{"id":8440,"date":"2022-03-22T16:03:20","date_gmt":"2022-03-22T15:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gardensillustrated.com\/?p=75569"},"modified":"2022-03-22T16:18:05","modified_gmt":"2022-03-22T15:18:05","slug":"a-garden-for-all-seasons-with-early-spring-interest-in-berkshire","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/rss_feed\/a-garden-for-all-seasons-with-early-spring-interest-in-berkshire\/","title":{"rendered":"A garden for all seasons with early spring interest in Berkshire"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Matthew Biggs\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 22 March 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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The garden at Lower Bowden Manor is a testament to Juliet Cox-Nicol\u2019s attention to detail and her unique sense of style, form and colour, which comes in part from her experience as a garden designer but also from many years working for haute couture fashion houses in Paris. \u201cI find flower borders too busy in summer and empty in winter,\u201d she says. \u201cStructure and form through conifers, topiary and winter bark, such as Acer griseum, Lagerstroemia<\/em> and birches, especially Betula nigra<\/em>, are more to my taste.\u201d Many stand as elegant, statuesque, multi-stemmed specimens helping the garden glide serenely from winter into spring.<\/p>\n

Adding to the structure is Juliet\u2019s \u2018painting in beech\u2019, composed of multiple forms of stepped hedges \u2013 their linearity broken by the curves of topiary cones, cushions and drums of different sizes. It also creates subtle contrasts in colour; the winter fawn of beech against dark-green yew and holly, with the light-green detailing of the new shoots of Cornus controversa<\/em> \u2018Variegata\u2019 beyond. Read more about the garden below.<\/p>\n

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In brief<\/p>\n
What<\/strong> A garden for all seasons with early spring interest from formal features, topiary and daffodils. Where<\/strong> Berkshire. Size<\/strong> Three acres of garden and four acres of orchard. Soil<\/strong> Clay with flints. Climate<\/strong> Variable in summer with cool winters, and windswept. Hardiness zone<\/strong> USDA 9.<\/p>\n
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\u00a9 Clive Nichols<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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In the orchard at Lower Bowden Manor, a statue of Pan stands surrounded by a carpet of daffodils added over the years by owner Juliet. Ancient multi-stem apple trees and a swamp cypress (Taxodium distichum<\/em>) link the garden to the wider landscape, which is part of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and overlooks the Thames Valley to the Chilterns.<\/p>\n
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\u00a9 Clive Nichols<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
The Japanese-influenced pond, landscaped from a barren hollow in ten days in 2018 by S\u00e9bastien Esnouf and his team, creates a scene of which Claude Monet might have approved. The puddled clay pond with its stony \u2018beach\u2019 is framed by Juliet\u2019s cloud-pruned trees, pale daffodils and a blossoming Amelanchier<\/em> x lamarckii<\/em>.<\/p>\n
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\u00a9 Clive Nichols<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Beyond the pond is the grouping of beech drums, cones and cushions that Juliet terms her \u2018painting in beech\u2019. Her composition is framed by stepped beech and yew with Cornus controversa<\/em> \u2018Variegata\u2019 beyond.<\/p>\n