An accomplished plantswoman and garden designer has created an elegant garden in a secluded spot
There isn’t a plant out of place in Rosemary Alexander’s garden, set around her 17th century farmhouse on a country road on the Sussex/Hampshire border. Aframework of evergreens, topiary, mossy old walls and raised beds creates an underlying structure and a sense of orderly calm, but the woodland area, with its meandering gravel paths and mix of mature trees, early flowering shrubs and colonies of snowdrops and spring bulbs, provides a touch of wilder beauty.
It's not surprising the one-acre garden is so cleverly thought out. Rosemary is an eminent garden designer, founder of the English Gardening School, author and a regular judge at RHS shows. It was her daughter who first spotted the house for sale and urged her mother to view it. “It was love at first sight,” recalls Rosemary. “There was half an acre of garden at the front of the house and the same to the rear. I knew immediately I could turn it into a series of different areas.”
The move marked a change of scale for Rosemary, who was previously custodian of 21 acres at a National Trust property, Stoneacre, in Kent. Although she was keen to start on her new project, she paused before leaping in. “It’s important not to do too much in the first year,” she explains. Her aim was to build the garden around seasonal differences. The front area with woodland and a green and white border shines in spring, while the more colourful rear garden is at its peak in summer and autumn, with roses, a grasses border and a potager-style vegetable patch.
Although the woodland area looks effortlessly natural, it has been thoughtfully planned. “I kept the paths exactly as they were, but at the beginning of our second year here, I raised the height of some of the beds by as much as two feet.” Blocks were used for elevation and new soil placed behind them. “It took three months, but it has made a huge difference. It now looks much more interesting.”
New shrubs, bulbs and trees, including a magnolia ‘Galaxy’, were introduced along with the recontouring. Colour starts in January, with three different varieties of hamamelis flowering for up to eight weeks. ADaphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’ produces fragrant, early, pink flowers. Layers of hellebores, bergenias, pulmonarias, snowdrops and swathes of sprin
