elated and living affirming is how I ’d describe the garden at Old Bladbean Stud . Hidden among the labyrinthine lane of South East Kent , possessor Carol Bruce has created a garden of great meaning from a internet site that was dead derelict as latterly as 2003 . It ’s a rarity these days to come across a new , large garden created by a private individual , and all the more compelling when you discover that Carol has no horticultural training and maintains the whole situation single - handed . make nurseryman would be ‘ like buying a fretsaw puzzler and then hiring someone to do the puzzle for me ” remark Carol in the garden ’s new guide book . older Bladbean Stud is testament to what can be done with a niggling backbone , decision and imaginativeness . I came off feeling really encouraged and at the same time slightly humbled by her achievement .
Of course , a garden on this scurf ( three acres ) does not come cheap and Carol is candid about the full cost of her project : about £ 100,000 . However when one mull over on what this might match to in holding or even railcar , it ’s lot of bam for your buck . Spread out over ten years , it ’s probably less than some people ( hem ) expend on apparel in a yr . Best leave the comparisons there !
A tour of the garden begins in an unprepossessing gravelled yard , where Carol sit in the cool spectre of a Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , welcoming visitant . Passing through a brick arch , the experience is how I ’d opine entering Narnia ’s summer counterpart . forthwith one is immersed in a maelstrom of scent , motion , texture and colour . Crowds of spikey genus Allium direct carpeting the ground beneath racy , lusciously scented roses ; bellflower and delphiniums germinate up like roquette in the spaces between the bushes ; and genus Verbascum , eryngiums and geranium inundate any gaps that their compatriot have left . Like Narnia , the scene represents what is for many of us a fantasy , a dreaming of what an English garden should look and feel like .
The plot ’s unusual form calls for some interesting transition . What could be an ill at ease , curving lawn , distinguish Lamby ’s pass , is afford a focal point in the form of a life - size Irish Wolfhound carving . The grassy walk conduct visitor from the rose garden to the most ambitious of Old Bladbean Stud ’s characteristic , the forked mirrored borders . How many multitude in this daytime and age have the sight and gut to create parallel herbaceous borders 300 ft long by 60 ft broad ? Not many . The planting is superb , even follow a spell this winter when large section were deluge in water for over six week .
There are two lines of correspondence in the planting , one campaign down the duration of the lawn and the other across the centre , meaning that every flora group appear four times . The architecture of the borders is important as it contain piffling relation to the theatre or any other keystone degree . freehanded endocarp workbench provide a spectacular advantage point at either remnant of the lawn , whilst obelisk make height , speech rhythm and accentuate the symmetricalness of the planting . Carol has chosen flower which echo the colours of the sky , creating a third line of proportion . Naturally in border of such immense graduated table , planting mental block are material and there is way for beasts likeCrambe maritima , Campanula lactiflora , Macleya cordata , Cynara cardunculusandEryngium yuccifolium . Not denying the frequent greyness of British skies , Carol has made abundant use of silver go away plant such asArtemesia ludoviciana‘Silver Queen ’ .
A long crushed rock path shade byMagnoliaxloebneri‘Leonard Messel ’ guides visitors to the enviable kitchen garden , itself 330 ft long . Carol describes it as a ‘ harvest gyration conveyor rap ’ and has positioned tap and compost bins along its distance the slim the amount of plodding up and down required . The diffuse fruit was at its peak this weekend ; blackcurrants , redcurrants , hiss and strawberries all sweet-scented , gem - like and begging to be harvested . Of course we restrained ourselves , but it was tough !
Up the garden path, a view through thepatte d’oielayout of the rose garden
Closer to the household , which unusually has very short relationship with the garden , lies the pastel garden . This enclose satisfying distance is so called because of the way Carol has arranged the pale vividness to obscure into one another , like an artists pastels . To the left wing of the photo below , the swarm of pale pinko is composed ofCampanula lactiflora(perhaps ‘ Loddon Anna ’ ? ) and a pale pink delphinium of exactly the same shade .
The yellow-bellied garden was one of the very first areas Carol tackled , and was destine as a place to baby-sit , eat , understand the composition , shell seed and brush her dog . It now provides a beautiful setting for a refreshful cupper and is slowly morphing into a tea garden . The rose varieties are predominantly intercrossed musks and David Austin loan-blend blend with white flower albas . Other plants admit sissyrinchiums , aquilege , geranium andDigitalis lutea .
The garden was exuberant when we visit in late June , fulfil with bloom , alive with bee and intoxicating with olfactory property , but this stud is far from a one trick pony . Carol has design her planting schemes to provide a foresighted time of year of interest , extending from April to October . She recommends the meridian prison term for the bivalent mirrored borders and pastels garden is August and September , demanding a return visit . Despite its off - beat location , Old Bladbean Stud is a garden that merit to be better known . For now , let ’s keep it our little secret 😉 Old Bladbean Stud is opened for the National Gardens Scheme on 13 and 27 July , 24 August , 7 and 21 Sept and 5 January 2025 . Admission £ 5.50 . Clickherefor more details . The harm – inordinately only one flora this fourth dimension , Phuopsis stylosa , the large - styled crossword puzzle , which Carol allow to romp around beneath her blush wine .
A lovely combination ofAstrantia majorwithHydrangea arborescensandAllium christophii
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Categories : Bulbs , Climbers , Flowers , Foliage , Garden Design , Kentish Gardens , Large Gardens , Other People ’s Gardens , Planting Design , plant
Posted by The Frustrated Gardener
Biennial sea holly,Eryngium giganteum, mingles with roses and white geraniums
The planting in the 300ft long borders is mirrored in two planes, designed to reflect the colours of the sky
Eryngium yuccifolium, known locally in the USA as rattlesnake master
Ripening berries against the wall which divides the double mirrored borders from the kitchen garden
The greenhouse, rising from its own gravel peninsula, lies on one edge of the pastels garden
White geraniums, yellow aquilegias and cream roses in abundance in the the yellow garden
A view through the rose garden towards ‘Angel’, a sculpture by Pete Moorhouse
