Openkathy

Ten years ago our son Jonathan painted a brieze block wall which hid the compost bins in sthe style of Mondrian. Now there is a new garden in front of it incorporating ideas from his early paintings including the 'red tree'. Athough here at Stevington it is an autumn interpretation with a red fruiting crab apple as part of the foreground to the wall ie a tree to look through or past. I have also designed a terrace inspired by his painting called Broadway Boogie-Woogie which I saw in Moma in 2007. I have positioned it right in front of the wall with coloured stones bound in resin and LED lighting. Call it a Boogie Woogie Dance Floor!!! When Mondrian moved to New York he was enthalled by the pace and energy of the City and looking down from any skyscraper, who wouldnot be! Moma alludes to the geometric pattern beingthe City grid, and the yellow squares as taxis. Calamagrostis has become our Manhatten towers!

The autumn garden here is absolutely lovely; if the sun is out and there is the slightest breeze, then the grasses are sensational. We are then closed until early February when the winter garden is at its best, quite different but super nevertheless. I can never quite believe how much the garden changes from week to week or month ot month!

Late spring is a truly wonderful time with the pergolas and arches literally dripping with wisterieas, blue, white and pink (my favourite), laburnums and clematis, all underplanted with masses of alliums which have now self seeded to create a briliant display. They are joined here, as elsewhere in the garden by iris, peonies, foxgloves and glorious poppies which add such exubriance ...its such a special time of year! Elsewhere clouds of blue ceanothus will vie for space along with various honeysuckles and the early roses, such as dainty 'Cecile Brunner' which graces the gazebo with her exquisite scroll like buds. Several clematis montanas and wisteria clothe the house walls. Elsewhere the early roses, such as several cheery yellow 'Canary Bird' , come into bloom, along with white and yellow Banksia roses clambering up the house wall.

The wild flower meadow will be in exubriant growth, while in the cottage garden foxgloves, irises, peonies and poppies will be in racing to show off their full array.

The French garden will be a vibrant picture of contrasting greens between dark and light yew, hornbeams and box. It is one of my favourite seasons here!

AUTUMN

SUNDAY 19th SEPTMBER 12-5pm

Fruit trees, grasses, seedheads, containers, and colourful herbaceous borders.

An autumn open day was a new venture for us two years ago, but we know how wonderful the orchard looks in autumn with sumptuous crops of crab apples, apples and pears. The ornamental grasses are super; the herbaceous border is full of rich colour from dahlias etc; the yellow clematis are in great shape full of both bloom and seedheads; and under the wisteria arches are clouds of pure white Japanese anemones.

Meanwhile, the exotic containers in the pit are at their best, creating a fantastic display.

You may wonder why I placed coloured ladders amongst them as seen in the photo above. Well, in 2006 I went to the Kandinsky exhibition at Tate Modern and came face to face with his painting Improvisation Gorge dated 1914 in which we are made to look down at a vertiginous scene with colourful boats, ladders etc. It reminded me of a view I had seen near Munich at the flower festival four years ago. Our minds immediately turned to our former fishpond, now colourful exotic container garden. So with the help of even more colour from lots more plants, several glorious step ladders, and more pots, etc we have tried to develop the Kadinsky theme further!

The ornamental grass gardens are a revelation in autumn with billowing grasses and colourful herbaceous plants. These are gardens which stir the emotions and it is difficult not to be moved by them however anti this style of gardening our visitors might have thought they were! I think it is a style of gardneing which is here to stay providing interest and colour right through the autumn and winter.

Our Hepworth Garden is based on Barbara Hepworth's geometric drawing called Green Caves which we saw at St. Ives in October 2003 and planted in the winter of 2003/4. The garden combines ornamental grasses, now with their cresting flowers and just a few herbaceous plants, worthy for their structure of both flowers and seedheads; especially the broad sweep of sedums which are fantastic at this time fo year. Some of the plants are widely spaced and the effect is both 'veiled' and 'see through'. It peaks from mid summer through the winter, but it looks arresting at any time. It is surrounded by various buddlejas, flowering from mid to late summer which along with all the sedums and echinaceas provide a wealth of food for butterflies and bees. I gave the sedums the Chelsea Chop and am delighted to say that so far this year they have not split.....which is a huge improvement on the last two years.

