Pastels Garden

About the Pastels Garden

Purpose

This garden functions rather like a lobby in that all the other spaces can be reached by walking through it, so the flowerbeds are designed to be seen in passing, glancing left to right on route to somewhere else. The beds were initially laid out in a more precise fashion but as an experiment in survival of the fittest I handed decision making over to mother nature in 2013, so everything here has won its place in a feral community of crossing and self sowing plants that thrive undisturbed. Nothing is watered, replaced, deadheaded, moved or thinned, reducing my role to just weeding and clearing away dead stems in winter.

Contents

The flowerbeds form a continuous ring around a square central lawn and initially the flower colours blended like artists’ pastels from blue through mauve to pink then white to yellow in waves and clusters around the garden. Control of the appearance of the beds has been lost under the new regime, but they are lush and jostling with life even during heatwaves, and with every generation self-sown plants appear with a wider range of characteristics. Native wildflowers succisa pratensis, leucanthemum vulgare and knautia arvensis mingle with populations of geranium sylvaticum, geranium pratense, sissyrinchium, epilobium, eryngium eburneum, echinops, camassia, campanulas and thalictrums.

History

This site was used by previous owners as a grass tennis court and it was still being mown as a lawn. The beds and paths were laid out in summer of 2004, the planting was done in autumn of 2004 and the greenhouse was erected in March of 2005. Below are some photos of the pastels garden during its construction and in its early days.

Peak Season: May/June/July

This garden is lovely in early summer, comes into its own with the main flush of roses and then continues through July with a breathtaking display of self-sown bellflowers. The gallery below contains photos of the pastels garden taken in across the summer.

Home / Rose Garden / Yellow Garden / Pastels Garden / Double Mirrored Borders / Open Days, Directions and Contact Details / Plant Sales and Teas / Map of the Gardens / Frequently Asked Questions / Making the Gardens Explained