by Tania Compton, Garden Designer
tania@taniacompton.co.uk
In the summer of 2006 I arrived at Fonthill House for an early evening swim with my children and left with a commission to come up with ‘some ideas’ for the garden. A lesson in never shying away from giving your honest opinion about dwarf bedding dahlias and serried ranks of multi colored petunias…..
Five years on we are gradually working our way through the scheme suggested on the masterplan. In fact doing staggeringly well considering we vowed only to undertake one project a year.
The Drawing Room Garden, The Cornus and Cricket Garden, The Fountain and South Lawn Gardens are all in place while other areas have adapted to flashes of collaborative inspiration. The new Head Gardener Matthew Hutchinson, an Edward Scissorhands with evergreens, wondered if we could substitute the proposed foam of apple blossom along the drive for Quercus Ilex. Weeks after planting, when giving them their first haircut, he has found birds nesting in their crowns.
The Rose Walk above the tennis court was dubbed Figs’n’Roses by Lord Margadale who suggested a collection of figs along the hot south facing walls, a name that may baffle future generations unfamiliar with 80’s glam rock but which sums up the enjoyment that is being had whilst serious gardening is underway.
Cornus ‘Venus’ has been planted in view of Lady Margadale’s desk since she spotted it’s unveiling at the Chelsea Flower Show. But it will be some time before even ‘Venus’ vies with the magnificent dogwood that gave rise to the Cornus and Cricket garden. Seven impressive specimen Cornus kousa ‘Chinensis’ have joined it and are given a watering and feeding regime akin to young foals up at the stud. Luckily so far not many balls have been lobbed into their crowns and they are backed by Banksian Roses and underplanted with lily of the valley as a nod to a friend’s planting at Heale House. A big sweep of white flowered tree peonies and Siberian irises is all that’s needed there now…
Plants as presents from friends keep appearing, especially wonderful magnolias so the entrance courtyard will eventually be emblazoned in spring by Magnolias sprengeri ‘Diva’, Apollo, sargentiana var. robusta and loebneri ‘Merrill’. With it’s massive bastion walls cut into the hillside (designed by Detmar Blow in the early 20th century) the courtyard remains an area to work on as we need to work around a complex drainage system that keeps a hillside of water out of the house. We are overcoming the challenges of creating a garden on the site of what was a much larger house. The Drawing Room garden is built over a ballroom floor and the South Lawn Garden has a rabbit warren of tunnels under its surface.
We are aiming as much as possible to build on the legacy of previous generations of Morrisons rather than wipe the slate clean. The massive box domes in the South Lawn garden have successfully taken to new positions along the drive and four beautiful multi stemmed Persian Ironwoods have been added to echo the autumn colour of the majestic Parrotias that flank the start of the drive.
The magnificent old lime in the Drawing Room garden has a 4m tall whipper snapper Tilia twin and fellow gardener Sandra Baker is sowing seed from the giant Fonthill Judas tree. The offspring will create a spring bank with lilacs and honesty to add to the aubrieta that pours down the gargantuan retaining walls that face the park.
And what a park! In every season and all weather the garden at Fonthill overlooks a backdrop to die for. If it doesn’t prove too windy the relined and paved pool will have the ultimate infinity landscape to gaze out to, and maybe lazing in it’s new woodchip boiler-warmed water will lead to another few ‘ideas’…
Tania Compton, Garden Designer
tania@taniacompton.co.uk
