BEYOND THE PINES

Soaring trees and clipped evergreens give a beautifully groomed Suffolk garden year round style and structure

Soaring trees give this sloping plot year-round structure

In 2005 Geoffrey and Christine Ingham left a flat suburban garden in Cambridge full of exotics for a steeply sloping, overgrown cottage garden near Newmarket in rural Suffolk. Geoffrey, the garden designer of the pair, saw the south-facing slope as an advantage, the chance to try something completely new.

Inspiration came as Geoffrey watched coverage of the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia. ‘The repeated verticals of tall pine trees on the course struck me,’ he says. ‘In our garden I’m contrasting tall vertical forms, like those, with rounded ones to make a composition. Japanese gardens have influenced me too, particularly the way they train plants by tying branches down and clipping foliage.’

Most of the existing plants were removed apart from mature Scots pines and some large evergreen shrubs, such as Viburnum tinus, which had lower branches removed to create small trees. Mature plants brought from their Cambridge garden included Trachycarpus wagnerianus, a windresistant palm; a big clump of Phyllostachys vivax f. aureocaulis, the giant golden bamboo; and evergreen shrubs including Osmanthus x burkwoodii, which Geoffrey cloud-pruned and now greets visitors inside the garden gate. New plants were sourced from Architectural Plants, a nursery in West Sussex specialising in shapely foliage, founded by Angus White, a friend of Geoffrey’s and another influence on his philosophy of garden-making.

Steps lead up into the garden through a grove of Trachycarpus wagnerianus, topped off with stiff, fan-shaped leaves. Beyond an elegant Maytenus boaria, a small evergreen tree from South America, the stepped path opens into a gravelled clearing surrounded by a grove of Phillyrea latifolia, the green olive, and populated by mounds of clipped box. Lonicera nitida, the small-leaved shrubby honeysuckle, and Elaeagnus x ebbingei, with its light-reflective silvery leaves, are clipped into undulating hedges that frame the gravel, like rock formations around a beach. The rough-barked trunks of Pinus pinea, the stone pine, soar skywards, bold and uninterrupted because Geoffrey removes their lower branches every year.

Spiky foliage contrasts with pillowy evergreens throughout the garden. The sword-shaped leaves of Phormium cookianum brush up against the glossy, aromatic leaves of Choisya ternata, Mexican orange blossom, and Yucca gloriosa rises above low, cushion-forming Hebe rakaiensis. Though primarily an evergreen foliage garden based on shape and texture, there are a few flowering plants here too. ‘I like a pop of colour against the evergreen shapes in summer,’ says Geoffrey, ‘so we have crocosmias, kniphofias and hedychiums.’

Clipping is the biggest task in the garden. ‘I’ve started employing someone to help me with it as there’s just so much to do.’ Geoffrey uses an electric hedge trimmer to cut small-leaved Lonicera nitida, which grows so fast in spring it needs clipping every 10 days. Box is cut once a year with Japanese shears that he sharpens himself. For large-leaved plants he favours secateurs. Christine would like more flowers in the garden, but defers to Geoffrey’s plan; recently, though, she introduced some beautiful tree ferns, with several now thriving beside the glowing honeycoloured walls of their thatched cottage.

Dip-on-the-hill, Ousden, Newmarket, Suffolk, CB8 8TW. Open for the NGS by arrangement June to September, see ngs.org.uk for details

“IN OUR GARDEN I’M CONTRASTING TALL VERTICAL FORMS, LIKE THE PINE TREES, WITH ROUNDED ONES TO MAKE A COMPOSITION”

GARDEN GUIDE

SPECIAL FEATURES A garden where foliage takes centre stage in a combination of undulating clipped evergreens and strong uprights.

ORIENTATION South-facing slope.

SOIL TYPE Boulder clay.

SIZE One acre.

CLIMATE A windy spot and very dry with average rainfall of around 38-50cm a year.

BRING SHAPE AND STYLE TO YOUR SHRUBS AND TREES

You don’t have to be an experienced topiarist or expert cloud-pruner to add definition to your garden with clipped and trained plants

Stem or trunk cleaning: trunks of trees and the canes of bamboos sprout weedy bits of growth, small stems that spoil the outline of the shape. Remove with secateurs or just by hand, with gloves on.

Crown lifting: some shrubs or small trees such as rhododendrons have appealing bark that gets obscured with low-hanging foliage. Remove lower branches to reveal the trunk; this also opens up new areas for planting with ground cover and bulbs.

Cloud pruning: a Japanese tradition in which the foliage of trees and shrubs is clipped to resemble clouds floating around the framework of the plant. Use to breathe life back into an overgrown evergreen.

When you’re cutting anything make sure your blades are sharp, and always disinfect between plants so you don’t spread disease.

Maytenus boaria is a small evergreen tree with narrow leaves from South America. The major branches have been cleaned to give a graphic look

View from the top of the sloping garden over clipped Lonicera nitida to a mound of Phillyrea angustifolia, more lonicera and other evergreen trees and shrubs

The garden looks as good in winter as it does in summer, thanks to a framework of clipped evergreens and trees, including tall Pinus pinea and a standard Phillyrea latifolia

The Trachycarpus wagnerianus palm has smaller, stiffer, more wind-tolerant leaves than the more frequently seen Trachycarpus fortunei so looks good even through windy weather

A gravel path edged with clipped box leads past a greenhouse. Beyond is a standard Hebe stenophylla and clipped waves of Lonicera nitida

Pinus mugo – dwarf mountain pine – is a slowgrowing, spreading bushy shrub Hebe stenophylla is a graceful small tree with narrow leaves and a longflowering habit The Trachycarpus wagnerianus palm tree is easy to grow and very robust Hebe rakaiensis bears short spikes of white flowers in early summer