Where summer happens
The Back Terrace performs all year but is designed to pump out colour and attract bees and butterflies in the summer months.
The Back Terrace is dominated by two long parallel borders. Each is split into bays by two and a half metre high columns of sentinal yews, which face each other across a lawn.
Many hard-working Geraniums, Stachys, Monadas, Loosestrife and Penstemons are shot through by Iris and Alliums. Potentilla Flamenco and Geums add blasts of scarlet, and Rudbeckias and Asters extend into autumn.
Two huge cedars dominate the church side of our garden and cast afternoon shade over their end of the borders. Each ‘bay’ seems to have a separate micro-climate as a result enabling us to experiment with a wide variety of perennials…. maybe too much – this page barely scratches the surface of the plants in this area!
Geranium Bill Wallace and Epimedium
Long-spurred Aquilegia
Get the look...
- These borders are the two most visible running alongside the back of the house. They have to provide a year-long backdrop plus many star-doers through each season.
- Winter: evergreens, ferns, foliage and berries;
- Spring: Pulmonaria, Omphalodes, Aquilegia, Iris, Geraniums;
- Summer: Monada, Veronica, Helianthus, Lythrum, Stachys, Geraniums, Knautia, Anthemis;
- Autumn: Asters, Cosmos, Penstemon, Rudbeckia, Agastache.
The emphasis is on summer but we’ve chosen plants that keep going for many months. A bit of deadheading and the Knautia and Penstemon will flower from May to September. Aquilegias from April to July.
A recent addition is Agastache. Garden designer Piet Oudolf selects plants on their ability to ‘die gracefully’ and agastache does that admirably.
Heuchera foliage adds colour for much of the year and two of our varieties Sanguinea and Rave On also throw up long-lasting crimson flower stalks.
Best months - Performance through the year
Snowdrops
Pulmonaria
Epimedium
Bergenia Eroica
Geum Borisii
Knautia Macedonica
Veronica Longifolia
Persicaria Firetail
Aster Frikartii Monch
Agastache
Senecio
Yew
The plants that make it distinctive
Top 10 Plants
Top plants – when they flower – what they bring to the garden
| 1. Knautia Macedonica | May-August | Continuous magenta madness |
| 2. Monarda | Aug-June | Clawed circles – purple, pink and red |
| 3. Persicaria Firetail | June-Sept | Blood red brushes dancing up high |
| 4. Geum Borisii | May-June | Small scarlet explosions |
| 5. Stachys Macrantha | June | Amethyst trumpets on short stems |
| 6. Bergenia Eroica | Mar-May | Vivid magenta bells |
| 7. Epimedium | Mar-April | Quivering patterned shields |
| 8. Aster Frikartii Monch | July-Sept | Purple daisies with yellow eyes |
| 9. Aquilegia | Mar-July | Spurred elegance in every colour |
| 10. Geranium Orion | May-June | Indigo saucers over dissected foliage |
And more...
| Pulmonaria |
| Rudbeckia Ful. Deamii |
| Potentilla Flamenco |
| Astrantia Claret |
| Geranium Magnificum |
| Ger. Johnston’s Blue |
| Veronicastrum |
| Lythrum |
| Penstemons |
| Agastache Apollo |
| Veronica Longifolia |
RHS Rosemoor
Rosemoor offers huge variety in its gardening and constantly revamps and improves its gardens. It’s hard to imagine a more knock-out blast of colour than that greeting you on entering its Hot Garden. Pictured here in its September prime, it delivers a late burst of vibrancy: reds through to yellows and deep purples.
The planting here includes many of the latest editions into our Back Terrace beds: Monarda, Rudbeckia, Goldenrod, Crocosmia, Helianthus and Alstroemeria. We’ve found ourselves moving from tasteful palettes of pastels: pale blues, pinks and soft yellows; to more primary: reds, yellows and purples.
Seeing this garden helped prompt our (r)evolution.