At the heart of the evolution of country garden design is a mood for the mindful, our changing climate and a ‘nature positive’ ethos
FEATURE RHODA PARRY
1 SOIL HEALTH
For a garden to be sustainable it must look after the earth itself. ‘My designs always focus on the soil because it feeds our plants and us,’ says designer Marian Boswall, whose book Sustainable Garden was shortlisted for Garden Book of the Year. ‘In protecting it, and feeding the microbes within it, we create a garden which is resilient, beautiful and healthy both on and below the surface.’ She suggests avoiding pesticides and fertilisers, planting in layers to keep carbon locked up and digging as little as possible to protect root networks.
2 PLAYFUL PRECISION
Topiary forms have always served as the architectural bones and structure for a formal country garden design. Now this theory is being used in a more playful way as seen in the Cotswold garden of interior designer Emma Sims-Hilditch. ‘I had always dreamed of a cloud box feature,’ she says, ‘and we decided to create this on the slope between the upper and lower lawn. It adds incredible drama.’ The box balls were chosen for their varying sizes. Gradually the plants will meld into each other and the pruning will create a soft cloud effect. Maintenance is key. The buxus needs treatment against box blight and the pruning that is required to create the cloud effect needs to be done by an expert, ideally twice a year.
3 LAWN RETHINK
There’s a move to replace large areas of lawn with planting, breaking up green expanses to make a softer and more wildlife-friendly space. ‘The design intention in this scheme was to create a warm, naturalistic feel,’ says designer James Scott of The Garden Company. ‘Four generous quadrant beds are set into the lawn and look like mass planting as the year progresses.’ Soft landscaping is not only aesthetically pleasing, it benefits the environment hugely with plants and trees improving air quality and boosting biodiversity. ‘Other key benefits include reducing soil erosion and softening noise pollution,’ adds James. →
4 FANTASY FOLLIES
Romantic works of shell art in secret and magical stone structures are back in vogue. Using mussels to cockles (from the fishing industry) to sea urchin spines, leading artist Blott Kerr-Wilson is at the vanguard of this renewed interest in the craft of ‘shelling’. Blott believes that quirky follies and grottoes of the past sit so well in the modern country garden ‘because on entering they hold surprise and wonderment’. ‘The late Rosemary Verey originally designed th
