This winter/spring, we have planted four major new gardens!!!
MONET GARDEN We have now 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 pruples! 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. The evening light on this new garden should be very exciting and with the shiny nature of the ornamental grass leaves, I hope i might be able to capture a small fraction of his magic.
MONDRIAN LANDSCAPE The new garden also encompasses the ground in front of the Mondrian Wall which is also be transformed incorporating ideas from his early paintings including the red tree...here at Stevington it is an autumn interpretation with a red fruiting crab apple as part of the foreground tot he wall; a tree to look through. We also plan a Boogie Woogie lighting pattern in paving right in front of the wall. We have already planted most of it, the landscaping details are going in as I type. The new garden will grow during the summer and mature the following year. As a result, the Rothko Rooms and the area around the gingko and eucalyptus trees will become a far more integral part of the garden.
EDIIBLE FLOWER BORDER Another new garden has been added planted only with Edible Flowers; ie an Edible Flower Border to echo my interest in the subject of growing and eating flowers...no air miles here! Roses, lavender, thyme, sage, marigolds, marsh mallow, hyssop, cornflowers, borage, fennel, evening primroses, day lilies etc etc. Yummy!
OLIVE WALK Yet another new garden has been planted by the tennis court with an avenue of Olives underplanted with rosemary, lavender and just a few other sun loving plants.....all very minimalistic. A foray to Malvern Show has resulted in several old zinc containers, silver grey ot reflect the colour of the olive leaves. Should they be filled with grasses or succulents? The next few days will determine their fate!
2006/7 witnessed a significant addition to the ornamental grass borders with two more bands of very tall Miscanthus Goliath and Prof. Richard Hanson, planted to create a much more dramatic effect in summer and winter. Elsewhere in the Rothko Rooms, see pictures below, a new panel has been added representing Green on Maroon as seen in his 1961 painting now at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid. The Barnet Newman obelisk has been replanted, stripping out the podocarpus which had sadly not survived, and using golden yew instead to form the pyramid. As with so much in gardening, patience is needed! Lastly, we created new herbaceous borders flanking the gazebo, shaped the neighbouring hedge into a gently ripple leading on from the Hokusai Waves, and opened up the view of the French Garden from the Gazebo by cutting the hornbeam hedge much lower. The French Garden-Gazebo axis has therefore become much stronger.
Photo by: Howard Rice
Garden Open Days 2008
Sunday afternoon May 25th 2-6pm 2008
The late Spring garden looks ethereal with laburnums, clematis, and wisterias clothing the arches, all underplanted with masses of alliums which over the last eight years have now seeded to become a purple wave on both sides of the Wisteria Walk. Various montana clematis will be blooming on the pergolas and walls including two of my favourites, (which I think are outstanding) 'Grandiflora' and 'Broughton Star'.**
Elsewhere clouds of blue ceanothus and viburnums will vie for space along with various honesuckles and the early roses, such as several cheery yellow 'Canary Bird' , dainty 'Cecile Brunner' gracing the gazebo with her exquisite scroll like buds and golden and now white 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 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!
Late spring is a truly wonderful time of year, everywhere bursting with new growth and promise.
Late flowering clematis
Sunday afternoon July 27th 2 - 6 pm 2008
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 'Purpurea Plena Elegans' and blue 'Emilia Plater'; they are just so sumptuous. But then 'Etoile Violette' and 'Madame Julia Correvon' are winners too, as seen here in front of the barn.
Double borders of white Japanese anemones will be starting to flower in wisteria walk topped by clouds of yellow clematis including 'Golden Tiara', 'Bravo' and 'Lambton Park', as well as the viticellas including 'Abundance', 'Sodertalje' and others. It is a complete transformation from the scene at end May but works extraordinarily well.
Elsewhere the containers will be in full array with the sunken pit a picture of maturing exotics and amazing succulents. Even better, all the obelisks and pergola supports will be clothed in blue, purple and mauve clematis!
