Shaping up
A triangle might seem like an awkward shape for a garden, but this creative Cheshire couple used it to their advantage…
How a tricky triangular plot became a magical retreat
Athree-sided plot might seem a big challenge, but to Barry and Melanie, it’s proved to be a bonus ‘The garden falls naturally into three distinct areas, with the cottage in the centre,’ they explain.
Densely planted, the couple are barely aware of neighbours to one side, a railway on another and, on the third boundary, a huge oak that casts a lot of shade. ‘It’s been tricky finding enough shade-loving plants to fill the beds,’ admits Barry.
The couple were inspired by gardens they’ve visited. ‘The
long borders at Great Dixter inspired ours, and Beth Chatto’s garden showed woodland planting is just as interesting as herbaceous,’ he recalls.
The garden’s year
Each area of the garden is markedly different in style. The front garden takes centre stage in autumn with leaf colour from maples and a redbud ‘Forest Pansy’. In winter, the structure comes to the fore with many evergreen shrubs, box balls, hedges and walls.
The woodland comes alive in spring, followed by new foliage breaking through in dozens of large patio containers fed by a watering system and keeping cool beneath the leaves in hot weather.
‘There are a lot of boldleaved plants and a wonderful display of hostas,’ says Barry. ‘Now, we buy plastic pots that you can barely tell from terracotta. They’re much cheaper and easier to empty when plants become congested and need repotting.
Especially prolific are the leafy daylilies, which provide weeks of dramatic flowers in fiery shades of red, orange and pink.
The woodland area and patio Throughout this garden there are a number of thoughtfully placed seats. ‘We like to be able to enjoy many different views of the garden,’ says Barry.
Linked by pathways, each area is separated by well-placed trees and shrubs or curtains of greenery. As a result, around every corner, there’s a sense of anticipation before a new scene unfolds – a secretive patio, an ivy-clad arch in a wall that frames a glimpse of sunny, herbaceous borders beyond, a collection of pots and old kitchen sinks planted with herbs, or a small wildlife pond.
In the shade
A magnificent ivy swag forms a living division between the cottage and woodland area. A small, circular patio is set amongst tree ferns, acers, hellebores, azaleas, hydrangeas, mahonias and other shade-loving ground cover plants such as brunneras, dicentras, ferns, hostas, barrenwort and cyclamen.
‘Ground-cover plants are key to
helping keep in moisture and creating lovely leaf textures,’ says Barry.
Shade is cast by a combination of a very tall, mixed hedge and overhanging trees, which deplete the ground below of both light and moisture.
A place to relax
Each of the seating areas enjoys changing views and catches the sun at different times of day. ‘But, if I had to choose any one area to relax in, it would be the woodland because it largely looks after itself, so you can just sit on the circular patio and enjoy it without the urge to tweak or deadhead,’ says Barry.
As a result, he finds it hard to sit still on the main patio, because one plant or another demands attention: ‘My favourites tend to be ones that largely look after themselves, with the exception of tree ferns, which overwinter in the utility room.’
Cutting losses
The tree ferns’ winter storage follows the death of three in 2010’s severe winter, along with eight pittosporums and all the phormiums.
‘It really diminished the garden’s overall structure, but every loss is an opportunity to plant something new, and we’ve largely replaced them with ornamental grasses and more tree ferns,’ says Barry.
Happily, the two plants with the greatest emotional ties – wood anemones and cyclamen – survived. ‘They were inherited from our childhood homes,’ he explains.
Sunny herbaceous borders A pathway of granite setts leads through an ivy-clad brick archway to long, colourful mixed herbaceous borders and island beds which, by midsummer, are in full bloom, with dahlias, asters and seedheads on the grasses to carry well into autumn.
There are tall clumps of fiery red Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ above spreading mounds of Persicaria ‘Firetail’, feathery, pink sprays of astilbe‘fanal’, outcrops of white shasta daisies, and the erect, black stems clad in golden flowers of Ligularia przewalskii. The style is naturalistic, with perennials interspersed with ornamental grasses such as golden oats, miscanthus and feather reed grass.
Worth the wait
The current arrangement is the result of some years of refining the original scheme.
‘When our herbaceous borders were first planted, I was more of a plant collector than designer, and ended up with far too many varieties, which are now being whittled down,’ Barry admits.
Having planted the borders from scratch, the couple learned not to overcrowd new plants, allowing space for each to grow into.
‘The trick lies in imagining what they’ll look like in three years,’ says Barry. ‘It takes a lot of thought to raise a garden above the ordinary, but there’s great satisfaction in knowing it’s all our own work, and we love being in it.’
Front of house
A tall hedge separates the front garden from the road, with a short driveway and paved path leading to a front porch. To one side, a bench rests under a cottage window, flanked by a shiny-leaved Fatsia japonica, various ferns and a large pot of courgettes. On the other side, there’s dense, leafy ground cover of spotted pulmonarias, leathery hellebores, palmate hardy geraniums and ferns beneath a beautiful specimen tree, a purple-leaved redbud, Cercis canadensis ‘Forest Pansy’.
‘I can just sit and gaze at it for ages, especially when the light slants through the red, heart-shaped leaves,’ says Barry.
Health and happiness
Every plant looks healthy, which Barry puts down to regular doses of home-made compost and creating a well-balanced eco-system. ‘I have three compost bins that are always full, and I garden organically, apart from the occasional use of slug pellets around the hostas,’ he says.
Any unhappy plants are moved around, but, if that doesn’t work, they go. ‘There are too many lovely plants to keep shabby ones,’ Barry insists.
However, if a potted plant appears half dead, as a last resort he drops it into a bucket of water. ‘It’s amazing how often it recovers,’ he adds.
The garden at Brooke Cottage Church Road, Handforth, Cheshire, sk9 3LT opens in aid of the National Garden Scheme on 11-12 May (12-5pm).