A Serene White And Green Country Garden in South East England
Photography by Chris Everard
Who Owns This Country Garden?
Chrissie Rucker, founder of The White Company, and her husband Nicholas Wheeler, founder of Charles Tyrwhitt, own the home in Buckinghamshire.
Where is Buckinghamshire?
Buckinghamshire is South East England’s most northern county. It’s about 40 miles north of central London and borders Greater London, Berkshire, and Oxfordshire.
Photography by Chris Everard
What is an English Country Garden?
A classic English country garden includes a formal carpet bed, an elegant pond and fountain, and a well-filled perennial border. Other garden additions can include statues, pots, and other garden ornaments to balance the design of the garden.
Designing A Modern Country Garden
Modern planting ideas include drifts of perennials and grasses that connect the garden to the property’s landscape. Landscape designers frequently pair their modern designs with a strong linear framework that includes metal-edged beds, and geometric infinity pools.
From the entrance to the walled garden, a herringbone-brick path winds through a shaded forest area. | Photography by Chris Everard
About The Buckinghamshire Garden
Chrissie’s enormous walled garden in Buckinghamshire incorporates a strict color code of green and white limiting her plant option. Most of the garden has acanthus and Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ (also known as smooth hydrangea), as well as silvery-white Allium stipitatum ‘Mount Everest’ and fresh daisy-like marguerites. To achieve the desired look, only white phlox, valerian, and sedum plants were used!
Nick oversaw the renovation of the walled garden, working closely with their gardener Phil and landscape architect Robert Myers, while Chrissie concentrated on the pool house area. Robert created the overall arrangement of the garden, including the use of a high hornbeam hedge to separate the two spaces.
Photography by Chris Everard
The English Greenhouse
And what’s a garden without a greenhouse? Chrissie and Nick built a greenhouse to grow their fresh tomatoes and sweet chilies. Their greenhouse is one of the very few places on their property that are growing plants that aren’t green or white. The pop of red creates a beautiful contrast to the green plants.
Photography by Chris Everard
Path To the Poolhouse
Even the walk to the pool has an enchanting view. The planting on either side of the path to the pool house is framed by apple trees and nepeta. You can even spot a pop of blue from the nepeta plants.
If you could design your own garden, what types of plants would you add? Would you stick to a specific color palette? Would you also have a greenhouse? Or would you rather just have a greenhouse without an elaborate garden in your backyard? Comment below! And share this blog with a friend who loves to garden!
