Upward spiral

The tulip display at Forde Abbey in Somerset gets bigger and better every year, with later-flowering cultivars intermingling effortlessly with annuals, biennials and perennials to enrich the planting in this progressive historic garden

The brilliant tulip displays at Forde Abbey peak in late April. There are tulips that flower earlier than this, but head gardener Joshua Sparkes selects primarily mid- to late-flowering cultivars to allow the perennial, annual and biennial plants surrounding the bulbs to establish fresh foliage and occasionally flowers, to enrich the naturalistic feel of the spring displays. An ancient stone abbey nestled in the flood plain of the River Exe amid the mellow rolling hills of south Somerset is at the heart of this magnificent family estate. Founded by Cistercian monks around 900 years ago, it has been a home since 1649 and is surrounded by interesting gardens landscaped first by the monks and again during the 18th century. Forde Abbey garden first opened a generation ago. The current custodians, Alice and Julian Kennard, ensure that the space retains a sense of charm and intimacy while welcoming visitors throughout the year with open gates. A tour of the garden initially takes in a productive, walled kitchen garden, and narrow but abundant borders under the leaded windows of the house, then an arboretum full of interesting Asian species (the pale-lemon magnolia spectacular in spring) and a gnarly rock garden. The circuit continues past atmospheric planting and formal ponds, through undulating meadows to reach the calm expanse of the great monastic pond and adjacent bog garden.

Tulips at Forde Abbey have increased twofold every season in recent years. Joshua arrived in spring 2018 from Sissinghurst Castle, having trained under pioneering head gardener Troy Scott Smith. He has since travelled around the globe on the Great Gardens of the World TRIAD Fellowship, gathering up horticultural knowledge and innovative ideas and methodology.

Sustainability lies at the heart of Forde Abbey’s naturalistic aesthetic. A holistic approach to soil health underpins every aspect of horticulture here, with a commitment to avoiding pesticides, fungicides and artificial fertilisers. The ancient (unimproved) meadows are biodiverse and drought tolerant, and horticultural practices are built to nurture the microbiology that supports plant health. Potting-shed staples include incorporating raw biochar, a stable form of carbon that improves soil quality, repeated applications of compost tea and worm composting. Green manures are sown widely to improve soil structure and nutrition, the mustard crop naturally fumigating the soil helping eradicate any pests.

With the exception of The Swirl and four blocks in the walled garden that frame the main entrance path, the focus has shifted away from annual bedding displays to focus on integrating bulbs into the perennial borders. Joshua has an instinctive feel for informal groupings, happily mixing species, heights and colour.

Each season an additional 30 to 40 per cent of the bulbs are planted from new stock, a measure that ensures continuity of flowering and adjusts the balance as necessary. Moving through the garden, clusters of borders are planted with the same bulb mix, creating a particular atmosphere. A bohemian air of informality pervades: sultry, dark tulips push up through cracked flagstones, and self-sown seedlings are celebrated and given space to breathe. The resulting compositions are a gorgeous riot of wallflowers, narcissiulips, hyacinths and flowering kale ‘Red Russian’, with the leafy promise of perennials to follow in summer.

A wide range of biennials is used extensively. Often planted as plug plants at the same time as the bulbs in November, they are the thread that pulls the perennial compositions together throughout the seasons. They are valued for their early season foliage (the soft, silvery rosettes of Verbascum and neat yet fleshy leaves of juvenile foxgloves) and later for their additional colour, scent (especially Hesperis matronalis), romantic and naturalistic habit, and decorative seeds, most notably in the case of honesty, which produces flat, round, silvery seedpods after flowering, and woad ( Isatis tinctoria), with its lofty, yellow cloud of flowers followed by ink-black seedpods.

The tulips in The Swirl are showcased by a foil of fresh grass. Low-growing T. saxatilis ‘Lilac Wonder’ grows among drifts of buttercups and bluebells in the meadow, an occasional flash of glossy gold and lilac petals glistening in the spring sunshine. The woodland tulip T. sylvestris enjoys the hinterland of the woodland edge. These small, botanical tulip bulbs are planted using the technique pioneered by William Robinson (author of The Wild Garden, 1870), which involves removing a cylinder of soil with a bulb planter, dropping a few bulbs into the hole, flipping the turf and replacing it soil side up, with the opportunity to scatter a few yellow rattle or other wildflower seeds on to the exposed turf.

The last of all the tulips to flower in late May and early June is the elegant and unmarked scarlet species

T. sprengeri, now thought to be extinct in the wild. Appreciative of a little shade and deep soil that retains some moisture through the summer, it is found dwelling here and there in the shadow of some of the deciduous trees in this beautifully curated, historic landscape.