麻豆社

The garden at Fairlight End sits on the edge of the Sussex Weald where it begins its descent down to the sea. The garden boasts views down the slopes over abundant borders and luxurious lawns littered with specimen trees and shrubs. Beyond are the wildflower meadows and ponds with a backdrop of a truly unspoilt landscape.

In places, the sloping ground has been cleverly tamed by corten steel wall, while decked seating areas allow you to soak in the spectacular views. Dense stands of tightly clipped alpine Pinus mugo var. mughus, form miniature woodlands around the sinuous landscaping. The garden is part of the National Garden Scheme and is open to visitors by arrangement.

Fairlight End
Pett Road
Pett
Hastings
East Sussex
TN35 4HB

(www.ngs.org.uk)

In 1911 Joseph Pemberton briefly became President of the National Rose Society for a two year period. After this, with the help of his gardener John Bentall and his wife Ann, he set about to breed varieties of roses that would out bloom his much loved grandmother's roses, which usually finished blooming by July. He wanted roses that would survive and bloom after others had finished flowering.

He originated a new group of varieties which were large bushes, in bloom more or less continuously, bearing flowers of varying size and doubleness, mostly white, pale pink and pale yellow, in gigantic clusters.

He chose Trier, a hybrid multiflora offspring of Aglaia (itself a cross of R. multiflora by the noisette Reve d'Or) as the base (mother plant) for his breeding. In 1919 he began calling his roses Hybrid Musks after Courtney Page, the then Secretary of the National Rose Society used the term in his review of Joseph Pemberton's new rose 鈥楶ax' in 1917. Prior to this they were still being called Hybrid Teas.

The Hall
Broxhill Road
Havering-atte-Bower
Romford
Essex
RM4 1QH

Tel: 01708 753319聽

(www.pembertonroses.org.uk)

John has dedicated his 4 acre garden in Basildon, South Essex, to experimenting with this ethos of reimagining industrial landscapes. He thinks of brownfield sites as 鈥渢he rainforests of the UK鈥�. He wants to bring brownfield design back into the landscaping of gardens.

Essex has the most brownfield sites in the UK. It鈥檚 also one of the driest areas in the UK, so could be an indicator of the possible future effects of global warming. An entomologist has studied the brownfield section of John鈥檚 garden, and confirmed it is the most biodiverse area within the 4 acre plot.
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John likes playing with the notion that a garden can be designed by the soil rather than the plants. He uses crushed materials including crushed brick, concrete and rubble, crushed ceramics like old toilets and sinks. He鈥檚 even been known to bury the odd car in the ground鈥� apparently rabbits, robins and wrens are more than happy to move in to a rather unconventional new home!