Our Hokusai garden is based on his captivating woodcut depicting the Great Wave off Kanagawa created about 1831. Using a series of tall grasses including calamagrostis and miscanthus we aim to emulate the steep crashing waves with a winding path right through the middle lined with a foaming mass of Stipa tenuissima. In the winter of 2006/7 we added two more bands of very tall Miscanthus Goliath and Prof. Richard Hanson, planted to create a much more dramatic effect. It is at its best in late summer, autumn and winter and this year the inner path is lined with purple verbena bonariensis which has fortuitously self seeded there with brilliant results.

Just behind the orchard are the Rothko Rooms, our attempt to create living garden art. These were planted in 2001. Here hedge art is being taken to a new level with dark coloured foliage shaped into panels or paintings. Various effects of sunlight create very different moods; all so different in their intricacies. These rooms are a contemplative spcae, somewhere to loose yourself in the quietness. Last year we saw both the Rothko exhibition in Hamburg and the major Seagram reunion at Tate Modern. Such adventures are so inspiring.

Last year we created our Monet Garden based on his Waterlily painting seen in Tate Modern. We planted broad expanses of ornamental grasses in front of, in between and besides the Rothko Rooms using large drifts of miscanthus, calamagrostis and pennisetums and a few small spots of colour to echo Monet's Waterlily paintings where golden reflections are highlighted with pink water lily flowers. Except there is no water and the pink flowers are echinaceas with blue geraniums for water and various solidago, bidens, verbena for the yellows, creams, and purples! For me his golden willow leaves are golden grasses! His art is a total inspiration; I just look at his pictures and feel part of the scene, immersed and moved by his work with light. As sunlight sweeps across this garden it captures a fraction of his magic. In early evening and in winter time the effect is fantastic with low backlights transforming the miscanthus into lights with special effects.

ROSE FEST! At this time of year the roses are glorious and we have over 40 ramblers and climbers up the walls and over the pergolas and through the trees. On a warm still day, the scent is glorious. I always enjoy Mme Isaac Periere and Gertrude Jekyll; they are two of the very best and I always gather the blooms and making rose petal cakes! Wedding Day is another with terrific scent..its just starting to bloom, apricot in bud then fading to white.

Thinking of scent, there are two other kinds of shrub which are filling the garden with perfume. First is Buddleja alternifolia with its cascading wands of honey sweet purple flowers, we have three around the Hepworth Garden; and second the golden philadelphus which I would never be without!

We continue to celebrate the French garden, described by Charles Quest-Ritson in the RHS Garden Finder as 'an essay in formal design'. Having opened up the side to the Gazebo it becoems much more inclusive. Meanwhile the jury scene is now showing a fine degree of maturity. The whole of this garden brings us great joy whatever the season..

The succulents and exotics in the sunken pit provide a hugh wow factor, all containerised and each year seem to get bigger and bolder. There are many fantastic shapes, deep dark colours and some very unusual specimens. The black aeoniums, the purple and pink leaved cannas and the dark eucomis all add to the drama. The show gets better and better as the summer progresses.

In mid summer the avenue of white stemmed birches looks enchanting with the ornamental grass parterre on one side and a hedge of acanthus on the other all seen against a backdrop of dark purple beech. (It's brilliant in winter with the pampass flowers wafting through the gaps).

By now the wild flower meadow is coming to its best with bees, butterflies and swallows enjoying the feast of nectar and insects.

Surprisingly several of the texensis clematis are already coming into flower including Etoile Rose. Strange too, we still have C. montana Broughton Star in flower in the yard. Elsewhere some of the yellows are beginning to bloom as well as Rouge Cardinal, Rhapsody, Niobe and Pagoda!

FEBRUARY 14th from 12- 4pm;

A Valentine's Walk in the Winter Garden with STEMS, BARKS AND BULBS

The Winter Garden at Stevington is a wonderful surprise of colourful stems, gleaming white birches, intricate patterns on the eucalyptus trunks, a variety of different grasses, intricate seedheads, and last but not least, the winter bulbs.

There are cheery banks of aconites in the cottage garden and all beneath the lime trees where the boundary views look down over the Ouse meadows. Snowdrops are not so prolific, except in the Winter Walk where they line the snaking path with doubles and singles to greet the visitor like miniature beacons, lighting the way. They are joined by winter aconites and golden daffodils, both creating pools of colour end January/early February.

