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Page, Prior & Rae Garden Design
Tom’s Midnight Garden
Designers: Alison Page, Rachel Prior, Toni Rae
Sponsor: Summerleaze Limited
Contractor: Paul Swaboy
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A visually superb representation of the children’s classic by Philipa Pearce. As the story unfolds, Tom steps back in time to visit an enchanted garden with a manicured lawn, colourful flowerbeds, surrounded by yew hedging, with a gate that leads to a vegetable plot, and a meadow and stream beyond.
On each of Tom’s visits the times of day and seasons differ; to explore this element the design has been divided into zones of light with plants depicting midnight (deep purples and blues with ‘starry’ highlights such as Penstemon ‘Port Wine’ and Heuchera ‘Amethyst Mist’), daybreak (lighter hues and warmer tones such as Hebe ‘Autumn Glory’ and Delphinium ‘Sungleam’), noon (stronger colours such as Houttuynia cordata ‘Chameleon’ and Schizostylis coccinea ‘Major’), sunset (fading to warm apricots and yellows with hint of blues coming in such as Kniphofia ‘Little Maid’ punctuating Berberis thunbergii ‘Rose Glow’) and twilight (silver colours of the twilight area with dark foliage such as Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’ with Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Tom Thumb’).
The meadow has a traditional mix of grasses and wildflowers and irises surround the pool. A water feature is made of polished steel to reflect the sunlight or moonlight in which the garden is bathed. A circular gravel path illustrates the continuity of time, while a bed and grandfather clock are created with plants. All of the designers are recent garden design graduates.