Some garden theatre

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At the weekend we made a quick visit to nearby Greys Court (the subject of other blogs) to see how the peony border and the clematis bower were doing. Spectacularly is the answer.

The grounds and gardens at Greys have a number of benefits that few of us enjoy. The gardens are well sited, all being walled, which means that they are very well sheltered, yet they enjoy sunshine all day. There is a small full time garden team, as well as lots of volunteers. This means that the gardens and grounds receive excellent and expert care and attention,though without looking too manicured and fussed over.

The peony border and the clematis bower were planted when Lady Brunner was still in residence (she died in 2003) and at about the time we first started visiting Greys, some thirty years ago. What I am calling the ‘clematis bower’ started out as a sequence of paired crab apple saplings. After several seasons, some huge hoops were installed, along which the crab apples were trained eventually joining at the top of each hoop, forming a semi-circle. Then clematis were planted.

This planting provides some seasonal continuity. At first there is the crab apple blossom in the early spring. When this has faded, the clematis start to come into bloom. They eventually cease flowering, leaving the ripening crab apples to provide a fruitful display in the late summer. Very clever. Just one of the hoops would make a fine display in the average garden. Unfortunately, my garden just isn’t right: there isn’t enough sunshine and my several attempts to grow clematis have been met by failure.

The clematis blooms remind my wife and me of the spectacular costumes that Cecil Beaton designed for My Fair Lady, particularly the Ascot sequence. It’s not entirely inappropriate that the clematis should provide such a theatrical display as Lady Brunner was the grand daughter of Henry Irving, the great Victorian actor and impressario. Both the peony border and the clematis bower continue a theatrical tradition transplanted to the garden.

• 23 May, 2011
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