Tom's Town Garden
container gardening in Tom's town garden
Tom is our Head of Horticulture and he has a beautiful garden — small, exquisite and perfectly formed! Together, Sarah and Tom have curated an array of bold and brilliant plant collections perfect for small gardens.
I have known Tom for five years. From the moment I walked into his garden in Ely, the cathedral town in East Anglia, I felt at home. We have the same aesthetic — a love for jam-packed spaces and a passion for plants where more is more. We both love strong colour, as well as some softer whites, pinks and blues, to lift the spirits as well as soothe.
There are containers a-go-go in Tom’s garden; small portable ones in groups, or as singles, lifted up onto tables so you can really see them, or as living table centres chosen to perform for weeks or months. And there are whopper pots here too, housing some of the best small garden trees which can be moved around occasionally to make the most of them, season by season. In a small-town garden, that’s good to do, reset the scene every few weeks to maintain the drama.
I have known Tom for five years. From the moment I walked into his garden in Ely, the cathedral town in East Anglia, I felt at home. We have the same aesthetic — a love for jam-packed spaces and a passion for plants where more is more. We both love strong colour, as well as some softer whites, pinks and blues, to lift the spirits as well as soothe.
There are containers a-go-go in Tom’s garden; small portable ones in groups, or as singles, lifted up onto tables so you can really see them, or as living table centres chosen to perform for weeks or months. And there are whopper pots here too, housing some of the best small garden trees which can be moved around occasionally to make the most of them, season by season. In a small-town garden, that’s good to do, reset the scene every few weeks to maintain the drama.
This garden is a place of great beauty, but it’s more. Tom’s plants are selected because they’re also deliciously scented and/or laden with pollen and nectar to create an oasis for him and the butterflies, bees and the many visiting insects. As you open the gate, the tone changes and there’s a dynamism from the array of butterflies and small garden birds.
And the wonderful thing is, this space is 10 x 7 metres, a pint-pot sized garden. There’s joy in that. This is a haven of flowers, fragrance and colour from the start of spring until the frosts arrive in winter and yet it’s easy to look after, needing only an hour or so each week to keep it looking good. Even in winter, with perfectly clipped box, an upper storey of small trees and swathes of climbers over all the fences, its structure holds and keeps you in a mini-Eden.
This garden is a place of great beauty, but it’s more. Tom’s plants are selected because they’re also deliciously scented and/or laden with pollen and nectar to create an oasis for him and the butterflies, bees and the many visiting insects. As you open the gate, the tone changes and there’s a dynamism from the array of butterflies and small garden birds.
And the wonderful thing is, this space is 10 x 7 metres, a pint-pot sized garden. There’s joy in that. This is a haven of flowers, fragrance and colour from the start of spring until the frosts arrive in winter and yet it’s easy to look after, needing only an hour or so each week to keep it looking good. Even in winter, with perfectly clipped box, an upper storey of small trees and swathes of climbers over all the fences, its structure holds and keeps you in a mini-Eden.
This garden is literally bursting with beauty wherever you look. Every vertical plane, fence panel and horizontal surface is clad with interesting and beautiful, often scented, plant combinations. Most importantly here, you never feel drowned.
There’s just the right amount of structure to define the air in-between so you can see the shapes and silhouettes of the carefully selected plants — both the flowers and their leaves.
To me, Tom’s garden is a lesson in making the best of your lot — a garden as good as it can be on a small scale. It talks back to you whenever you visit, with enough there to give a sense of change and excitement for what’s coming and a surprise from day to day. As one flower finishes, it’s replaced by something equally beautiful and new. It’s an inspiration and the garden I would love to make if I did not have Perch Hill.
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