We teamed up with Burley in Wharfdale-based Helen Taylor Garden Design to create a classically styled parterre garden for a period home in Ilkley.
We supplied a large number of evergreen box and yew hedging, variegated holly standards, and a large number of herbaceous and shrub varieties.
The owners of a Victorian villa in the Yorkshire town of Ilkley dreamed of creating a formal parterre garden that would transform the grounds of their home. The designer, Helen Taylor, wanted to work with a local supplier who could provide every plant she required for her scheme so enlisted Johnsons.
Plans were drawn up by garden designer Helen Taylor that would transform the house’s existing garden. The design was for a simple parterre of low box hedges and lawn, divided by narrow brick paths.
Helen turned to us to provide the plants for each section of her design, which at its heart has a tea house painted in a shade of blue to match the conservatory (Farrow and Ball, Berrington Blue) and that features a pebble mosaic carpet.
A water feature was created using an alcove in the garden’s brick boundary wall while a broad gravel path along the edges offers a walkway for visitors to admire planted borders, which include a rose border in cream and peach featuring Rosa Woolerton Old Hall, Rosa Lichfield Angel, Rosa Lady of Shallot and Rosa Lady Hamilton, with purple Rosa Rhapsody in Blue.
In the centre of the main parterre, surrounded by a circle of Lavandula ‘Hidcote’ lavender and hollies, is an antique figure supplied by the client.
The grotto, meanwhile, features two varieties of fern, Dicentra alba and Brunnera Jack Frost.
Other features we supplied plants for include a mixed herbaceous border, shady ornamental woodland and shaded front garden.
The owners were delighted with their garden, saying how it provides the perfect space in which to relax after a stressful week: “It’s such a peaceful and delightful place now.”
Helen Taylor added: “We have developed a great working relationship with Johnsons over the past 20 years. Johnsons can supply the full range of plants for all our needs, from alpines and herbs to advanced nursery stock and topiary, so it’s our ‘go-to’ nursery. We like that the nursery is local to where we work, so we can inspect the plants before dispatch, discuss substitutes and know we are happy with the order before it arrives on site.
