The Hidden Garden

​Roz and her husband, Chris, have created a beautiful garden on the outskirts of Lanchester village. When they first moved to the house, over thirty years ago, what is now the garden, was partly a field and the rest was a concrete yard used for parking. Having organised a digger and driver to excavate an area to garden, they came to an agreement with the neighbouring farmer, swopping the hardcore created for muck that could be used to improve the soil before planting. With a lot of work, and a considerable knowledge of plants and horticulture, they created a wonderful garden. The winding paths represent rivers flowing through the planting, which then open on to wider areas made of bluish coloured bricks that suggest ponds and pools. The planting has a very natural look, rather than a more stylised garden, which is in keeping with the rest of the area.
Roz holds the National Collection of Physocarpus, a North American shrub also called nine bark. A National Plant Collection is a registered and documented collection of a group of cultivated plants in the United Kingdom. National Plant Collections are part of a plant conservation scheme run by Plant Heritage, a registered charity which aims to protect plants in UK gardens so they are available to gardeners and horticulturalists in the future. This means that Roz has to collect and conserve examples of Physocarpus, research its history and cultivation and make specimens available for sale.
Roz, as part of the Plant Heritage charity, has sold plants at the Ushaw Historic House plant sales event in June, and also has given specimens to the nationally important Royal Horticultural Society garden at Bridgewater, Salford. There is also a display collection of
Physocarpus in the grounds of Ushaw House.
Our photographer, and his wife, had a very pleasant and informative morning at the garden and
is was a real pleasure to sit in the sunshine surrounded by such a beautiful plants.