BROUGHTON GRANGE

Parterre Par EXCELLENCE A newly created walled garden at Broughton Grange in Oxfordshire is With its curvaceous anything but traditional, with a terraced layout and planting scheme box hedges, the tulip masterminded by landscape designer Tom Stuart-Smith parterre on the lower terrace at Broughton Grange is WORDS JACKY HOBBS PHOTOGRAPHS CLIVE NICHOLS truly distinctive.

22 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL 2017 APRIL 2017 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 23 is veiled with tunnels Above A border of of beech. These afford Camassia and Euphorbia contrasts with the formal glimpses of the outlying yet organic lines of the countryside and parterre and the send dramatic shafts jewel-like colours of the of filtered sunlight tulips within its beds. Left Striped tulip streaking across ‘Synaeda King’. the terraces. Below Tulip ‘Black Jack’ Tom expands on offers deep, dark colour. his design concept: “Stephen’s original idea was to have an enclosed garden, but I’m glad he was persuaded to leave two sides open, so that the garden could become about its relationship with the land around it. The garden is defined, like a character in a narrative, partly by its intrinsic qualities and complexities but perhaps primarily by its relationship to the world around it.” he amoebic fingers of tom dyed, this tulip extravaganza is riotous. The bolt of The sloping space was stepped to create three, Stuart-Smith’s box parterre encase colour draws the eye through the garden, west to east level, distinct 20m x 60m terraces, again uncommon a profusion of brightly lacquered across the width of the lower terrace and north to within traditional walled gardens, connected by tulips, which peer over their irregular south down the terraces, before falling sharply away walkways. Each terrace is defined by signature box ramparts. This contemporary southwards towards herds of wobbly yews teetering Stuart-Smith plantings which loosely advance with Tinterpretation of a classical parterre is one of several off into the open countryside. the season as one descends down the slope. The ingenious design departures showcased in the Walled Stuart-Smith, engaged by Stephen Hester to create upper terrace peaks in early summer, suffused with Garden at Broughton Grange, Oxfordshire. an enclosed walled garden on his Oxfordshire estate, fragrant roses, towering foxgloves, bearded irises It is impossible to extract a stand-alone element masterminded this new-century garden, which has and geraniums. The middle terrace is dominated from Tom Stuart-Smith’s inextricably linked been amplified by maturity since its inception in by water: a reflective, clean-cut, rectangular pool design. In spring, the seemingly random, sprawling 2000. The more traditional gardens encircling the dissects it, the hard landscaping softened by later ribbons of low-cut box compartments, aflame manor house were to remain but Tom was to forge summer, prairie-style planting. “Having water at with licks of glossy tulips, are hypnotic. But their anew on a sloping, arable site detached from the the centre of this garden gives it both a stillness brilliance is heightened by the relative starkness of dwelling but embraced by open countryside. and a sense that nature and natural process is the the surrounding, unawakened garden, the tulips Unconventionally, Tom elected to enclose only two centrepiece,” says Tom. Above Knobbly providing the only loud shout of vibrancy and sides of the garden, butting a brick-built wall at right The garden plummets down to a third terrace, skeletons of Tilia x colour. In pockets of searing reds, burnt orange, angles to a pre-existing boundary wall. The southern adorned with the lavishly embroidered parterre, its europaea ‘Pallida’ remain stark while other spring smouldering charcoal, mustard yellow and saturated perimeter, beyond the parterre, melts progressively fall cushioned by clouds of lime green Euphorbia plants burst into life. magenta, solid, striped, picotee and seemingly dip- into the natural landscape, while the eastern edge and startling blue Camassia.

24 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL 2017 APRIL 2017 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 25 ANDREW WOODALL’S ADVICE l Clip box twice a year to keep it trim and compact. In winter delay clipping if there is a risk of frost and avoid summer clipping in scorching sun. Both lead to plant stress and leaf damage. Keep cutting tools sharp.

