My first meeting with Geoff , was highly memorable. There I was thinking what a huge garden this was to potentially look after. I was then invited into the back garden, which stretched to an additional third of an acre. Geoff then mentioned that it had won a National gardening competition a few years previously .
The enormity of the work involved , could have easily been quite overwhelming , but in actual fact it left me feeling compelled to help Geoff and to find time, to take care of the garden that his late wife Mary had designed from scratch ( or in this case arable fields ) over the previous 25 years.
From the outset there was no way, I could garden to the extent Mary had, she really gardened every day, for hours and hours. My aim was to hopefully retain the structure, and true sense of the gardens design . Keeping up with the pruning of the dozens of trees, shrubs and roses , and making sure all the other soft landscaping elements stayed in balance was my plan.
So eleven years ago , with 4 hours available every Friday afternoon, I became Geoff’s gardener. Aided by Badger ( Geoff’s spaniel ) we worked our way around with great gusto. It would then take 5 weeks to get back to the same spot in the garden.
This west facing oblong shaped garden covers just over a third of an acre ,with the property sitting in the middle. Over time the 50 m gravel drive upto the house, became softer on the edges, as hellebores,primroses and cyclamen self seeded out from the borders which contained Magnolias, Liriodendrons, Blue Cedars, Arbutus unedo and Silver birch. Geoff’s Land Rover tyres, left ruts in the drive and became impromptu bird baths when it rained,or dust bowls when it was dry.
The back garden was a series of separate garden rooms, linked by narrow pathways, which seamlessly took you through formal borders, ornamental woodlands and into a Japanese inspired garden which lead to a view of the surrounding fields . Each individual space wasn’t surrounded by dense planting, as there was always a borrowed view to a magnificent specimen tree in a further part of the garden which literally made you want to carry on exploring .
From the kitchen window, a huge rockery and ornamental pool , led your eye to a fernery, which then took your eye to a mature blue cedar with cotinus and hydrangeas close by . Then behind this a mature Acer griseum caught your attention. Autumn colours as you might imagine were outstanding . There is only one outstanding memory I didn’t enjoy in all the eight years, which involves finding a shed snakeskin ,under a huge Magnolia stellata. I am so glad it had slithered off elsewhere.
Mary used specimen plants to visually guide your eye through the garden (if you felt like standing still) Alternatively, there was a myriad of narrow pathways which weaved sinuously through the garden . And all the while, a tapestry of ground cover from the epimediums ,snowflakes and dog tooth violets, slowly filled the pathways . Mary was a master of colour and planting .
I never met Mary , but I constantly sensed her presence through her plantsmanship. She made me laugh out loud with her planting skills, namely Imperial fritillarias by the dozen in a light woodland setting . To sublime beautiful drifts of vibrant Cornus midwinter fire and hundreds of snowdrops and bright pink cyclamen.
Geoff and I became a great friends and our conversations flowed. The weather was a regular subject as Geoff was a farmer, and over time Geoff really wanted to learn about the plants in the garden. as he would often say “ Sally, it was all down to Mary, I just cut the grass for 25 years “ It truly was a thoroughly enjoyable horticulturally fulfilling Friday afternoon.
The five strongest memories of this garden are :-
Magnolia Stellata (pink form ) with an under planting of self set allium atropurureum .
Magnolia Gold Star, with its primrose yellow flowers , an outstanding small tree, that should be planted in abundance .
For the first few years the planters by the house lay empty , then Geoff took responsibility. He loved marigolds and bedding begonias , as they were such a burst of bright orange,pink and yellow – they were perfect in every way, because Geoff had chosen and planted them .
The memory of sound from the Canada geese flying over in winter
Creating Geoffs funeral floral arrangement from his favourite flowers, stems and foliage plants which Mary had chosen and planted at Bridgewalton.
Caring for Geoffs garden truly was an extraordinary horticultural experience, which enabled myself to gain immense amounts of horticultural knowledge, and visual memories of exquisite trees,shrubs and perennials. Watching cyclamen , hellebores and primroses colonise and stretch metres and metres of gravel pathways over the years was a privilege.
AND FINALLY
This 800 word editorial, without imagery is an assignment from a writing course I am studying with http://www.gardenmasterclass.org
We have been requested to include photographs separately for our submission, so these are my chosen images of Geoff’s garden .
Sally Wicks 