NURTURE
Amelanchier lamarkii underplanted with Deschampsia ‘Goldtau’
Stachys byzantina
Designer PLANTS Joe Perkins has designed an intimate and secluded garden, offering privacy and brimming with seasonal planting
Part of a larger project for a four-acre country garden, the brief for this planting scheme was to bring spring and early summer close to the house. The further parts of the garden then develop and flower as the seasons progress. The client wanted maximum impact around the living areas of the house at that crucial time of the year for gardens from April to June. When Joe first visited the site one rainy January morning there was only a wide and desolate expanse of lawn leading directly from the house. Adjoining acres of farmland offer wonderful views, but the space felt more like a field to move through rather than a garden you would want to spend time in. 70
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Designer plants.indd 70
The design brings a semi-formal structure of rectangular planting beds close to the house, adding a sense of seclusion whilst allowing views though to the larger more informal lawn area and beyond that, to the wildflower meadow and views across the countryside. Groups of trees – Amelanchier lamarckii, Cornus controversa and Alnus incana ‘Laciniata’ – enclose the space and make it more intimate, also adding spring and autumn colour. The multi-stemmed trunks of the Amelanchier make a sculptural statement rising though the groundcover layer of Deschampsia ‘Goldtau’. Although the planting design has a backbone of evergreen presence in the form of Taxus baccata hedging and domes, the emphasis is on seasonal change. The majority of the plants used are herbaceous perennials and the feeling is intended to be ‘country
cottage’ although with perhaps a more rigid underlying layout. The house is a vernacular Sussex country house, loaded with character which would have been a mistake to ignore. Roses were of prime importance to the client, and Joe chose several strong growing, scented David Austin shrub varieties around which to arrange the rest of the plants. These included R. ‘Heritage and R. ‘Queen of
Iris Jane Philips
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22/11/2018 13:18