11 minute read
Surrey Farmhouse Designer Tanya was
The White Garden’s box hedges contain standard ‘Iceberg’ roses, foxgloves and ‘Annabelle’ hydrangeas for flowers later on.
Top A line of ‘Boscobel’ roses marks a change in level, as the garden drops into a less formal area and long meadow. Above The suntrap terrace next to the house is perfect for summer meals, surrounded by roses, lupins and herbs. Right Richly coloured Rosa ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles’. S ome people might find the challenge of moving from London to a worn-out listed farmhouse in Surrey a daunting prospect. Not so garden designer Tanya, who took up residence with her young family in 2002. Right from the start she was eyeing up the uninspiring squares of lawn with a view to creating her very own country idyll.
Tanya was cautious to begin with, wanting to wait and see what would emerge in her new garden. “The three acres were mainly laid to lawn with a few trees and an awful lot of park-style bedding,” she recalls, laughing. “But really, this was a perfect start as there was nothing I could do to spoil it! It was all there for the eye to see and my aim was to divide it up into smaller, more secret spaces that you would happen upon while walking around the garden. I wanted to make each area di erent but relatable.”
Brimming with enthusiasm, she decided that the lawn to the west of the house would be an ideal spot for a White Garden. “It was a rough, sloping square of grass with one disease-riddled pear tree plonked left of centre. Everything about it was square and boring. In my mind’s eye I could see sweeping curved paths, crescents of box hedging, riotous white herbaceous plants and scented roses billowing on a central arbour. All very romantic.” So once her third
Towering cardoons behind alliums, scarlet lupins, Erysimum ‘Bowles’s Mauve’ and throngs of bright Alchemilla mollis.
daughter had been born, Tanya rolled up her sleeves and got stuck in. “I’m from Yorkshire and we just get on with things. We also can’t bear to pay for something if we can do it ourselves,” she adds with a grin.
The circular White Garden is a triumph. Divided by reclaimed brick paths that unite beneath a charming ironwork bower, each box-edged bed radiates outwards in perfect symmetry, mirroring its partner. The garden o ers winter interest thanks to evergreen Prunus lusitanica (Portuguese laurel) and sarcococca, until the four Magnolia stellata trees begin to bloom, heralding the start of the new season. “The White Garden looks its best in May and June, which are my favourite months of the year anyway,” says Tanya.
Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ and philadelphus (mock orange) have been incorporated
into the design along with herbaceous perennials such as irises, lupins and delphiniums. Annuals such as larkspur and cosmos are propagated by Tanya each year. “Now that the garden has matured, I can see where I need to add ground cover, although there is nothing more satisfying than a mulched bed with everything ready to come up,” she admits. Wild achillea has self-seeded: “It’s allowed to stay, not only because it is white, but also because it fills a space and seems so happy there,” notes Tanya. David Austin Roses supplied
Top Mock orange, or philadelphus, clouds of Crambe cordifolia and upright Sisyrinchium striatum jostle in the White Garden. Above The opulent bloom of a carmine herbaceous peony. all the roses in the garden. Standard white Rosa ‘Iceberg’ line each walkway and white shrub roses ‘Glamis Castle’ and blush-white ‘Jacqueline du Pré’ form an exact circle around each Portuguese laurel. “The sta at David Austin are so wonderfully knowledgeable and their aftercare is second to none,” Tanya enthuses. Beyond the White Garden, a group of Betula utilis var. jacquemontii ‘Grayswood Ghost’ is planted beside a wide sweep of gravelled path leading towards the house. Underplanted in late spring with alliums, foxgloves and erigeron daisies, the multistemmed silver birches cleverly separate the white garden from the expanse of lawn beyond. Here, roses in shades ranging from palest pink to deep magenta are trained over rope swags. “The scent is simply heavenly,” Tanya adds, with the irrepressible enthusiasm that has gained her Instagram notoriety: more than 3,000 followers enjoy Tanya’s daily garden updates and tips. Stone steps lead from the neat lawn into the meadow area. “The tip with wildflower meadows is to let your grass grow and see what comes up naturally. I’m not fond of ready-made wildflower meadows since they tend to contain flowers that aren’t specific to the area – also there are usually too many flowers and not enough grass. The flowers should be sparsely threaded through, rather than forming a crazy riot,” she insists. By allowing her meadow to evolve, Tanya has been thrilled to discover the di erent wildflower varieties that enjoy the heavy clay soil, such as achillea and ragged robin. “I have planted a few bulbs for spring interest though,” she admits. A mown path leads through the long grass towards a beech hedge into which Tanya has clipped an ‘owl hole’ as a focal point. The hedge screens the wildflower meadow and nearby orchard from an even wilder pond area where mallard ducks arrive each spring to nest. “Everything is deliberately as nature intended here,” Tanya says.
Tanya is an avid, committed propagator and grower. With a greenhouse crammed with pots and beds, she attributes her enthusiasm for gardening
Left Lavender thrives in these well-drained, wall-top conditions. Below, from left Yew cones with foxgloves and ‘Winchester Cathedral’ roses; climbing rose ‘Compassion’. Bottom, from left A mown path through the meadow leads to the hedge’s clever ‘owl hole’; the farmhouse looks out over the White Garden and its circular beds.
