My Favourite Place: The Garden House, Devon
The South African meadows at The Garden House represent a type of horticulture that I’m increasingly interested in.
It’s different from the formality and conventional ideals that we’re used to, such as a long herbaceous border in front of a wall. It’s exciting and challenging. You’re in among the plants, immersed in the garden – and the garden is immersed in the landscape.
You get the same thing when walking through a bluebell wood.
The complete submersion in colour and scent, it hits so many more senses than observing it from the outside. You can get lost in it and you remember it so well, the scent of the leaf mould and the bluebells; it’s a much richer experience.
It’s a dramatic setting – you pass through a dark, enclosed shrubbery then suddenly step into a bright, open space
full of dynamic planting. You then get the view of the wider landscape, and the intense artistry dilutes away into the Devon hills and the church in the distance. It feels like the natural thing to do as a gardener, rather than forcing a plant into behaving a certain way.
The South African meadow is constantly evolving.
There’s a relatively small palette of plants but they use lots of them, and every month there’s something different. The dierama look like green tufts for most of the year, but when they’re in flower, they steal the show. Then the kniphofia take centre stage – it’s one showstopper after another and the grasses and other planting support the diva de jour.
I’ve learned that it’s worth being disciplined with yourself.
With a new area to plant, I’m dizzy thinking about all the possibilities and make a huge list. But, to get the naturalistic immersive effect, you whittle down that planting list to five or 10 cracking plants and use them in big, rhythmic, repetitive drifts. If you’re refined with colour and choices and reduce the noise in the room, then the conversation that you have with the garden will be much clearer and richer.
■ The Garden House, Buckland Monachorum, Yelverton, Devon, PL20 7LQ; www. thegardenhouse.org.uk.