It’s all in the name...
Called Cottage in the Trees, it’s no surprise this garden is an enchanting spot for artists, plant societies and garden lovers
Nestled on a wooded hillside, Cottage in the Trees is as picture perfect as its name suggests. The secluded thatched cottage enjoys sweeping views over the Wiltshire countryside and almost year-round colour from owner Karen Robertson’s carefully planted beds. “Although Richard and I moved here in 1990, I didn’t start work on the garden for several years until my children were older,” Karen explains. “It was mainly laid to lawn with lots of hedges and a few narrow borders, but once we started removing some of the hedges to open up the borders, I could see the potential it had to look amazing,” she says.
Her interest piqued, Karen started visiting local gardens and joined gardening clubs and societies. “I learned so much from other gardeners who shared information with me and spotted ideas that I could use when visiting other gardens.”
The site is challenging. The soil’s very free-draining chalk, it slopes steeply and the surrounding sycamore and ash trees cast a great deal of shade.
“But it’s these things that give the garden such a lot of character, which I have to remind myself about when
I’m struggling to wheelbarrow a load of compost up the slope!” she laughs. As she developed her sweeping beds and borders, Karen’s planting schemes evolved to produce more and more months of vivid colour and textural interest. From as early as February, hellebores and pulmonarias, followed by spring bulbs, create carpets of colour beneath the deciduous trees.
“I adore pulmonarias and have about 70 varieties, including one that’s being trialled at RHS Garden Wisley. It’s the palest bluey-pink, thrives in sun or shade and is named ‘Anne Wood’ after a late member of the Cottage Garden Society,” she explains. Karen cuts these right back in spring after flowering to encourage fresh new growth.
Shrubs and trees are chosen for their interesting colours and textures, from the lacy black leaves of Sambucus nigra to golden-leaved spiraea, crab apples for their blossom and fruits, orange-flowered Buddleja globosa, purple-leaved ornamental cherry and the vivid autumn foliage hues of acers. Trellis and obelisks have been added to support climbing clematis, honeysuckle and sweet peas and there are pots and baskets of colourful annuals that bloom right into autumn.
However, it’s the flowering herbaceous perennials that form the bulk of the planting and offer up waves of summer colour, which Karen has a knack of weaving together.
“I love flowers on the pinky-purple spectrum so I choose big, bold subjects, such as alliums, dahlias, delphiniums and agapanthus for impact,” Karen says. “Then I mix in the spires of salvias, penstemons, polemonium and verbascum and some airy umbellifers and grasses to soften it all. Finally a carpet of 150
different hardy geraniums fills in the gaps.”
A series of gravel, brick and stepping stone paths that undulate with the garden’s contours lead visitors around the garden, with strategically placed seating areas if you need to catch a breath. Along the way you’ll find a gravel garden, water feature and small wildlife pond that’s home to frogs and dragonfly nymphs. “We’re also planning a bug house and robin sculpture trail for our young visitors,” she reveals.
Raised vegetable beds are home to new potatoes, carrots, onions, shallots, lettuce, radishes, different brassicas and beans, and parsnips and leeks for winter – and lots of raspberry canes for Karen’s jam.
Karen and Richard have been opening their garden for nine years for the NGS with additional private openings over the summer. “We get such a range of people coming, from garden lovers to art groups, members of the Cottage Garden Society, Hardy Plant Society, and Pulmonaria Group,” says Karen. “I’m often surprised by what captures their interest and I’m always happy to dig up a plant from the garden to share if it’s not on my sales bench!”