Garden of the Week
This windy Pembrokeshire garden is packed full of beautiful and interesting plants and there are surprises around every corner!
When Sue Clark moved to her new home, the garden was just a playing field. She bought it from Pembrokeshire Primary School, which had been closed many years before. A blank canvas that, after a lot of hard work, has been transformed into an artwork full of interest for all seasons.
Sue and her late husband Paul designed and created the garden together until his death from cancer five years ago. Now Sue works on the garden by herself.
“The garden took on a new meaning after I lost Paul. It helped me to garden when I was grieving, and gave me focus going forward. I now have to make sure that the garden looks great and is ready for all visitors, as I open it for the NGS.”
The planting style has, to some extent, been governed by the windy conditions, plus the garden’s not far from the sea. The overall aim is to provide colour and interest for every season, so lots of thought went into choosing plants that shone at different times of year and stood up to the local conditions.
“Plants were also chosen for their foliage shape and colour to provide added interest, such as purple-red cotinus, black sambucus, red berberis, lime-coloured and dark-leaved physocarpus and Choisya ternata ‘Sundance’,” says Sue.
Two of the first features that greet visitors are the Eucalyptus Lawn and Cherry Tree Lawn. These feature Eucalyptus gunnii, the Fuji cherry ( Prunus incisa), P. avium ‘Plena’, ‘Kanzan’, ‘Shōgetsu’ and ‘Amanogawa’, which look delightful in spring.
The main garden itself consists of two distinct areas. There’s an inner garden comprising a series of sheltered ‘rooms’, which twist and turn and are full of interesting plants and surprises around every corner.
“By making the rooms, created with hedges including elaeagnus, griselinia, variegated privet, cotoneaster and olearia, there’s always somewhere that’s out of the wind, even on a very windy day. It’s in this part of the garden that we sited plants that need shelter from the wind, including Tasmannia lanceolata, Corylopsis pauciflora, camellias, pieris, skimmias and pittosporums.”
Here, there are also colour-themed borders and seating places to linger, which are very important to Sue. The Hot Border, containing plants with hot colours, boasts Oriental poppy ‘May Queen’, crocosmia ‘Lucifer’, Rudbeckia laciniata ‘Herbstsonne’, heleniums and orange lilies. The Cool Border is mainly planted with blues and purples, including Baptisia
australis, delphiniums, aconitum, asters, centaurea cornflowers and geraniums, G. himalayense, G. pratense ‘Splish-splash’ and ‘Johnson’s Blue’.
The outer garden is much more open but is bordered by a windbreak of mixed hedges of trees and shrubs and numerous different evergreen pines. There’s elaeagnus ‘Quicksilver’,
Eucalyptus pauciflora niphophila, Pinus pinaster, the maritime pine, Abies koreana and fothergilla, among lots of other plants for interest.
There’s a hydrangea border, summer borders containing all sorts of summer perennials and annuals, a prairie bed with grasses, including zebra grass ( Miscanthus sinensis ‘Zebrinus’),
lots of different asters, rudbeckias, kniphofias, heleniums and anthemis. There’s also an area set aside full of wild plants for wildlife, which Sue encourages.
Central to the garden is the Crystal Pavilion, which Sue describes as a modern day folly. It’s in the shape of a large crystal and built from scaffolding poles. Its name ties in with the name of the garden, which originated when Paul was ill and was looking into crystal healing. “He never planned on having crystal healing himself, but then thought it would be a great name for the garden,” says Sue. The Crystal Pavilion was originally used to house plants that Paul and Sue had propagated, to protect them from the wind. But now, thanks to its viewing platform, it’s somewhere to take in the superb local views across to the Preseli Hills, but only for Sue’s enjoyment – visitors aren’t allowed up there.
Another major feature is the Art Wall, which was designed and painted by Paul, who was very creative, mixing all the colours by hand, layering the paint onto render on the wall. This is set off by a mass planting of crocosmias at the base to complement the oranges in the
wall. Close by, the eye-shaped prairie bed looks on to the Art Wall, another aspect of Paul’s artistic creativity.
Although there’s great colour and interest all year round, there’s plenty to see at this time of year. In July, the hydrangeas, which are planted throughout the garden and are a bit of a speciality, are at their best. There are many varieties, both lacecap and mophead, in the full range of colours.
“Some of my favourites include Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Madame Emile Mouillère’, ‘Preziosa’, H. serrata ‘Bluebird’ and H. aspera.”
But there’s lots more to enjoy. “Fiery-red crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ puts on a great display and hebes, fuchsias, penstemons, lychnis and kniphofias are all blooming well.
“By the middle of the month, the pink border comes alive with masses of Phlox paniculata ‘Eva Cullum’, ‘Bright Eyes’ and ‘Europa’. Then there’s one of my favourite buddlejas, ‘Nanho Blue’, followed by ‘Black Knight’.
“July is a good month for bees and butterflies. The garden is alive with them, and there’s lots of other wildlife, as there’s just so much to attract them!” says Sue.