The Summerhouse Garden

Cutting back and reclaiming an overgrown garden then adding favourite plants over 21 years has created a personal refuge for Crispin and wife D. Their 100 foot garden is very much a joint endeavour with Crispin taking charge of pruning and moving plants while D grows the seeds and maintains the vegetables and herbs.

Crispin says: The garden was well designed many years ago. We inherited the basic shape, the pergola and the summer house and the pear, wisteria and cherry tree (all of which are really old). Our favourite thing is probably the Gertrude Jekyll rose we’ve grow up through the cherry tree. It has a wonderful perfume; we have two others elsewhere in the garden. We also love the allium (you can never have enough) and in spring the masses of snowdrops and fritillaria.

When we moved in it was hugely overgrown. We cut back masses of rubbish to reveal some lovely original shrubs and a few old roses. We’ve added about 20 roses, loads of allium, geranium, snowdrops, hellabores and fritillaria. D scatters nigella and other seeds every year. I frequently divide and move plants around until they are completely happy. We both look after the garden. I usually do the pruning and maintain the main beds while D sows and pots all the seeds and looks after the herb garden at the front and the vegetable plot at the very back.