The damp garden
A naturally wet garden near Salisbury has met its match in Barry and Jackie Candler, who have found ways to celebrate this moist environment, says Sue Bradley
LOVE at first sight may seem an extreme way to describe Jackie Candler’s reaction to an exuberant giant rhubarb, but she’s adamant that it was the clincher when she was looking to buy a new home in Wiltshire.
Neither Jackie nor her husband Barry were perturbed by the thought that the presence of a Gunnera manicata indicated that they were taking on a garden that was prone to dampness, and in the years since they’ve made a virtue of the natural conditions within the rectangular plot behind their mid-1960’s detached property in Landford.
“The ground slopes slightly and we get all the rain coming off the hill, which sits on the clay cap under the soil,” Jackie explains.
“The previous owners planted a Gunnera at the bottom of the garden and I loved it when I first saw it: it’s the reason I wanted to buy the house.”
Eighteen years on, the supersized rhubarb continues to thrive and is now admired throughout the year from the safety of an attractive curved wooden boardwalk installed to improve access to the far reaches of the plot during the wet winter months.
At the same time, Barry and Jackie have introduced other measures to corral watery excesses, including French drains that feed the fish pond at the bottom of the garden, woodchip paths and moisture-loving trees, including willow and bamboo.
Different ways to solve dampness
“French drains helped to solve the waterlogged lawn ”
“We put in the French drains a couple of years ago and they’ve made such a difference to the lawn, which used to be prone to puddles of water,” says Barry.
“The paths used to be paved but they collected water, so we took them up and put wood chippings down; anything to help the drainage.”
While the bottom of the garden is prone to dampness, it’s another story closer to the house, which turns into something of a suntrap during the summer months.
Again Jackie and Barry have sought
to make the most of this natural attribute, using wooden decking to extend their patio and hoisting a shade sail to protect their skin on particularly hot days, while a small woodburner allows them to stay outside well into the evenings, when twinkling lights add to the ambience.
Even with the collection of hard landscaping features in the garden, there’s still plenty of space for plants, with the couple creating a series of
different ‘rooms’ within the plot.
These include a natural-looking wild area entered through a willow arch, with native grasses and flowers; a productive vegetable plot, various herbaceous borders and a generous lawn.
Even areas such as the decked patio extension are skillfully blended into the garden through the clever use of plants. Whether it’s the narrow raised beds containing agapanthus and canna positioned around the edges or the collection of sempervivums that sit beneath a glass-topped coffee table.
Creative planting
Leafy plants such as hosta, ferns and crocosmia contribute to the underlying lushness of the planting, with the Candlers selecting a blend of green and red/purple foliage, although injections of additional colour are provided by the flowers of astilbe, cosmos, sweet pea, day lily and geranium.
There is also a generous smattering of fun features, not least a pair of tall gabion baskets filled with pine cones and colourful plant pots and topped with ornamental grasses that combine with trees to add height to the garden.
“Some of the structure here now was here when we moved in, but most of the planting we have changed over time,” says Jackie, a volunteer with the Royal Horticultural Society. “The garden has evolved – we didn’t want a set style – and we’ve been on a learning curve to find out what survives here.
“Our garden is naturally wet here, but we’ve found ways to manage this and create a space that we enjoy.”