l Guard against box blight by keeping plants healthy and unstressed. Kept well fed and watered, they will be less prone to the disease. Dwarf holly (Ilex crenata) Top left Vibrant, bright and, in well drained pink tulip ‘Barcelona’. sites, cotton lavender Top right The golden petals of ‘Helmar’ are (Santolina) and dramatically stained Lavandula officinalis with dark red. ‘Hidcote’ are good Bottom right Painted alternatives to regular, with a brushstroke of Intrinsically decorative, the parterre’s folded arms purple, the orange hold caskets of bejewelled tulips in springtime. Once blight susceptible box goblet of ‘Hermitage’. they have faded they are replaced with bold annuals (Buxus sempervirens). Bottom left Finely intermixed with edibles with colourful leaves. The edged with yellow, the l Buy large tulip crimson blooms of low-slung, organic box parterre is inherently eye- bulbs from reputable ‘Gavota’ stand out. catching, even laid bare, frost-rimmed or etched in suppliers for an snow. Designed to be viewed from above, the three assured tulip display. seemingly random designs replicate the cell structure Ensure they are firm of beech, oak and ash leaves magnified 6,000 times. and dry but not “The leaves, collected on site, were magnified under dessicated. Consider a scanner and, with a template, the pattern was your planting palette directly translated onto the ground,” says Tom. before ordering “The idea of the parterre was to play with ideas of bulbs to achieve the proximity and distance. It occurs at the point where required harmony or the garden meets the landscape, so one might expect contrast, and vary the this to be the most naturalistic area. It isn’t, but in a amounts to create an way it is,” he explains. “We wanted something that orchestrated effect. was an offering up of nature to nature. The parterre is at once a reflection of the natural world that l Plant bulbs up surrounds it and also an abstraction of it. So it to 23cm deep, one is both a distancing device and something that per hole in formal brings one closer.” geometric, parterre- The intricate design is coloured in with more than Top Yew topiary makes style designs, 4,000 Dutch tulips, 12-15 cultivars in total, that its way down the sloping or three per hole when lawn that leads from the informally placed have been carefully selected for colour, pattern, and parterre to the garden throughout Daffodils and Magnolia performance and flowering time. Andrew Woodall, and landscape beyond. ‘Marwood Spring’ cling head gardener, is intuitive in his selections and Above Water dominates the borders. onto the slope that leads experienced in judging the appropriate quantities of the middle terrace of the Walled Garden with l Protect against down to one of the lakes required bulbs for the irregular design. He weights in the garden. a clean cut rectangular thieving mice. his order, from Peter Nyssen, favouring dramatic, water pool.

26 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL 2017 APRIL 2017 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 27 bold and reliable Below A classic spring performers such as combination of tulip ‘Helmar’ with pale ‘Gavota’, ‘Hermitage’, BROUGHTON yellow wallflower ‘Black Jack’ and ‘Treasure Primrose’. GRANGE NOTEBOOK ‘Helmar’, strikingly Tom Stuart-Smith’s design pushes boundaries planted against softer, plainer purple backdrops. Andrew trials smaller quantities of newer bulbs and offers a wealth of creative possibilities – burgundy-fringed ‘Labrador’ and ‘Barcelona’ for example – in less dominant cells. He devises a mind-map of colour associations and ensures a robust, unerring display throughout the parterre, which changes subtly year on year. Once the tulips die down they are lifted, piled into dumpy bags and dry-stored before they are replanted in the informal meadow in autumn. The box parterre is trimmed, with petrol hedge clippers, before and between plantings – October and late May – to avoid damaging plants and compacting the soil. “Clipping takes 200 man-hours, but the organic shape is more forgiving of errors than traditional straight- edged hedging,” says Andrew. The box (Buxus sempervirens) is fortified by the dual-purpose regime designed mainly to sustain the bedding within. “The soil is enriched annually with organic fertiliser and PACK A PUNCH HIGHS AND LOWS watering systems ensure the box doesn’t desiccate.” Cobalt blue camassias and Punctuate horizontal hard The thousands of tulips are placed by hand lime Euphorbia enhance a bold landscaping with year-round in mechanically drilled holes 23cm deep, then filled spring tulip display, which is vertical accents to achieve in and left over the winter, when the greatest enemy made more effective by its balance and add dimension. is mice. Tiger, the garden cat, and a plethora of bulbs’ simultaneous flowering Stuart-Smith introduces mousetraps ward off disaster, and another brilliant times – and because the arboreal architecture: beech display ensues. n cultivars used are tall enough tunnels, cypress spires and to rise above the parapet. bodies of comely yew. Broughton Grange gardens and nursery opens for the NGS on 30 April, and by appointment April-September. It is open Wednesdays, 10am to 4pm, May-September. Wykham Lane, Broughton, Banbury, Oxfordshire, OX15 5DS. Tel: 07791 747371; broughtongrange.com

BORROW THE VIEW PLEASURE ALL YEAR Boundaries are defined and Water affords interest all year, blurred in Tom Stuart-Smith’s mirroring activity in the garden design here. The garden is and drawing in the wider land enhanced by framed vistas, and skyscape. Stuart-Smith’s deliberate breaks in tree lines broad, rectangular pool is sleek and hedging, or by allowing and contemporary, yet it is the natural contours to flow, timeless in its ability to carry barrier free, from the garden scurrying clouds, be fountained to the countryside. with rain or glazed with ice.

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