Scented Terrace Garden

Peter and I have designed a scented garden together to go around the terrace. Most of the flowers are white or pastel, which means they won't distract the eye too much from the architecture.

Above: A detail from the gardening plan showing one corner of the terrace. The design is replicated around the entire terrace.

We wanted to use plants that would give us tiered heights, release their fragrance at different times of the day and flower at different times of the year. All the colours and scents had to blend harmoniously as well. We incorporated some of Peter's favourites such as Mock Orange (Philadelphus), along with some of my favourites such as Daphne and  Star Jasmine.

To achieve a punctuation in height we have chosen to place standardised roses in front of all the balustrade pilasters, choosing  David Austin's Brother Cadfael, a subtle pink rose known for its highly fragrant, large old fashioned blooms, which are well supported by the good strong form of the bush (they don't droop)...

The other plant which will give height to the garden will be the Mock Orange, which is planted halfway between each of the Brother Cadfaels...

As you can see from the above example, if not pruned it will go rampant, but luckily it enjoys an aggressive prune every winter. It has lovely delicate flowers like orange blossoms...

Flanking each of the Mock Oranges and Roses we have tightly clipped Daphne (Daphne x transatlanticus 'Eternal Fragrance'). Unlike some species which get rather leggy and difficult to keep to a nicely clipped shape, this Daphne, known for its incredibly long flowering season (6+ months), enjoys a heavy prune...

Along the front of the terrace garden is a formal square clipped hedge of Gardenia Augusta. (It won't be allowed to grow as free-form as the example below)...

 

Hemmed in by the tightly clipped Gardenia hedge will be the ever so fragrant Star Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides), a good ground cover, which needs pruning at least twice per year due to its 'vining'habit. It will fill in all the gaps between the other plants...

  and be trained up the wall of the terrace on diagonal espalier wires...

We also bought some flowering currant, one of Peter's childhood favourites from the hedgerows of Kent. The only cultivar we could find in NZ was King Edward VII, which has a glorious fragrance and a mid-pink bloom. It has been planted in Badger's Wood as the bushes grow quite large, and won't fit into the tightly structured composition of the terrace garden.

I am in the process of sorting through the hundreds of photos from our holiday. I hope in the next post to share some of our photos of Stowe Landscape garden.