Best in Class: Magical gardens

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This laburnum and wisteria tunnel set around a riverstone path was created for Barnsley House by Rosemary Veney, one of the great landscapers celebrated in Women Garden Designers: 1900 to the Present, published by Garden Art Press. The 17th-century Cotswold stone country house and its acclaimed landscaped gardens, redesigned by Veney in the 1950s and now a chic boutique hotel, includes knot gardens and statues by Simon Verity, and is considered among England’s most famous settings. Antiquecollectorsclub.com; barnsleyhouse.com

This is California cool with its bold rosettes of Agave aletenuata which, along with smaller agaves, ground this planting scheme which features in The Authentic Garden: Naturalistic and Contemporary Landscape Garden Design published by Monacelli Press. Fuzzy-leaved Kalanchoe beharenis and the vertical cactus Lemaireocereus marginatus provide structure which is knitted together with senecio and Dianella caerulea Cassa Blue. Monacellipress.com

Kevin Cooper Garden Design in Larne, Co Antrim, has used a stream to create a water feature that cascades over the rocks, creating movement and drama, with several pools to catch the water that help to create a sense of calm. The pod is positioned in a prime viewing spot to enjoy the aural sound of the water and to watch the wildlife it attracts from a super modern space. Kevincoopergardendesign.com; podology.ie

The gardens of this 1920s’ estate, built on Chicago’s north shore, are stunningly formal, in a French style, with multiple annual and perennial plantings. Mariani Landscape Design added a dramatic rose arbor that runs along the length of the grand lawn, connecting it to the fountain garden. The garden rooms are connected by pathways, each an intimate space, but connected by careful use of boxwood hedges. Marianilandscape.com. Photograph: Linda Oyama Bryan

The Landscape Architecture of Edmund Hollander Design, published by Monacelli Press, features three levels of sloping steps leading asymmetrically up a slope planted with meadow-inspired echinacea, repeat, kalmeris and phlox paniculate ‘David’, creating a relaxed mood. Elsewhere, pathways are bordered with repeated masses of blue and white campanile, leading the eye through the lawn and the stone-slab paths set into them. Monacellipress.com

Richard Schipul of Connecticut-based Designing Eden has taken a wild approach to gardening. The meadow in front of this house has been sewn with a swathe of flowers that change colour with the time of year. This late spring shot shows pastel-coloured lupins filling the foreground and creating a very modernist take on an Impressionist painting. Later, in autumn, the field is filled with golden yellow blooms. designingeden.com

Sat Jul 02 2016 - 05:56

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