A different kind of sensory garden

The paved garden at York Gate is a changeable beast. It has two large borders and a rock garden. When I first started out, the two herbaceous borders full of Veronicastrum, asters and verbenas were in need of a rethink (as was the rockery but that’s a different story).

The first thing former Head Gardener Ben and I did was to move the large clumps of Veronicastrum virginicum (of unknown cultivar) to create a herbaceous hedge in the Carpet Path up against the wall of Sybil’s garden. Ben and I didn’t disagree on too many things but we still to this day argue about who came up with the idea and maybe even the term ‘herbaceous hedge’. As I am writing this and therefore Ben cannot fight his corner, I will be the better person and give him full credit for allowing me the artistic freedom to come up with such a great idea.

The two borders went through a few different changes and characters over the next few years. A particularly nice time was adding in Rudbeckia ‘Prairie Glow’ and Eremurus robustus but it wasn’t until we added the aeoniums into the planting and a topping of an attractive horticultural grit that the paved garden really started to get noticed by our visitors. The aeoniums at York Gate had only previously been kept in pots in the succulent house and occasionally brought out as summer pot plants. Adding them into the planting as bedding not only gave the paved garden borders an added interesting effect but it also really gave the aeoniums an added boost. It turns out they really enjoy their summer holidays planted in the ground. Lastly we made the addition of cacti into the ground as well, which I really didn’t enjoy planting but they looked fantastic in the scheme.

This year we are going all out and making a fully spiky planting scheme full of the same aeoniums and cacti but now with the addition of agaves, aloes and the spiky flowers of sea holly. In addition to this I will be adding in various plants that some might consider slightly questionable. Firstly the electric shock plant (Loasa acanthifolia), a wonderful hardy plant with fantastic serrated leaves and a profusion of unusual five-petal bright orange flowers all summer long. The second might well be of interest to only the most hardened horticulturalist: a giant Himalayan nettle called Girardinia diversifolia. It grows to about a metre tall with big divided palmate leaves. Yes, it stings like a nettle but it’s no worse than our native nettle.

We have planted up some of the stone troughs with cactus as well and they are going down a treat with our visitors. I have to say a special thank you to my local British Cactus and Succulent Society (BCSS) group in Headingley for donating a fantastic collection of cacti this year, my favourite being a huge barrel cactus or mother-in-law's seat (Kroenleinia grusonii).

On a non-York Gate related note, I ticked off a wish list plant last week. I found it entirely by accident while I was visiting my brother in Jersey. I knew that the Jersey fern (Anogramma leptophylla) only grows in Jersey in the UK and was there somewhere, but as it is tiny, only a couple of inches tall, I never really expected to find it. But as all gardeners and nature enthusiasts know, staring at the ground or other people’s gardens and green spaces is a habit and not a choice. My compulsion forced me to look at a barren rock face and there it was – the almost insignificant Jersey fern.

At York Gate and in your own garden at this time of year it is important to keep on top of those weeds to stop them from flowering and setting seed, making your job harder. Something else we like to do at York Gate that works in anyone’s garden is ‘debrowning’. This is basically going round the garden and tidying up any leaves that are going over and deadheading any plants that have finished, just giving it a general tidy. By now the leaves from your snowdrops, wood anemones etc. will have completely finished and can be tidied away.

Apparently, we might get some summer this year after it stops raining...

York Gate was generously gifted to Perennial in 1994.

Perennial – the charity dedicated to supporting people in horticulture – has launched its largest ever survey to gain a snapshot into the wellbeing of those working in the industry.

Perennial is calling upon all those working across all sectors in the horticulture industry to participate in the 2024 survey as their feedback really will make a difference.

The charity wants to understand more about people’s daily lives, both inside and outside of work, and the pressures they may be facing – not only to develop their services but to inform others within the industry on the key issues and challenges being faced.

The anonymous survey runs until the end of June. The results will be analysed and reported on by the University of Exeter and the findings shared with the industry this coming autumn.