The Back Garden

The back garden is a sloping site on three levels with retaining walls and steps, facing north east.  It backs onto the embankment of an old railway line, now a mini nature reserve and consists of several borders, two patios, paths, a small camomile lawn, herb garden and an alpine scree, planted with Saxifraga, Primula, bulbs etc., and some of the wild collected thymes.  Most of the Satureja Collection is planted at the top of the scree, where the plants grow very happily in the dappled shade, an area which thyme does not like.  The Hyssopus Collection is planted in the herb garden.  The long border stretches the length of the garden.  Nearest the house it is planted with shade loving plants, snowdrops, Anenome nemorosa, ferns, hostas, pulmonarias, hellebores, and old named primroses.  These plants look beautiful in the spring and in the summer they have cool shades of green as a contrast to the hotter shades further down the border.  In late spring early summer there are aquilegias in pale cream and pink and Geranium phaeum cultivars.  There are also Penstemon cultivars and mostly autumn flowering grasses and at the far end Rosa 'Prosperity' and Anthemis tinctoria 'Sauce Hollandaise'.  The fence is covered with several clematis, ivies and climbing roses.

The middle level is the largest section of the garden and is made up of several small borders, the largest of which is the greenhouse border, predominantly planted with hardy geraniums, old fashioned dianthus, aquilegias, penstemons and alliums.  At the far end of the border is an archway with Clematis 'Betty Corning', which conceals the bottom of the garden from view, creating a feeling of more space.  There is a pathway planted with thyme, leading to a decorative stone circle and which was featured in the book Spring in the Garden by Steven Bradley.  At the far end of this middle section is another border planted with aquilegias, hardy geraniums, Nectaroscordum siculum, dianthus and penstemons.  There are retaining walls both at the end of this border and the greenhouse border.  Click the camera symbol to see views of the garden.

The lower thyme beds at the far end of the garden are planted with the majority of my National Plant Collection^® of Thymus.  This area is a series of beds with paths and looks like a glorious patchwork quilt.  It is in full sun and as my soil is very stony the conditions are ideal for thyme.  For pictures click the camera symbol. 

Last updated March 2005