Always look up

WIW 2 / Jan 2023

Photograph: Richard Bloom

Where It Works Walcott House, Norfolk, designed by Louise Dowding. https://findagarden.ngs.org.uk/garden/31685/walcott-house

Why It Works The old adage is that if a garden ‘works’ (ie looks good) in winter, then you know you’re onto something special. And there’s no doubt that surrounding your plot, or a room within it, with trees, hedging or pleaching is a great place to start.

Hedging allows the structure to be seen in midwinter (with frosts sitting on branches, low sun peaking through) and the structure to recede in midsummer (when other colour comes to the fore, with brighter sunlight demanding attention).

So here is a fine example of winter structure at its best. This 12 acre garden has 1 acre of formal gardens, and this is the centre piece. Interestingly, these box plants have been lovingly trimmed and pruned into unusual shapes – I’ve never seen those flat-pyramid topped quadrants before.

The formality of the shapes; the regularity of the paths; the consistency of the pruning; the definition of the shaping. This space works by being consistent, by being the same but not identical. “Consistency, consistency, consistency” (as Tony Blair might have said if he was ever a garden designer).

But where this space really comes into its own is when you look up from the box hedging, and raise you eyes to the pleached hornbeam surrounding it. The copper russet tones of the leaves (that have hung on in there during the winter weather) slowly merge with the silhouette trees behind. Of course, this photo is one of those serendipitous moments – when the winter sunlight is low but not too low; the hornbeam leaves are just about enough; the tree trunks in the perfect shadow. As a result the browns, greys and russets are working beautifully together.

Box hedging will probably be, sadly, a thing of the past in the future – due to box tree caterpillar and blight. But while there are healthy examples let’s celebrate and enjoy them. Look ahead and see the box shapes, and as you do, look up to the hornbeam and the trees beyond. I bet this wouldn’t look as good in summer.

Chris Young