Literary Bronze Water Features & Sculptures
Awarded 5 Gold Stars at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show
e Mad Hatter water feature
Robert and James, better known as Bob and Jim, have been best of friends for over 30 years. ey share a passion for stories, illustration and sculpture, and together they have embarked on many creative adventures.
Just over 10 years ago, Jim attended the RHS Chelsea Flower Show for the rst time. It was an extraordinary day, brimming with colour, inspiration and the surprising realisation that there were no sculptures woven around stories.
is was the moment that Alice in Wonderland rose from the page and the idea of a limited-edition run of bronze sculptures based on the classic story was ignited in Jim’s creative and quirky mind. Turning a page in a book to see an illustration that brings the story to life is magical.
Even in today’s digital world, the page of the book is where it all begins. English classics such as Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland’ illustrated by Sir John Tenniel, Beatrix Potter’s ‘Peter Rabbit’ and Cicely Mary Barker’s ‘ e Flower Fairies’ are faithfully modelled from the original illustrations. Robert and James were invited by Penguin books, who own the copyright of these treasured creations, to work directly from the archives held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
e pair use old, hand-made tools and ngerprints to press, move and model the clay into life, capturing the breath of the characters, as if they have momentarily stepped out of the book and into the three-dimensional world.
Once modelled in clay, the pieces are cast in bronze and the highly collectable sculptures are installed in both homes and gardens, to weave their unique magic. Robert James were kindly invited to exhibit at the Philly Flower Show back in 2015 celebrating ‘Brilliant - e Best Of British’. Since then they have received commissions from right across all states.
“It is our fairy tale come true, our American dream and our vision in full bloom!” says Robert James.
to her family. “My mother has a beautiful garden and started us o young: we were always outside digging, picking and eating. In every photo of me as a young child I am wearing wellies – even indoors. We now make yearly pilgrimages to see wonderful English gardens; it’s our birthday treat to each other. Both my grandfathers were keen gardeners too, although each had very di erent styles of gardening. One loved strict, neat lawn edges and pristine grass and he also grew things from the basic to the exotic in his greenhouse; I can still conjure up the smell of it. My other grandfather had an old rectory garden. It was wonderfully formal and scented close to the house, but became wilder towards the edges – and it was here that he kept his beehives.” Behind Tanya’s greenhouse are her ‘holding’ beds where she grows flowers for cutting in addition to trialling plants prior to them earning a place in the main garden. Following family tradition, this is also where she keeps her beehives.
Top left A charming swing in one of the garden’s wilder areas. Top middle Paeonia lactiflora ‘Doctor Alexander Fleming’. Top right A classic, Rosa ‘Iceberg’ produces pristine white blooms. Above Roses on rope swags lead to a topiarised holly.
In early summer, cooling shades of lilac and pink tone perfectly with the warm brick facade of the wisteria-draped house. Plant choices include flaxblue Iris ‘Jane Phillips’, tightly furled Rosa ‘Madame Isaac Péreire’, deep purple lupins and one of Tanya’s most beloved plants, lacy white Cenolophium denudatum, encircled by a stout hedge of Salvia o cinalis ‘Purpurascens’ (purple sage). “I love an interesting hedge,” she explains.
Black weatherboard former farm buildings form a backdrop for the Courtyard Garden where scallops of box hedging contain clusters of white roses and peonies interspersed with purple salvias and soaring spires of Delphinium ‘Black Knight Group’. Here, Tanya has planted Rosa ‘Winchester Cathedral’ and Paeonia lactiflora ‘Duchesse de Nemours’ and added height with clipped conical yews.
Garden lessons LEARNED
Trial and error has informed Tanya’s design advice
The beauty of working in my own garden as opposed to a client’s is that it is more of an experiment and the time frame is flexible. I don’t really have to make a planting plan – it can be more fluid. I can try things out to see how they like their position and to see if I like the combination. I’m a devil for moving plants around. Take time to prepare your soil before you embark on your new garden design. I have learned that my white garden has di erent underlying soil – half of it is clay and the other half sand. With hindsight, I wish I had spent longer digging in much more soil improver and manure than I did. It’s a lot easier to do before the plants go in. Think about the space you have and try to imagine it without any paths or beds or washing lines. Sketch it out on paper and decide where things should go that work best for you, not the previous owner. How do you want to use the space? Do you entertain a lot? Do you want secret areas? Where is the sun in the morning for that Sunday morning co ee or evening G&T with friends? What do you want to see from the sitting-room window or the kitchen sink? Try to frame these views and then start on plants. Use photos to create a collage of short, medium and tall plants. Always buy smaller plants: they establish quicker and often grow much more vigorously in their second year.
This image Mallards visit each year to nest by the garden’s tranquil ponds. Below The tiny flowers of Crambe cordifolia form brilliant constellations when seen from afar.
In the patio garden by the house, all the plants were chosen for scent and texture. With climbing blush-pink rose ‘The Garland’ dripping from the brick walls, the surrounding beds are filled with white cranesbill, lupins and scented Rosa ‘Eglantine’, with a low bed of fragrant rosemary and olive trees in terracotta pots. “This area is a suntrap and it’s so lovely to sit and enjoy the garden after a hard day’s work in it; we are so very lucky,” Tanya concludes.
Follow Tanya’s daily garden adventures on Instagram: @tanyas_vlog
