I cannot resist an open garden event. If I see a sign, it’s an instant pitstop. It could be anywhere because the National Garden Scheme operates all over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands (Scotland has a separate one) and it is one of those charities that simply works. You pay £7 or the like for a day of garden gawping, and last year that added up to a whopping £3.5 million in donations to various good causes.
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There is no word in the English language for that feeling of wanting to see a stranger’s garden — though the Germans probably have one. For those of us who are nosy (I prefer the term “curious”), to be invited in creates a bubble of emotions that includes the thrill of discovery, amazement, bafflement and, oh yes, envy. Occasionally there is also wonder.
Here are some ideas from my open garden forays, mostly in and around Faversham in Kent, but also in other locations, that have stuck with me over the past few months.
The best designs for open gardensGo to the moon
When you walk through a moon gate, you feel you’re going somewhere special. It seems more like a portal than a mere arch or gate. The traditional Chinese moon gate is a circular arch through a wall. I have seen a few lately that are freestanding, and they work particularly well when buttressed by trees or exuberant planting. They say a moon gate brings you luck. We all need some of that.
A moon gate is the new garden arch
GAP PHOTOS/JULIETTE WADE
Front garden feeding
There is a definite trend towards turning front gardens, large and small, into veg patches. I’ve seen a handful this year and they look both industrious and pretty, often featuring some rather stately artichokes as well as the occasional hollyhock. Raised beds make the plot look particularly organised. That it’s going to be seen by everyone passing by also seems to spur weeding.
Room of one’s own
Garden designers talk about creating “rooms” but one garden that I visited has taken this idea to the max. The outside living room, down at the bottom of a small rectangular plot, bordered by a shed and sheltered by a large fig, included an old sofa and rug, table and a painting. Various lampshades, found in charity shops, hung from the tree overhead. It was inspired by the Dell Forest Garden in Stratford-upon-Avon which, a few years back, turned the banks of the Avon into an outdoor living area. This is not everyone’s cup of tea but you could feel the passion behind it.
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Wildflowers
It’s hard to find a garden without wildflowers these days but a few weeks ago I saw one that was particularly special. It was a back garden, square in shape. The space was originally a carport before it was turned into a classic lawn. The grass has now been replaced by a wildflower meadow. I spotted lady’s bedstraw, knapweed and marjoram, as well as grasses in the thigh-high mix. Like all true native wildflower meadows, its colours are soft and subdued. A diagonal mown path takes you across, and it is bordered by fruit trees. The simplicity of the design makes it feel relaxed and restful. So often wildflower areas can look try-hard; this felt exactly the opposite.
Wildflower meadows are soft and subdued
GAP PHOTOS/HOWARD RICE
What lies underneath
A subtle way of delineating various spaces in a garden involves changing what lies underfoot, so there is gravel for natural spaces, paving for formal and so on. This was done particularly well in one long and thin garden. As you walked down its curving path, formal planting and paving gave way to reused bricks and bark in a shady “forest” section and then ended with crunchy shells in a sunny patch. The different textures and sounds as you walked added that extra something.
Bathtubs
These may be trendy but are not the easiest to incorporate. It’s very hard for a bathtub, even one in a show garden (as there was last week at RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival), not to look as if it’s arrived as part of a refurb project. The most effective ones that I’ve seen lately are old metal baths, filled with water to reflect the sky and trees.
To find out where open gardens are near you, visit the National Garden Scheme website (ngs.org.uk). For Scotland openings, visit the Scotland’s Gardens Scheme website at scotlandsgardens.org
What to plant
The small pompoms of Rosa ‘White Pet’ transform a bed into one that overflows with abundance. It is a perpetual flowering “sport” of the rambler R. ‘Félicité-Perpétue’.
What to book
BBC Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair, Aug 29-31, Audley End House, Saffron Walden, Essex. Shows, experts, events and horticultural shopping galore (£24.50; bbcgardenersworldlive.com).