HOME & GARDEN Out in the with Sally Cunis Garden Design Limited Candelabra primroses
When we bought our house over twenty years ago, we inherited a pair of parallel beech hedges 37 metres long, planted about eight metres apart, extending out from the old dry-stone garden walls across the field towards a small glade of trees.
Nicotiana sylvestris and Verbascum
where I’ve already planted velvety Verbascum, Acanthus, foxgloves and Hellebores in great drifts from my Mother’s garden. Grasses such as Miscanthus ‘Morning Light’ are planted in ribbons to run through the planting.
In the wet and boggy area, great clumps of sedge grow already and have been lifted, weeded and replanted; I shall add king- cups, rooted willow, Brunnera and candelabra primroses.
Alliums, Cistus,
forget-me-not and Helichrysum italicum
Whether the previous owner intended to plant a traditional double herbaceous border along the grassy rectangle sandwiched between the hedges I don’t know, but I think this would have been too formal for the setting and somewhat labour intensive!
For many years I have left this space wild to be enjoyed by my children when they were young and as a route to the fields and trees surrounding the house.
The entrance to the walkway is now flanked by two massive wooden obelisks made by my uncle and smothered in Clematis alpina and a small yellow rose. At the opposite end we created with a local willow artist, friends and family a fabulous living willow arbour as a focal point, backed by a magnificent yew donated by a friend some years ago.
I have been mowing a 1.4 metre wide path in bold sweeping curves down the centre of the long grass section for years, allowing weeds to spring up in the sinuous shapes created between the path and the hedges linking the mown grass
Avenue with obelisks and willow arbour prior to planting
Foxgloves
circle within which the willow arbour sits. Sadly, most of the weeds were nettles (in abundance) and cow parsley, to which I am very allergic! However, I loved the effect of the tall, meadow-like, see-through plants and, inspired by the writings of designers such as Piet Oudolf, decided with the assistance of Nicola (who helps me with my clients’ gardens) to carve out proper beds, to discard the pernicious weeds and mimic the natural effect with an informal planting scheme. It has been, and continues to be, a major project not helped by roots, wet weather, clay soil and natural springs but Nicola has been tenacious and I have chipped away when time has permitted. Butterflies and insects will forage on Buddleia and Verbena bonariensis instead of nettles and I will sow Amni majus seed to copy the froth of cow parsley. The hedges run west/east thus creating sunny areas for Hebe, Cistus, Evening Primrose and Nicotiana Sylvestris interlaced with, in time, tall perennials, Alliums and Iris and areas for shade
Cut leaved black elder
These mainly perennial planting areas will also have a spine along each border of tall shrubs around which plants will grow and billow. I have made cuttings of Buddleia and Viburnum, bought slips of coloured dogwood, been given a beautiful Rhus sumach and a cut-leaved
Clematis alpina black elder.
Plants for any planting project are expensive but with time and care it is possible to reduce costs; many plants have come from friends and family, I have divided perennials, sown seeds and picked up pots of bulbs cheaply in the local nursery after flowering. I use self-sown Hardy geraniums, forget-me-nots, Tellima, feverfew , primroses and alpine strawberries as attractive and effective ground cover. I will allow plants to self-seed and spread to reduce work and create the natural effect I desire.
Next year I will be wandering between butterfly and flower filled borders!
Grasses and Verbena bonariensis
Sally Cunis Garden Design
• Qualified in garden design & horticulture • Designing gardens for over 20 years • Gardens to suit your lifestyle • As heard on BBC Radio Sheffield
Sally Cunis MA (Cantab) MRICS T: 01226 791320 M: 07812 724195
sjc@sallycunisgardendesign.co.uk www.sallycunisgardendesign.co.uk www.pothousehamlet.co.uk/sallycunis.htm
Garden
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