The Garden

My garden is a plantsman's garden planted for year round interest and for wildlife.  I have been gardening organically for more than 20 years and since late 2002 I have also been peat-free.  The borders are closely planted and I cram in as many plants as possible and underplant with bulbs.  I rely on Link Stakes for support.

When we moved here in 1989 the garden was neglected and I had to start from scratch.  I took five years to level the soil, build walls, lay paths and do the initial planting.  The garden first opened for the National Gardens Scheme in 1995.  The garden is open on a Sunday in early June for the Thymus Collection and most years on an ad hoc basis for my chosen charities.  Visitors like the garden as its size relates to their own gardens. 

The garden and National Plant Collection^® have been featured in Hertfordshire Countryside (September 1998), the RHS journal The Garden (June 1999), Garden News (September 1999), Hertfordshire Life (August 2001) and Gardens Illustrated (June 2004).

The Front Garden

The front garden is a mixed border with shrubs alongside the pavement, Photinia davidiana 'Palette', Philadelphus 'Manteau d'Hermine, Deutzia gracilis, Viburnum  farreri 'Nanum' and Potentilla fruiticosa.  The border is planted with herbaceous perennials zoned in colours, and underplanted with Crocus and daffodils.  In late spring and early summer there are cottage garden aquilegias in shades of cream, blue, dark purple, pink and maroon.  I only grow the old fashioned spurless or short spurred aquilegias and they are allowed to self seed.  By the end of June and beginning of July the border is a mass of colour with Allium sphaerocephalon, A. cristophii, A. hollandicum, Nectaroscordum siculum, Hemerocallis, lilies, Phlox paniculata, Melica altissima 'Atropurpurea', a beautiful grass with dark red flowers, penstemons, Phlomis italicum and P. russeliana.  The succession of flowers continues into late summer-early autumn with Persicaria amplexicaulis 'Firetail', Strobilanthes atropurpurea, Helianthus 'Gullick's Variety' and H. 'Lemon Queen', as well as Aster novi-belgii and Aster novae-angliae cultivars and autumn flowering grasses.  In this border it is survival of the fittest!  Apart from the front of the border all the plants are large vigorous growers and the smaller plants are grown in the back garden, where they do not become swamped by their neighbours.  At the end of 2001 the two Helianthus cultivars were awarded the Award of Garden Merit in the Wisley Trials.

There is a narrow border between garage and front path, planted with old roses, R. 'Centifolia Variegata', R. 'Charles de Mills', R. 'Perle d'Or', R. 'Burgundiaca' and R. 'De Meux'.  It is underplanted with Crocus, Allium, old Dianthus and Satureja.  Colchicums grow at the back of the border where the ground bakes in the summer and there is plenty of space for the foliage in spring.

Last updated March 2005