IN BRIEF<\/p>\n

What<\/strong> Contemporary garden with an emphasis on natural-style planting.Where<\/strong> Oxfordshire.Soil<\/strong> Alluvial silt with green sand pockets in low spots and subjected to prolonged winter flooding.Size<\/strong> One acre, surrounded by orchard, nuttery, woodland and wildlife refuge.Climate<\/strong> The house sits in an open frost pocket where winter temperatures quite regularly drop to -10oC.Hardiness zone<\/strong> USDA 8.<\/p>\n

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Chris and Toby know a thing or two about plants, for more than 30 years they ran Orchard Dene Nurseries<\/a>, and as growers they were famed for their flawless production values. Their plants could be found growing in countless award-winning RHS Chelsea Flower Show<\/a> gardens and the nursery was loved by every garden designer you can think of. Knowing how impeccably the nursery was run, I was a little taken aback at how effortlessly laid back the garden is, gently tamed within its wild exteriors. \u201cWe actually just want to enjoy it all and garden,\u201d says Chris. \u201cWhat we love is the process of gardening, rather than the end product. We don\u2019t actually want it to be finished.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such graceful planting is a result of decades of knowledge and deep understanding of how plant communities interact. The garden is made up of a series of matrices. \u201cWe use a predominance of two or three things that are reliable and then punctuate these with other plants that either emerge or contrast,\u201d says Chris. These matrices are designed to cover the ground naturally and keep the soil in good health, reducing the need for unnecessary intervention and to keep down weeding.<\/p>\n

From an understorey of low sedges and ornamental grasses<\/a>, including Carex digitata<\/em>, Carex morrowii<\/em> \u2018Irish Green\u2019, Melica altissima<\/em> \u2018Alba\u2019 and Sesleria autumnalis<\/em>, rise taller plants, such as amsonias, actaeas, kalimeris and thalictrums<\/a>. Essentially, plants are allowed to co-exist naturally, but as Chris explains nothing is left in one place for ever, everything is allowed to move. \u201cSometimes we have to edit because some things are self-seeding a little too much,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The central garden is the sunniest part and has a large round lawn, although Chris admits that it\u2019s more a tapestry of green species and they use varying mowing regimes to create longer-grassed areas.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 Jason Ingram<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\nAround this sit two wide borders<\/a> dedicated to decorative herbaceous planting with a central grass path<\/a> that snakes away to the wilder reaches. \u201cThese borders are the mainstay of the late-summer garden with a wider range of colours, often seen through a veil of grasses,\u201d says Chris. Plants include Veronicastrum virginicum<\/em> \u2018Album\u2019,<\/a> Vernonia arkansana<\/em>, Eupatorium maculatum<\/em> \u2018Riesenschirm\u2019, Clematis<\/em> \u2018Mrs Robert Brydon\u2019 and Strobilanthes atropururea<\/em>.<\/p>\n
By autumn the garden begins to mellow into a golden haze of coppers and oranges, punctuated here and there with violet hues. There\u2019s a smattering of annuals<\/a> and biennials, such as Patrinia monandra<\/em>, Orlaya grandiflora<\/em>, Digitalis<\/a> ferruginea<\/em> and Delphinium requienii<\/em>, used for seasonal variance. \u201cThese are useful for filling gaps in early year plantings or when the borders are reorganised,\u201d explains Toby.<\/p>\n
The result is a garden that is as peaceful as it is playful, that embraces its wild edges and inhabitants to create a space of ecological wealth<\/a> with some spectacular plant selections. Just as you might expect from two of horticulture\u2019s finest plantspeople.<\/p>\n
Highlights from around the garden<\/h2>\n
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\u00a9 Jason Ingram<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\nTwo large herbaceous borders are the mainstay of the late-summer garden when the likes of Eupatorium maculatum<\/em> \u2018Riesenchirm\u2019, Eryngium<\/em><\/a> \u2018Silver Ghost\u2019 and an unnamed Solidago<\/em> from Piet Oudolf<\/a>\u2018s garden, Hummelo.<\/p>\n
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\u00a9 Jason Ingram<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\nMany tall plants, including eupatoriums, echinops, veronicastrums<\/a> and sanguisorbas<\/a>, emerge from a tapestry of foliage, yet there\u2019s very little apparent staking. \u201c We prefer to install hazel supports<\/a> early in spring to create a natural corsetry to plants that might need it,\u201d explains Chris. \u201cThis allows for important movement later in the season as taller, agile plants ascend above the twigs and are allowed to flex in the breeze.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u00a9 Jason Ingram<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
A central grass path, leading to the wilder parts of the garden, divides the two wide borders separating drifts of the feathery grass Calamagrostis brachytricha<\/em>, the purple aster Symphyotrichum novae- angliae<\/em> \u2018October Skies\u2019 and tall, yellow Rudbeckia laciniata<\/em> \u2018Herbstsonne\u2019 from the buff seedheads of Eryngium giganteum<\/em> \u2018Silver Ghost\u2019.<\/p>\n
$\"""\"$ <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> \u00a9 Jason Ingram<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\nNeither Chris nor Toby were very keen to use too much hard landscaping in the garden. Instead structure comes from paths and sculpturally cut hedges<\/a> \u2013 mainly box and undulating hornbeam \u2013 which gives shape and framing for the looser planting. \u201cWe\u2019ll mow a crisp strip alongside an edge rather like framing a picture,\u201d says Chris. \u201cIt adds an immediate definition and holds the loose internal planting. Sometimes that\u2019s all that\u2019s needed to lift a space.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
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\u00a9 Jason Ingram<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\nThe tall Rudbeckia laciniata<\/em> \u2018Herbstsonne\u2019 rises out of a mixed planting of Solidago rugosa<\/em> \u2018Fireworks\u2019, Symphyotrichum oblongifolium<\/em> \u2018October Skies\u2019, the fading seedheads of Eryngium giganteum<\/em> \u2018Silver Ghost\u2019 and various alliums<\/a>. \u201cThe rudbeckia grows to at least three metres and is so tall you can see it even when lying in the bath,\u201d says Chris. \u201cIt\u2019s like a ray of sunshine in the late summer garden.\u201d<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t miss Chris Marchant\u2019s advice on the best ground cover plants<\/a> for sun and shade.<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n
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