Sweeping statement
design breezy elements planting lend and wild, Formal a fresh perspective to a sloping, prairie-style garden that follows the ebb and flow of the rolling Rutland countryside
For plants, a sunny slope is a comfortable dwelling place, with welcome drainage and plenty of light. For people, a garden incline that is steady and continuous can be less pleasing; we require some horizontals, not least for a house. Between the top and bottom of Sue Moffitt’s five acres in rural Rutland, there is a difference of eight metres in height. Her response has been to reach even higher, with a steep viewing mound in the site’s uppermost corner. On climbing to the summit – which is irresistible – it is clear why the landform was the first part of this structured prairie garden to be developed. For one thing, without the mound the quiet drama of the surrounding countryside – a magnificent brick viaduct, used by the Kettering to Oakham railway line, spanning the Welland Valley to the south, and a wooden windmill protruding over the fields to the north – would be hidden behind tall beech hedges. For another, the view from the top of the mound clarifies the shape of a sloping parterre that is hard to distinguish at ground level, being filled with voluminous, loose planting that is itself high, at the end of the season.
At the centre of the planted grid lies a black square of still water, open to the sky and most emphatically a reflecting pool – reminiscent of the larger, but equally calming, minimal pool at Le Jardin Plume near Rouen in northern France, the former seven-acre apple orchard transformed over the past 20 years by Patrick and Sylvie Quibel. Hoping to fill this area with plants that could cope with the wind and exposure of the east midlands site, Sue was looking for ideas on combining naturalism with her own formal tendencies. On seeing pictures of the grassy geometry at Le Jardin Plume, a design rooted in the French traditions of parterres and potagers, Sue had her ‘Yes!’ moment.
Just as the Quibels’ land in France was repurposed for a garden, so too was the Moffitts’ farmlandturned-scrub. An added challenge for the Moffitts was that conifers had been used as space-fillers, with dense avenues of Leyland cypress trees running four deep all around the boundary. Sue first discovered the property while out cycling, and was captivated by its atmosphere. “There was something mysterious about it,” she muses. Besides the air of intrigue, the property housed a bungalow with a substantial plot behind it, perfect for building a large new house.
The Moffitts removed the last hundred leylandii this year, having long since discovered why the conifers had been so densely planted. “On a windy day it’s wild out there,” says Sue. Fortunately the removal process revealed some good, mature trees, including a pair of weeping beeches that frame the oak storage-cum-workshed by the prairie garden, and a small ring of ash trees that now form an unusually romantic turning circle by the front door. A perimeter hedge of beech stands tall again, cut into waves that reflect the rolling fields beyond.
Most of the plants in Sue’s perennial garden are tall by late summer, hitting shoulder height at least.
The experience is more immersive than tiered planting in a traditional long border. A climb up the viewing mound reveals that the garden is anchored with good structure, even more distinct in winter when the planting has faded back, and in spring as it comes to life again.
Sue’s choice of planting around the garden’s sunny and windy summit is led entirely by conditions. Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Firetail’ was one of the first plants to go in, and last year she added eupatoriums and Geum ‘Borisii’. The sizeable area was originally populated by six plant types and ten years later the selection still shows economy. The ethos up here is ‘split and divide’, as articulated by Sue’s design partner David Moffitt. David studied at Sheffield University under Nigel Dunnett and James Hitchmough and came on board with the garden after the hard landscaping had been done. “David is highly creative,” says Sue. “He has brought the garden on to a new level.”
Prairie perennials have thrived here because their feet are in soil that is rich, while the exposure keeps them lean and strong. Other plants such as Salvia uliginosa that have done too well in more luxurious herbaceous borders around the garden have been sent to the prairie boot camp to calm them down.
Not all of the original protagonists are still in evidence; Echinacea purpurea gave up on the heavy soil, while Verbena bonariensis comes and goes. Happily, the neat grid of rectangles and triangles accommodates freedom of movement. Gaps are made less obvious by groundcover in the form of Geranium ‘Brookside’, Alchemilla mollis and a Sanguisorba that arrived of its own accord.
If ‘ low maintenance’ means less thinking as well as less doing, then this area of Sue Moffitt’s garden is a model of its kind, with the tricky question of colour removed entirely. “The rest of the garden has been colour-themed, but up here it doesn’t worry me,” she says. When the structure is there, texture comes to the fore: “If it works in black and white, it works in colour.”
USEFUL INFORMATION
Address Redhill Lodge, Seaton Road, Barrowden, Oakham, Rutland LE15 8EN. Tel 07894 064789. Open The garden is open by appointment under the National Garden Scheme. Check the ngs.org.uk for openings in 2020.
Prairie perennials thrive here because their feet are in soil that is rich, while the exposure keeps them lean and strong
When the structure is there, texture comes to the fore and the question of colour is removed
The garden was originally populated by six plant types, and ten years later the selection still shows economy