Borders of shimmering grasses
A couple with a passion for grasses have created harmony in their garden with a mix of dynamic foliage and border plants
Tucked away on a secluded hillside above the River Wye as it meanders along the border of England and Wales, is Barn House Garden. Surrounded by a landscape steeped in history, it is reached via a labyrinth of narrow country lanes. They wind past traditional hay meadows, studded with wild flowers, and old apple orchards, with gnarled trees encrusted in lichen. It was this natural combination that proved the inspiration for Kate and Hitesh Patel after they settled here, on the outskirts of Brockweir in the Wye Valley, in 2006. “Never mind the nice house, we were looking for the right garden,” explains Kate. After years of moving and living in places with limited outdoor space, they were both keen to find somewhere that allowed them to indulge their love of plants, and particularly their passion for ornamental grasses. Kate has built the garden around grasses, much in the same way other gardeners use shrubs, to form both the structure and seasonal highlights of her design. The couple’s interest in grasses was first sparked when they lived near Kew. “We did our courting there, and the Grass Garden and Bamboo Grove were our favourite haunts,” she says. “Many people think a prairie or meadow needs to be created in order to use grasses, but you can achieve a very interesting mixed border with them, together with shrubs, trees and flowers,” she explains. “Grasses are also pretty bomb-proof. There are very few pests and diseases which affect them, and they are surprisingly good for wildlife. We see a lot of different species of moths and butterflies, such as the Common Blue and Meadow Brown, now we’ve planted the front garden. They must have migrated from the meadows around here.” The one-acre site was not without its challenges. What is now the main planting area was a rocky slope with very little topsoil. Drainage was also a problem, and this was the first major job that Kate and Hitesh tackled, by putting in storm drains. The resulting excavations produced stone that was used to terrace the area closest to the house, not only to improve the view, but to provide beds with a decent soil depth for planting. With this landscaping work ongoing, Kate turned her attention to the back garden and drew up planting plans for the main front garden. She also created a propagation area where she patiently set about raising plants from seed and dividing them to make her planned mass planting more affordable.
Hedge effect
A set of field gates marks the main entrance, where a long gravel drive stretches ahead with views over the front garden as it slopes away down to Barn House. This vantage point also offers a panorama over the top of the valley and the wooded hillsides. On the left-hand side, a towering 8ft (2.5m) tall miscanthus hedge, made up of 210 separate plants, curves along the edge of the property to provide a screen from the lane and mark the boundary. “It would have taken a long time for a mixed native hedge to reach the right height, whereas certain grasses put on that sort of growth much more quickly,” explains Kate. A band of yellow rudbeckias draw the eye down and around the edge of ›
the hedge. A final tier of planting is provided by the ground cover plant Geranium macrorrhizum. Heading back up towards the gates, a narrow path passes beds filled with shocking pink sedums, towering Stipa gigantea, with its dangling golden flowers, several Hydrangea paniculata underneath an old apple tree and Pinus sylvestris ‘Chantry Blue’. While this pine is not one of Kate’s favourite plants, it provides shelter. “When the Brecon wind blows, it comes over the top of the valley and hits this part of the garden,” she explains.
Adding colour
The path continues to Kate’s latest project, a mass-planted perennial meadow. Native grass Deschampsia cespitosa provides green ground cover and a golden halo of dancing heads. Among them, self-seeding plants, such as Verbena bonariensis, teasels and liatris, add pops of colour and contrasts of form and texture. Opposite the meadow, a mass of airy, coppery flowers of Anemanthele lessoniana complement the amber-coloured peeling bark of Acer griseum and the bottlebrush-shaped, magenta-pink flowers of Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Firetail’. “Persicarias are easy to propagate, either from seed or division,” says Kate. “Their slender flower spikes provide a contrast in shape, as a lot of late season perennials have daisy-like blooms. And anemanthele is a good self-seeder, so you can produce a lot of your own plants quite quickly.” On the right, heading back down the main driveway, is the winter border. Although planted to look at its best during the colder months, this area shines throughout the year. A stand of impressive white-barked silver birches, Betula utilis var. jacquemontii ‘Jermyns’, adds dappled shade, and a ribbon of cornus, comprising ‘Midwinter Fire’, ‘Flaviramea’ and ‘Siberica’, swirl through the border. They were planted for their colourful red, orange and yellow winter stems, but in early autumn, the leaves add their own hues as the foliage turns from mid-green to yellow. The tall stems and acid-green umbel flowers of fennel add height, as do the random stems of self-seeded Verbena bonariensis. Snaking along the edge of the path are Rudbeckia fulgida var. deamii and the ground-hugging Persicaria affinis, with its dainty spires of clustered pale pink flowers.
Terrace triumph
One of the real highlights of the garden is the grass terrace, with sun-bleached grasses and the fragrant foliage and flowers of nepeta and lavender. The raised beds were created to allow planting where there was a lot of rock and little topsoil. “We knew we were on Offa’s Dyke and that it ran along the lane, but we didn’t realise that it sheered into several branches along the hillside. It’s not just a few boulders,” explains Kate. ›
“The stranger who thus steals one hour To trace thy walks from bower to bower, Thy noble cliffs, thy wildwood joys, Nature’s own work that never cloys”
Robert Bloomfield, ‘The Banks of Wye’
“We took out 100 tons just doing the drainage at the front of the house. There was no way we could dig the front garden, so we used machinery in the end.” The top terrace is planted with a screen of calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’, which in September provides a parchment-coloured foil to vibrant yellows, pinks and purples from rudbeckias, catmint and sedums. The lower terrace is planted with the shorter calamagrostis ‘Overdam’. Rather than a continuous line of plants, as in the top terrace, these are planted as sentries, or single clumps with spaces in between, along with lavender. “Calamagrostis are very easy and reliable grasses. They are European natives, so very suited to UK conditions. They’re brilliant for this light, screen effect we wanted to create, because of their upright nature, and they’re soon into leaf, so they go well with bulbs,” she says. “They’re also known as the ‘perpetual motion plants’ as the slightest breeze makes them move. They rarely snap at the leaf joints, whereas other grasses, such as panicums, probably wouldn’t put up with the winter conditions here.”
Vibrant transformation
At the far end of the patio, a gate leads to the secluded back garden. This was in a neglected state and infested with bindweed and ground elder when Kate and Hitesh arrived, so they dug out the soil and patiently sifted it by hand, getting rid of every bit of root from these pernicious weeds. A warm, sheltered space, this area lent itself to planting with an exotic feel. The sunken terrace features exuberant planting and a collection of pots packed with colourful annuals and tender plants. These include cannas, pink cosmos and chocolate cosmos, and a pergola covered with the vine ‘Rondo’. “The grapes are small, but the vine does ›
produce good autumn leaf colour,” says Kate. Grasses, such as Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Black Beauty’, feature here, too, in the borders and in containers, and as planting under two beautiful Prunus serrula trees. “When the morning light catches the peeling bark of the prunus, it flickers like flames,” says Kate. Following the path back to the house, she explains why, for her, grasses are the perfect plants. “Grasses work so well here because they relate to the valley setting, with its mix of woodland and meadows. I love their dynamism and their ability to catch and reflect light, even in the winter. The dried plumes can create some amazing visual effects that we just wouldn’t get with anything else.”