After finishing my training at RHS Wisley nearly 5 years ago, gulp, I spent some time working in rural Holland as described in other places on this site.
One afternoon while busy working in the Nursery, a lovely but out of place Yorkshire lilt was audible across the beds. I said hello and spent a delightful few hours speaking with Stephen and Kim of Dove Cottage Nurseries. In short, they run a beautiful garden and nursery near Huddersfield in the naturalised style popularised by Oudolf and were travelling around Holland and west Germany to see the concentration of gardens and nurseries who work in this style. Anyway, I was invited along to see their garden and nursery should I ever be travelling nearby.
Last week a visit to a quarry took me just down the road and 4 and half years later I made the visit. The wait was worth every day and I would have waited longer. A beautiful garden run by beautiful people and a very interesting selection of plants of which some filled the hire car on the way home. Some so interesting there are probably less than 20 pots in the UK and will see their way into wider cultivation over the next few years. Hopefully we can propagate and be able to offer them to our clients.
I shall let the pictures speak for themselves, although the light was a bit problematic so some are a bit flat. If you ever get the chance make the trip. You won’t be disappointed.
Nice loose borders
Part of the garden’s effectiveness is its relation to its setting. I don’t think another form of garden would sit against the hills so well.
This is the new patrina aff. punctiflora in the Molinia meadow. The Molinia meadow was the highlight of the garden but none of the photographs of this have done it justice, so i shall plant one in my new garden and show it off properly in a few years….
Dove Cottages own selection of Echinacea ‘Pink Glow’. Much earlier flowering, fuller in body and of better habit than a lot of Echinacea. Tried and tested here over 5-6 years.
Be sure to keep up to date with all the latest blog posts from Emotive Landscapes. Alternatively, view our homepage, find out more about our working process, view our portfolio, or simply find out more about us.
Get in touch
Please contact us if you would like us to look at transforming your outdoor space.