bright Eyes’ One of my favourite dahlias. It starts flowering in early summer and keeps going until first frost. 60cm. RHS H3.
6 Carduus nutans A biennial thistle with a rosette of basal spiky leaves and deep-pink, nodding flowers. Be careful seeds don’t spread. 3m.
7 Helianthus salicifolius The spectacular willowleaved perennial sunflower with its drooping, willow-like foliage. 3m. RHS H5, USDA 4a-9b. 8 Panicum virgatum ‘Squaw’ A wonderful grass with green leaves in early summer, and dark-red leaf blades in autumn. 1.2m. USDA 5a-9b.
9 Salvia stolonifera I love the colour orange and this salvia gifts me rusty orange at the front of the border during summer and autumn. 45cm.
10 Linaria ‘Peachy’ One of my best plants for attracting bees with its tall, thin spires of peachy cream-coloured flowers with hints of yellow. 1m.
USEFUL INFORMATION
Address Hunting Brook Gardens, Lamb Hill, Blessington, Co. Wicklow W91 YK33, Republic of Ireland.
Tel + 353 (0)87 285 6601.
Website huntingbrook.com
Open April to September, Wednesday to Saturday, 11am-5.30pm. Admission €8.