PLANTSMAN’S GARDEN
Having realised their dream of opening a plant nursery in the Loire Valley, Bella and David Gordon turned their attention to creating a distinctive mixed-style scheme with drought-tolerant plants
The exquisite Loire valley plays host to a distinctive yet beautiful scheme that mixes styles with an assured touch.
Bella and David Gordon met while working in the BBC newsroom, and fell in love over a shared passion for gardening. Following the birth of their first child, they decided it was time to leave London and pursue their dream of opening a plant nursery, but properties in Britain proved too expensive.
While holidaying in France in 1997, however, the couple saw an abundance of beautiful old properties for sale and by Christmas they had bought a farmhouse with three hectares of land in the Loire Valley. “It had a charming terracotta tile roof, as well as characterful outbuildings and an amazing view,” says Bella.
The smallholding had ceased as a working farm in the 1960s and had lain neglected since, but Bella and David happily set about the renovation of the house, clearing away decades of rubbish that had collected on the surrounding land. At the same time, they started to build their nursery, Plantagenet Plantes, so it took a couple of years before they were able to tackle the garden.
The first space they transformed was the large courtyard in front of the house. Inspired by Beth Chatto’s dry garden in Essex, the couple broke up the existing hard standing, before ploughing over the planting beds and bringing in tons of topsoil. Pale gravel was laid down for the paths, and a mulberry tree was planted for shade.
A year-round garden, it features evergreen topiary, including box cones and flat-topped yews, which provides structure for a series of island beds. These Bella and David have planted with droughttolerant, low-care perennials such as sedums, phlomis, asters and scabious (all chosen for their ability to give interest over a long period), while showstoppers, such as tulips, alliums and foxtail and pineapple lilies, create moments of drama throughout the seasons. A
striking feature in this part of the garden is the spine of slate posts, once used to support vines, which now snakes through this space. “We found some of these posts in our old wine cave and thought they were rather beautiful, so we sourced more locally and used them to create this feature,” says Bella.
The largest area of the garden is the prairie-style field behind the house. Here, an open lawn is framed by two long beds of dense, colourful perennials that draw the eye to the view. “The intention was to borrow the surrounding scenery to let the planting appear to flow out and lose itself in the wider landscape,” says Bella.
“Piet Oudolf and the naturalistic planting movement were a big inspiration, but we’ve had to substitute more suitable plants for our hot, dry climate.” Bella’s tried-and-tested favourites include white Centranthus ruber ‘Alba’, the tall grass Stipa gigantea, purple spikes of Salvia x sylvestris ‘Tänzerin’, super-flowering Aster amellus, A. x frikartii, long-lasting Sedum telephium ‘Purple Emperor’ and
Hylotelephium ‘Matrona’.
Other areas of the garden include a potager, an orchard and a small woodland, and Bella has plans to create a natural swimming pond. For now, however, she and David are happy to enjoy what they have achieved, and to relax with visiting family and friends, in a world away from their old lives in London.