This wonderful garden sanctuary is situated on a treed slope through which paths wander and in which over 500 different plants, shrubs and trees are planted. It provides a sense of tranquility, especially from December through April, when early fragrant blossoms and vividly coloured bark and berries are stunning.
There is the rich tapestry of carpeting including the combination of an evergreen epimedium, Eranthis hyemalis (Winter aconite), and ferns.
Adding to the textured layering in this woodland setting are bulbs and corms. In the spring dainty native Erythroniums (dogtooth violet) with their white blossoms, and the hybrid 'Pagoda' with its yellow blossoms join with Anemone nemerosa in a carpeting of Baby Tears Helxine soleirolii). Growing through a carpeting of hardy cyclamen is the exotic Cardiocrinum giganteum - Giant Himalayan Lily with its handsome glossy leaves and which can tower up to 12 feet high with a summer show of fragrant trumpet flowers followed by exotic seedpods.
The ranging of perennials from hellebores, pulmonarias and primroses to (in an open glade) euphorbias, phlomis and stachys provide year round interest. Wonderful combinations include the pairing of violet red flowers Primula juliae ‘Wanda' with the orange bronze of a carex. The "Black Mondo grass" (Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens') plays off against Yellow Twig Dogwood Cornus sericea and the silver leafed saltbush (Atriplex canescens).
Some memories from January and February include a carpeting of hardy cyclamen; the chartreuse catkins of the nearby Silk Tassel tree (Garrya elliptica ‘James Roof') are echoed by the chartreuse blooms of hellebore foetidus ‘Wester Flisk'. There is the bronze of Carex buchananii (leatherleaf sedge), the steel blue of Fescues, the black of the Black Mondo grass, the vibrant bark of the Cornus sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire' and Salix Flame.
Nearby there is the luminous cinnamon brown exfoliating bark of Acer griseum (paperbark maple), the brilliant coral bark of Acer palmatum ‘Senkaki and the unusual structure of the contorted filbert or Harry Lauder's Walking Stick (Corylus avellana ‘Contorta') with its winter catkins. There is additional winter interest with the bright orange bark of Salix gracilistyla ‘Melanostachys' (Black willow) which will soon be bearing black catkins, there is the luminescent violet berries of the Beauty Berry Callicarpa near the vibrant acid yellow-green of Cryptomeria aurea and the brilliant orange berries on its neighbouring pyracantha.