PROFILE:

William Moore, Cow Close Cottage

What is the first thing you planted in your garden?

A gale force wind a few weeks after moving into the house determined the choice of the first plant for the garden. The wind split a tree down the middle and we replaced it with Acer cappadocium ‘Rubrum’, which is also known as the Caucasian Maple. It’s a medium to large tree with young dark red leaves which turn green and then back to red, gold and yellow in autumn. What is your favourite plant?

My favourite plant seems to change every few years. At the moment it’s probably Thalictrum Elin. It’s a tall architectural plant and an excellent foil for the back of the border. It never needs staking, thanks to its thick purple stem and has attractive lacy blue-green foliage. Airy fronds of tall mauve and cream flowers complete the show. What is your pet gardening hate?

That’s an easy question for me to answer. It has to be either of the two species known as bindweed to you and me. I seem to be able to spot it more easily in other people’s gardens than my own. By the time I do, the bindweed seems to have established a strangle-like hold on some unfortunate plant which I then proceed to damage as I try to unravel its choking, twining stems. What is your best gardening tip?

I’d recommend always taking a notebook and pen with you when visiting gardens. You can then make a note of the names of plants you don’t know and want to remember, combinations of plants that work well together for you and any other information you are able to pick up on your visit. What or who inspired you to start gardening?

It was probably a visit to the famous garden at York Gate in Adel in the 1980s that inspired me to develop my interest in gardening. I particularly liked the way in which the garden was divided into a series of smaller gardens with different themes and in contrasting styles. The creative use of different materials for the hard landscaping and the clipped evergreens in their architectural shapes provide the perfect backdrop for the plants.

Cow Close Cottage, Stripe Lane, Hartwith, Harrogate HG3 3EY is open tomorrow and Wednesday (July 31) 11am-5pm.

email david1953overend@gmail.com