Monica Young potter | digwithdorris.com

Tags

Brunnera macrophylla, Crown Imperial fritillaria, grade II*, Hyacinthoides non-scripta, Lily flowered tulips, Lunaria annua var.albiflora, Monica Young potter, NGS, Peter Aldington, RIBA, spring bulbs, Turn End, white Honesty

Entrance to Turn End

Designed and built by architect Peter Aldington in the 1960s Turn End is one of three houses which hold an RIBA Award for Architecture (1970) and Grade II* listing; there are only twelve post-war houses so designated. I however went to visit the garden which was open under the NGS yellow book scheme on the last bank holiday Monday. Disappointingly the weather was typically bank-holiday wet but the garden was no less beautiful and perhaps enabled me to see it without the usual crowds.

crowd free viewing

The garden is a series of places, full sun, white washed walls, gravel with pans of houseleeks, armillary sphere and an arbour covered in climbers. Not looking so ‘hot’ in the wet weather I photgraphed the other areas of the garden most suited to the grey damp day.

wonderful use of lily flowered tulips

Many areas of the garden looked wonderful thanks to widespread use of Spring bulbs, in particular tulips and Crown Imperial Fritillarias.

Crown Imperial Frittallias

Bulbs with the less seen white form of Lunaria annua or ‘Honesty’

yellow crown imperial fritillarias and yellow tulips

Blues and yellows ran around the garden thanks to Bluebells, Hyacinthoides non-scripta, Forget-me-nots, and Brunnera macrophylla. Tulips and Crown Imperial Fritillaria are used to inject the yellows.

Drawing you through the doorway to the knot garden, note yellow tulips and wall of not yet open blue Ceanothus thyrsiflorus

There is an impressive collection of pots in the garden and they demonstrate lots of ideas of how to place them successfully.

a grey day at Turn End

Trillium picking up the clay tones in the enormous pot

Pot by Monica Young

This particular beauty was made by the late Monica Young. It brings to mind the unfurling of a hosta perhaps? The simplicity of the backdrop, wall covered in dark green ivy, appropriately does not compete with the beauty of the pot.

I really enjoyed the garden and intend to revisit later this year to see it in a different season. I was so impressed by the use of bulbs and the thread of colour repeated around the garden. The pots, well they were each a thing of beauty and their leafy surroundings were enchanting.