John Massey, 76, has spent nearly three decades creating his dream greenspace which features over 20,000 plants, trees and shrubs over a ten acre site
A green-fingered pensioner has devoted nearly 30 years to transforming his garden into a magnificent ‘four seasons’ sanctuary – which is now blooming with autumnal splendour.
Breathtaking photographs reveal John Massey’s garden bursting with vivid oranges, reds and yellows following his planting of thousands of flowers from around the world.
John, 76, has invested almost three decades crafting his dream outdoor haven which boasts more than 20,000 plants, trees and shrubs across a ten-acre plot.
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His sanctuary is widely considered one of Britain’s finest private gardens – despite sitting on the periphery of the industrial heartlands of Dudley in the Black Country.
The four-time Chelsea Flower Show champion dedicates up to 15 hours daily nurturing his blooms and describes it as a seven-day-a-week commitment.
This autumn, John’s labour of love is dominated by over 100 varieties of vibrant Chrysanthemums that can be spotted overflowing with diverse hues.
John, of Kingswinford, West Mids. , said: “We perhaps quite big-headedly say we’re a garden for every day of the year.
“There’s always something in flower or of interest.
“The garden is changing daily, it’s all looking very special in the garden.
“I always think autumn is a wonderful time as everything is constantly changing. If you don’t go outdoors in the autumn you’ll miss so much.
“There’s always so much going on. We’ve got a wild garden that we strim and rake it off, letting the fungi come through.
“It all ends up looking so beautiful.
“We’ve just planted a new hardy chrysanthemum trial, we’ve got over 100 varieties which were are hoping with continue through October and November.
“One of the stars of the garden last year was a chrysanthemum, so I’ve gathered as many forms of them as possible.
“We’ve got them in a snake-like pattern. We’re trying to find the best varieties, I have the feeling there’s roughly 300 of them.
“Someone joked it will cause problems for planes landing at birmingham-airport>Birmingham airport as the pilots will be looking at the plants and distracted by this bright bed splash of tremendous colours.”
Meanwhile, clusters of striking red Neoshirakia japonica and Liquidambar Styraciflua trees offer other spectacular autumn hues.
Japanese acers are also making a bold statement in both yellow and red this year whilst euonymus alatus ‘compactus’ display strawberry red foliage.
John continued: “We also replanted one bed with polyanthers, which are three or four different colours.
“Then usually two or three containers to give height and we blend hyacinths through there.
“The chrysanth bed is very exciting, there’s chrysanthemums that are flowering and there’s lots of autumn colour.
“The liquidambar is one of the most exciting colours, too.”
Since its inception in 1998, the garden has developed to showcase British trees and plants alongside more unusual and exotic specimens from Japan, South Africa and Turkey. Every corner is crammed with an abundance of plants, shrubbery and conifers arranged in a tiered fashion to maximise the space.
He and a team of four volunteers help maintain the garden in pristine condition seven days a week.
John said: “In the summer I was watering from 9.30am to 10.15pm.
“I’m actually of those rare people who are glad of the darker nights.”
John began opening the garden to the public in 2003 to raise funds for charity and has so far generated over £500,000.
Now the four-time Chelsea Flower Show gold medallist is advising aspiring gardeners on how to tackle the colder autumn months.
John said: “One of the main things people can do is to actually get out in your garden every day in the autumn.
“I hate the term when people say they’re putting their garden to bed for the winter as they miss out so much.
“There’s always lots of interest going in. The most important thing is to get out and enjoy it.”
And whilst many of us may be tempted to prune our troublesome plants over the colder months, John has warned of the dangers.
He added: “With autumn, don’t be tempted to cut everything back until early spring. Leave the grass and asters, it’s good for structure.
“We’re putting in the winter bedding of wall flowers, putting those plants in now that will flower in winter.
“It’s a great time for planting the bulbs in the garden – your tulips, the hyacinths, the daffodils.
“It’s listening to what the plants want and learning from nature.”
John prefers to leave his garden exposed so he can study its ‘bare-bones’ structure during the colder months.
He stated: “Just because I don’t protect it, it doesn’t mean I don’t love it.
“I just love the structure of the garden. We try and do transparent pruning.
“If you have a big tree you take the branches up and you can plant smaller trees underneath it.
“Then you can have plants underneath that and have three layers and have the maximum interest per-square-inch.
“I love it all, I really do. I suppose I find the chrysanth beds very exciting as they’re all a whole range of plants I’ve never seen before.
“I do find that very stimulating, but I just love it everywhere. It’s wonderful to be outside messing around or faffing about all the time.”
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