Bordering on the incredible

HERBACEOUS borders are hard work but back in fashion.

There’s nothing quite as good at making work than the lawn and the big, bright, beautiful border packed with plants which only look their best when someone shows them a lot of tender loving care.

In winter, the grass stays reasonably green; the herbaceous border plays dead; not a sign of life, just cold, dark earth. But in spring, summer and autumn, all that changes.

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Sadly, the border is not a patch on what it once was – the very essence of the English country garden. Great masses of colours, of all shapes and sizes, which were certain to grab the eye.

They were the products of great imaginations, of countless hours of work, of all things bright and beautiful. But fashions changed and gardens grew smaller. The herbaceous border was downsized.

Today, they are making a comeback, but to see them at their best, at their mightiest and most imposing, you have to make a pilgrimage to one or more of the stately homes of England where history lives on.

To Newby Hall, near Ripon, where twin borders cascade to the river Ure; to Hardwick Hall, south of Sheffield, where gardening is still carried out on a grand scale; to Bodnant, to Hidcote – in fact, to all those houses where there is still the room, the motivation and the wherewithal to cultivate a herbaceous border.

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Yet even at smaller venues, the herbaceous border can still reign supreme. Reading through the pages of the Yellow Book (which lists those gardens open under the National Gardens Scheme) and note how many can boast at least one herbaceous border.

The idea seems to be to pack together as many species and colours as is possible.

Cram in roses, clematis, lilies, delphiniums, larkspur, red-hot pokers, irises, columbines, and dot with heuchera, scabius, lamb’s ears, snow-in-summer, fuchsias.

But there is method in this sumptuous madness. The big herbaceous borders are planned carefully, planted precisely and maintained remorselessly. That means work.

If you don’t fancy it, stick to the lawn.