A garden for all seasons Fab whatever the weather!
A picturesque cob-and-brick cottage is surrounded by an eclectic garden designed for all weathers
O nce enclosed by a tangle of brambles and old bedsteads, the house at Terstan is now framed by a garden of flowing spaces linked by circular and oval shapes. The one-acre plot near Stockbridge in Hampshire is the work of Penny Burnfield and her husband Sandy, who moved there in 1975. Set in open countryside just 100 yards from the River Test, the garden has plenty of beautiful views, but along with the gorgeous setting came a tricky combination of harsh dry summers and high risk of flooding. Penny explains how they’ve adapted the garden to thrive in the different conditions.
THE BEGINNING
I’d always visited gardens with my parents, but it was only when I had a plot of my own that I became really interested in the subject and began reading whatever I could, including Christopher Lloyd’s The Well-Tempered Garden. His combination of plantsmanship and strong design was a great inspiration. Sandy and I tackled the garden bit by bit, according to what was needed at the time, whether it was a lawn and a border on the west side of the house, or a terrace for sitting out on the south side with a raised border around it to separate it from the adjoining track down to the river. A circle seemed to fit well there and that’s where the idea to use circles and ovals as a design motif through the garden began. There’s a raised circular pond, a bark circle in the wild garden and ovals marked out in brick in the gravel garden.
CREATIVE GROWTH
Finding out about gardening was a gradual process. I was so excited by this new world I’d be awake all night, making mental lists of plants I wanted! As the years have passed I think my planting has become bolder, influenced perhaps by doing a degree in textile art that I took in my forties at Winchester School of Art. I particularly like the combination of deep red Persicaria microcephala ‘Red Dragon’ with a purple-tinged phormium and a woolly grey senecio in the front garden. Large-leaved, exotic-looking plants have become a particular interest, such as the wonderful grey-blue Hosta ‘Krossa Regal’, Melianthus major and Tetrapanax papyrifer ‘Rex’. They make really effective foils for other plants.
GRAVEL GARDEN
We made the gravel area in 2008. It’s in the driest part of the garden and gets a lot of sun so I’ve planted sedums, bearded irises and grasses. When I was creating a plan for the rectangular plot, I decided on three ovals of diminishing size and marked them out with bricks. One is filled with turf, the others remain simply as decorative shapes within the gravel. We planted through the gravel aiming for contrasting foliage shape, colour and texture. The creeping thymes have done so well that I might have to take some out. Favourite combinations here include deep crimson Sedum ‘Red Cauli’ against the green and white stripes of Iris pallida ‘Variegata’. A feature of the garden is a showman’s caravan we bought in a farm sale for £100.
LIVING WITH NATURE
As well as dry summers, we’ve also had to deal with flooding. One year parts of the garden were under a foot of water for a month and we lost some shrubs. I replanted with willows. You have to work with the existing conditions and fortunately, we rarely get flooding as bad as it was that year. But we do get a lot of weed seeds blowing in, mostly nettles and thistles, and plenty of rabbits visit us too! When I plant something new I have to protect it with netting until it’s established, but the views across the meadows to Stockbridge Down more than make up for these difficulties.
CHANGING DISPLAYS
Another easy way to adapt to the various weathers is having masses of containers that can be rearranged and replaced. I love playing with different combinations and seeing what works. For summer displays I contrast tender plants with succulents and cacti collected over the years. Whether gardening or visual art, it’s all a matter of design in the end.
Visit Penny’s garden on 25 June, 23 July and 10 September, 2-6pm, in aid of the National Gardens Scheme (ngs.org.uk)