Byndes Cottage, Essex

Now, they are opening the large garden at Byndes Cottage for the National Garden Scheme (NGS), and visitors will see practical, time-saving solutions and ideas on adapting your garden to changing conditions.
The garden, near Colchester in Essex, includes a range of planting styles for year-round interest, including a dry garden, hosta beds and wild bee orchids (Ophrys apifera).
It is still being developed, but David and Margaret have a real passion for gardening, and the garden is a labour of love – they may never run out of new ideas and planting schemes!
Byndes Cottage garden covers seven acres, divided into four separate sections, united by striped bands of beech hedging undulating between and designed as a series of internal ‘rooms’.
Beginning with an average-sized garden in 1980, the couple soon filled this with plants, and decided to buy some of the surrounding farmland. “We have been pushing outwards,” explains Margaret. “But we’ve finished now – there is definitely enough to be working on!”

A variety of areas
There is a formal area, dry garden, orchard and a five-acre arboretum, planted in 2003.
This contains a mix of native and specimen trees, including 57 varieties of malus. A year after it was planted, they discovered a large population of self-sown bee orchids (left), delicately dotted about in the waving grass.
“Many people believe that to encourage wildflowers you just need to leave things a bit unkempt,” explains David.
“But that is not the case at all
– it involves a lot of maintenance. You need to cut the grass, and keep it cut, to give the orchids room to grow and to remove their competition.”
After discovering the orchids they dug them up and moved them into groups to prevent accidental damage. Now, mown paths lead visitors close to the orchids, without having to worry about stepping on them!

Adapting to the climate
The area of Essex where Byndes Cottage is situated gets very little rainfall. Because of this, and the scale of the space, the couple have tried to adapt the garden to cut down on the amount of maintenance needed.
Bergenias, foxgloves, and penstemons brighten up borders, and vividly-coloured lupins arrive in swathes, before giving way to heleniums, salvias, and echinacea.
“We have bits of everything in the garden for year-round colour,” explains Margaret. “But that doesn’t mean it should kill us to keep it all going! A garden should be an enjoyable thing, not a chore.”
This ethos is evident throughout and the couple try to only grow plants they love and that thrive in the garden, especially since the soil is heavy clay that dries hard.
It is important that the right plant is in the right place, so nothing has to struggle against unsuitable conditions. Plants that do especially well here include hostas, lupins and hardy orchids. Margaret explains how they once tried to grow roses, but after 12 months of pruning, watering, spraying and dead-heading, they decided it was too much work and dug them up again!

Avoiding labour-intensive planting
From the outset it has been essential for plants to survive without much attention, since work frequently took the couple abroad. Although they have more time now they have retired, they still try to avoid labour intensive planting – one reason why they don’t grow many vegetables.
Time-saving tips are evident everywhere. Every border has a brick edge so no meticulous edging work is needed and the garden always looks immaculate. Margaret uses a ride-on mower, so they simply mow and it all looks neat!
All of the beds are mulched, either with bark chippings or gravel, to aid water retention and keep down weeds. “There should be no bare soil anywhere in the garden,” explains David. “Another time-saving measure is to spot problems quickly. It is easier to nip things in the bud before they get on top of you.”
Nothing gets watered except new plants, to help them establish. This hasn’t always been easy. The couple have been trying to grow wisteria by their front driveway in a hot and dry spot for a couple of years and have finally managed to solve the problem by running a dripper system from a waterbutt, which waters the base of the plant.

Reduced chemicals
The garden is not organic, but David and Margaret have cut down on the amount of chemicals they use by putting weed-control fabric over the whole of their front garden and on certain beds, which are then covered with gravel. Originally the front garden was infested with self-sown muscari and bindweed, so 15 years ago they decided to remove the lot, and plant shrubs through slits in the membrane for a low-maintenance area.

For the love of gardening
There are massed plantings of spring bulbs, hostas, and perennials, in addition to the ornamental cherries that produce beautiful blossom at the start of the year. David tells Margaret that they can’t have hostas in every single bed, but she doesn’t see why not!
They are also keen on auriculas, and David has made a shelving display to show them off, because auriculas need fresh air circulating to thrive.
Margaret collects snowdrops, and has planted hundreds of varieties
to create the “look of Anglesey Abbey”, one of the couple’s favourite gardens. The snowdrops are planted in baskets, so can be easily moved – it is also a handy way to keep named varieties organised.
The ‘dry bed’ (left) is a gravel area filled with heucheras, vivid orange lilies, and lupins in a purple, pink, yellow and red haze. It includes an area of “unfashionable” heathers, which the couple are really keen on.
Margaret’s eye for colour is fantastic – a good example of this are the beautiful pale lupins next to yellow-edged hostas.
The pond has three shades of waterlily flowers in the pond – lemon yellow, creamy white and pink. All the plants are kept in baskets to stop them spreading and taking over, cutting down on maintenance, and helping the fish to thrive.

Attracting wildlife
Close to the first, formal garden area there is a small orchard with walnuts, mirabelles, almonds, plums, quince, apples and pears.
The couple aim to attract wildlife to the garden, including birds,
bees and grass snakes, by maintaining the land – conservation rather than neglect. For example, a successful wildflower meadow comes as a result of grazing or regularly cutting the grass. However, it can be heartbreaking when the squirrels attack the bark on trees, and the whole garden is fenced, to stop rabbits ruining it.
David and Margaret’s passion for plants is evident – even when they are not working in their own garden, they are out visiting other people’s!
They have decided to open the garden for the NGS by appointment only, so they can take visitors round to explain what they are looking at – especially when it comes to their favourite plants, which include snowdrops, orchids and auriculas.
 This is a garden to be inspired by – it is well worth visiting just to meet David and Margaret, whose enthusiasm for the garden and its plants is catching. And there is so much variety here it is like visiting several gardens in one go!

Visiting information

Byndes Cottage, Halstead, Essex CO9 2LZ
Tel. 01787 269500
Visitors welcome by appointment, especially groups
Adult admission £4, children free

AND WHILE YOU’RE IN THE AREA...
Marks Hall Gardens & Arboretum, Coggeshall CO6 1TG. Tel. 01376 563796 or visit www.markshall.org.uk
Feeringbury Manor Coggeshall Road, Feering
CO5 9RB. Tel. 01376 561946
Olivers, Olivers  Lane, Colchester CO2 0HJ.
Tel. 01206 330575