This is a marvellous time for insects. Last year there were clouds of butterflies on the verbenas and echinaceas both in Hokusia 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!
ALMOST AUTUMN
SUNDAY 21ST SEPTMBER 2-6pm
Fruit trees, grasses, seedheads, containers, and colourful herbaceous borders.
This was a new venture for us last year, 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 exotic containers in the pit are at their best, creating a fantastic display; 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.
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. The aim of these gardens is to be contemplative.
We also know how super the Hepworth Garden looks in the autumn. It's 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 panicums 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.
Last year we began our Hokusai garden 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. It will be at its best in late summer, autumn and winter, drama as the season progresses. It is an exciting picture right besides the new drive which we put in the previous winter replacing over twenty dark conifers! It should be even better as it matures in 2007-8.especially as we have now enlarged it considerably up the slope using ever taller miscanthus.
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 us of a scene we saw near Munich at the flower festival last year. 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! Come and see what you think!
British Clematis Society visited on 29th July 2006 and said that this was a 'superb garden'; 'one of the finest private gardens in the Eastern Counties'. Neil and Diana Adamson
**They are coming again in May 2008 to see the late spring clematis, just before our late spring Open Day, see above.
Sunday afternoon June 22nd 2- 6 pm 2008
All entrance money go to the NGS Charities.
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. They look as though they will be early this year, many are budding up and it is mid May! The scents will be fantastic. I will soon be busy gathering the blooms and making rose petal cakes!
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 continue to 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.
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 Princes Diana and Etoile Rose. Strange too, we still have C. montana Broughton Star in flower in the yard. Elsewhere the species texensis is in bloom with gorgeous red flowers, and also Clematis florida, both in pots. Lots of others are beginning as well, Rhapsody, Niobe, Pagoda, Romantica etc!
Special weekend (advance bookings only) June 28/29th Late Summer July 27th from 2 - 6pm
Autumn September 21st from 2 - 6pm
Sunday FEBRUARY 3rd and 10th 2008
from 12-4pm; soup and rolls available
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 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 two years ago with coloured cornus stems on one side 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. 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.
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!
Kathy Brown Gardens : Special Events
Sat/Sun June 28/29th 2008
I am thrilled to welcome Master Chef finalist Hannah Miles back to Stevington.
The combination of her absolutely delicious teas and canopies
in our modern country garden setting at the Manor House,
produces the perfect ‘recipe’
for a wonderfully relaxed morning, afternoon or evening.
Each event includes a garden tour with Kathy Brown, a short demonstration on edible flowers and Hannah’s scrumptious teas in the morning and afternoon sessions
or canopies in the evening.*The afternoon and evening sessions also include wine or cocktails.
A SATURDAY June 28th 2.30pm -4.30pm *Price £17.50 per person
B SATURDAY June 28th 6pm -8pm *Price £17.50 per person
C SUNDAY June 29th 10.30am -12.30am- Price £15 per person
D SUNDAY June 29th 2.30pm -4.30pm *Price £17.50 per person
E SUNDAY June 29th 6pm -8pm *Price £17.50 per person
Depending on weather, teas for A,C and D maybe served in the Church Rooms right besides our garden.
Numbers are strictly limited, so book early to avoid disappointment.
Please state which event you would like to attend
Please make cheques (no credit cards sorry) payable to Kathy Brown and send to The Manor House, Church Road, Stevington, Bedford MK43 7QB and give your
Name (Mr/Mrs/Ms)
address,
telephone number
email
Recent Publicity
See autumn edition of Beautiful Britain for article by Stephen Lacy
BBC Look East Julie Reinger's Open Gardens filmed here on 25th July
BBC Breakfast TV filmed here on 27th July; shown Saturday 11th August.
See Independent on Sunday on June 10th
See Discover Bedfordshire 'Summer' for special double page spread.
See Gardens Illustrated April edition 2007 for a readers letter nominatiing us as an 'iconic garden'.
