Green Bough is one of the smaller National Garden Scheme gardens I’ve visited but the lack of space in no way diminishes the display. On a grey and rather windy day, it was full of welcome colour with hardly a gap between flowers.
Mary and Barry Roberts don’t know exactly how big the garden is as it wraps around their home in Greet, Gloucestershire, making it difficult to judge.
When they moved in seven years ago, it was even harder as the garden was overgrown and a large ash tree all but obscured the house.
“You couldn’t see the house from the road and would never have known the house was there,” recalls Mary.
Little remains of that original garden beyond laburnum and sorbus trees and some hedge. The ash, found to be diseased, was removed and a group of silver birch now fill the space.
All the trees in the garden are carefully managed with lower limbs removed to raise the canopy, reducing the shade cast and creating more planting space underneath.
In spring, this is led by bulbs – the couple plant masses every year and don’t bother to lift them at the end of the season.
“If they don’t come up again, it doesn’t matter because we’ve put more in,” says Barry.
Summer though belongs to annuals, raised from seed by Mary using the conservatory, mini ‘greenhouses’ and a cold frame.
Once the annuals have been planted out, those sheltered growing spaces are used for tomatoes and chillies. More veg and soft fruit are grown on an allotment.
Annuals are favoured for their reliability and instant impact and they form the bulk of the display alongside some perennials, including penstemon, geranium and heuchera.
“Because it’s a small garden perennials take up too much room and don’t give enough value. It’s easy to raise a tray full of infill planting,” explains Mary.
The range of annuals is wide with cornflowers, calendula and cosmos in the mix.
There’s no conscious colour scheme but Mary seems to have the knack of putting together things that look good.
Where there’s no more space on the ground, the planting goes up. An original pergola painted in a soft green is covered in clematis and climbing roses, and there are more climbers along a boundary fence.
Other plants, including dahlias and begonias, find a home in pots that add to the display, especially along the drive, which was deemed too hard and dull before.
Meanwhile, transparent planting from the likes of Verbena bonariensis help to partially screen the view, making the space feel bigger than it actually is.
Even the verge outside Green Bough has been adopted and now has masses of summer colour.
Relying on annuals makes for a lot of work not least with deadheading.
“Meticulous deadheading goes on,” says Barry.
However, it’s effort they both feel is worthwhile.
“I garden for colour, getting a mix of plants and just packing them in,” says Mary.
Green Bough won the Winchcombe Open Gardens Virtual Tour competition last month. The garden is open for the National Garden Scheme by prebooked, timed ticket on July 15, August 12 and September 23. You can book via the NGS website with tickets going online about a week before the open days. It is also open by arrangement until September. See the website for details.
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