Formal rooms and colourful walk
Even in winter this spectacular garden is full of colour and drama. Owners Kathy and Simon Brown share its story
This spectacular garden is packed with clever planting ideas for winter. Not only is there shapely evergreen hedging and topiary, but also a colourful winter walk winds through birches and fiery cornus stems. “It’s a labour of love for both of us,” says owner Kathy Brown. “My husband Simon had the vision to create the main views, developing the topiary, hedges and lawns. I plan the borders and do the weeding.” Over the past 25 years the couple have divided the garden into different rooms. Perhaps the most imposing is their formal garden, with its yew topiary and ornate Haddonstone fountain. “The fountain marks the start of a path that leads to our summerhouse, passing under a laburnum and wisteria arch underplanted with alliums,” says Kathy. “Nearby, there’s an edible flower garden and orchard, and avenues of Gingko biloba and birch trees that link the different spaces. “In most cases, inspiration came from a particular work of art,” says Kathy. “For instance, we’ve planted a broad drift of ornamental grasses – miscanthus,
Ornamental grasses shine even in the coldest, darkest months
calamagrostis and pennisetums – dotted with spots of herbaceous colour to evoke Monet’s waterlily paintings. His work with light really moves me, so as early evening sunlight sweeps across the grasses, I’m hoping to capture a small fraction of Monet’s magic. Ornamental grasses are so full of movement and light. They shine even in the coldest, darkest months.” While much of the garden lies dormant, nature stirs the sunny winter garden into life. “Midwinter is an often-forgotten season, yet it can bring so much wonderful colour,” says Kathy. “Our winter garden is a blaze of gold, silver and copper, from shining stems, textured bark, grasses, crisp topiary and clumps of winter aconites.
“Inspiration came from Anglesey Abbey and Cambridge University Botanic Garden,” she says. “They really opened my mind to the possibilities, especially as, living in East Anglia, our climate is drier than most.” The couple created their winter area in the south-east corner of the garden, where 12 weeping silver birches (Betula pendula) were planted in staggered lines. “We simply removed the grass and created a winding path between the birches,” says Kathy. “On each side of the path we created meandering beds where the birches’ naked branches create a lovely filigree effect above fiery dogwood stems in shades of orange, red, green and purple. The stems include Cornus sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’ and ‘Winter Beauty’ with C. alba ‘Sibirica’ and darker ‘Elegantissima’. Alongside them are clumps of Helleborus foetidus, which may smell foul close-up but, from a safe distance, their handsome flowers and foliage stand proud.” Trees and shrubs are underplanted with early-flowering daffodils such as ‘Rijnveld’s Early Sensation’ and ‘Spring Dawn’, plus winter aconites, Eranthis hyemalis. “I’ve found the aconites much easier than snowdrops to transplant and naturalise,” says Kathy. “I think they like our limey soil. Even so, I’m steadily building up our collection of snowdrop cultivars, among them galanthus ‘Limetree’ with its charming drop-pearl earring form, and galanthus ‘Magnet’ whose stalk is so slender the flower trembles in the slightest breeze.” Shrubs include richly scented Viburnum bodnantense ‘Dawn’, sarcococca, greenstemmed kerrias, twisted willows, ground-hugging sedums and Mahonia media ‘Charity’, capped with sprays of tiny, bright yellow flowers. Birch trees feature strongly too. “We planted Betula utilis jacquemontii ‘Grayswood Ghost’ as tiny whips, but within a few years the trunks began to whiten, and now they look truly wonderful. They really glow on a gloomy winter’s day when low sunlight catches their boughs. Stripped of their leaves, they look positively ghostly.” Evergreens dominate the formal garden, with low box hedges in green and gold. These encircle bold, sculpted, clipped yew forms that stand erect against bronze hornbeam hedges and domes. “The garden never stands still,” says Kathy. “It changes so dramatically from one season to the next. But the real highlight for me is our many visitors – birds, bees and butterflies as well as people. We especially love sharing the many moods of our garden with other gardeners.”