We created this Winter Walk four years ago with coloured cornus stems on one side (Cornus Winter Fire clearly earns its name!) and scented viburnums and sarcococca on the other. Up above, the filigree effect of weeping birches creates a wonderful silhouette against the winter sky, while twisted willow also plays its part. In low winter sunlight each of these plants plays a special role with glistening red, salmon pink, green and purple stems. Hellebores, sedums and London pride provide evergreen anchor plants. Ark-Glass Lightcatchers add further to the scene; brilliantly coloured, exquisite in rain or sunshine. This is a maturing garden, dynamic in its format, with an interesting use of plant material and strong sense of season.

Elsewhere we have amazing barks, with various types of Eucalyptus and super white stemmed birches Betula utilis var jaquemontii both forming avenues. The birches are backed by silvery white pampass whose plumes create a magical pattern between the birches. A stand of white stemmed birches act as a welcome party on entering the drive, leading on to major planting of grasses which line the sweeping bend up to the house. Their winter burnished gold colouring matches the warm stone house.

The Hepworth garden provides an exciting link between the birch avenue and the winter walk, with its mass of seedheads, swaying miscanthus, dainty panicums and pennisetums, and colourful sesleria.

The grasses in the Hokusai garden create another super winter picture with their warm golden tones and swaying seedheads. The grasses in the new Monet borders are also a joy, especially on a sunny day when the miscanthus shines out like now rare 100watt lightbulbs, only solar powered!) all back lit to dramatic effect. They shimmer and gleam and for me are just like a wonderful impressionist painting. See picture below

Meanwhile the formal parterres and patterning of the French Garden look good whatever the time of year, whether in frost, snow or just green! We hope you will come and enjoy our winter picture as much as we do!, it is certainly varied and totally different ot the other times of year. This is when you appreciate the barebones, the very structure of the garden!

As usual, all the pots from the Kandinsky pit are in the Solardome keeping dry and warm, hopefully to burst forth again next year. Meanwhile, the winter so far has been very cold with prolonged penetrating frosts so we have fleeced the six new olive trees hoping they survive to tell the tale. They look very ghostly in late afternoon light and rather surreal with pale sunlight peeping through their protective covering.

Late flowering clematis

Sunday July 25th 12-5pm

At this time of year, masses of clematis are in full bloom taking over where the roses left off three weeks earlier! We have over 100 different late flowering clematis with a map to show where they all are in the garden. Some are shier than others, but over 30 will be in brilliant mass array, with others waiting for the end summer weeks before they look their best. They make a marvellous display on the pergolas, arches and old stone walls. Two of our favourites are the double blue 'Mary Rose' and pale blue 'Emilia Plater'; they are just so sumptuous. But then dark 'Romantika' 'Black Prince' and 'Miegritianka' are winners too, as seen here to the right.

Double borders of white Japanese anemones will be starting to flower in wisteria walk topped by yellow clematis including 'Golden Tiara', as well as the viticellas including 'Sodertalje' and other herbaceous examples such as pretty pink Alionushka, seen on the left. It is a complete transformation from the scene at end May but works extraordinarily well.

This is a marvellous time for insects. There are clouds of butterflies on the verbenas and echinaceas both in Hokusai borders and around the Hepworth garden. Wonderful to walk amongst them on a sunny day. In both these gardens the grasses are looking splendid, adding movement as the wind ripples through them. The insects also love the wild flower meadow now rich with scabious, malva, lady's bedstraw, trefoils and knapweeds. It is a colourful tapestry and a lovely area to wander through; just to enjoy the old fashioned feel of a simple summer meadow!

Elsewhere the containers will be in full array with the sunken pit a picture of maturing exotics and amazing succulents. Fuchsias, begonais, cannas, dark eucomis, jet black aeoniums, dome like dasylirions, echeverias, sedums etc etc. Even better, all the obelisks and pergola supports will be clothed in blue, purple and mauve clematis!

We will have had our **Mad Hatter's Tea Party on August Ist and plan to continue the theme on the Sunday so expect some outrageous hats and decorations, croquet, childrens trail and lots of fun for the family. Pimms and ice creams on the lawn and teas in the Church Rooms (tea money to go to The Parkinson Society).

Bank holiday treat

Sunday August 29th 12-5pm

The clematis continue to bloom along with all the new naturalistic borders. This time of year is a real treat with the flowering ornamental grasses combining beautifully with their matching herbaceous plants too..bees are in second heaven! The photos speak for themselves!